(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that immigrants facing deportation to third countries must be given sufficient notice before being sent to nations where they have no ties.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit struck down a Department of Homeland Security policy that allowed the swift deportation of immigrants to third countries.

“An individual’s right to contest removal to a country based on a fear of persecution in that country means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination,” wrote Circuit Judge Seth Aframe.

The ruling on Friday allows migrants to contest deportations to countries other than their place of origin.

According to the lawsuit, immigrants were routinely transferred to third countries with little to no notice when the administration cited “diplomatic assurances” that the receiving nation would not mistreat them.

ABC News previously interviewed a group of Latin American men who were deported to the Central African Republic and were not informed of their destination until several hours into the flight.

“I feel kidnapped,” one of the men, Aristides Fernandez Garcia, said. “They have violated all the rights that exist in life, because we are human beings.”

In recent months, the administration has expanded third-country deportations after securing formal deals with 35 countries, including Liberia, Ghana, the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone.

Savi Arvey, director of policy for refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First, said the U.S. has spent nearly $50 million on these deportation agreements.

“I think the fact that the administration is sending refugees to the most dangerous countries in the world, to countries run by corrupt autocrats where they’ve been arbitrarily detained and sent back to persecution and torture, shows that the administration has a complete disregard for due process, for international law and for human dignity,” Arvey said.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is set to visit the U.N. General Assembly next week, where he will address the international organization and meet with global leaders, according to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz.

Trump will address the assembly on Tuesday and then have meetings with global leaders, Waltz said. Most notably, the president will meet face-to-face with Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez in a pull-aside meeting.

It will be the first time that the leaders will meet since the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured then-President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year. It also comes weeks after Trump announced that the U.S. and Venezuela reached a deal that he said would give the U.S. majority control of billions of barrels of oil reserves in the Caribbean country.

Other leaders Trump will meet with include United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and, in a multilateral meeting, the leaders of Gulf countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to Waltz.

On Trump’s meeting with the Gulf leaders, a senior administration official told reporters that the president will hear concerns from Gulf countries about the Iran war directly. 

“In one way or another, we expect the Iranian regime to abandon its pursuit of a nuclear weapon, so I think just continuing to have that engagement and that diplomacy with our Gulf partners in that meeting will be incredibly important,” the senior administration official said. “But also, as you all know, the president truly values hearing from them and hearing their concerns. His engagement with them is ongoing and important, but hearing from them as a group will be incredibly important.”  

The official said Iran would be a “key topic” in Trump’s conversations at the General Assembly.

Trump’s address to the U.N. on Tuesday will highlight how his administration has “confronted complex problems head-on,” Waltz said.

“We expect the president will highlight how he has, in his administration … confronted complex problems head-on around the world, many of the peace deals that he has driven to conclusion or is in the process of driving to conclusion,” Waltz told reporters.

“He will touch on the importance of ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, which is not only demanded by the United States, has been demanded by the U.N. Security Council and repeated resolutions, and he’ll talk about some of the United States’ accomplishments in over the past year, since the last time he was here, including in the Western Hemisphere, progress on the president’s 20-point peace plan in Gaza, and more,” Waltz added.

During his hourlong address at the General Assembly last year, Trump lambasted the leaders gathered in the conference hall, saying, “Your countries are going to hell,” while touting the work of his administration.

The president also accused the U.N. of not living up to its promise.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump asked. “It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Reporters for CNN, MS NOW and Politico say they were denied access to the White House grounds Saturday a day after President Donald Trump said the two news organizations and Politico were banned from the location.

“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post Friday.

ABC News observed a CNN reporter and photographer being turned away from the White House security booth on Saturday.

The CNN photographer told ABC News that their passes were confiscated as he and the reporter exited the booth. The reporter flashed her now-empty ID card sleeve.

CNN later reported on air that a photographer and reporter were refused entry Saturday morning, with a reporter saying on CNN that she was told by a Secret Service agent that her badge had been deactivated. 

In a statement, CNN said that it has “a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right.”

MS NOW released a statement Saturday that said some of its journalists were barred from entering the White House grounds.

“MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy,” the network said in a statement. “We stand firmly behind our anchors, our reporters, and our newsroom.”

An MS NOW correspondent reported on air shortly after being denied that one MS NOW producer was able to enter the grounds.

“I asked, ‘We are both with the same network’ and [Secret Service] took a look at their computer — the two officers — and they said they weren’t sure what was going on, but at the end of the day they had to take my badge because it was disabled,” she said.

Politico’s Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger put out a statement Saturday that said a reporter was denied entry to the White House by Secret Service and her press credentials were taken away.

“We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. As we said yesterday, we will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights,” he said in his statement.

The White House did not immediately comment about the reporters’ access being denied.

MS NOW, CNN and Politico had earlier pushed back against the president’s move and vowed to continue their coverage.

The president said restrictions on other outlets would follow. 

At an event in the Oval Office shortly after his post Friday, the president told reporters he supports a free press, but that “you need a fair and honest press.”

“It’s sick. I mean, there’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stuff. Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine. But I don’t have to let them into my, into the people’s house,” Trump said.

In a statement Friday, CNN said it “stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”

Politico said Friday it “will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones. We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them.”

It also said that Trump’s claim Friday that the outlet received government subsidies “are false and have been thoroughly debunked.”

White House Correspondents Association President Jacqui Heinrich said in a statement Friday: “The president said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a ‘ban on the free press.'”

“This is about more than the rights of journalists. It is about the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation’s highest office,” she wrote.

Trump said he decided to make the announcement on Friday citing “cumulative stories.”

It is still unclear what exactly the ban means in practical terms.

Trump insisted he’s not trying to intimidate the press. “No, no, no, no,” he said, reiterating “I like to see honest press.”

The White House tried to ban then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta during Trump’s first term. CNN sued to restore Acosta’s press credentials and the White House later dropped its effort.

Earlier in this term, the Trump White House banned The Associated Press from participating in the pool that covers the White House because it refused to comply with his edict renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. That case remains in litigation.

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(WASHINGTON) — Several hundred activists are expected to gather at the Kennedy Center on Friday in opposition to President Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of the presidential memorial and threats that he will close and demolish it.

Activists are expected to gather Friday evening to link hands and form a human chain outside the Washington venue, demanding Trump be removed as its chairman for failing to protect and manage it. Trump installed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center last year after removing its previous leadership and replacing board members with his own appointees.

“The demonstration opposes the recent sudden closure of the facility, the installation of security fencing, and political efforts to alter or demolish portions of the presidential memorial,” the group said on its website.

The Hands Off the Arts organization behind the rally and protest said they expect hundreds of people to gather on the center’s steps for musical performances, testimonials and speeches before forming a human chain around the building. The group has held various protests outside the performing arts venue this year.

Earlier this week, Trump said the Kennedy Center could be “ripped down” if his administration doesn’t receive recognition on the performing arts center as tensions over his name being removed from the venue mount.

“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down,” the president told reporters.

The activist coalition said its goal is to reclaim the Kennedy Center from “authoritarian overreach and protect other arts and cultural institutions from similar fates,” according to the group’s website. 

“This is not the Kennedy Center you know and love. It’s not the Kennedy Center you deserve,” the group said on its website. “We know what the Kennedy Center is meant to be, and can be again — the nation’s cultural center, active with life, joy, and incredible art.”

The group says it formed after leadership changes at the Kennedy Center in recent months. 

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as Trump has threatened.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued the order after lawyers for Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the board, cited Trump’s warning that the center could be “ripped down” and submitted photographs appearing to show the Trump examining a placard labeled “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” on Wednesday night. The photos were taken Wednesday night through a cabin window on Air Force One.

The venue “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper ruled. 

The judge earlier this week ruled that Trump’s name could not be added to the center’s exterior without congressional approval. The board previously placed his name on the facade, and removed it in June after an earlier ruling.

Trump has argued that the center is in poor condition and requires substantial government support to remain open.

“It’s in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape,” Trump said Wednesday. “You see steel falling down. You see plaster falling off ceilings. You see a lot of dangers.”

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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against the Justice Department said at a hearing Friday that she remains skeptical that the Trump administration won’t move forward with improperly compensating allies of President Donald Trump who were prosecuted under the Biden administration, despite the DOJ’s repeated statements that the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is dead. 

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who is overseeing a lawsuit filed in May that sought to permanently block the fund, pointed to recent statements from top administration officials that she said suggests payments are still on the table for people like anti-abortion protesters convicted under the FACE Act and rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

“Unfortunately there’s been too much talk from members of the administration,” Brinkema said in a hearing Friday in federal court in Virginia. “The issues that underlie this case are still alive and kicking in my view.”

Brinkema’s statements throughout the hearing leave the door open for her to reject an effort by the Justice Department to dismiss the lawsuit brought by a range of plaintiffs who claim they could face potential harm if settlement payments are doled out to Trump’s allies. 

At one point, Brinkema suggested that a potential remedy would be the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee payments out of the DOJ’s Judgement Fund, which is typically the method used across administrations to dole out legal settlements with limited requirements for transparency. 

Brinkema, in raising that hypothetical, said that the current Justice Department operates under a “somewhat coerced” state, with President Trump and the White House effectively eliminating the independence of the Justice Department that was established in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. 

Such a monitor could bring “independent oversight and offer proper unbiased evaluation” to claims by Trump’s allies that they were actually victims of government “weaponization,” Brinkema said — though she noted such an appointment would only likely come after the lawsuit was fully resolved.

A DOJ attorney in court for Friday’s proceedings repeatedly urged Brinkema to dismiss the lawsuit, citing Attorney General Todd Blanche’s statements under oath that the Anti-Weaponization Fund was no longer moving forward. 

During the proceedings, Brinkema repeatedly pointed to the recent ruling by the federal judge in Florida who oversaw Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS that was the genesis of the settlement that resulted in the brief establishment of the Anti-Weaponization Fund and an agreement that effectively immunized President Trump and members of his family from audits of their past tax returns. Judge Kathleen Williams, who oversaw the IRS lawsuit, accused the DOJ of engaging in collusive behavior with Trump’s personal lawyers and abusing her court to give the settlement legitimacy. 

Brinkema said Williams’ ruling was “very problematic” for the government and gave credence to the views that Blanche’s statements under oath that the fund was “dead” couldn’t necessarily be taken at face value. 

“I keep on saying this over and over again, but I’m happy to say it one more time,” Blanche said at a press conference last month in response to a question from ABC News. “I have testified under oath that it’s dead. I have testified in front of the House where I wasn’t under oath where I said it was dead. I have answered questions after my hearing where I said that it was dead, I have rescinded the order that that set up the weaponization fund, which means that it does not exist.”

“The real concern that I think lurks is this concept of taxpayer money being used to promote political viewpoints,” Brinkema said during Friday’s hearing. “I think the ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ — that entity, is gone. But is there a functional equivalent of that going on?” 

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