For several Minnesota Wild players and their head coach, one of the great thrills of their hockey careers is just a few days away. And to a man, they’re trying not to think about it.

Later this week, eight members of the Wild and head coach John Hynes will be bound for Italy, where they’ll represent Team USA (Hynes, Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy), Team Sweden (Filip Gustavsson, Jesper Wallstedt, Marcus Johansson, Joel Eriksson Ek) and Team Germany (Nico Sturm). A ninth player in the organization, minor league defenseman David Spacek, will skate for Team Czechia.

But with two regular-season NHL games still to play and four vital points available, there was a clear focus on Montreal — the Wild’s Monday night opponent — and not Milan as the players prepped for their only February home game.

“I’m just kind of trying to get through these last two games and focused on that,” Hughes said following the team’s Monday morning skate at TRIA Rink. “Get healthy and play really good hockey and go into the Olympics feeling good about myself.”

For the players who aren’t headed to Europe, or south to Iowa, the NHL has mandated that the team’s locker room be closed for 12 consecutive days, giving at least a few of them time for rest and relaxation.

Before Hynes and the Wild players embark on their Olympic journeys, they discussed plans for how to handle their return to Minnesota and to NHL hockey when their games in Europe are done.

Oddsmakers have tabbed Team Canada as the gold medal favorite, with the Americans and the Swedes in the mix for the medal podium. By contrast, a recent betting line showed Sturm and the Germans with 10-1 odds to get a medal. That means his Olympic experience might be a few days shorter than that of the Swedes or the Americans.

Hynes has a plan in place for all of it.

“I met with all the players that are going to the Olympics and talked about every situation possible,” said Hynes, who will be an assistant coach for Team USA. “If they make it all the way to the gold medal game, what that would look like? If their team gets knocked out in the quarters or whatever, what would be our expectations and their expectations for rest and recovery, but also when to come back and join the team?”

When the non-Olympic Wild players return from their 12-day break, assistant coach Jack Capuano will run practices in St. Paul. The Olympics finish on Sunday, Feb. 22, and the Wild are scheduled to play Thursday, Feb. 26, at Colorado, which on Monday morning was the only Western Conference team with more points (81) than the Wild (74),

As opposed to his normal game night red and green, Gustavsson practiced Monday with gloves and pads that were dark blue with gold accents, working on breaking in his Team Sweden gear. Sturm, who missed the Wild’s Saturday night win in Edmonton due to illness, was breaking in his Team Germany skates.

Like the other Wild players bound for the Olympics, Sturm was trying to keep that part of it off his mind.

“I’m not even too much focused on it right now. It’s just too much hockey at the moment still here,” he said. “For me, it doesn’t feel like it’s four days away. It’s just my mind is so preoccupied with NHL hockey right now and playing every 48 hours. It’s hard to get much rest, do some planning or think about other things.”

With a roughly eight-hour flight across the Atlantic in all of their futures, there will be plenty of time for thinking, and the hockey thrill of a lifetime later in the week.

New Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes answers questions during a news conference at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023.Hynes replaces former Wild head coach Dean Evason, who was let go after starting the season with a 5-10-4 record. Hynes coached the Nashville Predators from 2019-2023. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota Wild forward Nico Sturm (7) poses for a photo during the Wild’s Media day at TRIA Rink in St. Paul on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2021. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

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Dos antiguos detenidos en el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, conocido como “Alligator Alcatraz”, declararon la semana pasada como parte de una demanda que alega castigo por buscar asesoramiento legal y violaciones al debido proceso. Así que para hablar de las condiciones en el centro de detención y la demanda, invitamos a Mary Kapron, investigadora de Amnistía Internacional.

La secretaria del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, y otros funcionarios en el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, conocido como “Alligator Alcatraz”, en julio. (Departamento de Seguridad Nacional/ Tia Dufour)

Dos antiguos detenidos en el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, conocido como “Alligator Alcatraz”, declararon la semana pasada como parte de una demanda que alega castigo por buscar asesoramiento legal y violaciones al debido proceso.

Durante una audiencia de dos días, los abogados que representan a los antiguos detenidos solicitaron a la jueza federal Sheri Polster Chappell una orden judicial temporal que garantizara que los detenidos en este centro de detención de la Florida tuvieran el mismo acceso a sus abogados que los detenidos en los centros de detención federales.

La demanda, presentada por la American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU por sus siglas en inglés) y Americans for Immigrant Justice, cuestiona las operaciones llevadas a cabo por el centro de detención, las cuales se realizan a través de la cooperación entre los estados y el gobierno federal.

Este centro de detención, ubicado en una remota pista de aterrizaje en los Everglades, se ha presentado como único, ya que fue financiado con fondos federales y es gestionado por el estado de la Florida, bajo el mando del gobernador Ron DeSantis.

Desde su apertura, en el verano de 2025, este centro ha enfrentado varias demandas de ecologistas, de organizaciones de libertades civiles y la tribu indígena Miccosukee, y buena parte de las críticas se han centrado en las condiciones inhumanas de los detenidos.

Los detenidos que testificaron por video desde sus países de origen en Colombia y Haití dijeron que no podían acceder a sus abogados como en otros centros de detención de inmigrantes, donde pueden ir sin cita, y fueron puestos bajo presión para firmar órdenes de deportación.

A menudo, a los detenidos los llevan a otros centros antes de que los abogados puedan verlos. 

El año pasado, Amnistía Internacional realizó un informe en el que condenaba las condiciones de los detenidos, describiendo las políticas de inmigración y asilo del estado de Florida como factores contribuyentes a la generación de temor generalizado entre las comunidades de migrantes, solicitantes de asilo y personas con estatus mixto. 

Así que para hablar de las condiciones en el centro de detención y la demanda, invitamos a Mary Kapron, investigadora de Amnistía Internacional.

Más detalles en nuestra conversación a continuación.

Ciudad Sin Límites, el proyecto en español de City Limits, y El Diario de Nueva York se han unido para crear el pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” para hablar sobre latinos y política. Para no perderse ningún episodio de nuestro pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” síguenos en Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Pódcast y Stitcher. Todos los episodios están allí. ¡Suscríbete!

The post PODCAST: ¿Qué se sabe sobre las condiciones en “Alligator Alcatraz”, el centro de detención para inmigrantes? appeared first on City Limits.

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO, Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — In a church crowded to overcapacity, two-dozen faith leaders and their audience of hundreds sang and prayed together in unity Monday as a sign of support for Haitian migrants, some of whom fear their protected status in the United States may be ended this week.

Religious leaders representing congregations from across the United States attended the event at Springfield’s St. John Missionary Baptist Church, demanding an extension of the Temporary Protection Status that has allowed thousands of Haitian migrants to legally arrive in Springfield in recent years fleeing unrest and gang violence in their homeland. The TPS designation for Haiti is set to expire Tuesday, and those gathered were hoping that a federal judge might intervene and issue a pause.

“We believe in the legal system of this country of ours, we still believe. We believe that through the legal ways, the judge hopefully will rule in favor of current TPS holders today that will allow them to stay while we continue to fight,” Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, told the packed church.

“We have been called for such a time as this to protect those who have nowhere else to go. They cannot go back to Haiti,” she said.

So many people turned up for the church event that a fire marshal had to ask 150 to leave because the building had exceeded its 700-person capacity.

Hundreds joined a choir clapping and singing: “You got to put one foot in front of the other and lead with love.”

They also observed a moment of silence for people who have died in federal immigration detention and for Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. Some of the speakers evoked biblical passages while appealing for empathic treatment of migrants.

Federal immigration crackdown and TPS

The Department of Homeland Security announced last June that it would terminate TPS for about 500,000 Haitians who were already in the U.S., including some who had lived in the country for more than a decade. DHS said conditions in the island nation had improved enough to allow their safe return.

“It was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades. The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting there were no new enforcement operations to announce.

A federal judge in Washington is expected to rule any day on a request to pause the TPS termination for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds.

TPS allows people already in the U.S. to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Immigrants from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon, had the protective status before President Donald Trump’s second term started.

The uncertainty over TPS has deepened worries for an already embattled Haitian community in Springfield.

Trump denigrated the community while campaigning in 2024 for a second term, falsely accusing its members of eating their neighbor’s cats and dogs as he pitched voters  on his plans for an immigration crackdown. The false claims exacerbated fears about division and anti-immigrant sentiment in the mostly white, working class city of about 59,000 people.

In the weeks after his comments, schools, government buildings and the homes of elected officials received  bomb threats.

Since then, the Springfield’s Haitians have lived in constant fear that has only been exacerbated by the federal immigration crackdowns happening in Minneapolis and other cities, said Viles Dorsainvil, leader of Springfield’s Haitian Community Help and Support Center.

“As we are getting close to the end of the TPS, it has intensified the fear, the anxiety, the panic,” Dorsainvil said.

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Sunday church service

Some of Springfield’s estimated 15,000 Haitians also sought comfort and divine intervention in their churches on Sunday.

At the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, its pastor estimated that half of the congregants who regularly attend Sunday service stayed home.

“They don’t know the future; they are very scared,” said the Rev. Reginald Silencieux.

Flanked by the flags of Haiti and the United States, he advised his congregation to stay home as much as possible in case of immigration raids. He also offered a prayer for Trump and the Haitian community and reminded congregants to keep their faith in God.

“The president is our president. He can take decisions. But he is limited,” he said. “God is unlimited.”

After the service, Jerome Bazard, a member of the church, said ending TPS for Haitians would wreak havoc on his community.

“They can’t go to Haiti because it’s not safe. Without the TPS, they can’t work. And if they can’t work, they can eat, they can’t pay bills. You’re killing the people,” he said.

Many of the children in the Springfield Haitian community are U.S. citizens who have parents in the country illegally. If they are detained, Dorsainvil said some parents have signed caregiver affidavits that designate a legal guardian in hopes of keeping their kids out of foster care.

“They’re not sending their kids to school,” he said.

Volunteers from nearby towns and from out of state have been calling the Haitian community center offering to deliver food for those afraid to leave home, Dorsainvil said. Others have been stockpiling groceries in case immigration officers do flood the community.

Some, he said, have been receiving desperate calls from family members abroad asking them to leave. “They keep telling them that Springfield is not a safe place now for them to stay.”

Associated Press reporter Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce officials have apologized for the way the organization handled the removal of Team USA’s snow sculpture from the World Snow Sculpting Championship display.

Chamber officials removed the sculpture, “A Call to Arms,” because they said it included anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement symbols that violated competition rules.

The sculpture, which was a sphere of outstretched hands, included peace signs and hand gestures using American Sign Language. Among the messages spelled out in ASL: “ICE out,” “love,” “unity” and “resist.”

“We want to acknowledge this clearly and collectively: in a fast-moving and emotionally charged moment, our response did not fully reflect our shared values,” Chamber officials wrote in a statement shared on social media. “Leadership is not about perfection. It is about the humility to pause, reflect, and adjust when something does not land as intended.”

The removal of the sculpture made national news.

The original design submitted for competition did not include hand gestures of symbols. The decision to change the sculpture was made on Jan. 14, the first day of the competition — just one week after Renee Macklin Good, 37, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, according to St. Paul artist and Team USA member Dusty Thune.

“Upon digging into the snow block, we found the snow pack to be so poorly packed and full of debris that the outstretched arms we were carving kept crumbling and falling off,” Thune told the Pioneer Press. “We made the choice to focus on bigger hands and shorter arms to try and salvage our piece. Sometimes the medium (snow) decides the way a piece is going to be created. Sometimes external events also have a hand in shaping what a piece will become.”

Officials discovered the modifications to Team USA’s sculpture after they had completed the judging process of the competition, which consisted of 16 teams from around the world. Team Canada won the event; Team USA did not place.

The World Snow Sculpting Championship rules state that “teams must adhere to their original submitted sketch” and “sculptures must respect cultural and social values, and avoid offensive, controversial, political, or inappropriate themes,” Robin Anthony-Evenson, president of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce & Foundation, told the Pioneer Press.

The hand gestures in the sculpture “did not align with these pre-established rules and policy,” she said.

‘Emotionally heavy’

In the statement posted over the weekend, Chamber officials said the past several weeks have been “emotionally heavy for many people in Minnesota and across the country.”

“In moments like these, fear, grief, anger, and uncertainty rise quickly to the surface,” according to the statement. “As leaders and as neighbors, we feel that weight too.”

Art “has always reflected the times we live in,” Chamber officials wrote. “It gives shape to emotion and creates space for connection. That role deserves respect. At the same time, shared community spaces depend on shared understanding. Events like the World Snow Celebration are built on shared expectations that enable people from diverse backgrounds, including our international friends, our community, including families and children, to gather in a spirit of welcome. Maintaining that balance between empathy and responsibility is not easy and requires ongoing care and communication.”

Chamber officials said they are “committed to learning from this moment and turning reflection into action.”

“The Chamber will be engaging more intentionally with artists and community members, inviting their voices into ongoing conversations about how we host, communicate, and steward the World Snow Celebration,” according to the statement. “We strongly believe that collaboration strengthens trust, and that trust strengthens the future of this event. … Stillwater has always been at its strongest when we choose steadiness over defensiveness and humanity over haste. That spirit is shared by the many partners who care deeply about this community. Moments like this do not define Stillwater. How we respond, learn, and lead together does. We hope you will join us as we all learn and grow together.”

Permanent sculpture?

Thune said he learned about the removal of “A Call to Arms” from someone who went to Lowell Park to view it.

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Thune spent this weekend working on a snow sculpture called “Ice Out 4 Good,” a memorial for Alex Pretti and Renee Good, at the Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. Pretti was a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed on Jan. 24 by federal law enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

Thune said he also hopes to make a permanent “A Call to Arms.” A GoFundMe online fundraiser to help with that effort (gofund.me/69441a094) had raised $6,700 as of Monday morning.

“I think it is time to make this sculpture live forever,” he told the Pioneer Press last week. “We’d like to recreate it in iron, the lifeblood of Minnesota, and have it on permanent display in Minneapolis as a memorial to those who can no longer speak up.”