ATLANTA (AP) — Even with all his family wealth, there is no way for Burt Jones to outspend billionaire Rick Jackson in the Republican primary for Georgia governor. So Jones tried something else — harnessing his leadership of the state Senate to seek an edge over Jackson.

Using his position as lieutenant governor, Jones pushed legislation that would have disqualified Jackson’s company from receiving taxpayer-funded contracts. The proposal failed, but Jones is running a television ad attacking Jackson on the subject at the same time Jones argues he is a “proven leader.”

The episode is another turn in an unexpectedly ugly battle for the Republican nomination. Jones was endorsed by President Donald Trump last year, but Jackson has elbowed into contention by spending more than $50 million.

Jones’ gambit might have backfired, however, and bad blood within the state legislature could hamper his candidacy.

The state House refused to consider the anti-Jackson proposal, while state senators discarded a plan by the lower chamber to limit property taxes in favor of their own ideas. Jones also irritated House leaders by ignoring a plan to continue using Georgia’s voting machines for one more year until replacements can be arranged, creating the possibility of a dicey election-season special session.

Now one of the top Republicans in the lower chamber — House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones — has endorsed Jackson by saying “we can count on Rick to do the right thing to make our lives better and more affordable.”

Jackson argued that Burt Jones’ work in the legislature was further evidence that the lieutenant governor is corrupt, a message that the health care tycoon is pushing in advertising too.

“From my standpoint, Burt is more concerned about things that are self-interested for him and his family, and he uses the power of that position to enhance his financial situation like he’s done in the past,” Jackson told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Besides Jones and Jackson, the other top candidates in the May 19 primary are Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Jones tried to score wins during the session that would appeal to Republican primary voters, including some he could use against Jackson.

“I’m the one who has actually has the legislative background and legislative experience on knowing how to get things done,” Jones told reporters Tuesday.

But it is not clear how much that record will matter, said Martha Zoller, a conservative radio talk show host who has been supporting Carr.

“I think what Burt’s got is the Trump endorsement,” Zoller said. “I don’t think he has much more than that.”

Jackson is even more dismissive of Jones.

“I don’t know anything he’s actually accomplished ever,” Jackson said.

Jan Jones’ embrace of Jackson could be the start of a tide of state House Republicans rejecting the lieutenant governor after years of feeling burned by his attempts to impose his will on the lower chamber.

The tension dates to 2023, when Jones launched a dispute over hospital licensing legislation, leading to accusations of corruption because his family has an ownership interest in a company seeking to build a hospital. Jones has said the push wasn’t about helping his family business but improving health care.

This year’s anti-Jackson bill was the focus of weeks of gossip under the Georgia’s Capitol gold dome. A version of it initially appeared in the House, but it died at a procedural deadline. Then on March 18, in an unusual speech to the Senate, Jones accused Jackson’s company, Jackson Healthcare, of being responsible for driving up costs in the state through its contracts to deliver medical staff.

That was followed on April 2 by a proposal to ban anyone doing business with the state from running for statewide office, which would have disqualified Jackson. Now Jones is running ads calling Jackson “a fraud who got filthy rich off Georgia’s taxpayers and seniors,” pointing to the $930 million in business that Jackson Healthcare has done with Georgia state government in recent years, including a huge no-bid contract to provide extra health care staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When you get over $1 billion in state contracts and it goes through a no bid process, you tell me where else that’s possible,” Jones said Tuesday, blaming state agencies for enabling Jackson.

State Sen. Matt Brass, one of Jones’ closest allies, said the proposal was an example of Jones’ hands-on leadership.

“I think he’s done what he’s always done, and that’s lead from the front,” Brass said. “When we go into battle and we take on tough issues, the lieutenant governor, he doesn’t send us in there to do his work, he leads.”

Jackson said he acted at Gov. Brian Kemp’s request to help with the pandemic response and was only putting Georgia’s interests first.

“I don’t see how responding to what a governor asks you to do as being corrupt,” Jackson said Tuesday.

More trouble could be coming over Georgia’s election machinery, which has been a source of controversy and conspiracy theories since Trump falsely accused Joe Biden of stealing the 2020 presidential race.

The state faces a July 1 deadline to stop counting ballots using computerized bar codes. Jones, like other grassroots Trump supporters who control the state Republican Party apparatus, argued in an April 14 letter that Georgia should default to a hand-marked paper ballot system.

However, many election officials argue that state law has become contradictory and could be subject to lawsuits. They also warn that the backup paper ballot system will be very expensive and possibly unworkable.

Even Jones now agrees a special session may be necessary this summer to untie the legal knot.

Jones also trumpeted his goal to phase out Georgia’s income tax, but an ambitious cut withered after being scorned by Kemp, who is wrapping up his final term in office, and state House Republicans.

A compromise was reached to further reduce — but not eliminate — the tax over nearly a decade.

The House, in turn, wanted sharp limits on property taxes. After extended negotiations, the Senate instead imposed lesser limits, with House Republicans feeling stabbed in the back.

State Rep. Steven Sainz, a Republican who has endorsed Jackson, said in general that “volatility” engulfed the Capitol this year.

“I could not think of a more extreme session, of the process becoming more distracting than the policies we’re looking at,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Charlotte Kramon contributed.

ELLERBE, N.C.. (AP) — Andre The Giant, a towering menace in the wrestling ring but a gentle giant on the movie screen, is being honored with a roadside marker in his beloved adopted small town in North Carolina.

Officials plan to unveil the marker Thursday in Ellerbe, North Carolina, a community of about 1,000 people where the wrestler born Andre Rene Roussimoff lived on a ranch just outside town.

Andre was billed at 7-foot-4 (2.24 meters) and 520 pounds (236 kilograms) during his time wrestling for the WWE in the 1970s and 1980s.

A larger than life villain, Roussimoff was touted as unbeatable until he faced Hulk Hogan in a match in 1987 at WrestleMania III that launched the once regional wrestling company into a nationwide entertainment force.

Later that year, Roussimoff appeared on film as the giant Fezzik in “The Princess Bride.” Fezzik was the gentle-hearted muscle for the antagonist and needed rhymes to remember his instructions.

Roussimoff was born in France. But as he wrestled around the U.S. South he fell in love with the region, buying his North Carolina ranch and raising cattle on his land about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Charlotte.

He became a critical part of the Ellerbe community. In 1990, he taped TV and radio spots against a possible low-level radioactive landfill nearby. A pair of his size-26 cowboy boots are kept at a museum.

Roussimoff died in 1993 at age 46 in France where he was visiting for his father’s funeral. They had a service for him there, but his body was cremated and his ashes spread at his beloved ranch.

The Richmond County marker at NC Highway 72 and Old NC Highway 220 simply says “Andre The Giant. 1946-1993. Actor and professional wrestler. Was born Andre Roussimoff. Known for role in The Princess Bride in 1987. Lived nearby.”

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Potentially millions of Americans suddenly have a much easier path to Canadian citizenship, prompting a rush of people to explore their ancestry and file paperwork seeking dual citizenship.

For people like Zack Loud of Farmington, Minnesota, it was a surprise to learn that under a new law, Canada already considered him and his siblings citizens because their grandmother is Canadian.

“My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list,” he said.

Since the new law took effect on Dec. 15, 2025, immigration lawyers in the United States and Canada say they have been overwhelmed by clients seeking help submitting proof of citizenship applications. Driven by politics, family heritage, job opportunities and other factors, thousands of Americans are exploring whether the easier process makes now the right time to gain dual citizenship.

Nicholas Berning, an immigration attorney at Boundary Bay Law in Bellingham, Washington, said his practice is “pretty much flooded with this.”

“We’ve kind of shifted a lot of other work away in order to push these cases through,” he said.

And immigration attorney Amandeep Hayer said his Vancouver, B.C., area practice went from about 200 citizenship cases a year to more than 20 consults per day.

Canada has been changing its citizenship laws for decades, whether to update historic interpretations of law or to address discrimination issues.

Previously, Canadian citizenship by descent could only be passed down to one generation, from a parent to a child. That changed when Canadian bill C-3 took effect Dec. 15, 2025, and opened up citizenship to anyone born before that date who could prove they have a direct Canadian ancestor — a grandparent, great-grandparent or even more distant ancestor.

Those born on or after Dec. 15 need to show their parent met a residency requirement of 1,095 days.

Under the new law, descendants of Canadians already are considered citizens, but they must provide proof to obtain a certificate of citizenship. Hayer estimated that there are millions of Americans who are Canadian descendants.

“You are Canadian, and you’re considered to be one your whole life,” said Hayer, who advocated for the new law in the Parliament of Canada. “That’s really what you’re applying for, the recognition of a right you already have vested.”

“The best way I can put it is like, if a baby’s born tomorrow in Canada, the baby’s Canadian even though they don’t have the birth certificate,” he said.

American applicants have different motivations, but many say President Donald Trump’s efforts on immigration and other topics have led them to seek dual citizenship.

Michelle Cunha, of Bedford, Massachusetts, said she decided to move to Canada after reflecting on decades of political activism and deciding she had “nothing left to give.”

“I put in my best effort for 30 years. I have done everything that I possibly can to make the United States what it promises the world to be, a place of freedom, a place of equality,” Cunha said. “But clearly we’re not there and we’re not going to get there anytime soon.”

Troy Hicks, who had a great-grandfather born in Canada, said he was spurred by an international trip.

“I recently went to Australia and you know, first words out of the first person I talked to in Australia was basically an expletive about Trump and the U.S.,” said Hicks, of Pahrump, Nevada. “It was just like, whoa, I walked off a 20-hour flight and literally the first words of somebody’s mouth to me were that. … So the idea of doing that with a Canadian passport just seemed easier, better, more palatable.”

Maureen Sullivan, of Naples, Florida, said she was motivated by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which hit home when her teenage nephew encountered federal officers near his high school in St. Paul. Sullivan, whose grandmother was Canadian, said she sees citizenship in Canada as an option in case things in the U.S. “really go south.”

“When I first heard about the bill, I couldn’t believe it. It was like this little gift that fell in my lap,” Sullivan said. “There was kind of this collective excitement amongst the (family) who just felt like, we wanted to feel like we were doing something to take care of our security in the future if needed.”

For those with documentation ready at hand, the proof of citizenship application fee is a relatively inexpensive 75 Canadian dollars ($55).

But costs will climb for those seeking help from an attorney or genealogist.

Cunha said she used an attorney and estimates the cost will be about $6,500.

However, Mary Mangan, of Somerville, Massachusetts, filed her application in January using advice from online forums.

“There are some situations where a lawyer might be the right thing, but for many people, I would guess 90% of people can probably do this on their own,” Mangan said.

The website for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office, which processes applications, says processing times for a certificate is around 10 months, with more 56,000 people awaiting a decision.

The agency said that from Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, it confirmed citizenship by descent for 1,480 people, though not all were Americans. Last year, 24,500 Americans gained dual US-Canada citizenship.

Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Canadians are generally a “welcoming people.”

“I think where people start looking askance is someone who’s never been to Canada, who has very thin ties. They can get a passport, becoming Canadians of convenience. People don’t like that,” he said.

Hampson said some also worry a surge of interest from Americans could delay efforts by refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing vulnerable situations.

“Canadians don’t like queue jumpers,” Hampson said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for singer D4vd are pushing to have prosecutors quickly and publicly present the evidence they have against him in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old girl from Lake Elsinore, California.

The 21-year-old whose legal name is David Burke returns to a Los Angeles court for a hearing Thursday, just three days after he was charged and pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, and seven months after the girl’s dismembered body was found in his Tesla in the Hollywood Hills.

In a rare move, he is exercising his right in California to have a judge decide within 10 court days of his arraignment whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.

Nearly all defendants waive this right, slow-pedal this part of the process and wait months to reach this stage.

“We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez,” lead defense attorney Blair Berk told a judge Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said in court that the prosecution would be “very happy” to present their evidence, and that “40 terabytes” of it have been collected and can be shared.

One key set of evidence became public Wednesday with the release of the months-old autopsy report from the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office. It said Rivas Hernandez’s death was caused by two penetrating wounds to the upper body.

Burke, who is being held without bail, also pleaded not guilty to lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. Prosecutors allege he had been sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez for at least a year starting when she was 13, killed her when she threatened to report the relationship and dismembered her body about two weeks later.

Thursday’s hearing comes exactly one year after the day authorities say she was last known to be alive and went to Burke’s house.

A secret grand jury heard months of testimony in the case. But it had not issued an indictment when the singer was arrested last week. Its existence became public in a February court filing in Texas where Burke’s relatives sought to reject subpoenas that they testify.

His attorney told the judge Monday that it was this secret testimony that was prompting the defense to attempt to have the evidence be seen.

It is not clear whether the presentation of evidence would begin at Thursday’s hearing or whether the proceedings will be used to schedule witnesses for the coming days.

The girl’s parents, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, made their first public statement in the case on Tuesday, calling their daughter “a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance.”

“We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us,” they said. “We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among young fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

His debut full-length album, “Withered,” was released one year ago, two days after the date prosecutors estimate that Rivas Hernandez was killed.

For digital nomads, logging on to work from a cafe, co-working space, hotel lobby or airport lounge is a way of life.

Remote working has been made possible by reliable high speed internet and turbocharged by the pandemic. For some remote workers, that includes working from somewhere other than their home or office, perhaps because their company doesn’t have a physical location in their area, or because they don’t have an ideal home office setup.

Working in public, however, doesn’t come without privacy and security risks. Here’s a quick reminder of precautions to take:

Hybrid or fully remote working is the norm for many jobs, so it’s a good idea to check for guidance from your employer on what’s expected when working away from the office.

Many companies and organizations have internal guidelines including best practices for working in public, or even offer privacy and confidentiality training for staff.

Some discourage working in crowded public places like coffee shops because of data privacy risks. The British government spells it out in guidance for staff working with classified documents. “These environments can present additional risks, including being more freely accessible to people without the appropriate clearance and need-to-know.”

If you’re planning to travel and work, some employers might also have rules forbidding staff from working from certain countries.

Cafes and co-working spaces are often busy with strangers, most of whom will be minding their own business. But it’s still a good idea not to leave yourself exposed.

Try to find a secluded place to sit to prevent others from seeing what’s on your screen, even if it’s by accident. It’s harder for someone to “shoulder surf” if you’ve got your back to a wall.

To make it even harder for prying eyes, get a screen privacy filter. This is a thin film that has tiny louvres to prevent anyone from seeing your screen when looking at it from an angle.

It’s so tempting to log on to that free Wi-Fi network in the airport lounge or hotel lobby so you can check your email. But cybersecurity experts advise against it because the risks are high.

Avoid a public Wi-Fi network that doesn’t need a password, because any data sent over it is vulnerable to theft or manipulation, the National Security Agency warns.

Even if a Wi-Fi network requires a password, that doesn’t mean the data will be encrypted, the NSA says in a cybersecurity tip sheet.

The agency warns about a number of cybersecurity risks involving public Wi-Fi. One possible danger is a rogue network that tricks people into joining.

“A malicious actor can set up a fake access point, also known as an evil twin, to mimic the nearby expected public Wi-Fi, resulting in that actor having access to all data sent over the network,” the NSA says.

Instead, use a mobile hotspot, which is more secure because it uses your cellphone signal to create a mini wireless network. Most iPhones or Android phones can do this.

For even more security, use a VPN, or virtual private network. This is software that encrypts data traffic and routes it through private tunnels to secure servers to prevent anyone from being able to read it. Companies usually provide them for staff. If not, you can sign up for one yourself.

There are other common-sense measures you can take in public.

Beware of your surroundings. Sitting in a public place with a laptop in plain sight could make it an attractive target for thieves. If you need to leave your spot to go to the restroom, take your devices with you.

Avoid having private conversations in public. If you’re on a noisy train car or in a busy hotel lobby talking on a Zoom call about a sensitive project, it might be tempting to raise your voice to make sure you’re being heard. But you can never be sure if anyone is eavesdropping.

“In public areas be aware of whether you can be overheard by any unauthorized individuals, such as members of the public, or smart listening devices,” the British government’s guidance warns.

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Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is working through the night as Republicans are trying to pass funding for two immigration enforcement agencies over Democratic objections and reopen the Department of Homeland Security.

The lengthy session is the first step in a complicated process as Republicans seek to work around Democrats’ blockade of the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. The entire Homeland Security Department has been shut down for more than two months as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents.

Republicans are now trying to fund the two agencies through the time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes. The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Republican leaders in the House say they won’t take that bill up until the Senate shows progress toward funding ICE and Border Patrol, as well.

The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats. But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and an open-ended series of amendment votes that could take all night to work through.

Democrats have said they will offer amendments to lower expenses for health care and other costs of living in an effort to contrast with Republicans’ focus on Trump’s campaign of immigration enforcement.

Republicans are “bending the knee to Donald Trump,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the votes.

The Senate is expected to pass the budget framework after the lengthy vote series, likely early Thursday morning, and send it to the House. Once the House approves the framework and the Senate Parliamentarian approves it, the two chambers can then move to pass the measure.

The $70 billion resolution would fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years, through the rest of Trump’s term. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other GOP leaders say they hope to keep the bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol and get it to Trump’s desk by the end of the month, along with the rest of Homeland Security Department funding that has already passed the Senate.

But that could prove difficult as many in the party see the budget bill as the last real chance this year to enact their priorities. Republicans in both the Senate and House have pushed to add other items, including money for farmers and Trump’s proof of citizenship voting bill, called the SAVE America Act.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., briefly held up the vote series late Wednesday, frustrated that the bill would not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other issues.

“This is the last train leaving the station,” Kennedy said, predicting they would not be able to pass any other legislation ahead of November’s midterm elections. But he withdrew his objections and allowed the voting to proceed.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – Houston city officials amended on Wednesday an ordinance that halted cooperation with federal immigration authorities after the Texas governor threatened to withhold $114 million in public safety funds ahead of this summer’s soccer World Cup matches.

The ordinance passed this month had restricted police in the largest city in Texas and the fourth most populous in the United States, from detaining those subject to deportation warrants.

The Houston city council voted 13-4 to pass the amendment, said the office of Democratic Mayor John Whitmire, adding that it would protect $114 million in state funding and reinforce people’s rights against unreasonable detention.

The 2026 soccer World Cup is set to begin on June 11 ​across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Wednesday’s change dropped an explicit bar on the practice of giving federal agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency 30 minutes to pick up people named in the warrants.

The amendment approval was “a step in the right direction,” a spokesperson for Republican Governor Greg Abbott told the Texas Tribune newspaper.

The amendment also strikes out a description of ICE’s administrative warrants as being “not reviewed by a neutral magistrate or judge and are not probable cause for a criminal arrest,” the paper added.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had filed a lawsuit against the Democratic mayor and city council members over the ordinance.

Civil rights groups condemned the amendment.

“Houston city council caved to the governor’s threats and intimidation,” said Caro Rivera Nelson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas.

“The effective repeal of Proposition A is a stain on our state,” she added, referring to the ordinance.

ICE has been the face of a hardline immigration crackdown and deportation drive pursued by the administration of Republican President Donald Trump.

Rights groups have condemned the crackdown, saying it has led to violations of free speech and due process rights and created an unsafe environment, particularly for minorities.

Trump casts his actions as necessary to improve domestic security and curb illegal immigration.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times says the FBI investigated whether one of its reporters, Elizabeth Williamson, violated laws against stalking after she wrote a story nearly two months ago about how federal agents had been assigned to protect and give rides to FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend.

The FBI said Wednesday that its agents interviewed Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, when she expressed concern about a death threat received after Williamson’s article was published, but took no further action.

The Times, in an article posted online Wednesday, said that the FBI looked on federal databases for information about Williamson and recommended pursuing it further, but was blocked by the Justice Department.

The newspaper said it learned about all of this only through a tip given to reporter Michael S. Schmidt. The paper called the action alarming.

“The FBI’s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions,” said Joseph Kahn, the newspaper’s executive editor. “It’s alarming. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong.”

It’s not clear whether The Times has any recourse other than asking a federal inspector general to review whether the actions were improper.

Williamson briefly interviewed Wilkins when reporting, but the singer insisted the conversation be off the record. The reporter also spoke to people who knew Wilkins or had worked with her, the newspaper said.

The original piece, published on Feb. 28, looked at the use of federal officials called upon to perform personal duties for an administration figure. She wrote that Patel had assigned four agents to protect Wilkins full time, and that they had ferried her to appearances in Britain, Illinois and Nashville.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson, in a statement posted on social media, said that while investigators “were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking, no further action regarding Williamson or the reporting was ever pursued by the FBI.”

Patel hasn’t been reluctant to fight back against reporting that displeases him. On Monday, he filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic for its article that discussed allegations about his excessive drinking and mismanagement at the law enforcement agency.

WASHINGTON, DC (AP) — The Kennedy Center is poised to undergo major renovations, with President Donald Trump calling it “tired, broken, and dilapidated.” Matt Floca, the new executive director, led journalists through the building on Wednesday, highlighting water damage and outdated equipment. Repairs are expected to take two years, with Congress providing $257 million for the project.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

The decision in Colorado to charge an immigration officer with assault after a protester was grabbed by the neck and pulled across a street could test the boundaries of immunity provisions for federal agents as states scrutinize the use of force under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

A Colorado prosecutor said Wednesday that the officer has been charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief following an investigation into the treatment of a protester in October.

Multiple videos show a masked federal agent seizing a 57-year-old woman, who says she was put in a chokehold, during the protest in Durango.

Colorado is among several states to prohibit or severely limit the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by police officers. But immunity provisions under the U.S. Constitution and federal law limit the reach of local authorities in prosecuting federal agents.

Here’s what to know:

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics have spurred an array of investigations by state and local authorities.

Earlier this month, a federal immigration agent was charged with two counts of second-degree assault by a county prosecutor in Minnesota amid investigations into the actions of several officers during the immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis area.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. is accused of pointing his gun at occupants of a car after pulling alongside them on a Minneapolis-area highway. Investigators say Morgan said he feared for his safety after the vehicle swerved in front of him.

Minnesota officials also have sued the administration for access to evidence for investigations into three shootings during the crackdown, including those that resulted in the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Outside Chicago, an off-duty ICE agent has been charged with misdemeanor battery for throwing to the ground a 68-year-old protester who was filming him at a gas station in December. The Homeland Security Department that oversees ICE says the agent acted in self-defense.

In California, the shooting death of 43-year-old Keith Porter by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve has prompted protests and calls for an independent investigation.

Federal law enforcement officers have broad legal protections when acting in the course of their official duties, and the Justice Department has taken a hard line against state efforts to arrest or prosecute federal agents.

Late last year, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said arrests of federal officers performing their duties would be “illegal and futile,” citing the Constitution’s supremacy clause and federal law.

Legal experts say those protections are significant but not absolute and that the supremacy clause does not provide blanket immunity.

In a statement on the Colorado charges, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said states do not have the authority to investigate such cases.

“Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies,” the statement said.

Conduct by ICE officers is under additional scrutiny amid a rapid hiring spree and evidence that applicants with questionable histories were not fully vetted.

The altercation in Colorado arose from demonstrations over the detention on Oct. 27 of three Colombian asylum-seekers — a man and two children — while they were on their way to school in the morning. In late October, protesters gathered outside an ICE facility in Durango, a college town and destination for outdoor recreation in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.

Multiple videos show a masked federal agent placing Franci Stagi in what she described as a chokehold. Chokeholds have been at the center of public discourse and state legislative initiatives about what constitutes an unreasonable use of force since Eric Garner died in New York in 2014 after he was put in a chokehold by a police officer.

Stagi, a retired hypnotherapist, said she reached for the agent’s shoulder to get his attention and that he then grabbed her by the hair, put her neck in the crook of his arm and carried her across the street by her head before throwing her down an embankment next to the street.

Court documents allege that Customs and Border Protection officer Nicholas Rice committed third-degree assault by causing bodily injury to Stagi, but the documents don’t describe how she was injured or make mention of a chokehold. Court documents didn’t list any attorney as representing the officer.

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which launched its own investigation, didn’t immediately respond to questions about the charges.

Stagi says she’s disappointed Rice was charged with less serious crimes but hopes the prosecution sends a message that immigration officers can’t tackle people indiscriminately and use excessive force.