GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for Quakers and a handful of other religious groups.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out.

The preliminary injunction from the Maryland-based judge only applies to the plaintiffs, which also include a Georgia-based network of Baptist churches and a Sikh temple in California.

They sued after the Trump administration threw out Department of Homeland Security policies limiting where migrant arrests could happen as President Donald Trump seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations.

The policy change said field agents using “common sense” and “discretion” can conduct immigration enforcement operations at houses of worship without a supervisor’s approval.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the new DHS directive departs from the government’s 30-year-old policy against staging immigration enforcement operations in “protected areas” or “sensitive locations.”

A coalition of Quaker meetings from states including Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia sued DHS and its secretary, Kristi Noem, on Jan. 27, less than a week after the new policy was announced.

Many immigrants are afraid to attend religious services while the government enforces the new rule, lawyers for the congregations said in a court filing.

“It’s a fear that people are experiencing across the county,” plaintiffs’ attorney Bradley Girard told the judge during a February hearing. “People are not showing up, and the plaintiffs are suffering as a result.”

Government lawyers claim the plaintiffs are asking the court to interfere with law-enforcement activities based on mere speculation.

“Plaintiffs have provided no evidence indicating that any of their religious organizations have been targeted,” Justice Department attorney Kristina Wolfe told the judge, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans have also filed a similar but separate lawsuit in Washington, D.C.

Plaintiffs in the Maryland case are represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, whose lawyers asked the judge to block DHS enforcement of the policy on a nationwide basis.

“DHS’s new policy gives it the authority to enter any house of worship across the country, no matter its religious beliefs,” the attorneys wrote.

Government lawyers say immigration enforcement activities have been allowed in sensitive places, including houses of worship, for decades. The only change in the policy is that a supervisor’s approval is no longer mandatory, they added.

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This story has been updated to reflect that a separate but similar lawsuit was filed in Washington, D.C., not Washington state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump expressed hope that Russia’s war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he met Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion. But France’s leader cautioned that it’s crucial that any potential agreement with Moscow does not amount to surrender for Ukraine.

Their talks come at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end the war in Ukraine.

While Macron and Trump made nice at the White House, their countries were at loggerheads at the United Nations over resolutions describing Russia as the aggressor in the war.

In broad comments on the state of the conflict, Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine.

“Yeah, he will accept it,” Trump told reporters. “I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war.”

And Trump said he hoped that the war could end within weeks and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would soon come to the U.S. to sign a deal giving America access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, which are used in key technology.

Trump is pressing the economic deal to help repay some of the $180 billion in American aid for Kyiv since the start of the war — tens of billions of which is being spent in the U.S. to replenish older weapons sent to Ukraine.

“It looks like we’re getting very close,” Trump told reporters of the minerals deal before his meeting with Macron. He said Zelenskyy could potentially visit Washington this week or next to sign it.

Ensuring security for Ukraine

Ukraine also is looking for future security guarantees as part of any agreement. Trump, however, did not say whether the emerging deal would include such assurances from the United States: “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens.”

A French official with knowledge of Macron’s meeting with Trump said the U.S. president didn’t object to the need for U.S. security guarantees in a possible peace deal but details were still being worked out. The official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

At a joint press conference, Macron acknowledged that European nations must do more to bolster defense on the continent. But he also warned against capitulating to Russia.

“This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine,” Macron said. “It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty.”

Macron cut off direct communication with Putin after Russian forces carried out brutal operations in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha months into the conflict. But he said the moment has changed and he hopes Trump’s engagement with Putin can lead to something fruitful.

“Now, there is a big chance because there is a new U.S. administration, so this is a new context,” Macron said. “So there is good reason for President Trump to reengage with President Putin.”

Putin said Monday that he has not discussed resolving the conflict in Ukraine in detail with Trump and neither did Russian and American negotiating teams when they met in Saudi Arabia last week.

Putin also said Russia does not rule out European countries — who were dismayed that they and Ukraine were not invited to the table in Riyadh — participating in a peace settlement.

America’s foreign policy turnaround

The war’s anniversary — and the talks at the White House — come at an unnerving moment for much of Europe as it witnesses a dramatic shift in American foreign policy under Trump.

Trump has made demands for territory — Greenland, Canada, Gaza and the Panama Canal. Just over a month into his second term, the “America First” president has cast an enormous shadow over what veteran U.S. diplomats and former government officials had regarded as America’s calming presence of global stability and continuity.

Despite some hiccups, the military, economic and moral power of the United States has dominated the post-World War II era, most notably after the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All of that, some fear, may be lost if Trump gets his way and the U.S. abandons the principles under which the United Nations and numerous other international bodies were founded.

“The only conclusion you can draw is that 80 years of policy in standing up against aggressors has just been blown up without any sort of discussion or reflection,” said Ian Kelly, a U.S. ambassador to Georgia during the Obama and first Trump administrations and now a professor at Northwestern University.

European leaders in Washington

Trump is set to hold a meeting Thursday with another key European leader, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Trump shook Europe with repeated criticism of Zelenskyy for failing to negotiate an end to the war and rebuffing a push to sign off on a deal giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, which could be used in the American aerospace, medical and tech industries.

Zelenskyy initially bristled, saying it was short on security guarantees. He said Sunday on X that “we are making great progress” but noted that “we want a good economic deal that will be part of a true security guarantee system for Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy, who said Sunday in response to a question that he would trade his office for peace or to join NATO, had angered Trump by saying the U.S. president was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”

In the public spat, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely charged Kyiv with starting the war. Russia, in fact, invaded its smaller and lesser-equipped neighbor in February 2022.

Asked Monday if he thought Putin was also a dictator, Trump demurred: “I don’t use those words lightly.”

Some daylight between allies

While Macron and Trump held talks, including participating in a virtual meeting with fellow Group of Seven leaders, the United States split with its European allies at the U.N. by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in a series of resolutions.

The U.S. abstained from voting on its own proposal after the Europeans, led by France, succeeded in changing it to make clear that Russia was the aggressor.

Before meeting with Trump, Macron said he intended to tell him that it’s in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to “be weak in the face of President Putin.”

“It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest,” Macron said. “How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?”

Yet, Trump said this month he’d like to see Russia rejoin the G7. It was suspended from the G8 after annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.

“I really believe he wants to make a deal,” Trump said. “I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.

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AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Emma Burrows in London and Sagar Meghani, Chris Megerian and Will Weissert in Washington contributed reporting.

(AP) - Federal employees across the country, many of whom have worked from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, were back at agency offices Monday under President Donald Trump’s return-to-office mandate.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency scouring government agencies for suspected waste, delivered a warning Monday to workers on his platform X.

“Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave,” Musk wrote.

Lee Zeldin, Trump’s new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Monday on X, formerly Twitter, “Full-time, COVID-era remote work is DONE under @POTUS leadership.”

In a video he posted, Zeldin said average attendance at EPA headquarters on Mondays and Fridays last year was less than 9% of employees.

“Our spacious, beautiful EPA headquarters spans two city blocks in D.C. across five buildings,” Zeldin said. “But our hallways have been too vacant, desks empty and cubicles filled with unoccupied chairs.”

It appears at least some federal agencies are not prepared for all remote workers to return to the office.

In an email to U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid employees on Friday obtained by The Associated Press, agency officials noted that some regional offices in Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco were not ready for workers to return. The message also noted that employees who live more than 50 miles from regional offices in some major cities would not be required to return to the office Monday.

“We should treat it like the first day of school — plan a little time in your calendar to get oriented, find your way around, and figure out how to connect in the conference rooms, etc.,” the email said. “There will, no doubt, be some who get lost or are late to class or have to scramble to find a seat because of a snafu.”

The email also noted that while some workers would begin reporting to offices Monday, others would begin relocating back to offices in phases through April and beyond.

Mike Galletly, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 4016, said the information technology workers he represents at the U.S. Department of Agriculture across the country have been struggling to comply with the back-to-office mandate.

“For my bargaining unit members, it’s been a whole lot of work scrambling to find hardware for people, monitors, docking stations,” Galletly said. “You have an office that up until this month normally seated four people. Now they have to seat eight people.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is directing its remote employees to return to offices, even if they were hired into a remote role.

Federal workers with the department received the formal notice Monday in an email that was sent to employees who work more than 50 miles from a regional office. It says they will need to report to an office by April 28.

The federal government employed more than 3 million people as of November of last year. That accounted for nearly 1.9% of the nation’s entire civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center.

KEENE, N.H. (WCAX/Gray News) - A New Hampshire woman was arrested after police said food at a store was contaminated with urine.

According to investigators, 23-year-old Kelli Tedford tainted produce at the Monadnock Food Co-op with her urine.

Keene Police said Tedford recorded herself performing the act multiple times and even posted the videos online.

The co-op lost $1,500 in merchandise and cleaning costs, and issued a recall for contaminated items bought from their bulk department between Feb. 10 and Fb. 15, including:

• Organic Red Quinoa PLU 364

• Organic White Quinoa PLU 301

• Organic Tri-Color Quinoa PLU 312

• Organic Cornmeal PLU 308

• Organic Polenta PLU 310

• Organic Coconut Shreds PLU 403

• Raw Walnuts PLU 160

Anyone who may have purchased any of these products can reach out to the store for information on refunds.

Tedford was arrested Friday and charged with criminal mischief. She’s due in court in April.

Police said it appears that this was not the first time she has contaminated items or surfaces with urine.

They said they found videos dating back to 2021 and believe similar incidents have occurred in Keene and surrounding communities.

Anyone who witnessed suspicious incidents involving Tedford or who purchased possibly contaminated items is asked to contact Keene Police Det. Don Lundin at 603-357-9813.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - Thousands of people come into the U.S. daily through the ports of entry. Because of this, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been utilizing biometric technology to identify individuals.

When you come to the U.S. through land, a CBP field or operation officer, like those at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, will ask for your documentation.

Once they put your information in the computer, travelers look into a little camera that snaps a picture of you, asks where you are coming from and the reason behind your trip.

Within a few minutes, the officer should be able to identify the person coming into the country.

According to Rick Pauza with CBP, “We utilize the biometrics to identify your identity and citizenship. We also utilize that when we encounter imposter travel documents, and if we encounter wanted persons.“

This biometric facial recognition is used at all ports of entry, and after nearly five years, it’s become an essential tool for categorizing, storing and eventually catching criminals, foreign or not.

In Laredo, the technology was able to identify 35-year-old Juan Geronimo Hernandez for a felony warrant for an alleged sex offense involving a minor from the Webb County Sheriff’s Office.

Another person identified was 51-year-old Paciano Castillo Hernandez with a warrant for alleged aggravated sexual assault of a child out of San Antonio.

Many criminals like Juan Geronimo Hernandez and Paciano Castillo Hernandez have been stopped at different ports of entry like Del Rio and Progresso.

The Laredo Field Office, which covers South Texas, reports arresting about 2,400 people from all parts of the country each fiscal year. This is about seven people per day who are being detained at the border for prior crimes.

This security effort was passed by Congress in 1996, mandating the creation of a biographic entry and exit system.

The system became a requirement for the agency after 9/11, and for travelers, it’s an additional step for them to take before entering the U.S.

Over 200 million identities are enrolled in the database connected to the ports of entry. This makes the process easy to identify people who are wanted across the county.

Additionally, these biometrics are used when you travel in planes, boats and vehicles, and CBP continues to work together with other law enforcement agencies to secure the ports of entry.

To see more information about the biometrics at ports of entry in air, land and sea, click here.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - Court documents reveal new details into a case of alleged child abuse where a four-month-old was allegedly hurt on multiple occasions.

27-year-old Dario Alexander Gomez and 22-year-old Ana Karen Garcia have been arrested for allegedly causing multiple fractures to their baby.

According to police reports, in May of last year, the Laredo Police Department received notice from Child Protective Services (CPS) of a then 4-month-old baby who was taken to a San Antonio hospital and treated for skull fractures.

Court documents reveal Gomez said the baby had slipped out of his arms while preparing a bottle on April 22, 2024. The document also alleges that X-rays showed fractures to the baby’s left leg and left shoulder.

Investigator Joe Baeza with LPD says that based on the evidence, authorities were able to secure an arrest. Stating, “The case was turned over to us and the investigators went ahead and conducted their investigation. From what I understood from the report, they did not even talk to the investigators, and based on the strength of the evidence that was collected throughout the examinations, they had sufficient probable cause. A warrant was signed for the arrest for the physical abuse of the four-month-old baby.”

Baeza adds that CPS has the child with family members. Additionally, both Gomez and Garcia were taken to the Webb County jail, and have since been released on bond.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is warning people about fake text messages claiming unpaid toll tags.

Scammers are sending these messages to steal personal information. DPS advises people not to click on or respond to these texts.

Stay alert and avoid falling for the scam. If you get one of these messages, delete it right away.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - A man was arrested after crashing his truck into a light post and allegedly assaulting a Laredo Police officer.

It all took place a little after 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 22, at the 8900 block of San Dario Ave., when a caller advised officers of a crash along with a possibly armed suspect.

When officers arrived, they confirmed the truck had been reported stolen out of Bexar County. After a search of the area, police located the suspect hiding in a grassy area near the train tracks.

The suspect was identified as 20-year-old Cesar Nicolas Gonzalez from Harlingen. Additionally, a handgun was also recovered at the scene.

According to Laredo Police, while being taken into custody, Gonzalez allegedly resisted arrest and assaulted an officer.

He now faces multiple charges as the investigation remains ongoing by the Auto Theft Task Force.