Judge says migrants must get chance to challenge removals

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration must give more than 100 migrants sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador a chance to challenge their deportations.

U.S. District Chief Judge James Boasberg said people who were sent to the prison in March under an 18th-century wartime law haven’t been able to contest the removals or allegations that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He ordered the administration to work toward giving them a way to file those challenges.

The judge wrote that “significant evidence” has surfaced indicating that many of the migrants imprisoned in El Salvador are not connected to the gang “and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations.”

At least 11 people die in stampede outside cricket stadium

At least 11 people are dead and more than 30 injured after a stampede Wednesday as crowds tried to enter a cricket stadium in southern India’s Karnataka state, authorities said.

The crush happened as tens of thousands of cricket fans gathered outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to celebrate the winners of the Indian Premier League, the world’s most popular T20 cricket tournament.

Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who uses one name, said the crowd tried to break one of the stadium’s gates and enter to take part in celebrations.

Eleven people were killed and 33 were injured, Siddaramaiah said, adding that most of the injured were stable and receiving treatment in hospitals.

Government goes after Columbia’s accreditation

The Education Department is pressuring Columbia University’s accreditor to take action against the Ivy League school over findings that it failed to protect Jewish students from harassment.

The department on Wednesday told the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that Columbia should face action because it has been found in violation of antidiscrimination laws.

Accreditors work on behalf of the federal government to decide which colleges can accept federal financial aid. Without an accreditor’s seal of approval, Columbia could no longer accept students’ federal grants or loans.

The announcement says the accreditor must take action against Columbia if it doesn’t come into compliance.

Committee expands inquiry into Biden’s mental condition

The House Oversight Committee is requesting interviews with members of former President Joe Biden’s innermost circle as Republicans ramp up their investigation into the final moves of the Biden administration.

Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican, requested transcribed interviews with five Biden aides, alleging they had participated in a “cover-up” that amounted to “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history.”

Comer reiterated his call for Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, and several staffers to appear before the committee.

He warned subpoenas would be issued this week if they refuse to schedule voluntary interviews.

The Republican inquiry so far has focused on the final executive actions of Biden’s administration, which included the issuing of new federal rules and presidential pardons that they claim may be invalid.

Judge tosses Democratic committees’ lawsuit

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing an executive order that Democratic Party officials claim could undermine the independence of the Federal Election Commission.

U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington ruled late Tuesday that there’s insufficient evidence that the Republican administration intends to apply a key portion of Trump’s executive order to the FEC or its commissioners.

The Democratic Party’s three national political committees sued after Trump signed the executive order in February. The order was intended to increase his control of the entire executive branch, including over agencies such as the FEC, a six-person bipartisan board created by Congress to enforce campaign finance law independently.

Justice Dept. sues over tuition without legal residency

The Justice Department on Wednesday sought to block a Texas law that for decades has given college students without legal residency in the U.S. access to reduced in-state tuition rates, the latest effort by the Trump administration to crack down on immigration into the country.

Texas was the first state in the nation, in 2001, to pass a law allowing “Dreamers,” or young adults without legal status, to be eligible for in-state tuition if they meet certain residency criteria. Although two dozen states now have similar laws, the Trump administration filed the lawsuit in conservative Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and state lawmakers have long sought to support his hard-line goals on the border.

The lawsuit also comes just a few days after the end of the state legislative session, where a repeal bill pushed by group of Republicans was considered but ultimately did not come up for a vote.

Man charged with supplying explosive chemicals to bomber

Federal authorities arrested a man they say collaborated with the bomber of a fertility clinic in May, alleging that he supplied chemicals used to make explosives and traveled to California to experiment with them in the bomber’s garage months before the attack.

The two men connected in fringe online forums over their shared beliefs against human procreation, authorities told reporters Wednesday. The blast gutted the fertility clinic in Palm Springs and shattered the windows of nearby buildings, with officials calling the attack terrorism and possibly the largest bomb scene ever in Southern California. The clinic was closed, and no embryos were damaged.

Guy Edward Bartkus of California, the bomber, died in the May 17 explosion.

Authorities arrested collaborator Daniel Park, 32, of Washington state on Tuesday after he was extradited from Poland, where he had fled four days after the attack.

— Denver Post wire services