(NEW YORK) — Five 17-year-old boys died when their vehicle went off a cliff in Colorado and crashed, authorities said.

The crash occurred in a residential area of Grand Junction late Saturday, according to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office.

Police and fire personnel responded shortly before 8 a.m. local time Sunday to a report of a possible vehicle that drove off the edge of a cliff in the 2000 block of Lookout Lane, according to the Grand Junction Police Department. They located the crashed vehicle on the hillside, police said.

All five victims were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. 

“Initial investigation indicates the vehicle was traveling southbound on Lookout Lane when it veered off the roadway and down the steep incline of the hillside,” the Grand Junction Police Department said in a release on Sunday.

Speed is being considered as a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation, police said.

First responders from multiple agencies worked to recover the bodies from the crash site. All five teens died from injuries sustained in the crash, the coroner’s office said in a statement Monday.

The driver, front seat passenger and a third occupant were wearing their seatbelts, while the two other occupants were not and were ejected from the vehicle, according to the coroner’s office.

The teens were residents of Grand Junction, according to the coroner’s office, which did not publicly identify them, citing a policy not to release the names of minors.

“Our hearts are heavy following the tragic losses this weekend,” the police department said.  

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(WASHINGTON) — The same legal team that successfully challenged President Donald Trump’s first bid to end birthright citizenship is asking a federal judge to clarify that the Supreme Court’s ruling also blocks a second executive order attempting to target specific children who Trump says are exempt from becoming Americans at birth. 

Trump’s second birthright order — signed last week as a response to the high court’s June ruling — attempts to deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to an “alien enemy,” or a “foreign government employee,” or a parent who “engaged in a commercial transaction” to obtain citizenship or who are born in a territory where citizenship is not conferred by statute. 

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, representing a class of potentially affected immigrant families, filed a motion in federal district court in New Hampshire on Tuesday seeking a declaratory order that the new order effectively defies the Supreme Court. 

“Nothing requires this Court to countenance the continued assault on this foundational constitutional principle or issue an endless string of EO-specific injunctions,” the attorneys wrote. “The court should make clear that [Trump] may not take away class members’ birthright under the auspices of these or any other executive actions.” 

The Supreme Court did confirm four categories of children born on U.S. soil who would not automatically become citizens:  the children of ambassadors, those born on foreign public ships, those born to enemies occupying American territory and members of Indian tribes. But its 6-3 decision left little room for additional exemptions. 

Court precedent “indicated that the four exceptions were a closed set,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion, “meaning that there can be no additional exceptions recognized based on subsequent circumstances or developments. And the decision has consistently been read that way.”

Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion explained that the key determinant of citizenship was “fixed by the place of nativity, irrespective of parentage.”  

The administration argues that the categories specified in Trump’s second executive order are acceptable exemptions from birthright citizenship under the legal interpretation presented by Roberts.

The president’s executive order is set to take effect on Sept. 6. 

The ACLU argued in its motion to the court that none of those specified exemptions appear in the Constitution or federal citizenship law and seeks to block the order.

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(WASHINGTON) — Robert Gilman, a U.S. citizen and former Marine, has been freed from years of detention in Russia on humanitarian grounds, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

“Thanks to the hard work of President Trump and Special Envoy Witkoff, Mr. Gilman joins over 100 Americans whom the United States has freed during President Trump’s second term in office. This Administration will continue to work for the release of all Americans unjustly detained in Russia, including wrongful detainee Stephen Hubbard,” the spokesperson said. 

Gilman’s release came amid severe concerns about his health. According to the organization advocating on behalf of his family, Gilman is on his way to a U.S. military hospital in Texas, where he will be medically and psychologically assessed and treated. His family has flown to Texas, including his mother, who was in Russia attempting to see him at the hospital.

Gilman, now 32 years old, had been detained since 2022. Later that year, he was sentenced to four and a half years in a prison colony after being accused of fighting with a Russian police officer at a train station. 

Gilman’s family deny the charges and have accused the Russian authorities of wrongfully detaining him for political purposes because he is American.

According to the “Free Robert Gilman” website, Gilman served in the U.S. Marine Corps and also founded “Robert Gilman Just English” to help students in Poland build their English skills. Gilman was in Moldova to teach and was visiting family outside of Moscow when he fell ill and was then accused of kicking a police officer.

Gilman, who was recently designated as a wrongful detainee, was not part of a prisoner exchange, and no other concessions were provided as part of his release, according to the State Department spokesperson.

President Donald Trump said he had discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Gilman’s release, adding that “Russia asked for no one in return — No exchange took place.”

“Robert will land at Andrews Air Force Base, in Washington, D.C., tonight, where my Representatives, some of whom are on the plane with him, will welcome Robert back to THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I just spoke to him, and he had one request — A GREAT cheeseburger when he lands,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media account Tuesday.

Lexie Hudson, Gilman’s sister, commented on his release in a press release sent by Global Reach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing home Americans who are wrongly held abroad.

Hudson thanked both Trump and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey.

“The Russians treated my brother so badly,” Hudson said. “They hurt him for no reason, other than that he was both an American and a Marine. What did they get out of this? Why did they do this to such a wonderful person?”

“I am looking forward to seeing Robert. I haven’t been able to speak with him once since this all began. We will make sure that he gets the treatment and support that he needs.”

Markey celebrated Gilman’s release in a post on X while also describing Gilman’s debilitating condition. 

“Approximately 50 days ago, Robert was diagnosed with a dissociative stupor — a condition where he is non-responsive and unable to interact or eat. He was essentially catatonic and also suffered a severe case of pneumonia. We don’t yet know the full details of his current condition or the long-term impact on his recovery. I’m grateful that Robert is now on his way back to the United States to receive the life-saving care that he desperately needs,” Markey wrote. 

Gilman’s family members and representatives have said that in addition to the false charges levied against him, Gilman was subjected to torture and harsh physical and mental abuse by Russian prison guards. 

Moscow has so far not commented on Gilman’s release.  

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