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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown.

Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told the New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.”

The government denied that.

“These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal,” Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding ”there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

Molliver told the Times that an immigration judge, during a closed Friday hearing, gave her additional time to argue the family’s case.

The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who originally is from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

They were released following a judge’s order and returned to Minnesota on Feb. 1.

Neighbors and school officials have accused federal immigration officers of using the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would come outside. DHS has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer said he has an asylum claim pending that allows him to stay in the U.S.

WASHINGTON — U.S. military forces boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the ship from the Caribbean Sea as part of an oil quarantine meant to squeeze Venezuela, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday.

Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions on its oil and relied on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Following the U.S. raid to apprehend then-President Nicolás Maduro in early January, several tankers fled the Venezuelan coast, including the ship that was boarded in the Indian Ocean overnight.

Hegseth vowed to eventually capture all those ships, telling a group of shipyard workers in Maine on Monday that “the only guidance I gave to my military commanders is none of those are getting away.”

“I don’t care if we got to go around the globe to get them; we’re going to get them,” he added.

The Trump administration has seized seven tankers as part of its broader efforts to take control of the South American country’s oil. Unlike those previous actions, the Aquila II has not been formally seized and placed under U.S. control, a defense official said.

Instead, the ship is being held while its ultimate fate is decided by the U.S., according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing decision-making.

The Aquila II is a Panamanian-flagged tanker under U.S. sanctions related to the shipment of illicit Russian oil. Owned by a company with a listed address in Hong Kong, the ship’s tracking data shows it has spent much of the last year with its radio transponder turned off, a practice known as “running dark” commonly employed by smugglers to hide their location.

It was one of at least 16 tankers that fled the Venezuelan coast last month, according to Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, who said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship’s movements. According to data transmitted from the ship Monday, it is not currently laden with a cargo of crude oil.

The Pentagon’s post on X said the military “conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction” on the ship.

“The Aquila II was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” the Pentagon said. “It ran, and we followed.”

A Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, would not say what forces were used in the operation but confirmed the destroyers USS Pinckney and USS John Finn as well as the mobile base ship USS Miguel Keith were operating in the Indian Ocean.

In videos the Pentagon posted to social media, uniformed forces can be seen boarding a Navy helicopter that takes off from a ship that matches the profile of the Miguel Keith. Video and photos of the tanker shot from inside a helicopter also show a Navy destroyer sailing alongside the ship.

Since the U.S. ouster of Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid on Jan. 3, the Trump administration has set out to control the production, refining, and global distribution of Venezuela’s petroleum products. Officials in President Donald Trump’s Republican administration have made it clear they see seizing the tankers as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump also has been trying to restrict the flow of oil to Cuba, which faces strict economic sanctions by the U.S. and relies heavily on oil shipments from allies like Mexico, Russia and Venezuela.

Since the Venezuela operation, Trump has said that no more Venezuelan oil will go to Cuba and that the Cuban government is ready to fall. Trump also recently signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, primarily pressuring Mexico because it has acted as an oil lifeline for Cuba.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s top prosecutor said on Monday that his office had requested the arrest of one of the closest allies of opposition leader María Corina Machado, less than 12 hours after his release from a detention facility as part of a government move to free those facing politically motivated accusations.

The attorney general’s statement did not say whether Juan Pablo Guanipa was rearrested, or give indication of his whereabouts. The government had released him along with several other prominent opposition members on Sunday following lengthy politically motivated detentions.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab’s office posted on social media that it had “requested the competent court to revoke the precautionary measure granted to Juan Pablo Guanipa, due to his non-compliance with the conditions imposed by the aforementioned court.”

It did not elaborate on what conditions Guanipa, a former governor for the opposition, violated during the hours he was free, but said authorities were seeking house arrest.

Guanipa’s son, Ramón, told reporters Monday that authorities have not yet notified him of his father’s whereabouts and their decision to place him on house arrest. He said his father did not violate the two conditions of his release — monthly check-ins with a court and no travel outside Venezuela — and showed reporters the court document listing them.

Abducted by ‘heavily armed men’

Earlier on Monday, Machado announced Juan Pablo Guanipa had been “kidnapped” by “heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes” who “arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away” in a neighborhood in the capital, Caracas.

The development marked the latest twist in the political turmoil in Venezuela in the wake of the U.S. military’s seizure on Jan. 3 of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from a military base compound in Caracas in a stunning operation that landed them in New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.

The government of Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political activities. The releases also followed a visit to Venezuela of representatives of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture and her government began releasing prisoners days later.

Some of those freed Sunday joined families waiting outside detention facilities for their loved ones. They chanted, “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” and marched a short distance.

“I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” Guanipa told reporters after his release. “I am convinced that it is now up to all of us to focus on building a free and democratic country.”

Guanipa had spent more than eight months in custody at a facility in Caracas.

“My father cannot be a criminal … simply for making statements,” Ramón Guanipa said. How much longer will speaking out be a crime in this country?”

Venezuelan-based prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal confirmed the release of at least 30 people Sunday.

Several members of Machado’s political organization were among the released Sunday, including attorney Perkins Rocha and local organizer María Oropeza, who had in 2024 livestreamed her arrest by military intelligence officers as they broke into her home with a crowbar.

Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, expressed serious concern over Juan Pablo Guanipa’s disappearance.

“So far, we have no clear information about who took him,” he said on X. “We hope he will be released immediately.”

Long detentions for political activities

Guanipa was detained in late May and accused by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello of participating in an alleged “terrorist group” that was plotting to boycott that month’s legislative election. Guanipa’s brother Tomás rejected the accusation, and said the arrest was meant to crack down on dissent.

Rodríguez’s government announced Jan. 8 that it would free a significant number of those arrested — a central demand of the country’s opposition and human rights organizations with backing from the United States — but families and rights watchdogs have criticized authorities for the slow pace of the releases.

The ruling party-controlled National Assembly last week began debating an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds. The opposition and nongovernmental organizations have reacted with cautious optimism as well as with suggestions and demands for more information on the contents of the proposal.

National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez on Friday posted a video on Instagram showing him outside a detention center in Caracas and saying that “everyone” would be released no later than next week, once the amnesty bill is approved.

Rodríguez, the acting president, and Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke by phone in late January. His spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, in a statement said he sent a team to the country and “offered our support to help Venezuela work on a roadmap for dialogue and reconciliation” in which human rights should be centered.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Monday to fight for his job as revelations about the relationship between the former U.K. ambassador to Washington and Jeffrey Epstein spiraled into a full-blown crisis for his 19-month-old government.

The prime minister’s authority with his own Labour Party has been battered by fallout from the publication of files related to Epstein — a man he never met and whose sexual misconduct has not implicated Starmer.

Some lawmakers in Starmer’s center-left Labour Party have called on him to resign for his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson to the high-profile diplomatic post in 2024 despite Mandelson’s ties to the convicted sex offender. The leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, joined those calls Monday, saying “there have been too many mistakes” and “the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”

Starmer’s chief of staff and his communications director have also quit in quick succession. But Starmer insisted he will not step down.

“Every fight I have ever been in, I’ve won,” he told Labour lawmakers at a meeting in Parliament.

“I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country,” he added.

After Sarwar spoke, senior colleagues — including those tipped as potential challengers — rallied to support Starmer. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy wrote on X: “We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper posted: “At this crucial time for the world, we need his leadership not just at home but on the global stage.” Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, a potential successor, said Starmer “has my full support.”

Supportive lawmakers said Starmer won over a restive crowd when he addressed scores of Labour members of Parliament Monday evening behind closed doors.

“Of course, there were tough moments,” legislator Chris Curtis said. “But he really brought the room round.”

Starmer has apologized

Starmer fired Mandelson last September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. Critics say Starmer should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place. The 72-year-old Labour politician is a contentious figure whose career has been tarnished with scandals over money or ethics.

A new trove of Epstein files released by authorities in the United States last week revealed more details about the relationship and put new pressure on Starmer.

Starmer apologized last week to Epstein’s victims and said he was sorry for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.”

He promised to release documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which the government says will show that Mandelson misled officials about his ties to Epstein. But publication of the documents could be weeks away. They must be vetted on national security grounds and for potential conflicts with a police investigation.

Police are investigating Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mandelson has not been arrested or charged, and he does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Chief of staff took the fall

Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, took the fall for the decision to give Mandelson the job by quitting on Sunday. He said he “advised the prime minister to make that appointment, and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

McSweeney has been Starmer’s most important aide since he became Labour leader in 2020 and is considered a key architect of Labour’s landslide July 2024 election victory. But some in the party blame him for a series of missteps since then.

Some Labour officials hope that his departure will buy the prime minister time to rebuild trust with the party and the country.

Senior lawmaker Emily Thornberry said McSweeney had become a “divisive figure” and his departure brought the opportunity for a reset.

She said Starmer is “a good leader in that he is strong and clear. I think that he needs to step up a bit more than he has.”

Others say McSweeney’s departure leaves Starmer weak and isolated.

Opposition calls to resign

Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer “has made bad decision after bad decision” and “his position now is untenable.”

Since winning office, Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services, and ease the cost of living. He pledged a return to honest government after 14 years of scandal-tarred Conservative rule, but has been beset by missteps and U-turns over welfare cuts and other unpopular policies.

Labour consistently lags behind the hard-right Reform UK party in opinion polls, and its failure to improve had sparked talk of a leadership challenge, even before the Mandelson revelations.

Under Britain’s parliamentary system, prime ministers can change without the need for a national election. If Starmer is challenged or resigns, it will trigger an election for the Labour leadership. The winner would become prime minister.

The Conservatives went through three prime ministers between national elections in 2019 and 2024, including Liz Truss, who lasted just 49 days in office.

Starmer was elected on a promise to end the political chaos that roiled the Conservatives’ final years in power.

Labour lawmaker Clive Efford said Starmer’s critics should “be careful what you wish for.”

“I don’t think people took to the changes in prime minister when the Tories were in power,” he told the BBC. “It didn’t do them any good.”