Month: August 2024

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced in San Antonio that a Guatemalan man has been charged with helping coordinate the 2022 smuggling attempt that ended in the deaths of 53 migrants, who were found dead in a big-rig trailer in 2022 in Texas. Guatemalan law enforcement worked with U.S. agents in multiple search and arrest warrants across Guatemala.

U.S. authorities are seeking to extradite Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, 47, who was indicted in the Western District of Texas in connection with the tractor trailer deaths — the deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. The bodies were found in San Antonio in the back of a tractor trailer in which the air conditioning was broken and there was no water, according to prosecutors.  Authorities alleged that Orozco could be connected to four Guatemalan migrants in the trailer, three of whom died, and faces up to life in prison if convicted. Six others also were arrested as part of the operation and will be charged in Guatemala. 14 people have been arrested for their roles, in all.

Attorney General Garland said in a news release: “Over the past two years, the Justice Department has worked methodically to hold accountable those responsible for the horrific tragedy in San Antonio that killed 53 people who had been preyed on by human smugglers. We are committed to continuing to work with our partners both in the United States and abroad to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia and Panama.”

In January, a Mexican national, Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 31, pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle the migrants, admitting to accompanying the loaded tractor-trailer before it was abandoned in San Antonio.  Christian Martinez, 29, of Texas also pleaded guilty in September for his involvement with four other suspects, including Homero Zamorano Jr., the 47-year-old driver of the tractor.

On June 1, 2021 — one year before the incident — Garland created Joint Task Force Alpha in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen U.S. enforcement efforts against human smuggling emanating from Central America. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement: “Today’s arrests in Guatemala are a continued fulfillment of that pledge. We will not rest in our efforts to disrupt the smuggling networks that capitalize on desperation and foster misery throughout the Western Hemisphere.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said: “Smugglers prey on migrants and seek profits with complete disregard for human life, as we saw in this tragic incident that killed 53 people. The men and women at Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection work every day to disrupt these sophisticated smuggling networks, and we will continue to work alongside our federal and international partners to dismantle them at every level of operation.”

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On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved and granted emergency use authorization for updated Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for the upcoming fall and winter season. The shots should be available within days; as of press time, the FDA hadn’t yet approved a third vaccine from drugmaker Novavax.

The FDA said the vaccines will target the KP.2 strain, which is an offshoot of the omicron variant, marking the third time the vaccines have been updated to match circulating strains since the original series. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement: “Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention. These updated vaccines meet the agency’s rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variant.”

The timing of the new vaccines release comes as most of the U.S. is caught in the summer wave of Covid illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (‘CDC’) reported that the number of people testing positive for Covid keeps rising and that emergency room visits for Covid have been increasing since mid-May, with hospitalizations also on the rise.

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Italian authorities say a fifth body has been found in the search for those missing from the superyacht Bayesian, which sank earlier in the week after it was caught in the storm while anchored off the coast of Porticello, a village near the Sicilian capital city of Palermo.. The identities of the bodies retrieved were not immediately released.

Salvatore Cocina, director of the island’s Civil Protection Agency, confirmed to NBC News that divers recovered four bodies Wednesday from inside a superyacht that sank in a sudden storm off Sicily. Later on Wednesday, Cocina confirmed to Sky News that a fifth body had been found and was being brought to shore. One passenger remains missing. Their recovery follows a dayslong search in the deep waters off the Italian coast where British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and several others were believed to be trapped in the hull. Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, are also missing.

The vessel sank early Monday after its mast — one of the world’s tallest — broke in half during a violent storm. The yacht sank after a small waterspout (a type of tornado) spun over the Mediterranean island, likely capsizing the boat. Fifteen people were rescued, with six initially reported missing, and one body recovered Monday – the ship’s cook, identified as Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas. The Bayesian is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was among the survivors rescued by a nearby vessel after getting into a lifeboat.

According to CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters, the U.K.-registered Bayesian yacht was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008. It could carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, with its nearly 250-foot mast being noted as the ‘tallest aluminum sailing mast in the world.’

Italian rescue teams are expected to continue their search at dawn on Thursday, after concluding their search for the day.

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New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a 14-term incumbent and a fixture in his hometown of Paterson for more than four decades, died on Wednesday at the age of 87. Pascrell was slated to run for a 15th term in the fall.

Pascrell died Wednesday morning at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, according to his long-time chief of staff, Ben Rich. A cause of death has not yet been released, but Pascrell had been suffering with a respiratory illness that hospitalized him for nearly a month over the summer.

His family also posted on social media: “It is with deep sadness that we announce that Bill Pascrell Jr., our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away this morning. As our United States Representative, Bill fought to his last breath to return to the job he cherished and to the people he loved. Bill lived his entire life in Paterson and had an unwavering love for the city he grew up in and served. He is now at peace after a lifetime devoted to our great nation America.”

Pascrell was a graduate of Fordham University and served in the Army for six years. He worked as a teacher in Paterson and served on the Board of Education there from 1979 to 1982 before going on to the state Legislature.  He was first elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1988, and then was elected mayor of Paterson in 1990. He went on to serve in Congress in 1996.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy remembered Pascrell for “an unwavering instinct for drawing strength from our state’s diversity” and said he was a “champion for our most vulnerable neighbors. He was a unifier in every sense of the word— and always sought to bring the people of New Jersey together around our shared principles. But for many New Jerseyans, Bill will be remembered most fondly for leading the fight for our families in Congress over the past 27 years. At every stage of his Congressional career, he stood up for our neighbors by defending access to reproductive health care, keeping our communities safe from gun violence, supporting our law enforcement officers and first responders, protecting our natural wonders — like Paterson’s Great Falls — and so much more.”

Pascrell is the second New Jersey representative to die in office this year; Rep. Donald Payne Jr. died in April, and was succeeded on the ballot in a special primary held last month by Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver. It’s unclear yet whether there will be a special election to fill Pascrell’s unexpired term, which ends in January.

Rep. Rob Menendez wrote on social media: “Bill Pascrell was more than a colleague, he was a friend, mentor and someone who I greatly admired and loved. Bill was Paterson to his core – tough but compassionate, a relentless fighter who always championed his constituents and never encountered a fight he wasn’t ready to take on. He loved his job and he did it with purpose every single day. His voice, his work, and his dedication will never be forgotten. But today is a sad day. I’m going to miss Bill so very much. It’s hard to think about going back to DC and not seeing him there on the House floor in the back corner holding court or after votes getting together to connect over a meal. He was a true friend and I will forever cherish our time together and I will always carry his memory with me. May he rest in peace.”

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