By JACK BROOK and SARA CLINE, Associated Press/Report for America

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans, the laid-back city known as the Big Easy and the birthplace of jazz, where lavish parades, bead-throwing debauchery and Creole cuisine attract tourists from around the globe, is about to become the next staging ground for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.

Operation “Swamp Sweep,” an expansive, monthslong immigration crackdown, is expected to launch in southeast Louisiana Dec. 1, but Democrat-run New Orleans is anticipating the arrival of as many as 250 federal troops as soon as Friday, all with the backing of the state’s Republican governor.

Governor Jeff Landry has sought to align New Orleans with federal immigration enforcement efforts through legislation and legal challenges, and the Border Patrol deployment is just the latest drive to ramp up that pressure. And with the New Orleans Police Department being released from a federal reform pact Wednesday, its officers have lost a legal mechanism that has long-shielded them from having to participate in immigration enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation will be led by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has already overseen aggressive campaigns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.

A gung-ho Republican governor

Landry, who has close ties to the nation’s top immigration officials, has made immigration enforcement a priority.

Louisiana does not share a border with another country, yet it has become one of the nation’s largest detention hubs for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with a capacity upward of 6,000 detainees. In September, the Bayou State opened the “Louisiana Lockup” inside a notorious state prison to hold immigrants whom federal officials consider dangerous.

The governor has also highlighted crimes in which the suspect’s immigration status is in question, such as the killing of a French Quarter tour guide by a group that included a Honduran man who entered the country illegally.

New Orleans’ deep-rooted immigrant communities

New Orleans’ Democratic leaders frequently butt heads with Landry and other state officials who accuse the city of lax law enforcement and have pushed for collaboration with the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, a Mexican-American immigrant, told The Associated Press there is “a lot of fear” in her city and that she is working to ensure those who could be targeted by federal agents know their rights.

“I’m very concerned about due process being violated, I’m very concerned about racial profiling,” Moreno said.

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New Orleans is known for its rich blend of French, Spanish, African and Native American cultures. It is home to more than 10,000 ethnic Vietnamese who arrived after the Vietnam War. A city monument recognizes the thousands of Latino workers who helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. South Louisiana’s distinctive Cajun heritage emerged from French-speaking colonists exiled there in the 18th century.

In September, Landry requested a National Guard deployment to New Orleans, citing rising violent crime, even though city police say crime is down and its elected leaders say federal troops are unnecessary. Landry told Newsmax on Wednesday that the “Swamp Sweep” operation is focused on “taking dangerous criminals off the street.”

A Landry spokesperson declined to comment to the AP on Border Patrol operations.

Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Union Migrante, said the influx of federal agents would have far-reaching negative impacts.

“The same people pushing for this attack on immigrants benefit from immigrant labor and the exploitation of immigrants,” Taber said. “Who do they think is going to clean the hotels from Mardi Gras or clean up after their fancy Mardi Gras parade?”

Conflict over the city’s immigration policies

In August, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell saying the city “engages in sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement.” The city has been barred from receiving certain federal law enforcement grants, according to Jim Craft, executive director of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, which distributes federal funds. Cantrell did not respond to a request for comment.

Under Landry, the GOP-dominated Louisiana Legislature has targeted New Orleans’ immigration policies, including by passing a law threatening jail time for law enforcement officials who delay or ignore federal enforcement efforts. Another measure directs state agencies to verify, track and report anyone illegally in the U.S. who is receiving state services, and one more bans city policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration agencies.

“Their enforcement of laws is indiscriminate at best, corrupt at worst,” said Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, who was behind the law punishing obstruction of immigration enforcement. “Apparently we have to have a law to tell people not to break the law.”

Federal oversight of local law enforcement

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s office and the New Orleans Police Department have been subject to longstanding federal oversight that barred them from engaging in immigration enforcement.

The police oversight ended Wednesday, leaving officers in an uncertain legal position if they receive conflicting directives from city and state leaders, according to the city’s Independent Police Monitor Stella Cziment.

Moreno, set to take office as mayor on Jan. 12, said the city’s police will follow state law, but that department policy viewed immigration enforcement as a civil matter outside its jurisdiction. New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said department policies barring immigration enforcement “are not in conflict” with state laws.

Kirkpatrick said she met with ICE officials this week and her department will work with federal agents to ensure public safety.

“Our support is to make sure they are not going to get hurt and that our community is not in danger,” she said.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, backed by the Department of Justice, has requested an end to federal oversight of the sheriff’s office, saying it impedes the state’s ability to enforce immigration law.

The sheriff’s office, which operates the city’s jail, has a policy under federal mandate to not hold people for ICE unless they have committed a serious crime. Court filings show the U.S. government says that since 2022, the jail has only complied with two of its 170 detainer requests. Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork told AP she will comply with state law if federal oversight ends.

Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Fresh from an election victory that even took some supporters by surprise, St. Paul Mayor-elect Kaohly Her has announced members of a transition team that will help pick new department leaders and top City Hall staff, plan for her inauguration and inaugural gala and lead other transitional decision-making. Her, who resigned as state representative on Monday, has drawn her team from a mix of campaign staff, former State Capitol workers and recent city and county employees.

Erica Schumacher and Hnu Vang will serve as the new mayor’s transition team co-leaders.

Schumacher currently works in the Ramsey County Attorney’s office and previously served as director of Neighborhood Initiatives under Mayor Chris Coleman. Vang, Her’s campaign manager, previously worked for former House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, state Sen. Foung Hawj, former U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and in the office of U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, where she served as director of constituent services.

Nick Stumo-Langer, Her’s deputy campaign manager and operations director, will serve as transition advisor. He has served as a committee administrator for the Minnesota House DFL Caucus, a former campaign manager for state Rep. Brion Curran, policy associate for Minneapolis Councilmember Steve Fletcher, supervisor of an early vote center in 2020, and communications manager for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Matt Wagenius, Her’s campaign spokesperson, will serve as the transition team’s communications director and press secretary. He has served as a staff member for Gov. Tim Walz, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, and various state and congressional officials across the country. He recently operated a fundraising and communications consulting service.

Bridget Hajny will serve as Her’s scheduler and office manager. She has spent 20 years in administrative management, including 11 years with the city, most recently with the St. Paul Fire Department.

Her won the five-way mayor’s race on Nov. 4, winning 48% of the vote to two-term Mayor Melvin Carter’s 45% after ballot reallocation.

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By ILLIA NOVIKOV and AAMER MADHANI

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. and Russia have drawn up a plan aimed at ending the war in Ukraine that calls for major concessions from Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the matter, including granting some demands the Kremlin has made repeatedly since the full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago.

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It was not clear what, if any, concessions the proposal asks of Russia. The same person confirmed that promises from Moscow of no further attacks are part of the framework.

As reports of the plan emerged, blindsided European diplomats insisted they and Ukraine must be consulted.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff has been quietly working on the plan for a month, receiving input from both Ukrainians and Russians on terms that are acceptable to each side, according to a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

U.S. President Donald Trump, the official added, has been briefed on the plan and supports it.

The talk of a secret peace plan piled more pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is marshaling his country’s defenses against Russia’s bigger army, visiting European leaders to ensure they continue their support for Ukraine and navigating a major corruption scandal that has caused public outrage.

Several high-ranking Army officials, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, were in Kyiv on Thursday to give a new push to peace efforts and assess the reality on the ground in Ukraine, U.S. officials said.

Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement that he formally received the peace plan Thursday from American officials. The statement said Zelenskyy expected to talk to Trump in coming days about diplomatic opportunities and what was needed for peace.

Zelenskyy underlined Ukraine’s main conditions for peace and promised to work on the conclusions reached in the meetings with U.S. officials, the statement said.

European leaders have already been alarmed this year by indications that Trump’s administration might be sidelining them and Zelenskyy in its push to stop the fighting. Trump’s at-times conciliatory approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin has fueled those concerns, but Trump adopted a tougher line last month when he announced heavy sanctions on Russia’s vital oil sector that come into force Friday.

“For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting in Brussels of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers. She added: “We haven’t heard of any concessions on the Russian side.”

German Foreign Minister Johannes Wadephul said he talked by phone Thursday with Witkoff and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss “our various current efforts to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and thus finally put an end to the immeasurable human suffering.”

The conversations “also focused on specific ideas that are currently being discussed,” Wadephul said in a statement. He did not elaborate.

Plan would give Russia control of the Donbas

It was not clear whether the foreign ministers had seen the peace plan, which was first reported by Axios. The proposal was drawn up by U.S. and Russian envoys, and was said to include forcing Ukraine to cede territory, a prospect Zelenskyy has ruled out.

The Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts this year to stop the fighting have so far come to nothing.

The proposal, which could still be changed, calls in part for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and to abandon certain weaponry, according to the person who had been briefed on the contours of the plan but was not authorized to comment publicly. It would also include the rollback of some critical U.S. military assistance.

Russia, as part of the proposal, would be given effective control of the entire eastern Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland made up of the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, even though Ukraine still holds part of it. Putin has listed the capture of the Donbas as the key goal of the invasion.

Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Putin, have been key to drafting the proposal, according to the person familiar with the matter.

A peace deal that requires Kyiv to hand over territory to Russia would not only be deeply unpopular with Ukrainians, it also would be illegal under Ukraine’s constitution. Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out such a possibility.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social platform X late Wednesday that American officials “are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas” for a lasting peace agreement which “will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that there “there are no consultations per se currently underway” with the U.S. on ending the war in Ukraine. “There are certainly contacts, but processes that could be called consultations are not underway,” he told reporters.

EU accuses Russia of insincerity

Though the European diplomats appeared caught by surprise, reported elements of the plan were not new. Trump said last month that the Donbas region should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands.

EU diplomats have accused Putin of being insincere in saying he wants peace but refusing to compromise in negotiations while sustaining Russia’s grinding war of attrition in Ukraine.

Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat, chided Putin’s forces for continuing to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, a day after a strike on the western city of Ternopil killed 26 people and wounded 93 others. About two dozen people were still missing.

Kallas said that “if Russia really wanted peace, it could have … agreed to (an) unconditional ceasefire already some time ago.”

Trump has stopped sending military aid directly to Ukraine, with European countries taking up the slack by buying weaponry for Ukraine from the United States. That has given Europe leverage in talks on ending the conflict.

Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press journalist Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By JOSH FUNK and ED WHITE, Associated Press

Federal investigators released dramatic photos Thursday of an engine flying off a doomed UPS cargo plane that crashed two weeks ago, killing 14 people in Kentucky, and said there was evidence of cracks in the left wing’s engine mount.

The MD-11 plane only got 30 feet (9.1 meters) off the ground, the National Transportation Safety Board said, citing the flight data recorder in its first formal but preliminary report about the Nov. 4 disaster in Louisville, Kentucky.

Three pilots on the plane were killed along with 11 more people on the ground near Muhammad Ali International Airport.

The NTSB said the plane was not due yet for a detailed inspection of key engine mount parts that had fractures. It still needed to complete nearly 7,000 more takeoffs and landings. It was last examined in October 2021.

“It appears UPS was conducting this maintenance within the required time frame, but I’m sure the FAA is now going to ponder whether that time frame is adequate,” aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press after reading the report.

New pictures released by the NTSB show the left engine coming off the UPS plane and flying up and over the wing as it rolled down the runway.

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