Immigration

Labour Party Leader Ivana Bacik argued last week in the Irish parliament that its government must take action on the imprisonment of Irish citizen Seamus Culleton. Culleton has been “detained” in ICE facilities for five months.

The conditions Bacik describes could be scenes from Schindler’s List: “72 men packed into a single tent, filth everywhere, lack of sanitation, violent guards, alleged strangling, three men dead already, and conditions so brutal that detainees are gambling on who will be the next person to take their own life.”

“He calls it a hell, a concentration camp, and he fears for his own life.”

“To describe his testimony as shocking would be an understatement,” Bacik said. She calls it a breach of American “commitments against torture and cruel or degrading treatments.” 

The Hill - A growing number of Olympic athletes competing for the U.S. in this month’s Winter Games are expressing discomfort with representing the U.S. under President Trump’s administration, sparking intense pushback from the president’s supporters and Trump himself. 

Trump attacked U.S. athlete Hunter Hess directly after Hess said he was conflicted about competing for Team USA given the country’s political climate. “It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now. I think it’s a little hard,” Hess, a freestyle skier, told reporters during a recent press conference. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.” 

The president in a Truth Social post hours later called Hess a “real loser” and said it is “very hard to root for someone like this” when watching the games. 

Hess’s comments came days after Amber Glenn, an American figure skater, decried the administration’s policies toward people in the LGBTQ community.   

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