Russian Defense Minister Appears for First Time Since Wagner Mutiny 

In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
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Russian Defense Minister Appears for First Time Since Wagner Mutiny 

In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
In his photo taken and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, June 8, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the preparation of equipment and weapons for shipment to the zone of the special military operation at the arsenals and storage bases of the Western Military District at an undisclosed location in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared for the first time since a deal was struck on Saturday to end what the authorities had called an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group aimed at ousting him. 

In a video released on Monday morning by the Russian Defense Ministry, Shoigu was shown flying in a plane with a colleague and hearing reports at a command post run by Russia's Zapad (West) military grouping. 

There was no sound on the video and it was not immediately clear where or when the visit had taken place. 

Russia's Zvezda Defense Ministry TV Channel said Shoigu, who looked physically unharmed and calm, had listened to a report by Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, the group's commander, about the current situation on the frontlines in Ukraine. 

In his mutiny during which he seized control of Russia's military headquarters in southern Russia, renegade Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had demanded that Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff, be handed over to him so that he could "restore justice." 

Prigozhin accused both men of gross incompetence and corruption and had long been agitating for their removal. 

Gerasimov has not been seen since in public, and there was no word from the Kremlin about any new personnel changes when it described the deal which had ended the mutiny. 

The Kremlin said the question of personnel changes was the sole prerogative of President Vladimir Putin and could hardly have been part of any deal. 

Zvezda said Shoigu on his visit had heard about the formation of new reserve forces for the "Zapad" military grouping and had noted what it called the Russian army's "high efficiency" at "detecting and destroying enemy military equipment and accumulations of personnel in tactical areas." 

He had tasked them with continuing active reconnaissance in order to reveal the enemy's plans to thwart Ukrainian forces' movements far behind the frontlines, it said. 

Zvezda said Shoigu had also paid particular attention to what it called "the organization of all-round support for the troops involved in the Special Military Operation and the creation of conditions for the safe housing of personnel." 

Mutineers led by Prigozhin on Saturday advanced towards Moscow to remove what they called Russia's corrupt and incompetent military leadership, before suddenly heading back to a Russia-held area of eastern Ukraine after a deal with the Kremlin brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. 

The deal, as publicly described by the Kremlin, saw criminal charges against the mutineers dropped in exchange for their return to camps. Prigozhin will relocate to Belarus under the agreement. 



As Trump Returns to the White House, Families Prepare for Mass Deportations

Venezuelan Jorluis Ocando (4th L) listens to directions before crossing the border to El Paso, Texas, United States with other migrants to attend their CPB One appointment in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on October 22, 2024. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)
Venezuelan Jorluis Ocando (4th L) listens to directions before crossing the border to El Paso, Texas, United States with other migrants to attend their CPB One appointment in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on October 22, 2024. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)
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As Trump Returns to the White House, Families Prepare for Mass Deportations

Venezuelan Jorluis Ocando (4th L) listens to directions before crossing the border to El Paso, Texas, United States with other migrants to attend their CPB One appointment in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on October 22, 2024. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)
Venezuelan Jorluis Ocando (4th L) listens to directions before crossing the border to El Paso, Texas, United States with other migrants to attend their CPB One appointment in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on October 22, 2024. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)

Parents around Nora Sanidgo's large, rectangular dining table had lunch before signing documents to make the Nicaraguan immigrant a legal guardian of their children, entrusting them to her if they are deported. She gave a list of what to carry with them: birth certificates, medical and school records, immigration documents, her phone number.
“Talk to your children and tell them what can happen, let them have my phone number on hand, let them learn it, let them record it,” Sandigo said Sunday.
For the group at Sandigo's southwest Miami home and for millions in the United States illegally or with temporary legal status, the start of Donald Trump's second term as president on Monday comes with a feeling that their time in the US may end soon. Trump made mass deportations a signature issue of his campaign and has promised a raft of first-day orders to remake immigration policy.
“You don’t have to be afraid, you have to be prepared,” Sandigo told the group of about 20 people, including small children, who watched a demonstration of how to respond if immigration officers knock on their door. “Take precautions wherever you are.”
Sandigo, who came to the US in 1988, has volunteered to be guardian for more than 2,000 children in 15 years, including at least 30 since December. A notary was on hand Sunday.
Erlinda, a single mother from El Salvador who arrived in 2013, signed legal rights to her US-born children, ages 10 and 8. She said she applied for asylum but doesn't know the status of her case.
“I am afraid for my children, that they will live the terror of not seeing their mother for a day, for a month, for a year,” said Erlinda, 45, who asked to be identified by first name only due to fears of being detained.
Plans for deportation arrests appeared to be in flux after news leaked of an operation in Chicago this week. Trump's “border czar” Tom Homan said on Fox News Sunday that Chicago was “not off the table, but we’re reconsidering when and how we do it.” He said the leak raised concerns about officer safety.
So-called sanctuary cities, which limit how local police cooperate with federal immigration authorities, have been a favorite Trump target, especially Chicago. Reports that his initial push would be in the nation's third-largest city brought a new sense of urgency and fear.
Chicago became a sanctuary city in the 1980s and has beefed up policies since, including after Trump first took office in 2017. Last week, the City Council heartily rejected a longshot plan calling for exceptions allowing local police to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on deportation cases for people accused or convicted of crimes.
The Rev. Homero Sanchez said he didn’t realize the depth of fear in the Chicago immigrant community he serves until someone asked him to handle the sale of their family’s home and other finances if they are picked up after Trump takes office.
“They feel they have been targeted for who they are. They feel like they’re reviving this fear they had eight years ago,” said Sanchez, who serves the St. Rita of Cascia Parish on Chicago’s South Side. “They’re feeling like something is going to happen. This is not their city because of the threat.”
Sanchez, whose congregation has consisted mostly of people of Mexican descent since the 1980s, devoted Sunday Mass “to solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters.”
Cardinal Blase Cupich, who leads the Archdiocese of Chicago, said reports of the city being targeted by immigration officers were "not only profoundly disturbing but also wound us deeply.”
“We are proud of our legacy of immigration that continues in our day to renew the city we love,” Cupich said Sunday during a visit to Mexico City, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
ICE arrests a fraction of targets in its street operations, though Trump is expected to cast a wider net than President Joe Biden, whose focus on picking up people away from the border was largely limited to those with serious criminal histories or who pose a risk to national security.
Biden’s administration also ended the practice of mass worksite arrests, which were common under Trump, including a 2019 operation targeting Mississippi chicken plants.
Trump aides have said immigration officers will arrest others, such as spouses or roommates, who are not targets but happen to be in the country illegally.