LONDON (AP) — A second British island voted Thursday to approve assisted dying, as a similar bill that would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives is bogged down in the British Parliament.
The bill, which requires the formality of approval by King Charles III, would allow terminally ill residents who have lived in Jersey for more than year and are expected to have less than six months to live — or less than 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease — to end their lives.
Jersey’s States Assembly passed its Assisted Dying Law by a 32 to 16 vote after three days of debate.
The bill would allow a doctor or registered nurse to administer the lethal drugs, which differs from the legislation being considered in the Houses of Parliament that requires a terminally ill adult to end their own life with an approved substance.
Opponents of assisted dying have argued that disabled, elderly, ill and depressed people could be pressured to end their lives so they’re not a burden on others.
Jersey, an island of about 100,000 inhabitants that sits in the English Channel off the northwest coast of France, is the second British Crown possession to approve assisted dying.
The Isle of Man did so in March last year, but it has waited nearly a year for the king's approval because it first requires the U.K. Ministry of Justice to process the legislation.
A government spokesperson said approval can take longer for complex or sensitive bills or because of legal and constitutional issues.
Both small islands are self-governing but reliant on the U.K. for defense and some foreign affairs.
The House of Commons in London approved The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in June but it has been held up by more than 1,000 amendments in the House of Lords, which supporters says is a stalling tactic by opponents. Some members of the chamber, however, say they are providing necessary scrutiny to strengthen the dangerous bill.
Welsh lawmakers gave their consent Tuesday for the U.K. Parliament to pass the bill.
Scottish lawmakers are due to vote in March on their own assisted dying bill.
FILE - Banners are held by pro-assisted dying campaigners as they gather outside Parliament in Westminster in London, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia will try to persuade a federal judge in Tennessee on Thursday to throw out human smuggling charges against him.
Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive, pushed by officials from President Donald Trump's administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States.
While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That's because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. Abrego Garcia, 30, immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager but has an American wife and child. He has lived and worked in Maryland for years under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After he was deported to El Salvador last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration had to work to bring him back. He was eventually returned to the U.S. only to face criminal charges of human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty.
Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia after he was pulled over for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw previously found some evidence that the prosecution against Abrego Garcia “may be vindictive.” The judge said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.” He cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that seemed to suggest the Department of Justice charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful-deportation case.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys have been sparring with prosecutors for months over whether officials like Blanche would be required to testify at Thursday's hearing and what emails Department of Justice officials would have to turn over to them. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire has argued that he alone made the decision to prosecute, so the motives of other officials were irrelevant.
Crenshaw reviewed many of the disputed documents. In an order that was unsealed in late December, he wrote, “Some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision.”
FILE - Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
