By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — France has summoned the American ambassador to Paris after the diplomat, Charles Kushner, wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.

France’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday announcing it had summoned Kushner to appear Monday at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and that his allegations “are unacceptable.”

France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaks as President Donald Trump, right, listens during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, foreground left, and European leaders in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott on Sunday evening said it stood by Kushner’s comments, adding: “Ambassador Kushner is our U.S. government representative in France and is doing a great job advancing our national interests in that role.”

The summoning of the ambassador is a formal and public notice of displeasure.

Kushner, a real-estate developer, is the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The French foreign ministry, in its statement, said “France firmly rejects these allegations” from Kushner and that French authorities have “fully mobilized” to combat a rise in antisemitic acts since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, deeming the acts “intolerable.”

In the letter, released late on Sunday, Kushner writes that “public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France.”

Kushner urges Macron “to act decisively: enforce hate-crime laws without exception, ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses … and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”

Kushner’s allegations violate international law and the obligation not to interfere with the internal affairs of another country, the French ministry said, and, “They also fall short of the quality of the transatlantic partnership between France and the United States and of the trust that must prevail between allies.”

The dustup follows Macron’s rejection this past week of accusations from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state is fueling antisemitism.

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France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, with an estimated 500,000 Jews, the third-largest Jewish population in the world after Israel and the United States. That’s approximately 1% of the national population.

The diplomatic discord comes as French-U.S. relations have faced tensions this year amid Trump’s trade war and a split over the future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. France in particular has objected to the U.S. push to wind down the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, with a vote on the issue set for the end of the month by the U.N. Security Council.

France and the U.S. have also been divided on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but the split has eased with Trump expressing support for security guarantees and a warm meeting with Macron and other European leaders at the White House last week.

Trump at the end of his first term as president pardoned Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

His son Jared is a former White House senior adviser to Trump who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.

AP Writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to the story

At least a dozen Democratic members of Congress have been denied entry to federal immigration facilities this year when they showed up to conduct oversight as President Donald Trump has ramped up his mass deportation efforts—and now they are suing the Trump administration.

The lawsuit was filed in the federal district court for the District of Columbia on July 30 by 12 Democrats from the House of Representatives, including El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who has provided oversight of such facilities for several years.

“As part of its campaign of mass deportation, the Trump-Vance administration has stretched the U.S. immigration detention system far beyond its capacity. More people are being held by the United States in immigration detention than ever before, with many facilities housing more individuals than they were built to contain,” the lawsuit states. “Reports of mistreatment have been widespread and have included disturbing details of overcrowding, food shortages, lack of adequate medical care, and unsanitary conditions.” 

Since 2019, Congress has adopted statutory provisions stating that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may not use federal funds may to prevent members  “from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house” noncitizens, per the lawsuit. Those mandates for unfettered oversight were a direct response to Trump’s attempts to block members of Congress under his first administration.

However, since June, several members of Congress have been turned away when attempting to enter and examine federal immigration facilities, including privately run detention centers and ICE field offices where immigrants have been detained.

Escobar currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which oversees DHS. In her six years serving Congress, she and her staff members have conducted numerous visits to DHS facilities, and identified issues that saved taxpayers money or improved facility conditions for detainees. Prior to this year, she had only been turned away once, in 2019, from a facility when attempting to conduct oversight. 

“It is not acceptable for the Trump administration to ignore the law and limit Congressional oversight and authority; this cannot go unchallenged,” Escobar said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

U.S. Representative Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat, is among the latest members of Congress to be turned away when requesting to conduct oversight duties. On August 15, Casar attempted to access the Don T. Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, which is operated by DHS contractor CoreCivic, to conduct oversight after receiving complaints that the air conditioning was not functioning properly and that detainees were “boiling.” The congressman, along with Austin-based attorney Andrea Jarero, who was trying to visit a client, were both denied access by CoreCivic. 

When journalists, activists, Casar and his staff arrived at the detention facility, CoreCivic employees had blocked off access to the building’s parking lot with traffic cones and two white vans. A CoreCivic employee exited his vehicle, and told Casar he’d need to schedule any visits at least seven days in advance.

“This advance notice is necessary to ensure proper scheduling and to avoid any intrusion on the President’s Article II authority to oversee executive department functions,” the employee said, reading from a piece of paper.

The statutory provisions of recent DHS appropriations bills explicitly say that they may not “be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a [DHS] facility.” 

However, per the lawsuit, the Trump administration has unilaterally enacted a new policy that requires seven calendar days’ notice ahead of any visit to a DHS facility.

“What are they hiding, if they will break the law and not let a member of Congress in?” Casar said. “What are they hiding if they’ll violate constitutional rights and not let a lawyer in?”

Casar said that he intends to join his fellow Democratic members of Congress as a plaintiff in the lawsuit—though he has not done so yet. 

A CoreCivic employee at the Hutto detention facility reads a prepared statement denying access to Congressman Greg Casar on August 15, 2025. (Photo: Francesca D’Annunzio)

Texas has the largest immigration detention capacity in the country, putting the state on the front lines of Trump’s mass deportation agenda. As of early August, more than 13,000 immigrants were detained in Texas facilities, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)—far more than any other state. That number will likely continue to grow: a new, $1.24 billion immigration detention camp opened last week on Fort Bliss, a military base in El Paso, and is poised to be the nation’s largest once it reaches its full capacity to hold 5,000 people. (Escobar was allowed to access that facility on August 18, and said it held 1,000 detainees at that time, though she was not able to speak to any.)

Recent events bring new urgency to immigration detention inspections: as of late June, 13 people had died in ICE detention this fiscal year—which is the same amount of deaths for the entirety of fiscal year 2024. (A report from several advocacy groups found that dozens of deaths between 2017 and 2021 in ICE detention facilities could have been prevented with adequate medical care.) 

Additionally, more people are detained in ICE custody than ever before, and that number will likely continue to grow. The agency is also set to receive historic levels of funding; HR1, Congress’ recent tax cuts-and-spending bill, contains $75 billion for ICE detention and removal operations.

As spending ramps up, oversight mechanisms have been stifled. Earlier this year, the Trump administration gutted some of the entities tasked with facility oversight, including the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. 

Escobar, the El Paso Democratic House member, said oversight is supposed to be multi-layered, but now “Trump has effectively done away with government watchdogs,” she told the Texas Observer.

Since the other agencies tasked with holding DHS accountable in detention centers have had major staff cuts, the role of members of Congress in conducting oversight of immigration detention is more important than ever, she said.

“There’s absolutely no reason for [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem to block members of Congress from our legal ability to enter a facility unannounced,” Escobar said. “Unless she believes she has something to hide.”

The post Dems in Congress Are Being Denied Access to ICE Facilities. Now They’re Suing. appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By BRIAN WITTE and BEN FINLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia surrendered to U.S. immigration authorities in Baltimore Monday and faces possible efforts by the Trump administration to deport him to Uganda, an African country with documented human rights abuses and a language he doesn’t speak.

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The Maryland construction worker became the face of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies when he was wrongfully deported in March to a notorious prison in his native El Salvador. He was returned to the U.S. in June, but only to face human smuggling charges that his lawyers call preposterous and vindictive.

The Trump administration has said it is trying to deport Abrego Garcia months before his trial is scheduled in Tennessee, alleging that the 30-year-old married father is a danger to the community and an MS-13 gang member. He denies the gang allegation, pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges and has asked a judge to dismiss the case on ground of vindictive prosecution.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada is expected to plead guilty Monday to federal charges related to his role in the violent drug trade that for years flooded the U.S. with cocaine, heroin and other illicit substances.

The longtime leader of the Sinaloa cartel is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Brooklyn for a change of plea hearing.

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The appearance comes after federal prosecutors said two weeks ago that they wouldn’t seek the death penalty against Zambada, who was arrested in Texas last year.

Prosecutors, in a court filing ahead of Monday’s hearing, said they expect the 77-year-old to plead guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of running a continuing criminal enterprise.

Zambada pleaded not guilty last year to a range of drug trafficking and related charges, including gun and money laundering offenses.

Lawyers for Zambada didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.

Prosecutors say the Sinaloa cartel evolved from a regional player into the largest drug trafficking organization in the world under the leadership of Zambada and co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

They say Zambada presided over a violent, highly militarized cartel with a private security force armed with powerful weapons and a cadre of “sicarios,” or hitmen, that carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

Guzmán was sentenced to life behind bars following his conviction in the same federal court in Brooklyn in 2019. His two sons, who ran a cartel faction, also face federal charges.