By MICHAEL CASEY and RODRIQUE NGOWI

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts family is demanding answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, complaining its agents smashed a car window with a hammer and detained a man who they claim had applied for asylum.

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A lawyer for the family also claims agents were not looking for Juan Francisco Mendez when they grabbed him Monday in New Bedford, Massachusetts, as he drove to a dentist appointment. The lawyer, Ondine Galvez-Sniffin, told The Associated Press during an interview that the agents claimed they were looking for another man with a different name before they dragged him and his wife out of the car.

The incident, recorded on video by Mendez’s wife Marilu Domingo Ortiz, shows ICE agents using a hammer to smash the car window and then grab Ortiz. The family believes Mendez is being held at a facility in Dover, New Hampshire.

“When I arrived on the scene, my client’s wife was sobbing. She was crying. She was shaking,” Galvez-Sniffin said, adding that Mendez yelled “Help Me” in Spanish as he was driven away in handcuffs.

“I walked over to the car and I see the busted window, the glass all over the back seat, and I was shocked,” the lawyer added. “I’ve been doing immigration work for 27 years and this was the first time that I saw such violent drastic measures being taken.”

A spokesman for ICE did not return repeated messages seeking comment.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, in a post on X, said the incident “raises questions that require clear answers,” including why local police weren’t alerted beforehand. He also questioned whether ICE agents are targeting criminals as the Trump administration promised or are “engaging in an indiscriminate round-up of individuals with uncertain immigration status.”

Ortiz and her 9-year-old son have already been given protection under an asylum status over fears of facing persecution if they returned home to Guatemala.

Galvez-Sniffin said Mendez had been in the country for four years and worked in the seafood industry in New Bedford. He had no criminal record, she said, and was in the process of applying for asylum. He had been fingerprinted in December, she said, adding nothing turned up in terms of a criminal record.

“There really was no reason to treat him the way that he and his wife were treated.” Galvez-Sniffin said, adding that agents refused to look at the paperwork showing he had applied for asylum.

“My biggest concern, his family’s biggest concern is getting him back,” she said. “He has no criminal background and everything to stay for in this country.”

The incident comes as the governor and law enforcement officials in New England have raised concerns about the tactics ICE is using to detain people.

Last month, ICE agent Brian Sullivan took Wilson Martell-Lebron, 49, into custody as he was leaving court. Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville found Sullivan in contempt, arguing that he deprived Martell-Lebron of his rights to due process and fair trial.

That case has since been dropped but the detention outside court while Martell-Lebron was on trial prompted Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden to call the actions of ICE “troubling and extraordinarily reckless.”

Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk of Turkey, 30, also is challenging her detention by ICE. A video account shows her walking on a street in a Boston suburb as she is surrounded by immigration officials. Ozturk is heard screaming as they take her cellphone and is seen getting handcuffed. Her lawyers have called for her immediate release.

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Media Writer

The Associated Press says that a new White House media policy violates a court order by giving the administration sole discretion over who gets to question President Donald Trump, and the news agency asked a federal judge on Wednesday to enforce that order.

The swift move was in response to a policy issued late Tuesday by the White House, which suffered a courtroom loss last week over The Associated Press’ ability to cover Trump. The plans, the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities, sharply curtail the access of three news agencies that serve billions of readers around the world.

The AP filed Wednesday’s motion with U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, asking for relief “given defendant’s refusal to obey” his order last week. McFadden said the White House had violated the AP’s free speech by banning it from certain presidential events because Trump disagreed with the outlet’s decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Wednesday. Leavitt is a defendant in the AP’s lawsuit, along with White House chief of staff Susan Wiles and her deputy, Taylor Budowich.

The AP’s lawsuit claimed that its First Amendment rights were violated by the White House blocking its reporters and photographers from covering Trump. McFadden ordered the administration to treat the AP as it does other news organizations.

Reframing who gets access to the president for questions

For many years, the independent White House Correspondents Association has run the pool for the limited space events, and each time it has included reporters from the wire services AP, Reuters and Bloomberg. One print reporter was also allowed, selected on a rotating basis from more than 30 news outlets.

The White House now says it will lump the three wire services with print reporters for two slots — meaning roughly three dozen reporters will rotate for two regular slots. Wire services typically report and write stories that are used by different media outlets around the world.

Even with the rotation, the White House said Trump’s press secretary “shall retain day-to-day discretion to determine composition of the pool.” The new policy says reporters will also be allowed in “irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet.”

Seeing their own access cut back along with the AP’s, representatives from Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters also protested the new policy.

“For decades, the daily presence of the wire services in the press pool has ensured that investors and voters across the United States and around the world can rely on accurate real-time reporting on what the president says and does,” said Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. “We deeply regret the decision to remove that permanent level of scrutiny and accountability.”

In a statement, the AP’s Lauren Easton said the outlet was deeply disappointed that rather than restore the AP’s access, the White House instead chose restrictions over all of the wire services.

“The wire services represent thousands of news organizations across the U.S. and the world over,” said Easton, an AP spokeswoman. “Our coverage is used by local newspapers and television stations in all 50 states to inform their communities.

“The administration’s actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation,” Easton said Tuesday night.

The WHCA said the administration’s insistence on retaining control over who covers the president shows that it is unwilling to guarantee that it would not continue viewpoint discrimination. “The government should not be able to control the independent media that covers it,” said Eugene Daniels, the association’s president.

More access for Trump-friendly media

Under Leavitt, the White House has given greater access to news outlets friendly to Trump. That was visible Tuesday, when the first reporter Leavitt addressed during a briefing asked two questions while also praising Trump policy.

At Monday’s Oval Office meeting, Trump bristled at questions from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about a man deported to an El Salvador prison, at one point accusing CNN of “hating our country.” He made it a point to contrast her questions with a non-pointed one from another reporter.

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Despite the occasional fireworks, Trump has made himself accessible to the media more than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Cramped-quarters events, particularly in the Oval Office, are some of his favorite places to talk — rendering the new access policy all the more impactful.

The new policy advanced on Tuesday did not address access for photographers. At an earlier court hearing about the AP’s case, the outlet’s chief White House photographer, Evan Vucci, and correspondent Zeke Miller testified about how the ban has hurt the business of a news agency built to quickly get news and images to its customers.

The dispute stems from AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico, although AP style does cite Trump’s wish that it be called the Gulf of America. McFadden agreed with AP’s argument that the government cannot punish the news organization for what it says — for exercising its right to free speech.

The White House has argued that press access to the president is a privilege, not a right, that it should control — much like it decides to whom Trump gives one-on-one interviews. In court papers filed last weekend, his lawyers signaled that even with McFadden’s decision, the AP’s days of unchallenged access to open presidential events were over.

“No other news organization in the United States receives the level of guaranteed access previously bestowed upon the AP,” the administration argued. “The AP may have grown accustomed to its favored status, but the Constitution does not require that such status endure in perpetuity.”

The administration has appealed McFadden’s ruling, and is scheduled to be in an appeals court on Thursday to argue that ruling should be put on hold until the merits of the case are fully decided, perhaps by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The administration has not curtailed AP access to Leavitt’s briefings over the past two months. It has blocked access to events in the East Room to White House-credentialed AP reporters — until Tuesday, when one was allowed into an event that involved the Navy football team.

By Lynn O’Rourke Hayes, FamilyTravel.com

Do you strive to raise citizens of the world? As you and your children navigate the planet together, sharing your knowledge while teaching them to make their own way will create confident and compassionate travelers for the future. Here are a five tips for empowering the next generation of explorers.

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Preparation breeds confidence

Involve your kids in the travel planning and decision-making process from the earliest age possible. Share maps, books, websites, pictures, videos and documentaries. Stoke their curiosity by discussing the nearby and faraway places you hope to visit now or in the future. When you, friends or family travel for business or pleasure, make a point to show your children the destinations on a map and discuss geographic and cultural points of interest that will help build their growing understanding of the world. Encourage the travelers to share their stories.

Knowledge is power

When planning your own journey, chart a road trip using your favorite mapping technology and share the information with the kids. If they are old enough, encourage them to create a suggested routing and to offer options for stops along the way. If you will be flying, show the kids how to navigate the booking process and then check in for a flight online. Consider making each child responsible for their own boarding pass. (For younger children perhaps printing an extra or downloading to your phone as backup is a wise decision.) Provide each child with an itinerary and discuss the details before you depart. Talk about preparing for and moving through airport security.

Bestow responsibility

Discuss your travel details and encourage your children to create a packing list early. Talk about the importance of having the right gear for an adventure trip or the proper attire for a city visit. Then, encourage them to pack their own belongings. As soon as possible, give them responsibility for making sure their bag makes it from home to the car, train or plane. Discuss the importance of having proper identification inside and outside of their bags and retaining baggage tags once a bag is checked to your destination. Encourage them to bring their own items of interest, snacks and a water bottle for the trip.

Communication is key

Before leaving home, make sure the whole family understands how you will navigate to your destination. Visiting a city? Make sure your crew has the hotel address and phone number at hand. If you will be traveling to or through a crowded venue like an airport, a theme park or shopping mall, be sure to have a clearly defined plan should someone lose their way. Use the buddy system or rooms designated for families when visiting public restrooms.

Consider bestowing each member of the family with a cell phone and instructions for use. Should challenges occur, share your problem-solving skills and solutions with the children. Without propagating fear, encourage your children to be aware of their surroundings at all times.

Support those who make your travel happen

Travel and tourism, and the individuals who keep the industry humming, work hard to make your adventure enjoyable. Showing kindness and respect along the way is meaningful. Research your destination before departure and discuss how the places you will visit might be different or similar to your own home. Seek out tour operators and lodging options that share your travel sensibilities.

Once you arrive, burrow into the culture and make a point to learn about how and where the locals live, work and play. Visit local farmers markets.

Skip the chains when possible and seek out locally owned eateries, shops and lodging. If the language is not your own, learn at least a few key phrases and practice them before and during the visit.

In the end, education and experience breed understanding, acceptance and confidence.

©2025 FamilyTravel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By WILL GRAVES, AP National Writer

Donald Trump, the candidate, pledged to get “transgender insanity the hell out of our schools” and “keep men out of women’s sports.”

Donald Trump, the president, wasted little time delivering on his promise to address a topic that seemed to resonate across party lines. Trump issued an executive order on the day his second term began that called for “restoring biological truth to the federal government” and signed another on Wednesday titled “ Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports. ”

The federal government now has wide latitude across multiple agencies to penalize federally funded entities that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”

“The war on women’s sports is over,” Trump declared.

Probably not. Legal challenges like the ones against other executive orders aimed at transgender people are likely and on Wednesday, the Trump administration sued Maine for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports.

What is in the executive order?

The biggest takeaway is that the Trump administration has empowered the federal government to take aggressive steps to go after entities — be they a school or an athletic association and now a state — that do not comply. Federal funding, and potentially grants to educational programs, could be pulled.

The threshold for noncompliance: Any entity that denies “female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.”

The Education Department announced less than 24 hours after the order’s signing that it was investigating San Jose State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, all of which have had Title IX violations reported against them for allowing transgender athletes to compete. It also investigated Maine and last week referred the case to the Justice Department.

Determining “sex” vs. “gender” and how will that affect Title IX?

Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the landmark legislation best known for its role in ensuring gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.

Given the push-pull of how recent presidencies view Title IX, it has created a whiplash effect.

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Joe Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office that interpreted sex as “gender identity” under Title IX, a move that protected transgender athletes from being discriminated against if they wanted to participate in a sport that aligned with their gender identity, not their sex assigned at birth.

Yet it took more than three years for Title IX regulations saying that to be finalized. And when they were, they lacked specifics sports and were put on hold by courts.

Trump’s order explicitly states that sex means the “immutable biological classification as either male or female.” ‘Sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of “gender identity.” The order adds that “sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

The decision marks a significant shift in the way Title IX is viewed and more explicitly, how it will be enforced.

How many transgender athletes will be affected?

That number is hard to pin down.

The NCAA, for example, does not track data on transgender athletes among the 544,000 currently competing on 19,000 teams at various levels across the country, though NCAA President Charlie Baker testified in Congress in December that he was aware of fewer than 10 active NCAA athletes who identified as transgender.

A 2019 survey of high school students by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) noted just 5% of respondents said they participated in a sport that aligned with their gender identity. A 2022 report by the Williams Institute estimated about 300,000 high school-age students (ages 13-17) identified as transgender. How many of those young people participate in sports is unknown, but it is likely a tiny fraction.

Does the order have actual teeth?

The reach of Title IX extends far beyond the participation of transgender athletes. Noncompliance is believed to be widespread.

The Women’s Sports Foundation noted in a 2022 report that there were still “gross gender inequities” across all college divisions and that there was “cause for concern about widespread Title IX noncompliance in high school and college and university athletic programs” even before the COVID-19 pandemic made women’s sports even more vulnerable.

Yet to date no school at any level has had its federal funding rescinded for not meeting Title IX standards that require institutions to provide women with equal access and treatment, said Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University who studies the intersection of gender, sports, media and culture. She wondered where all this support for women’s sports in general — and not on this issue specifically — has been for the last five decades.

“All of these other inequalities have existed and now you’re in a position of power to address those opportunities and this is what you’re addressing?” Cooky said earlier this year. “The fact that this is the issue that the administration is concerned about speaks volumes in terms of how we value women in this society and how we value women’s sports in this society.”

Yet given Trump’s unpredictable approach to governing, precedent and history might not apply.

How will this work at the state level?

About half the states have already enacted legislation that effectively bars transgender athletes from competing in the category that aligns with their gender identity. The AP reported in 2021 that in many cases, states introducing a ban on transgender athletes could not cite instances where their participation was an issue.

Some states are already planning to challenge the Trump order in court. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called the order “mean spirited and unlawful” and called for those opposed to the order to “stand together and fight back.”

What also remains unclear is whether a federal agency can go after specific organizations — like state high school sports associations — that do not receive money directly from the federal government.

How will this affect college sports?

The NCAA Board of Governors moved quickly, amending its transgender participation policy to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth. The NCAA has more than 500,000 athletes competing for some 1,100 schools.

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” Baker said then. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the governing body for more than 200 small schools across the country, voted unanimously in 2023 to effectively ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

What about the Olympics?

On a move most saw coming once Trump won a second term, his administration still managed to sneak in a curveball.

The order calls for the office of the secretary of state to use “all appropriate and available measures” in hopes of having the International Olympic Committee come up with a uniform transgender policy. The organization has passed the buck for years, deferring to the international federations for each sport.

Kirsty Coventry, the sports minister of Zimbabwe, has replaced Thomas Bach as IOC president. A two-time Olympic champion swimmer, she told the BBC before her election that it is the IOC’s duty to ensure equal opportunity and fairness.

“I don’t believe we can do that based off of the medical and science research that I’ve seen if we add or allow for transgender women to compete in the female category right now,” she said then. “It is very clear that transgender women are more able in the female category, and can take away opportunities that should be equal for women.”

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar and Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report.