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Democratic Senator Andy Kim was met with force when trying to defuse tensions at an immigration detention center on Monday. Kim was pepper-sprayed, along with dozens of other protesters, outside of Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, Monday after visiting the center to look into reports of detainees on a hunger strike protesting poor conditions at the facility. Kim and other Democratic New Jersey officials were allowed to enter.When Kim left the building, he saw that protesters had formed a human chain in front of the facility, and he said he tried to get in the middle of the situation to “de-escalate the situation” and avoid a “physical clash” after ICE said they planned to push vehicles through the crowd.  But then, Kim said, “that’s when [the agents] started to shoot at us with pepper balls as well as using the pepper spray.” ​A medic at the scene had to wash Kim’s eyes out with water. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that conditions at the facility were fine, claiming that detainees have access to phones, food, clean water, clothing, and medical care, and called the protesters “agitators.” “This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks,” said acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis in another statement, denying that a hunger strike or “subprime conditions” exist at Delaney Hall. “These sanctuary politicians should be thanking ICE law enforcement for removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and drug traffickers from their communities.” Kim, who said he had to call DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to gain access to the facility, disputed that statement. The senator said he spoke to “as many detainees as possible,” who related “just the inhumane conditions.” “I talked with a pregnant woman who is not getting access to OBGYN health care in the way that she needs,” Kim told NJ.com. “I talked with a woman who actually had a miscarriage in Delaney Hall and was not given any medical support. I talked with an 18-year-old high school senior who just wanted to be able to graduate this month rather than being in a detention facility uncertain about what’s going to happen next in her life and being separated from her mom.”

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The U.S. bombed several Iranian targets Monday, breaking its own ceasefire in the process.American forces destroyed Iranian boats and missile launch sites, according to U.S. Central Command. The boats were reportedly attempting to lay more mines along the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman. But the timing of the attack could not have been worse, as Iranian officials had arrived in Qatar just hours earlier for talks to end the war.Iranian state media confirmed some of the attacks hit Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city that is home to the country’s key naval and air bases. State media reported that explosions occurred in other cities, as well.CENTCOM characterized the strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying they were intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”“Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing cease-fire,” CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement. Hawkins declined to elaborate on which ships were hit, where the targets were located, or where the other U.S. attacks took place.In a lengthy Truth Social post Monday morning, hours before the strikes, Trump declared that the U.S. and Iran would either broker a “great deal for all or, no deal at all.”“Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before,” the president warned.In another post, Trump said that his deal would be “the exact opposite” of the Iran deal brokered by former President Barack Obama, although he added that “nobody has seen it, or knows what it is.”Trump also noted that any potential deal to end the Iran war should come with a stipulation requiring Tehran to sign the Abraham Accords, normalizing diplomatic, economic, and security with Israel. Trump shared that he had spoken with the leaders of several Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, and opined that “it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum,” sign the Abraham Accords “simultaneously.”“Those Countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates (already a Member!), Qatar, Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (already a Member!),” Trump wrote.Tehran has said there will be no “retreat” in its fight against the United States. Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton told CNN Monday that Iran had effectively played the White House by delaying the peace process.“I don’t think the president understands the fanaticism of what’s left of the regime and the people in power. He is somebody who has spent his whole life making deals with people. He thinks everybody wants to make a deal on just about anything. That’s not what these people are into,” Bolton said.“They can see that Trump is so palpably desperate to make a deal that he can declare to be a victory and that lowers prices of gasoline—and they’re playing him on that,” Bolton continued. “They’re stretching him out, they’re buying time. All of that works out in their advantage.”

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Adam Hoffman, a former attorney from Waco, was facing a first-degree felony before Paxton’s office cut a deal with his prosecutors.

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Tennessee death row prisoner Tony Carruthers was issued a one-year stay of execution last Thursday after prison officials were unable to find a backup injection vein in a botched execution attempt that left Carruthers suffering and in pain for over an hour. Nashville reporter Steven Hale attended the execution and describes his and fellow witnesses’ confusion as they heard the sounds of what Carruthers’s attorneys are calling “torture.” Per Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, witnesses can only see inside the execution chamber once the injection process has begun. Carruthers, who has long struggled with mental health issues and represented himself in his trial, was convicted of triple homicide in 1996. He has always maintained his innocence, but courts have thus far blocked his requests for modern-day crime scene analysis that could lead to his exoneration. Tennessee resumed capital punishment last year, following a three-year moratorium put in place to review the state’s lethal injection protocols. Since its resumption, three people have been executed by the state, all by lethal injection. Carruthers would have been the fourth.