BRAVE MAG

Seven elephant seal pupshave tested positive for avian flu atCalifornia's Año Nuevo State Park,after scientists noticed several seals showing abnormal respiratory and neurological signs.

Scientists atUC Santa Cruz,UC Davis, and theU.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratoryconfirmed the outbreak late Tuesday evening, marking thefirst outbreak of HPAI H5N1 in marine mammals in California, according to apress release from UC Davis.

"This is exceptionally rapid detection of an outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals," said Professor Christine Johnson, director of theInstitute for Pandemic Insightsat theUC Davis' Weill School of Veterinary Medicine."We have most likely identified the very first cases here because of coordinated teams that have been on high alert with active surveillance for this disease for some time."

In response to this outbreak, theAño Nuevo State Park has temporarily closedaccess to the elephant seal viewing area for the rest of the season. The park will provide refunds to any tourists who booked a spot to view the seals.

The state park's marine education center, horse barn movie theater, and a portion of the Año Nuevo Point Trail will remain open at this time,according to the park's website.

This is not the first timethe disease has been detected in an elephant seal population; in 2023, southern elephant seals in Argentina were affected by it. The disease decimatedsouthern elephant seals, as hundreds of dead pups appeared along the Patagonian coast of Argentina.

Advertisement

After the avian flu killed hundreds ofsouthern elephant seals, scientists at UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis increased disease surveillance of the population in North America, out of concern that the disease might spread along the American coastlines.

"Given the catastrophic impacts observed in related species, we were concerned about the possibility of the virus infecting northern elephant seals for the first time, so we ramped up monitoring to detect any early signs of abnormalities," said Roxanne Beltran, a professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz.Beltran's lableads UC Santa Cruz's northern elephant seal research program at Año Nuevo.

The avian flu wasfirst reported in Canada in December 2021, after the virus was detected in wild birds in every province and territory. However, UC scientistsbelieve this is the first detection of avianflu among thenorthern elephant sealpopulation.

The risk of the avian flu transmitting to the general public is very low; the disease can spread between animals and people. Scientists recommend avoiding areas with infected animals, not touching live or dead seals, and not allowing pets to approach them.

If a person encounters a sick, injured, or dead marine mammal in California, Oregon, or Washington, call the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region Stranding Hotline: (866) 767-6114.

Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him atnpadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadillaor on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.Sign up for theTODAY Californian newsletteror follow us on Facebook atTODAY Californian.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Seven elephant seals test positive for bird flu at California beach

By Nate Raymond

U.S. District Judge Murphy Investiture Ceremony in Boston

BOSTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration had adopted an unlawful policy that allows for the rapid deportation of migrants to countries other than their own without providing them a ‌chance to object and raise concerns for their safety.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued a final ruling declaring the ‌U.S. Department of Homeland Security's policy invalid in a case that the administration expects will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The policy, which was adopted in ​March 2025 as part of Republican President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, failed to protect the due process rights of migrants who without notice could be swiftly deported to "an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous country," Murphy said.

Murphy said the administration had argued it would be "fine" for immigration officers under that policy to quickly deport people to so-called third countries they did not come from as long as DHS does not know someone is waiting to kill them upon ‌their arrival.

"It is not fine, nor is it ⁠legal," wrote Murphy, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden.

DECISION ON HOLD PENDING LIKELY APPEAL

The judge set aside the policy and declared that migrants who had been subject to it had a right to meaningful ⁠notice and a chance to raise objections to being deported to third countries. But he paused his ruling from taking effect for 15 days to allow the administration time to pursue an appeal, citing the case's "importance and its unusual history."

He noted the Supreme Court's earlier interventions in the case. The court previously ​lifted ​a preliminary injunction Murphy issued in April protecting the due process rights of ​migrants facing deportation to third countries and later cleared ‌the way for eight men to be sent to South Sudan.

Advertisement

While it was in effect, that earlier injunction hindered the administration's efforts to send migrants to countries other than their places of origin, including South Sudan, Libya and El Salvador.

A spokesperson for DHS, in a statement, pointed to the Supreme Court's earlier rulings in its favor in the case and said the department was "confident we will be vindicated again."

"DHS must be allowed to execute its lawful authority and remove illegal aliens to a country willing to accept them," the DHS spokesperson said.

Wednesday's ruling came ‌in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of migrants facing deportation to countries not ​previously named in their removal orders or identified in their immigration court proceedings.

The policy allows ​migrants to be deported to such countries if immigration authorities ​either have credible diplomatic assurances they will not be persecuted or tortured if sent there, or have given ‌the migrants as little as six hours of notice that ​they are being sent to such ​a place.

Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, called Murphy's ruling "a forceful statement from the court that the administration's third-country removal policy is unconstitutional."

"Under the government's policy, people have been forcibly returned to countries where U.S. immigration ​judges have found they will be persecuted or ‌tortured," Realmuto said in a statement.

Department of Justice lawyers had argued the policy satisfied immigration law requirements and due process ​standards and was essential for deporting migrants whose home countries refused them due to crimes they committed.

(Reporting by Nate ​Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Nia Williams and Bill Berkrot)

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — When roadblocks, explosions and gunshots broke out after thekilling of Mexico's most powerful drug lord, people who rushed to their cellphones for information found social media posts depicting a country in chaos.

TheJalisco New Generation Cartelresponded to themassive Mexican army operationto capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes,known as "El Mencho,"on Sunday with an even bigger wave ofretaliatory violencein some 20 states. More than 70 people were killed.

But in addition to real accounts of death and destruction and the warnings from governments for their citizens to shelter in place, the internet was flooded with disinformation — fake videos and images generated byartificial intelligence. They were designed to stoke fear, Mexican officials said.

"We didn't know what was true and what was false," said Victoria Elizabeth Peceril, 31, who was walking with her three children in the now-calm streets of Guadalajara on Wednesday. "We were really scared."

Some posts falsely claimed the president hid and an airport was seized

One fake post purported to show a commercial plane on fire at Guadalajara's international airport. Messages spread that gunmen had seized the airport and tourists had been taken hostage.

The government said there were between 200 and 500 troublesome and inaccurate posts — including up to 30 that have received more than 100,000 views — since Sunday's army operation.

Officials presented data compiled by Tecnologico de Monterrey, a private university, during President Claudia Sheinbaum's daily news briefing Wednesday. It said 35% to 40% of those posts lacked context, at least 25% were misleading, and nearly 25% were manipulated by AI or fabricated.

One post claimed a U.S. agent had strangled Oseguera Cervantes. Another said Sheinbaum was hiding on a naval vessel off Mexico's Pacific coast. Others speculated that Mexico killed Oseguera Cervantes rather than turn him over to the U.S., or tried to tie his killing to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to the university's report.

The university did not suggest who, or what, was producing the content.

"There was a lot of badly intentioned news Sunday, looking to generate terror," Sheinbaum said a day earlier.

The Jalisco cartel is known for extraordinary violence

Many people in Mexico learn about what is happening in their communities via chat groups on messaging apps or from accounts on the social platform X. In the northern border cities that live in the grip of organized crime, these sometimes read like traffic reports, telling drivers the location of convoys of criminals so they can stay away.

The Jalisco cartel has built a reputation for spectacular acts of violence, including downing a military helicopter and attempting to assassinate Mexico City's police chief, so social media posts proclaiming extraordinary cartel brutality are difficult to doubt.

Advertisement

"At first, we believed everything," said 28-year-old Nicolás Martín, who lives in Mexico City but had been staying at a resort near Puerto Vallarta when the violence began. He said the images posted online resembled "what you see in movies."

Martín said he was surprised by the quality of posts that circulated early Sunday — including what appeared to be drone footage — supposedly showing explosions and fires in Puerto Vallarta. In the initial moments of chaos, you would expect the images to be less steady, more haphazard, he said.

Organized criminals are becoming tech-savvy

Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert in organized crime at the Brookings Institution — a Washington-based public policy think tank — it's possible that people tied to the Jalisco cartel were behind at least some of the disinformation.

Among Mexico's organized crime groups, the Jalisco cartel in particular has invested in its online presence.

"The criminals are becoming very tech-savvy," Felbab-Brown said.

"It was impressive to see the level of misinformation," she said, citing the images purporting to show the cartel had taken over the airport in Guadalajara. She said those "impressive and sophisticated" posts are likely generated by AI from chatbots controlled by Jalisco Nueva Generación.

They "certainly added to the aura of chaos and meltdown in Mexico," Felbab-Brown said.

Even though Mexican authorities and the U.S. Embassy tried to knock down some of the false information circulating Sunday, Sarai Olguín, a 22-year-old college student in Guadalajara, said it was difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.

Friends sent her videos and photos they found online as she and other residents hid inside their homes. She credits the posts in part with keeping people off the streets.

One post warned that "after a certain hour they were going to kill everyone," she said. "In a way it's good, because all of this false news helped take care of people even though they sowed immense fear."

Verza reported from Mexico City. Associated Press fact checker Abril Mulato in Mexico City contributed.