Australian naturopath Barbara O’Neill detained in Qatar, released after hours of questioning

Barbara O’Neill. Photo: Barbara O’Neill/Instagam


Barbara said she was told she was not subject to a travel ban and was allowed to leave Qatar, returning to Dubai, where she is now with her husband

PUBLISHED: Sat 26 Sept 2026, 12:12 PM

By:
Salma El Omla

Australian naturopath Barbara O’Neill was arrested in Qatar and later released, according to a video shared on her official Instagram handle.

In the clip, Barbara recalled the incident, saying that the arrest took place at around 9 pm when she was preparing to go to bed.

She said that around 8 men arrived at her accommodation, one of whom identified himself as being from Qatar’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and told her that she had to accompany them to the police station.

She said that a policewoman accompanied her while she changed before she was taken to the police station.

'Incredibly unnerving'

Barbara described the experience as 'incredibly unnerving' and said she became emotional while being questioned. “I did cry,” she said, recalling that an officer asked why she was crying and told her that they had not hurt her.

She said the entire experience has 'been really upsetting'.

Barbara said that she told the officer that she had “done nothing wrong”. She claimed that the authorities eventually decided that she did not pose a threat to public safety and allowed her to return to her hotel instead of keeping her in a cell overnight and to come back at 7am instead.



She said she returned as directed and spent around five hours at the police station, accompanied by two women, one of whom she referred to as her “Middle Eastern daughter”.

She said she was later questioned by the head prosecutor and two lawyers, who told her, 'No, you don’t have a ban. You can travel.'

Barbara said that she was subsequently allowed to leave Qatar and returned to Dubai, where she is now with her husband, Micheal, who also appeared in the video.

The couple did not provide details about the specific allegation or offence that led to Barbara’s arrest.
Health claims under scrutiny

Australian naturopath Barbara O’Neill has gained an international following for promoting natural remedies, nutrition and lifestyle-based approaches to health. However, some of her health claims have faced criticism from medical and health authorities.

In August, Egypt’s Medical Syndicate called for action over a training course O’Neill was scheduled to present in El Gouna, Hurghada, in November, citing concerns over what it described as misleading and unverified health claims.

The syndicate said it had taken urgent measures to protect public health and prevent the promotion of medical information that is not supported by scientific evidence.

It also said O’Neill is not licensed to practise medicine in Egypt and referred to a permanent prohibition issued by Australian authorities following an official investigation.

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Ms. Rachel teams up with N.J. Democrat to protest Delaney Hall: ‘It just broke my heart’

Updated: Jun. 11, 2026, 10:15 p.m.
|Published: Jun. 10, 2026, 9:37 a.m.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J, speaks during a Senate Homeland Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)AP


By Lauren Sforza | NJ.com


Ms. Rachel, a popular children’s entertainer, teamed up with U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) on Tuesday to condemn the separation of children from their parents detained at Delaney Hall.

Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, visited the immigrant detention center in Newark on Monday to meet with children whose parents have been detained. In recent months, she has been an outspoken advocate of children and their families who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a video shared by Kim on Tuesday, Ms. Rachel described her visit to Delaney Hall. She also blasted Dilley Immigration Processing Center — a detention center in Texas — for detaining children.

Ms. Rachel thanked Kim for speaking out against the conditions of Delaney Hall and showed him letters from children being held in the Texas detention center. The video was taken in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

“Senator Kim, thank you so much for taking the time to look at the letters and the children at Dilley Immigration Detention Center, who’ve been in there sometimes for many months and who are still there now, and for reading their words and hearing their voices. It means the world to us,” she told Kim.

“I also want to thank you so much for all you’ve done for Delaney Hall. I was there yesterday, and I was up till 2am worried about these kids and families. They’re so wonderful, and they just miss their parents so much. And the trauma was just very obvious. And it just broke my heart,” she said.

“Loving our neighbors is our resistance.”

 May 7, 2026

“Loving our neighbors is our resistance.”

The following reflection is written by Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace Kathy O’Leary, who serves as coordinator of Pax Christi New Jersey. Kathy is a lead organizer of the ongoing presence of support and resistance outside Delaney Hall, the massive ICE detention center in Newark.

Some people know Delaney Hall as the immigration detention center where the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city was taken into custody by ICE. However, to the hundreds of volunteers and thousands of visitors who have spent time there over the last year, it is the place where our kidnapped neighbors and loved ones are being held.

Doremus Avenue, where Delaney Hall is located, is not an easy place to be. It is in Newark’s “chemical corridor” surrounded by industrial facilities spewing various odors and toxins. It is a four lane road heavily traveled by trucks leaving the nearby port; a freight line across the street carries garbage to a nearby incinerator. Only a few blocks away to the south is one of the largest sewage treatment plants in the country. The management of the for-profit facility, GEO Group, has provided no parking, and until about February, provided no indoor waiting area for visitors.

Over the past year we have fostered a community that includes the visitors and volunteers. We bring what we need to be able to stay outside the facility, either to wait to get in or to offer help and support to those who are waiting. In the summer we bring things like cold water in coolers filled with ice to make the heat bearable and umbrellas to block the sun. In the winter we bring hand warmers, blankets, hats and gloves and hot coffee. We always have snacks and sometimes hot food. We set up pop-up tents and tables at the edge of the driveway to hold the “compliance clothing” that we loan to people who are wearing something that does not meet the dress code. We dubbed it the “radical hospitality zone.”

At the end of January, after several snow storms and bitterly cold nights, Essex County came through with a tent made of heavy vinyl which was set up on property adjacent to Delaney Hall. Our radical hospitality zone moved into the radical hospitality tent which is where we distribute diapers, grocery store gift cards, and pantry bags and where we offer hot coffee and food.

The visitors who are touched by the care they receive will often return with food and supplies or to help translate. It is common for people who have been released to come back and visit. Volunteers who come and witness the dedication of the visitors and the warmth and energy that a friendly face provides to someone who is incarcerated will offer to visit those who have no one.

240 Migrants Found on Sinking Boat During Illegal Journey to US

 

DHS Highlights Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested in Sanctuary New Jersey in the Last Week Amid Leftist Smears Against ICE

DHS Highlights Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested in Sanctuary New Jersey in the Last Week Amid Leftist Smears Against ICE

Release Date: June 2, 2026


Sanctuary politicians need to stop peddling false smears about ICE detention facilities and start thanking ICE law enforcement officers for getting these thugs off New Jersey streets

WASHINGTON – The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement highlighting criminal illegal aliens U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested in New Jersey over the last week, including murderers, sexual predators, burglars, and violent assailants.

“While sanctuary politicians and leftist agitators spread false smears about the Delaney Hall ICE facility, the brave men and women of ICE are still hard at work removing criminal illegal aliens from New Jersey. In New Jersey, they have removed dangerous criminal illegal aliens with criminal histories that include voluntary manslaughter, sex assault, burglary, fraud, terroristic threats, and aggravated assault,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “These sanctuary politicians need to stop peddling false smears about ICE detention facilities and start thanking ICE law enforcement officers for getting these thugs off New Jersey streets. We will not let violent rioters slow us down from making America safe again.”

Newark NJ Police Department stands down during Delaney Hall protests

  

Photo (Courtesy) https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/gallery/angry-protests-erupt-outside-new-1858680

The Newark Police Department's (NPD) decision to stand down and refuse requests for assistance at the Delaney Hall detention facility is a direct reflection of a deep, ongoing political and operational conflict between New Jersey local/state officials and federal immigration authorities.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publicly criticized the move in a statement, noting:


"Local police have refused to answer calls to help our law enforcement. We will not allow violent rioters to slow ICE down."

The situation boils down to a stark division over jurisdiction, local "sanctuary" laws, and escalating clashes at the facility.

Why the Newark Police Department Stood Down

The NPD's refusal to intervene aligns with local governance and a broader pushback against federal immigration operations in the state:The Washington Post

• Sanctuary Policies: Newark and New Jersey have strict policies restricting local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement (ICE). Local officials argue that deploying city police resources to defend a private, federal immigration facility goes against municipal directives.The Washington Post
• Political Alignment: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has been a vocal opponent of the facility, previously attempting to send city fire and code enforcement officials to inspect it, only to be blocked by federal authorities. Mayor Baraka recently called on New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill to launch an investigation into the facility. NJ Spotlight News
• The State Law Context: New Jersey passed a law banning the operation of private immigration detention centers. However, a federal legal challenge struck down the ban, allowing ICE and the private prison company GEO Group to reopen the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall facility. Local authorities view the facility's continued operation as an overreach against state intent. The Guardian

The Broader Crisis at Delaney Hall

The police department's refusal to assist comes during a week of intense turmoil at the facility, driven by a reported hunger strike and severe clashes outside the gates:

• The Hunger and Work Strike: Approximately 300 detainees signed a public letter alleging "deplorable" and "inhumane" conditions, insufficient medical care, and small food portions contaminated with maggots. Visiting Democratic members of Congress corroborated reports of medical neglect, citing detainees with untreated cancer or suspected breast lumps.The Guardian
• Federal Denials: DHS and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin have fiercely denied the existence of a hunger strike or subprime conditions, labeling the allegations "smears" and a "political stunt." The Guardian
• Violent Clashes: Protests have escalated, with federal agents deploying pepper spray and pepper balls into crowds. High-profile figures, including U.S. Senator Andy Kim, reported being pepper-sprayed by federal agents during an attempted oversight visit. Houston Chronicle
• Recent Arrests: DHS confirmed that federal authorities arrested at least two protesters for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers, accusing them of spraying law enforcement with an unknown chemical substance.

Because local police are staying out of the conflict, security at the perimeter remains entirely under the control of helmeted, armed federal ICE agents and GEO Group personnel.

Source: Google Gemini

Watch Fox News Reporter SLAM Foul-Mouthed Anti-ICE Protester

LIVE: Anti-ICE Protesters Outside Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey

 

RAW VIDEO: Woman sets Kansas City warehouse, former potential ICE detention center site, on fire

 

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Woman sought after setting fire to Kansas City, MO, warehouse once considered for use as ICE detention center



Photo by: KSHB

By: KSHB 41 News Staff

Posted 11:02 PM, Feb 12, 2026
and last updated 2:42 PM, Feb 13, 2026


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is looking for a woman who allegedly set fire to a south KCMO warehouse that had been considered for use as an ICE detention center.

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Border Patrol chief ordered to meet with judge daily on Chicago immigration crackdown

Georgetown scholar recalls terror and ‘mockery of due process’ in immigration jail

A Georgetown University scholar who was targeted for deportation by the Trump administration said he was terrified during his time in immigration jail. Badar Khan Suri was released on bond last week as his lawsuit against the U.S. government’s deportation case continues.

BY OLIVIA DIAZ AND BEN FINLEY
Updated 6:34 PM EDT, May 23, 2025Share


ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — One of the lowest moments of Badar Khan Suri’s two months in federal custody was being crammed onto an airplane with hundreds of other shackled prisoners.

The Trump administration was trying to deport the Georgetown University scholar over statements he made against Israel’s war in Gaza. The guards wouldn’t say where they were headed, but the Indian national was convinced it was out of the United States.

Then Khan Suri had to use the plane’s bathroom. He said the guards refused to unshackle his wrists.

“They said, ‘No, you have to use it like this or do it in your trousers,’” Khan Suri recalled of the trip, taking him to a Louisiana detention center. “They were behaving as if we were animals.”

Khan Suri, 41, was released on bond last week as his lawsuit against the U.S.'s deportation case continues. In an interview with The Associated Press, he spoke Thursday of a cramped cell, crowded with other detainees, where he waited anxiously, fearful about what would happen next.

He also addressed the Trump administration’s accusations that he spread “Hamas propaganda.” Khan Suri said he only spoke in support of Palestinians, who are going through an “unprecedented, livestreamed genocide.”

“I don’t support Hamas,” he said. “I support Palestine. I support Palestinians. And it is so deceiving for some people who just publish canards ... They will just replace Palestine with Hamas.”

Yet, because of his comments, he said U.S. authorities treated him as if he had committed a high-level crime. Fellow inmates said his red uniform was reserved for the most dangerous offenders.

“I said, ’No, I’m just a university teacher. I did nothing,” Khan Suri recalled.

Still, there were rays of hope. He said more than a hundred people from the Georgetown community wrote letters on his behalf to the federal judge overseeing his case, including some who are Jewish.

A crowd also greeted him when he arrived back in the Washington, D.C., area.

“Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims — everyone together,” said Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow who studies religion, peace and violence. “That is the reality I want to live with. That’s the reality I want to die for. Those people together.”

In a statement to the AP on Friday afternoon, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin refuted Khan Suri’s allegations of lack of due process and inhumane treatment.

McLaughlin said Khan Suri was in communication with attorneys “within hours of his arrival at the facility” and did not have to sleep on the floor. She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement “takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”

Amid rumors of overcrowding, U.S. Rep Frederica Wilson tours Krome Deten...

Turkish Student's Arrest Sparks Outrage: Visa Revoked!

NWO: US government building ‘detention centers’ in all 50 states!

Advocates of Color Are Creating Alternatives to Detention for LGBTQ Migrants

Aug 7, 2019, 1:21pm Tina Vasquez

“The solution to detention already exists. We are the solution."

Nationwide, queer and trans leaders of color⁠—many of whom are immigrants themselves⁠—are creating resources that could be used by the federal government as alternatives to detention (ATD) programs, and it couldn’t come at a more needed time. 

HOPE for TGNC NY

While the news is saturated with articles about immigration, queer and trans migrants rarely make headlines “unless they die,” said Jennicet Gutiérrez, an organizer with Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement (TQLM). But trans activists like Gutiérrez have long been on the front lines in the fight for immigrants’ rights because the conditions facing LGBTQ migrants have always been dire.

“It’s life or death for a lot of us,” Gutiérrez told Rewire.News.“We centralize our people [in our advocacy work] because we have to. We want our people free and we want our people safe.”

Nationwide, queer and trans leaders of color⁠—many of whom are immigrants themselves⁠—are creating resources that could be used by the federal government as alternatives to detention (ATD) programs, and it couldn’t come at a more needed time. ICE is currently detaining an unprecedented number of trans people. Since October 2018, the federal immigration agency has detained about 300 trans people, the highest number since 2015, when ICE began tracking this data. Many LGBTQ migrants who have been detained have reported unsafe conditions, medical neglect, and sexual harassment and assault. Advocates assisting these migrants, who are often asylum seekers escaping violence in their home countries, said their efforts make a tangible difference in the lives of LGBTQ immigrants released from ICE custody. But they are up against overwhelming hurdles, including a lack of funding and resources.

“We don’t get millions of dollars in funding,” explained Gutiérrez, “but our people have been on the ground doing this work before Trump, and we will be here after Trump. [I just ask that people] listen to us: Trust our work and trust our strategy.”

Releasing the Feinstein report on the CIA in the middle of a war would be an act of exceptional recklessness

Opinions

FILE - In this June 3, 2014 file photo, Senate Intelligence Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. is pursued by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Feinstein on Friday to “consider” the timing of the expected release in coming days of a report on harsh CIA interrogation techniques. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

By Michael Gerson Opinion writer December 8 at 7:57 PM


With the apparently imminent release of the Feinstein report on CIA interrogations of high-value terrorists a decade ago, let’s consider the situation of intelligence personnel who have been involved, not in that program but in drone strikes against terrorists, conducted in a variety of countries around the world.

They have four sources of direction and protection: Their strikes are authorized by the president, briefed to Congress, deemed lawful by the attorney general and determined useful by the CIA director.

Michael Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice weekly in The Post.

Yet people in the drone program know that co-workers involved in enhanced interrogation had these assurances as well. And the drone program has some distinctive characteristics. Instead of employing waterboarding, stress positions and sleep deprivation, the targets are killed (sometimes with collateral damage to the innocent). President Obama dramatically expanded the use of drones, increasing the proportion of attacks that are “signature strikes” — meaning those authorizing attacks don’t know the identities of the targets, just their likely value.

Some may argue a subtle moral distinction between harshly interrogating a terrorist and blowing his limbs apart. But international human rights groups and legal authorities generally look down on both. The main difference? One is Obama’s favorite program. A few years from now, a new president and new congressional leaders may take a different view.

At the CIA, these concerns are not hypothetical. “I know the Predator program intimately,” a former senior intelligence officer told me. “There have been hundreds and hundreds of Predator shots, the most carefully targeted in the history of warfare, but not 100 percent right. What if the next president, [say] Rand Paul or Elizabeth Warren, comes after people involved in this program?”

“If you have to worry about a new administration coming along 10 years down the road,” the intelligence officer told me, “making villains out of agency officials following the exact letter of the law, it is sobering. We think about that all the time.”

This is the scrutiny that comes only with success. For many, the 9/11 attacks are becoming as historically and emotionally distant as Pearl Harbor. But if the United States had the equivalent of a 9/11 attack each year, the range of acceptable responses would expand. V-E Day, after all, partially resulted from the firebombing of Dresden. V-J Day encompassed Hiroshima. Both involved tickertape parades and incinerated children.

The U.S. response in the war against terrorism has been dramatically more selective and focused on combatants. Even so, the CIA is often forced to operate at the edge of the United States’ acceptable response — currently with drone strikes and a variety of activities to degrade and dismantle the Islamic State. The avoidance of “boots on the ground” in the Middle East has placed an additional burden on intelligence services to work with (often flawed) allies, target enemies and strike from afar. Political leaders, once again, urge intelligence officials to do what is necessary.

So the Feinstein report would come in the middle of a war, targeting many Americans who are still engaged in it. It would be an act of exceptional congressional recklessness. Democratic senators on the Intelligence Committee interviewed none of the key figures in the program, yet fought for months to make it easier to identify the targets of their report. “Those personnel,” said (soon to be former) Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), “if they have that worry, can be given some legitimate security.” This is clearly what some committee members intended: exposure and a bodyguard.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the outgoing chair of the committee, was thought to be more responsible. But her legacy may be a massive dump of intelligence details useful to the enemy in a time of war. And she knows the likely results. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed the concerns of alliesabout increased violence. A National Intelligence Council report warned of threats to embassies, installations and individuals, and explored how partners would react to the disclosure.

So why has Feinstein donned her Guy Fawkes mask? Tension with the CIA? Simple stubbornness? The main reason, I suspect, is different. Democrats who approved of enhanced interrogation at the time (such as Feinstein) must now construct an elaborate fantasy world in which they were not knowledgeable and supportive. They postulate a new reality in which they were innocent and deceived — requiring a conspiracy from three former CIA directors, three former deputy directors and hundreds of others.

Occam would indicate a different answer: guilt, hypocrisy and betrayal.

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Guantanamo Detainees’ Lawyers Cite Hobby Lobby Ruling In Prayer Motion

Lawyers who represent two detainees held at Guantanamo bay have filed motions asserting that their clients should be allowed to pray communally during the month of Ramadan, citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the case of Hobby Lobby.

According to Aljazeera America, the lawyers are arguing that their clients’ rights are protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). They assert that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby case changes the fact that courts have previously failed to find Guantanamo detainees “persons within the scope of the RFRA,” who enjoy “religious free exercise rights.”

In court papers, the lawyers argue that “Hobby Lobby makes clear that all persons — human and corporate, citizen and foreigner, resident and alien — enjoy the special religious free exercise protections of the RFRA.” The motions were filed earlier this week in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Emad Hassan of Yemen and Ahmed Rabbani of Pakistan.

“If, under our law, Hobby Lobby is a ‘person’ with a right to religious freedom, surely Gitmo detainees are people too,” attorney Cori Crider argued.

According to Axis of Logic, attorneys have asserted that the two men are being prevented from taking part in communal prayers due to the fact that they are participating in a hunger stroke. Cori Crider, an attorney who represents the detainees, questioned the circumstances:

“Why are the authorities at Guantanamo Bay seeking to punish detainees for hunger striking by curtailing their right to pray? If, under our law, Hobby Lobby is a ‘person’ with a right to religious freedom, surely Gitmo detainees are people too.”

U.S. Army Lt. Col. and Department of Defense spokesman Myles B. Caggins III acknowledged that the department was aware of the filing, and said that the government would respond to it through the proper legal channels. “We are committed to religious freedoms and practices for the detainees,” Caggins stated, “keeping in mind the overall goal of security and safety for detainees and staff.”

As The Inquisitr previously reported, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this week in favor of craft store Hobby Lobby, a case that sharply divided public opinion along partisan lines. The owners of Hobby Lobby claimed that their religious freedom was violated by a contraceptive mandate found in the Affordable Care Act. In a widely circulated, scathing dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg criticized the “startling breadth” of the court’s ruling, asserting that “What the Court must decide is not ‘the plausibility of a religious claim…’ but whether accommodating that claim risks depriving others of rights accorded them by the laws of the United States.”

The ruling is already being cited by religious groups who wish to claim exemption from federal laws, though it remains to be seen if the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision will be applied to the detainees at Guantanamo.

[Images via Raw Story and Huffington Post]

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Guillermo Jimenez on Constitution-Free Border Zones

15 Aug 2013

Interview 721 – Guillermo Jimenez on Constitution-Free Border Zones

Posted by Corbett
 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

 

 

 

Today we’re joined by Guillermo Jimenez of TracesofReality.com to discuss the issue of the “constitution-free zones” that the ACLU have identified as existing anywhere within 100 air miles of any US border. We talk about Guillermo’s extensive coverage of this subject, including his recent article “Another Man Arrested at a Checkpoint for Doing Absolutely Nothing Illegal.” We also explore the background of the problem and what concerned US citizens can and should be doing to confront this growing tyranny.


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Report: Official Involved In Release of Immigrants Retired, Didn't Resign

Elise Foley


Gary Mead Retired, Did Not Resign, Immigration And Customs Enforcement Says


Posted: 02/27/2013 4:46 pm EST | Updated: 02/27/2013 6:58 pm EST





WASHINGTON -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials insisted on Wednesday that there was no connection between the retirement of Enforcement and Removal Operations Director Gary Mead and the release earlier this week of hundreds of undocumented immigrants from detention.

The Associated Press reported earlier Wednesday that Mead announced his resignation in an email on Tuesday, "hours after U.S. officials had confirmed that a few hundred illegal immigrants facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to budget cuts." The report does not say outright that the two items were related, but it has been interpreted as such by some observers.

ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said Mead had announced his plans to retire "several weeks ago" to senior leadership at the agency. Mead will retire at the end of April, she said in a statement.

"The Associated Press’ report is inaccurate and misleading," she said.

The agency on Monday released "several hundred" immigrant detainees who were deemed low priority, either because they were non-criminals or low-level offenders. The move did not free them from deportation; all will stay in the removal process and could be deported based on the decision of an immigration judge. ICE cited looming budget cuts in its announcement that some immigrants had been released.

White House spokesman Jay Carney sought to distance the administration from the move to release the detainees, saying on Wednesday that the decision came from ICE.

UPDATE: 5:20 p.m. -- The Associated Press later tweeted a correction to its original report that Mead had quit:


The Associated Press ✔ @AP


CORRECTION: Homeland Security official retires after illegal immigrants freed: http://apne.ws/YAFtQ8 (previous tweet said he quit)

10:12 PM - 27 Feb 13

DHS official retires after immigrants are freed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his retirement the same day the agency said that hundreds of.

The Associated Press @AP

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Congress Moves Forward On Bill Without Protection From NDAA, Indefinite Detention Of Americans

Published On: Wed, Dec 19th, 2012

By Brandon Jones




Congress stripped a provision Tuesday from a defense bill that aimed to shield Americans from the possibility of being imprisoned indefinitely without trial by the military. The provision was replaced with a passage that appears to give citizens little protection from indefinite detention.



The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 was added by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), but there was no similar language in the version of the bill that passed the House, and it was dumped from the final bill released Tuesday after a conference committee from both chambers worked out a unified measure.

“I was saddened and disappointed that we could not take a step forward to ensure at the very least American citizens and legal residents could not be held in detention without charge or trial,” Feinstein said. “To me that was a no-brainer.”

It declared that “An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.”

The provision sparked a heated debate in the Senate, but ultimately passed by a wide majority with both supporters and opponents of U.S. terrorist detention practices voting for it, citing differing interpretations.

Feinstein offered the amendment to clarify a part of the 2012 NDAA that for the first time codified the ability of the military and White House to detain terrorism suspects.

The White House had threatened to veto both the House and Senate versions over numerous other provisions included in the legislation. Among them were restrictions on the executive’s ability to transfer prisoners from the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday he hoped the changes to the 2013 measure would be sufficient to win Obama’s signature.

“You’ll have to ask them, but again, I can’t predict what they will do. I think we made some significant changes, we worked very closely with Sec. Panetta and the Pentagon. It wasn’t as if we were doing all these things on our own,” McCain said.

Liberty minded groups, like the Tenth Amendment Center, continued to call for State nullification.

“A liberty minded governor and legislature would move immediately to nullify this in their State. The AG would be directed to instruct all State LEO to arrest any federal agent attempting to implement kidnapping. Sheriffs should also inform all federal agencies NDAA is illegal and perpetrators subject to arrest. Any federal operations in our Counties are subject to Sheriff approval or they must cease. That’s how it should be done,” Andrew Nappi of Florida’s Tenth Amendment said in a Facebook post Wednesday morning.

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