A wrongly deported Salvadoran man sent back to the United States during a fierce row over President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies was released Friday from prison, where he had been detained on human smuggling charges.The US Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after the government admitted it had mistakenly sent him to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador in March.He was returned in June, and then quickly arrested and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants. On Friday, he was released from prison in Tennessee at the order of a US judge.Migrant rights organization CASA released a statement quoting Abrego Garcia as saying it was a “very special day” after seeing his family for the first time in more than 160 days.”We are steps closer to justice, but justice has not been fully served,” the Salvadoran said, according to CASA, which hailed him as a “symbol of strength, resistance and hope.”The case has become emblematic of Trump’s crackdown on illegal migration.Right-wing supporters praise the Republican president’s toughness, but legal scholars and human rights advocates have blasted what they say is a haphazard rush to deport people in violation of basic US laws.Abrego Garcia’s attorney Sean Hecker, who earlier confirmed that his client was heading home to the eastern US state of Maryland, accused Trump’s government of a “vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law.”Hecker said his client was “grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process.”But the saga may not be over for the Salvadoran, who is married to a US citizen.- Uganda deportation threat -The Trump administration is not barred from initiating “lawful immigration proceedings upon Abrego Garcia’s return to Maryland” — provided it gives 72 hours’ notice before deporting him to a third country — under a July federal court ruling.Multiple US media outlets reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had notified his legal team that he had been ordered to report to immigration officials in Baltimore on Monday, and may be sent to the East African nation of Uganda.DHS did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the reports, but the State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken on Thursday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.US relations with Uganda deteriorated under Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden over its anti-homosexuality law, which in some cases allows for the death penalty. But the State Department under Rubio has sharply curbed criticism.The White House called Abrego Garcia’s release an “insult,” describing him as a “criminal illegal alien, wife-beater” and member of Salvadoran gang MS-13. “Garcia will be subject to ankle monitoring to ensure the safety of the American public until further action can be taken,” Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson posted on X.Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.Then he became one of more than 200 people sent to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison as part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.But Justice Department lawyers admitted that the Salvadoran had been wrongly deported due to an “administrative error.”Abrego Garcia — who denies wrongdoing — now stands accused of involvement in smuggling undocumented migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries into the United States between 2016 and earlier this year.His trial in his human smuggling case is set to begin in January 2027.

Chipmaker Intel has agreed to give the US government a 10-percent stake in its business, the company and President Donald Trump announced Friday.The deal came after Trump’s administration said Intel should give Washington an equity stake in exchange for large grants committed when Joe Biden was president.Under the agreement, the US government will receive 433.3 million shares of common stock, representing a 9.9 percent stake in the company, Intel said in a statement.This amounts to an $8.9 billion investment, funded partially by $5.7 billion in grants awarded but not yet paid under the CHIPS and Science Act — a major law passed during Biden’s term that Trump has criticized.The other $3.2 billion comes from an award to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program, Intel said.The $8.9 billion investment would be in addition to $2.2 billion in CHIPS grants Intel has already received, taking the full amount to $11.1 billion, the company added.”The United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL,” Trump posted on Truth Social.He claimed that the country “paid nothing for these shares” after negotiations with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.Intel noted in its statement: “The government’s investment in Intel will be a passive ownership, with no board representation or other governance or information rights.”Referring to a meeting with Intel last week, Trump told reporters Friday: “I said, I think you should pay us 10 percent of your company.””I said, I think it would be good having the United States as your partner… they’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them.”Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Friday on X: “This historic agreement strengthens US leadership in semiconductors.”- ‘Slippery slope’ – Intel is one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies, but its fortunes have been dwarfed by Asian powerhouses TSMC and Samsung, which dominate the made-to-order semiconductor business. The CHIPS and Science Act was aimed at strengthening the US semiconductor industry, and the Biden administration had unveiled billions in grants through it.It finalized a $7.9 billion award in direct funding to Intel in November 2024, according to a US Department of Commerce statement.”This is a slippery slope,” independent tech analyst Rob Enderle said of the United States taking a stake in Intel. “This is one of those things that kind of brings chills because it’s a step toward nationalizing private business.”Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank that promotes limited government, said on X Friday that the government having a stake in Intel would be “a terrible decision, bad for almost everyone.”He said it would be “bad for Intel’s long-term viability, as politics, not commercial considerations, increasingly drive its decisions” and that “foreign governments might also target it.”In a statement, Tan of Intel said it is “deeply committed to ensuring the world’s most advanced technologies are American made.”The company said it is investing more than $100 billion to expand its US sites.Earlier this month, Trump had demanded Tan resign after a Republican senator raised national security concerns over his links to firms in China.Japan-based tech investor SoftBank Group also recently said it would invest $2 billion in Intel.

The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and two other senior officers are being removed, officials said Friday — the latest in a series of military firings this year.The removal of Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who led the DIA since early 2024, comes after the agency produced a preliminary assessment that said US strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months.The assessment — which was widely reported on by US media — contradicted claims from President Donald Trump that the strikes totally destroyed the nuclear sites, drawing the ire of both him and officials within his administration.Kruse “will no longer serve as DIA director,” a senior defense official said on condition of anonymity, without providing an explanation for the general’s departure.Prior to becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the advisor for military affairs for the director of national intelligence, and also held positions including director of intelligence for the coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.A US official separately said on condition of anonymity that two other senior officers — Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, chief of Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command — were also leaving their positions.- Series of top officers fired -In June, the United States launched a massive operation against three Iranian nuclear sites, an effort that involved more than 125 US aircraft as well as a guided missile submarine.Trump called the strikes a “spectacular military success” and repeatedly said they “obliterated” the nuclear sites, but the DIA’s preliminary assessment raised doubts about the president’s claims.The Trump administration responded with an offensive against the media, insisting the operation was a total success and berating journalists for reporting on the assessment.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted the assessment was “leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful,” and slammed “fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment.”Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.The chief of staff of the Air Force also recently announced his retirement without explanation just two years into a four-year term.Hegseth has insisted the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants, but Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential politicization of the traditionally neutral US military.Earlier this year, the Pentagon chief additionally ordered at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the US military, as well as a 10 percent cut in the overall number of general and flag officers.

President Donald Trump on Friday tapped close political aide Sergio Gor as US ambassador to India, sending one of his feared enforcers at a delicate time in ties with New Delhi.The 38-year-old Gor rose quickly in conservative politics to become one of the most powerful, if low-profile, aides in the White House with a task of vetting some 4,000 appointees to ensure utmost loyalty to Trump.Gor’s enemies include Elon Musk, who following his spectacular falling-out with Trump branded Gor a “snake” after he scuttled the tech and aerospace billionaire’s choice to lead NASA.Gor’s influence does not include extensive experience in foreign policy, beyond joining travel overseas and leading a purge of National Security Council staffers whose views were called into suspicion.”For the most populous Region in the World, it is important that I have someone I can fully trust to deliver on my Agenda and help us, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Sergio will make an incredible Ambassador,” he wrote.Trump wrote that Gor would also hold a role of special envoy for South and Central Asia. Trump has largely sidelined traditional diplomats and relied for diplomacy on personal friends, with the State Department’s top position for South Asia still vacant.The nomination comes after a spike in tensions with India, which the United States has prioritized as an emerging partner since the 1990s.Trump has moved to ramp up tariffs on India to pressure it over its purchases of energy from Russia, despite Trump’s own diplomacy with counterpart Vladimir Putin.India in recent days has held top-level meetings with both Russia and China. Successive US administrations have viewed India as a balance against China, seen as the top US global rival.Trump has spoken of brokering between India and Pakistan after they reached a ceasefire in a brief conflict in May, although India has been hesitant on any direct US role.- Political insider -Gor was born in Uzbekistan when it was still in the Soviet Union — a background on which he has been discreet — before moving as a child to Malta.After attending university in the United States, he became active in Republican Party politics, eventually taking top positions with Senator Rand Paul, a leading Republican critic of foreign interventionism, then working as a fund-raiser and book publisher for Trump — and as an amateur wedding DJ.In his post, Trump hailed Gor’s work as director of presidential personnel, saying that 95 percent of positions have been filled and that he will stay on until the Republican-led Senate confirms him as ambassador.Secretary of State Marco Rubio quickly endorsed Gor on X, saying he would be an “excellent representative of America in one of the most important relationships our nation has in the world.”Trump named an ambassador to India later than for many other major countries. While presidents have often tapped political aides as ambassador — former president Joe Biden sent former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to Tokyo — India has an illustrious history of seeing public intellectuals as ambassador. US ambassadors to India have included prominent economist John Kenneth Galbraith and the social scientist and future senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.Biden’s ambassador to India was Eric Garcetti, a former mayor of Los Angeles known for his interest in Indian philosophy and who had studied Hindi and Urdu as a young man.