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T h u r s d ay, J a n u a ry 22, 2026
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LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL
Sheriff’s deal with ICE raises concerns
Residents pack meeting to speak against agreement
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GIAN EHRENZELLER
President Donald Trump speaks during the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
Trump backs off on Greenland Tariff threat canceled after NATO agrees to future deal
BY JOSH BOAK, WILL WEISSERT and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press
masks during immigration enforcement. “Local government has a responsibility to ensure that authority is exercised openly, lawfully and with accountability. Transparency builds trust; trust builds safety,” she said. Before the Tuesday meeting, the Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, along with several local organizations and churches, wrote a Jan. 15 letter to Boulet requesting
DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump on Wednesday scrapped the tariffs that he threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, pulling a dramatic reversal shortly after insisting he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership.” In a post on his social me“We probably dia site, Trump said he had agreed with the head of won’t get NATO on a “framework of anything unless a future deal” on Arctic seI decide to curity, potentially defusing use excessive tension that had far-reaching strength and geopolitical implications. He said “additional discusforce, where sions” on Greenland were we would being held concerning the be frankly Golden Dome missile deunstoppable. fense program, a multilayered, $175 billion system that But I won’t do for the first time will put U.S. that, OK?” weapons in space. PRESIDENT Trump offered few deDONALD TRUMP tails, saying they were still being worked out. But one idea NATO members have discussed as part of a compromise with Trump was that Denmark and the alliance would work with the U.S. to build more U.S. military bases on Greenland. That’s according to a European official familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment publicly. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not immediately clear if that idea was included in the framework Trump announced. The president has threatened tariffs before only to back away. In April, after first saying he would slap massive import levies on nations from around the world, which prompted a sharp negative market reaction, Trump eased off.
ä See CONCERNS, page 5A
ä See TRUMP, page 4A
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE
Pastor Richard Andrus speaks against an agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office during the public comment portion of a meeting of the Lafayette City Council on Tuesday. BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
Lafayette residents, activists and faith leaders packed the council chamber and the City Hall lobby Tuesday to voice their concerns about an agreement the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office signed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The 287(g) program, signed by the Sheriff’s Office in December, has raised concerns among some residents about community safety and whether such agreements enable racial profiling. Nearly 30 residents spoke to express the impact that immigration enforcement can have on local communities in and around Lafayette and the worry that those legally in the country might be inadvertently caught up in the process. “My people are scared,” said Katherine Lopez, a Lafayette High School senior. Three months ago, her mother’s boyfriend was deported while coming home from a football game, Lopez said. Since then, Lopez has had to work extra hours to help financially support her household. “Not a day goes by where I am not worried that my mother will be taken, too,” Lopez said.
Residents pack the council chamber for Tuesday’s meeting. “Do something about Sheriff (Mark) Garber working alongside immigration. Do something to protect children like me from becoming orphans and hear your citizens. This is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of human rights and morality,” Lopez said to Mayor-President Monique Boulet. Consuela Gaines, a Voice of the Experienced organizer in Lafayette, pushed for transparency before the council, adding that law enforcement should not be allowed to wear
La. health secretary outlines new priorities
Ex-school official indicted in construction bid probe BY ASHLEY WHITE
Staff writer
Former Lafayette Parish school system construction and maintenance director Robert Gautreaux has been indicted on 11 charges in an investigation into the possibility of forged construction bid documents. The indictment was handed up by a Lafayette Parish grand jury on Wednesday. An indictment in-
WEATHER HIGH 69 LOW 57 PAGE 6A
dicates a grand jury agrees that prosecutors have enough evidence to bring charges against a person. Gautreaux, who has since been removed from his position as director but is working as a teacher at the district’s career center, was indicted on seven counts of filing a false public records, two counts of first-degree injuring public records and two counts of
ä See PROBE, page 4A
Focus on nutrition, improvement goals
STAFF FILE PHOTO
Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein vows to streamline how the department serves residents.
serves residents and putting a new focus on nutrition and other elements of healthy living. In what was billed as the LouisiBY EMILY WOODRUFF ana Department of Health’s first “annual shareholder meeting,” Staff writer Greenstein, who took over the Louisiana Health Secretary department in April, announced Bruce Greenstein laid out his plans plans to form a new Office of and priorities for the state’s larg- Health and Nutrition, which will est agency on Wednesday, vowing ä See PRIORITIES, page 5A to streamline how the department
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