POLITICS

Venezuela frees US Air Force veteran considered wrongfully detained, his family says

May 20, 2025, 11:36 AM | Updated: 12:56 pm

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A United States Air Force veteran detained for several months in Venezuela was released Tuesday, according to a family statement.

Joseph St. Clair, who the U.S. government has said was wrongfully detained in the South American country, was handed over to U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell. The family said St. Clair, who had served four tours in Afghanistan, was detained in November.

“This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it, but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” St. Clair’s parents, Scott and Patti, said in a statement.

Scott St. Clair earlier this month told The Associated Press his son, a language specialist, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Six other Americans detained in Venezuela in the months after the country’s July presidential poll were freed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro after he met Grenell in February.

Grenell, during the meeting in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans have since been deported to their home country.

Politics

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Offic...

Associated Press

Hegseth orders new review of Afghanistan withdrawal and suicide bombing at Kabul airport

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered another review of the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and of the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed American troops and Afghans. President Donald Trump and Hegseth have repeatedly blasted the Biden administration for the withdrawal, which Hegseth said Tuesday was […]

1 hour ago

Advocates for migrant rights hold signs outside the South Florida office of U.S. Immigration and Cu...

Associated Press

The revival of an old program delegates Trump immigration enforcement to local police

As part of the Trump administration’s push to carry out mass deportations, the agency responsible for immigration enforcement has aggressively revived and expanded a decades-old program that delegates immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement agencies. Under the 287(g) program led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police officers can interrogate immigrants in their […]

2 hours ago

FILE - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference, April 9, 2025, in W...

Associated Press

US immigration authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants to South Sudan, attorneys say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan, attorneys for the migrants said in court documents filed Tuesday. Those removals would violate a court order against deporting people to countries other than their homelands without an opportunity to file court challenges, they argued. The Department […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Trump’s sweet tooth: He eats a ‘good amount’ of candy and likes pink Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has a sweet tooth and his favorites are pink Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls,. So said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, at a briefing Tuesday for the children of reporters who cover the White House. It was part of a day of activities the White House organized as […]

3 hours ago

FILE - Cars pass through the area known as Downtown Doral, April 5, 2025, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/...

Associated Press

US business owners are concerned about Venezuelan employees with temporary status

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — As a business owner in the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, Wilmer Escaray is stressed and in shock. He is unsure what steps he needs to take after the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants. Escaray owns 15 […]

3 hours ago

Linda Bond walks out of the Missouri Capitol Rotunda with an official escort after the memorial ser...

Associated Press

Four-term US Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond remembered for training a generation of Missouri leaders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Christopher “Kit” Bond, a Republican who was Missouri’s youngest governor before serving four terms in the U.S. Senate, was remembered Tuesday as a beloved statesman who helped train a generation of leaders. The Missouri State Highway Patrol escorted his body from St. Louis, where he died last week at the […]

4 hours ago

Venezuela frees US Air Force veteran considered wrongfully detained, his family says