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A Florida man who refused to sell his home to a developer now lives in the shadows

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A Florida man who refused to sell his home to a developer now lives in the shadows

For two decades, Orlando Capote has struggled with developers and the South Florida city of Coral Gables to protect the home his parents bought more than 35 years ago.

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Saul Martinez for NPR


For two decades, Orlando Capote has struggled with developers and the South Florida city of Coral Gables to protect the home his parents bought more than 35 years ago.

Saul Martinez for NPR

There’s something unusual about a new real estate development in the posh South Florida city of Coral Gables. Smack-dab in the middle of the million-square-foot complex, there’s a small house. On all sides, it’s surrounded — by parking garages, office buildings and a 14-story hotel.

Orlando Capote’s home is typical of many in Coral Gables. It’s a Mediterranean-style, one-story, two-bedroom stucco house with a picturesque barrel-tile roof. There used to be many homes like it in his neighborhood. Now, his is the last one left.

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“Just imagine … that your house was in the middle of Manhattan surrounded by high-rise buildings,” Capote says. “That’s what it’s like.”

Surrounded by shadows, piles of debris, big-ticket fines

For most of the year, his home is in shadows. Some of his trees and bushes are dying. His mango tree stopped giving fruit.

Just getting to Capote’s house requires special directions, taking you down one-way streets in the retail and residential complex to an unmarked alley that ends at his backyard. There are piles of yard debris that he can’t get the city to pick up, he says.

In his front yard, directly across the street from his home, cars and buses idle outside the big, new Loews hotel. Large planters have been installed in front of his house in what seems to be an effort to hide it from hotel guests.

Orlando Capote’s small home is in the middle of a million-square-foot complex, surrounded on all sides by parking garages, office buildings and a 14-story hotel.

Saul Martinez for NPR

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Orlando Capote’s small home is in the middle of a million-square-foot complex, surrounded on all sides by parking garages, office buildings and a 14-story hotel.

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Saul Martinez for NPR

For months, he’s been negotiating with the city over a series of code violations, involving everything from overgrown grass to feral cats. At one point, he says, the fines totaled nearly $30,000.

Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago says that’s no longer the case. When it was mistakenly reported that the city had placed a lien on Capote’s property, he says city offices were overwhelmed by a flood of emails and phone calls. “We were very clear at the last commission meeting to state that we had not continued to move forward in regards to any citations or any liens in regards to code enforcement,” the mayor says.

How this tiny house became surrounded

Capote is 68 years old, a professional engineer who’s become well-versed in planning and zoning law. For two decades, he’s been engaged in a struggle against developers, the city and what used to be called “progress.” He came to Miami from Cuba with his parents as a teenager, and in 1989, they bought the home in Coral Gables.

In 2004, at the height of a real estate boom, a developer began buying up houses in the neighborhood to make way for a new project, according to Capote. “But at that time, my father was very ill and we had to take care of him,” he says. “And there was no way that I could look after my father, sell the house and go find another house.”

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Shortly afterward, Florida’s real estate bubble burst and the developer went bankrupt. The other homes in Capote’s neighborhood were demolished, and for a decade, not much happened.

Eventually, another developer, Agave Holdings, acquired the land and started moving ahead with a new, more ambitious project. In 2013, Capote says, employees of the developer came to his house and tried to get him to sign a document. When he read it, he says, he became angry. “The wording implied that we were going to sell them the property. And they could represent us in the permitting process for the project,” Capote says.

For most of the year, Orlando Capote’s home is in shadows. Some of his trees and bushes are dying, and his mango tree stopped giving fruit.

Saul Martinez for NPR


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Saul Martinez for NPR


For most of the year, Orlando Capote’s home is in shadows. Some of his trees and bushes are dying, and his mango tree stopped giving fruit.

Saul Martinez for NPR

He says he threw the papers at Agave’s representatives and told them not to come back. Later, another employee proposed a house swap — exchanging his home for a property a block away, with a car and $500,000 thrown in to sweeten the deal. Capote never responded, saying he didn’t trust the developer. Agave Holdings didn’t respond to requests for an interview.

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Capote says his worst time came during construction of the multistory development. Cranes swung over his house, and the street was closed for nearly two years. He filed a complaint with Coral Gables saying the site was unsafe because it violated fire code regulations requiring that access to buildings be no more than 150 feet from the street.

A city official visited and declared it safe. Several months later, when Capote’s elderly mother fell and couldn’t get up, he called fire rescue. Emergency personnel came to his back door but realized they couldn’t get her out that way. “They had to take her out the front door, put her on a gurney, 210 feet to the fire rescue vehicle, because that was how close the vehicle could get” due to the street closure, Capote says. “What more proof do you need that the city violated the fire codes to benefit the developer?”

“They have to find a way to coexist”

Capote’s mother went to the hospital and later a rehab facility, but she never returned home. That episode is part of a 20-year struggle that has left him bitter, especially about local government. “The laws and rules are supposed to be enforced equally to all parties. And in this case, it was not,” he says. “The city repeatedly enforced the laws and rules to the benefit of the developer at our expense.”

Just getting to Orlando Capote’s house requires special directions, taking you down one-way streets in a retail and residential complex to an unmarked alley that ends at his backyard.

Saul Martinez for NPR


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Saul Martinez for NPR


Just getting to Orlando Capote’s house requires special directions, taking you down one-way streets in a retail and residential complex to an unmarked alley that ends at his backyard.

Saul Martinez for NPR

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Coral Gables Mayor Lago says the city is just enforcing long-standing regulations. But he acknowledges that Capote is in a difficult situation — living across the street from a busy 14-story hotel. “Now they’re partners in a rather large piece of property,” Lago says. “And they have to find a way to coexist.”

The irony here is that as one of Florida’s oldest planned communities, Coral Gables has a reputation of careful management of development in a way that’s consistent with the community’s history and character. Capote says that’s one reason he often gets puzzled queries from passersby who ask, “Why is a small house in the middle of this lavish development?”

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Federal judge bars Trump from implementing proof of citizenship requirement to vote

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Federal judge bars Trump from implementing proof of citizenship requirement to vote

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban.

Casper rejected the Republican administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be put in place. Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers.

The Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” wrote Casper.

Among other proposed changes, Trump’s order would have required people to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote, prevented mail ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked by then, and punished states that failed to comply by withholding certain federal money.

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In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was grateful the court had blocked Trump’s “unconstitutional attempt to seize control of our elections” and would continue to defend voting rights in this year’s midterm elections.

“Generations of Americans fought tirelessly for the right to vote, and we honor their legacy by protecting that right against anyone who tries to undermine it,” said James, a Democrat.

A voter casts a ballot during New York’s primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose state was the lead plaintiff in the case, said the ruling reaffirmed the constitutional principle that it s up to the states and Congress to set election rules.

“While we are proud of this result, we are clear-eyed that President Trump’s attacks on voting rights and our elections show no signs of slowing down,” Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement. “So let me be clear: we will keep fighting back every step of the way.”

Requests for comment sent to the White House and he U.S. Department of Justice were not immediately returned.

The ruling was the latest in a series against the elections executive order Trump signed just months after taking office for his second term. The Republican president has since signed another executive order on elections that seeks to create a national voter list and limit mail balloting. That directive also faces multiple legal challenges.

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Last fall, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., overseeing a separate challenge to the first election executive order by civil rights and Democratic Party-aligned groups blocked the government from taking steps to include the proof-of-citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form. That judge later barred Trump’s defense secretary from requiring documentary proof of citizenship when military personnel register to vote or request ballots.

In an apparent nod to the difficulty of implementing a proof-of-citizen requirement by executive order, Trump is pushing legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress to create such a mandate. The SAVE America Act has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate, leading Trump to advocate for eliminating the filibuster that is blocking the legislation.

On Wednesday, he abruptly canceled the expected signing of a bipartisan housing bill, saying he would not sign legislation until Congress passes his proof of citizenship requirement for voting.

The president and many of his Republican allies have been promoting the narrative that voting by noncitizens is a major problem, when in fact it’s quite rare. The federal voter registration form already requires people to attest that they are U.S. citizens. Violating that is punishable as a felony that can lead to prison or deportation.

In another major voting case, the U.S. Supreme Court is due to issue an opinion soon on whether mail ballots must arrive by Election Day. That could immediately change the rules in 14 states that allow grace periods ranging from days to weeks if the ballots are postmarked by Election Day.

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Casper, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, is the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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Video: Mamdani Allies Sweep New York Primaries

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Video: Mamdani Allies Sweep New York Primaries

new video loaded: Mamdani Allies Sweep New York Primaries

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Mamdani Allies Sweep New York Primaries

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s progressive coalition had a big night on Tuesday. Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez won their Democratic House primaries.

“I see a New York that we can all afford. I see a New York that truly invests in its babies, not bombs.” Reporter: “What’s the first thing you’re looking forward to doing in Congress?” “Well, tomorrow — thank you — I mean, tomorrow morning, you know, I’m going to be back at 26 Federal Plaza doing court watching, and we want to carry that into Congress as well.”

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s progressive coalition had a big night on Tuesday. Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez won their Democratic House primaries.

By Julie Yoon

June 24, 2026

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Appeals court allows Trump administration expanded use of speedy deportations

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Appeals court allows Trump administration expanded use of speedy deportations

A massive 826,780-square-foot warehouse sits illuminated Feb. 12, 2026, in the El Paso suburb of Socorro, Texas, that was recently purchased by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for $122.8 million.

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A federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to resume carrying out speedy deportations of undocumented migrants throughout the United States, not just near the border.

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out a lower court decision that temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s expanded use of expedited removal. The ruling was a big victory for the Republican administration, which views the expansion of so-called expedited removal as a key tool for carrying out its mass deportation policy.

Expedited removal — quick deportation without a chance to appear before a judge — has previously been applied to migrants arriving by sea or caught at or near the border shortly after crossing.

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In January, Trump expanded its use to undocumented migrants all over the United States. Immigration agents began whisking migrants away from courthouses where they had gone for immigration proceedings and then removing them from the country within days.

“The Trump administration’s push for fast-track deportations will subject people to an unfair and error-prone system,” Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement.

Balakrishnan represented plaintiffs in arguments before the appellate panel and said its ruling “undermines the fundamental principle that people receive due process when the government seeks to deport them.”

DC Circuit Judge Justin R. Walker, one of the judges on the panel, said the plaintiffs had not shown the expanded use of expedited removal violated due process rights. Immigrants received notice of removal proceedings and were given a chance to respond, he wrote in his opinion.

Walker and the second judge in the majority, Neomi Rao, were appointed by Trump. The third judge on the panel was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

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Walker said there was no requirement that the administration inform immigrants that they can avoid expedited removal if they can show they have been in the United States for more than two years.

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