International
The most ranking Hispanic legislator in the US appeals to Latinos to recover Congress
Democrat Pete Aguilar has been the highest-ranking Hispanic legislator in the US Congress since 2023. A position that he says he takes as an honor and from which he works so that his party snatts control of the House from the Republicans with the support of the vote of that community: “Trump chooses division, we chooses collaboration,” he tells EFE.
On November 5, Americans will not only vote for their future president, but also for the renewal of the Lower House, where he presides over the Democratic caucus, and a third of the Senate, in which his formation holds control.
“These are the most important elections we have seen in the last 50 or 60 years. This is our opportunity to get up as a community and ensure that we go forward and not backward. I will do everything in my power to make sure that I do my part,” explains the Californian legislator in an interview in his office.
Legislator says that Latinos play a key role in the US.
The Democrats need to snatch four seats from the Republicans to regain the Lower House. At the presidential level, the fight is fought between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Conservative President Donald Trump (2017-2021).
And in that fight, Latinos play a key role: their number of voters has gone from 27 million in 2016 to the current 36, but in this time their support for Democratic candidates has been significantly reduced, so we must not take their support for granted.
“The Latino community is not monolithic. We need to understand that they are different, that the first generation can be different from those of the fourth. We have the responsibility to ensure that we communicate effectively and culturally competently to mobilize our voters,” he says.
His strategy, he says, bets on talking about the benefits already achieved and those that could continue to be achieved when the majority is obtained: from discounts on the price of health services to an increase in economic opportunities.
A mandate marked by the blockade
The current division in Congress, with a Republican Lower House and a Democratic Senate, has been characterized by a constant blocking of legislative projects. The rival bench, Aguilar maintains, “is not concerned about a government that works for the people, but about voting no and making Trump happy.”
Among Republican voters, the economy, immigration and violent crime are the main concerns. Health care and Supreme Court appointments prevail among Democrats, according to the non-partisan organization Pew Research Center.
For the legislator they are not opposite priorities. “They are all important. Now, the way in which candidates talk about them is very different. Trump chooses division and we choose collaboration and not chaos, but I have the feeling that the economy will be a driving force in these elections and we must underline what we have done to help it.”
Aguilar, born in California and with Mexican roots, admits that the reform of the immigration system is another pending issue. “It’s broken and needs to be fixed. I think the Latino community understands the difference between border security and immigration,” he says.
“As president, Harris will work with Congress to address this issue,” says the legislator, confident that the candidate is committed to giving opportunities for immigrants to succeed in the United States.
The current Administration, however, has not been exempt from criticism for imposing measures that restrict the right to asylum on the border with Mexico.
Republicans don’t offer solutions
The 45-year-old legislator urges not to believe the republican rhetoric: “They are more concerned with writing down points politically than with offering solutions. (…) We have to make it very clear that it is important to have a strong border.”
And from the experience given by his position as number three of the Democrats in the Lower House and as a member of the parliamentary committee that investigated Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, he also warns of the need not to lower his guard in these future elections.
“I’m afraid I’m going to do the same and we must take precautions to be prepared.” At the moment Harris remains in the lead in voting intentions and gets Trump 2.6 percentage points, according to the average of polls of the FiveThirtyEight website.
The United States could have its first female president. Will there be a Latino in the White House? “I know there will be,” says Aguilar, who assures that he does not aspire to that position. “We need to benefit from our diversity and only then, when people see themselves in those positions of power, will the country have faith in what we do.”
International
Thousands rally nationwide against Trump’s threat to U.S. democracy
Thousands of protesters gathered on Saturday (April 19, 2025) in major cities like New York and Washington, as well as in small communities across the United States, in a second wave of demonstrations against President Donald Trump. The crowds denounced what they view as growing threats to the country’s democratic ideals.
In New York City, demonstrators of all ages rallied in front of the Public Library near Trump Tower, holding signs accusing the president of undermining democratic institutions and judicial independence.
Many protesters also criticized Trump’s hardline immigration policies, including mass deportations and raids targeting undocumented migrants.
“Democracy is in grave danger,” said Kathy Valyi, 73, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. She told AFP that the stories her parents shared about Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1930s Germany “are happening here now.”
In Washington, demonstrators voiced concern over what they see as Trump’s disregard for long-standing constitutional norms, such as the right to due process.
International
ACLU seeks emergency court order to stop venezuelan deportations under Wartime Law
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday asked two federal judges to block the U.S. government under President Donald Trump from deporting any Venezuelan nationals detained in North Texas under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law, arguing that immigration officials appear to be moving forward with deportations despite Supreme Court-imposed limitations.
The ACLU has already filed lawsuits to stop the deportation of two Venezuelan men held at the Bluebonnet Detention Center, challenging the application of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The organization is now seeking a broader court order that would prevent the deportation of any immigrant in the region under that law.
In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan detainees of being members of the Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang. These accusations, the ACLU argues, are being used to justify deportations under the wartime statute.
The Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times in U.S. history — most notably during World War II to detain Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration has claimed the law allows them to swiftly remove individuals identified as gang members, regardless of their immigration status.
The ACLU, together with Democracy Forward, filed legal actions aiming to suspend all deportations carried out under the law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed deportations to resume, it unanimously ruled that they could only proceed if detainees are given a chance to present their cases in court and are granted “a reasonable amount of time” to challenge their pending removal.
International
Dominican ‘False Hero’ Arrested for Faking Role in Nightclub Collapse That Killed 231
A man identified as Rafael Rosario Mota falsely claimed to have rescued 12 people from the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo—a tragedy that left 231 people dead—but he was never at the scene.
Intelligence agents in the Dominican Republic arrested the 32-year-old man for pretending to be a hero who saved lives during the catastrophic incident, authorities announced.
Rosario Mota had been charging for media interviews in which he falsely claimed to have pulled survivors from the rubble after the nightclub’s roof collapsed in the early hours of April 8, during a concert by merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was among those killed.
“He was never at the scene of the tragedy,” the police stated. The arrest took place just after he finished another interview on a digital platform, where he repeated his fabricated story in exchange for money as part of a “media tour” filled with manipulated information and invented testimonies.
“False hero!” read a message shared on the police force’s Instagram account alongside a short video of the suspect, in which he apologized: “I did it because I was paid. I ask forgiveness from the public and the authorities.”
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