Unidentified objects downed over Alaska and Canada ‘much smaller’ than Chinese ‘spy’ balloon, White House says
The unidentified objects shot down over Alaska and Canada in recent days do not resemble the Chinese “spy” balloon downed near South Carolina a week ago, the White House has said.
A spokesperson for its National Security Council said they were “much smaller” but added: “We will not definitively
characterise them until we can recover the debris, which we are working on.”
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said recovery teams were searching for the object shot down over his country’s territory to work out what its purpose was.
A US F-22 stealth fighter jet brought it down on Mr Trudeau’s orders on Saturday in the second incident of its type in as many days.
The latest shootdown had occurred over the mountainous and sparsely-populated territory of Yukon in the northwest.
“Recovery teams are on the ground, looking to find and analyse the object,” Mr Trudeau told reporters as he headed for the region for a previously scheduled fundraising event.
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“There’s still much to know about it. That’s why the analysis of this object is going to be very important.”
Earlier, Canada’s defence minister Anita Anand would not speculate on where the object came from.
She described it as cylindrical in shape but said it was smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina in the US a week ago.
It was flying at 40,000ft and posed a risk to civilian air traffic when it was brought down about 100 miles from the border at 3.41pm EST (8.41pm GMT), she added.
In the US, the Pentagon said that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) had spotted the object over the coast of Alaska late on Friday evening.
The US fighter jets were scrambled from the state’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and were joined by Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft after the object crossed into Canada.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said that the US F-22 had shot down the object using an AIM 9X missile “following close coordination between US and Canadian authorities”.
Mr Trudeau said that the military will recover and analyse the wreckage, adding that he has spoken to US President Joe Biden and thanked NORAD for “keeping the watch over North America”.
The White House said Mr Biden and Mr Trudeau would continue close coordination to “defend our airspace”, adding in a statement: “The leaders discussed the importance of recovering the object in order to determine more details on its purpose or origin.”
The incident happened the day after the US shot down an unknown object flying in its airspace off the coastline of Alaska on the orders of Mr Biden.
It was flying at an altitude of about 40,000ft and was the size of a small car, the White House said.
In an update on Saturday evening, NORAD said it had “no further details at this time about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin”.
It added that “arctic weather conditions” including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight were a “factor” in the recovery operation.
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Moment ‘spy balloon’ is shot down on 6 February
Photos of the operation to collect the Chinese balloon’s debris were released by the US navy
That object was spotted just days after the US downed a Chinese balloon believed to be a spy aircraft.
China maintained the balloon was an airship for scientific research that had accidentally flown over the US.
It was shot down by fighter jets off the coast of South Carolina – with the US military starting to collect the debris shortly after.
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The Pentagon said much of the balloon has been recovered or located.
The incident sparked a diplomatic row between China and the US, with secretary of state Antony Blinken postponing a visit to China that had been due to start just a few days later.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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