United News of Bangladesh

US President Donald Trump has hinted at easing tensions in Minnesota following a second fatal shooting involving federal immigration agents, but there were few visible changes on the ground as enforcement operations and protests continued across Minneapolis and St. Paul. Trump sought to strike a more conciliatory tone by praising Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey after separate phone calls, saying he shared “a similar wavelength” with the governor and that “progress” was being made with city leaders. He also sent his top border adviser to Minnesota to oversee immigration enforcement. Despite the rhetoric, activists continued to track and confront federal agents on city streets. Journalists reported aggressive behavior by officers toward the media, including threats of arrest, as protests led to pepper spray use, broken car windows and detentions. Attorney General Pam Bondi said 16 people were arrested Wednesday for interfering with law enforcement. Fear remains widespread among immigrant communities. Latino business owners said many families are still afraid to leave their homes, and several immigrant-run shops have remained closed for weeks. Community members questioned the credibility of federal agents and their tactics. Legal scrutiny has intensified as a federal judge warned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over repeated failures to comply with court orders, citing dozens of violations this month alone. Meanwhile, residents continued to mourn victims of recent violence, with a growing memorial honoring nurse Alex Pretti. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar accused the administration of using immigration enforcement to intimidate minority communities, saying the approach is rooted in fear rather than public safety.

The detention of a 5-year-old boy from Ecuador alongside his father outside their Minnesota home has intensified national debate over immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Federal authorities, the family’s attorney, neighbors and school officials have offered sharply conflicting accounts over whether the parents were given a real chance to place the child in someone else’s care. According to neighbors and school officials, immigration officers involved the child directly by instructing him to knock on his home’s door in an attempt to draw his mother outside. The Department of Homeland Security has rejected that claim, calling it an “abject lie.” Officials say the father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, ran from officers and left his son, Liam Conejo Ramos, alone in a running vehicle parked in the driveway. The conflicting versions surfaced just weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE officer — an incident witnesses described as an abuse of authority but which federal officials defended as self-defense. The father and son are currently being held at a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio. Federal authorities say Conejo Arias was in the United States illegally, though they have not provided further details. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said he entered the country unlawfully in December 2024. The family’s lawyer countered that Conejo Arias had a pending asylum application that allowed him to remain in the U.S. Both claims may be accurate. Officials could have moved to deport him after determining he entered illegally, while he simultaneously exercised his legal right to seek asylum, temporarily halting removal until a judge decides the case. Online court records show the asylum case was filed on Dec. 17, 2024, and assigned to the immigration court inside the Dilley detention facility. Below is a breakdown of what officials, lawyers and others are saying: School officials say ICE used the child as ‘bait’ Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said officers instructed the boy to knock on the door to check whether anyone else was inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said. Stenvik said the father told the child’s mother not to open the door. School officials also said agents refused requests to leave the child with other adults. A widely shared photo of the boy wearing a beanie and a Spiderman backpack has fueled public reaction. “Why detain a 5-year-old?” Stenvik asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.” Other adults offered to take care of the child School officials said several adults present offered to care for the boy but were ignored, including a neighbor who said she had documentation authorizing her to take custody of him on behalf of the parents. Columbia Heights school board chair Mary Granlund said she also told agents she could care for the child. ICE rejects claims from school officials and neighbors “ICE did NOT target, arrest a child or use a child as ‘bait,’” said Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. “ICE law enforcement officers were the only people primarily concerned with the welfare of this child. ” McLaughlin said the child had been abandoned and officers made repeated efforts to have the mother take custody. “Officers even assured her she would NOT be taken her into custody.” She added that officers “abided by the father’s wishes to keep the child with him." ICE and Border Patrol criticize media coverage Border Patrol Commander at Large Greg Bovino said at a Friday news conference that reporting on the case was based on a “false media narrative.” Marcos Charles, acting executive associate director of ICE enforcement and removal operations, said the father was responsible for “abandoning his child in the middle of winter in a vehicle.” He said one officer stayed with the child while others arrested the father, later providing food and attempting to reunite him with family. “Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door. ... Fortunately, Conejo Arias eventually requested that his child stay with him," Charles said. Charles said he did not know the whereabouts of the child’s mother. Conditions at the Texas detention center The father and son are being held at the Dilley family detention center, where advocacy groups say conditions for children have deteriorated. Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at Children’s Rights, said after visiting the facility last week that conditions are worse than ever. “The number of children had skyrocketed and significant numbers of children had been detained for over 100 days,” Welch said, adding that the administration acknowledged in December that about 400 children had faced extended detention. “Nearly every child we spoke to was sick,” she said. Bovino argued that child-parent separation occurs when U.S. citizens are jailed by local police. “I challenge any other law enforcement agency anywhere nationwide to show me the fantastic care that ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol provide children,” Bovino said. He added that without his father, the boy could have ended up in social services custody. Charles said families in detention receive “top-notch care. They have medical care. The food is good. They have learning services. They have church services available. They have recreation.” Lawyer unable to contact family Family attorney Marc Prokosch said Thursday he believed the father and son were being held together but had not been able to communicate with them. “We’re looking at our legal options to see if we can free them either through some legal mechanisms or through moral pressure,” he said. Prokosch was unavailable for comment on Friday, according to his office. Administration policy on detaining children The child’s immigration status remains unclear and could be decisive. Charles said the family entered the U.S. together, indicating the boy was not born in the country. Trump border czar Tom Homan has said parents of U.S.-born children may choose whether to take their children with them or leave them behind. “This is parenting 101. You can decide to take that child with you or you can decide to leave the child with a relative or another spouse,” Homan said last year on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The Trump administration issued a “Detained Parents Directive” last July stating that ICE “should under no circumstances take custody of children or transport them” when minors are encountered during enforcement actions, with certain exceptions. The directive instructs ICE to give parents time to arrange alternative care for children before detention but does not clarify what happens if parents request that children remain with them. Read More: Trump’s immigration crackdown fuels anxiety among child care workers “If a parent is arrested while with their child, the government is not required to arrest the child, regardless of the child’s immigration status,” said Neha Desai, managing director at Children’s Human Rights and Dignity at the National Center for Youth Law. “When ICE detains a parent, its own policy requires them to allow time for arrangements to be made for the child’s care.”

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Friday detained two suspected drug smugglers in Cox's Bazar and seized one kg of crystal meth or ice worth Tk 5 crore from their possession. The detainees have been identified as Syedul Amin, 34, son of Foyez Ahmed, and a teenager hailing from Ukhia upazila. Acting on a tip-off, a team of BGB-30 raided the West Goalia area of the district's Ramu upazila and stopped a CNG-run auto-rickshaw around 5:45 pm for checking, said Mahmudul Hasan of BGB. READ: Ice worth Tk 25cr seized in Cox’s Bazar Being challenged by the BGB members, three occupants of the auto, including its driver, jumped into a nearby pond in a bid to escape. Later, the BGB men detained two of them and seized ice worth Tk 5 crore from their possession. The detainees were later handed over to the local police. READ: Crystal meth worth Tk 12.5cr seized in Teknaf

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have seized five kg of recreational drugs worth TK 25 crore in Cox’s Bazar. This is the largest haul of crystal meth or ice in the country to date, BGB's Cox's Bazar unit said in a statement. The drugs were seized from the Palangkhali area of the district's Ukhia upazila during a special drive conducted by the Cox’s Bazar battalion of BGB (BGB-34) on Thursday. Also read: Crystal meth worth Tk 12.5cr seized in Teknaf Following a tip off that some drug traders would enter Bangladesh from Myanmar with a large consignment of crystal meth, the BGB petrol team took position under a bridge near Palangkhali Bazar around 7pm. Some 39 minutes later, the BGB team spotted an armed group of drug traders crossing the border and challenged them but they managed to escape by firing at the petrol team. The crystal meth was found in the bags they left behind. "Legal action is underway regarding this," said the statement. Also read: 2 held with 1 kg Crystal meth, 50k Yaba in separate drives in Ramu

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Saturday detained a drug trafficker with 1 kg crystal methamphetamine or Ice worth Tk 5 crore from Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar. The arrestee was identified as Md Rafiq Mia, 37, a resident of Noapara Jele Ghat village in Teknaf, said BGB-2 Teknaf battalion in a press release issued on Sunday. Following a tip-off about a large shipment of crystal meth being trafficked from Myanmar through the south of the Jaliardwip area, a patrol team of BGB Teknaf battalion took position on Saturday night. Also read: BGB seizes 1500 grams of crystal meth in Teknaf Around 9:30 pm a hand-rowed boat crossed the zero line of the border from the Myanmar side and the BGB team immediately advanced towards them but most of the traffickers jumped off in the river and managed to flee, said BGB-2. The patrol team gheraoed the boat and held Rafiq Mia with the crystal meth in a plastic bag, said the press release. The procedure is on to hand over the detainee to Teknaf model police station, said BGB. Also read: Woman arrested with crystal meth in Ctg

The Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Centre of Dhaka University (DU) on Monday launched a five-day ‘Bijoy Dibosh-2020 Virtual CMSMEs Divisional Mentorship Program’.

The universities in California have put up a fight against the US government's decision to push back international students if the concerned universities adopt online teaching method due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Seattle, 30 Oct (AP/UNB) — A federal judge on Tuesday criticized the Justice Department for seeking legal fees from a Mexican immigrant who was the victim of a forgery by a government lawyer.

Washington,  OCT 11 (AP/UNB) — The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday criticized a judge's ruling barring his agency from relying solely on databases that have at times led to the wrongful detention of American citizens.