By JACK BROOK, Associated Press

A Marine Corps veteran’s wife has been released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention following advocacy from Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who backs President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.

Until this week, Mexican national Paola Clouatre had been one of tens of thousands of people in ICE custody as the Trump administration continues to press immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

Emails reviewed by The Associated Press show that Kennedy’s office said Friday that it put in a request for the Department of Homeland Security to release her after a judge halted her deportation order earlier that week. By Monday, she was out of a remote ICE detention center in north Louisiana and home in Baton Rouge with her veteran husband Adrian Clouatre and their two young children.

Kennedy’s constituent services representative, Christy Tate, congratulated Adrian Clouatre on his wife’s release and thanked him for his military service. “I am so happy for you and your family,” Tate wrote in an email to Adrian Clouatre. “God is truly great!”

Kennedy’s office proved “instrumental” in engaging with the Department of Homeland Security, according to Carey Holliday, the family’s attorney. Kennedy’s office did not provide further comment.

Another Louisiana Republican, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also intervened recently with the Department of Homeland Security to secure the release of an Iranian mother from ICE detention following widespread outcry. The woman has lived for decades in New Orleans.

Kennedy has generally been a staunch supporter of Trump’s immigration policies.

“Illegal immigration is illegal — duh,” Kennedy posted on his Facebook page on July 17, amid a series of recent media appearances decrying efforts to prevent ICE officers from making arrests. In April, however, he criticized the Trump administration for mistakenly deporting a Maryland man.

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The Department of Homeland Security previously told The AP it considered Clouatre to be “illegally” in the country.

An email chain shared by Adrian Clouatre shows that the family’s attorney reached out to Kennedy’s office in early June after Paola Clouatre was detained in late May.

Tate received Paola Clouatre’s court documents by early July and said she then contacted ICE, according to the email exchange.

On July 23, an immigration judge halted Paola Clouatre’s deportation order. After Adrian Clouatre notified Kennedy’s office, Tate said she “sent the request to release” Paola Clouatre to DHS and shared a copy of the judge’s motion with the agency, emails show.

In an email several days later, Tate said that ICE told her it “continues to make custody determinations on a case-by-case basis based on the specific circumstances of each case” and had received the judge’s decision from Kennedy’s office “for consideration.”

The next working day, Paola Clouatre was released from custody.

“We will continue to keep you, your family and others that are experiencing the same issues in our prayers,” Tate said in an email to Adrian Clouatre. “If you need our assistance in the future, please contact us.”

Back with her children

Paola Clouatre had been detained by ICE officers on May 27 during an appointment related to her green card application.

She had entered the country as a minor with her mother from Mexico more than a decade ago and was legally processed while seeking asylum, she, her husband and her attorney say. But Clouatre’s mother later failed to show up for a court date, leading a judge to issue a deportation order against Paola Clouatre in 2018, though by then she had become estranged from her mother and was homeless.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Clouatre’s release.

Adrian Clouatre said he wished the agency would “actually look at the circumstances” before detaining people like his wife. “It shouldn’t just be like a blanket ‘Oh, they’re illegal, throw them in ICE detention.’”

Reunited with her breastfeeding infant daughter and able to snuggle with her toddler son, Paola Clouatre told AP she feels like a mother again.

“I was feeling bad,” she said of detention. “I was feeling like I failed my kids.”

It will likely be a multiyear court process before Paola Clouatre’s immigration court proceedings are formally closed, but things look promising, and she should be able to obtain her green card eventually, her attorney said.

For now, she’s wearing an ankle monitor, but still able to pick up life where she left off, her husband says. The day of her arrest in New Orleans, the couple had planned to sample some of the city’s famed French pastries known as beignets and her husband says they’ll finally get that chance again: “We’re going to make that day up.”

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The chief of police in a Maine resort town has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, who the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May.

ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency said Evans was illegally present in the U.S. and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.

ICE said in a Monday statement that Evans had legally entered the U.S. in September 2023 and violated the terms of his admission by overstaying his visa. But Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Elise Chard said in her own Monday statement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S. in May of this year.

The Old Orchard Beach Police Department and ICE officials did not respond to requests for a status update about Evans’ case. It was unclear on Tuesday if he had access to an attorney.

This image provided by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows Jon Luke Evans. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) via AP)

ICE and Chard presented different accounts of Evans’ employment by the town. Chard said the department was notified by federal officials that Evans was legally permitted to work in the country and his authorization document would not expire until 2030.

Chard said the town submitted information via the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program. E-Verify is an online system launched in the late 1990s that allows employers to check if potential employees can work legally in the U.S. Some large private employers use it, but most do not.

She said the department is “distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government” and will investigate to determine what steps it can take to ensure the town’s compliance in the future. She said the department would also conduct an internal review of the circumstances of the case.

“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department was never officially informed about Evans’ detention, and the department officially learned the details of the matter in a news release issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Chard said.

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ICE said in a statement that Evans admitted to its officers that he attempted to purchase a firearm for his employment as a police officer with the town. That triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which coordinated with ICE to make the arrest, the agency said in a statement.

Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. in October 2023 but never boarded his departing flight, the statement says.

“We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien,” Patricia H. Hyde, the acting field office director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, said in a statement.

Old Orchard Beach is a popular summer vacation destination in Maine, beloved for its boardwalk, beach and downtown amusement park. It is a highly seasonal community that is most active in the summer, when it swells with visitors and requires a larger police presence than the slower, colder months.

Maine is one of about a dozen states that allow noncitizen residents to work in law enforcement, Chard said. They are part-time, seasonal employees who are assigned a variety of tasks, including community policing and beach patrol by foot and bicycle, she said.

Evans passed physical and medical checks, and a background check, Chard said. He also underwent the standard course of training before being deployed on duty, she said.

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County leaders want to prohibit law enforcement officers from concealing their identities while on duty, a response to recent immigration raids during which some federal agents refused to identify themselves or covered their faces.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-0, with one abstention, to direct county counsel to draft an ordinance that bars officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks, with limited exceptions such as for medical protection or during undercover operations. Officers would also be required to visibly display identification and agency affiliation while out in public.

Since early June, immigration agents have swarmed Southern California, arresting hundreds of people and prompting protests against the federal raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. About half the Guard troops and all the Marines were pulled out of LA in recent weeks.

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Supervisor Janice Hahn, who co-authored the motion, said the raids carried out by the Trump administration have sparked fear and residents have a right to know who is stopping, questioning or detaining them.

“Across the county, people are being pulled out of their cars, beaten, and ripped from their families by men in tactical gear with balaclavas, no badges, and no names,” Hahn said. “That’s not how law enforcement in a democracy should operate.”

Hahn conceded that it is unclear if the county will be able to enforce the law when it comes to actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies. “Ultimately, it might have to be decided by a court,” she said.

Legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky said Tuesday that a court could have to decide if the ordinance is interfering with the ability of officers to carry out their duties.

“They key is that it has to apply to all law enforcement. It can’t just apply to federal law enforcement,” said Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley.

Administration officials have defended the practice of officers wearing masks, saying immigration agents have faced harassment as they have gone about their enforcement. Officials said agents are hiding their identities for their safety to avoid things like death threats and doxing, where someone’s personal information is released without their permission on the internet.

FILE – Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis speaks during a news conference Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Dean Musgrove/The Orange County Register via AP,File)

“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” ICE acting director Todd Lyons said last month.

In the state legislature, a pending measure would ban local, state, and federal police from covering their faces while conducting operations in California. And a similar bill has been introduced into the U.S. Congress by Democratic senators Alex Padilla, of California, and Cory Booker, of New Jersey.

Chemerinsky said the advantage of federal legislation is that it would “clearly be constitutional” because Congress has the power to regulate how federal law enforcement operates.

County counsel has 60 days to submit the draft ordinance to the board for approval.

Supervisor Hilda Solis, the measure’s other co-author, said local officials must set expectations about how law enforcement should conduct themselves while in the county.

“The use of masks, tactical gear, and refusal to show identification is not only alarming and confusing, but erodes public trust and raises serious safety concerns,” Solis said.

There was a little bit of down time in the middle of practice earlier this week, so head coach Kevin O’Connell decided to keep his arm loose by tossing the ball around with star receiver Justin Jefferson.

Though he hasn’t participated in practice at TCO Performance Center since suffering a mild hamstring strain, Jefferson has still made it a point to be around his teammates.

All part of being a leader.

“That was my challenge to him,” O’Connell said. “There are a lot of ways that we can maximize this time.”

When he hasn’t been dancing around and serving as the ultimate hype man, Jefferson has been a sounding board for some of his teammates. Whether it’s veteran receiver Lucky Jackson or rookie receiver Tai Felton, they have been able to lean on Jefferson as they step into his role.

“He’ll be there every step of the way to help those guys,” O’Connell said. “There’s a reason why he is so beloved in this building. He’s the best in the world at what he does. He’s also a phenomenal teammate.”

It sounds like the Vikings are hoping to have Jefferson back in action sooner rather than later.

Maybe even at some point in training camp.

“The rehab is going really well,” O’Connell said. “He’s already progressing.”

Asked for more details on Jefferson’s recovery process, O’Connell downplayed the situation at hand, reiterating that he has no concerns about him being ready to suit up for the Vikings in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears.

“There’s a lot of time between now and then,” O’Connell said. “What does that look like? We’re going to be smart.”

Here are more takeaways from Day 6 of training camp:

How does McCarthy look?

There were some growing pains from McCarthy, especially in the red zone, as a number of his throws seemed to sail on him. As impressive as he has been when letting it rip downfield, McCarthy’s touch still needs some work in close quarters.

On the flip side, McCarthy had some very good stretches during 11-on-11 drills, including a perfectly place ball to receiver Jordan Addison over the middle. They have done a good job building chemistry in training camp, and it appears to be growing with each practice.

It was a lighter practice without pads, so there’s no need to overreact to anything that was put on film.

Who else stood out?

A lofted pass from backup quarterback Sam Howell was intercepted by cornerback Dwight McGlothern. It marked that second straight practice during which McGlothern has recorded an interception. After biding his time as a rookie, McGlothern is ready to take the next step in his career.

You ready for a deep cut? A sleeper worth keeping an eye on is rookie tight end Ben Yurosek. He had a contested catch in the end zone for a touchdown that stood as arguably the best play of practice. He has slowly but surely made a name for himself since signing as an undrafted free agent.

Quote of the day

“I always give I.P. a hard time, because I.P. is at his best when he can be a Tasmanian devil and go tackle everybody on the field. We don’t let him do that out here for the safety of not only our players, the safety of me, as well.”

— Head coach Kevin O’Connell, on linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.

Injury report

There were a good number of players that did not participate, including safety Harrison Smith, safety Josh Metellus, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and center Ryan Kelly.

None of those players were seen working with a trainer, so the assumption is the Vikings were trying to get them some rest.

As for cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, he’s working through some minor soreness and isn’t expected to miss an extended period of time.

What’s next?

There will be a more intense practice with pads Wednesday before the players get some rest Thursday.

Minnesota Vikings linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. (0) walks off the field from the first session during the team’s NFL football training camp Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Eagan, Minn. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

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