A federal judge is weighing contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials over the case of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully sent to a maximum-security mega-prison in El Salvador in March. Judge Paula Xinis on Tuesday questioned why Garcia was still “inexplicably detained” in El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, despite rulings, including by the U.S. Supreme Court, ordering his return. Xinis also said there is no evidence so far that shows Trump officials have even attempted to facilitate Garcia’s safe return home, and gave them until next week to turn over documents and sit for depositions to explain steps they’ve taken to secure Abrego Garcia’s return. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, Tuesday. This is Abrego Garcia’s wife Jennifer.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura: “Today is 34 days of after his disappearance, and I stand before you filled with spirit that refuses to bring down. I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive.”

Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is traveling to El Salvador today to push for Abrego Garcia’s release from prison. Demands are mounting for other Democratic lawmakers to join.
Meanwhile, as the Trump administration continues to defend its decision refusing to bring Abrego Garcia home, reports emerged the police officer who formally accused Abrego Garcia — without evidence — of being a member of MS-13 was later suspended for misconduct. Those revelations didn’t stop White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt from making these comments Tuesday.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “There is never going to be a world in which this is an individual who’s going to live a peaceful life in Maryland, because he is a foreign terrorist and a MS-13 gang member.”

Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland for almost 15 years, after fleeing gang violence in El Salvador, and was a sheet metal apprentice. The president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, Sean McGarvey, received a standing ovation from a crowd of union members when he recently demanded Garcia’s return.

Sean McGarvey: “We need to make our voices heard. We’re not red. We’re not blue. We’re the building trades, the backbone of America. We built a 5 billion — you want to build a $5 billion data center? Want more six-figure careers with healthcare, retirement and no college debt? You don’t call Elon Musk. You call us, North America’s Building Trades Unions. And yeah, that means all of us — all of us — including our brother, SMART apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who we demand to be returned to us and his family now! Bring him home!”

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled against the Trump administration, temporarily blocking its attempt to revoke deportation protection and work permits for an estimated half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela living in the U.S. under a humanitarian parole program. Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement, “Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors will go to sleep tonight knowing that the Trump administration’s attempts to delegitimize and criminalize our communities have been thwarted, for now. This win is a testament to the power and dedication of our communities.”

Several immigration attorneys have received letters from Customs and Border Protection in recent days ordering them to “self-deport” — even though the lawyers are United States citizens. That includes at least one immigration lawyer in Ohio and two in Massachusetts who received an email reading, ”DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.” 

In New Hampshire, newly released video shows the moment federal immigration agents tackled a Venezuelan man inside a Nashua courthouse as he prepared for his arraignment on misdemeanor charges. The video shows he was violently pressed to the ground by the agents, who also knocked over and injured an elderly bystander. 

Meanwhile, a real estate attorney from New Hampshire was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Sunday as he crossed into Vermont following a weekend visit to Canada. Bachir Atallah is Lebanese American and a U.S. citizen. He says he was treated like a criminal and detained without explanation by agents who twisted his arm and handcuffed him, prompting a medical emergency as his blood pressure spiked. Atallah described the incident to NBC10 Boston.

Bachir Atallah: “He asked me, 'Exit the vehicle right now,' and he reached for his gun. I said, 'OK, I'm exiting the vehicle. Keep your gun at your waist.’ … So, I had to, under duress, give him permission to look through my email, through my privileged information. And he made me write a statement, signed by me, saying that I gave him permission to look through the email.”

In Georgia, a man was tased by police on Tuesday as protesters peacefully disrupted a town hall in Cobb County hosted by Republican Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene. Video shows several police officers escorting the man out of the venue when one of the officers fired the Taser. Shortly after the protester was tased, Greene said to the crowd, “This is a peaceful town hall.” 

At a separate Republican town hall in Iowa Tuesday, a crowd heckled and grilled 91-year-old Senator Chuck Grassley on the Trump administration’s mass deportation scheme.

Iowa constituent: “The Constitution, the framers of the Constitution said that every person — not citizen, every person — within the jurisdiction of the United States has due process. That has been violated. That’s been violated by the oligarchic administration. And we would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about it? These people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process.”

Republican lawmakers, who are back in their districts during a two-week congressional recess, have largely opted out of town halls or shifted to virtual town halls to avoid protests.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says his forces will continue their siege of the Gaza Strip, where over 2 million people have gone more than six weeks with no shipments of food, water, medicine and other lifesaving supplies. Katz also said Israel will continue occupying parts of Gaza indefinitely, calling them “security zones,” and pledged Israeli forces will remain in occupied parts of Lebanon and Syria, as well.

Al Jazeera reports at least 19 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn today, including 10 people killed in a strike on eastern Gaza City. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports autopsies of the 15 paramedics and rescue workers killed in an Israeli shooting last month died mainly from gunshots to the head or chest. Their bodies were discovered in a mass grave, with the crushed remains of ambulances, a fire truck and a U.N. vehicle buried nearby.

President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday Iran must completely end its nuclear enrichment program as part of any nuclear deal with the Trump administration. It’s a reversal of a policy Witkoff spelled out on Fox News just one day prior, when he said Iran should be allowed to conduct verified, low-level enrichment of uranium for civilian use. Witkoff’s apparent U-turn followed a successful opening round of indirect talks with Iran in Oman, with more negotiations scheduled for this weekend. In Tehran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. must take concrete and effective steps to lift sanctions that have devastated Iran’s economy. 

Esmaeil Baghaei: “Iran’s main negotiation topic and primary demand is the removal of the unjust and illegal sanctions imposed on the Iranian people for decades. This is a serious and fundamental request, and we made this clear in the negotiations in Muscat.”

The White House has further escalated its trade war with China, threatening to impose a tariff of up to 245% on most imports of Chinese goods to the United States. The threat, in a fact sheet published by the White House late Tuesday, prompted China’s Foreign Ministry to call for a deescalation. 

Lin Jian: “This tariff war was initiated by the U.S. side, and China took necessary countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, as well as international fairness and justice, which are completely reasonable and lawful. China’s position has always been clear: There is no winner in a tariff or a trade war.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged “unwavering” support for Ukraine Tuesday as he visited the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Their meeting came a day after President Trump once again blamed Ukraine — not Russia — for starting the war. 

President Donald Trump: “When you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”

Trump made those remarks after downplaying a Russian attack on the city of Sumy on Sunday that killed 35 people and injured more than 100 others, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The White House is issuing new media restrictions that will significantly curtail access to President Trump by media wire services, including the Associated Press and Reuters. This comes after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration had violated the AP’s free speech rights when it banned reporters from the White House after the news agency refused to adopt Trump’s new name for the Gulf of Mexico.

A Russian court in Moscow has sentenced four journalists to five-and-a-half years in prison each, after convicting them of “extremism.” Two of the four worked for Sota Vision, which documents Russian protests and court proceedings; the others contributed to international news outlets including Reuters and the Associated Press. Prosecutors alleged the journalists were involved with a banned anti-corruption organization founded by Alexei Navalny, the opposition politician who died in a Russian penal colony last year following repeated assassination attempts.

Lawmakers in Hungary have approved a constitutional amendment banning public events by the LGBTQ+ community, including Pride celebrations. The amendment also enshrines the principle that Hungary only recognizes two genders, male and female, in line with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s far-right agenda.

In London, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the definition of a woman does not include trans women, who will no longer be protected as women under Britain’s Equality Act. The case was brought by the group For Women Scotland, which is partly funded by the writer J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter franchise.

The International Maritime Organization has reached a deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the global shipping industry. The agreement will penalize ships that fall short of targets for reducing carbon dioxide pollution. The agreement was approved at a conference in London after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the talks, urging other countries to follow suit and threatening “reciprocal measures” against any fees charged to U.S. vessels.

In Brazil, climate activists rallied in the capital Brasília Tuesday, demanding urgent action to protect the Amazon and Indigenous communities, ahead of the United Nations COP30 climate summit, set to take place in the northeastern city of Belém in November. This is Indigenous leader Marciely Tupari.

Marciely Tupari: “One of the issues we will bring to COP30 is the importance of demarcating Indigenous lands and recognizing Indigenous territories as a climate issue, because we know, for example, that in Brazil we still have protected areas with living forests, thanks to Indigenous territories. So we want this to be discussed in these spaces, for Indigenous leadership to be present in them, and for our national representatives to hear our voices.”