Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

The New York Times [4/19/2025 5:56 AM, Alan Feuer and Hamed Aleaziz, 145325K] reports that the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration early Saturday from deporting another group of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members under the expansive powers of a rarely invoked wartime law. “The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the court said in a brief, unsigned order that gave no reasoning, as is typical in emergency cases. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented. The White House did not issue any immediate response. More than 50 Venezuelans were scheduled to be flown out of the country — presumably to El Salvador — from an immigration detention center in Anson, Texas, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The A.C.L.U. in recent days had already secured court orders barring similar deportations under the law, the Alien Enemies Act, in other places including New York, Denver and Brownsville, Texas. The situation in Anson was urgent enough that A.C.L.U. lawyers mounted challenges in three different courts within five hours on Friday. The lawyers started with an emergency filing in Federal District Court in Abilene, Texas, in which they claimed that officers at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson had started distributing notices to Venezuelan immigrants informing them that they could face deportation as soon as Friday night. They asked Judge James Wesley Hendrix, who is overseeing the case, to issue an immediate order protecting all migrants in the Northern District of Texas who might face deportation under the Alien Enemies Act. When Judge Hendrix did not grant their request quickly — and later rejected it entirely — the lawyers filed a similar request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The lawyers then filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to step in and issue an immediate pause on any deportations because many of the Venezuelan men had “already been loaded on to buses, presumably headed to the airport.” NPR [4/19/2025 6:19 AM, Jasmine Garsd, 29983K] reports that late Thursday a group of Venezuelans detained at the Bluebonnet Detention Center was advised that they would be immediately deported. ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt told NPR that migrants at the Anson, Texas facility in the far northern end of the state were being loaded onto buses for removal late Friday. This came despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the Trump administration could continue deporting under the act — only if detainees are given due process to challenge their removal. The government says 137 migrants accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua, including a group of men sent to a prison in El Salvador, have already been deported under the Alien Enemies Act. NPR was unable to independently confirm the number of people who may be deported from the Bluebonnet Detention facility. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security declined to provide details or answer additional questions about the case. "We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, and we are complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling," said Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia MacLaughlin. The AP [4/19/2025 2:06 AM, Nicholas Riccardi and Mark Sherman, 34586K] reports “We are deeply relieved that the Court has temporarily blocked the removals. These individuals were in imminent danger of spending the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having had any due process,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in an email. On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation, even as one judge said the case raised legitimate concerns. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported. The administration is expected to return to the Supreme Court quickly in an effort to persuade the justices to lift their temporary order. The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act. In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Donald Trump’s use of the act. Newsweek [4/19/2025 3:24 AM, James Bickerton, 52200K] reports that on April 7, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration could use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members, but only if judicial review could take place. They said: "The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs." Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, the same power used to intern Japanese, German and Italian nationals during the Second World War, on March 15 targeting Tren de Aragua members.

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ABC News [4/18/2025 7:58 PM, Laura Romero, Peter Charalambous, and Luis Rodriguez, 31638K] Video HERE reports a federal judge declined to issue an order Friday evening blocking deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, concluding he lacks the authority to issue a nationwide order after the Supreme Court tossed his order earlier this month. The decision came as a DOJ attorney said Justice Department officials "reserve the right" to resume deportation flights as early as Saturday. Lawyers with the ACLU had asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to issue a temporary order blocking any imminent AEA deportations, saying the Trump administration was actively busing dozens of men to an airport in Texas to be deported. Boasberg said he was "sympathetic" to the concern about deportation flights resuming imminently, but he said he lacks the authority to issue a nationwide temporary restraining order barring such deportations. The ACLU argued Friday that several Venezuelan migrants who are being held in a detention center in Texas are at risk of deportation and have not had adequate notice or enough time to challenge their removals, violating the court’s requirement that the men have "reasonable time" to practice their due process rights. While a lawyer for the Department of Justice initially suggested that no deportation flights were scheduled for Friday or Saturday, he backtracked later in Friday’s hearing, keeping the door open for flights to begin as soon as Saturday. "I’ve spoken with DHS, they are not aware of any current plans for flights tomorrow, but I have also been told to say that they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] NewsMax [4/18/2025 4:43 PM, James Morley III, 4998K] reports that the declarations from the group’s attorney were filed after U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Texas denied a Friday request for a temporary restraining order saying that the ACLU "failed to meet their burden to show a substantial threat of imminent, irreparable injury." When asked for comment regarding the ACLU filing, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, "For the safety of our law enforcement, we cannot disclose details about upcoming removal and deportation operations."

The New York Post [4/18/2025 8:10 AM, Emily Crane, 54903K] reports President Trump has appointed Fox News host Mark Levin and a host of others to lead his "revamped" Homeland Security Advisory Council. "I am proud to announce the formation of my revamped Homeland Security Advisory Council [HSAC], which is comprised of Top Experts in their field, who are highly respected by their peers," Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday. Levin, who is the host of Fox News’ "Life, Liberty & Levin", will be joined by ex-NYPD detective Bo Dietl, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and Florida state Sen. Joseph Gruters. "It is a big honor to serve on HSAC, and I know the new Members, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Mark Levin, Bo Dietl, and Joseph Gruters, will do an incredible job," Trump continued. "Under Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s leadership, HSAC will work hard on developing new Policies and Strategies that will help us secure our Border, deport Illegal Criminal Thugs, stop the flow of Fentanyl and other illegal drugs that are killing our Citizens, and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.” Levin, who has publicly criticized the Trump admin in recent months regarding Ukraine, quickly thanked the president, writing on X: "What an honor! Thank you, Mr. President!". It comes after the DHS advisory board was among those dismantled as soon as Trump took office. At the time, the administration said the move was being made to guard against "misuse of resources" after the Biden administration’s disastrous attempt to create a Big Brother-style "Disinformation Governance Board.” NewsMax [4/18/2025 7:55 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security announced earlier this year that it was bringing back the HSAC. The revamped panel will have 35 members rather than the 40 it had previously. They will serve three-year terms while providing strategic advice to Noem.

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The New York Times [4/18/2025 5:52 PM, Jazmine Ulloa, 145325K] reports a federal appeals court on Friday reaffirmed temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration wanted to immediately deport, rejecting an emergency request from the White House. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco declined to reverse a lower-court judge’s ruling on March 31 that blocked efforts by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to terminate the protections for Venezuelans known as Temporary Protected Status. A three-judge panel said the government had not demonstrated it would “suffer irreparable harm” should that ruling stand. The case is one of several challenging the moves by the Trump administration to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of people from two countries, Venezuela and Haiti. Venezuelans have made up the largest group of T.P.S. holders in the United States — now as many as 700,000 people — as repression and economic devastation under Venezuela’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, have prompted millions of people to flee the nation in recent years. The court decision on Friday preserved the T.P.S. status of about 350,000 people who lost their deportation protections on April 7. Hundreds of thousands of more people were expected to lose the status later this year. Lawyers representing Venezuelan T.P.S. holders and the National TPS Alliance, an immigrant advocacy organization, have asked the courts to keep Ms. Noem’s actions from going into effect while they challenge the Trump administration’s attempts to revoke the form of legal status. They argue that the secretary has violated administrative procedures and acted with racial bias in attempting to revoke extensions of the protections, which were offered to migrants under the Biden administration. Lawyers from the Justice Department, which is representing Ms. Noem and her agency, argued that Trump administration officials have acted solely on the basis of national security and concern for public safety. They contended that the lower court ruling intruded on Ms. Noem’s authority to make agency decisions. The Miami Herald [4/18/2025 4:09 PM, Jay Weaver, 3973K] reports that the appeals court in San Francisco backed U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen’s decision rejecting the government’s request to lift his stay of the revocation order issued by the Department of Homeland Security. Last month, Chen found that Venezuelan nationals with Temporary Protected Status in the United States could be "irreparably injured" if he did not put a hold on their deportations. Chen ruled that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had acted on broad generalizations and stereotypes when she revoked the deportation protections and work permits of about 350,000 Venezuelans benefiting from TPS. This month, administration lawyers asked Chen to put his stay ruling on hold, so that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco could consider the order revoking the TPS extension issued by Noem in February. On Friday, a panel of three appellate judges ruled: Trump administration officials "have not demonstrated that they will suffer irreparable harm" if a lawsuit brought by Venezuelan immigrants challenging Noem’s order continues in federal court. Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that Noem has the exclusive power to revoke the Biden administration’s TPS order for Venezuelan nationals in the United States and that the plaintiffs don’t have rights under their "equal protection" argument to challenge her authority.

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The New York Post [4/18/2025 3:48 PM, Jennie Taer, 54903K] reports that the feds suspected alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador in an error, was engaged in human and labor trafficking in 2022, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post. The DHS intelligence report noted that Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Dec. 1, 2022, after he was caught speeding. Officers found eight other individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he was driving "three days ago" from Houston, Texas, to Temple Hills, Maryland, "to bring in people to perform construction work," according to the memo. The officer suspected he stumbled upon "a human trafficking incident" after finding no luggage in the car. Cops also noted that Abrego Garcia "pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.” Abrego Garcia also claimed that the vehicle was owned by "his boss" and that he worked in construction. The officers left Abrego Garcia with only a citation for driving with an expired license. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post Friday that not only is Abrego Garcia an "MS-13 gang member" and an "illegal alien," he’s a "suspected human trafficker." "The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage," said McLaughlin. "The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking.” "The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims," she added. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] FOX News [4/18/2025 12:15 PM, Rachel Wolf and David Spunt, 46189K] reports that the individuals in the car reportedly gave the same address as Abrego-Garica’s home address. When speaking with the trooper, Abrego-Garcia allegedly "pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions." After the incident, the officer decided not to give Abrego-Garcia a citation for the driving infractions, but rather to give him a warning for driving with an expired license. "Abrego Garcia is a MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker. The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. "The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking. The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims." USA Today [4/18/2025 1:35 PM, Nick Penzenstadler and Eduardo Cuevas, 75858K] reports that since his deportation and subsequent incarceration in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, the Trump administration has called Abrego Garcia a human trafficker and a member of MS-13, a newly designated terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia’s case has become a flashpoint between the White House, courts and Congress.

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FOX News [4/18/2025 5:00 PM, Diana Stancy, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump said that Kilmar Abrego Garcia holds an "unbelievably bad" record, following Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s, D-Md., visit to El Salvador to meet with the Maryland resident the Trump administration deported there. When asked if Trump encouraged other Democrats to visit Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, the president proceeded to blast the "fake" Democrats for not actually caring about Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally from El Salvador in 2011 and that the Trump administration has asserted is a member of the MS-13 gang. The remarks come after the Justice Department unveiled documents on Wednesday detailing domestic violence allegations that Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, included in a court filing in 2021. Vasquez alleged in the filing that Abrego Garcia beat her and that she had documentation of the bruises he left on her. Additionally, a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report obtained by Fox News claims that Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor and human trafficking. The officer originally believed the incident qualified as a human trafficking case because no luggage was found in the car, but the officer ultimately only wrote up Abrego Garcia for driving with an expired license. The report also identified Abrego Garcia as a member of MS-13, a designated terrorist organization under the Trump administration.

CNN [4/19/2025 6:30 AM, Michael Williams, 908K] reports the Trump administration this week escalated its efforts to portray the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador as a gang member with a violent history who they say is "never coming back" to the United States. A renewed push to cast Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a violent member of MS-13 comes amid growing public outcry against his deportation, criticisms about the lack of due process afforded to him, and the US government’s resistance to facilitate his court-mandated return to the country – which could risk a constitutional crisis. Abrego Garcia’s family and lawyers have denied he’s a gang member. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland flew to El Salvador on Wednesday to lobby for the release of his constituent, who the senator described as having been "illegally abducted." Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia on Thursday, who was then placed back in El Salvador’s custody. The Trump administration slammed the senator’s visit and has criticized the media and Democrats for presenting what they described as an overly rosy picture of Abrego Garcia, whom White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has described as a gang member and "apparent woman beater.” The government on Wednesday released previously unshared documents stemming from two interactions Abrego Garcia had with law enforcement or the courts system: a 2019 arrest that didn’t lead to charges or a conviction, but did result in his detention by immigration officials, and a 2021 protective order his wife filed against him alleging domestic violence, which she later decided against pursuing further after she said the couple had resolved their issues.

Reuters [4/18/2025 9:30 PM, Staff, 41523K] reports U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Friday he had met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and being held in a prison in El Salvador, at a hotel after initial requests to meet with him were denied. Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said Abrego Garcia was brought to his hotel before Van Hollen left the country on Thursday, after the lawmaker had tried to go to the notorious CECOT prison for gang members, where Abrego Garcia had been held. The senator told a press conference at the Washington area Dulles Airport that he and the lawyer for Abrego Garcia’s family were pulled over by soldiers 3 km (2 miles) outside the prison and told they were not allowed to proceed further. Later in the afternoon, El Salvadoran officials brought Abrego Garcia, a resident of Maryland, to the hotel where Van Hollen was staying. The case has pitted a defiant Trump administration against the courts, including the Supreme Court, raising the prospect of a constitutional conflict after the government acknowledged he was deported because of an administrative error. "He said he was traumatized by being at CECOT," Van Hollen said he was told by Abrego Garcia, who said he had been put in a cell with 25 other people for weeks and had not spoken to anyone outside of the jail since being detained. The senator on Thursday posted on X an image of himself in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia, dressed in a collared shirt, jeans and a baseball cap. Abrego Garcia told the senator that eight days earlier, he had been moved to another detention center in Santa Ana, two hours north of CECOT, where conditions were better, but he still was unable to make contact with the outside world. Van Hollen said the Trump administration, which has refused to adhere to a Supreme Court order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, and El Salvador’s government need to be held accountable for complicity in illegally holding him. "This case is not only about one man, as important as that is. It is about protecting fundamental freedoms and the fundamental principle in the Constitution for due process that protects everybody who resides in America," he said. Van Hollen said the Trump administration had offered to pay El Salvador $15 million to hold its migrants in the prison, and had spent $4 million so far.

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The Hill [4/19/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, Al Weaver and Laura Kelly, 12829K] reports Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) trip to El Salvador to visit a mistakenly deported constituent has thrust the mild-mannered lawmaker into a major battle with the Trump administration as it doubles down on its pledge to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia imprisoned abroad. Van Hollen embarked for the Central American nation on Wednesday after saying he would travel there if Abrego Garcia had not been returned by mid-week. In doing so, Van Hollen traveled straight to the capital of a country whose government rebuffed his request to meet with President Nayib Bukele, and who has vowed not to release Abrego Garcia. "This case is not just about one man, it’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America," Van Hollen said at a press conference after landing at Dulles International Airport, appearing alongside members of Abrego Garcia’s family. "That’s why I traveled to El Salvador leaving here on Wednesday, and I want to express my gratitude to members of my family and members of my staff who agree that we all must be prepared to take risks because of the current risk to our constitution itself.” Van Hollen achieved the main objective of his trip in meeting with Abrego Garcia. The senator did so despite being told such a visit was not possible and having his car physically blocked by authorities as he attempted to visit the notorious prison his constituent was being held. To Van Hollen, the trip was one small step to address an injustice after Abrego Garcia was sent to a Salvadoran prison despite a 2019 immigration court ruling protecting him from being deported to his home country. And while the White House has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, the assertion is largely based on one confidential tip that he was part of the gang’s New York branch — a state where he has never lived. Democrats argue the disputed details are a key example of why judicial review is needed before migrants are whisked away to a foreign prison.

(B) NBC News Daily [4/18/2025 2:06 PM, Staff] reports Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is on his way back to the US from El Salvador after he sat down with Abrego Garcia. Photos of that meeting shared on social media are the first public images of Abrego Garcia since his deportation last month. He was not charged or convicted of any crime. The courts have ruled that Abrego Garcia was entitled to due process prior to deportation and they have ordered the administration to facilitate his return to the US.

AP [4/18/2025 5:52 PM, Mary Clare Jalonick and Adriana Gomez Licon] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported from the United States last month, told a visiting U.S. senator that he was moved from a notorious Salvadoran prison to a detention center with better conditions — a statement made during a meeting that the American lawmaker said was staged by the Central American country’s government to make it look like a retreat. Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Friday that the Salvadoran man, who was living in Maryland, told him as they met Thursday that he had shared a cell with 25 prisoners and was fearful of many inmates at the mega-prison known as CECOT before he was moved to another center in Santa Ana, El Salvador. The senator held an airport press conference after returning to the Washington area from El Salvador. The senator, however, emphasized repeatedly to reporters that the case transcends the question of Abrego Garcia’s immigration status.

New York Times [4/18/2025 5:03 PM, Robert Jimison, 145325K] reports Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Friday that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported by the Trump administration, reported having been traumatized inside a maximum-security prison in El Salvador before being transferred to another detention facility, where he remains in isolation. The Maryland Democrat, who traveled to El Salvador to press for Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release and ended up meeting with him in San Salvador, said that Mr. Abrego Garcia had been transferred nine days ago from the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, to a lower-level facility in Santa Ana. “He said that the conditions were better at this new detention center, but he was still in a total blackout,” Mr. Van Hollen said in an interview before arriving back in Washington. “No news from the outside world. Can’t speak to anybody at all.” At a news conference at Dulles International Airport after returning, Mr. Van Hollen said that Mr. Abrego Garcia had told him that during his nearly three weeks at the maximum-security prison, “he was not afraid of the other prisoners in his immediate cell, but that he was traumatized by being at CECOT and fearful of many of the prisoners in other cell blocks who called out to him and taunted him in various ways.” During their meeting Thursday evening, Mr. Abrego Garcia shared details with Mr. Van Hollen about his initial arrest and his time at CECOT, which El Salvador’s government says holds some of the most dangerous criminal gang members. Mr. Abrego Garcia described having been detained and taken to Baltimore, where he had asked to make a phone call but had been denied. He was then taken to a detention facility in Texas before being handcuffed and shackled, put on a plane with blacked-out windows with other deportees and eventually deposited at CECOT. There, he was placed in a cell with around 25 other prisoners, according to Mr. Van Hollen. “He said that he felt very sad to be in a place that’s meant for criminals,” Mr. Van Hollen said in the interview, referring to Mr. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who entered the United States illegally but was given a deportation reprieve in 2019. “That’s not who he is.”

USA Today [4/18/2025 6:30 PM, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Michael Collins, 75858K] reports a Maryland father wrongly deported to El Salvador and held in a notoriously violent prison told a U.S. senator that he was traumatized by the experience. Kilmar Abrego Garcia reported to Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a meeting in El Salvador that he was moved nine days ago from that country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, to another facility with better conditions. Abrego Garcia said he had been traumatized by his time in CECOT and that he had been taunted by other prisoners. Abrego Garcia’s meeting with Van Hollen on April 17 was the first time he had been seen publicly since he was detained in March by U.S. immigration officials near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, about a half hour outside of Washington. Family, friends and attorneys for the union sheet metal worker had raised questions about his safety and well-being. A federal judge handling his case had asked the Justice Department to produce daily reports on his location and status. Government attorneys had said as recently as April 12 that he was still at CECOT. But, according to Abrego Garcia’s account, he had already been moved to the facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador. Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador this week to demand Abrego Garcia’s release, was allowed to see him after twice being advised that the meeting would not happen. Van Hollen said the meeting took place in the hotel where he had been staying in San Salvador.

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Wall Street Journal [4/18/2025 6:38 AM, Staff, 646K] reports Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Kilmar Abrego Garcia had been transferred from the Cecot prison to another facility. He also said the drinks in the viral image of their meeting were planted by Salvadoran officials. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 6:58 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K] reports Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) accused the Salvadoran government of being "complicit in an illegal scheme" as it holds an alleged illegal immigrant that the Trump administration deported to the country. On Friday, Van Hollen held a press conference to reflect on his recent trip to El Salvador, where he visited with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national. The alleged illegal immigrant, accused by the Trump administration of being an MS-13 gang member, lived in the U.S. for years before he was deported to El Salvador in March. The deportation has raised an uproar from Democrats over concerns that Abrego Garcia was unlawfully removed from the country without due process. The Maryland senator, during the press briefing, said it was time "to end the illegal abduction" of Abrego Garcia and "bring him home." He also rebuked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, saying his government is making "a huge mistake" by working with the Trump administration to hold Abrego Garcia and other illegal immigrants in the country’s prison system. Van Hollen also revealed that Abrego Garcia was moved from the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo to a smaller prison elsewhere in the country. "You know, they want to brand themselves as a country for technology," Van Hollen said. "But now what they’re branding themselves as — as the place for these huge prisons where people who are illegally abducted are warehoused. That is not a good look," Van Hollen said. "I just urge the president of El Salvador, the vice president of El Salvador, to rethink whether they want to become the place that just gets paid off being complicit in this illegal scheme," the Maryland senator continued. Van Hollen continued to suggest that U.S. citizens should oppose El Salvador by placing economic pressure on the country, including divesting from pension funds.

Washington Post [4/18/2025 7:04 PM, Silvia Foster-Frau, Theodoric Meyer and Maegan Vazquez, 31735K] reports "He’s experienced trauma, he said he’s sad every day," Van Hollen said. "But I think this persistence resulted in having this chance to meet with him, to begin to get a little bit of his story, and I think it is the first step to ultimately bringing him home, as the Constitution requires.” The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Abrego García, 29, to the United States, after the government acknowledged in court filings that a 2019 court order forbade his removal to El Salvador. But Trump administration officials have not taken the necessary steps to comply with the order, a lower court judge ruled this week. The president and his top immigration enforcement officials have repeatedly accused Abrego García of gang membership — even though his family denies it and his attorneys say he has never been charged with a crime — and have said he does not belong back in the U.S. In a strongly worded decision this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld Judge Paula Xinis’s order that the government facilitate Abrego García’s return. The decision said the Trump administration’s contention that it did not need to proactively enable Abrego García’s release "would reduce the rule of law to lawlessness and tarnish the very values for which Americans of diverse views and persuasions have always stood.” Follow live updates on the Trump administration. We’re tracking Trump’s progress on campaign promises and legal challenges to his executive orders and actions. The sheet metal apprentice has become the best-known of the nearly 300 migrants who have been sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a megaprison referred to by its Spanish initials, CECOT. The U.S. government has offered to pay El Salvador $15 million to hold its migrants in the Salvadoran prison, Van Hollen said Friday. So far, $4 million has been spent. Van Hollen said he directly asked Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa during his visit why Abrego García was sent to CECOT, whether Abrego García had violated any laws in El Salvador and whether there’s any proof he had committed a crime. The senator said Ulloa responded, "No … he’s here because the Trump administration is paying us to keep him here.” Van Hollen said there are things that Americans can do to hold the Salvadoran government accountable, including choosing not to visit the country for tourism. He said states could also decide not to invest pension funds in companies in El Salvador. He said Democrats in Congress will examine how the government accounts for the $15 million it is purportedly spending to house deportees in Salvadoran prisons.

AP [4/18/2025 9:50 PM, Mary Clare Jalonick and Adriana Gomez Licon, 48304K] reports the dispute over the wrongful deportation and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia “is not only about one man” but about Donald Trump’s disregard of the American judicial system as well, Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Friday as he returned from a three-day trip to El Salvador to press for the detained man’s release. Speaking to reporters just after landing back in the United States, Van Hollen offered few answers about what will come next in Abrego Garcia’s case. But the Maryland Democrat said that he and others will keep speaking out after the Trump administration defied court orders to facilitate his return to the United States and insisted that he would stay in El Salvador — even as officials acknowledged an “error” in deporting him. “It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States,” Van Hollen said at Washington Dulles International Airport at a news conference with Abrego Garcia’s supporters behind him. “It’s very clear that the president, Trump administration, are blatantly, flagrantly disagreeing with, defying the order from the Supreme Court.” Standing next to him, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer, wiped away tears as the senator shared her husband’s comments about missing his family. Much uncertainty remains about the future of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, after Van Hollen was presented with a carefully staged opportunity to meet with him in El Salvador on Thursday. The Maryland senator said that Abrego Garcia reported he’d been moved from a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison, CECOT, to a detention center with better conditions Abrego Garcia’s status after Van Hollen left was not known, and there was no indication that Van Hollen’s trip pushed him any closer to release. The case has become a focal point in the national immigration debate. Democrats insist that President Donald Trump is overstepping his executive authority and disrespecting the courts; Republicans are criticizing Democrats for defending a man Trump and White House officials claim is an MS-13 gang member, despite the fact that he has not been charged with any gang-related crimes.

Politico [4/18/2025 6:27 PM, Nicholas Wu, 430301K] reports Chris Van Hollen has spent nearly a decade as an under-the-radar lawmaker. But the Maryland Democrat, who gave up a leadership trajectory in the House to serve in the Senate, may now finally be meeting his moment. Van Hollen has grabbed the national spotlight amid a two-day trip to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration on erroneous charges of gang membership. After being initially blocked from entering a maximum-security prison by the Salvadoran government, Van Hollen ultimately succeeded in sitting down Thursday with his constituent, who had since been transferred to another detention facility. "If you deny the constitutional rights of one man, you threaten the constitutional rights and due process for everyone else in America," Van Hollen said Friday at a press conference at Dulles International Airport, shortly after returning from El Salvador. He was flanked by advocates holding signs emblazoned with the words, "Thank you Senator Van Hollen.” The episode has vaulted Van Hollen into a new hero of the so-called resistance, with some progressives now seeing the 66-year-old lawmaker as someone who can provide a roadmap for how to fight President Donald Trump and effectively message about the human consequences of the administration’s immigration crackdown. "We’re not in the majority, and we don’t control the legislative agenda on the floor; we have to take whatever creative steps we can outside of the normal course of business to influence events," said House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin, Van Hollen’s successor in representing the suburban Washington district that’s home to a sizable Salvadoran population. "Van Hollen’s trip down there definitely helped to galvanize people’s attention and to keep it in the front of everybody’s mind.” It’s also the latest leg of a long journey for Van Hollen that could now change the course of his career at a moment when Democrats are just starting to discuss the need for generational change atop the leadership ladder.

Daily Signal [4/18/2025 12:27 PM, Virginia Allen, 495K] reports that GOP lawmakers expressed outrage on social media after Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with a deported illegal alien in El Salvador on Thursday. "Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the fake news media, or anyone," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to demand the release from prison of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who the senator claims was "illegally abducted" from Maryland. Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2012, has ties to MS-13, and the Department of Homeland Security claims he has been involved in human trafficking activity. "Find someone who looks at you the way Democrat senators look at illegal alien MS-13 gang members," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote sarcastically on X with a photo of the two men talking. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., called Van Hollen’s actions "traitorous," and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., bashed his fellow Maryland lawmaker for showing more support to an illegal alien than the family of slain Maryland mother Rachel Morin, who was raped and murdered by an illegal alien in 2023. "Imagine if Sen. Van Hollen cared as much about the families of Rachel Morin and Kayla Hamilton," Harris wrote on X. An illegal alien MS-13 gang member killed Hamilton, a 20-year-old Maryland woman, in 2023. "Leftist politicians only want to talk about bringing illegal immigrants back to Maryland," Harris added.

Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 11:36 AM, Elaine Mallon, 2296K] reports that President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to call Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) a "fool" following his visit with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador due to an administrative error. "Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!" Trump posted. Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland, on Thursday evening after several failed attempts to speak with him. "I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar," the senator wrote on X on Thursday night, with a photo of them talking. "Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return." The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia on March 15 to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, in violation of a standing court order that protected him from deportation to the country due to a gang threat he faced there. A government lawyer wrote in a court filing that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was an "administrative error." The Department of Homeland Security targeted Abrego Garcia for deportation due to his alleged MS-13 ties. On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released 13 pages of police and immigration records on Abrego Garcia dating back to 2019.

Breitbart [4/18/2025 10:43 AM, John Binder, 2923K] reports that while President Donald Trump met with Angel Mom Patty Morin, whose 37-year-old daughter Rachel Morin was murdered by an illegal alien MS-13 gang member in Maryland, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) met in El Salvador with a deported illegal alien accused of being an MS-13 gang member, domestic abuser, and human trafficker. Trump met with Patty Morin this week in the Oval Office as she also took to the White House press secretary podium to tell the establishment media of the brutal rape and murder her daughter, a mother of five, suffered at the hands of an illegal alien MS-13 gang member in her home of Harford County, Maryland, in 2023. "I’ve heard no response from any Democrats. I’ve received some threatening phone calls, but I received no response from anybody," Patty Morin told Fox News. "They’re ignoring it. It’s kind of like a little toddler; if I don’t look at you, you can’t see me. Or if I don’t look at that, I didn’t do that kind of thing. They are ignoring it.” Around the same time Trump met with Patty Morin, the Angel Mom’s elected representative in Washington, DC, Sen. Chris Van Hollen was meeting with an illegal alien whom the Trump administration deported to El Salvador last month. Two immigration judges found the MS-13 gang allegation credible enough to keep him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. As border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, Abrego Garcia is accused by local police, ICE agents, U.S. immigration court, and El Salvador of being an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia is also accused of beating his wife and was previously arrested in an alleged human trafficking scheme.

NPR [4/18/2025 7:01 AM, Willem Marx, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports a court declined to lift a judge’s order that the Trump administration facilitate the return of wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Meanwhile, a Maryland senator met with him in El Salvador.

Los Angeles Times [4/18/2025 5:20 PM, Michael Wilner, 13342K] reports the Trump administration is embracing its legal fight over the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man accused of gang membership who was deported to El Salvador last month, stating he is “not coming back” despite repeated judicial orders directing the administration to return him. The case has fueled concern among Democrats and legal scholars that President Trump is increasingly willing to disregard U.S. courts. But the White House has leaned in further to the case in recent days, jumping on a messaging opportunity to pin Democrats as weak on immigration as popular opinion on deportations and the border shifts toward the right. Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president and an ally to Trump, took part in that effort on Thursday when he allowed a Democratic senator, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, to meet with Abrego Garcia far from the confines of the maximum security prison where he is being held. The episode was the latest play in a messaging war over Abrego Garcia’s case that is unfolding outside of the U.S. court system, which remains insistent that the Trump administration work to facilitate his return to the United States.

CBS Austin [4/18/2025 6:16 AM, Ida Domingo, 602K] reports Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen on Thursday finally met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The meeting, captured in photos circulating on social media, comes amid growing concerns about due process in the United States. Sen. Van Hollen said he plans to give a full update upon his return to the U.S., expected later Friday. Prior to his trip, Van Hollen expressed concerns about due process, stating, "Every American citizen is due their due process, and people who are in the United States under legal protective status like Abrego Garcia was, are entitled to due process. So if the president gets to shred the Constitution and ignore the Supreme Court in this case, it is a very short path to the president ignoring court orders in other cases. So every American should care about this.” 7News spoke to Attorney Scott Bergman, an expert on the Constitution and licensed in 29 jurisdictions in the U.S., who weighed in on the case. "That is part of the Constitutional crisis issue because even if the courts would find that the Trump administration was in criminal contempt, who is to say that President Trump wouldn’t pardon them? And then you’re going around dancing between the executive branch and the courts. Basically, no one is enforcing. No one is stepping up to the plate to enforce the rules then what do you have left in the Constitution?" said Bergman. Bergman highlighted the Supreme Court’s order for the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, which has not been fulfilled, raising questions about the president’s administration defying a court order. "I implore everybody who is listening to this to go read the Fourth Circuit opinion. You can easily find it online, it’s seven pages. It talks about the issues, exactly what’s going on, and I think it concerns every American... Who’s to say the executive branch won’t start removing American citizens out of the country?" Bergman added.

Breitbart [4/18/2025 5:20 AM, Neil Munro, 2923K] reports El Salvador President Nayib Bukele allowed Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen to meet with deported migrant and suspected labor-trafficker Kilmar Abrego Garcia. But while Bukele released Abrego Garcia from jail for the meeting, he also dampened Democrats’ hopes of flying the Salvadoran migrant back to the United States. Democrats hope the migrant can play a central role in their mid-term election strategy of anti-Trump PR campaigns, myriad legal reviews and appeals from crying women. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the "death camps" & "torture", now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!" …. Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody. The meeting came as more details were revealed about the 2022 police stop that showed Abrego Garcia likely served as an illegal labor trafficker just three years after he was approved for deportation in 2019. A leaked federal report says Abrega Garcia was driving with an expired license when he was pulled over by a policeman in Tennessee, and that: All the [eight] passengers gave the same home address as the subject’s [Abrega Garcia] home address. Bukele posted photographs of the meeting, which do not show Van Hollen using cameras or being accompanied by the immigration activist he brought from the United States. Many Democrats are rallying around the illegal migrant, despite growing evidence that he beat his wife and also served as a street hustler for the dangerous MS-13 gang, and worked as an illegal labor trafficker in 2022.

Washington Post [4/18/2025 4:42 PM, Azi Paybarah, 31735K] reports Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has a long history of using social media to flaunt his powers and once again stepped into the fray on Thursday. Bukele mocked the senator’s visit, telling his followers that Van Hollen and Abrego García were drinking margaritas in the "tropical paradise of El Salvador." Van Hollen said his attempts to meet with Abrego García were initially refused, even though Bukele previously allowed Republican officials and social media influencers to visit the prison. But late Thursday, Van Hollen shared an image of himself seated at a table with Abrego García in a restaurant in El Salvador. Only in Van Hollen’s photo, there were no salt-rimmed glasses and cherries.

Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 7:00 AM, Ashley Oliver, 2296K] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit has put a spotlight on a handful of words and phrases that have become key points of contention in the closely watched and fast-moving dispute over his deportation. The court and the Trump administration are at odds over the definition of “facilitate,” while other buzz terms in the case of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and, to some, a “Maryland man,” have sparked debate. Judge Paula Xinis introduced the most controversial terms into the case’s lexicon when she ordered the administration to "facilitate and effectuate" Abrego Garcia’s return. An immigration judge in 2019 had issued an order that barred the government from deporting the Salvadoran immigrant, who is also an alleged MS-13 gang member, to El Salvador because of what the judge said was a credible concern that he could become the victim of gang members there. That judge released him from custody that year and allowed him to continue living and working in Maryland so long as he checked in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement annually. The Trump administration has admitted to disregarding the immigration judge’s order by deporting him to a Salvadoran megaprison but has said a recent Supreme Court order that modified Xinis’s directive meant it did not have to correct its error. The Supreme Court asked Xinis to "clarify" what she meant by her order, issued in response to Abrego Garcia’s family suing after the government abruptly arrested and deported him to a Salvadoran terrorist confinement center last month. The high court agreed that the government must "facilitate" his return but criticized Xinis’s order to also "effectuate" it. "The intended scope of the term ‘effectuate’ in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority," the decision read. The decision created ambiguity, as evidenced by Xinis rejecting the government’s position on the definition of "facilitate" this week. A Department of Justice attorney argued during a hearing that it meant the Trump administration simply had to provide a plane for Abrego Garcia to return to the country if, and only if, the Salvadoran government chose to release him from the prison. Xinis disagreed. "It flies in the face of the plain meaning of the word," Xinis said.

The Hill [4/18/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports the Trump administration’s argument that the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 is based largely on a confidential tip he and his family have long disputed. The Trump administration’s claims rely on the findings of an immigration court judge who declined to release Abrego Garcia on bond after an arrest, determining he could be a danger to the community. But a review of court records supplied by both the Trump administration and Abrego Garcia’s attorneys show a more complex picture, one in which the same judge said that various representations given by police were "at odds" with one another. Abrego Garcia’s immigration troubles began in 2019, when the Salvadoran national was arrested outside of a Maryland Home Depot while soliciting work alongside three other men. The officer who pulled over to question them described them as loitering. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia, who had no prior criminal record, said he stood next to two men he recognized from previously seeking work outside the store, but "he had never interacted with them in any other context.” When a Prince George’s County police officer approached and later arrested three of the four men, Abrego Garcia was identified as being a member of MS-13 because he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat. On a "Gang Field Interview Sheet," police wrote that Abrego Garcia was "wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with decorations of rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations.” "Officers know such clothing to be indicative of the Hispanic gang culture," the form states, adding that the depiction on the hoodie was a reference to "see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil," which they also argue is associated with MS-13. They also cited a tip from a confidential informant who said Abrego Garcia was part of MS-13’s "Westerns" clique, which operates out of New York. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia say he has never lived in New York. Abrego Garcia was never charged with any crime stemming from the matter, but he was nonetheless detained by immigration authorities for entering the country illegally.

Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 6:00 AM, Rachel Schilke, 2296K] reports the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has become a political flashpoint that Democrats are struggling to navigate, with the party split over how loudly to protest his detention in a Salvadoran megaprison. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) became the first Democratic senator to travel to El Salvador this week to visit Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland. Other Democrats are planning trips as they accuse the administration of violating Abrego Garcia’s due process rights. The uproar marks an early test of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration as a federal judge threatens contempt proceedings over the White House’s refusal to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. But the Democrats have seemingly painted themselves into a corner, as Republicans accuse them of caring more about an illegal immigrant than the safety of Americans. Over the last several days, the White House has joined congressional Republicans in highlighting Abrego Garcia’s alleged association with MS-13 and domestic abuse allegations by his wife in court. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers dispute the gang allegations, and his wife has defended him as a "loving partner and father.” "I am reminded of the expression, ‘Don’t interrupt when your opponent self-destructs,’" Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) told the Washington Examiner. "If the Democrats want to stake their reputation on defending a proven member of MS-13, so be it. This only further demonstrates how badly Trump has broken them. Americans care more about keeping our families and communities safe.” Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said in an interview that he was a "bit surprised" that Democrats are "tone deaf" after the 2024 election saw immigration and border security as among voters’ top concerns. "I think they’ve misread the results of the 2024 election, when Americans pretty clearly said they want illegal aliens to go back, especially the ones that poured in during President Biden’s term, and they certainly want gang members to be deported," Harris said. Some Democrats do not think that Abrego Garcia’s deportation should be the top priority of the party. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), the progressive governor of California who has more recently pivoted to the right, said Wednesday he thinks Abrego Garcia’s detention is a shiny object that distracts from the market turmoil over Trump’s tariffs.

Telemundo [4/18/2025 11:41 PM, Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Syedah Asghar, 2454K] reports Nnamdi Egwuonwu y Syedah Asghar Dexter is at least the second Democratic congresswoman to announce plans this week to travel to El Salvador to defend Abrego Garcia. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, said Wednesday that she will "try to visit" Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, calling his deportation illegal and pointing to federal court rulings that have ordered the administration to "facilitate" his return to the United States. Dexter is at least the second Democratic congresswoman to announce plans this week to travel to El Salvador to defend Abrego Garcia. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, said Wednesday that she will "try to visit" Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, calling his deportation illegal and pointing to federal court rulings that have ordered the administration to "facilitate" his return to the United States. Attempts by Democrats to organize official congressional delegations to El Salvador have been thwarted by Republicans, who have called them a "waste" of taxpayer funds. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, denied a request by Representatives Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, and Robert Garcia, D-California, to "check on the welfare" of Abrego Garcia.

The Hill [4/18/2025 5:53 PM, Emily Brooks, 12829K] reports House Republican committee chairs are denying Democrats’ requests to travel to El Salvador and visit its CECOT prison facility as scrutiny builds on the Trump administration’s handling of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s mistaken deportation. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) this week denied requests from Democrats to use official committee funds for Congressional delegation — otherwise known as CODEL trips — to El Salvador, with Comer calling the request "absurd" and Green saying it would "waste taxpayer dollars." The denials come as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) made a trip to the country this week and met with Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was living in Maryland and whose return the Supreme Court has said the Trump administration should facilitate. But it also comes as House Republicans are visiting El Salvador and the CECOT prison themselves. Several House GOP lawmakers, led by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), visited El Salvador and the CECOT prison this week. Comer specifically denied a request that Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) made earlier in the week to visit the prison and to "conduct a welfare check on Abrego Garcia" and others held there, in addition to other oversight. Green also said he would deny requests from Democrats to visit El Salvador. Green’s statement came after Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) had made a request for an official CODEL to El Salvador to conduct oversight over the Abrego Garcia case, as Axios reported. Other Congressional Republicans, though, have clearly seen value in conducting trips to El Salvador and the CECOT prison.

New York Post [4/18/2025 7:40 PM, Josh Christenson, 54903K] reports House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) ripped two Democratic reps on Friday for trying to fleece his panel’s budget for a taxpayer-funded trip to meet an alleged MS-13 gang member whose deportation to an El Salvador megaprison has become a rallying point for critics of President Trump’s immigration agenda. Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Tuesday asked for Comer to approve funding for flights down to CECOT, the massive prison that began housing thousands of gang members apprehended in the Central American nation amid a sweeping crime crackdown in 2022 — and has since begun holding accused criminal migrant deportees from the US. But the GOP Oversight chairman denied their request to meet with the purported MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Friday letter obtained by The Post shows. "It is absurd that you both displayed active hostility for over two years toward the Committee’s oversight of the Biden Border Crisis and the consequences of millions of illegal aliens entering the country, yet now, you are seeking travel at Committee expense to meet with foreign gang members," Comer said. "You may be pleased to know that a Democrat senator, Chris Van Hollen, was photographed just yesterday in El Salvador enjoying margaritas garnished with cherry slices with the foreign gang member your letter references," he added. "If you also wish to meet with him, you can spend your own money. But I will not approve a single dime of taxpayer funds for use on the excursion you have requested.” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) accused Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday of also "wasting taxpayer dollars" by "visiting and defending a transnational gang member and reported domestic abuser.” Van Hollen was denied entry to CECOT but later photographed sharing margaritas with Abrego Garcia at his hotel — though he claimed the alcoholic drinks were brought by the government of El Salvador. "Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is," he told reporters at Dulles International Airport in Virginia upon his return to the US. "This is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on," the Maryland Democrat said of El Salvador’s leader Nayib Bukele. "And it also shows the lengths that the Trump administration and the president will go to.”

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [4/18/2025 6:24 PM, Mark Swanson, 4998K]
Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 5:09 PM, Rachel Schilke, 2296K]
Axios [4/18/2025 4:53 PM, Andrew Solender, 13163K]

FOX News [4/18/2025 1:30 PM, Nikolas Lanum, 46189K] reports that the Trump White House on Friday criticized The New York Times for a headline referring to a "wrongly deported" Maryland father that the administration claims is actually an illegal immigrant with a violent criminal history. "Senator Meets With Wrongly Deported Maryland Man In El Salvador," was the headline of a Thursday evening article plastered on the front page of The New York Times. The report focused on Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who flew to El Salvador this week to meet with deported illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant living in Maryland, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT) last month. Officials acknowledged in court that his deportation had been an administrative error. However, now some top Trump officials say he had been correctly removed and contend that he is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. "Fixed It for you @NYTimes," the White House wrote Friday morning on X. The tweet includes an image of the headline, which the White House’s official account scribbled on to nix the words "wrongly" and "Maryland man," adding their own preferred language. "Senator Meets With Deported MS-13 Illegal Allien In El Salvador Who’s Never Coming Back," the White House’s version reads. "Oh, and by the way, @ChrisVanHollen — he’s NOT coming back," the White House social media account added. President Donald Trump also called out the Maryland senator on his Truth Social account. "Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!" Trump wrote.

The Hill [4/18/2025 11:08 AM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K] reports that Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student being held in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, is comparing "some aspects" of his conditions to those who were in Nazi concentration camps. "I pick up my copy of Viktor Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search for Meaning.’ I feel ashamed to compare my conditions in ICE detention to Nazi concentration camps, yet, some aspects of Frankl’s experience resonate: not knowing what fate awaits me; seeing resignation and defeat in my fellow detainees," Khalil wrote in a new op-ed published in The Washington Post. Khalil has been in ICE detention for more than a month while his wife is set to give birth in two weeks. A green-card holder, Khalil was picked up and targeted because of his position as the lead negotiator for the pro-Palestinian encampment on his campus last spring. In a recent ruling, an immigration judge said Khalil’s proceedings could continue based on the government’s argument the secretary of State can order the deportation of noncitizens if they pose adverse effects to the foreign policy of the United States. In the proceedings, the judge gave the government 24 hours to produce evidence. Khalil’s lawyers argue the judge’s move was too quick and did not give them enough time to review the Trump administration’s filings. Khalil in the op-ed criticized "the breakneck speed with which my case was heard and decided," arguing it ran "roughshod over due process.” In a separate proceeding in federal court challenging his detention, the judge ruled Khalil could not yet be deported. Khalil decried his detention as illegal and said no evidence has been produced against him besides his pro-Palestinian speech.

FOX News [4/18/2025 11:30 AM, Gabriel Hays, 46189K] reports that Columbia University anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of eroding his constitutional rights in a Thursday column for The Washington Post. Khalil, who was approved for deportation by a U.S. immigration judge last week at the behest of the U.S. government, argued in the piece that he is a victim of America’s "Democracy of convenience," and that his rights have been erased because he is not aligned to those in power. "I hope this writing will startle you into understanding that a democracy for some — a democracy of convenience — is no democracy at all. I hope it will shake you into acting before it is too late," Mahmoud wrote. Judge Jamee Comans ruled in Louisiana last Friday that Khalil, 30, can be deported, saying that the U.S. government met its burden of proof to remove him. Immigration agents arrested the green card holder on Columbia-owned property last month. He was accused of being a ringleader of pro-Palestinian protests at the university. The DHS has also alleged that he "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization," though Khalil has denied the allegations. Prior to his ruling, Comans ordered the federal government to provide evidence justifying its attempt to deport the activist. Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded in a roughly one-and-a-half-page letter sent to the court on last Wednesday, citing a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil’s removal from the U.S. The Washington Post did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

NPR [4/18/2025 6:06 PM, Staff, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports this week, two federal judges handling separate immigration cases escalated their attempts to get the Trump administration to comply with court orders. One case involves President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 18th-century wartime law, to deport migrants without due process. The other is about the wrongful deportation, also without due process, of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the government’s refusal to bring him back to the U.S. The growing conflicts point to a potential constitutional crisis, where the president openly defies the country’s highest court — or at least, as one legal scholar maintains, a crisis at the Supreme Court.

New York Post [4/18/2025 8:47 PM, Victor Nava, 54903K] reports US District Judge James Boasberg denied an emergency request from lawyers for alleged Venezuelan gang members Thursday seeking to block “imminent” deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing suspected Tren de Aragua gang members being detained in Texas, had asked Boasberg to issue a temporary restraining order requiring 30 days’ notice from the Trump administration before any of their clients are deported under the 18th-century law after learning the removal notices had recently been issued to detainees. “I’m sympathetic to your conundrum, but I don’t think I have the power to do anything about it,” Boasberg said during an emergency hearing in the District Court for Washington, DC. The judge noted that a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month, which lifted his pause on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, determined that if “detainees are confined in Texas … venue is improper in the District of Columbia. Boasberg also received assurances from the Trump administration that no deportation flights under the rarely used wartime law would take place Friday night. “I’ve also been told that there are no flights tonight, and that the people I spoke to were not aware of any plans for flights tomorrow,” Justice Department official Drew Ensign told the court. After a recess, Ensign clarified that after contacting the Department of Homeland Security, he was “told to say that they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow.” “It is very concerning, but at this point I just don’t think I have the ability to grant relief to the plaintiffs,” Boasberg said. “I just don’t really see how you’re asking me to do anything different from what the Supreme Court said I couldn’t do.” The judge issued an order formally denying the ACLU’s request after the hearing. The ACLU has separately petitioned the Supreme Court and a federal appeals court seeking the same temporary restraining order. The ACLU also cited a Friday night ABC News report indicating that Plans for more deportations under the Alien Enemies Act are underway and flights are "imminent," according to a US official. "We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, but we are complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling," Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post.

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Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 9:08 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K]
Yahoo News [4/19/2025 1:25 AM, Kelly Rissman, 430301K]

New York Times [4/19/2025 5:01 AM, Peter Baker, 153395K] reports in the unlikely yet profound showdown between the president and the migrant that has captured international attention, the courts have uniformly determined that one of them recently violated the law. And it wasn’t the migrant. According to liberal and conservative judges all the way up to the Supreme Court, President Trump’s administration broke the rules by deporting Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and must try to fix the mistake. But Mr. Trump and his team are trying to rewrite the narrative so that it is a dispute about illegal immigration rather than the rule of law. It is a fight that Mr. Trump seems to welcome. His administration could easily have avoided it by simply bringing Mr. Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador and following a process that might have resulted in him being deported anyway. Instead, Mr. Trump opted to double down, defying the courts and reverse-engineering a justification for a deportation that his administration initially acknowledged was wrong. This in the view of the president’s team is a political winner with the vast majority of voters, an “80-20 issue,” as his adviser Stephen Miller puts it, referring to theoretical percentages. Mr. Trump bolsters his credentials as a scourge of evil immigrants while asserting that his critics care more about foreign-born murderers and thugs than they do about law-abiding Americans. Yet at a time when Mr. Trump is claiming unprecedented power in so many arenas, the case of one imprisoned migrant has come to crystallize the debate about whether Mr. Trump himself is a law-abiding American. As part of the effort to paint Mr. Abrego Garcia as a villain not a victim, the Department of Homeland Security on Friday released what it called a “bombshell investigative report” suggesting that he was a “suspected human trafficker.” It based that on a 2022 episode when he was stopped for speeding in Tennessee with eight other people in his vehicle. But he was not charged with human trafficking and instead simply given a warning for driving with an expired license. “The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart,” Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant homeland security secretary, said in a statement. “We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

New York Times [4/18/2025 1:16 PM, Alex Lemonides, Seamus Hughes, Mattathias Schwartz, Lazaro Gamio, and Camille Baker, 153395K] reports the legal clashes over President Trump’s blizzard of executive actions are intensifying, with new lawsuits and fresh rulings emerging day and night. As of April 18, at least 90 of those rulings have at least temporarily paused some of the administration’s initiatives. Mr. Trump has responded angrily, and even called for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against his administration on deportation flights, earning a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

The Hill [4/18/2025 10:29 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports Border czar Tom Homan late Thursday defended the White House’s immigration agenda amid a pair of escalating legal fights over the president’s deportation efforts, saying "I don’t think we did anything wrong.” Homan in an interview on CNN’s "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" maintained his view that the administration acted correctly in deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia and also denied that the White House ignored an earlier judge’s order to halt deportation flights. "[Abrego Garcia is] an El Salvadorian national, he was born in El Salvador, El Salvador has him in custody and El Salvador will decide what will happen to him. I mean, again, the El Salvadoran president made it clear he’s not going to release him," Homan said. A federal judge scolded the administration earlier in the week for not providing evidence of efforts to facilitate the release of Abrego Garcia following a Supreme Court order. The U.S. District Court judge said Abrego Garcia was apprehended "without legal basis" and deported "without further process or legal justification." A previous order prevented his deportation to El Salvador due to concerns about his safety. Homan in the interview Thursday night also denied that the administration skirted a different federal judge’s ruling halting deportation flights for individuals the White House alleges are members of a Venezuelan gang. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg has moved to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for disobeying his order to immediately halt the deportation flights, which the president previously attempted to authorize by invoking the Alien Enemies Act. "I think we followed the judge’s order. I think we’ll let that litigate in court. You know, [the Department of Justice] is fighting that in court. But I don’t think we did anything wrong," Homan told Collins.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 1:36 PM, Pocharapon neammanee, 430301K] reports that Border czar Tom Homan didn’t have an answer when asked about whether President Donald Trump’s idea to deport United States citizens to foreign prisons is legal, saying it’s a question for the Department of Justice, not him. "I don’t deport U.S. citizens," Homan told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday when asked if he believes it would be legal to send American prisoners to foreign prisons. "I think what [the Trump administration is] talking about is either extradition or prisoner transfer. That’d be a question for the DOJ." Border czar Tom Homan said the legality of sending American citizens to overseas prisons is "out of" his "lane." Homan said Collins should ask Attorney General Pam Bondi. However, when Bondi was asked the same question by Fox’s Jesse Watters on Tuesday, she also did not say whether it is legal to send U.S. citizens to a foreign prison. "These people need to be locked up as long as they can, as long as the law allows. We’re not going to let them go anywhere, and if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it," Bondi told Watters. Under U.S. law, Bondi’s Department of Justice and U.S. Marshals Service are the government agencies that oversee transferring U.S. prisoners to another country or extracting them from one.

Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 11:45 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports that a growing number of U.S. citizens have come forward to report emails from the Department of Homeland Security ordering them to leave the United States, notices that the agency has acknowledged were, in some cases, sent in error. Americans from coast to coast have begun to receive emails demanding that they self-deport within seven days. However, it is unclear how many notices the federal government has sent mistakenly or what corrective actions have been taken to prevent further errors. In Wisconsin, Neenah resident Tom Frantz received two emails last Friday that he said were from DHS. Frantz told local media outlet WPR that he initially thought it was a spam email. "If you do not depart the United States immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States," the email stated. "Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.” The full email stated that Frantz’s alleged parole was being terminated and that he would need to leave the country before it expired. The DHS has acknowledged that emails went out to an unspecified number of Americans ordering them to self-deport. "CBP used the known email addresses of the alien to send notifications," DHS agency U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner. "If a non-personal email—such as an American citizen contact—was provided by the alien, notices may have been sent to unintended recipients. CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis."

Washington Post [4/18/2025 5:33 PM, Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein, and Meryl Kornfield, 31735K] reports that Immigrants falsely labeled dead by the Social Security Administration are showing up at field offices with documents proving they are alive, leading staff to reinstate nearly three dozen people over the past week, according to records obtained by The Washington Post. The immigrants who have requested a reversal and been reinstated in Social Security databases include a Haitian asylum seeker and a child, the records show. Some immigrants have shown up with driver’s licenses and work permits to prove their legitimacy, the records show. Others have arrived bearing letters of notification that they received from their states declaring them dead. The reversals come after the Department of Homeland Security and Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service pushed to incorrectly label more than 6,100 mostly Latino immigrants as dead in a bid to pressure them to leave the country. The administration overrode the objections of senior Social Security staff to label the immigrants as dead — a move that current and former top officials at the agency warned was illegal because it violates privacy laws and involves the purposeful falsification of government records. Social Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Asked about the resurrections, the White House said the 6,000 immigrants were never really listed as dead. “This reporting is false. These illegal aliens were never classified as dead,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement. “The ‘Death Master File’ was renamed the ‘Ineligible Master File’ prior to their names being transferred. Once U.S. Customs and Border Protection terminated their parole, these individuals were no longer eligible for benefits, and Social Security Administration quickly took action to protect the benefits of hardworking American citizens.”

NPR [4/18/2025 8:26 AM, Stephen Fowler, 29983K] reports a federal judge has once again blocked Department of Government Efficiency staffers who are operating inside the Social Security Administration (SSA) from accessing sensitive personal information of millions of Americans. The issuing of a preliminary injunction comes in a lawsuit filed by a group of unions and retirees in Maryland, which is one of more than a dozen suits to raise alarms about the kind of data DOGE has accessed, and how such data could be used. In a 148-page memorandum explaining the decision, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander wrote late Thursday that "the issue here is not the work that DOGE or the Agency want to do," but rather "how they want to do the work.” "To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the public interest," Hollander wrote, referencing DOGE’s stated aims. "But, that does not mean that the government can flout the law to do so.” Hollander, an Obama appointee, previously granted a temporary restraining order against DOGE on March 20, questioning at the time why the agency did not use a more targeted look at Social Security data that includes personally identifiable information (PII), and calling DOGE’s methods "tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.” A federal appeals court dismissed on April 1 the Trump administration’s effort to lift Hollander’s temporary restraining order. Now, weeks later, Hollander said the Trump administration still did not adequately explain why it needed to give a handful of staffers "unprecedented, unfettered access to virtually SSA’s entire data systems," in order to implement the DOGE mandate of detecting waste, fraud and abuse. "The DOGE Team seeks access to the PII that millions of Americans entrusted to SSA, and the SSA Defendants have agreed to provide it," she wrote. "For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records. This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation.” In seeking to justify the desire of DOGE team members to access PII in Social Security databases, SSA’s Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek had listed three projects the DOGE team needed to work on, but the judge wrote that his "explanations are imprecise, contradictory, and insufficient.”

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Axios [4/18/2025 8:09 AM, Ivana Saric, 13163K]

New York Times [4/19/2025 3:28 AM, Jonathan Swan, Andrew Duehren, Alan Rappeport and Maggie Haberman, 330K] reports President Trump has replaced the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service after his appointment just days earlier set off a power struggle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the billionaire Elon Musk, five people with knowledge of the change said Friday. Mr. Bessent’s deputy, Michael Faulkender, will be the new acting leader, replacing Gary Shapley, the Treasury Department confirmed on Friday. Mr. Faulkender will be the third acting leader of the agency this week. Mr. Bessent had complained to Mr. Trump this week that Mr. Musk had done an end run around him to get Mr. Shapley installed as the interim head of the I.R.S., even though the tax collection agency reports to Mr. Bessent, the people familiar with the situation said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The clash was the latest instance of Mr. Musk’s influence in the Trump administration that has alarmed top officials. It was also the latest upheaval at the tax agency, with much of its staff pushed out or quitting. Mr. Trump earlier this week called for the I.R.S. to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status after the school refused to impose sweeping changes demanded by the administration. An I.R.S. spokeswoman declined to comment on the leadership changes. Mr. Shapley, a longtime I.R.S. agent, gained fame among conservatives after he claimed that the Justice Department had slow-walked its investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes. Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency pushed Mr. Shapley’s appointment through White House channels, but Mr. Bessent was not consulted or asked for his blessing, according to those with knowledge of the dynamic. Mr. Bessent then got Mr. Trump’s approval to unwind the decision within days, they said. Mr. Shapley had been working from the I.R.S. commissioner’s office as late as Friday morning.

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Washington Post [4/18/2025 5:40 PM, Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein, 31735K]
NBC News [4/18/2025 7:23 PM, Staff, 2454K]

Boston Globe [4/18/2025 12:45 PM, Mike Damiano, 3531K] reports that in another effort to ratchet up the pressure on Harvard University, the Trump administration is demanding the school turn over documentation about funding from overseas sources, as well as details about Harvard employees and researchers who have dealings with foreign governments or institutions. Federal officials also want Harvard to provide email usernames for expelled foreign students. In its request announced Friday, the US Department of Education said it found Harvard’s disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts are “incomplete and inaccurate.” “As a recipient of federal funding, Harvard University must be transparent about its relations with foreign sources and governments,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release. “Unfortunately, our review indicated that Harvard has not been fully transparent.” A Harvard spokesperson said the school’s disclosures comply with the law. The demands, laid out in a records request sent to Harvard president Alan Garber Thursday, follow threats from other parts of the federal government this week, with President Trump threatening to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status and the Department of Homeland Security saying it may shut down Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.

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Yahoo News [4/18/2025 10:08 AM, Juliet Schulman-Hall, 430301K]

FOX News [4/18/2025 4:06 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46189K] reports the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating how Harvard University uses taxpayer money as the school faces scrutiny on civil rights issues like antisemitism. Committee Chairman James Comer and House Republican Leadership Chairwoman Elise Stefanik sent a letter to the university president, Dr. Alan M. Garber, Thursday afternoon, after the Trump administration halted $2.2 billion in funding to the school. The Department of Homeland Security is also scrapping $2.7 million in grants, and the IRS is weighing an end to the university’s tax-exempt status. The goal is to ultimately decide "whether legislation is necessary to ensure that institutions of higher education receiving federal financial assistance are no longer able to violate the law while lucratively benefiting from the generosity of the American people." The committee is asking for "documents and communications" to investigate the issue.

New York Times [4/18/2025 8:23 AM, Andrew Duehren, Alan Rappeport and Russ Buettner, 145325K] reports that, in the years after President Richard Nixon enlisted the Internal Revenue Service to investigate his political opponents, Congress passed a series of laws to make sure the agency would focus on collecting taxes and not use its vast powers to carry out political vendettas. But President Trump has moved swiftly to suppress that independence in the first few months of his second term and, tax experts and former agency officials warn, return the I.R.S. to darker days when it was used as a political tool of the president. His administration has decimated the ranks of I.R.S. civil servants and moved to install political allies in their place. This week, he publicly called for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, an extraordinary attempt to enlist the I.R.S. in his feud with the wealthy research university. In the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr. Trump renewed that threat and suggested that several other universities the administration has accused of antisemitism could also lose their tax-exempt status. “Tax-exempt status, it’s a privilege, it’s really a privilege and it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard, so we’ll see how that all works out,” he said, also mentioning Columbia and Princeton. The I.R.S. is now weighing whether to revoke Harvard’s tax exemption, as New York Times reported earlier this week. Federal law bars the president from ordering the I.R.S. to conduct specific tax investigations. A White House spokesman has said the agency’s scrutiny of Harvard began before the president’s social media post. Mr. Trump said Thursday that he did not believe the I.R.S. had “made a final ruling.” Transforming the I.R.S. and its tens of thousands of employees into political enforcers for the president — a doomsday scenario long feared by conservatives — would shake a foundation of American civic life. Tax experts and I.R.S. officials warn that the federal government may start to struggle to collect enough revenue if Americans start to believe the nation’s tax laws are politically compromised and weakly enforced. “We’re dependent for collecting taxes on the good faith of the American people,” said Michael Graetz, a tax scholar at Columbia Law School. “If the I.R.S. becomes politicized, and people feel like only one party is playing by the rules, then I would expect noncompliance would go up.”

NBC News [4/18/2025 12:36 PM, Hayley Cuccinello, 44742K] reports that Harvard’s brewing conflict with the Trump administration could come at a steep cost — even for the nation’s richest university. On April 14, Harvard University President Alan Garber announced the institution would not comply with the administration’s demands, including to "audit" Harvard’s students and faculty for "viewpoint diversity." The federal government, in response, froze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts with the university. According to CNN and multiple other news outlets, the Trump administration has now asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. If the IRS follows through, it would have severe consequences for the university. The many benefits of nonprofit status include tax-free income on investments and tax deductions for donors, education historian Bruce Kimball told CNBC. Bloomberg estimated the value of Harvard’s tax benefits in excess of $465 million in 2023. Nonprofits can lose their tax exemptions if the IRS determines they are engaging in political campaign activity or earning too much income from unrelated activities. Few universities have lost their non-profit status. One of the few examples was Christian institution Bob Jones University, which lost its tax exemption in 1983 for racially discriminatory policies. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told the Washington Post that the IRS started investigating Harvard before President Donald Trump suggested on Truth Social that the university should be taxed as a "political entity." The Treasury Department did not reply to a request for comment from CNBC. The federal government has challenged Harvard on yet another front, with the Department of Homeland Security threatening to stop international students from enrolling. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program is administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which falls under the DHS.

CBS News [4/18/2025 5:08 PM, Scott MacFarlane, 51661K] reports attorneys for a Virginia man labeled by the Trump administration as a top MS-13 gang leader are pressing a judge to hold off on dismissing his criminal case, arguing he could be deported without ever hearing — or defending himself against — the specific allegations against him. Henrry Villatoro Santos’s arrest was announced last month in a nationally televised news conference featuring the attorney general, who accused Villatoro Santos of being the "East Coast leader" of the infamous MS-13 transnational gang. He was accused of responsibility for violent crimes and helping lead the gang’s criminal attacks throughout the U.S. Villatoro Santos’s criminal case has morphed into a unique paradox: Justice Department prosecutors want his case dismissed. And it’s Villatoro Santos fighting to keep his case alive. Villatoro Santos remains in pretrial jail and faces a federal felony gun possession charge in Virginia. But the Justice Department has yet to provide any of the details of his alleged MS-13 crimes. Instead the government is pressing a magistrate judge to dismiss Villatoro Santos’s case so that administration officials can instead deport him out of the United States. The defendant has filed a motion asking a judge to block the dismissal of the case. Though the judge denied Villatoro Santos’s request, he has agreed to pause his ruling to allow for an appeal. Villatoro Santos will remain in U.S. Marshals’ custody pending his appeal. He has been held in an Alexandria, Virginia, jail. Villatoro Santos’s defense attorney argues the Trump administration appears to be preparing to deport Villatoro Santos without due process.

AP [4/18/2025 11:20 AM, Staff, 24727K] reports Alabama lawmakers advanced legislation on Thursday that would allow local law enforcement to enforce immigration law, as conservative legislators push for increased alignment with the federal government’s crackdown on immigration. The bill was dubbed "Laken Riley Act," named after the 22-year-old Augusta University student who was killed last year in Georgia by an undocumented immigrant. President Donald Trump signed a similar law into affect in January that requires the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes. If signed into law, the Alabama version of the bill will allow local and state law enforcement agencies to enter into agreements with federal agencies to enforce the country’s immigration laws. "It’s simply a common-sense grassroots approach to help enforce already existing laws that are on the books in our community," said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Ernie Yarbrough. The bill drew swift rebuke from the House of Representative’s Democratic minority. Rep. Chris England said the bill would make profiling inevitable because he said officers are more likely to detain nonwhite people who don’t speak English. He added that the stakes are higher given the increasing frequency of detentions without a trial across the country. "The constitution can’t be situational, it can’t be circumstantial, it cannot only be when it benefits me. You have to abide by the principles in it, even when you don’t want to," he said.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 7:06 PM, Staff, 430301K] reports a U.S. District Court judge denied the ACLU of Indiana’s request for a temporary restraining order to protect seven Indiana international students whose lawful status was terminated without explanation. Earlier this week, the ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Homeland Security alleging that DHS violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the students’ Fifth Amendment right to due process. "We’re obviously disappointed in this decision," said Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana. "These students have invested years of their lives and thousands of dollars in their education. For DHS to terminate their status with no warning or reason is deeply unfair, and we believe it is illegal.” Of the students named in the lawsuit, six are citizens of China attending Purdue University or Indiana University Indianapolis. One is a citizen of Nigeria attending the University of Notre Dame. Two of the students named in the lawsuit are slated to graduate this May.

New York Times [4/18/2025 6:12 PM, Annie Correal, 145325K] reports when Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, tried to visit Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia on Thursday in a notorious prison in El Salvador, the lawmaker was turned back by soldiers. The authorities instead delivered Mr. Abrego Garcia to the senator’s hotel in San Salvador. There, Mr. Van Hollen and Mr. Abrego Garcia, who had been mistakenly deported from Maryland and is at the center of a contentious legal battle between the Trump administration and U.S. courts, sat at a restaurant table to talk.

AP [4/18/2025 9:56 AM, Michelle L. Price and Mary Clare Jalonick, 1814K] reports that a new U.S. intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to U.S. officials. The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the assessment. They were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The new assessment draws input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community. It repeatedly stated that Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela, is not coordinated with or supported by the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, or senior officials in the Venezuelan government. While the assessment found minimal contact between some members of the gang and low-level members of the Venezuelan government, there was a consensus that there was no coordination or directive role between gang and government. The assessment provided support and extensive sourcing for those assertions, according to the officials. Of the 18 organizations that make up the U.S. government’s intelligence community, only one - the FBI - did not agree with the findings.

Washington Post [4/19/2025 7:00 AM, Staff, 31735K] reports “The Universities Are the Enemy,” a 2021 speech by JD Vance, quoted Richard M. Nixon: “The professors are the enemy.” In 1972, Nixon conveyed this view only to senior staff in the White House because he was angry about widespread opposition to the Vietnam War. (His words eventually became known because of the Oval Office taping system.) Nixon also demanded that federal funding be cut to MIT, but political appointees in the Office of Management and Budget thwarted him by threatening to resign. Similarly, presidential staff at the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service refused to launch audits of people on Nixon’s enemies list. In contrast, President Donald Trump has launched a public blitzkrieg against Harvard. On Monday, he froze $2.2 billion in federal funding after the university rejected a far-reaching list of contradictory demands, including the hiring of an external auditor to evaluate the "viewpoint diversity" of its students, faculty, staff and leadership. On Wednesday, Treasury asked the IRS to consider revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status. (Donations to the university could dry up if they’re not tax-deductible.) Next, the Department of Homeland Security threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to host international students, who make up 27 percent of the student body. In the coming months, Trump and congressional allies hope to impose devastating taxes on university endowment funds — Vice President Vance has suggested as high as 35 percent — and plan to scrutinize their investments in China and clean energy. Harvard deserves the credit it has received for fighting back. With a $53 billion endowment, augmented by $750 million in borrowing last week, the world’s wealthiest university can weather this storm, even if some layoffs and budget cuts will be required. Harvard also has the advantage of superb legal representation.

Washington Post [4/18/2025 2:11 PM, Staff, 31735K] reports that the April 10 article “Tariffs leave Taiwan reeling, may open door for Beijing” rightly pointed out the strategic confusion triggered by the Trump administration’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods (temporarily reduced to 10 percent during ongoing 90-day negotiations). But the issue runs deeper than a single trade decision. Taiwan is already facing unprecedented pressure from China, which continues to threaten the island with military drills and political coercion. Now, the United States — Taiwan’s most important security partner — is imposing economic penalties that threaten the island’s ability to survive as a trading nation. In 2023, Taiwan’s total trade amounted to 99 percent of its gross domestic product. Choking this lifeline through tariffs weakens Taiwan’s economy and its capacity to invest in defense. This contradiction — in which one arm of the U.S. government sells weapons to Taiwan while another levies crushing tariffs — is not just a policy oversight. It also reflects deeper divides among government agencies. The Defense Department and State Department treat Taiwan as a strategic partner, bolstering deterrence through arms sales and diplomatic engagement. However, the U.S. Trade Representative and agencies such as the Commerce Department and the Treasury Department often view Taiwan as a trade problem. Taiwan has been placed on the currency manipulation watch list and excluded from free-trade negotiations. These tariffs are nothing short of additional U.S. economic pressure, further complicating Taiwan’s business landscape.

The Hill [4/18/2025 12:34 PM, Cate Martel, 12829K] reports that happy Friday! Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) traveled to El Salvador and met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to the Terrorist Confinement Center in El Salvador. 📸 Abrego Garcia and Van Hollen meeting Keep in mind: Van Hollen had been twice denied the chance to speak with Abrego Garcia, both in person and by phone. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele mocked their meeting. “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador,” Bukele posted on X, with several photos. And Trump slammed it too: “Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “GRANDSTANDER!!!” A small but growing number of conservatives are critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the Abrego Garcia case, especially because the Supreme Court ordered his return and the administration has not complied.

Washington Post [4/18/2025 6:02 AM, Douglas MacMillan, 31735K] reports that, at a crowded Miami detention center, some immigrants are being held in conference rooms with no toilets. The Cibola County prison in New Mexico doesn’t have enough chairs for all the immigrant detainees to eat their meals at a table. And at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, some immigrant women have been forced to sleep on thin mats on the concrete floor because all the beds in the female holding unit are taken. “You’re stripped from your humanity,” said América Platt, 29, who spent four sleepless nights on Prairieland’s floor after police arrested her on a warrant for an unresolved traffic ticket and turned her over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She was deported last month to Mexico, where she hadn’t lived since fleeing her abusive father two decades ago, she said. The Trump administration’s efforts to boost deportations has increased the number of immigrant detainees so quickly that the government is failing to provide basic necessities, including beds and medical care, for some of them. Nearly half the people currently detained by ICE or Customs and Border Protection have no criminal charges, federal data show, yet some are being held in conditions that would be unacceptable in high-security prisons. At the same time, the administration has eliminated two oversight bodies that ensured that facilities met health and safety requirements. According to federal data, the population of ICE detainees swelled from 39,000 in late January to about 48,000 in early April — its highest level in five years and well above the 41,500 beds for which ICE is currently funded. The number of detainees is growing because of increased arrests and because ICE authorities are not exercising their discretion to release people who would normally qualify for bond or parole — those with medical conditions or who present no threat to the community, for example — said Eunice Cho, an attorney who advocates for immigrant detainees at the American Civil Liberties Union’s ACLU National Prison Project. “This is a crisis entirely manufactured by ICE,” Cho said. Mike Alvarez, an ICE spokesman, acknowledged in an emailed statement that “some facilities are operating above contracted capacity.” He said the agency is committed to “promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody” and is moving people from more-populated facilities to less-populated ones. “ICE is diligently working to decompress these detention facilities while maintaining compliance with federal standards and commitment to humane treatment,” Alvarez said.

FOX News [4/18/2025 7:44 AM, Rachel Wolf, 46189K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and the U.S. DOGE Service are reportedly looking to add a Medicare database to their arsenal of tools to use in their crackdown on illegal immigrants. Washington Post published its report on the agencies’ alleged plan on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter and internal documents. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allegedly manages the database, which contains personal information — including addresses — sought by ICE, according to the Post. The database is known as the Integrated Data Repository (IDR), which acts as an archive for beneficiary information, Medicare claims and more. The outlet said ICE is asking CMS to compare the Social Security numbers of individuals believed to be in the country illegally to Medicare claims to help determine their addresses. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining benefits through the Social Security Act, including Medicare. The memorandum establishes a Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecution program and expands the Social Security Administration’s existing enforcement initiatives. Elon Musk, who leads DOGE, has spoken about the "waste and fraud" in federal entitlement programs, including Medicare. "The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year," Musk told FOX News’ Larry Kudlow. The alleged joint initiative between DOGE and ICE seems to align with the Trump administration’s crackdowns on illegal immigration and government waste. ICE did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

CBS News [4/18/2025 1:33 PM, Julia Ingram, 51661K] reports that as President Trump aims to carry out what he’s called "the largest mass deportation in history," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been rapidly expanding a program that deputizes local law enforcement to perform immigration enforcement duties. As of Thursday afternoon, April 17, there were 456 active 287(g) agreements, or partnerships between ICE and local agencies — more than three times as many as there were in December 2024, according to data on ICE’s website. An additional 63 agreements were still pending. While some of the agreements only grant permission for local law enforcement to ask questions about immigration status at a jail book-in, an increasing number follow what ICE calls a "task force model," giving local authorities the ability to carry out immigration enforcement duties during routine policing, such as during a traffic stop. Others follow a third model, called the warrant officer model, which gives local law enforcement the ability to execute a federal immigration warrant. Once a local law enforcement officer identifies an alleged immigration violation, they have the authority to detain the person until ICE takes them into custody, or issue a notice to appear to begin removal proceedings in immigration court, according to the memorandums of agreement between the agencies and ICE. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request from CBS News about the rapid increase in the number of 287(g) agreements.

Breitbart [4/18/2025 4:15 PM, Amy Furr, 2923K] reports anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil is comparing his time in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility to Nazi concentration camps. In an op-ed recently published by the Washington Post, Khalil said he was on a bunk bed in Jena, Louisiana, surrounded by 70 other men who were also in ICE custody.

Los Angeles Times [4/18/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Plevin, 13342K] reports Celeste traveled from Peru to the U.S. two decades ago, then a young woman of 19, and overstayed her tourist visa. She had studied graphic design back home but, unable to work in her field without papers, instead found arduous work cleaning hotel rooms and offices in Los Angeles. She built a life here, making friends and taking courses at a local community college. She paid her taxes annually, hoping she could one day gain legal status. But years passed without the dramatic reforms needed to reshape and unclog the legal pathways to U.S. citizenship. And in the months since President Trump started his second term, her American dream has imploded. She’s unnerved by the news images of undocumented immigrants being loaded onto planes, shackled like violent criminals, and returned to their native countries. The thought of being ripped from her home, without time to pack up her belongings or say goodbye to friends, shakes her to the core. So, Celeste has made a tough decision: She will continue cleaning offices and saving money for just a few more months, and return to Peru by year’s end. Even with a plan to leave, she feels vulnerable and exposed. She now avoids restaurants, her favorite dance spots, even trail hikes. She’s stopped enrolling in online classes, she said, because she’s apprehensive about registering her name or address. "The fear that they could grab you is always there," said Celeste, who asked that The Times not use her full name for fear of making her a target for immigration authorities. Trump came into his second term promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history. During the campaign, he focused his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants who had committed violent crimes. But shortly after he took office, his administration made clear that they considered anyone in the country without authorization to be a criminal. In the months since, the new administration has used a variety of tactics — explicit and subtle — to urge immigrants to depart the country of their own accord. The day he was inaugurated, Trump disabled the CBP One mobile app that the Biden administration had utilized since 2023 to create a more orderly process of applying for asylum from the U.S.-Mexico border. Thousands of migrants camped at the border had their asylum appointments abruptly canceled. Instead, the Trump administration launched a replacement app, CBP Home, that allows immigrants to notify the government of their intent to leave the country. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The Times’ request for data regarding the number of people who have used the app.

Reuters [4/18/2025 7:04 PM, Staff, 41523K] reports a federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday to transfer a Tufts University student being held in Louisiana to Vermont while he weighs her claims that U.S. immigration authorities unlawfully arrested her based on her pro-Palestinian advocacy. The decision by U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Burlington marked an early victory for Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, in her continuing bid to be released from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s custody and return to her studies following her March 25 arrest in Massachusetts. Sessions said Ozturk "has raised significant constitutional concerns with her arrest and detention which merit full and fair consideration in this forum," and he scheduled a May 9 hearing to consider releasing her on bail. He said Ozturk’s evidence supported her claim that she was detained to punish her for co-authoring an opinion piece in Tufts’ student newspaper that criticized the school’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel after the onset of war and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.” Sessions said Ozturk presented evidence to support finding her free-speech rights under the U.S. Constitution were violated, saying the "op-ed is self-evidently speech regarding public issues.” "The government has so far offered no evidence to support an alternative, lawful motivation or purpose for Ms. Ozturk’s detention," Sessions, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, wrote. The judge stayed the effect of his order for four days to allow for a potential appeal. He also scheduled arguments on the merits of Ozturk’s case on May 22. The AP [4/18/2025 6:52 PM, Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack, 2923K] reports U.S. District Judge William Sessions said he would hear Rumeysa Ozturk’s request to be released from detention in Burlington, Vermont, with a bail hearing set for May 9 and a hearing on the petition’s merits on May 22. Ozturk’s lawyers had requested that she be released immediately, or at least brought back to Vermont, while the Justice Department argued that an immigration court in Louisiana had jurisdiction. “The Court concludes that this case will continue in this court with Ms. Ozturk physically present for the remainder of the proceedings,” the judge wrote. “Ms. Ozturk has presented viable and serious habeas claims which warrant urgent review on the merits. The Court plans to move expeditiously to a bail hearing and final disposition of the habeas petition, as Ms. Ozturk’s claims require no less.” The ruling came more than three weeks after masked immigration officials surrounded the 30-year-old doctoral student as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Basile, Louisiana. An immigration judge denied her request for bond Wednesday, citing “danger and flight risk” as the rationale. Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or who have been stopped from entering the U.S. after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressing support for Palestinians. The Washington Post [4/19/2025 2:14 AM, Frances Vinall, 31735K] reports Ozturk, a Turkish national, was in the United States on a student visa, which was revoked without her knowledge on March 21. She is among the many university students and teachers who are not U.S. citizens to have visas revoked and deportation proceedings initiated over pro-Palestinian statements or participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the administration has revoked hundreds of such visas. Critics have accused the Trump administration of transporting students and others with deportation cases to facilities in Louisiana and Texas that fall within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, widely considered the nation’s most conservative. According to court documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that Ozturk was transferred to Louisiana because there were no available beds in New England detention facilities. It added that detainees are “routinely” transferred out of state because of “operational necessity and considerations.” Ozturk’s application challenging her detention was filed in Massachusetts and transferred to Vermont by a U.S. district judge in Massachusetts, who denied a government request to have the case transferred to Louisiana.

FOX News [4/18/2025 4:21 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46189K] reports after a video showing federal agents smashing a car window to arrest an illegal immigrant went viral online, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is dispelling rumors about both the agent involved and the detainee. The arrest was carried out by Boston ICE officials and took place in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Monday. The footage, which the detainee’s wife took from the inside of a car, shows two federal agents attempting to speak with two individuals who have locked themselves in the vehicle, claiming they are waiting for their lawyer. After unsuccessfully trying to access the vehicle, the agents use a large hammer to smash the backseat car window. Eventually, the agents arrested one of the car’s occupants, a 29-year-old Guatemalan man named Juan Francisco-Mendez. According to local outlet The New Bedford Light, Francisco-Mendez’s lawyer, Ondine Gálvez, claims he has no criminal history in Massachusetts and is seeking asylum status. A spokesperson for ICE told Fox News Digital that Francisco-Mendez "refused to comply with officers’ instructions and resisted apprehension" and that the agent’s actions were in line with training on applying the minimum amount of force needed. Regarding the detained migrant, ICE said Francisco-Mendez is in the country illegally despite reporting that he is a legal asylum seeker. Francisco-Mendez has now been served with a notice to appear before a Justice Department immigration judge.

FOX News [4/18/2025 9:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 430301K] reports that ICE and several federal law enforcement agencies arrested over 200 illegal aliens in an "enhanced immigration enforcement operation" in the "most crime-infested neighborhoods" in and around New York City in just one week this month. According to a statement by ICE released on Wednesday, 206 illegal immigrants, the majority of whom have "egregious criminal histories to include manslaughter, rape, assault, drug trafficking and sex assault against minors," were apprehended as part of the operation. The operation took place in New York City and throughout Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley region between April 6-12. According to the ICE statement, the agency and partners targeted "egregious criminal alien offenders," including transnational criminal organizations like the recently designated international terrorist organizations Ms-13 and Tren de Aragua as well as the violent Sureños and 18th Street gangs. The agency said many of the arrests were made after local authorities in New York refused to honor immigration detainers filed by ICE and instead released the illegals back into the community. Of the 206 arrested, ICE said 121 had major criminal convictions or are currently facing charges for murder, assault, arson, sex crimes, drug crimes and firearms crimes. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons added that "New York is much safer today because of the hard work of ICE and our law enforcement partners.” "Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in and around the city of New York," Lyons said. "ICE remains dedicated to our mission to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien offenders from communities throughout this great nation."

Breitbart [4/18/2025 11:51 AM, Bob Price, 2923K] reports that New York City Mayor pushed back against critics of immigration enforcement operations in his city, saying, "ICE is not a criminal organization." His comments follow the arrest of more than 200 criminal aliens, the majority of which had committed "egregious" crimes since illegally entering the United States. "ICE is not a criminal organization. ICE is a law enforcement organization," Adams stated, according to a report from NBC4 in New York City. "I cooperate with law enforcement organizations on public safety." During the past week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents teamed up with other federal agencies to arrest 206 illegal aliens in the New York City metropolitan area. Those arrested included convicted sex predators and drug lords, the report states. "New York is much safer today because of the hard work of ICE and our law enforcement partners," acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a written statement. "Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in and around the city of New York. Our efforts resulted in 206 arrests in just one week." "One of the big mistakes that’s being made in some parts of the far-left philosophy is that ICE is a criminal organization. They are not, they are part of our law enforcement community," Mayor Adams, who is running for reelection, told Fox News, "We have to get bad, dangerous people off our streets." ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New York Field Office Director added, "The success of this enhanced operation highlights the resolve of ICE and our federal partners in keeping our country safe from violent criminal aliens." "Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in and around the city of New York," Lyons said. "ICE remains dedicated to our mission to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien offenders from communities throughout this great nation."

Telemundo [4/18/2025 10:41 PM, Staff, 164K] reports the City of New York said Friday that it remains committed to protecting immigrants and reminded them not to be afraid to go to hospitals to receive the help they need, despite being "difficult" times in which the government of President Donald Trump is stepping up its campaign against this community. A group of city officials, led by the commissioner of the Office of Immigration Affairs, Manuel Castro, met Friday at a forum to assure immigrants that the law that made New York a "sanctuary city" (friend of immigrants) remains in force. They indicated, in that sense, that they do not have to reveal their immigration status to receive health services and all the benefits that for years have been provided to them, despite Trump’s immigration policy, whom they did not mention by name. "We have a long and proud history of caring for everyone, without exception, and today, our commitment to access to health care remains unwavering, regardless of immigration status, ability to pay or English proficiency," said the acting commissioner of the local Health Department, and physician, Michelle Morse. "Protecting our immigrant New Yorkers is not only the right thing to do: it is a public health imperative," said Morse, who offered data from a report his agency released this week on the health of immigrants, which reveals that their life expectancy is longer than the U.S.-born generation, so it is important that they have access to health services. She also said that defending and investing in the trust and dignity of immigrants "is essential" for a safe and healthy city. "We are living through an extremely intense period of immigration control that has direct consequences for our health," said Morse, who was accompanied by the executive director of the corporation of public hospitals and health clinics, Jonathan Jimenez, of Colombian origin, and who recalled that his parents were undocumented.

The Washington Post [4/18/2025 2:07 PM, Vivian Ho, 31735K] reports Florida authorities detained a U.S.-born citizen on the charge of entering the state as an “unauthorized alien,” forcing him to spend more than 24 hours in a county jail on an immigration hold, despite the man having proof of his citizenship through his birth certificate and Social Security card, his attorney and an advocacy group said Friday. Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, 20, was arrested by Florida Highway Patrol on Wednesday when a trooper pulled over the car he was a passenger in for speeding, his attorney, Mutaqee Akbar, told The Washington Post. The Florida Highway Patrol said Lopez-Gomez told its trooper he was in the country illegally. The agency said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed a detainer on him, which the Leon County Sheriff’s Office also said. Lopez-Gomez was arrested and booked into Leon County Jail. Akbar disputed that Lopez-Gomez would have said he was in the country illegally, because he “is a citizen.” Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst for the Florida Immigrant Coalition who worked with Lopez-Gomez’s mother during his detention, said in an interview that Lopez-Gomez has trouble communicating in English — his first language is Tzotzil, a Mayan dialect. Lopez-Gomez was born in Georgia, Kennedy said, moving to Mexico when he was 1 year old and returning to Georgia only recently. He had been riding with two other men to a construction work site in Tallahassee at the time of his arrest, Kennedy added. Akbar and Kennedy said Lopez-Gomez was arrested under a law that was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in February but was temporarily blocked this month in federal court. The law, known as Senate Bill 4-C or S.B. 4-C, penalizes “unauthorized aliens” aged 18 or over “who knowingly enter or attempt to enter” the state of Florida with mandatory incarceration. Lawmakers who support the bill described it as necessary to secure Florida’s borders. However, civil rights groups and immigration advocates have called the law unconstitutional and launched a lawsuit against it. In an April 2 statement, Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the law was “cruel and dangerous” for stripping power from the federal government and handing it to “state officers with no immigration training or authority.” An immigration detainer requests that law enforcement agencies “hold the alien for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them so DHS has time to assume custody in accordance with federal immigration law,” according to the ICE website. Lopez-Gomez was not released until about seven hours after the court hearing, Kennedy said, when immigration enforcement reunited him with his mother at a nearby Wendy’s restaurant following community outcry and a protest outside the county jail. The AP [4/18/2025 1:28 PM, Gisela Salomon, 430301K] reports that the man was released after his case received widespread coverage. Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, was in a car that was stopped just past the Georgia border by the Florida Highway Patrol on Wednesday, said Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson at the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Gomez and others in the car were arrested under a new Florida law that’s on hold that makes it a crime for people who are in the country illegally to enter the state. It is unclear if Lopez Gomez showed documents proving that he’s a citizen to the arresting officers. He was held at Leon County Jail. The charge of illegal entry into Florida was dropped Thursday after his mother showed the judge his state identification card, birth certificate and Social Security card, said Kennedy, who attended the hearing. Court records show Judge Lashawn Riggans found no basis for the charge. Lopez Gomez briefly remained in custody after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requested that he remain there for 48 hours, a common practice when the agency wants to take custody of someone. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. The Hill [4/18/2025 11:54 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports Lopez-Gomez’s mother proved he was a U.S.-born citizen by providing his birth certificate to a state judge. "In looking at it, and feeling it, and holding it up to the light, the court can clearly see the watermark to show that this is indeed an authentic document," Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans said after being presented with the document, according to the Florida Phoenix. Riggans then ruled there was no probable cause to uphold the charge against Lopez-Gomez but added that she did not have the authority to release him because ICE asked Leon County Jail to hold Lopez-Gomez. However, he was eventually released after spending Wednesday night in detainment. "He is free!! Thank you to everyone who shared, call and did anything to help secure his release," Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigrant Coalition wrote Thursday in a post on the social platform X that featured a picture of Lopez-Gomez with family.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [4/18/2025 9:53 AM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44742K]

(B) Good Morning America [4/18/2025 9:28 AM, Staff] reports that an argument between a group of people turned to one person getting stabbed and another getting hurt with a tool. Investigators say they received a call shortly before 9:00 am Thursday from a local hospital about a stabbing victim. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found another victim who was later taken to the hospital. Investigators say Jesus Martinez-Hipolito attacked the first victim with a pocketknife and the second with a pipe wrench. Martinez-Hipolito has been charged with aggravated assault. The other men were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Yahoo.com [4/18/2025 6:33 PM, Nick Papantonis, 430301K] reports that after an initial surge of immigration-related arrests as federal agents rushed to round up suspected criminals, data from the biggest Central Florida jail shows bookings are trending down. Local, state and federal law enforcement officers arrested 264 undocumented immigrants in February, as many Florida sheriffs praised their expanded powers to enforce the law. It was also the month Gov. DeSantis’ administration required local sheriff’s offices and jails to enter into agreements to work with ICE and turn immigrants over for deportation. Among the 264 arrests, 115 did not have any local charges attached, the jail reported. However, February’s numbers represented a peak. While total undocumented immigrant bookings declined slightly in March, the number of bookings without a local charge dropped by more than half, to 51. As of April 15, the Orange County Jail was on track to hold just 40 immigrants without a local charge by the end of the month. The data did not contain an explanation for the change. However, one immigration attorney said the ebb was expected as federal agents worked their way through their list of people suspected of having gang ties and as the administration shifted its focus to hunting down pro-Palestine protesters. "You’re seeing the Trump administration escalate, deescalate, escalate, deescalate based on foreign policy and things of that nature," Trip Law’s Hardam Tripathi explained. "You’re also seeing the immigrants themselves not wanting to be separated from their families. So they’re actually following our advice.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [4/18/2025 5:46 PM, Claudia Levens] reports a person was arrested and detained by immigration officers at the Ozaukee County Courthouse in Port Washington on April 17, local authorities said. After the person appeared in court for another matter, they were approached and detained by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, Ozaukee County Undersheriff Marshall Hermann said in an April 18 email. The identity of the individual is not immediately clear, nor is the identity of their attorney, where they were taken or the circumstances that led to their detention.

Minnesota Star Tribune [4/18/2025 9:30 AM, Jp Lawrence, 3600K] reports an Indonesian man detained by federal agents at his hospital workplace will remain jailed after an immigration judge ruled Thursday that the case can proceed. Immigration Judge Sarah Mazzie rejected a motion to terminate the case against Aditya Wahyu Harsono for humanitarian reasons, his lawyer and his wife confirmed. Harsono, 33, is scheduled for a hearing on May 1 when he will have another chance to state his case. "We’re going to keep fighting for Aditya until he’s reunited with his family," his attorney, Sarah Gad of Minneapolis, said after the hearing. Harsono said in a Wednesday interview that he had no idea he was being apprehended until agents placed him in handcuffs in the basement of the hospital in Marshall, where he worked as a supply chain manager. "I know I have legit paperwork," Harsono had said before the ruling. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday confirmed his arrest. "US law enforcement determined he poses a public safety threat," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting Harsono’s legal entry into the U.S. in 2015 and his conviction on a property damage charge in 2022. According to court records, the official reason given for Harsono’s detention was that he overstayed his student visa, which had been revoked four days before his arrest. A State Department spokesperson said on April 11 that the agency does not comment on specific cases, citing privacy. The spokesperson added that all travelers into the country undergo vetting. "The Trump administration is focused on protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process," the spokesperson said. Immigration lawyers and a medical labor union have sharply criticized the manner of Harsono’s arrest at a hospital.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 7:00 AM, Alyssa Chen, 430301K] reports ammunition hangs from a gun during the National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meeting & Exhibits at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on May 17, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. The National Rifle Association’s annual meeting and exhibit runs through Sunday. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images). The University of Minnesota, where a graduate student was detained and stripped of his student visa late last month, is the country’s only university actively contracted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, having leased its gun range to the agency since 2022 according to public federal spending data. A Minnesota Reformer analysis of ICE contracts also found that a gun range jointly owned by the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury holds one of the largest contracts for gun range leasing to ICE in the country, while a manufacturer in Anoka, Minn. provides more ammunition to the agency than any other contractor. Overall, contractors in Minnesota receive less in ICE contracts than those in states like Virginia and Texas, which each have had over $400 million in contracts since Jan. 2024, compared to Minnesota’s $7 million. Still, the data shows the two ways that Minnesota stands out: in producing ammunition and leasing gun range facilities to the agency. The findings come at a time when the Trump administration has been actively ramping up its immigration enforcement tactics, which have included a flurry of executive actions and what legal experts deem a legally questionable expansion of ICE’s reach. Immigration enforcement is becoming notably more aggressive in higher education, with hundreds of foreign students, including five from Minnesota State-Mankato, getting their visas revoked in recent days. Students and faculty nationwide have responded with protests against ICE, including at the University of Minnesota, where the existence of the gun range contract seems largely unknown. University of Minnesota leases gun range, making it ICE’s only existing contract with a university. The University of Minnesota has received $17,395 since 2022 to lease its Rosemount gun range to federal immigration enforcement for training, according to the spending data. The currently active contract, which ends in May, amounts to $18,867 to be paid over twelve months.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 12:30 PM, Mary Sanchez, 430301K] reports that students began asking questions soon after President Donald Trump took office. "How old do I have to be to adopt my siblings?" an area student asked a teacher, worried that their parents could be deported. "Can I attend school virtually?" asked another student, reasoning that they would be safer from being targeted by immigration agents if they studied online at home. What that might mean for the children of targeted immigrants, or whether they would be rounded up, has been the subject of speculation, rumor and fear. In early March, the Trump administration began detaining families at a Texas center, with the intention of deporting the children and adults together. Kansas City area school districts are responding, training teachers and staff on protocols in case immigration agents try to enter a school and sending notices to parents. "Not every school district, not every charter school, not every private school, has addressed the issue," said Christy J. Moreno with Revolución Educativa, a Kansas City nonprofit advocating for Latinos’ educational success. Schools were once understood to be off limits for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Schools were considered to be "sensitive places," along with hospitals and places of worship. Trump rescinded that nearly 14-year-old policy by executive order immediately upon taking office in January.

Yahoo.com [4/18/2025 5:01 PM, Sorina Trauntvein, 430301K] reports a lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on behalf of eight international students in Utah who had their Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) Program records terminated. In a release sent to ABC4.com, the ACLU of Utah states that they have filed this lawsuit alongside the law firm Stowell Crayk, P.C., and immigration attorneys Phillip Kuck and Timothy Wheelwright. The eight students are from four countries — China, Nigeria, Mexico, and Japan — and attend schools located in Utah, including Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and Ensign College — at least one is enrolled at BYU-Idaho. "In the United States, everyone — no matter your immigration status — has a constitutional right to due process. To terminate an international student’s SEVIS registration, the U.S. government must adhere to regulatory standards and provide basic due process, which it has failed to do – it’s not just wrong, it’s unlawful," Jason M. Groth, Legal Director at the ACLU of Utah, said in the release. According to the lawsuit, DHS violated students’ Fifth Amendment rights on the basis that they had no notification or opportunity to contest the decision. ACLU says that they are working on filing a temporary restraining order to protect these students. The lawsuit states that the students are not currently seeking to challenge the revocation of their F-1 visas "even though said revocations appear to have been taken in bad faith." They are seeking the reinstatement of their SEVIS registration. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), SEVIS is "the Web-based system that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses to maintain information on Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified schools.”When those students’ SEVIS records were terminated, they were subject to "arrest, detention, and deportation, forcing them to lose their schooling and their employment," according to the lawsuit. It asserts that ICE is not authorized to terminate their SEVIS records even when the student’s visa has been revoked. "Practically speaking, termination of a SEVIS record prevents the student from doing things they must do in order to maintain their status, like OPT reporting, requesting transfers, requesting reduced course load for medical emergencies, etc.," the lawsuit states.

AP [4/18/2025 9:52 PM, Jacques Billeaud, 2923K] reports Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday vetoed a Republican-backed bill intended to support the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown by requiring local and state officials in Arizona to cooperate with federal enforcement efforts. Under the proposal, local and state officials couldn’t prohibit or restrict cooperation with federal immigration efforts or block the use of federal databases and grant funds related to immigration enforcement. It also would force cooperation on immigration detainers — requests from the federal government to hold onto people already in state custody until immigration authorities could pick them up. “I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state and local officials to take marching orders from Washington,” Hobbs said in her veto letter. Supporters say the measure is needed to ensure federal authorities can safely and more easily take custody of immigrants, rather than having to track them down later after they have already been released from state prisons or county jails. Opponents say the state should leave immigration enforcement to the federal government and that the cooperation required in the bill would be expensive for local governments to carry out and would harm the cooperation local police get from people in immigrant communities. They also point out that immigration laws passed by the Arizona Legislature in the past have led to legal problems, such as a 2013 racial profiling verdict against then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office for his signature traffic patrols that targeted immigrants. Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican from Gilbert, said his proposal aims to ensure that Arizona is a “partner and not an obstacle” where President Donald Trump’s immigration efforts are concerned. Under the bill, state prisons and county jails would be required to enter agreements with Washington to temporarily house people with detainers. Local agencies would be required to comply with detainers and tell judges who are determining bail when a given individual has an immigration detainer.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 1:07 PM, Christine Zhu, 430301K] reports that Budget airline Avelo will continue operating three bases in North Carolina following plans to partner with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency (ICE) to offer deportation flights. Avelo announced earlier this month the airline has signed a partnership for a long-term charter program with ICE. The airline will open a base at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA) in Arizona for the ICE operations beginning May 12, according to the airline. Flights will be both domestic and international to support the deportation efforts, which Avelo crews will carry out via three dedicated Boeing 737-800 aircrafts. These charter flights will not include commercial passengers. “We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic,” Avelo Airlines Founder and CEO Andrew Levy said. “We also flew these charters under the Biden administration. Regardless of the administration or party affiliation, as a U.S. flag carrier when our country calls and requests assistance our practice is to say yes.” It’s a move that’s lead to backlash and protests. More than 30,000 people have signed a petition started last week by the New Haven Immigrants Coalition in Connecticut. Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport (HVN) is the airline’s largest operating base.

Los Angeles Times [4/18/2025 7:03 PM, Andrea Castillo, 1330K] reports California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff gave Trump administration officials until May 2 to answer questions about why federal agents attempted to speak with students at two Los Angeles elementary schools last week. The Department of Homeland Security said agents were conducting “welfare checks” on the students. But Padilla and Schiff, in a letter Friday, said the actions “terrorized hundreds of thousands of students across Los Angeles and undermine public trust.” The letter is addressed to to Acting Executive Associate Director Robert Hammer of Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The senators requested a briefing on the nature, scale and objectives of the welfare checks, as well as policies and protocols surrounding the checks on children. The letter detailed that the senators want to know how the department goes about handling issues including officer training, coordination with victim services and whether agents contacted the children’s attorneys prior to in-person visits. “We do not understand why, if you obtained evidence that led you to believe that these children were in danger, your agency has not made a referral to the California Department of Social Services and did not coordinate with the school in advance of the ‘welfare check’ regarding potential child welfare or trafficking concerns,” the senators wrote. House Democrats, led by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) also sent Homeland Security officials a letter Monday demanding a briefing about the operation. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told The Times that the agents were ensuring that children who arrived unaccompanied at the border “are safe and not being exploited, abused and sex trafficked.” “Any assertions that officers lied are false,” she said previously. “Our law enforcement clearly identified themselves and made it clear this was a welfare check and not an immigration enforcement action.” Asked to comment about the senators’ letter, McLaughlin said, “The vilifying of our law enforcement must stop.” The senators had met this week with officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations. It appears they left with more questions than answers.

NBC News [4/18/2025 4:34 PM, Sahana Patel and Mekahlo Medina, 44742K] reports an undocumented immigrant father was arrested by immigration agents Thursday as he was taking his daughter to school in the city of Azusa. Security camera video captured the arrest just before 7:45 a.m. The man’s wife, who is also undocumented, said she still has her kids after her husband was taken away by agents. It was not immediately clear whether the agents were from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security. NBCLA reached out to both agencies and has not received a response.

Los Angeles Times [4/18/2025 6:00 AM, Eduard Cauich, Richard Winton and Nathan Solis, 13342K] reports that, for years, the bright green turf of Whitsett Fields Park has served as a joyous hub for Los Angeles youth soccer — particularly for thousands of immigrant families in the San Fernando Valley. On most weekends, the sprawling North Hollywood complex echoes with the shouts of hundreds of boys and girls, as vendors hawk aguas frescas, balloons and candy along the sidelines. But recently, immense grief and worry have settled over this close, Latin American community. Just last week, a well-known coach and Salvadoran national was charged with murder in the killing of 13-year-old soccer player Oscar Omar Hernandez during a lewd or attempted lewd act and then dumping the boy’s body in a roadside ditch in Ventura County. The coach, who has not yet entered a plea, has also been charged with sexually assaulting another teen and investigators say there are probably more victims who have yet to come forward. The teen’s slaying has left many in the youth soccer community profoundly shaken. Some say their faith in a long-trusted institution has been broken, and they question why the coach wasn’t scrutinized more carefully before he was allowed to work so closely with children. "We have never seen anything of this magnitude," said José Torres, president of the Proyecto 2000 Soccer League in the San Fernando Valley. The allegation comes at a time when many families are feeling increasingly vulnerable to anti-immigrant sentiment and threats of deportation by the Trump administration — a factor that could complicate the reporting of other possible crimes. The Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have insisted that immigration status will not be an issue for those who step forward to report alleged sexual assaults. "We’re not going to ask about that," Sheriff Robert Luna said. But it wasn’t long after authorities charged 43-year-old Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino with the crimes that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seized on his immigration status. "13 year-old Oscar ‘Omar’ Hernandez was an innocent child who was exploited and killed by this depraved illegal alien who should have never been in this country," the DHS said on X. "Child predators, pedophiles and murderers will be hunted down and removed from America’s communities.”

The Hill [4/18/2025 5:01 PM, Filip Timotija, 12829K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the State Department will restrict visas for at least 250 Nicaraguan officials, pointing to human rights violations made by the Nicaraguan government, led by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who are husband and wife. "The United States is taking decisive steps to impose visa restrictions on more than 250 regime officials of the Nicaraguan dictatorship. With this new set of restrictions, the U.S. government has now taken steps to impose visa restrictions on over 2,000 officials in Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime, which has deprived the Nicaraguan people of their fundamental freedoms and forced so many into exile," Rubio said in a statement on Friday. "As we mark seven years since the Ortega and Murillo regime’s brutal wave of repression against protestors, we reflect on the protestors’ courage and desire to live in a Nicaragua free from tyranny," the U.S.’s top diplomat added on Friday. "The United States will not stand for Ortega and Murillo’s continued assault on Nicaragua.” Nicaragua’s Legislature approved a constitutional reform in late January, allowing Ortega and Murillo to serve as co-presidents of the Central American country. Ortega has argued that the adopted proposal "strengthens the model of people’s President, the model of direct democracy.” The reform came as part of the government’s crackdown, which has accelerated since 2018 anti-government protests. The government has been accused of imprisoning political dissidents, reporters and religious leaders, with thousands leaving the country in the process. The ruling party’s officials and military leaders are responsible for abuses, crimes and human rights violations that are part of the systematic repression campaign, according to U.N. experts. In a lengthy report from earlier this month, U.N. human rights experts said Ortega and Murillo have "built a centralized and repressive regime that has co-opted all branches of Government and blurred the lines between party and State.”

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/18/2025 4:51 PM, Kanishka Singh, 41523K]

New York Times [4/19/2025 12:54 AM, Zach Montague, 145325K] reports a lawsuit filed in New Hampshire late Friday aims to present a sweeping legal challenge to the Trump administration’s campaign targeting international students and academics. Lawyers asked a federal judge to certify a lawsuit brought by foreign students whose visas were canceled as a class action. Cases of international students being detained by masked immigration agents over violations cited by the Trump administration that many individual rights groups have described as protected speech have sparked widespread outrage. But most have been challenged in individual lawsuits. The lawsuit filed in New Hampshire casts a wider net, intending to to stop similar detentions and deportation efforts for students in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. It also asks the court to reinstate the student visas that have been terminated. In recent weeks, immigration agencies have rapidly stepped up efforts to punish international students studying in the United States, in many cases because of their involvement in pro-Palestinian protests related to the war in Gaza. In some instances, the lawyers of detained students have described the use of aggressive tactics and students being moved hundreds of miles to detention facilities in Louisiana. Hundreds of students have been swept up in the deportation campaign. Among those whose cases have drawn national attention are Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University; Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident of the United States who studied at Columbia University; and Momodou Taal, a British-Gambian Ph.D. student at Cornell University. Their cases have also prompted pushback from legal groups over what they say is a threat to campus speech. The new lawsuit challenges those arrests as an arbitrary overreach by immigration officials and a violation of students’ due process rights.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/18/2025 5:45 PM, Alia Wong, 48304K]

USA Today [4/18/2025 12:24 PM, Trevor Hughes, 75858K] reports that lawsuits, rallies and pointed bipartisan questions are ratcheting up the pressure on the Trump administration to explain its growing cancellation of international student visas, forcing hundreds of students and their families to depart the country within days. A broadening number of student are suing to stop the revocations, which are also being contested by 19 Democratic state attorneys general. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, has demanded answers about what he called the Trump administration’s "arbitrary, craven cruelty." The Associated Press has tallied at least 1,000 revocations based on news reports and university statements. In an April 16 announcement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned Harvard that it would lose both federal funding and the right to host international students if it doesn’t fall in line. Last spring, Harvard students protesting Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza occupied the university’s central courtyard for 20 days and staged a 24-hour sit-in in another building. "Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism ‒ driven by its spineless leadership ‒ fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security," Noem said in a statement. "With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.

AP [4/18/2025 8:46 PM, Michael Casey, 34586K] reports a federal judge on Friday partially blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy that bans the use of “X” marker used by many nonbinary people on passports as well as the changing of gender markers. U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, sided with the American Civil Liberties Union’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which stays the action while the lawsuit plays out. It requires the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary people who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity. “The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny,” Kobick wrote. “That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.” Kobick also said plaintiffs have shown they would succeed in demonstrating that the new passport policy and executive order “are based on irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans and therefore offend our Nation’s constitutional commitment to equal protection for all Americans.” “In addition, the plaintiffs have shown that they are likely to succeed on their claim that the Passport Policy is arbitrary and capricious, and that it was not adopted in compliance with the procedures required by the Paperwork Reduction Act and Administrative Procedure Act,” she added. In an executive order signed in January, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead of a broader conception of gender. The order says a person is male or female and it rejects the idea that someone can transition from the sex assigned at birth to another gender. The framing is in line with many conservatives’ views but at odds with major medical groups and policies under former President Joe Biden.

Blaze [4/18/2025 7:30 PM, Staff, 1668K] reports a family claiming to face violence from a drug cartel will likely be deported to Mexico after Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied their request for an emergency appeal to block the deportation proceeding. The liberal justice denied the request for an appeal to the ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and did not refer the case to the broader court. She made no comment in the ruling. The family claimed in their filing that they were the "targets of cartel violence due to their family ties and refusal to comply with extortion demands.” The family members seeking asylum were identified as Fabian Lagunas Espinoza, Maria Angelica Flores Ulloa, Fabian Lagunas Flores, and Mateo Lagunas Flores. They were seeking an emergency appeal to block deportation proceedings in order that their asylum claim might be properly considered. The family said in the filing that they fled from the violence in Mexico in Aug. 2021 after "armed cartel members threatened the family at gunpoint, demanding they vacate their home within 24 hours or be killed.” When they sought asylum, an immigration judge denied the claim, and the ruling was later upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. President Donald Trump promised to mount the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history during the 2024 presidential campaign, but red tape and procedural roadblocks have kept the number of deportations lower than officials would prefer. The family was scheduled to meet with immigration officials on Thursday, and Newsweek reported that what transpired at the meeting is unknown.

NPR [4/18/2025 6:04 PM, Emmanuel Igunza, et al., 29983K] Audio: HERE reports in Kenya, generations of mostly Somalians have lived in one of the world’s largest refugee camps for over thirty years. Many hoped to resettle in places such as the U.S., which has paused a key admissions program. And a visit to China’s oldest trade fair, where traders are plotting their next move after U.S. tariffs and a darkened economic forecast.

NPR [4/18/2025 5:41 PM, Staff, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports some asylum seekers wonder if it’s worth staying in the U.S. to fight their cases Would-be refugees with pending asylum cases are unsure whether the Trump administration’s revocation of temporary protected status applies to them.

Univision [4/18/2025 5:12 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports President Donald Trump’s recent immigration proposal has raised concerns and skepticism among farmworkers and hospitality workers, key sectors of the U.S. economy. In an unexpected statement, Trump suggested that undocumented workers could leave the country and return legally if they have the support of their employers. However, this idea has been met with skepticism by both workers and immigration legal experts, as it comes amid intense immigration enforcement operations. From a legal perspective, Trump’s suggestion presents serious complications. With uncertainty on the rise, both lawyers and workers agree that serious and structured immigration reform is needed, not ambiguous promises that could jeopardize the stability of thousands of families and the continuity of vital sectors for the country’s economy.

Connecticut Public Radio [4/18/2025 6:40 PM, Eddy Martinez, 92K] reports four international students living in Connecticut are suing the federal government after learning their student visas are now in jeopardy. In a complaint filed last week, the students accused officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of unlawfully terminating their student status, stripping them of their ability to pursue their studies and maintain employment in the United States. The plaintiffs, who are among more than 100 international students who joined the suit, say they’re now at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. “This is all part of the Trump administration’s plan to get rid of all immigrants in America, not just undocumented immigrants,” said lawyer Charles Kuck, who is representing them in court. “And nobody should be surprised by that.” According to court documents, three of the Connecticut students are from India and live in New Haven. A fourth is a Chinese citizen living in Vernon and attending the University of Connecticut. They filed the suit anonymously in a federal court in Georgia, which is set to hear arguments next week on their request for a preliminary injunction. The students allege immigration officials unlawfully terminated their records in a government database that tracks compliance with the F-1 visa program, which allows nonimmigrants to stay in the United States while pursuing academic studies. Terminating the records “effectively ends F-1 student status” and serves to revoke their student visas, the plaintiffs argue. Kuck said the students have received no explanation for the move, and no notice, as required by the program. In a written statement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin pushed back on the lawsuit’s allegations. McLaughlin did not directly address the circumstances of the students in Connecticut, but suggested criminal activity and advocacy for “violence and terrorism” were a focus for enforcement. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live [and] study in the United States of America,” McLaughlin said. “When you break our laws and advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.” According to the lawsuit, all four Connecticut residents previously faced criminal charges, which were ultimately disposed of or dismissed.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 6:18 PM, Lori Kersey, 430301K] reports the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Marshall University graduate student whose visa was "unlawfully" revoked as a part of an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration. More than 1,000 international students at 160 colleges and universities across the country have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since March, according to a report by the Associated Press. That includes students at colleges and universities in West Virginia. The Marshall student, identified in a Friday news release as S.V., was one month away from graduating when his visa was revoked, according to the ACLU-WV. The student received an email stating that his F-1 visa was being revoked and later learned that he was "identified in a criminal records check," the news release said. S.V., 28-year-old data science student originally from India, was sentenced to probation in 2020 in Indiana for operating a vehicle under the influence, a misdemeanor, according to the release. He left the United States and returned in 2023 to study at Marshall. ACLU-WV legal director Aubrey Sparks said that having been identified in a criminal record check is not legal ground for terminating a visa. "Our client was not convicted of a crime of violence, nor was he convicted of a crime for which the potential sentence is more than one year, meaning that he categorically is not subject to termination of his F-1 status on those grounds," Sparks said. According to the ACLU, S.V. disclosed the previous charge when re-applying, satisfied all requirements, and was permitted to re-enter the country under the new visa. The student was in the process of applying for post-graduate work in the United States when he received the email ending his visa. The ACLU-WV filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. The complaint names Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Todd Lyons, acting director of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 5:46 PM, Brooklyn Draisey, 430301K] reports Brazil. Iran. Sudan. Tanzania. As United States immigration officers called out countries, more and more of the crowd gathered in the University of Northern Iowa Mauker Union ballroom stood up. There were 25 countries represented among the almost 70 immigrants attending their naturalization ceremony Friday, having come together to complete their journey to becoming a U.S. citizen. Family, friends and members of the UNI community cheered as participants received their certificates of naturalization and shook hands with Judge Mark Roberts, who presided over the ceremony. Chance Amani, a 21-year-old from Tanzania celebrating her naturalization, said her little sister was watching in the crowd and she had more family waiting at home in Cedar Rapids to congratulate her. "I’m so happy," Amani said, clutching her documents and a small American flag. During his remarks, Roberts said despite having the honor of presiding over several ceremonies like Friday’s every year, he still gets emotional when he gets to be the first person to tell candidates they are U.S. citizens. Every single person, the youngest being 20 years old and the oldest 74, should be proud of what they accomplished and aware of what it means to be a U.S. citizen, he said. "We hear a lot these days about what rights we have, but maybe we don’t speak enough about what we owe," Roberts said. "With the benefit of citizenship comes responsibility of citizenship.” Those receiving their naturalization certificate Friday were led through the Oath of Allegiance, in which they renounced allegiance and fidelity to any foreign land and pledged to support and defend the U.S. Constitution and law and bear arms, participate in military service and "perform work of national importance under civilian direction" when required. Other duties U.S. citizens are responsible for include paying taxes, voting for leaders whenever they have an opportunity and following the law, Roberts said.

Houston Chronicle [4/18/2025 1:24 PM, Samantha Ketterer, 1769K] reports that at least 18 international students attending Houston-area community colleges saw changes to their legal status as the Department of Homeland Security terminated a wave of foreign students’ records across the country. Twelve of those students were enrolled at Houston Community College and six were enrolled at San Jacinto College, school officials confirmed. The full number of scholars affected across the country is unknown, as some colleges and universities have declined to provide information. But at least 1,489 students were known to be affected as of Thursday evening, not including at HCC and San Jacinto College, according to a count by Inside Higher Education. Higher education institutions are tracking terminations of student records in a federal database of international students and exchange visitors called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. Immigration lawyers say that terminated records do not always indicate that an F-1 student visa has been revoked, but the change in legal status still makes it difficult to stay in the country. Attorneys have questioned the Department of Homeland Security’s authority in the matters, and students have also questioned the grounds of their terminations, some of them based on resolved misdemeanor cases. A senior DHS official declined to comment, citing privacy concerns and visa confidentiality. The department, through Immigration and Customs Enforcement, conducts regular reviews of records in SEVIS "to ensure visa holders remain in compliance with program requirements," they said. Department of State officials may then consider visa revocations and criminal arrests, but "the safest and most efficient option is self-deportation," they said. "When a violation is identified, DHS may notify the Department of State," the senior official said in a statement. "Information sharing amongst the departments is part of longstanding protocol."

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 11:12 PM, Sydney Hoier, 430301K] reports a student working on her doctorate at the School of Mines is fighting to stay in the United States. Priya Saxena is from India. She had her Visa revoked earlier this month for a traffic violation back in 2021 – a violation the government knew about when her Visa was issued in 2022. Priya Saxena has filed a lawsuit against homeland security secretary Kristi Noem following the revocation of her Visa and the termination of her student status, making her subject to deportation. Saxena, who is originally from India, was set to graduate from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology with a PhD next month- before the government deemed her a threat to public safety. "It is ridiculous. It’s also sad. Does she look like a threat to public safety to you? This small woman who’s almost completed a PhD degree in chemical and biological engineering," said Jim Leach, Saxena’s attorney. Without her student status, she would be unable to continue school or graduate. According to court documents, Saxena filed for a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction in her case. "Well, we’re in a scary time in this country. I mean, it’s no secret that the president and the people who work for him have been making the argument that they’re not necessarily bound by what judges think or say. And that’s a profoundly dangerous issue," said Leach. At Friday’s hearing, the judge said the government violated due process of law by revoking her visa. Now, Saxena’s student status is reinstated and she will be able to continue school and graduate on time. "And our position here is real simple. The government has to follow the law. And when it refuses to do so, a court’s role is to tell the government it has to follow the law," said Leach.

CBS News [4/18/2025 8:49 PM, Andres Gutierrez, 51661K] reports hundreds of foreign students in the U.S. with degrees, jobs and legal status are suddenly in legal limbo while the international talent that fuels labs and startups at universities across the country are under threat from the Trump administration’s massive deportation effort and its crackdown on students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests. "It just feels like you’re less welcome in this country as time goes on," said one Boston University graduate who moved halfway across the world to get a master’s degree in finance and asked that CBS News conceal his identity. "The American markets is one of the most competitive markets," he said of why he came to the U.S. to study. "If you understand how to work in the U.S. markets, as a finance person, you could work anywhere else in the world." After graduating, he was hired as a quantitative analyst and even received his work permit days ago. Then, an email changed everything. Screenshots from a federal database showed his "sevis record" — the digital proof of a valid student visa — as "terminated." He is one of more than 1,000 international students whose legal status has disappeared since President Trump took office in January. Cassie Cai, a Los Angeles-based immigration attorney, says her clients are "very fearful." "A lot of them change their address because they know that ICE might get them deported," Cai said. "They have reason to do that." And in Atlanta, immigration attorney Charles Kuck is fighting on behalf of 150 students who have had their visas revoked and are under threat of deportation. "ICE appears to be out of control," Kuck said. He believes the Trump administration is using artificial intelligence to target them. "They said, AI, here’s all the students," Kuck speculated. "Check it against every database, every criminal database, every civil database, every immigration database. If you get a hit, send them a revocation." The Department of Homeland Security had no response to CBS News’ questions about whether AI is being utilized in that process. Most international students aren’t eligible for federal financial aid, and so many pay full tuition, helping keep colleges afloat. "I mean, definitely," said the BU graduate of whether he believes the targeting of international students could hurt U.S. innovation in the long-term. "In the perception of people’s minds of, you know, what the U.S. stands for, in terms of the forefront of technology and things like that." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [4/18/2025 4:25 PM, Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Jake Tapper and Priscilla Alvarez] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will not recommend invoking the Insurrection Act in a memo the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security are preparing to send to President Donald Trump about the conditions at the southern border, multiple US officials familiar with the matter tell CNN. The deadline for Hegseth and Noem’s recommendation is Sunday, but the Pentagon and DHS are expected to send the memo with their findings to the White House next week, officials said. Hegseth and Noem are expected to tell Trump that border crossings are currently low and that they don’t need additional authorities at this point to help control the flow of migrants, officials said. Migrant crossings at the US southern border have been under 300 a day, according to a Homeland Security official — a dramatic drop from recent years when unlawful crossings were well over 1,000 or more a day.

Chicago Tribune [4/18/2025 11:56 AM, Jay Weaver and Milena Malaver, 5269K] reports that in an age where the data of an entire life can be held in the palm of your hand, a fundamental question has emerged about rights to digital privacy when crossing international borders: Can U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers demand access to your phone or laptop at airports and seaports? The short answer is yes, and this applies to citizens and noncitizens alike. But there are many layered steps travelers can take to protect themselves. The question has become increasingly worrisome as the Trump administration pushes a hard-line policy to deport millions of immigrants and foreign nationals in the United States, including students and professors with visas and green cards who’ve been targeted for expressing political views that run contrary to the administration. Last week, an American lawyer was detained at an airport in Detroit when Customs officers demanded to see his mobile phone, presumably because he represented a University of Michigan student who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest on campus. However, according to Customs and Border Protection, an "advanced" search requires "reasonable suspicion of a violation of law or a national security concern," along with approval of a senior manager, before agents can use external equipment to gain access to a device and review, copy and analyze its content.

USA Today [4/18/2025 11:23 AM, Saleen Martin, 75858K] reports that officers at a bridge along the Texas-Mexico border seized nearly $9 million in alleged methamphetamine hidden inside a squash shipment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release. Officers made the discovery on April 13 at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility, which connects U.S. 281 to the Mexican city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. That day, a tractor-trailer pulled up from Mexico containing chayote, a green, pear-shaped squash, border protection said. An officer thought the vehicle needed further inspection, where officers use non-intrusive inspection equipment and a canine team. The team found "alleged methamphetamine," border protection said, calling the find "soured squash" in the news release. Officers then spent the majority of the day removing 3,770 packages weighing 1,002 pounds hidden within the squash shipment, border protection said. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations seized the narcotics and vehicle, and Homeland Security Investigations special agents started a criminal investigation. Altogether, they found $8,900,000 in alleged methamphetamine. Just a few days earlier, officers at the Pharr International Bridge seized over $14 million in alleged methamphetamine within a shipment marked as fresh bell pepper and cucumbers. There were 300 packages that altogether contained 1,635 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside a trailer, border protection said. Officers seized the drugs.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [4/18/2025 5:11 PM, Staff, 11K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 94.5 pounds of cocaine at the Paso del Norte international crossing on April 17. Following an initial inspection, CBP agents detected abnormalities in a 2018 Nissan Sentra being driven by a 29-year-old Mexican woman. A secondary inspection conducted with an X-ray scanner confirmed the presence of anomalies on the floorboards of the vehicle, so a CBP drug-sniffing dog searched the car and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics. CBP officers proceeded to inspect the car further and located 36 packages hidden in a floor compartment. The contents of the packages tested positive for cocaine, CBP reported. Customs agents arrested the woman, who was handed over to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to face charges associated with the failed smuggling attempt.

BorderReport [4/18/2025 4:12 PM, Julian Resendiz, 6866K] reports a man named Cristo Jesus de Nasareth has an April 22 date in U.S. federal court after a magistrate judge in Texas ordered him held without bond on immigration and weapons and ammunition charges. Jesus – the last name by which he is referred to in court documents – was apprehended by members of the U.S. Border Patrol horse unit on April 14 while walking along Farm to Market Road 170, just east of Presidio, Texas. Border agents took note of the man’s muddy, worn-down clothes and approached him to conduct an immigration check. The spot just north of the Rio Grande is not a designated port of entry and is on a stretch known to border agents for migrant smuggling activity. Jesus, who said he was also known as Christo Raba-de Ravino, allegedly admitted having crossed the river illegally from Mexico into the United States and to not being a U.S. citizen. The agents got off their horses and proceeded to pat down the man. They found a Smith & Wesson pistol of unknown caliber under multiple layers of clothing, according to a complaint affidavit filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. "The defendant admitted to taking possession of the handgun in Mexico and crossing the United States-Mexico border with the handgun," Border Patrol Prosecutions Agent Seth Davison said in the affidavit. Upon further questioning, Jesus identified himself as a citizen of Mexico. He spent three days in detention until summoned to a federal courtroom in Alpine, Texas, to answer to charges of being an alien who unlawfully entered the United States and being an alien unlawfully in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He was appointed a public defender after affirming he could not afford an attorney. He is being held without bond and has a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The Hill [4/18/2025 2:15 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12829K] reports that the Marine Corps has identified the two U.S. service members killed in a vehicle crash earlier this week in New Mexico along the southern border. Lance Cpl. Albert Aguilera, 22, of Riverside, Calif., and Lance Cpl. Marcelino Gamino, 28, of Fresno, Calif., were killed Tuesday after their nontactical vehicle crashed around 8:50 a.m. local time during a convoy movement from Santa Teresa, New Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, the 1st Marine Division said in a statement Thursday. The two Marines, both combat engineers, had been supporting Border Patrol units as part of Joint Task Force–Southern Border operations. A third Marine was injured in the accident and remains in critical condition. All three individuals come from the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and were on a reconnaissance mission as the Pentagon looks to better its understanding of the U.S.-Mexico border region, The Washington Post reported. "The loss of Lance Cpl. Aguilera and Lance Cpl. Gamino is deeply felt by all of us," Marine Corps Lt. Col. Tyrone Barrion, the commanding officer for 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, said in a statement. "I extend my heartfelt condolences and prayers to the families of our fallen brothers." At the time of the crash, which the Post reported as a rollover, the three Marines were in a convoy moving east. The military has not released details as to their exact activities surrounding the accident, as an investigation is ongoing.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/18/2025 2:03 PM, Staff, 24727K]

San Diego Union Tribune [4/18/2025 5:21 PM, Caleb Lunetta, 1682K] reports boxes filled with about $600,000 worth of Xanax were seized Wednesday evening by Border Patrol agents on Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said. The seizure occurred after agents with the San Clemente station stopped a driver in a pickup on the freeway around 4:50 p.m., agents said in a news release. A canine unit searched the pickup and alerted its handler to narcotics inside the vehicle, investigators said. Agents reported discovering in the backseat 11 boxes — or around 90,000 pills — of individual packages of Farmapram, whose U.S. brand name is Xanax. The drug is used to treat anxiety and panic disorders but is also known to be highly abused. The driver, narcotics and vehicle were handed over to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The driver now faces allegations of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

(B) NBC News Daily [4/18/2025 3:52 PM, Staff] reports that after taking a wrong turn while following GPS directions, an undocumented woman is facing possible deportation. The grandmother of five has lived in San Diego for nearly twenty years. The family of 65-year-old Ana Camero says she was heading home last Monday when she took a wrong turn and ended up at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. She called her daughter to pick her up, but when her daughter got there, she was met by five Border Patrol agents. Camero was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. CBP says they may respond to military installations when requested.

Univision [4/18/2025 2:42 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) international student was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Thursday, April 17, while attempting to enter the country from Mexico. The incident, which occurred at the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego, sparked outrage among the university community, which demonstrated demanding his immediate release. With banners, slogans, and speeches, the protesters demanded that the institution take a firm stance against what they consider an unfair and discriminatory policy against international students. UCLA Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako confirmed the arrest in a statement sent to the student newspaper The Daily Bruin. The university also reiterated its “firm commitment to the well-being and safety of all its international students,” without offering details about the reasons for the arrest or revealing the identity of the student, who held a valid F-1 visa. Yahoo News [4/18/2025 7:06 AM, KJ Hiramoto, 430301K] reports that as of Thursday, April 18, the name of the student have not been released. The Los Angeles Times reports it is a female student. The student’s health condition during the ongoing detainment has not been released to the public. UCLA issued the following statement to confirm that a member of the Bruin community is currently held at the U.S.-Mexico border: "UCLA has learned that an international graduate student was detained by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while attempting to enter the United States from Mexico. The student remains in the custody of CBP and we are actively working to learn more information. Our international students are an essential part of our Bruin community, and we remain fully committed to supporting their ability to learn and thrive at UCLA." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [4/18/2025 9:23 PM, Jeff Winter, 430301K] reports an American citizen says he and his wife were detained for hours by US border agents when they returned to the United States after a short trip to Canada. Bachir Atallah told CNN he and his wife, Jessica, were driving back into the US Sunday evening after visiting family in Canada for the weekend when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents stopped them for a secondary inspection at the Highgate Springs checkpoint in Vermont. Atallah, who is originally from Lebanon, said he was told to park his Range Rover and hand over his keys. When he asked the officer why, the officer placed his hand on his gun and told him to exit his vehicle, Atallah said. He said he was then handcuffed and led into a cell, where his belongings were confiscated. He said his wife was put into a cell across from his. “Seeing my wife’s mascara running because she was crying, it was heartbreaking,” Atallah said. “It wasn’t humane.” While detained, Atallah said he gave CBP agents the passcode to his phone after they asked for it. Despite his pleadings, agents never told him why he and his wife were being detained, he said. He said he was never read his rights. “The traveler’s accusations are blatantly false and sensationalized,” CBP officials said in a statement to CNN affiliate WMUR. “CBP officers acted in accordance with established protocols. Upon arrival at the port of entry, the traveler was appropriately referred to secondary inspection – a routine, lawful process that occurs daily and can apply for any traveler.” A mass deportation campaign by the White House has sparked fear as it aims to slow arrivals at the border and remove undocumented immigrants. President Donald Trump has also threatened to send certain US citizens to offshore prisons, a notion experts say has no legal basis. “I feared for my life,” Atallah said. Without answers as to what was going on, Atallah said he started to have chest pains and felt dizzy, and told CBP to call an ambulance. A record reviewed by CNN shows Emergency Medical Services evaluated Atallah around 8 p.m. Sunday night. Atallah said he was told by CBP if he went to the emergency room, an officer would accompany him and then return him to the cell to start the entire process from the beginning. He said he chose to stay, to not to leave his wife.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 5:49 PM, Natalie Kucko, 430301K] reports a new report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows travel from Canada to the U.S. is among the lowest on record, excluding the COVID pandemic in 2020. The U.S. CBP has linked the latest data to the ongoing federal trade war and what it could mean for the upcoming tourism season. The number of travelers going from Canada to the U.S. dropped by nearly 900,000 people in March compared to the same time last year. "All of the tourism, shopping, sight-seeing is absence that we will see as a result of this Canadian protest vote. It’s something that’s going to disproportionately affect border states such as New York," said Dr. Amit Batabyal, an economics professor at RIT. Dr. Batabyal says part of his current curriculum now surrounds tourism impacts as a result of the trade war. "We’re going to be losing out in a variety of ways. So, Canadian shoppers who often frequent our so-called outlet malls. You’re going to see a basic freeze of Canadian shoppers shopping at our outlet malls and in our retail establishments. This is clearly a protest movement on the part of many Canadians and it’s having a huge negative impact in the U.S. because all of those tourism dollars would have been spent in different tourist spots here. Those dollars are going to other locations and nations," said Dr. Batabyal. According to the CBP, March is typically one of the busiest months for travel in the U.S. With travel numbers trending downward, Dr. Batabyal says it brings cause for concern.

Federal News Network [4/18/2025 3:59 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1089K] reports the Transportation Security Administration is developing an internal artificial intelligence chatbot, while also relying on its innovation lab to do "hands-on" tests of different AI use cases. Kristin Ruiz, deputy chief information officer at TSA, said the agency’s IT office has focused on training and educating its existing personnel on artificial intelligence, while partnering with other Department of Homeland Security components and industry. DHS has been aggressive in exploring the use of AI across the department, but current policy forbids DHS employees from entering anything more than information that’s already public into commercial generative AI platforms. In December, the department rolled out "DHSChat" for internal use on more sensitive data. At the time, the chatbot was available to 19,000 users at DHS headquarters and select pilot users across 10 DHS components. Ruiz said TSA has also separately invested in its own chatbot called "TSA Answer Engine." Contracting records show TSA awarded Deloitte $3.9 million last September to develop Answer Engine as part of a blanket purchase agreement. Ruiz said TSA is also using its "innovation lab" to advance new AI use cases. TSA established the lab headquarters last January. Ruiz also pointed to another use case: TSA officers can encounter situations where they need an expert’s help when screening a person or item.

The Hill [4/18/2025 2:19 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports that Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on the REAL ID requirements being implemented in two weeks. The new measure requires individuals to provide a U.S. birth certificate or a U.S. passport, or a permanent resident card (green card) if they are a non-U.S. citizen, in order to obtain a compliant driver’s license. Applicants may also be asked to provide proof of their Social Security number and proof of residency. Reed wrote a Thursday letter to the leader urging her to explain how an abrupt change in verifying travelers’ identity would not interrupt services from proceeding effectively. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said about 20 percent of air travelers still use a form of identification that is not compliant with REAL ID requirements, according to the lawmaker. Travelers will need to meet the new requirements to fly domestically. "Since it seems likely that many travelers will not have a compliant ID by May 7th, please describe how you will ensure that there are not delays at TSA security checkpoints and what steps the TSA is taking to process travelers who arrive at airport security checkpoints without REAL ID compliant identification," Reed wrote. Rhode Island’s Division of Motor Vehicles began offering REAL ID-compliant licenses in 2018; however, other states didn’t adopt the policy until two years later. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to The Hill’s requests for comment on how new requirements may impact travel. FOX News [4/18/2025 12:00 PM, Charles Creitz, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump gave DHS discretion on when to begin enforcement of the chronically delayed Bush-era law. Delays persisted through three presidential administrations due to concerns over the complexity of updating 50 state, seven territorial and one district’s DMV and other systems. Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, state agencies were given further leeway on enacting REAL ID until DHS finally settled on the May 7 date for this year. "According to the TSA, around 20 percent of air travelers still use a form of identification that is not compliant with REAL ID requirements," Reed wrote to Noem. "Indeed, millions of Americans still do not have a REAL ID-compliant license or an acceptable alternative form of identification, such as a passport or a military identification card." DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, told Fox News Digital in a statement: "Real IDs make identification harder to forge, thwarting criminals and terrorists. 81% of air travelers hold REAL ID-compliant or acceptable IDs. DHS will continue to collaborate with state, local, and airport authorities to inform the public, facilitate compliance, curb wait times and prevent fraud." "DHS responds to official correspondence through official channels," McLaughlin added.

NewsNation [4/18/2025 3:34 PM, Nancy Loo, 6866K] reports as the deadline for REAL IDs approaches, state officials are warning about long lines at DMV facilities across the country. Starting May 7, travelers who are 18 years of age and older must have an ID in order to get through TSA checkpoints at the airport. One of the forms of acceptable identification in compliance with the federal government’s security standards is a valid U.S. passport. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said 81% of travelers have already gotten REAL IDs. Others who do not get a REAL ID by the May 7 deadline may experience delays at the airport. After at least 4 delays over 20 years since the REAL ID Act was passed in 2005, federal officials say this is the final deadline. Many state DMVs have added extra appointments and adjusted their operating hours as they work to accommodate the rush of people working to meet the deadline. DHS Secretary Noem insists the measure is about homeland security and it will help to prevent fraud and protect the country. FOX News [4/19/2025 4:00 AM, Ashley J. DiMella, 46189K] reports that in less than 20 days, the REAL ID requirement will take effect, requiring Americans to obtain a new form of identification in order to fly domestically. Other identification that will be accepted in lieu of a REAL ID include a valid U.S. passport or passport card; DHS trusted traveler cards such as Global Entry; Department of Defense IDs; permanent resident cards; and border crossing cards. As of Friday morning in New Jersey, the Department of Motor Vehicles (NJDMV) website showed "0 appointments available" for REAL ID services on its site. There were, however, 13,380 appointments available for non-driver IDs and 31,107 appointments open for transferring drivers’ licenses from out of state. DMVs across the country are reportedly working to meet the demand, with some implementing Saturday REAL ID events and extending appointment hours during the week. If a driver’s license falls within the renewal period, the person can book a renewal appointment to upgrade to a REAL ID — and there are 51,906 appointments available for that. Fox News Digital reached out to NJDMV for comment. Daniel Velez, a spokesperson for TSA New England, told Fox News Digital on Friday that the agency will be "ready to enforce" the policy on the deadline of May 7 and that the requirement will "not be pushed back." The launch date happens to fall on a Wednesday — which is one of least busy travel days of the week, Velez said. Airports are finalizing plans on how to handle those travelers who do not have proper identification to fly. He added that travel delays will be "few and far between."

ABC News [4/18/2025 2:05 PM, Kyle Reiman and Megan Forrester, 34586K] reports that more than 50 million Americans are on alert for severe weather this Easter weekend, as several states in the Heartland have already been slammed with tornadoes, hail and damaging winds. On Thursday, 15 tornadoes, 86-mph wind gusts and softball and baseball-sized hail were reported across Nebraska and Iowa. Damage to farm buildings, downed trees and power lines have also been reported across Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. The severe weather will persist this weekend as this storm system will begin to stall across the Central and Eastern parts of the country. On Friday, areas stretching from central Texas up to southern Wisconsin and western Indiana will be hit with large hail, damaging winds, along with threats of possible tornadoes, especially in parts of Oklahoma and Texas.The main window for severe weather will begin on Friday afternoon and continue until Saturday morning local time. The wet and windy conditions will shift southwest on Saturday, hitting areas of central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. The National Weather Service said flash flooding is likely in these areas on Saturday. On Easter Sunday, the weather will finally break out of its stall across the Central U.S. and move further east, hovering over parts of northwestern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, most of Arkansas and south-central Missouri. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The New York Post [4/18/2025 8:24 AM, Chris Oberholtz, 54903K] reports the first round of severe storms pushed through the Plains on Thursday, during what was expected to be an active weekend for severe weather. More than 1 million people were included in a Level 3 out of 5 risk zone from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, with Omaha, Nebraska, in the bull’s-eye. While the city proper missed out on seeing the strongest of the storms, it didn’t prevent warning sirens from blaring on the north side of the city, and tornadoes from being spotted in nearby Iowa. Several storm chasers, including FOX Weather Storm Tracker Brandon Copic, captured video of a tornado forming then rolling across the fields of Missouri Valley, Iowa, on Thursday evening. In eastern Nebraska, winds of greater than 80 mph and baseball-sized hail caused what appeared to resemble a dust storm or even a gustnado around Schuyler, Nebraska. The region was under various alerts at the time, and FOX Weather Exclusive Storm Trackers Corey Gerken and Brandon Copic captured the scenes on video. The dust was so thick, it reduced visibilities outside of Omaha and made travel treacherous. Despite the scenes, there were no reports of any widespread damage and reported power outages generally stayed below a few thousand customers. Based on radar data, the storms appeared to be big hailers, with significant values of vertically integrated liquid, indicating the potential for damaging ice. The threat of tornadoes continued well into the night with a large twister spotted around Tabor, Iowa, after sunset. Videos and Doppler radar indicated that a strong tornado passed through Fremont County, and the National Weather Service office even described the event as a ‘particularly dangerous situation.’. The NWS upped the alert to a rare Tornado Emergency and said the twister was heading towards the town of Essex, Iowa.

Axios [4/18/2025 6:25 AM, Lucille Sherman, 13163K] reports the White House should reform FEMA rather than abolish it, western North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards said in a report to President Trump this week. Why it matters: In releasing the report, Edwards, who Trump tapped in January for a task force to accelerate the state’s recovery from Hurricane Helene, joined a chorus of Republicans who’ve argued the president should keep FEMA rather than eliminate it as he has suggested. Driving the news: Edwards’ 62-page report, which comes some six months after Helene ravaged his district in the mountains, details numerous ways the Trump administration can aid Helene recovery in North Carolina through executive orders, legislation and proclamations specific to the state, along with broader changes to how FEMA operates. What they’re saying: "Western North Carolina also cannot afford for recovery to be interrupted by total terminations of critical recovery programs," Edwards said in the report released Tuesday. The big picture: Trump, who had criticized the federal government’s response to Helene during his campaign last year, has indicated Helene recovery is a top priority for administration. The president’s first trip after assuming office in January was to western North Carolina. "I’ll be taking strong action to get North Carolina the support that you need to quickly recover and rebuild," Trump said during his visit. "We’re working on it very hard." He also indicated his interest in getting rid of FEMA: "I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away and we pay directly — we pay a percentage to the state." The intrigue: Edwards proposes that instead of dismantling FEMA, the federal government should simplify its processes, including by creating a universal application for disaster assistance, modernizing its IT systems and changing how it administers some programs.

HSToday [4/18/2025 4:05 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied a request from Washington last week for disaster relief funds in the wake of a deadly “bomb cyclone” windstorm. The winter storm in November decimated Washington, as rain and severe wind gusts of up to 70 mph toppled trees, triggered power outages, shattered homes and businesses, and killed at least two people. FEMA’s decision to deny emergency funds to the Evergreen State comes days after the agency rejected North Carolina’s request for an aid extension as it continues Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 5:51 PM, Alex Kienlen, 430301K] reports Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is asking a federal agency to reverse its decision about storm victims in the state. The governor’s office said in a Friday statement that Sanders is appealing to FEMA to reverse its decision to deny the Arkansas Major Disaster Declaration for individual and public assistance. The declaration was for the storms and tornadoes that crossed the state on March 14 and 15. The governor’s office statement said the following counties are in the original request: Baxter, Stone/Sharp, Hempstead, Independence/Randolph, Sharp/Randolph, Nevada, Independence/Jackson, Randolph/Clay, Woodruff, Clay, and Greene counties. "Arkansas communities are still recovering from this spring’s tornadoes, as the sheer magnitude of this event resulted in overwhelming amounts of debris, widespread destruction to homes and businesses, the tragic loss of three lives, and injuries to many others," The governor said. "To relieve the burden on these counties, cities, and towns, I am appealing FEMA’s decision to deny Arkansas’ Major Disaster Declaration request.” Sanders requested the Major Disaster Declaration relief on April 2. On April 18, she asked for a 30-day extension of time.

Yahoo.com [4/18/2025 4:55 PM, Luke Malik, 430301K] reports Gov. Kim Reynolds has issued a disaster proclamation for four Iowa counties in response to severe weather that hit the state on Thursday, April 17. According to a release, the proclamation is now in effect for Buena Vista, Fremont, Page and Plymouth counties. It will expire on May 18, 2025. Among the communities most affected was Storm Lake, where storms led to a citywide power outage and large hail caused significant property damage. A tornado also went through Page County in southwest Iowa, damaging houses and barns. By issuing the proclamation, state resources are available to help recover from the storms, and the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and Disaster Case Advocacy Program were activated. Through the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program, households with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level can request grants for up to $7,000. The grants can be used for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and temporary housing expenses related to storm recovery. The original receipts are required. Those interested have up to 45 days to submit a claim and apply. Instructions and the grant application can be found on the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management website.

AP [4/18/2025 8:25 AM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 48304K] reports that the ashes of Hatim Naim’s burned home lie just a few dozen miles west of the Los Angeles areas destroyed by January’s Palisades and Eaton fires. But because the Mountain Fire, which destroyed 182 houses and other structures in Ventura County last November, was not a federally declared major disaster, recovery for Naim and his community looks different than it does for their Los Angeles neighbors. They can’t access the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs available to those impacted by the LA fires. Nor have they benefited from anything close to the hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars pouring into LA. The husband and father of three said it stings not to get the same level of help. "They have their cutoffs for where they declare their disaster, but it’s still a disaster for me," said Naim, 60. "I lost everything." Those impacted by the Mountain Fire are regularly reminded of the contrast. That’s a challenge experts say more communities might experience if the Trump administration dismantles or overhauls FEMA, options both the president and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have floated in recent months. Former FEMA officials say it would be impossible for the agency to aid in every disaster. "We’d be broke as a nation," said Peter Gaynor, a former FEMA administrator during the first Trump administration. He estimates that one in four disasters get a federal declaration, a decision based on economic formulas and whether states and their local counterparts have the resources and capacity to respond. "Even though it may appear traumatic to the community, the numbers aren’t there," he said.

Bloomberg Law [4/18/2025 10:55 AM, Suzanne Monyak and Jacqueline Thomsen, 1085K] reports that top US judiciary officials warned the court system doesn’t have sufficient funds to secure its courthouses, pointing to an increase in safety concerns for judges hearing high-profile national cases. Judge Robert Conrad, director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts, and Judge Amy J. St. Eve, the chair of the judiciary’s budget committee, told congressional appropriations in a letter released Friday that they have "significant concerns" about the judiciary’s ability to keep courthouses safe under current resource levels. They noted that Congress has kept the judiciary’s court security budget flat—an effective cut given inflation—for two consecutive fiscal years. A second year at this level will cause "further reductions to courthouse security," including in equipment to restrict certain areas and screen individuals entering the courthouse, they wrote. "Consecutive years of flat security funding comes at a time when threats against federal judges and courthouses are escalating, making this situation unsustainable in the current environment," the letter reads. The judiciary officials also said that 67 judges involved in high-profile cases or rulings are receiving "enhanced online security screening services" from the AO and US Marshals Service. "In extreme cases, the U.S. Marshals Service has been required to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of judges," the letter says. The US Marshals Service is housed within the Justice Department. The judiciary officials predicted in their letter that more than a third of clerk’s offices and probation and pretrial services offices can’t afford their current employees and will need to downsize staff over the remainder of this fiscal year, which spans through September.

Maritime Executive [4/18/2025 2:13 PM, Staff, 325K] reports the Coast Guard has initiated the final of five planned phases of the service life extension program (SLEP) for Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the service’s sole operational heavy icebreaker. Polar Star arrived at Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, California, on March 30 to begin the remaining SLEP activities. The work is part of the In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program. The SLEP is recapitalizing a number of major systems to extend the service life of the cutter and maintain polar ice-breaking capability until the polar security cutter fleet is operational. The Polar Star SLEP was designed to address targeted systems such as propulsion, communication, and machinery control systems for recapitalization. The USCG is undertaking the major maintenance program to extend the service life of Polar Star beyond its original design of 30 years.

Miami Herald [4/18/2025 10:43 PM, David Goodhue, 430301K] reports police divers found the body of a teenage boy who disappeared late Friday afternoon while swimming in the ocean off Fort Lauderdale. The divers found the boy shortly after 8 p.m., said Casey Liening, a Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman. She said the cause of death appears to be accidental drowning, but police will conduct a death investigation. The boy, who has not been identified, disappeared in the water around 4:30 p.m. near Lifeguard Tower 3 at 800 Seabreeze Boulevard, said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue spokesman Frank Guzman. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, Broward Sheriff’s Office firefighters, Fort Lauderdale police and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for the boy, Guzman said. The fire department ended its search and turned the operation over to police and the Coast Guard, Guzman said. Rescuers used two fire boats, a helicopter and personal watercraft to look for the boy, as well as personnel on the beach, Guzman said. Lifeguards, who end their shifts at 6 p.m., were on duty when the boy disappeared, said Guzman. The surf conditions were rough on Friday, with the National Weather Service issuing rip-current warnings. Guzman said lifeguards performed several water rescues throughout the day.

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Yahoo News [4/18/2025 11:56 PM, Andrew Wulfeck, 430301K]

HSToday [4/18/2025 4:05 AM, John Saran, 38K] reports last year, Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan and Marine Safety Unit Chicago had the honor to lead maritime security operations in support of two major National Special Security Events (NSSE) coordinated by the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) within a two-month period– the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (RNC) and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois (DNC). Completing this maritime mission required a herculean effort by the Coast Guard and other Federal, State, and local agencies because these NSSEs occurred during the busy recreational boating and maritime event season on Lake Michigan and required coordinated operations within two major metropolitan areas. The Coast Guard also remained true to its unofficial motto of “Semper Gumby”, as just two days before the start of the RNC, there was an assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. “This is the first time both National Conventions were conducted in the same Captain of the Port Zone in the same year. Planning started more than a year in advance of the RNC and the team did not stop until the end of the DNC. The Maritime security coordination and communication at both events was phenomenal and I’m extremely thankful for the strengthened relationships at all levels – I could not be prouder of the team,” said Captain Seth Parker, Commander, Sector Lake Michigan. Here are five notable takeaways from the Coast Guard’s experience with the RNC and DNC: 1. Leveraging and Building Interagency Relationships, 2. Promoting Effective Communication, 3. Optimizing the Right Person, Right Place, Right Tool, 4. Streamlining Resource Requests and Understanding Capabilities. 5. Considering a Project Officer and Utilizing Team Coast Guard.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 9:17 AM, Staff, 430301K] reports that the body of a woman has washed up on the shoreline between Neah Bay and Sekiu in Clallam County, and it is believed that she is one of three boaters who went missing. On April 16, three boaters, two men and a woman, launched from Makah Marina around 7 p.m. Just after midnight on April 17, their capsized 15-foot boat was found at Koitlah Point, which is near the westernmost point of Washington, but there was no sign of the three people who were on board, the Coast Guard said. The woman’s body was found around 2 p.m., not far from where the capsized boat was found. The two men have not been found. It’s believed all three were between the ages of 62 and 68. The United States Coast Guard will be searching the area with boats and an airplane in an attempt to locate additional victims.

Defense Post [4/18/2025 7:11 AM, Rojoef Manuel, 360K] reports that the US Coast Guard has entered the final stage of a life extension effort for its only operational heavy-class icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10). The vessel is now at Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, California, where it will undergo an extensive overhaul to extend its service life until next-generation cutter replacements arrive in the 2030s. As the program’s final phase, the work in Vallejo will focus on refurbishing the ship’s heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems, upgrading navigation equipment, and replacing main propulsion and auxiliary systems. The recapitalization process will enhance the icebreaker’s accommodations, safety, and navigational capabilities during extended deployments. This summer, a team from Baltimore will also be on site to complete additional repairs to the cutter’s sewage pumps and tank level indicators. "The efforts of the joint In-Service Vessel Sustainment Program (ISVS) and the Long Range Enforcer Product Line team align with one of the key goals of Force Design 2028, to rapidly deliver the assets the service needs to fulfill its commitment to the American people," ISVS Program Manager Kenneth King stated.

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 5:00 AM, Madyson Fitzgerald, 430301K] reports a customer looks at a laptop computer for sale last year. States worry that an executive order and federal funding cuts could weaken their cybersecurity efforts. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) For the first half of his career in law enforcement, working as a police officer in South Florida, Chase Fopiano did not think cyberattacks on police agencies were a serious threat. Many of his law enforcement colleagues were under the same impression — that since they were the most likely to investigate the attacks, there was no way cybercriminals would go after them. By about 2015, as technology advanced and hackers became more creative, that changed, Fopiano said. Now, from the U.S. Secret Service to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there are thousands of attempts to compromise networks or organizations every day, he said. “A lot of those [attempts] are toward government or even police, especially because they know that we’re not as prepared as we should be,” said Fopiano, who now oversees cybersecurity as part of a regional task force. Spanning health care facilities to court systems, states and local communities are facing a rise in cyberthreats. They include threats to critical infrastructure, increased activity from foreign actors, continued ransomware attacks and more, according to a recent report from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. But President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order shifting some of the responsibility from the federal government to states and localities to improve their infrastructure to address risks, including cybercrimes. And federal cuts have reduced resources for state and local officials, including a cybersecurity grant program and a key cybersecurity agency. States and localities are taking steps to address the problems, such as establishing new penalties for tampering with critical infrastructure, centralizing state IT personnel and setting standards in areas from elections to health care.

Reuters [4/18/2025 7:55 AM, Nancy Lapid, 41523K] reports publicly accessible DNA research is a prime target for hackers, according to researchers. The vulnerabilities present risks to the privacy of individuals, scientific integrity and national security, they said. So-called next-generation DNA sequencing - the fast, modern way to determine the sequence of chemicals in a DNA molecule - lets researchers analyze large amounts of genetic material and discover variations associated with diseases, drug treatments and other biological phenomena. But the highly specialized instruments, technologies and software have multiple points of vulnerability, the researchers reported in IEEE Access after reviewing previously published studies. And because many DNA datasets are openly accessible online, there are many possible ways for cybercriminals to access and misuse the information for surveillance, manipulation or malicious experimentation, they said. Among the weaknesses, for example: biochips used with DNA sequencers are susceptible to malware attacks, including trojans that can masquerade as legitimate software, the researchers said. An infected microchip can leak sensitive sequencing data or manipulate genetic information, introducing inaccuracies in crucial genetic data essential for medical diagnostics and research, they added. Another example they cited: attackers could analyze regions of DNA that have been "amplified" - that is, when many copies of that region have been created for research purposes - and find ways to match those regions against public genealogy databases to infer personal information associated with the DNA profiles, linking DNA samples back to individuals. "Despite its importance, cyber-biosecurity remains one of the most neglected and poorly understood research disciplines and is leaving a critical gap in global biosecurity," study leader Dr. Nasreen Anjum of the University of Portsmouth’s School of Computing said in a statement. "To make sure our DNA information stays safe and is used only for good, we’re urging more research and collaboration to find ways to keep this powerful technology secure," Anjum added. Clogged neck arteries might not need reopening Many patients with a narrowed neck artery may not need one of the risky stroke-preventing procedures that are the usual standard of care, according to a study conducted in Europe and Canada. In the United States alone, well over 100,000 procedures are performed each year to reopen carotid arteries with narrowing, or stenosis. Removing the clogged section of the vessel has been shown to reduce the risk of a stroke. But the procedure itself can trigger a stroke.

ABC News [4/18/2025 7:29 PM, Jared Kofsky, Aaron Katersky, and Meredith Deliso, 430301K] reports less than an hour after he allegedly firebombed the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, the suspect called 911 and appeared to apologize and confess to the early Sunday attack, according to a newly released recording of the call. "I don’t really have an emergency. I would like to apologize," the suspect, 38-year-old Cody Balmer, is heard telling the operator in a recording of the call obtained by ABC News through a public records request. Balmer refers to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and himself by name in the recording of the call, which has been cited in multiple warrants in the case. "Gov. Josh Shapiro needs to know that Cody Balmer will not take part in his plan for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people," Balmer is heard saying in the recording. "He needs to leave my family alone.” "He needs to stop having my friends killed," he continues in the recording. "Our people have been put through too much by that monster.” The damage to the residence’s dining room by the fire was also mentioned in the call, according to the recording. "All he has is a banquet hall to clean up," Balmer is heard saying in the recording. "I’m tired of offering extensions of peace. I only want to be able to provide for my children. I should not be taken to these extremes. It’s not fair.” The suspect said he wished "no harm onto anyone," according to the recording. "But that man, that man is doing serious, serious harm to probably yourself included," he continues in the recording. "And I do wish you the best, sir. You all know where to find me. I’m not hiding, and I do confess to everything that I’ve done.” Balmer’s voice is rather calm throughout the roughly minute-long call, though he is heard taking a couple of deep breaths. It appears he hangs up before the operator can respond.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/19/2025 3:16 AM, Landon Mion, 46189K]

FOX News [4/18/2025 3:03 PM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports a Barrow County, Georgia, judge ruled Thursday that Colin Gray, who has been charged with 29 crimes related to his son Colt’s alleged mass shooting at Apalachee High School last year, will face a jury from a different county. During the afternoon hearing, attorneys for the state and for Gray agreed the trial should be moved, but for different reasons, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. The defense said the trial needed to be moved to protect the integrity of the trial. Ultimately, Chief Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm agreed a venue change was warranted. He noted that the trial will either occur outside the county completely or inside the county with jurors who do not live there. Gray’s charges include second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct. Colt Gray, then 14, allegedly opened fire inside Apalachee High School Sept. 4, killing four and wounding nine. Of the four victims who were killed, two were teachers and two were students. Gray is accused of using a semi-automatic rifle given to him by his father. The younger Gray was charged with 55 criminal offenses, including four counts of felony murder in the shooting. The father and son were indicted Oct. 17. Both have pleaded not guilty.

USA Today [4/18/2025 1:44 PM, Jeanine Santucci, 75858K] reports that an April 17 mass shooting at Florida State University, where a gunman killed two people and injured at least five others, was the 81st mass shooting in the United States in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Police in Tallahassee said a 20-year-old believed to be a student opened fire around lunchtime on the campus using a handgun that belonged to his stepmother, a local sheriff’s deputy. Two men were killed and at least five other people were injured by gunfire. A mass shooting is defined by the Gun Violence Archive as one in which at least four people are shot, not including the shooter, regardless of how many people die. At least 81 people have been killed and another 352 injured in mass shootings throughout the country so far this year, the data shows. The attacks include a Dallas high school shooting in which four students were wounded, a shooting at a New Mexico park that killed three people and injured 15 more, and a house party in Washington that ended with two young people dead and several others injured after gunfire broke out. The FSU shooting was also the sixth mass shooting in Florida so far in 2025, the USA TODAY Network in Florida reported. The deadliest mass shootings so far in 2025 have claimed four lives each in murder-suicides in Pembroke Park, Florida; Byron, Wyoming; and Lake Station, Indiana. Shootings in Virginia, New Mexico and Texas left three dead each. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/18/2025 7:21 AM, Greg Norman, 46189K] reports more details are emerging Friday about Florida State University shooting suspect Phoenix Ikner as law enforcement are trying to piece together what motivated the 20-year-old student to allegedly open fire at his school, killing two and wounding six. Ikner was shot and wounded by responding officers Thursday afternoon after he refused to comply with commands, according to Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell. Police also said his mother is a sheriff’s deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and that they believe Ikner shot the victims using his mother’s former service handgun, which she had kept for personal use after the force upgraded to new weapons. Months before the shooting, Ikner was quoted in an FSU student newspaper article about anti-Trump protests at the school and was identified as a political science major, according to WFLA. "These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons. I think it’s a little too late, he’s [Trump] already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that," Ikner was quoted by the station as saying. The article was later updated to say "An earlier version of this article included a quote from the gunman in the April 17 shooting at FSU and was removed at the decision of our editors to maintain ethical journalistic standards and avoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence.” Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil also said Ikner "has been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family, engaged in a number of training programs that we have," according to The Associated Press. "So it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.” Ikner was a long-standing member of the sheriff’s office’s youth advisory council, he continued. On its website, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office said its Youth Advisory Council "provides Leon County’s young people with an active role in addressing youth issues.” "It is the undertaking of the YAC to advise the Sheriff, reach out to Leon County teens, inform them of existing opportunities, and listen to suggestions on what the Sheriff’s Office can do to improve its youth-oriented efforts," the website said, noting that the group is tasked with identifying and discussing "issues youth are facing ... in our county.” Five people who were wounded in the mass shooting were struck by gunfire, while a sixth was hurt while trying to run away, Revell said in a statement Thursday night. They were all in fair condition, a spokesperson for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
NBC News [4/18/2025 2:12 PM, y Rebecca Cohen, Marlene Lenthang, Cristian Santana, and Corky Siemaszko, 44742K]

New York Post [4/18/2025 6:55 AM, Patrick Reilly, 54903K] reports Florida State University shooter Phoenix Ikner touted vile white supremacist views that raised serious concerns among his classmates — including that "Rosa Parks was in the wrong" and that black people were destroying his community. Ikner, who allegedly killed two people and wounded six others when he opened fire on campus Thursday, horrified other students with his "gross" racial rhetoric. One classmate from Ikner’s former school, Tallahassee State College, recalled how he was asked to leave a "political round table" club over his hate speech. "Basically our only rule was no Nazis — colloquially speaking — and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric, and far-right rhetoric as well, to the point where we had to exercise that rule," Reid Seybold told the Tallahassee Democrat. Another classmate said Ikner was vocal in their federal politics class, promoting his disturbing views about black people, as well as far-right conspiracy theories, such as that former President Joe Biden was fraudulently elected. His opinions were so troubling that the classmate, Lucas Luzietti, chillingly remembered thinking that "this man should not have access to firearms.” "I got into arguments with him in class over how gross the things he said were," Lucas Luzietti told USA TODAY. "I remember thinking this man should not have access to firearms," he added. "What are you supposed to do? His mother was a cop, and Florida doesn’t have very strong red flag laws.” Here is the latest on the Florida State University shooting. Ikner, whose mother was a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy, made it very clear that he had guns, classmates said. One of the firearms he unloaded on Thursday is believed to belong to his mom. "It’s so sad and so shocking," Luzietti said of the shooting. "Then to see that it was him — I’m sadly not surprised.” Officials say Ikner didn’t comply with commands and was shot before being taken into police custody on Thursday, April 18, 2025. He was hospitalized for his injuries.

New York Post [4/18/2025 7:22 AM, Nicholas McEntyre, 54903K] reports the biological mother of accused Florida State University shooter, Phoenix Ikner, kidnapped him and fled to Norway amid a bitter custody battle a decade before the deadly shooting, court documents reveal. Anne-Mari Eriksen took her then 11-year-old son to the Scandinavian nation in March 2015 in violation of the custody agreement she had with Christopher Ikner — after telling the father she was taking him to South Florida for spring break, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Leon County Sheriff’s Office viewed by The Post. Eriksen and Phoenix Ikner — who at the time went by his birth name Christian Gunnar Eriksen — both have American and Norwegian citizenship. "Instead of staying in South Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement," the affidavit stated. Christopher Ikner only discovered his son had been kidnapped when the 11-year-old spilled the beans during a phone call with his dad. Eriksen — who had custody rights but the agreement stipulated she may not take him from the country without advanced notification — said she would return the boy to the US and his dad on March 27, but failed to do so, according to the affidavit. Christopher Ikner then quickly became worried and alerted authorities, saying his son "has developmental delays and special needs," which he feared would not be taken care of without access to his regular doctors. The affidavit said Phoenix Ikner was "on medication for several health and mental issues, to include a growth hormone disorder and ADHD.” The mom didn’t return to the US until July 27, 2015, when she was arrested at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. She later pleaded no contest to illegally removing a child from Florida. Months later, in October 2015, Eriksen filed a lawsuit alleging slander and libel against Christopher Ikner, his wife Jessica Ikner, as well as two other relatives. "The emotional and psychological harm done to the minor child will be evident for years, and will require counseling, and given the child being the age of 11, will have memory impacted by the behaviors of all the defendants for the false claims done on his mother, and for the parental alienation of the close relationship of the minor child," the suit stated. Eriksen sought $80,000 in damages to use toward the boy’s college fund. Phoenix Ikner was also listed as a plaintiff in the suit, which was eventually dismissed seven months later. Christian Gunnar Eriksen changed his name to Phoenix Ikner in 2020. The now-20-year-old is accused of opening fire on the Tallahassee campus, killing two people and wounding five others on Thursday afternoon. The deadly rampage began near the campus’s student union building. Terrifying video captured the moment a gunman walked through the area, firing shots from a handgun believed to be the old service weapon owned by his stepmom, Jessica Ikner. Heavily armed first responders converged on the area and confronted the gunman. Officials say Ikner didn’t comply with commands and was shot before being taken into police custody. He was hospitalized for his injuries.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/18/2025 12:27 PM, Audrey Conklin, 46189K]

USA Today [4/19/2025 1:36 AM, Michael Loria, 75858K] reports the suspected gunman in an attack at Florida State University that killed two and injured six had a troubling fascination with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, according to screenshots of his online history captured by the Anti-Defamation League and shared with USA TODAY on Friday. Suspect Phoenix Ikner used a drawing of Hitler with the word "Nein" in a thought bubble next to the infamous dictator as a profile photo for an online gaming account, analysts at the anti-hate group found. For the name of another account, the 20-year-old used "Schutzstaffel," the name of the ruthless "SS" paramilitary group that started out as Hitler’s personal bodyguard, grew into death squads and ran the concentration camps where millions of Jews were murdered. "Neither one means anything in particular but they’re part of the broader story," Carla Hill, a senior director of investigative research at the anti-hate group’s Center on Extremism, said of Ikner’s apparent fascination with Nazis. "It gives us a little more insight into what he’s thinking about and curious about.” The new revelations come just a day after the shooting that began when a gunman opened fire near the university’s student union at approximately 11:50 a.m., striking multiple people and sending students fleeing for cover. Leon County Sheriff Walter A. McNeil said Ikner used a gun that belonged to his stepmother, a veteran Leon County sheriff deputy. Ikner was injured in the shooting and is expected to spend significant time in the hospital, according to Tallahassee Police Department Chief Lawrence Revell. In the aftermath of the shooting on Thursday, people who knew Ikner said he had a history of espousing radical conspiracy theories and hateful ideas. The president of a student politics club said Ikner "espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric" that they booted him from the group. The new records provided by the ADL show that the politics student adopted the terminology and imagery of white supremacists from Nazi Germany and the U.S.

USA Today [4/18/2025 7:55 PM, Krystal Nurse, 75858K] reports a Kansas City man faces charges for tossing a Molotov cocktail and damaging vehicles parked at a Missouri Tesla dealership in March, the Justice Department announced. Federal prosecutors charged Owen McIntire, 19, with unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and malicious destruction of property after they said he damaged vehicles and charging stations at a Tesla dealership while on spring break, the department announced on April 18. According to court papers, law enforcement found an unbroken Molotov cocktail on March 17 next to a Cybertruck that was on fire. The fire spread to another Cybertruck and two vehicle charging stations before the Kansas City Fire Department extinguished the blaze. Prosecutors wrote in court papers that McIntire was home for spring break in Kansas City. They wrote that he attends a college in Boston. "Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.” Bondi called attacks on Tesla property "domestic terrorism" in March, but hasn’t yet filed such a charge. Her comments came during a rise of attacks on Tesla dealerships, vehicles and other property as people retaliated against Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s takeover of multiple federal agencies. President Donald Trump created DOGE on his first day in office and tapped Musk to run it. FBI Director Kash Patel said McIntire’s arrest is the second one this week where a person was charged for targeting Tesla property. The other person was Jamison Wagner, who was charged on April 14 for arson attacks at the New Mexico Republican Party headquarters and a Tesla dealership. "These actions are dangerous, they are illegal, and we are going to arrest those responsible," he said.

FOX News [4/18/2025 1:11 PM, Julia Bonavita, 46189K] reports that an Illinois man has been charged in the violent hate crime attack on two Jewish students at DePaul University last year. Adam Erkan, 20, is facing four felony charges, including two counts of hate crime and two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. Prosecutors allege that Erkan attacked Max Long and Michael Kaminsky while the pair were peacefully advocating for Israel on DePaul University’s campus in Chicago on Nov. 6. Authorities said at the time that they were also looking for a second suspect. Erkan, who was not a student at the university, allegedly approached Long while wearing a face-covering and making antisemitic slurs, according to police. A second suspect then struck Long from behind and eventually turned on Kaminsky when he attempted to step in to help, police said. The Cook County Prosecutor’s Office and Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Erkan’s father identified him to police after surveillance footage captured Erkan fleeing the scene in a 2011 Silver Toyota RAV-4, according to prosecutors. Authorities were able to obtain video footage of the incident, and police are still searching for the second suspect. Fox News Digital was unable to locate an attorney representing Erkan. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

SFGate [4/18/2025 5:11 PM, Jonathan Ayestas, 12335K] reports federal officials arrested a man in Sacramento who is accused of terror crimes in India, the FBI Sacramento office announced on Friday. Harpreet Singh, whose alias is Happy Passia, is accused of being a key operative of ISI-backed Babbar Khalsa International and a close associate of Pakistan-based terrorist Rinda, Punjab Police said. "Today marks a major milestone in the successful war against terror," said Gaurav Yadav, director general of police in Punjab. Yadav said that Singh, from 2023 to 2025, played a central role in orchestrating targeted killings and grenade attacks on police establishments. He is also believed to have extorted people across Punjab and other states in India. FBI said Singh entered the United States illegally and used burner phones to avoid being caught. Law enforcement arrested Singh on Thursday. Yadav praised the cooperation between Indian and U.S. officials and said Singh will be taken to India to "face due law."

Daily Wire [4/18/2025 6:39 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 4672K] reports that President Donald Trump on Thursday extended the freeze on hiring new government workers for another 90 days. The administration has said that the freeze is part of an effort to make the government more efficient and promote fiscal responsibility. The freeze, now in effect until July 15, includes exceptions for the military and other national security-related positions. "No Federal civilian position that is presently vacant may be filled, and no new position may be created, except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or required by applicable law," Trump wrote in a memo. "In carrying out this memorandum, the heads of agencies shall seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of those services." The memorandum said that the freeze does not apply to military personnel of the Armed Forces or positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety. Agencies are allowed to apply for exemptions to the hiring freeze to the Office of Management and Budget, which can grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis. "The extension of the hiring freeze is a critical step in shrinking the federal government and ensuring taxpayer dollars are used efficiently," the White House said. "The American people elected President Trump to drain the swamp and end ineffective government programs that empower government without achieving measurable results."

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 10:21 AM, Elaine Mallon, 2296K]

USA Today [4/18/2025 2:09 PM, Tom Vanden Brook, 75858K] reports that the Pentagon has eliminated nearly 200 jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion in the last year, killing the Biden-administration’s effort aimed at providing "everyone an opportunity to reach their full potential," according to report released by the Government Accountability Office. In 2024, there had been 188 Pentagon staff members, military and civilian, with DEI duties, the GAO found. Cuts began last year under a congressional mandate with the Defense Department eliminating 32 DEI positions and restructuring jobs for 115 others. The Pentagon’s moves, coupled with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s purge of generals and admirals who had advocated diversity efforts, represent an about face for the military on the promotion of diversity that had been rekindled after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. More than 30% of the military’s more than 1 million active-duty troops identifies with a minority group. In January, President Donald Trump rescinded the Biden order on DEI and directed that the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security eliminate such programs, according to the GAO. "This included any vestiges of DEI offices, such as suboffices, programs, elements, or initiatives," the GAO report said. Hegseth followed that order with a task force at the Pentagon charged with abolishing DEI offices.

Federal News Network [4/18/2025 9:51 AM, Michele Sandiford, 1089K] reports that a group of bipartisan senators is asking President Donald Trump to reconsider his broad cancellation of federal collective bargaining agreements. In a letter sent to the President on Thursday, four senators said they are concerned that his recent executive order will impede efforts to make the government more efficient. Trump eliminated most agencies’ union contracts last month, citing national security concerns. But the lawmakers said collective bargaining has a largely positive effect on the federal workforce, as it improves productivity and efficiency. The two Republicans and two Democrats are urging Trump to reverse course on his decision. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Washington Examiner [4/18/2025 1:43 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports that the Trump administration released over 10,000 files related to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. In line with President Donald Trump’s signing of Executive Order 14176, Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on Jan. 23, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has begun releasing information on the three assassinations. Thousands of files were previously released on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On Friday, Gabbard released over 10,000 files on the 1968 assassination of his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. "Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of President Trump. My team is honored that the president entrusted us to lead the declassification efforts and to shine a long-overdue light on the truth," Gabbard said in a statement. Robert F. Kennedy’s son, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also greeted the news with praise for Trump. "Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government," he said. "I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I’m grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard for her dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents."

FOX News [4/18/2025 5:34 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 46189K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that it needs to be determined within days whether achieving a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is "doable in the short term," warning that he thinks the U.S. will "move on" if it is not achievable. Rubio said that if it is "not possible," he thinks President Donald Trump is "probably at a point where he’s gonna say, ‘Well, we’re done.’". But Rubio noted that the U.S. will help if either or both sides are "serious about peace.” "If it’s not gonna happen, then we’re just gonna move on," Rubio declared. "@POTUS has been clear: The time to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is now. Today in Paris, @SE_MiddleEast, @SPE_Kellogg and I met with leaders from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ukraine to talk about how we can stop the killing and reach a just and sustainable peace," Rubio noted in a post on X. The war continues to rage, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declaring in a post, "This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shaheds – maiming our people and cities.” U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., staunchly supports Ukraine and wants the U.S. to provide the Eastern European nation with arms to bolster its war effort. "European Allies and U.S. should arm Ukraine to the max and help them defend their country against the Russians, and now the North Koreans and Chinese," Bacon said in a recent tweet. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 5:56 AM, Sinéad Baker, 430301K] reports NATO countries that share a strategically important sea with Russia have boosted their presence there and are buying more warships, as they eye Russia warily. Denmark, which sits at the mouth of the Baltic Sea, announced plans to buy dozens more ships amid rising threats in the Baltic and the Arctic. The Baltic Sea is a major trade and telecomms route that has seen increased patrols and alleged sabotages of undersea cables since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Many European officials say they believe Russia is behind the severing of cables. Lithuania, which borders Russia and the sea, announced this month that it is buying two new attack boats. Poland is also building new frigates and is planning to buy submarines. Estonia, which has only eight ships and one of the world’s smallest navies, aims to purchase up to 12 new vessels. Sweden, which joined NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine, is also procuring four more surface vessels. Much of Sweden’s military was designed with a fight against Russia in mind, and it has even issued its citizens a booklet advising them about how to prepare for such a war. Russian President Vladimir Putin rides in a submersible in the Baltic Sea on July 15, 2013. Pål Jonson, Sweden’s defense minister, told BI in February that Sweden is "in the process also of procuring four new surface vessels," saying they will "be significantly bigger" than its existing Visby class corvettes. Bryan Clark, a naval operations expert at the Hudson Institute who served on the US Navy headquarters staff, said the vessels, combined with Sweden’s submarines, would be "very useful for closing off the Baltic Sea if they wanted to, using the combination of the submarines and those surface combatants.” The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration said last year that two of the ships were planned to be delivered to the Swedish Armed Forces in 2030. The country’s admission to NATO boosted the alliance’s maritime presence, particularly in the Baltic Sea, which is flanked by countries including Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Russia’s naval presence in the Baltic as of December 2023 included one attack submarine, five guided missile destroyers, one guided missile frigate, and 35 smaller ships, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Reuters [4/19/2025 6:59 AM, Jaidaa Taha, Muhammad Al Gebaly and Lucy Papachristou, 41523K] reports Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said. Iran and the U.S. started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails. Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was "ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the U.S.A.” Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail. The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.

AP [4/18/2025 11:29 AM, Omar Sanadiki and Abby Sewell, 48304K] reports that a pair of Republican Congress members were in the Syrian capital Friday on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first by U.S. legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December. Also Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in his first visit since Assad’s fall and the beginning of the Syrian uprising-turned-civil-war in 2011. Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida visited the Damascus suburb of Jobar, the site of a historic synagogue that was heavily damaged and looted in the civil war, and the Christian neighborhood of Bab Touma, where they met with Christian religious leader. They also were set to meet al-Sharaa and other government officials. The Trump administration has yet to officially recognize the current Syrian government, led by al-Sharaa, an Islamist former insurgent who led a lightning offensive that toppled Assad. Washington has not yet lifted harsh sanctions that were imposed during Assad’s rule. Mills, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press that it was "very important to come here to be able to see it for myself, to be with various governmental bodies, to look at the needs of the Syrian people, to look at the needs for the nation for stability." Mills said he expected discussions with al-Sharaa to include the issue of sanctions, as well as the government’s priorities and the need for the transitional administration to move toward a "democratically elected society." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo News [4/18/2025 6:33 PM, Tara Copp and Beth Sullivan, 430301K] reports the United States is consolidating its forces supporting counter-ISIS operations in Syria, reducing the number of U.S. troops in the country to fewer than 1,000 in the coming months, Pentagon officials said Friday. "Recognizing the success the United States has had against ISIS, including its 2019 territorial defeat under President Trump, today the Secretary of Defense directed the consolidation of U.S. forces in Syria under Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve to select locations in Syria," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. "This consolidation reflects the significant steps we have made toward degrading ISIS’ appeal and operational capability regionally and globally.” The Pentagon did not specify in the release how many troops will be withdrawn, but The New York Times reported Thursday that the number is 600. The release also did not provide a specific timeline for the withdrawal, beyond stating it would "bring the U.S. footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 forces in the coming months.” "As this consolidation takes place, consistent with President Trump’s commitment to peace through strength, U.S. Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of ISIS in Syria," Parnell said. "We will also work closely with capable and willing Coalition partners to maintain pressure on ISIS and respond to any other terrorist threats that arise.” The U.S. troops have been critical not only in the operations against the Islamic State but as a buffer for the Kurdish forces against Turkey, which considers them to be aligned with terror groups. President Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria during his first term, but he met opposition from the Pentagon because it was seen as abandoning allies and led to the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The departure of 600 troops would return force levels to where they had been for years, after the U.S. and its allies waged a multiyear campaign to defeat IS. The U.S. had maintained about 900 troops in Syria to ensure that the IS militants did not regain a foothold, but also as a hedge to prevent Iranian-backed militants from trafficking weapons across southern Syria.

Reuters [4/19/2025 5:23 AM, Parisa Hafezi, 24727K] reports Iran and the United States will hold a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will negotiate indirectly through an Omani official who will shuttle messages between the two sides, Iranian officials said, a week after a first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as constructive. Araqchi and Witkoff interacted briefly at the end of the first round, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015 under former U.S. President Barack Obama. Araqchi, in a meeting with his Italian counterpart ahead of the talks, said Iran had always been committed to diplomacy and called on "all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportunity to reach a reasonable and logical nuclear deal". "Such an agreement should respect Iran’s legitimate rights and lead to the lifting of unjust sanctions on the country while addressing any doubts about its nuclear work," Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. He said in Moscow on Friday that Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme with the U.S. is possible as long as Washington is realistic. Tehran has however sought to tamp down expectations of a quick deal, after some Iranian officials speculated that sanctions could be lifted soon. Iran’s utmost authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this week he was "neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic". For his part, Trump told reporters on Friday: "I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific."

Washington Post [4/18/2025 6:00 AM, Karishma Mehrotra, 31735K] reports that, longtime adversaries India and China, concerned by President Donald Trump’s disorienting early moves in trade and diplomacy, are testing a fragile thaw in relations. For most of the past century, a dispute over their 2,000-mile Himalayan border has kept the world’s two largest countries deadlocked in distrust. But as Trump disrupts decades-old alliances, upends regional balances of power, and taxes imports from friend and foe alike, India has become increasingly receptive to overtures from China. Those overtures have grown in intensity as Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on goods from China. Analysts say New Delhi sees an opportunity to hedge its bets with an American president who in his first term surprised India by striking a trade deal with Beijing. The slow and tactical shift is by no means a realignment from fundamentally adversarial positions, they say, but it could expand India’s diplomatic options. “It gives us more room for strategic maneuverability and flexibility in dealing with the U.S. administration, rather than getting boxed into a corner,” said Pankaj Saran, a former deputy national security adviser. “We want to restore peace in the region, and the calculation is that this might be a good time to do it.” Neither India’s External Affairs Ministry nor the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to requests for comment. Relations between Asia’s largest powers reached a nadir in 2020, when their troops clashed at the border with nail-studded clubs; at least four Chinese and 20 Indian soldiers were killed. It was the deadliest exchange since a month-long war in 1962, which ended in a Chinese victory but not a settled border. Long before the summer 2020 skirmish, Prime Minister Narendra Modi courted Chinese President Xi Jinping, even in his previous role as chief minister of Gujarat, hosting high-profile visits and welcoming Chinese investments while many Western governments banned Modi from visiting. “Modi has always been fascinated with China,” said Sushant Singh, who teaches South Asian studies at Yale. But after the 2020 clash, the mood quickly soured. India banned hundreds of Chinese apps, including TikTok, began scrutinizing Chinese investments and insisted that economic normalization would depend on peace on the border.

Wall Street Journal [4/18/2025 10:49 AM, Sudarsan Raghavan and Saleh al-Batati, and Benoit Faucon, 646K] reports a Chinese satellite company has been aiding Houthi attacks on U.S. interests, a State Department spokesperson said, a sign of Beijing and Moscow’s increased support for the Yemeni rebel group. President Trump began a campaign of airstrikes against the Iran-backed militants last month, bringing a second aircraft carrier and an array of other military assets into the region in an effort to stop attacks that have snarled key commercial routes through the Red Sea. The Houthis have responded with barrages of missiles and drones aimed at U.S. warships in the area, as well as by firing missiles at Israel. The new allegations highlight how the Houthis have been building ties with China and Russia to offset their dependence on a badly weakened Iran, according to Western and Yemeni officials, and analysts who track the flow of weapons around the world. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said late Thursday a Chinese company called Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. has been aiding Houthi attacks on U.S. interests by providing the group with satellite imagery even after the U.S. had pressed China to stop the support. “It is clear that Beijing and China-based companies provide key economic and technical support to regimes like Russia, North Korea, and Iran and its proxies,” Bruce said. “The CCP continues to enable these regimes, whether it be through the provision of dual-use items Russia needs to sustain its war in Ukraine, North Korea’s ballistic missile development, or Iran’s support of terrorism across the Middle East,” she said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. The satellite-imaging company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

New York Times [4/18/2025 6:48 AM, Keith Bradsher, 145325K] reports China has stopped buying liquefied natural gas from the United States after imposing a 15 percent tariff on these shipments on Feb. 10, ship tracking data shows, in the latest sign that Beijing continues to decouple from the U.S. economy. China’s imports of L.N.G. from the United States had already slumped to low levels from November through January, data from China’s customs agency shows. China instead expanded its purchases from Russia, which supplied China with four times as much L.N.G. last year as the United States did. Only two cargo ships of L.N.G. from the United States were headed to China when Beijing imposed tariffs on American fossil fuels in retaliation for President Trump’s initial round of 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods. One ship reached China before the tariffs took effect and unloaded its cargo while the other went to Bangladesh to avoid the tariff, according to Kpler, a Belgian energy data company. Europe’s boycott of natural gas from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has meant that Russian gas sells for very little, while European companies have paid considerably more for gas from elsewhere, including the United States. So Chinese electric utilities have been able to buy a lot of gas at low cost from Russia instead of the United States. Chinese energy firms have been big buyers of L.N.G. in the United States, but were bringing fairly little of that fuel to China even before the tariff took effect. Instead, Chinese companies have been sending their purchases from American ports to sell to Europe. China’s tariffs “are not really affecting the trade flows,” said Gillian Boccara, director of the L.N.G. team at Kpler. With energy prices so high for American gas that goes to Europe, she said, “it doesn’t really make sense to go all the way to Asia.”

AP [4/18/2025 7:26 AM, Christopher Bodeen, Ellen Knickmeyer and Simina Mistreanu, 1814K] reports Republican and Democratic lawmakers made their first trip to Taiwan under the new Trump administration a bipartisan one, aiming to show both Taiwan and China that U.S. support for Taiwan’s defense remains broad, despite the harsh words and heightened tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed for the Taiwanese. Taiwan’s leaders, in turn, have assured the Republican U.S. administration that they have taken in Trump’s complaints and are acting on them. Many Asia-Pacific nations are eschewing the retaliatory criticism and tariffs of some of the U.S.’s European allies after Trump earlier this month slapped broad tariffs on many countries around the world, including a 32% one for Taiwan. Despite that hit, conversations in Taiwan this week were “optimistic and forward-looking,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, who was visiting Taipei alongside two Republican senators. “I’m optimistic that we’re going to see a strong next chapter in U.S.-Taiwan relations,” he said. The Taiwanese have said they are working fast to strike new trade and investment deals that suit the Trump administration, on top of the advanced-semiconductor giant’s $100 billion investment this year alone in chip production in the U.S. The U.S. lawmakers also said that Taiwan was taking lessons from Ukraine in its defense against Russia and criticism from Trump, and is investing fast to make their military stronger, nimbler and less dependent on the U.S. as the island’s strongest deterrent against China. That includes seeking investment with Americans on drone warfare. Sens. Pete Ricketts and Coons, the ranking Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s East Asia subcommittee, spoke ahead of scheduled talks Friday with President Lai Ching-te, Defense Minister Wellington Koo and national security adviser Joseph Wu. Republican Sen. Ted Budd also is on the trip. The mission comes at a time that an economy-shaking trade war between the U.S. and China has some warning that China could strike out at Taiwan, a self-governed island with a vibrant democracy and the world’s top production of the most advanced semiconductors. China claims Taiwan as its territory, to be retaken by force if necessary.

NewsMax [4/18/2025 7:20 AM, Staff, 4998K] reports Republican and Democrat lawmakers made their first trip to Taiwan under the new Trump administration, a bipartisan one, aiming to show both Taiwan and China that U.S. support for Taiwan’s defense remains broad, despite recent tensions in trade relations. Taiwan’s leaders so far in this week’s trip by two Republican and one Democrat senators are messaging back, assuring the Republican U.S. administration that they have taken in Trump’s complaints and are acting on them. Many Asia-Pacific nations are eschewing the retaliatory criticism and tariffs of some of the U.S.’s European allies after Trump earlier this month imposed broad tariffs on many countries around the world, including a 32% one for Taiwan. Despite that hit, conversations in Taiwan this week were "optimistic and forward-looking," Democrat Sen. Chris Coons said in Taipei. "And I’m optimistic that we’re going to see a strong next chapter in U.S.-Taiwan relations.” That includes assurances from the Taiwanese that they are working quickly to pursue new trade and investment deals aligned with the Trump administration, in addition to the advanced-semiconductor giant’s $100 billion investment this year alone in U.S. chip production. Taking all the lessons from Ukraine in its defense against Russia and criticism from Trump, Taiwan also says it is investing fast to make their military stronger, nimbler and less dependent on the U.S., as the island’s strongest deterrent against China, the U.S. lawmakers said. That includes seeking investment with Americans on drone warfare. Sens. Pete Ricketts and Coons, the ranking Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s East Asia subcommittee, spoke ahead of scheduled talks Friday with President Lai Ching-te, Defense Minister Wellington Koo and national security adviser Joseph Wu. Republican Sen. Ted Budd also is on the trip. The mission comes at a time that an economy-shaking trade war between the U.S. and China has some warning that China could strike out at Taiwan, a self-governed island with a vibrant democracy and the world’s top production of the most advanced semiconductors. China claims Taiwan as its territory, to be retaken by force if necessary. Trump has repeatedly accused Taiwan of "stealing" the United States’ computer chip industry. His criticism of Taiwan, and his insistence last year that "Taiwan should pay us" for its defense, have heightened concern that the U.S., Taiwan’s strongest military partner, might decide not to get too involved if China were ever to attack Taiwan.

Reuters [4/18/2025 5:40 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports the United States will continue to assist Taiwan with its self-defence and wants to see peace across the Taiwan Strait without coercion or the threat of force, a visiting U.S. senator told President Lai Ching-te on Friday. The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties with the Chinese-claimed island. Meeting Lai at the presidential office in Taipei, the Republican Senator Pete Ricketts said that although administrations change, the bipartisan support for Taiwan in Congress continued. "The United States is committed to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. We want to see peace across the Taiwan Strait. We oppose any unilateral change in the status of Taiwan," Ricketts said. "We expect any differences between Taiwan and the mainland to be resolved peacefully without coercion or the threat of force," he added. "To that end, the United States will continue to assist Taiwan in its self defence. There is broad consensus in the U.S. Congress to support Taiwan’s self defence." China held its latest round of war games around Taiwan earlier this month. Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. Ricketts is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy. Lai said that he looked forward to Taiwan and the United States continuing to work together to maintain peace and stability in the region, and that Taiwan was committed to spending more on its defence. Ricketts is being accompanied in Taiwan by another Republican senator, Ted Budd, and the Democrat Senator Chris Coons. While U.S. lawmakers regularly travel to the island, this is the first visit since President Donald Trump took office in January. Trump and his administration have pushed Taiwan to ramp up its defence spending, something Lai previously pledged to do in February.

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