By CLAIRE SAVAGE, Associated Press

The federal agency tasked with protecting workers’ civil rights is classifying all new gender identity-related discrimination cases as its lowest priority, essentially putting them on indefinite hold, according to two agency employees.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission held a meeting on Wednesday clarifying how it would treat new worker complaints of gender-identity discrimination in view of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order declaring that the government would recognize only two “immutable” sexes — male and female.

Staff who handle incoming charges, or intakes, were directed to code them as “C,” the lowest categorization in the EEOC’s system that is usually reserved for meritless charges, according to the agency employees who attended the Microsoft Teams meeting for intake supervisors, district directors and support staff that was led by the EEOC’s national intake coordinator. The employees asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to reveal the meeting details.

An EEOC spokesman declined to comment on the meeting, saying that “per federal law, we cannot discuss investigatory practices.”

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The decision is the latest step by the EEOC to back away from defending the rights of transgender and nonbinary workers in a major shift in civil rights enforcement under the Trump administration. In February, the EEOC moved to drop seven of its own pending lawsuits alleging discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people.

EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, has said one of her priorities will be implementing Trump’s executive order on gender and “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.” She had previously ordered that any worker discrimination charge that “implicates” Trump’s executive order on gender should be elevated to headquarters for review.

This latest decision to bury gender identity-related complaints leaves transgender and nonbinary people experiencing discrimination at work with limited recourse. U.S. workers must file discrimination complaints through the EEOC in most cases before they can seek other legal avenues.

Giving gender identity-related cases the lowest priority essentially pre-determines that they are meritless, said Chai Feldblum, who was an EEOC commissioner from 2010-2019.

“If they say they are bringing it to a central location to give them due consideration, they at least have the facade of doing something,” Feldblum said of Lucas’ previous directive on gender identity cases. “If they are sweeping them out the door as “C” charges, they are not doing their job.”

The EEOC has said that it will still issue “right to sue” notices in gender-identity related cases upon request, meaning workers can decide to pursue a lawsuit on their own. The agency will also honor requests for mediation, according to the employees who attended Wednesday’s meeting. But if mediation fails, the EEOC will take no further action on the case, the employees said.

The EEOC’s new approach to gender-identity related discrimination has raised a debate over whether the agency is acting in violation of the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, a landmark case that established that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits workplace discrimination based on gender identity.

Civil rights activists have accused the EEOC of illegally defying the Supreme Court and abdicating its duty to enforce anti-discrimination laws by abandoning gender-identity related lawsuits. Lucas has previously told The AP that the EEOC has a duty to comply with Trump’s executive orders but she has not directly addressed the criticism that the agency’s handling of gender-identity cases are in tension with the Supreme Court.

The EEOC in fiscal year 2024 received more than 3,000 charges alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and 3,000-plus in 2023, according to the agency’s website.

Associated Press business reporter Alexandra Olson contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

There was the pool furniture in the background. There were the tropical drinks, which looked to be margaritas garnished with cherries. And then there were the deported prisoner and the American senator, sitting and chatting.

That senator, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, accused El Salvador’s government on Friday of aiming to paint the picture of a leisurely respite for the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia by staging their meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol, and angling to set the meeting by a hotel pool.

Van Hollen referred to the stagecraft with a term that had ricocheted around social media for much of the day: “Margaritagate.”

“Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is,” the Democratic senator said, calling the whole situation “a lesson” in “the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on.”

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A Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said this week that they have no basis to return him to the United States, even as the Trump administration has called his deportation a mistake and the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return.

During a news conference Friday at Dulles International Airport, just after returning from El Salvador, the Maryland Democrat said Bukele is aiming to “deceive” people about what happened during his meeting with Abrego Garcia, in part by posting a photo with drinks appearing to be alcohol.

When he and Abrego Garcia first sat down for a meeting at the hotel where Van Hollen had been staying, the senator said, they “just had glasses of water on the table, maybe some coffee.”

Subsequently, Van Hollen said, “one of the government people” on the sidelines of their half-hour meeting deposited other beverages on the table, with salt or sugar around the top — “but they look like margaritas.”

On X Thursday night, Bukele posted photos of Van Hollen seated with Abrego Garcia, including with the drinks, garnished with maraschino cherries.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” Bukele wrote, adding an emoji of a tropical drink.

Van Hollen also noted that the Bukele government had initially proposed that he and Abrego Garcia conduct their meeting poolside at the hotel, rather than in the restaurant setting where they convened.

“They want to create this appearance that life was just lovely for Kilmar,” Van Hollen said.

In Friday’s news conference, Van Hollen also revealed that Abrego Garcia told him that he was no longer being held at the high-security Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, where he and others were initially taken upon leaving the U.S. Van Hollen said he was initially denied entry to the facility but surmised Friday that had been because Abrego Garcia had already been moved from there to a detention center with better conditions.

“They decided that it was not a good look to continue to detain Abrego Garcia without anybody having access to him,” Van Hollen said. He added that Abrego Garcia told him he had not had contact with anyone outside prison at all since he was removed from the United States.

It was unclear where Abrego Garcia was taken after the meeting with Van Hollen.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wiped away tears as Van Hollen spoke of her husband’s comments about wanting to speak with his wife. She did not speak during the news conference.

Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

At the historic St. Paul church where fire struck Thursday, the owner said Friday he’s trying to get the steeple secured so the sidewalk and roads around it can be reopened.

William Hanson in front of the former Trinity Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Paul on Friday, April 18, 2025, after a Thursday fire in the church steeple. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

William Hanson said he’s been keeping the church in Frogtown open around the clock for the last 10 years, allowing people to come in to pray or be prayed for. The city won’t permit him to reopen the church at Farrington Street and Sherburne Avenue until the steeple is steadied and an inspector ensures the property is safe.

The church was built in 1902 by Trinity Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church, according to the website of Historic St. Paul, a nonprofit preservation organization. Before Hanson, the building was home to Rock Temple Church of God in Christ, property information from the city shows.

Hanson said the church is owned “first by God, then me.”

“People come in all hours of the day and night,” Hanson said. “We’ve tried scheduled events, but it seems like they excluded more than they included.”

The church is also zoned for residential use and Hanson was in the basement, where he lives, on Thursday when he heard a loud pop.

“It sounded like the light bulb above me blew up,” he recounted. He went to the circuit box and saw one circuit was out, so he turned it back on. He looked around outside and didn’t see anything.

“I’m bald, but we continued to smell what smelled like hair burning,” he said. He went back outside 20-30 minutes later and saw the steeple was on fire.

Firefighters responded about 5:30 p.m. and extinguished the blaze. It was storming and preliminary information points to a lightning strike causing the fire, the fire department said Thursday.

St. Paul firefighters put out a fire in the steeple of the former Trinity Norwegian Evangelical Church at Sherburne Avenue and Farrington Street. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

St. Paul’s Department of Safety and Inspections came to assess the steeple and, due to its unstable condition, sidewalks and the street are blocked — Sherburne Avenue between Virginia and Farrington streets, and Farrington Street between Sherburne and Charles avenues. The closures will remain in place until the steeple is secured.

The church’s steeple was previously damaged by wind and hail, and Hanson said he made an insurance claim three years ago. He said the insurance company dropped its coverage of the property. After making calls to the insurance company throughout the last three years, he received word on Thursday that the company would provide enough payment to fix the steeple to be safe.

“Two hours later, lightning hit,” Hanson said. “… I’m in belief that God did this, so that the story goes out and other people come to help besides insurance companies.”

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Hanson previously received some insurance money for the steeple, but he said he was awaiting the rest he was owed because it wasn’t enough to fix it.

He saved the money and said he’ll use it to pay a contractor to secure the steeple, hopefully on Monday. When he gets the OK from the city, Hanson said he’ll also be able to move back into his living space and reopen the church to “start ministering again.”

Some people call Hanson “Rev.,” but he said, “I’m just a servant. … I just try to be available.” He said he gets no income from his ministering.

If the rest of the insurance money arrives, Hanson said he’ll use it to keep fixing the steeple.

One of the faces of the Twins’ future arrived on Friday when the Twins called up Luke Keaschall, one of the team’s — and Major League Baseball’s — top prospects.

Keaschall, ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 57 prospect, got the call in place of utilityman Mickey Gasper, whom the Twins optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. The 22-year-old Keaschall was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2023 draft and has done nothing but hit since arriving in their minor league system.

“He’s got a swing that, as you watch him, whether it be in batting practice or against live pitching, it’s very direct to the ball,” manager Rocco Baldelli said in February. “He’s got a very short swing. There is some strength to his body, his hands and to the swing itself. And he can run on top of that. He’s a good athlete. He’s going to be an exciting player to watch.”

Last year, between Class-A Advanced Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita, he slashed .303/.420/.483, adding 15 home runs in 103 games.

He did that while playing through elbow pain, leading to his season being cut short so he could undergo Tommy John surgery and be ready for the start of the 2025 season. In a way, he said during spring training, the injury helped him at the plate.

“I swung at better pitches because when I swung at bad pitches, it hurt a bit,” he said in February.

As a minor leaguer, he has played first base, second base and outfield, though he has yet to return to the outfield since his surgery, playing second base and DHing for the Triple-A Saints this year.

Keaschall’s addition to the roster comes as the Twins are banged up in the infield — Carlos Correa (wrist) and Willi Castro (oblique) left games earlier in the week due to injury.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated reliever Matt Canterino for assignment. Canterino, one of the more interesting arms in the organization, has dealt with years of injuries, the latest setback coming this spring. The pitcher had shoulder surgery in March and is out for the entire 2025 season.

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