U.S. appeals court blocks federal land transfer for copper mine
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press
A U.S. appeals court has temporarily blocked the transfer of federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international companies that plan to mine one of the largest copper deposits in North America.
The transfer was scheduled for Tuesday. But a panel of judges with the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction late Monday in response to last-minute appeals by a Native American tribe and environmentalists.
The land includes Oak Flat — an area used for centuries for religious ceremonies, prayer and gathering of medicinal plants by the San Carlos Apache people and other Native American tribes.
The tribe celebrated the pause. But President Donald Trump in a social media post said delaying the transfer by months will affect those people who are depending on new jobs and the nation's ability to access copper domestically. He blamed “radical left activists.”
The fight over Oak Flat has spanned two decades, with the latest legal wrangling centered on a required environmental review that was released by the U.S. Forest Service earlier this summer and an appraisal of the land to be mined by Resolution Copper about 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of Phoenix.
Before the land exchange can happen, the plaintiffs argued that the federal government must prepare a comprehensive review that covers “every aspect of the planned mine and all related infrastructure.” They said the government failed to consider the potential for a dam breach, pipeline failure and if there was an emergency plan for a tailings storage area.
As for the appraisal, they said it doesn't account for the value of the copper deposits that are at least 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface.
The appeals court plans to hear arguments on the merits of the case later this year.
Opponents of the mine say their prayers are paying off.
“This injunction comes in a desperate time of asking for miracles, all over the country and all over the world,” Wendsler Nosie Sr. of the group Apache Stronghold said in a statement shared on social media.
Nosie, a former tribal chairman, described the land and water at Oak Flat as precious.
Apache Stronghold, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other plaintiffs having been fighting for years to save what tribal members call Chi’chil Bildagoteel. The area is dotted with oak groves and traditional plants the Apaches consider essential to their religion.
“We will continue praying that the court understands the grave injustice of trading our sacred grounds to foreign mining companies that seek to destroy Chí’chil Biłdagoteel to extract copper that will be exported overseas,” Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler said in statement.
Resolution Copper — a subsidiary of international mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP — estimates the mine will generate $1 billion a year for Arizona’s economy and create thousands of jobs. The project has support in the nearby community of Superior.
Resolution Copper has said the project underwent an extensive review by the U.S. Forest Service that has included consultation with tribes that have ancestral ties to the land.
“The collaborative process has directly led to major changes to the mining plan to preserve and reduce potential impacts on tribal, social, environmental and cultural interests,” the company stated.
The Forest Service has argued in court filings that it has no discretion because the land exchange was mandated by Congress when language was included in a must-pass national defense spending bill that was signed into law in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama.
There have been unsuccessful legislative attempts in the years since to withdraw the Oak Flat area from mining activity.
Feds fight to keep Aligator Alcatraz detention center open
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The federal government over the weekend asked a judge in Miami to put on hold her ruling ordering the winding down of an immigration detention center built by the state of Florida in the Everglades wilderness and nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” pending an appeal of her decision.
Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security said in their request for a stay that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ order last week, if carried out, would disrupt the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws. They asked the judge to rule on their request by Monday evening.
The request came as a third lawsuit challenging practices at the facility was filed Friday by civil rights groups who claimed the state of Florida had no authority to run an immigration detention center.
In a statement supporting the request for a stay, Garrett Ripa, field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement and removal operations in Miami, said that the Everglades facility’s 2,000 beds were badly needed since detention facilities in Florida were overcrowded.
“Its removal would compromise the government’s ability to enforce immigration laws, safeguard public safety, protect national security, and maintain border security,” Ripa said.
The environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lawsuit led to the judge’s ruling, opposed the request. They disputed in a court filing Monday that the Everglades facility was needed, especially as Florida plans to open a second immigration detention facility in north Florida which Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has dubbed, “Deportation Depot.” During a tour of the Everglades facility last week, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost was told that only a fraction of the detention center’s capacity was in use, between 300 to 350 detainees, the Democratic congressman from Orlando said in a declaration on behalf of the environmental groups.
“Defendants’ arguments for a stay are hyperbolic, disingenuous, inconsistent, untimely, unsupported by any competent evidence, and contrary to the facts,” the environmental groups’ filing said.
The judge said in her order that she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can’t bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property.
Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued that further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials complied with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit claimed the facility threatened environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars spent over decades on environmental restoration.
The detention center was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades. State officials signed more than $245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1.
President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
A second lawsuit also was filed by civil rights groups last month against the state and federal governments over practices at the Everglades facility, claiming detainees were denied access to the legal system. Another federal judge in Miami last week dismissed parts of the lawsuit which had been filed in Florida’s southern district and then moved the remaining counts against the state of Florida to the neighboring middle district.
Civil rights groups last Friday filed a third lawsuit over practices at the facility in federal court in Fort Myers, asking for a restraining order and a temporary injunction that would bar Florida agencies and their contractors from holding detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz.” They described “severe problems” at the facility which were “previously unheard-of in the immigration system.” Detainees were being held for weeks without any charges, they had disappeared from ICE’s online detainee locator and no one at the facility was making initial custody or bond determinations, the civil rights groups said.
“Lawyers often cannot find their clients, and families cannot locate their loved ones inside ICE’s vast detention system,” the civil rights attorneys said. “Detainees have been prevented from accessing attorneys in numerous ways. Detainees without counsel have been cut off from the normal channels of obtaining a lawyer.”
Immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and the private contracts hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility, the civil rights groups argued in asking that their lawsuit be certified as a class action.
The civil rights attorneys described harsh conditions at the facility, including flooding, mosquitoes, lack of water and exposure to the elements as punishment. At least 100 people already have been deported from the facility, including several who were pressured to sign voluntary removal forms without being able to consult with attorneys, they said.
Mexican-American designer accused of cultural appropriation
MEXICO CITY — Mexican-American clothing designer Willy Chavarria has apologized for an Adidas sandal he created after being accused by Mexican authorities of “cultural appropriation” for imitating an Indigenous shoe design.
The design launched by Adidas, known as the Oaxaca Slip On, is a black sandal with braided leather straps attached to a chunky sports shoe sole.
Mexican artisans and authorities say the intricate leather braids look strikingly similar to the traditional footwear known as huaraches made by the Zapotec Indigenous people in Oaxaca, produced mostly in the town of Villa Hidalgo Yalalag.
They have accused the brand and Chavarria of “cultural appropriation” and of copying the design without the permission of the Indigenous community. Authorities were quick to note that cultural Mexican designs have long been copied by major brands before, and said they planned to tighten laws to protect Mexican designs.
Chavarria responded to mounting criticisms in comments sent to The Associated Press on Tuesday. In a statement addressed to the “people of Oaxaca,” he said that the design was intended to “to honor the powerful cultural and artistic spirit of Oaxaca and its creative communities — a place whose beauty and resistance have inspired me.”
“I am deeply sorry that the shoe was appropriated in this design and not developed in direct and meaningful partnership with the Oaxacan community,” Chavarria wrote. “This falls short of the respect and collaborative approach that Oaxaca, the Zapotec community of Villa Hidalgo Yalalag, and its people deserve.”
Chavarria is a Mexican-American designer, who has risen to fame for his designs exploring Chicano, or Mexican-American, culture, often mixing Mexican themes with American products. His designs include sweaters reading “Chicano” in red, scripted font, and styles with the Mexican flag and cowboy hats reminiscent of northern Mexican culture.
In recent months, Chavarria also was put in the spotlight for a show at Paris Fashion Week that was intended as criticism of the Trump administration’s deportation policy.
Chavarria’s comments came days after Adidas made a public apology for the design, and in a statement said it was reaffirming “our commitment to collaborate with Yalalag in a respectful dialogue that honors their cultural legacy.” Last week, in a letter to Oaxacan state officials, the company requested to sit down with local officials and to discuss how it can “repair the damage” to Indigenous populations.
