US News Roundup: Epstein arrested in U.S. sex trafficking case; Trump says immigration raids coming 'fairly soon'

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump says immigration raids coming 'fairly soon'

President Donald Trump said on Friday mass deportation roundups would begin "fairly soon" as U.S. migrant advocates vowed their communities would be "ready" when immigration officers come. Trump, who has made a hardline immigration stance a key issue of his presidency and 2020 re-election bid, postponed the operation last month after the date was leaked, but on Monday he said it would take place after July 4.

Financier Epstein arrested in U.S. sex trafficking case: source

Financier Jeffrey Epstein was arrested late on Saturday on suspicion of sex trafficking of underage girls and will appear in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, a source familiar with the matter said, meaning he will face charges similar to those he avoided in a 2007 plea deal. Epstein, 66, was being held in New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website.

Starbucks apologizes to police after six officers were asked to leave Arizona store

Starbucks Corp on Sunday apologized after an employee at one of its stores in Tempe, Arizona asked six police officers to leave or move out of a customer's line of sight, triggering social media backlash. The officers had visited the store on July 4 and had paid for the drinks, before one company employee approached them about a customer not feeling safe because of the police presence, the Tempe Officers Association said on Twitter.

Martens starts for Netherlands in World Cup final against U.S

Forward Lieke Martens was named in the starting lineup for the Netherlands in their women's World Cup final against holders the United States on Sunday. Martens, the 2017 world player of the year, aggravated a toe injury celebrating her late penalty winner against Japan in the last 16 and has been in and out of training since.

House panel chair asks watchdog for probe of Homeland Security leaders

The chairman of a U.S. House panel asked an internal watchdog on Friday to investigate whether top officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. border service knew about a Facebook group where agents posted racist and misogynistic comments. "Such vile and threatening behavior from agents of the United States government is entirely unacceptable" and "should be grounds for immediate dismissal," Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a letter to the DHS's acting inspector general.

Trump presses for contentious census citizenship question despite legal uncertainty

The Trump administration on Friday refused to back down over its bid to put a contentious citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census, meaning a court case will move forward over whether officials were motivated by racial bias in seeking to add it. The Department of Justice told Maryland-based U.S. District Judge George Hazel it has not made a final determination on whether to add the question even as President Donald Trump told reporters he was considering issuing an executive order to do it.

Florida blast rocks shopping center, 21 hurt; ruptured gas line eyed

An explosion obliterated a vacant restaurant at a shopping center in South Florida on Saturday, injuring at least 21 people and showering the parking lot with debris. Firefighters found a ruptured natural gas line, but authorities said the cause of the explosion in Plantation, Florida, about six miles west of Fort Lauderdale, was still under investigation.

Border agency knew of troubling Facebook posts in 2016: acting secretary

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials knew in 2016 about a private Facebook group where border agents posted racist and misogynistic comments, acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan said on Sunday. McAleenan said on ABC's "This Week" that he had been told about an allegation in 2016 "that was investigated, followed up on, and that discipline was meted out on an agent that made an offensive post on that website."

Biden apologizes for touting past work with segregationist senators

Seeking to put to rest a weeks-old controversy that has dogged his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden apologized on Saturday for touting his past record of working civilly with segregationists serving in the U.S. Senate in the 1970s. Biden, who served as vice president under the first black U.S. president Barack Obama, had until now pointedly resisted apologizing for the remarks he made on June 18 that had drawn criticism from Democratic rivals, exposing racial and generational tensions among the candidates.

California desert braces for aftershocks from major 7.1 quake

Emergency officials in Southern California's high desert braced for strong, potentially dangerous aftershocks from a major earthquake that damaged buildings, ruptured gas lines and sparked numerous fires near the quake's remote epicenter. The powerful magnitude 7.1 tremor rocked the Mojave Desert town of Ridgecrest near Death Valley National Park as darkness fell on Friday night, jolting the area with eight times more force than a 6.4 quake that had struck the same area 34 hours earlier.