Louisiana
Man deported to Laos despite court order blocking removal, attorneys say
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Immigration officials have deported a father living in Alabama to Laos despite a federal court order blocking his removal from the U.S. on the grounds he has a claim to citizenship, the man’s attorneys said Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick last week ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, in the United States while he presented what the judge called his “substantial claim of U.S. citizenship,” court records show. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but was granted lawful permanent residence in the U.S. before his first birthday, according to court filings.
But Souvannarath on Sunday messaged his wife on WhatsApp and told her he was in Dongmakkhai, Laos, according to a screenshot she shared with The Associated Press. The message ends with “love y’all.”
“It is very unfortunate, especially for the children that we have together,” Beatrice Souvannarath told AP.
Emails, phone calls and text messages sent to ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.
The ACLU of Louisiana, which is representing Souvannarath, called the deportation a “stunning violation of a federal court order.” Before his deportation, Souvannarath had been detained at a newly opened ICE facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
“ICE just ignored a federal court order and tore yet another family apart,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director for the ACLU of Louisiana, in a statement. “This administration has shown it will ignore the courts, ignore the Constitution and ignore the law to pursue its mass deportation agenda, even if it means destroying the lives of American citizens.”
The deportation comes as Trump administration officials have repeatedly clashed with the courts over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants. There have been previous cases of U.S. citizens being deported, including U.S.-born children.
Chanthila Souvannarath was taken into ICE custody in June following an annual check-in with immigration authorities in Alabama, where he had been living, his wife said.
“When he went to check in, they detained him. And our two younger kids were with him,” Beatrice Souvannarath told AP. “It was the hardest two months of my life.”
He spent much of his childhood living with one or both of his parents in Hawaii, Washington state and California. His father, a native of Laos, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Souvannarath claims his citizenship derives from that status.
Souvannarath filed an emergency motion seeking to delay his deportation. Dick, the federal judge based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, issued a temporary restraining order Thursday, citing the “irreparable harm that would be caused by immediate deportation.”
“Though the government has an interest in the enforcement of its immigration laws, the potential removal of a U.S. citizen weighs heavily against the public interest,” wrote Dick, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. Souvannarath would be “unable to effectively litigate his case from Laos,” she added.
The court docket shows no changes in Souvannarath’s case since the judge issued the temporary restraining order, which was set to expire Nov. 6.
Nebraska
Man pleads guilty to killing Catholic priest who was stabbed in rectory
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The man accused of fatally stabbing a Catholic priest during a break-in at his home beside the church he served in a small Nebraska town pleaded guilty to murder and other charges Tuesday in the December 2023 killing.
Kierre Williams changed his plea to guilty on murder, burglary and weapons charges during a routine pretrial hearing. He will be sentenced on Nov. 12 to life in prison for killing the Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, 65, in the rectory next door to St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Calhoun. The killing occurred just hours before Gutgsell was scheduled to celebrate Mass.
Washington County prosecutors decided early on in the case not to pursue the death penalty in the case. Investigators struggled to find any connection between Williams and the priest. The priest’s death and another unexplained killing four months earlier had badly shaken the roughly 1,100 residents of the town some eight miles (13 kilometers) north of Omaha near the Missouri River.
The first-degree murder charge Williams pled guilty to calls for a sentence of life in prison without parole when prosecutors don’t pursue the death penalty.
Williams’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
On the day of the attack, Gutgsell called 911 before dawn to report that a man had broken into the rectory and was in his kitchen holding a knife. A deputy who arrived at the home minutes later said he found Gutgsell lying near the kitchen, bleeding profusely from stab wounds. Gutgsell was rushed to a hospital in Omaha, where he died.
Williams didn’t have a weapon at the time, but investigators later found a broken knife with a serrated blade lying in blood on the floor of Gutgsell’s bedroom.
Williams has several felony convictions in other states, authorities said. At the time of the killing, he was working in a meatpacking plant in Sioux City, Iowa.
New York
British paper was duped by person impersonating Bill de Blasio
NEW YORK (AP) — The Times of London has apologized for running an article that falsely claimed former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had criticized current Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. The British newspaper said it was duped by someone impersonating the ex-politician.
In a statement, the newspaper said it retracted the story containing the bogus de Blasio quotes after learning that “our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.”
The article, published just a week ahead of the closely-watched mayoral election, quickly drew attention online Tuesday evening, as de Blasio had been an early backer of Mamdani’s.
De Blasio then took to X to disavow the piece as “entirely false and fabricated,” adding that he “never spoke to that reporter and never said those things.”
Under the headline “Zohran Mamdani Ally Bill de Blasio Says His Policies Don’t Add Up,” the piece quoted de Blasio as saying he had changed his view on Mamdani’s agenda, which includes free buses, universal child care and a rent freeze for stabilized apartments.
The actual de Blasio said that he continues to support Mamdani, calling his vision “both necessary and achievable.”
The newspaper did not elaborate on how the interview was conducted.
Man deported to Laos despite court order blocking removal, attorneys say
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Immigration officials have deported a father living in Alabama to Laos despite a federal court order blocking his removal from the U.S. on the grounds he has a claim to citizenship, the man’s attorneys said Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick last week ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, in the United States while he presented what the judge called his “substantial claim of U.S. citizenship,” court records show. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but was granted lawful permanent residence in the U.S. before his first birthday, according to court filings.
But Souvannarath on Sunday messaged his wife on WhatsApp and told her he was in Dongmakkhai, Laos, according to a screenshot she shared with The Associated Press. The message ends with “love y’all.”
“It is very unfortunate, especially for the children that we have together,” Beatrice Souvannarath told AP.
Emails, phone calls and text messages sent to ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.
The ACLU of Louisiana, which is representing Souvannarath, called the deportation a “stunning violation of a federal court order.” Before his deportation, Souvannarath had been detained at a newly opened ICE facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
“ICE just ignored a federal court order and tore yet another family apart,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director for the ACLU of Louisiana, in a statement. “This administration has shown it will ignore the courts, ignore the Constitution and ignore the law to pursue its mass deportation agenda, even if it means destroying the lives of American citizens.”
The deportation comes as Trump administration officials have repeatedly clashed with the courts over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants. There have been previous cases of U.S. citizens being deported, including U.S.-born children.
Chanthila Souvannarath was taken into ICE custody in June following an annual check-in with immigration authorities in Alabama, where he had been living, his wife said.
“When he went to check in, they detained him. And our two younger kids were with him,” Beatrice Souvannarath told AP. “It was the hardest two months of my life.”
He spent much of his childhood living with one or both of his parents in Hawaii, Washington state and California. His father, a native of Laos, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Souvannarath claims his citizenship derives from that status.
Souvannarath filed an emergency motion seeking to delay his deportation. Dick, the federal judge based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, issued a temporary restraining order Thursday, citing the “irreparable harm that would be caused by immediate deportation.”
“Though the government has an interest in the enforcement of its immigration laws, the potential removal of a U.S. citizen weighs heavily against the public interest,” wrote Dick, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. Souvannarath would be “unable to effectively litigate his case from Laos,” she added.
The court docket shows no changes in Souvannarath’s case since the judge issued the temporary restraining order, which was set to expire Nov. 6.
Nebraska
Man pleads guilty to killing Catholic priest who was stabbed in rectory
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The man accused of fatally stabbing a Catholic priest during a break-in at his home beside the church he served in a small Nebraska town pleaded guilty to murder and other charges Tuesday in the December 2023 killing.
Kierre Williams changed his plea to guilty on murder, burglary and weapons charges during a routine pretrial hearing. He will be sentenced on Nov. 12 to life in prison for killing the Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, 65, in the rectory next door to St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Calhoun. The killing occurred just hours before Gutgsell was scheduled to celebrate Mass.
Washington County prosecutors decided early on in the case not to pursue the death penalty in the case. Investigators struggled to find any connection between Williams and the priest. The priest’s death and another unexplained killing four months earlier had badly shaken the roughly 1,100 residents of the town some eight miles (13 kilometers) north of Omaha near the Missouri River.
The first-degree murder charge Williams pled guilty to calls for a sentence of life in prison without parole when prosecutors don’t pursue the death penalty.
Williams’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
On the day of the attack, Gutgsell called 911 before dawn to report that a man had broken into the rectory and was in his kitchen holding a knife. A deputy who arrived at the home minutes later said he found Gutgsell lying near the kitchen, bleeding profusely from stab wounds. Gutgsell was rushed to a hospital in Omaha, where he died.
Williams didn’t have a weapon at the time, but investigators later found a broken knife with a serrated blade lying in blood on the floor of Gutgsell’s bedroom.
Williams has several felony convictions in other states, authorities said. At the time of the killing, he was working in a meatpacking plant in Sioux City, Iowa.
New York
British paper was duped by person impersonating Bill de Blasio
NEW YORK (AP) — The Times of London has apologized for running an article that falsely claimed former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had criticized current Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. The British newspaper said it was duped by someone impersonating the ex-politician.
In a statement, the newspaper said it retracted the story containing the bogus de Blasio quotes after learning that “our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.”
The article, published just a week ahead of the closely-watched mayoral election, quickly drew attention online Tuesday evening, as de Blasio had been an early backer of Mamdani’s.
De Blasio then took to X to disavow the piece as “entirely false and fabricated,” adding that he “never spoke to that reporter and never said those things.”
Under the headline “Zohran Mamdani Ally Bill de Blasio Says His Policies Don’t Add Up,” the piece quoted de Blasio as saying he had changed his view on Mamdani’s agenda, which includes free buses, universal child care and a rent freeze for stabilized apartments.
The actual de Blasio said that he continues to support Mamdani, calling his vision “both necessary and achievable.”
The newspaper did not elaborate on how the interview was conducted.
