All posts tagged "Honduras"

President Donald Trump's recent pardon of an international drug kingpin has ruffled feathers among members of his own party, according to a new report.

The National Review's Audrey Fahlberg reported Tuesday that Trump's pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández has caused consternation among several Republicans in the U.S. Senate, who say that the clemency measure takes the wind out of the sails of his stated goal of combating drug traffickers. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is retiring from the Senate in 2026, said the pardon was "horrible optics" and sent a "mixed message" about the administration's goals.

"I hate it. It’s a horrible message," Tillis said....

President Donald Trump announced he has pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who is serving a 45-year sentence in a U.S. prison for drug trafficking.

Trump wrote in a Friday post to his Truth Social platform that he was endorsing Nasry "Tito" Asfura in Sunday's presidential election in Honduras, and that his administration would be "very supportive" of Asfura's government if he won. He then pivoted to his decision that he would be "granting a Full and Complete Pardon" to Hernández, saying he had been "treated very harshly and unfairly."

"VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON," Trump wrote in his signature all-caps style....

Eagle Pass (United States) (AFP) - With their two children on their shoulders, Wilfredo Riera and Nataly Barrionuevo wade into the Rio Grande from the Mexican shore, the water soon reaching their waists.  Avoiding the string of large orange buoys placed by Texas authorities to block their passage, they slog on towards the United States. From their starting point at Piedras Negras in Mexico's Coahuila state, they cross to Eagle Pass in south Texas, where that state's governor, Greg Abbott, has deployed the military in an effort to stem the migrant flow. It is 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) on a Friday, wit......

San José (AFP) - The opening of US migrant processing centers in Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala ensures that more than ever these countries will become waiting rooms for asylum seekers wanting American visas.  The "Safe Mobility" initiative rolled out by Washington in Central America -- the main corridor for tens of thousands hoping to reach the United States without visas -- attempts to expand legal pathways for asylum seekers while keeping them in countries farther from the US border. The new program started May 11 with the end of Title 42, which had allowed US authorities to return migr......

Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, accused by Washington of ties with drug traffickers, vowed Tuesday to cooperate with domestic justice in a US bid to extradite him. Honduras's Supreme Court of Justice will meet Tuesday to assign a judge to weigh the US request even as Hernandez's lawyer claimed the politician enjoyed immunity from prosecution. In an audio message on Twitter, Hernandez said his team had already informed the police "that I am ready to collaborate and to come voluntarily... at the time the judge will decide." He would do so, said Hernandez, "to co......

SAN DIEGO — More than three years ago, Bryan Chavez hugged his mother inside a U.S. immigration office, terrified that he would never see her again. “You are not going to see her anymore,” the female U.S. immigration officer told Chavez, according to his account. Then the officer turned to his mother Sandra Ortiz. “And you will go to prison.” Mother and son were separated. Chavez went to an immigration facility in California. His mother, who didn’t pass an initial asylum screening, was deported to Mexico. They were among the earliest family separations during the Trump administration, well bef......