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.

Politico [4/4/2025 7:06 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 52868K] reports a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring a Maryland man back to the U.S. by midnight Monday after concluding that he was unlawfully deported to his home country of El Salvador despite an immigration court order that he not be sent there. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order Friday requiring the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia following an extraordinary hearing during which the government flatly admitted that he’d been deported in violation of federal law. "This was an illegal act," Xinis told a Justice Department lawyer. "Congress said you can’t do it, and you did it anyway.” The court’s order that the administration "facilitate and effectuate the return" of the El Salvador-born Abrego Garcia could lead to a direct clash between the judicial branch and President Donald Trump’s White House. Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Abrego Garcia a member of the "brutal and vicious" MS-13 gang and said he "will not be returning to our country.” But Xinis, an Obama appointee, said the government had shown her nothing to back up the claims of gang membership. "That’s just chatter, in my view. I haven’t been given any evidence," the judge said. "In a court of law, when someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization, it comes in the form of an indictment, a complaint, a criminal proceeding that has robust process so we can assess the facts.” The Justice Department immediately appealed Xinis’ decision to the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Scores of supporters of Abrego Garcia protested outside the Greenbelt, Maryland, courthouse Friday and sat in the courtroom during the afternoon hearing. They broke out in applause after the judge read her order aloud. Abrego Garcia’s case quickly made national headlines after the Justice Department admitted the Maryland resident had been inadvertently sent to El Salvador despite a 2019 immigration judge’s determination that he faced legitimate fear of persecution in his home country. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said the trip Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently took to the Salvadoran prison undercut the administration’s assertion that there is nothing they can do to get Abrego Garcia back. "Maybe they could have made that argument prior to Wednesday of last week, but as soon as they put Kristi Noem within the walls of that prison, they really kneecapped their argument to say that they can’t get someone out of that prison because they got Kristi Noem out of that prison," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Newsweek [4/4/2025 7:43 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports "The court directs defendants to return Abrego Garcia no later than 11.59 p.m. on Monday, April 7th.” Newsweek reached out to the DOJ for further comment via contact form Friday afternoon. Abrego Garcia was among the 200-plus immigrants on board two flights that made it to El Salvador despite a judge ordering that the government halt the planes that afternoon. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later said an "administrative error" led to the father’s deportation. The hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, came after the Trump administration admitted its mistake but said it did not have the power to seek Abrego Garcia’s return, as he was now in El Salvador’s custody. Judge Xinis appeared to challenge this stance Friday, referring to the U.S.’s $6 million deal to house deportees who are allegedly members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua (TdA). She said this deal meant the U.S. had some sway over the Salvadoran government. While the Trump administration has maintained that Abrego Garcia was a confirmed member of MS-13, his attorneys argue this was based on one police report in 2019. That report said the Salvadoran’s clothing—a Chicago Bulls cap and top—and an anonymous tipoff were enough evidence to tie him to the group. "That’s just chatter in my view. I haven’t been given any evidence," the judge said. The AP [4/4/2025 6:33 PM, Michael Kunzelman and Ben Finley, 2600K] reports ICE expelled the 29-year-old Abrego Garcia last month despite an immigration judge’s 2019 ruling that shielded him from deportation to El Salvador, where he faced likely persecution by local gangs. His mistaken deportation, described by the White House as an “administrative error,” has outraged many and raised concerns about expelling noncitizens who were granted permission to be in the U.S. The White House has cast Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 gang member and doubled down on that claim after Friday’s hearing. Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, stated that the U.S. has “intelligence reports that he is involved in human trafficking.” The Wall Street Journal [4/4/2025 5:24 PM, Jan Wolfe, Joseph De Avila, and Alyssa Lukpat, 646K] reports “The individual in question is a member of the brutal MS-13 gang,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. “Whether he is in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he will be locked up and off America’s streets.”

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NBC News [4/4/2025 5:51 PM, Dareh Gregorian and Gary Grumbach, 44742K] reports judges showed some frustration this week with how the Trump administration has been defending itself in court, with one saying it appeared to have used "bad faith" tactics, another accusing it of using "disingenuous" arguments and a third saying it was making "inaccurate" claims. One of the judges, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, suggested he might hold contempt proceedings to hold the government to account for failing to comply with his orders. In a separate but related case, a federal judge in Maryland on Friday ordered the government to return a deportee it acknowledged was accidentally sent to a notorious megajail in El Salvador.

Reuters [4/4/2025 7:47 PM, Kristina Cooke, 41523K] reports multiple Ukrainians legally in the United States under a humanitarian program received an email this week telling them their status had been revoked and they had seven days to leave the country or the "federal government will find you.” A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said on Friday the email had been sent in error and that the Ukrainian parole program created after the 2022 Russian invasion of that country had not been terminated. It was not clear how many Ukrainians received the email. Reuters reported last month that the Trump administration was planning to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia. Such a move would be a reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden’s administration. "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 Thursday email read. "Again, DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States.” The Department of Homeland Security sent a follow-up note on Friday, informing them that the order was in error and that "the terms of your parole as originally issued remain unchanged at this time.” One Ukrainian parolee, who asked that her name not be used for fear of retribution from the U.S. government, said she "couldn’t breathe normally and was uncontrollably crying" upon receiving the email. The woman said she had renewed her immigration status last August and had been told that it was valid for another two years, and she racked her brain trying to figure out what she had done wrong to be booted from the U.S. She could think of no reason, saying, "I don’t have as much as a parking ticket, don’t post on social media.” The Washington Post [4/4/2025 7:34 PM, Maria Sacchetti, 31735K] reports the Trump administration mistakenly sent an urgent notice this week to some Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion saying it was terminating their provisional legal status in seven days and ordering them to leave the United States “immediately,” frightening immigrants and advocates across the country. “A message was sent in error to some Ukrainians” who entered the United States under the Uniting for Ukraine program, said Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. She said the “parole program has not been terminated.” The email notice on Department of Homeland Security letterhead said the government was terminating Ukrainians’ parole, a provisional permission to enter the United States, unless they had obtained legal status another way. Many Ukrainians have since obtained temporary protected status, which is not set to expire until October 2026. The notice, which advocates provided to The Washington Post, echoed rhetoric that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem has deployed on social media to target undocumented immigrants, ordering immigrants to leave, threatening to rescind their work permits and warning they could be criminally prosecuted or fined if they fail to depart,

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ABC News [4/4/2025 12:39 PM, Luke Barr, 34586K] reports that foreign adversaries including Russia and China are targeting government workers who have been laid off amid the Trump administration’s attempt to downsize to recruit as spies, according to new intelligence. "New intelligence indicates agents from China, Russia, and other countries have set their sights on recently fired probationary workers, or those with security clearances, hoping to obtain valuable information about U.S. critical infrastructure or national security interests," according to intelligence distributed by the U.S. Coast Guard to its workforce. "These foreign intelligence officers actively search LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, and Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu -- known as RedNote -- for potential sources," it added. "In at least one instance, a foreign agent was instructed to create a company profile on LinkedIn, post a job listing, and actively track federal employees who indicated they were ‘open for work.’" The Coast Guard did not develop the intelligence but rather distributed it as a warning to Coast Guard officials around the world. "Posting about your frustration, status as a recently fired employee, or any other OPSEC sensitive information could make you a target," the notice said. "Our adversaries have successfully preyed on upset and disgruntled government workers during past furloughs." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [4/4/2025 3:28 PM, Aaron Navarro, 51661K] reports Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency say they’re using their access to the Social Security Administration data not only to investigate claims of waste and fraud, but also to examine claims that immigrants are abusing the system — even though undocumented immigrants contribute more to Social Security than they take. During his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, last Sunday, Musk and Antonio Gracias, a longtime friend and DOGE employee at the Social Security Administration, displayed a chart that purported to show over 5 million non-citizens who were issued Social Security numbers between 2021 and 2025. Musk called it a "massive financial incentive" for people to come to the U.S. illegally and claimed it was a large-scale Democratic "program" intended "to import as many illegals as possible." Gracias claimed the number of immigrants with Social Security numbers was "totally uncontrolled" and blamed former President Joe Biden’s immigration laws for this. DOGE’s chart represented immigrants with legal work authorizations who were given Social Security numbers through the Enumeration Beyond Entry program, known as EBE. Those here illegally, without any lawful immigration status, are not eligible for a Social Security number.

Washington Examiner [4/4/2025 4:29 PM, Christian Datoc, 2296K] reports the Department of Housing and Urban Development is ramping up its enforcement and implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking illegal immigrants from receiving federal assistance, including public housing and HUD grant programs. HUD Secretary Scott Turner will send a letter outlining the changes, obtained by the Washington Examiner Friday afternoon, to every public housing authority and grantee at the department’s Office of Public and Indian Housing. In the letter, Turner wrote that HUD will "take steps" to ensure that no HUD funding goes to any states or local governments declaring "sanctuary" status for illegal immigrants. A senior HUD official stressed that Turner’s action isn’t specifically targeting "sanctuary" states or cities, adding that governments will have opportunities to comply with the new guidance to retain access to public housing funds. Furthermore, Turner and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem launched an interagency partnership to monitor public housing programs and "ensure taxpayer-funded housing programs are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens."

NPR [4/4/2025 6:30 PM, Angela Kocherga, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports President Trump’s recently announced reciprocal tariffs on imports will affect trade with business partners. Nobody knows this better than the logistics companies on the U.S.-Mexico border area.

CBS Austin [4/4/2025 6:49 PM, Jamel Valencia, 602K] reports the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced the extradition of 10 fugitives from nine countries following an international law enforcement operation that targeted suspects accused of murder drug trafficking, child sexual abuse and cybercrime. The Justice Department stated it secured the extradition of fugitives from Canada, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, Kosovo, Israel, Mexico, Spain and Thailand. Among those being extradited are being brought to the United States for crimes allegedly committed in Ohio, Utah, Pennsylvania, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs was recognized in the announcement for leading the global effort, which involved the U.S. Marshals Service and federal prosecutors. "These extraditions demonstrate our unrelenting commitment to holding fugitives accountable — no matter where they flee," the Justice Department said in a statement, thanking international law enforcement partners for their "instrumental" cooperation.

Washington Post [4/5/2025 5:00 AM, Ann E. Marimow and Spencer S. Hsu, 31735K] reports during President Donald Trump’s first weeks back in office, Judge James E. Boasberg watched the president and his allies attack other federal judges for halting some of the administration’s most far-reaching initiatives. His turn came on a Saturday in mid-March. At an emergency hearing, Boasberg temporarily blocked the administration from deporting alleged gang members to El Salvador without due process. Trump and his allies soon began calling for the judge’s impeachment. Online influencers, Republican lawmakers and the White House spokeswoman joined the attacks, drawing warnings from constitutional scholars about the need to respect the independence of the legal system. Boasberg’s next decision may be one of his most fraught: whether to begin proceedings to potentially hold Trump officials in contempt for defying one of his orders in the deportation case. It will be a pivotal moment for the longtime jurist — and the courthouse where he is now the chief judge. Both are venerable institutions in the nation’s capital that have played central roles in national security and presidential scandals for decades. Boasberg, 62, has a history of bipartisan support and friendships across the ideological spectrum, including with Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee who was Boasberg’s housemate at Yale Law School.

CBS Austin [4/4/2025 11:09 AM, Ryan Minnaugh, 602K] reports that America First, we have all heard the campaign slogan of President Donald Trump. It applies to everything he and the administration does and that includes immigration policy. This week one federal judge has decided that it shows illegal and racist “animus” toward immigrants. Judge Edward Chen, a senior district judge in San Francisco, blocked the Department of Homeland Security from revoking a special deportation amnesty for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. Chen, an Obama appointee said the term had an “inference of animus given the historical connotation of that phrase.” The White House responded saying, “President Trump’s commitment to putting Americans and America First has only to do with his love for our country and our citizens, not animus against anyone else,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Washington Times. The Judge’s ruling blocks the DHS led by Kristy Noem from using a Biden-era extension of Temporary Protected Status for some 600,000 Venezuelan migrants. Chen said that Ms. Noem failed to justify her actions and showed “unconstitutional animus” toward the Venezuelans.

The Washington Examiner [4/4/2025 10:58 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 2296K] reports a federal judge moved the case of Rumeysa Özturk, a Tufts University graduate student, to a Vermont jurisdiction following a Justice Department request to place her in Louisiana. Özturk was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 25 and has been held in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana. "The government asserts that this Court lacks jurisdiction over the Petition as Özturk, unknown to anyone but the government, was in Vermont, not Massachusetts at the time the Petition was filed and, as of 2:35 p.m. on March 26, 2025, was in Louisiana, where she remains," U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper for Massachusetts wrote in her order. The Obama appointee said her order blocking Özturk from being deported should be upheld unless the court in which she is being transferred objects. Özturk is among many pro-Palestinian protesters who have been arrested by immigration officials or had their visas and green cards revoked. Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil had his visa and green card revoked and was arrested by immigration officials. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said Khalil’s arrest was "in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.” More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers previously sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over Özturk’s arrest. A DHS spokesperson said last week that investigations found that Özturk supported the terrorist group Hamas. The AP [4/4/2025 5:26 PM, Holly Ramer, 5046K] reports Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. After being taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana. Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities who attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians during the war in Gaza and who recently had visas revoked or been stopped from entering the U.S. Her lawyers filed a petition in Massachusetts seeking her release, but Justice Department lawyers argued that Ozturk’s petition was filed in the wrong state and should be dismissed or transferred to Louisiana. Ozturk’s lawyers said at the time they filed the petition, they had no way of knowing where she was. They also noted that it was filed while Ozturk was in a vehicle within the control of Massachusetts-based ICE officials, making the Boston court the appropriate venue. U.S. District Judge Denise Casper on Friday moved the case to Vermont, where Ozturk was being held at the time the petition was filed. In doing so, she cited a federal law that says if a case is filed in the wrong venue, it can be transferred to any district in which it could have been brought if such a move serves “the interest of justice.” “Here, because Ozturk was confined overnight in Vermont when the petition was filed, the District of Vermont is the proper transferee court,” she wrote, adding that it will be up to Vermont to determine if it has jurisdiction given Ozturk’s subsequent move to Louisiana. The Hill [4/4/2025 5:53 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports that the judge said the Vermont jurisdiction would hear Özturk’s argument alleging that she was detained in violation of her Fifth Amendment right to due process and the Administrative Procedure Act while being targeted for removal in response to speaking out in support of Palestine. "The rationale for this arrest appears to be this student’s expression of her political views," a group of 30 Democrats wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE acting Director Todd Lyons. Özturk has requested to be released from custody pending adjudication.

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The Hill [4/4/2025 6:14 PM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K] reports a district judge denied a temporary restraining order in Mahmoud Khalil’s case against Columbia University attempting to block the transfer of student records to the GOP-led House Education and the Workforce Committee. Khalil, the former lead negotiator for Columbia’s pro-Palestinian encampment who has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sued the school alongside multiple other students to stop it from giving disciplinary records to the lawmakers. The suit also aimed to end the government’s pause of $400 million in federal funding to Columbia and to stop the university from implementing any reforms it had agreed to in an attempt to get the federal money back. District Judge Arun Subramanian denied the request for a temporary restraining order, citing issues in the plaintiffs’ motion such as not addressing their standing to sue or their risk of irreparable harm from these actions. The judge notes some records have already been sent to the lawmakers and cannot be undone, but the university did scrub any identifying student information before sending the files over. The judge is allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaint.

FOX News [4/4/2025 11:49 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports that the illegal immigrant accused of killing a University of South Carolina student in a hit-and-run crash is being held without bail, jail records show. Rosali I. Fernandez Cruz, 24, is accused of striking and killing Nathaniel Baker, 21, in Columbia, South Carolina, on Tuesday. Baker was a junior at the University of South Carolina and is remembered fondly by his Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers. "Yesterday, we lost not just a brother, but a leader, a role model, and a true embodiment of what our fraternity stands for," the fraternity said on Instagram. "Nate Baker brought light, laughter, and love into all of our lives. Nate will always be remembered for the way he showed up for others and the impact he had on everyone around him. His passion, loyalty, and love for this brotherhood will never be forgotten. May we honor his memory by living with the same kindness, selflessness and generosity that he showed to everyone around him.” Fernandez Cruz, an illegal immigrant against whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer hold, is accused of failing to yield and striking Baker, who was riding a motorcycle. He then fled the scene, according to police. He was wanted by ICE before the accident, police said. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source told Fox News that Fernandez-Cruz had been arrested by Border Patrol in Hidalgo, Texas, on Dec. 24, 2016.

FOX News [4/4/2025 4:37 PM, Audrey Conklin, Danielle Wallace, 46189K] reports South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson on Friday announced that he will be prosecuting the Salvadoran illegal immigrant accused in the fatal hit-and-run of a University of South Carolina student on Wednesday. Rosali I. Fernandez-Cruz, 24, is charged with hit-and-run resulting in death, failure to give information and render aid, failure to yield the right of way and driving without a license in connection with 21-year-old Nate Baker’s death, according to a statement from the Columbia Police Department (CPD). Baker was riding his motorcycle on Tuesday when he collided with the suspect, who allegedly failed to yield the right of way while turning left, at the intersection of Blossom and Assembly Streets in Columbia. A Department of Homeland Security source previously told Fox News Digital that Fernandez-Cruz was previously arrested by border patrol in Hidalgo, Texas, on Dec. 24, 2016. In September 2018, an immigration judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, ordered Fernandez-Cruz to be sent back to El Salvador. At the time of the crash, Fernandez-Cruz was wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), police said. Two men were with Fernandez-Cruz at the time of the accident and also fled, according to police. No charges are pending against them. The immigration status of the other men is unknown.

Miami Herald [4/4/2025 11:40 PM, Ana Ceballos, 3973K] reports a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked police and prosecutors from enforcing a new state law that makes it a crime for immigrants to come into Florida after they enter the country illegally. Calling the law likely unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams suspended enforcement of it for 14 days and scheduled a hearing for April 18. The ruling is a setback for Gov. Ron DeSantis and law-enforcement officials who were already making arrests and prosecuting cases under the law, which was enacted in February following a contentious special session meant to enact policies that would help President Donald Trump’s immigration-enforcement plans. In the ruling, Williams said the law likely violates the U.S. Constitution because it seeks to enforce an issue that is exclusively reserved for the federal government. "In short, for nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has held that the power to control immigration — the entry, admission, and removal of noncitizens — is exclusively a federal power," Williams, of the Miami-based U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, wrote. Williams ruled in a lawsuit filed by two immigrants who live in Florida and say they came into the country illegally. One of them was previously deported and has four children who were born in the United States, according to court records. The other travels out of Florida twice a year with her U.S.-born child who has a disability. The individuals are members of the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworker Association of Florida, two advocacy groups that are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit. If convicted, a violator would face a mandatory sentence of nine months behind bars.

Washington Examiner [4/4/2025 11:21 AM, Elaine Mallon, 2296K] reports that federal law enforcement arrested three suspected MS-13 gang members for their alleged involvement in the murder of a man in 2014. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that cooperation between federal and local law enforcement officials made these arrests possible. The three men, who are illegally living in the country, have all been charged with first-degree murder. "This has been a long-running investigation that started in 2015. The victim in this case was brutally murdered, stabbed approximately 100 times by multiple gang members before he was shot in the head," Bondi said during a Friday morning press conference. "He suffered tremendously, and these indictments are a warning to all criminals. We don’t care how long ago you committed the crime. We don’t care where you go. We will find you. We will arrest you, and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.” Bondi shared that officials are considering whether to include the death penalty as part of sentencing. The three suspects, Wilson Tirado-Silva, Miguel Cabrera-Granados, and Melvin David Cruz-Ortiz, allegedly killed Joel Canizales-Lara as a part of a gang initiation. "More arrests are coming," Bondi said. "If you are a gang member living in this country, I’d self-deport right now because we’re coming after you."

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 11:39 AM, Ana Goñi-Lessan, 52868K] reports that immigrant advocates are suing Florida legal officials, questioning the constitutionality of a part of the state’s new laws to crack down on illegal immigration. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project and Americans for Immigrant Justice filed a lawsuit this week in federal court to block the Florida law (SB 4C) that passed during one of several special sessions held this spring. They name as defendants Attorney General James Uthmeier, Statewide Prosecutor Nicholas B. Cox and the state attorneys, or top prosecutors, in each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Miami on April 2. "Florida’s SB 4C is not just unconstitutional – it’s cruel and dangerous," said Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in a press release. "This law strips power from the federal government and hands it to state officers with no immigration training or authority, threatening to tear families apart and detain people who have every legal right to be here. Our communities deserve safety, dignity, and due process – not politically motivated attacks," Jackson added. A couple of hundred people showed up to protest outside of New College of Florida Wednesday, morning March 20, 2025, during a immigration panel with Border Czar Tom Homan, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran. The plaintiffs are the Farmworker Association of Florida, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and Florida residents identified by their initials as Y.M. and V.V.

CBS Minnesota [4/4/2025 7:23 PM, Reg Chapman, 51661K] Video: HERE reports an alleged member of the notorious street gang MS-13 living in Minnesota has been arrested by federal agents. Hugo Adiel Bermudez-Martinez, 30, was living in the Dayton Bluff’s neighborhood of St. Paul when authorities took him into custody last month. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday said he is one of three alleged MS-13 gang members that have been federally charged in connection with a 2015 killing in Florida. "They are not just a street gang; they are a highly organized terrorist organization, " Bondi said. She says the three men arrested recently were in the U.S. illegally. "They are living among us because they think they can get away with this, and they cannot. They’re bringing drugs, and especially violence, to our country, and under Donald Trump’s presidency, that has stopped," Bondi said. The U.S. Department of Justice says MS-13 is a violent transnational gang and designated terrorist organization. Many of them are now housed at a prison in El Salvador. "Bermudez-Martinez was apprehended in Minnesota. Great police work by all of our federal state and local law enforcement agencies working together," Bondi said. It is not known how long Bermudez-Martinez was living in Minnesota.

MSN United States [4/4/2025 2:51 PM, Staff, 126906K] reports a North Texas man is in custody after posting threatening messages on social media aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. Robert King, 35, was arrested in McKinney, Texas, and charged with one count of making terroristic threats causing the impairment or interruption of public services. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced the arrest Wednesday on X. A DHS spokesperson confirmed to NBC 5 in Dallas that King is a U.S. citizen and said his social media posts included explicit threats to "open fire" on federal agents. One post cited by the agency stated: "If I see ICE agents in my neighborhood, I am opening fire. It’s time to stop being [expletive] and put the second amendment to work. ICE are not real cops, they are a secret police force with no real legal authority. Kill them.” In another post, King wrote: "I truly hope, and I mean this with all my heart, that Kristi Noem meets a horrible and agonizing demise... I hope she is ripped apart in a gulag." In the same post, King referred to Noem as a Nazi and called for her to be tried in a war criminal court. Tarleton State University criminology professor Dr. Alex Del Carmen told the outlet that the allegations suggest that authorities found reason to believe King had both the intent and the means to carry them out: "If this particular charge or if this claim has been made by the Department of Homeland Security, you know what it basically alludes to is the fact that they must have evidence in place that shows that this person had not only verbal comments that were made against her and against DHS but rather that he had the ability and he had the intent of doing both". King’s arrest comes amid heightened scrutiny of online threats toward federal immigration officials. Days earlier, Secretary Noem responded through her X account to a TikTok video encouraging violence against plainclothes ICE agents by stating, "If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law:".

Border Report [4/4/2025 5:01 PM, Salvador Rivera, 117K] reports Mexican drug lord Servando Gómez Martínez, aka "La Tuta," asked a judge this week to stop his extradition to the United States. Gómez Martínez is currently serving time in a Mexican prison. He first rose to fame while teaching in the state of Michoacán when he organized a group of community members to stand up to Los Zetas, an ultra-violent cartel in the region that was extorting residents and running drugs through the area. In the process, prosecutors say the former school teacher became a criminal himself while starting his own cartel known as the Knights of Templar. In 2001, "La Tuta" became one of the most sought-after criminals by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and its counterparts in Mexico. In 2015, he was arrested but wasn’t convicted for another seven years. Gómez Martínez was sentenced to 47 years in prison for running a drug organization and trafficking narcotics. A decision is expected in the coming weeks about his pending extradition to the U.S.

Border Report [4/4/2025 6:29 PM, Salvador Rivera, 117K] reports Mexican special forces commandos arrested long-time fugitive Leobardo Garcia Corrales in Mexico City this week. Garcia Corrales — aka "Leo," "Leo 18" or "Leobas” was a confidant and business associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada when both ran the Sinaloa Cartel. In recent years, he had been working with the "Chapitos," Guzman’s sons and leader of a splinter group of the Sinaloa Cartel. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says "Leo" was involved in the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine. The U.S. State Department was offering a $4 million reward for information leading to his arrest. According to the DEA, Garcia Corrales was also regarded as a major illegal gun and explosives dealer. In April 2023, he was indicted by a grand jury in New York City after undercover agents recorded him making a deal to deliver up to 1,000 kilos of fentanyl through the mail, at a price of $15,000 per kilo to New York. He is also said to have been involved in exporting 10 kilos of fentanyl to California in 2022. "Leo" had evaded arrest for many years until Wednesday when his car was stopped on Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Boulevard in the Jardines de la Montaño neighborhood in Mexico City. The U.S. is expected to seek his extradition.

New York Times [4/4/2025 7:24 PM, Carol Rosenberg, 145325K] reports two months after President Trump ordered his administration to prepare the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay for up to 30,000 migrants, about 400 migrants have been held there at a cost to taxpayers of more than $40 million. At one point in February, the administration held 178 Venezuelans at the base, the largest group to be kept there at one time. The operation has been staffed with 1,000 government workers, 900 of them members of the U.S. military and the rest immigration service agents or contractors. That means a ratio of five staff members for each migrant in that group. Senior Pentagon officials testified at Congress this week about the operation. Here are some of the things we know as of now.

Telemundo [4/4/2025 10:00 PM, Eduardo "Yusnaby" Rodriguez., 171K] reports Misael Enamorado Dager, who was a senior leader of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), voluntarily returned to the island from Houston, Texas, after failing to regularize his immigration status in the United States. In love he had entered the country under the humanitarian parole program, but his attempt to avail himself of the Cuban Adjustment Act to obtain residence was, according to experts, unfeasible because of his political past. In love Dager was the first secretary of the PCC in Santiago de Cuba between 1995 and 2009, and later a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. His record as a senior regime official made him a controversial figure within the Cuban exile community in the U.S. In recent weeks, his presence on U.S. territory generated intense reaction from opposition groups and legislators such as Congressman Carlos Giménez, who formally called for his deportation. According to immigration lawyer Rosaly Chaviano, Enamorado entered the country legally through parole, without hiding his link to the Communist Party. There was no question as to whether he was a member of the UJC or the PCC during the parole process, he explained.

New York Times [4/5/2025 5:01 AM, James Poniewozik, 145325K] reports some days the show is a prison drama: A mass of prisoners assemble under the watch of an authority. Some days it’s a police procedural: Protagonists in uniform conduct raids on dark city streets. Some days it’s a western: A figure in a cowboy hat patrols on horseback, keeping an eye on the wild frontier. The show has many forms, but it is all one production — the social-media feed of the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem. Since she took office in January, the secretary’s online video presence has been helping a media-minded administration broadcast images of unsparing domination with a telegenic face. Ms. Noem’s social feed drew wide notice last week when she posted a 33-second video from a Salvadoran prison where the administration has been sending detainees. Dressed in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement cap and active-wear, a $50,000 Rolex watch on her wrist, she warns that “if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face.” There are other people in the video too. Though Ms. Noem uses the word “terrorists,” we do not know their history; legal cases and reporting have questioned the charges of gang membership against some El Salvador detainees, and the administration has acknowledged deporting at least one man in error. The figures behind Ms. Noem are not so neatly or expensively styled but they also convey an aesthetic message. The men, many of them shirtless, are crowded, teeming, sitting and standing, seemingly at attention, to face the camera from behind bars. Ms. Noem, the image says, is literally standing between them and you. They are objects, warnings, a forbidding wallpaper of fear and subjugation. The video sent a stark message, if not a universally lauded one. As with all things Trump, however, the video seems meant to appeal to one viewer above all. Before he took office for his first term, President Trump, the former host of “The Apprentice,” told top aides that they should approach every day as if it were an episode of a TV show, in which their goal was to win. He also had a preference, then and now, for underlings who perform well on camera and “look the part.”

Washington Examiner [4/4/2025 11:17 AM, Rep. Addison McDowell, 2296K] reports that when folks think about the Coast Guard, they usually picture a rescue swimmer jumping from a helicopter — something straight out of The Guardian. But the real picture is far bigger and far more urgent. The Coast Guard might be one of the smallest branches of our military, but it carries a heavyweight mission. Coast Guardsmen are out there every day, stopping drug smugglers, pushing back on threats from China and Russia in the Arctic, and keeping nearly $3 trillion in maritime trade flowing safely to American ports. As vice chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, I’ve seen how the Coast Guard’s mission doesn’t just protect our coastlines. It affects every single state. It affects families like mine in central North Carolina. Safe waterways and secure shipping routes matter whether you live in a big coastal city such as Wilmington or a small inland town such as Wallburg. And when it comes to stopping fentanyl before it ever hits our streets, the Coast Guard is on the front line.

NewsMax [4/4/2025 4:54 PM, Michael Katz, 4998K] reports Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said Friday she wants people who make online threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and other federal authorities to be prosecuted. There has been a spike of such threats being made on social media amid President Donald Trump’s efforts at mass deportations of illegal immigrants. On Wednesday, federal authorities said they arrested a U.S. citizen in Texas for allegedly making "terroristic threats" against ICE agents and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The arrest came days after someone on TikTok posted a video calling on people to "shoot at ICE agents on sight." No arrest has yet to be made in that case, although Noem posted Sunday on X in a thread that contained the video: "If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

NewsMax [4/4/2025 10:25 PM, Mark Swanson, 500K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is considering a move to repurpose Federal Emergency Management Agency funds allocated by Congress for migrant housing into immigration enforcement and detainment, CNN reported. The Shelter and Services Program, a grant initiative established in 2019 and a frequent target of President Donald Trump on the presidential campaign trail, has more than $800 million in unspent funds, according to the report. FEMA this week notified recipients that it was terminating grants that provided aid to illegal migrants, according to a letter obtained by CNN. "The individuals receiving these services often have no legal status and are in the United States unlawfully, such as those awaiting removal proceedings. This, in turn, provides support for illegal aliens and is not consistent with DHS’s current priorities," acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said in the letter, according to the report. CNN reported that "the legislative authority for this grant program is extremely broad" and that the Trump administration is operating under an interpretation that "providing shelter for an immigrant is tantamount to a detention bed." No final decision has been, according to the report. "Secretary [Kristi] Noem has directed FEMA to implement additional controls to ensure that all grant money going out is consistent with law and does not go to fraud, waste or abuse, as in the past," Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN in a statement. "The open borders gravy train is over, and there will not be a single penny spent that goes against the interest and safety of the American people."

Newsweek [4/4/2025 7:33 PM, Billal Rahman, 3973K] reports that Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama has called for the prosecution of individuals who make online threats against federal immigration authorities. "Any threats of violence against these courageous law enforcement officers and agents should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Britt told Newsweek in a statement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become a focal point in the national immigration debate as the Trump administration increased its deportation efforts. The agency has been granted expanded powers, while threats against federal immigration officials have grown more common. The threats come amid heightened tensions between immigrant communities and federal immigration authorities as the administration clamps down on undocumented immigrants. President Donald Trump pledged to deport millions of immigrants suspected of living in the country unlawfully. The White House has consistently labeled anyone residing in the United States illegally as a "criminal." "The hardworking men and women at CBP, DHS, and ICE are tasked with keeping our nation secure, our communities safe, and our families protected. Each and every day, they put their lives on the line to protect our nation," Britt said. "As Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure these officers have the funding and resources they need to do their jobs and keep our homeland safe," she added.

Maine Morning Star [4/4/2025 4:03 PM, Emma Davis] reports a federal immigration enforcement agency signed its first contract with a local police department in Maine this week. This partnership will allow officers of the Wells Police Department in York County to arrest people on immigration violations in the course of routine work, an authority previously reserved for federal agents. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed this agreement — known as the 287(g) program — with the department on Wednesday, April 2, according to data ICE released Friday morning. Police Chief Jo-Ann Putnam submitted the application last week and told Maine Morning Star her department received an email Friday afternoon from Enforcement and Removal Operations informing them it had been accepted. The data also shows a pending application from Monmouth Winthrop Police Department, a combination of departments that serve central Maine communities. Some sheriffs in other counties told Maine Morning Star they are also considering signing up.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 8:09 PM, Jason Levy, 52868K] reports a Hamden man was arrested Friday after allegedly uploading child sexual abuse material to a server. Otilio Green, 43, was arrested after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided a tip regarding the material being uploaded. Danbury man found guilty of assault, other charges after April 2024 bar fight. A warrant for Green’s arrest was issued following an investigation by the Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit, in collaboration with the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Task Force. Green was arrested and transported to the New Haven Federal Courthouse, where he was processed and charged with first degree possession of child sexual abuse material.

Newsweek [4/4/2025 4:38 PM, Nick Mordowanec, 52220K] reports a Harlem, New York, man who has spent more than five decades in the United States was denied release on Friday after recently being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a routine check-in. Some attorneys and immigration groups have warned individuals either traveling out of the U.S. or entering that the federal government, due to the illegal immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, could potentially detain individuals—even those with visas or green cards, or students with legal standing to remain here. On March 25, ICE New York City arrested 59-year-old Robert Servio Panton pursuant to an outstanding warrant of removal. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials tell Newsweek that the current citizen of Jamaica violated the terms of his lawful admission on October 28, 1970, when he was convicted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for the offense of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. He was sentenced to life in prison on May 25, 1994. On August 11, 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Inez, Kentucky, released him to ICE Chicago which served him with a notice to appear and placed him into removal proceedings. On January 27, 2021, an immigration judge ordered Panton to be removed from the country. Panton has appealed his removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals and the U.S. District Court, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, on numerous occasions—in turn being granted several limited stays of deportation, including being provided six months to affect his self-departure from the U.S. The government claims he failed to do that. Another request for deferred action was submitted on August 22, 2024, which ICE New York City approved until March 25. On Friday, SDNY Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Panton’s motion to be released with bond while deportation proceedings continue, according to Inner City Press.

NBC News [4/5/2025 12:45 AM, Phil Helsel, 44742K] reports a Columbia University student activist who led campus pro-Palestinian rallies and is now fighting the Trump administration’s deportation efforts is urging students to continue demonstrations and protests. Mahmoud Khalil, who is in custody in Louisiana as his case moves through courts, called his March 8 arrest by immigration authorities an "abduction" in an op-ed published Friday in the Columbia Spectator. Titled "A Letter to Columbia," the piece was dictated and verified by his attorney, the student newspaper said. "Since my abduction on March 8, the intimidation and kidnapping of international students who stand for Palestine has only accelerated," Khalil said in the op-ed. He said Columbia’s leadership has suppressed student dissent over Israel’s war in Gaza, which it launched after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas. Khalil is a lawful U.S. permanent resident with a green card, his attorney has said. His legal team has said his detention is a violation of his due process and First Amendment rights. Federal officials have said that he led activities "aligned to Hamas," which the United States has designated a terrorist organization. He has not been charged with committing any crime, and an attorney of his has said there is no evidence he has provided any kind of support to a terrorist organization. The Trump administration is seeking to deport him under a provision in federal immigration law that allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the State Department has revoked 300 or more student visas. "Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas," Rubio said at a news conference in Guyana. In the op-ed, Khalil referred to other students who have been arrested and are facing deportation — including Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk. The Department of Homeland Security has said that Öztürk "engaged in activities in support of Hamas.”

Reuters [4/4/2025 5:59 PM, Efrain Otero, 41523K] reports friends and relatives of Venezuelans deported from the U.S. to a maximum security prison in El Salvador held a vigil in front of colorful murals of their loved ones’ faces painted on a Caracas street, calling for due process after the U.S. accused them of being gang members. Paola Paiva told Reuters her brother Arturo Suarez was a singer. His wife said to local media that he had gone to the U.S. to boost his emerging music career. "Due process needs to be carried out," said Paiva. "We don’t know what is happening to him. This is practically a kidnapping. We haven’t heard any news of my brother for 16 days.” Suarez was arrested on February 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who raided a house in North Carolina where he was making a music video with Darwin Hernandez, a barber, and Hernandez’s brother, according to Darwin Hernandez’s wife Aida Diaz. Diaz said her husband told her before he was deported that he had been asked to sign a paper saying he was a member of Tren de Aragua, but he marked no. She said she realized he had been sent to El Salvador after his name appeared on a list of those deported released by CBS. Both Paiva and Diaz said their loved ones did not have criminal records in any country. Reuters saw proof that Hernandez had no criminal record in Venezuela but could not independently verify records beyond that. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on either case. The U.S. government has said that all the Venezuelans it deported were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but lawyers and activists have challenged this. An ICE official said in a sworn statement last month many did not have U.S. criminal records. The U.S. has acknowledged that a Salvadoran man was deported and sent to the prison in error, but said it has no legal authority to bring him back.

FOX News [4/4/2025 6:21 PM, Audrey Conklin, 46189K] reports a Salvadoran illegal immigrant has been arrested and charged after allegedly stabbing a Virginia man to death in a stranger’s home on March 27, according to local reports and authorities. Jose Velasquez-Martinez, 27, is charged with malicious wounding and murder in connection with 29-year-old Brandon Probst’s death in Warrenton, according to the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson confirmed to FOX 5 DC that Velasquez-Martinez "is an illegally present Salvadoran national." Court documents obtained by FOX 5 say the two men got into an altercation outside the woman’s home, and Velasquez-Martinez allegedly stabbed Probst in the neck. Probst then entered the woman’s home, where she eventually found him and called 911. The woman and Probst did not know each other, according to the outlet. Probst later died of his injuries at a local hospital. Detectives’ investigation ultimately led them to Augusta County, where they arrested Velasquez-Martinez on March 31 in a Front Royal hotel room.

FOX News [4/4/2025 8:28 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46189K] reports a Democratic prosecutor in Fairfax County, Virginia, dropped a felony charge against a twice-deported illegal immigrant charged with strangulation and kidnapping, cutting a plea deal that let him off with a misdemeanor. According to local outlet ABC7 News, Democrat Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano advertises on his website that "wherever possible, Steve will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences.” Guatemalan national Wilmer Osmany Ramos Giron was facing 360 days in prison for a felony charge involving abduction by force, strangulation and assault on a family member. Ramos Giron was accused of assaulting his ex-wife during an argument. According to the victim’s testimony and court documents, Ramos Giron allegedly took his ex-wife’s keys, keeping her from leaving; placed two hands on her throat, impeding her breathing; and brandished a knife over her legs. After the incident, the victim filed for an emergency protective order against Ramos Giron, which was granted. Despite this, Descano’s office dropped the felony charge against Ramos Giron and allowed him to plead guilty to brandishing a blade, a misdemeanor. According to a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ramos Giron is in the country illegally after previously being deported twice. The ICE statement said Ramos Giron has a prior federal conviction for a gun crime and has an ICE detainer filed against him.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 6:50 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents made multiple arrests in Florida’s capital city this week. On Thursday afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol came upon two disabled vans 100 miles apart Thursday along Interstate 10, with one in Pensacola and one in Tallahassee. Troopers stopped to assist before the cases were handed over to ICE. FHP Cpl. PJ Shaw told the Democrat that while assisting the motorists near mile marker 217, the trooper discovered that 20 people were in the disabled van. Shaw said the people appeared to be in good condition. When ICE responded, it caused delays and traffic cameras showed a group of people sitting on the ground around the van. Shaw did not know who was arrested because ICE took over the case, but HCI Tampa posted on X that "two Mexican nationals" were arrested "for violating the terms of their B-2 visa." Agents also seized $55,000 in cash and "initiated an investigation into bulk cash smuggling" and "possible visa fraud.”

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 8:11 PM, Avery Boyce, 52868K] reports a Homeland Security Special Agent provided insight into ICE and HSI arrest protocols. This comes following the release of surveillance video CBS 42 obtained on Thursday that shows Alireza Doroudi being escorted by federal agents. Alireza Doroudi was a doctoral student and the University of Alabama studying chemical engineering. Doroudi is an international student from Iran, who is now sitting in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 25, a fleet of unmarked vehicles drove down Reed Street, parked around Doroudi’s apartment, and multiple officers in what appears to be street clothes under bullet proof vest approached the doctoral student’s apartment. “We have special response teams within HSI and ICE EROs,” Homeland Security investigation special agent Steven Schrank said. “They are tactical SRTs that are much like swats teams that handle our highest risk operations.” Those swat-like teams are the ones who go in when the individual being arrested has violent criminal history or is deemed a national security risk, Schrank said. In the video CBS 42 obtained Tuesday, it appears the officers who detained Doroudi would fall under the special response teams category. However, CBS 42 has not found any violent criminal history record for the Iran national. But, ICE has deemed the PhD student a national security concern. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Miami Herald [4/4/2025 12:50 PM, Syra Ortiz Blanes and Claire Healy, 3973K] reports that the mayor of Miami-Dade County is asking the Trump administration to let South Florida officials visit the Krome Detention Center, after the Miami Herald and other outlets reported that immigrants are being housed at the facility in overcrowded and unsafe conditions. "Some of the immigrants now being held in federal facilities, detained indefinitely without a clear process, include green card holders and long-standing members of our community who were contributing to our economy, supporting their families and paying taxes," Daniella Levine Cava wrote in an April 3 letter to Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, saying she is deeply worried about what’s happening at detention center in western Miami-Dade near the Everglades. The request follows reports about how the high numbers of detainees are affecting conditions at the center as President Donald Trump launches a mass deportation campaign in South Florida and across the country. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement after the Herald inquired about overcrowding at Krome that "due to recent increases in detention populations, some ICE facilities are experiencing temporary overcrowding" and that the agency took the reports seriously and was working to address capacity issues. ICE facilities must follow stringent government regulations meant to ensure detainees’ health and well being and prevent abuse. "With the increase in the numbers of immigrants detained at Krome and across the country, it is vital that we ensure humane conditions for the thousands of people in detention – a growing number of whom have no criminal record," the mayor wrote.

Reported similarly:
Univision [4/4/2025 4:06 PM, Staff, 5325K]

Chicago Tribune [4/4/2025 6:13 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, Chicago Tribune, 206K] reports a dying Venezuelan man was reunited with his brother Friday morning in an emotional reunion outside a restaurant near the ICE processing center in Broadview that federal authorities released him from so he could donate a kidney to save his brother’s life. Alfredo Pacheco, 37, of Cicero, is facing terminal renal failure. On Wednesday, ICE agreed to release José Gregorio González, 43, to undergo the transplant, giving the siblings and those who support them much hope and relief. “I’m extremely happy, it’s a blessing,” Pacheco told the Friday. Last month, the Tribune was the first to report that González had been arrested by the Immigration and Customs authorities and was awaiting deportation. Elected officials, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, rallied in support of the Venezuelan brothers, with more than 1,700 people signing a petition requesting that ICE release González. Pacheco said he received a call from his brother a little after 9 a.m. Friday letting him know he’d been dropped off. Pacheco rushed to meet him, where he was waiting on the side of a road wearing a brown hat and a light sweater. When they saw each other, they embraced and Pacheco kissed his brother’s cheek and caressed his face. It had been a monthlong fight to get him released. According to authorities, González will be released for a one-year stay of removal under check-ins with immigration officials. He will be eligible for employment authorization. As early as next week, the brothers will begin the process of the kidney transplant. An ICE spokesperson said that “after providing proper documentation ICE granted Gonzalez a temporary stay on humanitarian grounds.” “Outcomes like this are not common,” said the brothers’ attorney, Peter Meinecke, of The Resurrection Project. At a news conference at the Pilsen Law Center later in the day, Pacheco thanked the The Resurrection Project, a nonprofit advocacy group representing the case, and the community for support. “I thought I was alone in this, but I realized that is not true,” he said. Garcia said the brothers’ case gives the immigrant community and elected officials motivation to continue advocating for immigrant rights. “Today we say this is family, this is a happy reunion and we hope to have many of these in the future,” Garcia said. State Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, a Democrat from Cicero, said it highlighted the power of community organizations. “We know that our immigration system is broken, and there are actors in this administration who would rather break it further than create meaningful solutions,” she said. “However, these obstacles should not obscure that everyday organizing and communities banding together to protect their neighbors should not be underestimated.”

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/4/2025 5:26 PM, Mary Milliken, 41523K]
NBC News [4/4/2025 3:18 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 44742K]
USA Today [4/4/2025 6:01 PM, Michael Loria, 75858K]

Wisconsin Examiner [4/4/2025 4:41 PM, Henry Redman] reports the Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation. Four county sheriffs in Wisconsin have signed agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent months stating they’ll cooperate with the federal agency on immigration enforcement actions. Since March, Washington, Waupaca, Winnebago and Wood counties have signed onto ICE’s Warrant Service Officer program, which authorizes sheriff’s deputies to serve immigration warrants against undocumented immigrants in the county jail, according to an updated ICE list of participating agencies across the country. These four counties have joined eight others that already had existing agreements with the agency prior to the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 9:43 PM, Isiah Holmes, 52868K] reports two people have been arrested at the Milwaukee County Courthouse by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the sheriff’s office said Friday. Although the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office (MCSO) was aware of the first arrest, the office states that it was not given advance notice of the second arrest. MCSO stressed in a statement that it did not participate in either arrest, and that it’s “not uncommon for local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to search available databases for upcoming court hearings of individuals they are seeking.” MCSO has not responded to a request for more details. A spokesperson for ICE said the agency was unable to confirm the arrests without additional information about the specific targets. Fears of immigration operations have been heightened since President Donald Trump announced that the government would pursue mass deportations. ICE has made hundreds of arrests in recent months, including of people who were not convicted of any crime and activists who participated in protests on college campuses. Local groups and officials are condemning the arrests at the courthouse. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said that the courthouse “stands as a cornerstone of justice where residents come to seek information, resources and fair participation in the legal process.” Crowley said that “an attack on this safe, community-serving space undermines public trust, breeds fear among citizens and staff and disrupts the due process essential to our courts.” Crowley called on local leaders to protect Milwaukee’s institutions, as well as due process for people in the judicial process.

Newsweek [4/4/2025 7:37 PM, Dan Gooding and Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports that the wife of a Trump voter who made national headlines for reiterating his support for the president even after immigration authorities detained her can be released from detention, a judge has ruled. Camila Muñoz is a Peruvian citizen who stayed in the United States after her visa expired while she was working toward obtaining permanent residency. She was arrested in Puerto Rico in February on her way home from a belated honeymoon. "Camila still has to fight her immigration case, but at least now she gets to do that from home, with her husband by her side," her attorney, David Rozas, said in a statement to Newsweek Friday morning. Muñoz’s husband, Bradley Bartell, previously told Newsweek he didn’t regret his vote for President Donald Trump. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously told Newsweek "Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are once again a nation of laws. We will find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens. We are prioritizing the worst of the worst and aliens with final removal orders. Secretary Noem’s message is clear: If you come to our country illegally, we will deport you, and you will never return. The safest option for illegal aliens is to self-deport, so they still have the opportunity to return and live the American dream."

CBS 58 [4/4/2025 4:09 PM, Staff, 257K] reports the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) says there were two arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel in the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex recently. MCSO says they did not participate in either arrests. They say they were made aware of ICE’s intention to take an individual into custody shortly before the first arrest happened. MCSO says they were not given advance notice about the second arrest, which took place in the Milwaukee County Public Safety Building.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 4:28 PM, Indiana Schilz, 52868K] reports a 36-year-old man from Racine was arrested and is facing two felony charges for allegedly possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), according to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office. The department says its Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit began investigating in November 2024 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators determined that Carlos Chavez had uploaded three images and videos containing CSAM to his Google Drive. After initially having limited information on Chavez’s whereabouts, deputies obtained an arrest warrant. He was taken into custody on April 1, 2025, while staying in the 1600 block of Maple Street. Authorities also seized his phone as evidence. During the arrest, a bilingual deputy attempted to question Chavez, but he refused to answer. A $25,000 cash bond was set at his initial court appearance. Investigators say Chavez is not legally in the United States, and a detainer has been placed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), citing he is "subject to removal" under federal immigration law. The sheriff’s office is working with the Wisconsin Department of Justice to perform a forensic analysis of the seized cell phone to determine if there are any additional images or videos of CSAM.

Houston Chronicle [4/4/2025 1:02 PM, Matt deGrood and Sam Gonzalez Kelly, 1769K] reports that U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement officials filed a records request with the city of Houston last month for data on every motorist cited for driving without a license since 2023, according to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle. A representative for the municipal courts, where the ICE request was directed, said the city had fulfilled the request and sent the files to ICE – a move experts said could help the federal government collect data on people who might be subject to deportation. The records request, which the Chronicle obtained from the city through its own records request, came after Mayor John Whitmire said the city wouldn’t work with federal agents on immigration enforcement. "We do not deal with immigration," Whitmire said in January. "We’re not the Immigration Department. We’re not ICE. We run the city of Houston, we deal with city issues.” ICE’s records request, filed with the city’s municipal courts department, asked for a list of all people cited for not having a driver’s license between Jan. 1, 2023, and Feb. 28, 2025. The federal agency requested their full names, dates of birth, addresses, make and model of the vehicles and the license plate numbers. Zenobia Lai, executive director of the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative, said it was the first she had heard of ICE requesting data in such a manner.

NPR [4/4/2025 4:06 PM, Tom Bowman, Quil Lawrence, 3K] reports this week several dozen Venezuelan nationals were transferred from a U.S. immigration detention center in south Texas and boarded a deportation flight to their home country. Among them was 39-year-old Jose Barco, a decorated American soldier who deployed twice to Iraq, saw horrific combat and received a Purple Heart after an explosion tossed him through the air and left him with a traumatic brain injury. He was just four years old when his family left Venezuela, a country his father fled to after he was being released as a political prisoner in Cuba. Jose Barco’s fellow inmates in Texas, most of them much younger, simply call him "Cuba.” How an American veteran, a father of a 15-year-old daughter, found himself inside this sprawling detention center outside Corpus Christi, Texas, waiting for a flight to a country he barely knows is a tortured tale of battlefield trauma, bureaucratic bumbling and eventually, a serious crime. "His situation is incredibly complex and tragic," said Anna Stout, a former mayor of Grand Junction, Colo., who is helping his family, told NPR. "It’s the story of multiple failures of the U.S. military when it comes to one of its own soldiers, of a man who fought and bled for the United States believing he was earning his right to be called an American only to find himself in deportation proceedings, and of the tragic intersection of a new age of immigration policy and unfortunate parole timing.” On Thursday Barco’s journey took another unexpected twist: when he arrived in Honduras en route to Venezuela, the Venezuelan authorities there refused to take him. According to his family, the Venezuelan immigration officials didn’t believe Barco’s birth certificate was genuine; they said it looked too new. They said his accent sounded Cuban to them, plus he didn’t know his Venezuelan national identity card number (called a cedula). One even told Barco it wouldn’t be good for him in Venezuela, because he has no family there. Barco now sits, again, at a U.S. detention center, this time at Port Isabel, near Los Fresnos, Texas, wondering what country will take him -- if not the one he risked his life for in Iraq. "I feel very scared for him," said his wife, Tia. "America should not be sending a decorated veteran to Venezuela.” Now that Venezuela also has rejected him she said, "We have no clue how to navigate this as of now. This whole ordeal has been unimaginable.”

CBS Austin [4/3/2025 5:31 PM, Nick Viviani, 602K] reports that bogus deportation threats from a phony immigration agent resulted in an Indiantown man finding himself in jail early Thursday morning. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) explained that the confrontation that led to the suspect’s arrest began when the two victims were picking up workers on Southwest Little Indian Avenue. The pair told deputies the suspect approached them and claimed he was an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. However, the victims noted, the man had on regular clothing and was driving a regular truck. That raised their suspicions, and the victims drove off – only to be followed by the fake agent, the MCSO report continued. "He had on pajama pants, a backwards hat and just a regular T-shirt," said Martin County Sheriff’s Office Major Ruben Romero. The suspect’s truck allegedly tailed the victim’s minivan for several blocks and the chase ended up with the vehicles circling the parking lot of Hitchcock’s Grocery Store on Southwest Trail Drive until deputies arrived. The victims identified Jose Juan Lopez as the suspect and recounted their story to the deputies, the MCSO report stated. It noted that Lopez, 25, countered their claim by saying it was the other two men who were threatening him. He went on to admit making deportation threats but denied posing as an ICE agent.

NBC News [4/4/2025 7:58 PM, Deon J. Hampton and Carmen Sesin, 44742K] reports a worker at a roofing company in Bellingham, Washington, that was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Friday that masked agents in tactical gear swarmed the property with guns drawn, detaining three of his family members and dozens of co-workers. The worker, a U.S. citizen who requested anonymity because many of his relatives are in the country without proper documentation, said his 21-year-old brother from Michoacan, Mexico, and two of their cousins were apprehended in the Wednesday raid. He arrived at work at his usual time, around 7 a.m., he said, and "many trucks started arriving.” "I started yelling ‘Run, immigration is here!’" he said. "Workers ran towards a wooded area nearby, but ICE officers were already there waiting for them.” He described the last time he saw his sibling. "My brother touched my back before he started running, and I guess that was his way of saying goodbye to me," the man said. More than three dozen employees of Mount Baker Roofing were arrested and taken to Northwest ICE Processing Facility in Tacoma, the agency said in a statement. Federal agents executed a search warrant at the roofing company as part of a criminal investigation into the "unlawful employment of aliens without legal work authorization in violation of federal law," an ICE spokesperson said. The workers who were arrested had misrepresented their immigration status and submitted fraudulent documents or information to gain employment, the spokesperson said, adding that federal agents often investigate worksite violations and the exploitation of workers. The owner of the company, Mark Kuske, said he employs about 85 people and he had no reason to believe any of them were in the U.S. without proper authorization. He said he follows all federal and state hiring rules and regulations. Although the Trump administration initially said its mass deportation effort would focus on migrants who had committed violent crimes, it later shifted its policy to include families and children without criminal backgrounds, NBC News previously reported. The worker whose brother and cousins were detained called the unexpected operation "scary" and said law enforcement officers wore tactical gear and masks and carried long rifles. Helicopters and drones could be heard above. "It was an ugly scene," he said, adding that the agents had photographs and information about the arrestees, who they addressed by name.

Border Report [4/4/2025 3:07 PM, Salvador Rivera, 117K] reports California lawmakers are working on a bill that would restrict federal agents’ access to public schools and students while involved in immigration enforcement. According to Senate Bill 48’s wording, "it would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools and their personnel from granting permission to an immigration authority to access a school site, producing a pupil for questioning by an immigration authority at a school site, or consenting to a search of any kind at a school site by an immigration authority, unless the immigration authority presents a valid judicial warrant or court order.” On Wednesday, the bill, introduced by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, was approved by the Senate’s Education Committee by a 6-1 vote. "The U.S. Supreme Court has long-established that the Constitution guarantees a right to education regardless of immigration status, and until recently, the federal government had treated these sensitive spaces as safe zones," Gonzalez said through a statement. "Immigration actions near schools have a chilling effect on school attendance, increased learning loss and harms student mental health.” Right now, schools in California cannot collect any information or data related to students’ or their families’ immigration status and cannot disclose any student records without consent or court order. If it becomes law, SB 48 would make it even harder for federal officials to gain any information or access to students. In the coming weeks, Senate Bill 48 will go to California’s full senate for a vote that requires two-thirds majority. If approved, the state Assembly will decide if it makes it to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Miami Herald [4/4/2025 2:03 PM, Antonio Maria Delgado, 3973K] reports that a new planeload of migrants deported from the U.S. landed Friday morning in Caracas, as the Trump administration continues to send Venezuelans back to their home country. The flight with 208 passengers on board, which included 30 women and two children, is the second from the United States that lands in Venezuela in the past five days, following Sunday’s arrival of a plane with 175 migrants that took off from Texas. Among those sent back to Venezuela on Friday were a number of migrants who had criminal records, Venezuelan minister of Transportation Ramón Velásquez said on state-run television, though he did not provide details. On Thursday, two different flights on the state-owned airline Conviasa landed in Venezuela carrying migrants who were in Mexico and Honduras. As of Friday, 2,190 Venezuelans have been taken back by Venezuela since February, following a meeting held in Caracas between socialist ruler Nicolás Maduro and President Doanld Trump’s envoy, Richard Grenell. In that meeting, Maduro agreed to take back deported migrants in exchange for the U.S. allowing his regime to continue selling oil. That agreement, however, fell apart a few days after, after Trump claimed the Venezuelan strongman was not taking back the deported migrants quickly enough.

Washington Examiner [4/4/2025 2:38 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration agency put on notice more than half a million immigrants who were paroled into the United States during the Biden administration to leave the country or face deportation, the agency told the Washington Examiner. Between last Friday, March 28, and Monday, March 31, DHS agency U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notified more than 531,000 immigrants that their parole and employment documents would soon expire, a USCIS spokesperson confirmed in an email Friday. USCIS "encouraged" immigrants to use the Customs and Border Protections Home phone app to notify the federal government of plans to leave the country. Roughly 200 employees at the GE Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, received alerts through the federal government’s online immigration portal that they would need to leave the U.S. before April 24 or face "adverse immigration consequences," according to the Courier Journal. The warning comes just two weeks after the Trump administration announced it would revoke parole for roughly 531,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who were admitted into the country through the former President Joe Biden-era CHNV program.

New York Times [4/4/2025 4:52 PM, Abbie VanSickle, 145325K] reports immigrant groups and leaders of 22 Democratic-led states pushed back sharply on Friday against the Trump administration’s request that the Supreme Court lift a temporary nationwide ban blocking the president’s order to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and foreign residents. The filings in a trio of emergency applications came in response to the Trump administration’s emergency applications to the court in March, when the government asked the justices to step in and lift the block imposed by lower courts. Three federal courts, in Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington State, have blocked the order while litigation proceeds. The administration framed its request about birthright citizenship as “modest.” Rather than address the substance of the policy — the legality of curbing birthright citizenship — the government lawyers have asked the court to weigh in on a long-simmering debate about a tool used by federal judges, the nationwide injunction.

Newsweek [4/4/2025 5:00 PM, Mandy Taheri, 52220K] reports that Evenezer Cortez Martinez, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient who came to the U.S. at age 4 and held valid advance parole, was denied reentry to the United States and deported to Mexico on March 23, according to court documents obtained by Newsweek. On April 2, a lawsuit was filed on Cortez Martinez’s behalf, and a federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to respond to the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction by April 4. "We do not believe that CBP had any authority to do what they did as it is improper under the law," Rekha Sharma-Crawford, Cortez Martinez’s lawyer, told Newsweek in an email on Friday. Newsweek has contacted DHS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for comment via email. Cortez Martinez came to the United States from Mexico as a 4-year-old. "At the time he left the country, Mr. Cortez Martinez had in his possession his approved DACA application and a legally valid advance parole document," which allowed him to travel outside the U.S., Sharma-Crawford said in the court filing. His advance parole document is valid until April 14, the attorney added. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, provides an account of Cortez Martinez’s deportation, saying he arrived at Dallas Fort Worth Airport on March 23 and was deported after CBP officers denied his entry. CBP said he was inadmissible because he had been "ordered removed in absentia on June 11, 2024," and that the advance parole document had been "issued in error," according to the court filing.

Bloomberg [4/4/2025 11:00 AM, Alicia A. Caldwell and Alex Vasquez, 16228K] reports that to the Tonito family, the US was supposed to be a refuge. They had endured a harrowing 14-month journey through South America, crossing the infamous Darien Gap jungle and roaring waterways, riding atop a freight train in Mexico—all driven by the hope of a more stable life. But just over two months into Donald Trump’s presidency, that sense of security has all but vanished. Each new policy crackdown, with a growing focus on Venezuelans like them, feels like another step toward pushing them out. They have watched as the administration moved swiftly to shut down asylum-seeking through the CBP One appointment app—the system their eldest daughter, who didn’t make it across Mexico’s northern border, was relying on. They’ve seen protections unravel, including the proposed cancellation of Temporary Protected Status for groups of Venezuelans like them. And they feel a broader effort at play: an administration intent on making life so unpleasant for undocumented immigrants that they may leave on their own. The family is in a legal gray area. In addition to having a pending asylum case in federal immigration court, they’ve been approved for the TPS program that—at least for the moment—shields more than 1 million foreigners from 17 countries from deportation and grants them authorization to work. Though a court order has blocked the Trump administration’s plan to roll back protections starting next week, the efforts have still left the Tonitos, like millions of others, caught between the fear of deportation and the hope of building their lives in the US.

Dallas Morning News [4/4/2025 6:54 PM, Maria Salette Ontiveros, 2778K] reports President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the $5 million "gold card" visa, which features his photo, name, signature and price tag, would be out in less than two weeks. "For $5 million, this could be yours," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday. "It’s the gold card, the Trump card.” Wealthy immigrants can buy the card to gain U.S. residency. Here is what to know about the gold visa card program. During the first meeting of his second-term Cabinet, Trump proposed a gold card visa program to offer U.S. residency to individuals who pay $5 million. Trump’s visa program is intended to replace the EB-5 visa program, which allows foreign investors to become permanent residents. The EB-5 program gives green cards to non-residents who invest about $1 million in the U.S. and create jobs. Congress created the EB-5 Program in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Under Trump’s new gold card visa program, wealthy foreigners could pay up to $5 million to gain a green card. Under the current EB-5 program system, candidates must meet several criteria, including a commitment to invest a minimum amount of capital into a new commercial enterprise in the United States. Another criterion is being able to create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years of receiving conditional permanent residency. The EB-5 program also has an annual cap of 10,000 visas. Trump said when he first announced the plan in February that the money from the gold card visas would help pay off the country’s debt. "If we sell a million, that’s 5 trillion dollars," he said.

Telemundo [4/4/2025 11:29 PM, Eduardo "Yusnaby" Rodríguez, 171K] reports the administration of President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of the SNAP food assistance program, known as Food Stamps, for immigrants who entered the United States under the humanitarian parole program. The measure directly affects 321,000 Cubans and Haitians, who will lose the benefit as of April 24, the date on which their immigration status expires. Only those who can demonstrate that they have changed to another legal status, such as asylum, TPS or family-based adjustment, will be able to keep the aid. The Department of Agriculture instructed state agencies to withdraw the benefit as soon as the parole expires. While the news generates concern among immigrant communities, not everyone feels affected. Daniel Romero, a Venezuelan beneficiary of the humanitarian parole who never received federal aid, assures that he did not need it: "I never asked for food stamps or anything else. I came to work and get ahead, not to live off anyone," said Romero, interviewed in Hialeah. Venezuelans and Nicaraguans who arrived under the same program were not eligible for SNAP, unlike Cubans and Haitians, who did qualify for certain resettlement services. Immigrant advocacy organizations have criticized the decision, warning of a possible increase in food insecurity among the most vulnerable families. The move is part of a series of actions by the Trump administration to tighten immigration policy, including the revocation of work permits and the elimination of humanitarian parole for citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Washington Post [4/5/2025 6:00 AM, Lauren Lumpkin, 31735K] reports she first came to the United States from Colombia in her early 20s, working as an au pair and learning how badly American schools needed Spanish teachers. So the woman returned home, got a bachelor’s degree, then moved back to the United States and earned a master’s in education, curriculum and instruction. She taught in Virginia initially, before landing a job with D.C. Public Schools in 2021. According to the woman, who now teaches at a Northwest Washington elementary school, DCPS said it would sponsor green cards for a handful of teachers who stayed for three years and performed well. She said the documentation was never promised to her — but she was told it was a possibility. “I was like, ‘Perfect,’” said the woman, who, like other international teachers interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by her employer. “I would be working as hard as I can to earn that privilege.” In late August, after three years on the job, she started asking officials about a green card, according to emails reviewed by Washington Post. On Halloween, she heard back: The policy, started in 2021, was on hold, and the school system would not be sponsoring anyone, a lawyer for DCPS informed her. She panicked. “What’s going on?” she recalled thinking. The next several months would bring even more uncertainty and confusion. Since as early as December 2023, D.C. schools officials had been reviewing whether to continue sponsoring green card applicants, according to emails between international teachers and DCPS attorneys reviewed by The Post. But not until two months ago did educators begin to understand that the program had ended, they said in interviews. The reversal has left them in a lurch. Many have bought houses and had children in the District, but now they have limited options for staying at their schools or in the country. A green card allows an immigrant to live permanently in the United States and eventually become a citizen. Almost 1.2 million people received green cards in 2023, according to the most recent data available from the Department of Homeland Security. Educators worry that the suspension of the DCPS policy — along with the Trump administration’s crackdown on both undocumented and legal immigrants — could discourage other international teachers from wanting to work for the school district, even amid high demand for bilingual education and a growing population of students learning English.

Miami Herald [4/4/2025 5:38 PM, Jay Weaver, 3973K] reports a federal judge in San Francisco rebuffed the Trump administration again in a major immigration case on Friday, saying he is sticking to his decision to stop the government’s revocation of deportation protections this month for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in Florida and other states. U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen cited several factors for rejecting the government’s request to lift his stay of the revocation order issued by the Department of Homeland Security, concluding 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. That admission not only raises questions about others who may have been mistakenly ensnared in deportation roundups, but also underscores Judge Chen’s main point about the potential irreparable harm to Venezuelans protected by TPS should he lift his stay. On Tuesday, the administration lawyers asked Chen to put his stay ruling on hold by Friday, so that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco can consider the order revoking a TPS extension issued by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February. It is likely that the administration will appeal Chen’s decision to keep his stay in place. The administration’s goal, though not stated in its motion, would be to have Noem’s revocation order reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term. If the secretary’s order is ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, the Venezuelans with TPS in the United States would not be allowed to pursue their lawsuit in San Francisco that challenges Noem’s assertion that their protected status "is contrary to the national interest."

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 10:48 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports the international visas of five students attending Ohio State University have been revoked with no indication of why. According to a spokesperson for Ohio State, the university was made aware of at least five students whose visas were revoked. “At this time, we do not have any indication why this action was taken,” said the University in a statement. The spokesperson also said that the five students currently remain in the United States. The students, their attorneys, and the university are considering the next steps. The crackdown on foreign students is allegedly due to the Trump administration using new tactics and vague justifications to push some students out of the country. Ohio State is not the only college impacted. Students across the country whose visas were taken away received orders from the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country immediately. These orders are different from previous practices that would allow students to stay and complete their schooling.

CBS News [4/4/2025 7:40 PM, Nidia Cavazos, 51661K] reports a 39-year-old DACA recipient and married father of three from Kansas City, Kansas, was deported last month after he left the U.S. and traveled to Mexico to visit his grandfather’s grave, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. Evenezer Cortez-Martinez was detained March 23 at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport as he was making his way back into the U.S., the lawsuit states. Martinez traveled to Mexico on March 20. Upon his return he arrived at DFW, where U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents stopped him from boarding his connecting flight home to Kansas City, claiming he had a removal order filed in June 2024, the lawsuit says. Cortez-Martinez was deported immediately to Mexico City. According to Cortez-Martinez’s lawyer, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, her client was unaware of a removal order filed in 2024 given he has been a DACA recipient since 2014 and had successfully renewed his permit every two years. Cortez-Martinez was brought to the U.S. as a 4-year-old child. Sharma-Crawford told CBS News her client applied for and obtained permission to travel outside of the U.S. through the Advance Parole process. This allows DACA recipients in the U.S. to temporarily travel outside of the country and return without a visa. Sharma-Crawford is part of the legal team that filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Wednesday on behalf of Cortez-Martinez, suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and CBP. The lawsuit argues Cortez-Martinez cannot be barred without a formal removal hearing before an immigration judge given his DACA status and valid Advance Parole documents. According to court documents, the CBP officer denied Cortez-Martinez’s entry as he was "ordered removed in absentia" on June 11, 2024, and the advance parole document "was issued in error.” Sharma-Crawford told CBS News in a statement Friday that his removal was "extremely out of the norm.” "Regulations don’t permit for someone who is on Advance Parole to be subjected to expedited processing, but in terms of how advance parole works, even if someone has a removal order, that doesn’t prevent them from traveling out of the country and returning," Sharma-Crawford said. "That’s the piece that is so jarring.”

Yahoo! News [4/5/2025 12:07 AM, Linsey Lewis, 52868K] reports four international students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas had their visas revoked by federal immigration authorities, the university announced Friday evening. Officer in Charge Chris Heavey made the announcement in an email to the campus community stating, “We have learned that four of our international students have had their visas revoked by federal immigration authorities. We will not identify the students in accordance with federal privacy laws.” Heavey acknowledged that the news may be difficult for some on campus and that similar instances have affected several universities and colleges across the country. Heavey went on to say that the university was “prepared for this possibility.” In March the Education Department announced it is investigating more than 50 colleges — including UNLV — over what it called “racial preferences” in academics or scholarships, a move that comes amid the Trump administration’s wider crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The department said 45 schools were under investigation for partnering with the Ph.D Project, which it says is “an organization that purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”

AZCentral [4/4/2025 7:55 PM, Helen Rummel, 4457K] reports one student from Arizona State University was detained as of April 4 after at least eight students at the school had their visas revoked. The reasons behind the visa revocations remain unclear. University officials said the cancellations were not related to campus protests and appear to be prompted by "various legal infractions.” Attorney Martín Quezada with the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Arizona said the advocacy group was aware of at least one student still being detained after having a visa revoked. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his agency had revoked more than 300 student visas among those found to be acting against national interests or to have been involved in a crime. Jay Thorne, an ASU spokesperson, said no U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been on ASU’s campus. He told the Republic on April 2 that they had but later said he was incorrect. "ASU remains committed to fully supporting all affected international students in completing their degree programs," the university said in a statement. ASU enrolls more than 15,000 international students. On April 3, advocates with Students for Justice in Palestine and other community members gathered in Tempe to call for students to be protected from ICE and other immigration officials while on campus. The pre-planned action aligned with other pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country. Sophie Levitt of ASU SJP said she was deeply alarmed by the revocation of several students’ visas, citing ASU’s foundational charter, which states the school is "measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes.” "Does it include international students? Does it include undocumented students who have been going here?" Levitt said.

New York Times [4/4/2025 6:24 PM, Anemona Hartocollis, 145325K] reports a federal judge ordered Friday that the case to free Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts student from Turkey, from immigration detention should be moved to a court in Vermont, denying a government demand to hold the proceedings in Louisiana, where she is being held. Ms. Ozturk, a legal resident on a student visa, was swept up by the government as part of what the Trump administration has described as a campaign against antisemitic activists on campus. In a hearing on Thursday, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the government had stealthily transferred her from Massachusetts, where she was arrested, to Louisiana without informing her lawyers where she was. The lawyer, Adriana Lafaille, suggested the government was seeking a court that would favor its case. Louisiana has one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country. Government lawyers told the court that Ms. Ozturk had been moved to Louisiana because there was not an available bed for a female detainee in New England, and that there was no intent to withhold information about her location. In her ruling on Friday, Judge Denise Casper of U.S. District Court in Boston, said that Vermont was the proper venue because Ms. Ozturk was being held there overnight at the time that her lawyers — not knowing where she was — filed a petition for her release in Boston. Normally, a petition to free someone would be filed in the jurisdiction where the person was confined. Judge Casper wrote that she was transferring the case to Vermont “in the interest of justice.” “The irregularity of the arrest, detention and processing here is coupled with the failure to disclose Ozturk’s whereabouts even after the government was aware that she had counsel and the petition was filed in this court,” the judge wrote.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 11:00 PM, Makea Luzader, 52868K] reports on Thursday, officers “removed” a woman from Kenya who used her sister’s travel documents to enter the U.S. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that 33-year-old Christin Nyabate Nyandemo was convicted of using her sister’s passport and visa to get into the U.S. on Feb. 21. The case started when CBP officers arrested Nyandemo at Washington Dulles International Airport. She had flown in from Accra, Ghana. During a secondary examination, Nyandemo “was unable to answer simple questions about previous travel associated with the passport and visitor visa.” She eventually admitted to using her sister’s Kenya passport and B1/B2 visitor visa to enter the States. CBP also found other documents under Nyandemo’s sister’s name — including a birth certificate, credit cards and tax forms.

New York Times [4/4/2025 10:00 AM, Isabella Kwai, 145325K] reports that a Chinese woman detained by U.S. border officers for overstaying a visitor visa died by suicide while being held at a border patrol station in Arizona, a Democratic congresswoman said. The woman had been taken into custody in California after officers determined that she had overstayed a visitor visa, Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington said in a statement, citing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. She was transferred to a patrol station in Yuma, Ariz., the statement said. Ms. Jayapal, a ranking member of the House subcommittee overseeing immigration, said initial reports from the agency had raised concerns about whether officers had properly conducted welfare checks on the woman. While welfare checks were logged, officials at the agency investigating the death could not verify whether the checks had actually happened, Ms. Jayapal said. “There is no excuse for why agents cannot verify if some of the necessary welfare checks occurred — or why some of the documented welfare checks were incorrectly reported,” Ms. Jayapal said, adding that she was concerned about the conditions in facilities where immigrants are detained. The Customs and Border Protection agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the agency confirmed the death of a 52-year-old woman to The Tucson Sentinel, and said that the woman had become “unresponsive in a cell” at the Yuma Border Patrol Station.

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AZCentral [4/4/2025 4:05 PM, Raphael Romero Ruiz, 4457K]
The Mirror US [4/4/2025 3:56 PM, Nina Joudeh, 14470K]

AP [4/4/2025 7:56 PM, Staff, 24727K] reports two U.S. border inspectors in Southern California have been charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes to allow people to enter the country through the nation’s busiest port of entry without showing documents, prosecutors said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez were assigned to immigration inspection booths at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. They were charged after investigators found phone evidence showing they had exchanged messages with human traffickers in Mexico and discovered unexplained cash deposits into their bank accounts, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday. Surveillance video showed at least one instance in which a vehicle with a driver and a passenger stopped at a checkpoint but only the driver was documented as having entered the country, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the officers waved dozens of vehicles carrying people without documents. They said both men were paid thousands for each vehicle they waved through. It wasn’t immediately known if Almonte has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing Border Patrol officers, didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Rodriguez’s attorney, Michael Hawkins, said the case was still in the “infant stages” and that Rodriguez has the presumption of innocence. “We look forward to working through the current situation,” Hawkins said in an email in which he described Rodriguez as hardworking and loyal. The investigation on Almonte and Rodriguez started after three migrant smugglers who were arrested last year told federal investigators they had been working with U.S. border inspectors, federal prosecutors said. While Almonte was in custody, investigators allegedly seized nearly $70,000 in cash they believe his romantic partner was trying to move to Tijuana. Prosecutors wrote in a court filing that Almonte is potentially facing additional charges for money laundering and obstruction of justice, The San Diego Union Tribune reported.

Newsweek [4/4/2025 10:47 AM, Sophie Clark, 52220K] reports that Canadian immigration lawyers have advised people traveling to the United States to bring a burner phone with them amid tensions between the two countries. The warning comes after people have reported having their phones searched at the border, and a French researcher made headlines after being denied entry to the U.S. due to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) finding messages on his phone criticizing President Donald Trump. Other nations that have historically been allies of the U.S. have also changed their travel notices for people going to America to advise LGBTQ+ people on changing norms, and to warn about an increase in border detentions for visa holders. Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has grown increasingly fractious, in part because of Trump’s imposition of tariffs on the country and his repeated threats to transform it into the U.S.’s "51st state." A reported trend has occurred of temporary visa holders and visitors being detained by U.S. border officials on their way into the country amid heightened immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Meanwhile, concerns have also arose that free speech is no longer a defense when it comes to legal immigration status. Immigration lawyers Heather Segal and Ravi Jain, recently spoke with CBC News about their advice to Canadians traveling to the U.S. They both said they advise Canadians to travel with a burner phone and even to leave their regular phone at home.

AOL [4/4/2025 12:52 PM, Staff, 33298K] reports about 10,000 U.S. military service members are now operating along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a Trump administration surge, despite a decrease in the number of migrant crossings. Scripps News traveled to a section of the border in Arizona with the U.S. Army to see the military’s new mission within the "Joint Task Force - Southern Border.” "Their mission is to support Customs and Border Patrol in controlling the U.S. Southern Border and preserving the territorial integrity of the United States," said Lt. Col. Lukas Berg. In a remote section of the border, Scripps News saw a Stryker—a military personnel carrier that is usually armed and deployed to war zones. This one was not armed because it was only being tasked with observing. However, more than 100 of them are now stationed along the U.S. southern border in what appears to be a deterrent. "That’s really what we’re doing with the Stryker out here. It provides us great mobility to get soldiers where they need to be to observe on the border," said Lt. Col. Travis Stellfox. "And what have soldiers observed from the Stryker here along the border?" asked Scripps News military affairs correspondent Maya Rodriguez. "We’ve observed a wide range of activities that varies widely by station," said Stellfox. "Mostly, it’s individual or small groups of illegal immigrants coming across the border - that’s primarily what we’ve been able to observe so far.” Observation is all they’ve been doing at this point. Military officials told Scripps News that when they observe migrants crossing the border, they notify Border Patrol, who can then intercept them. When asked how migrants react when they see the Stryker, Stellfox said, "We have a good portion of what we’ve observed is what we call ‘turn backs,’ migrants who are detected while crossing the border, and then, they either cease activity, or they go back across before there’s any interaction.” "It’s a bit more intimidating than a regular SUV that border patrol might have," Rodriguez noted. "That’s fair to say, ma’am," Stellfox replied. The military said they are not doing any law enforcement along the southern border and are staying firmly on the U.S. side. This comes even though military officials told Scripps News that they’ve seen drones — operated by Mexican drug cartels — that are observing U.S. military personnel along the border. "We are privy to significant reporting on that. That is of significant interest to us because we’re operating aircraft in the same area," said Lt. Col Berg. "We’re observing, we are monitoring, and then we are passing those observations directly to Customs and Border Patrol."

Dallas Morning News [4/4/2025 9:03 AM, Maria Salette Ontiveros, 2778K] reports that if you have travel plans that involve flying, make sure your ID is the real deal. After years of delay, the Real ID Act will be enforced. Starting May 7, only state-issued driver’s licenses and state-issued ID cards that comply with the REAL ID requirements will be accepted at TSA checkpoints and for official federal government purposes. Here is everything you need to know about the requirements. Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005 in response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The act establishes minimum security standards for driver’s license and state ID distribution and production. It prohibits federal agencies from accepting licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet those requirements. The new identification incorporates fraud prevention technology to ensure people are who they claim to be. The new ID requirements were initially slated to be implemented in 2008. The date was repeatedly pushed back because of the logistics of hundreds of millions of people flying every year, as well as the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Federal Agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and TSA may only accept cards that comply with the new enforcement of the REAL ID Act, including TSA at airport security checkpoints. Those without the upgraded ID can still use their old ID cards as long as they are not expired. But access to federal facilities might be denied, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Domestic airline passengers must bring a secondary form of identification, such as a passport, to pass through airport security checkpoints.

WWLP [4/4/2025 4:28 PM, Ashley Shook] reports a man was arrested after a firearm was found during the checkpoint screening at Bradley International Airport on Wednesday. The TSA says the 9mm was loaded and the man was arrested on a state charge. This marks the first illegal firearm that was detected during the screening process this year.

AP [4/4/2025 7:03 PM, Rebecca Santana, 5269K] reports as the Trump administration weighs the future of the federal agency tasked with responding to disasters, it is ending a key program that has been used by communities across the country to pay for projects designed to help them prepare for natural disasters like flooding and fires. In a news release Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, calling the move part of efforts to eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse.” "The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters," the agency said in a statement. In addition to ending the program going forward, FEMA said it was also cancelling all applications to the program from 2020 to 2023 and that money that was awarded as part of grants but not already distributed would be immediately returned to the federal government. The program was started under the first Trump administration and then expanded under the Biden administration. About $1 billion had been allocated to the program as part of the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. According to FEMA, about $133 million has already been handed out to about 450 applicants across the country. Communities across the country have used program funds to help their cities and towns mitigate disasters, such as raising roads to keep them out of floodwaters or building underground storage units to prepare for droughts. The announcement didn’t detail what exactly the agency found to be "wasteful," but the Trump administration has targeted programs or funding across the federal government that goes to address climate change or that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

The San Francisco Chronicle [4/4/2025 7:53 PM, Bob Egelko, 5046K] reports the Trump administration is violating a court order to release hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to California and other states, evidently relying on the president’s directive to punish cities and states that protect undocumented immigrants, a federal judge ruled Friday. Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island had ordered the administration on Jan. 31 to eliminate a freeze on virtually all new federal funding. While President Donald Trump has appealed the order, most federal agencies have released their funds, but McConnell said Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has withheld funding that Congress had approved. FEMA provides funds for disaster relief, including repairing or replacing damaged roads, bridges and government buildings, providing evacuation shelters, removing debris, and helping residents replace their homes. The agency provided emergency funding for Los Angeles-area wildfire assistance in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s administration, but Trump’s FEMA has not released disaster-related funds for damage caused by the Maui wildfires in Hawaii or in other states, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday. McConnell did not say how much funding was owed to the states, but noted that Oregon had not received the $129.4 million it has sought since Feb. 20. Said Bonta: "Today’s court order makes it unequivocally clear: the Trump Administration’s reckless effort to hold up millions in emergency funds is unlawful.” McConnell said Stacey Street, FEMA’s director of grants administration, sent an email to staff on Feb. 10 — 11 days after his order to unfreeze the funds — ordering "financial holds" on "all awards." Street sent a later email saying the agency was "processing all awards," but that hasn’t happened, the judge said. While FEMA now says its staff is "manually reviewing" all grants to guard against "fraud, waste, or abuse," the evidence shows that the agency is instead following Trump’s orders on Jan. 20, his first day in office, to "ensure that so-called ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ … do not receive access to federal funds," McConnell said, quoting the president. USA Today [4/4/2025 1:40 PM, Nate Raymond, 75858K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, subsequently issued a memo directing restrictions on grant funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, which have laws that prevent state and local law enforcement from assisting federal civil immigration officers, according to court papers. Abrego Garcia, 29, was among the hundreds of alleged members of crime gangs MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua the government expelled from the U.S. to El Salvador last month.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/4/2025 1:00 PM, Zach Schonfeld, 12829K]
Reuters [4/4/2025 6:53 PM, Nate Raymond]
FOX News [4/4/2025 5:08 PM, Haley Chi-Sing, 46189K]

Politico [4/4/2025 1:43 PM, Thomas Frank] reports the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was given a lie detector test by the Department of Homeland Security to determine if he leaked information about a recent private meeting concerning FEMA, two former senior FEMA officials told POLITICO’s E&E News. The test was given to FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton after he met March 25 with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to President Donald Trump, those people said. The test was given within two days of the meeting and cleared Hamilton. “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security. We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment or status as a career civil servant — we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin wrote. At the March 25 meeting in DHS headquarters in Washington, Noem discussed dramatically shrinking FEMA and shifting disaster recovery efforts from the agency to states. Noem called the meeting one day after saying at a televised Cabinet meeting, "We’re going to eliminate FEMA.” Although Hamilton is in charge of the nation’s leading disaster agency, he appears to have little control over decisions affecting FEMA, including whether to shrink or abolish the agency. Hamilton has expressed frustration to FEMA colleagues, said multiple people, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Noem’s statement about eliminating FEMA blindsided agency officials. One FEMA official said: "We heard about it on TV like everyone else.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [4/4/2025 7:06 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 2296K]
Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 1:43 PM, Thomas Frank, 52868K]
Newsmax [4/4/2025 4:54 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 500K]

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 3:21 PM, Hannah Brandt, 52868K] reports FEMA could be on the chopping block as the Trump administration weighs more cuts to the federal government. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency and suggested he wants to get rid of it altogether. Just last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem talked about her plans to eliminate FEMA, which is under DHS. Lawmakers who represent states that regularly rely on disaster relief have mixed reactions to that proposal. Florida Senator Rick Scott argues FEMA needs an overhaul. "There’s unbelievable waste, just billions of waste in disaster relief," Scott said. His state, Florida, is no stranger to storms and relies heavily on disaster relief. But Senator Scott argues the response should be more locally led. "A disaster is first your responsibility, local government, then state government, and then the federal government can be a financial partner," Scott said. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine has major concerns about axing FEMA. "FEMA is a critical partner," Kaine said. "The response to emergency is a core function of government.” When his state Virginia is hit by severe weather, he says FEMA is a major asset. "Not just dollars, but their technical expertise and their help in recovery efforts," Kaine said. Republican Congressman Tim Moore agrees there’s value in the agency.

CNN [4/5/2025 6:50 AM, Karina Tsui, 908K] reports severe thunderstorms and relentless rain are triggering catastrophic flooding across the middle of the US this weekend, as areas already hit hard by a recent string of storms and tornadoes remain in the path of this current system. The storms have killed at least eight people across Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky since Wednesday. In Franklin County, Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy identified as Gabriel Andrews was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his school bus stop, police said. Severe weather threats issued on Tuesday will remain in effect throughout Saturday and possibly Sunday, as more tornadoes could take shape in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley where the threats are concentrated. Saturday is the third consecutive day of level 4 of 4 risk of flooding rain across the Mississippi Valley, including parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi. Residents in these areas will likely see the peak of "life-threatening" flash floods on Saturday afternoon to evening, when rainfall will be at its heaviest. The three-day stretch of the highest possible flooding threat is almost unheard-of outside hurricane season. As of late Friday, millions of people were under flash flood warnings across five states from Texas to Kentucky, while hundreds of flood warnings were in effect in at least 15 states. Those numbers were expected to climb as the weekend progresses. The possibility of "generational" flooding that the National Weather Service warned about this week stems from a stagnation in the current weather pattern that’s caused the string of storms to repeatedly hit the same areas in the central and southern US. By Sunday, the "stuck" pattern will finally start to break, and the storms will begin to push eastward. Most severe weather threats are expected to drop to a level 3 of 5 on Saturday. Storm threats will remain in effect for Florida Panhandle, Alabama and Georgia on Sunday, while the flood threat for Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky should lessen by Sunday afternoon.

NPR [4/4/2025 9:00 PM, Alana Wise, 22K] reports millions of Americans in the South and Midwest faced a second day of deadly spring storms and tornadoes on Friday. The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned that communities should prepare for two more days of excessive rainfall, which could lead to additional "historic" flooding. At least eight people have already lost their lives due to the severe storm systems, including a young boy in Frankfurt, Kentucky, who was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his school bus, according to the state’s governor, Andy Beshear. "We need everyone to understand that all water poses a risk right now. Let’s do everything possible to keep our loved ones safe," Beshear wrote on X. Frankfort Police have identified the boy as 9-year-old Gabriel Andrews. "We would like to express our sincerest condolences to the family of this young boy," Assistant Chief of Police Scott Tracy said during a press conference. "Our prayers are with them." Gov. Beshear also offered his condolences, stating, "My heart breaks for the family." He urged the community to pray for Gabriel’s family, highlighting that this tragedy underscores just how dangerous floodwaters can be. Among the other victims of the recent severe weather is 68-year-old Garry Moore from Missouri. Missouri State Highway Patrol authorities informed local media that Moore was the chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District and was killed while assisting a stranded motorist. In Indiana, the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Office reported the death of a 27-year-old man who died after coming into contact with downed power lines on the road. His name has not yet been released. Additionally, officials in Tennessee reported five other fatalities attributed to the severe weather. During a press conference on Thursday evening, Gov. Bill Lee described a tornado that tore through the area as causing "immense devastation."

Newsweek [4/4/2025 9:26 AM, Joe Edwards, 52220K] reports that the violent storms that left seven dead this week coincided with the highest number of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings for 14 years. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued 728 tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings in a 24-hour period ending Thursday. That was the highest number since April 27, 2011, when 881 were issued. Thursday’s total was also the third highest number of warnings in a single day in the past 39 years, behind the 2011 storm event and May 30, 2004, when 834 warnings were recorded, according to data provided to Newsweek. Seven people were killed across Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana in the storms that began Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said in Selmer: "The devastation is enormous. What’s most difficult about it is, you know that those are lives destroyed... In some cases, true life lost, but in other cases, everything people owned, up in trees." A rare tornado emergency - the NWS’s highest tornado alert - was declared briefly around Blytheville, Arkansas, on Wednesday evening, with debris detected 25,000 feet in the air, according to reports. Tornado reports have been confirmed in eight states so far this week - Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kansas.

Yahoo! News [4/5/2025 12:37 AM, Nate Belt, 52868K] reports Tennessee and Kentucky are set to receive some help from Colorado this weekend as they recover from severe weather, including tornados and widespread flooding. Colorado Task Force One got the call to deploy late Friday afternoon. “We can theoretically be out the door in two to three hours,” said Task Force Leader Brian Daley. A quick turnaround for them, but Daley said they’re always prepared for situations just like this one. They spent the afternoon quickly packing for the 10 to 14-day trip to parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. “It’s a tremendous opportunity, and it’s a huge honor,” said Daley. “I mean, we train this stuff all the time.”

WPRI [4/4/2025 7:08 PM, Eli Sherman] reports a Rhode Island federal judge has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to stop withholding grant funds to states, finding President Donald Trump’s administration in violation of a preliminary injunction he issued last month. Rhode Island U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell handed down the decision Friday, ordering FEMA to comply with the preliminary injunction and notifying everyone who administers FEMA grants of his decision within 48 hours. The order comes as part of the ongoing lawsuit nearly two dozen states filed against the Trump administration in January over the president’s directives to freeze grants and other funds that Congress had already approved for states. On March 6, McConnell sided with the states and issued a preliminary injunction in the case, blocking any further freezing of the funding. But state attorneys general involved in the case came back within weeks, saying FEMA was flouting the decision by withholding grants for programs in at least 19 states. In addition to notifying all of its grant administers of the Friday decision, McConnell also ordered FEMA to immediately cease the challenged manual-review process, which was implemented by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Reported similarly:
Providence Journal [4/4/2025 3:57 PM, Alex Kuffner]

WJHL [4/4/2025 5:49 PM, Slater Teague] reports President Donald Trump approved Virginia’s major disaster declaration, opening up additional funding for recovery efforts after floods hit Southwest Virginia in February. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the approval in a release Friday. A final determination on Individual Assistance, which provides financial assistance and direct services to those impacted by a disaster, has not been made. Severe flooding in mid-February resulted in washed-out roads, flooded homes, power outages, and water rescues in multiple Southwest Virginia counties.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 11:10 AM, Seth Austin, 52868K] reports that FEMA announced federal disaster assistance has been approved for the commonwealth of Kentucky to supplement response efforts in areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding beginning on April 2 and continuing. Officials say President Trump’s approval authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population. Assistance is approved for all 120 Kentucky counties.

Kentucky Lantern [4/4/2025 4:37 PM, Sarah Ladd] reports Christ Community Church in Paducah was heavily damaged by a tornado that struck Wednesday night, part of a series of storms that battered Kentucky and surrounding states. Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday that President Donald Trump has approved an emergency declaration for the state. A Frankfort boy is dead after being swept away by floodwaters as storm-battered Kentucky braces for more dangerous weather this weekend. Frankfort officials said the boy was walking to the school bus stop when he was caught in the water around 6:35 a.m. in the Hickory Hills area. He was recovered around 8:45 a.m. about a half-mile from where he was reported swept away. More bad weather — flooding, tornadoes, wind and hail — are expected through Sunday across a wide sweep of the state. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has approved the state’s request for an emergency declaration. About 3,823 people are without power and 300 roads are closed, a number that Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said will increase. About 300 Kentucky National Guard members are either on weather-related missions or ready for missions, as needed. Four urban search and rescue teams are ready to search for people, though there are currently no reports of missing Kentuckians, according to Kentucky Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 8:15 PM, Dustin Massengill, 52868K] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency is changing hours at disaster recovery centers in Kentucky. All locations will be closed on Saturday and Sunday due to the weather. Starting Monday, hours extend to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can get help applying for aid, ask questions, or connect with other resources — no appointment needed. The deadline to apply for FEMA help is April 25.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 11:24 AM, Miriam Battles, 52868K] reports that Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has requested a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump Jr. as the state prepares for potential flooding. Sanders submitted a letter to the president requesting direct federal assistance for the Arkansas storms that began Wednesday, April 2. Officials with the governor’s office said rivers across the state will have a flood risk due to heavy rainfall, which will also add additional pressure to river levees. "This week is bringing generational rainfall to Arkansas and, though our emergency personnel are working overtime to keep everyone safe, additional federal assistance is necessary for our disaster response efforts," Sanders said. "I appreciate President Trump and his administration’s assistance as we work to save lives and property." Sanders said officials with the Arkansas Department of Transportation are reporting that State Highway 37 in Jackson County and State Highway 79 in Lee County are closed due to high water. The Arkansas Storm Team has issued an Alert Day for Friday and Saturday. Rain will continue Friday, but heavy rain and flash flooding will be a concern Saturday. A flood watch is in effect until Sunday morning.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 7:42 PM, Noe Padilla, 52868K] reports the National Weather Service in Indianapolis released its official tornado tracking report on most of the tornadoes that touched down in Indiana on Wednesday night. The report confirmed that at least seven tornadoes touched down across the state; however, notable information regarding the tornado that tore through Carmel was not readily available in the report. When asked about its absence, NWS Indianapolis explained that the information would be released either later Friday or Saturday morning. NWS tornado surveyors were not able to finish assessing damage in Carmel and needed to return to the city Friday to complete their report. NWS surveyors determined that an EF2 tornado formed and touched down in a rural area southwest of Brownsburg at 9:09 p.m. before traveling into the southern portion of the downtown area, causing sporadic tree and roof damage across southern portions of the town.

The Daily World [4/4/2025 8:30 PM, Jerry Knaak] reports the Trump administration is canceling a popular grant program that has given states and communities billions of dollars to protect against natural disasters, according to an internal document obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. This will adversely affect key infrastructure projects in Grays Harbor County including the long-awaited North Shore Levee project and the Westport tsunami tower (VES). Grays Harbor County District 3 Commissioner Vickie Raines said, “And just like that … years of due diligence and hard work to move the North Shore Levee flood protection projects forward — now down the drain, only to see the $50 million FEMA BRIC grant clawed back by the Trump administration. This is devastating to Grays Harbor County.” According to Hannah Cleverly, deputy director of emergency management for Grays Harbor County, “The Westport VES project, because it was already awarded, will undergo a program review at the FEMA headquarters and the project will not be allowed an extension to the Period of Performance which ends September 2025.” Federal Emergency Management Agency acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton wrote in a memo Thursday the agency will not allocate the $750 million that was planned this year for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grants. The BRIC program funds local projects that reduce damage from flooding, tornadoes and other weather-related events. In a statement Friday morning, FEMA called BRIC “another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with climate change than helping Americans (affected) by natural disasters.”

CyberScoop [4/4/2025 3:08 PM, Matt Bracken] reports a bipartisan pair of senators is taking another shot at their bill to expand the U.S. Secret Service’s investigative powers for financial cybercrime probes. The Combatting Money Laundering in Cyber Crime Act from Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would update federal law to strengthen the Secret Service’s authority, enabling the agency to look into criminal activity tied to digital assets. “Dangerous criminals are constantly changing their tactics and using new technology to avoid detection,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “Our law enforcement agencies need to adapt to keep communities safe. I will continue to fight to pass this bipartisan legislation that would help the Secret Service more effectively combat cybercrime.” Under current law, the Secret Service is empowered to investigate cybercrimes that threaten national security, but those that are conducted via unlicensed money transmitting businesses fall outside the agency’s purview. The legislation from Cortez Masto and Grassley, both members of the Senate Finance Committee, addresses that gap by allowing Secret Service members to probe digital asset transactions tied to transnational cyber criminal activity. “As money laundering schemes continue to evolve, so must our capacity to combat them,” Grassley said in a statement. “By enhancing Secret Service’s authority to investigate criminal digital assets, our bill significantly improves law enforcement’s ability to effectively anticipate, identify and prevent cybercrime.”

FOX News [4/4/2025 11:55 PM, Landon Mion, 46189K] reports a Florida man was arrested on Friday after allegedly making posts on social media in which he threatened to kill President Donald Trump. Glen DeCicco was charged with making written threats to kill, the Jupiter Police Department wrote in a press release. DeCicco’s arrest comes after police launched an investigation into comments he made on social media targeting Trump. "The investigation began after JPD was alerted to a concerning Facebook post," the police department said. "Detectives reviewed DeCicco’s social media activity and confirmed that he had made a written threat directed at the President." The police department worked with the U.S. Secret Service throughout the investigation into DeCicco’s activity. DeCicco was interviewed by police and the Secret Service without incident. "Thank you Jupiter (FL) PD for your swift response & partnership," Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote on X. "Threats against @POTUS or any Secret Service protectee are taken very seriously," he continued. "Our success often starts with tips from the public so please continue to report suspicious activity to police." This was just the latest social media threat against Trump from suspects in Florida. In January, Shannon Depararro Atkins, of West Palm Beach, was charged after making violent threats against the president on Facebook. In July, Jupiter Police arrested Michael M. Wiseman for written threats to kill Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance after making treating posts on his Facebook page. Trump also survived two assassination attempts in July and September. Newsweek [4/5/2025 12:00 AM, Hannah Parry, 52220K] reports that law enforcement is taking threats against Trump very seriously after four separate confirmed assassination attempts on the president since he entered politics. The most notable occurred at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at Trump while he was on stage, clipping Trump’s ear. Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service at the scene. In June 2016, British national Michael Steven Sandford, age 20 at the time, attempted to steal a police officer’s firearm at a Trump rally in Las Vegas. He pleaded guilty to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function, receiving one year in prison. The following year, Gregory Lee Leingang, then 42, stole a forklift with the intent of driving it into Trump’s presidential vehicle. And on September 13, 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested, accused of firing a rifle from the bushes surrounding Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh was detained on charges of possession of a firearm while a former felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. DeCicco was arrested without incident on Friday after Jupiter police were alerted to a Facebook post. The department said it worked with the U.S. Secret Service as part of the investigation. Detectives and special agents then interviewed DeCicco and he was taken into custody. The alleged threat against the president occurred as he attended the LIV Golf event in Doral, Florida, on Thursday. No further details have been released. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in February: "I’m confident in the men and women in the Secret Service, our partners on the Hill, the secretary, and the cooperation from everyone else. We’ve really come together, and I’m confident in the process.” Under Florida law, making written threats to kill is a second-degree felony. If DeCicco is convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.

Reported similarly:
CBS Miami [4/4/2025 11:25 PM, Mauricio Maldonado, 51661K]

CBS Austin [4/4/2025 9:14 PM, Scott Lawrence, 602K] reports a suspicious package addressed to President Donald Trump triggered a large-scale law enforcement response Friday outside a Texas Walgreens. The report drew federal and local agencies to respond before authorities determined there was no threat to the public. Marshal Chris Robin tells KFDM the package was discovered in a drop-off box shortly before 1 p.m. Friday outside the Walgreens at 4746 Twin City Highway in Groves. He told KFDM that because the package was addressed to President Trump, Groves Police were contacted. They blocked off the parking lot and surrounding area during the investigation. Authorities clear the scene at about 4 p.m. Port Arthur police, Port Arthur fire, and the PA Fire Marshal’s Office were all on the scene. Authorities previously stated that an individual left the item to be mailed via Walgreen’s FedEx mailing service. Walgreens employees felt that certain aspects of the package were suspicious and called 911. After the initial evaluation, local police requested assistance from the Explosives Hazards Task Force Response Team. The Task Force’s assessment determined that no threat of an explosion or explosive device existed. As part of standard protocol, the Port Arthur Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Team also responded to investigate additional potential risks associated with biological hazards.

New York Post [4/4/2025 3:23 PM, Jennie Taer, 5100K] reports the US Coast Guard has “tripled” the number of guardsmen deployed to protect the border — as the Trump administration shifts its attention to smugglers moving illegal migrants across the high seas. The show of force comes as the number of migrant boats intercepted by the agency has shown no signs of slowing, despite a dramatic drop in illegal crossings over the US-Mexico border under President Trump’s major immigration crackdown. “We’ve essentially tripled the amount of Coast Guard assets on the southern border,” Peter Nelson, Officer in Charge of Coast Guard Station San Diego, told Border Report. “This has happened in the last two months.” The Coast Guard has stopped 260 smuggling vessels this fiscal year so far, which started on Oct. 1. The total number of boats intercepted in the 2024 fiscal year topped 561, meaning this year is on track to keep pace regardless of the clampdown. Smugglers are continuing to use “the ocean to enter,” a Border Patrol source told The Post.

ExecutiveGov [4/4/2025 4:24 PM, Jerry Petersen, 37K] reports Adm. Kevin Lunday, the acting commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, has unveiled Force Design 2028, which serves as a blueprint that would ensure the service’s readiness for future national requirements. The Coast Guard said Thursday that a team is being formed to coordinate the implementation of FD 2028 and continue initiatives that are already underway. Commenting on the effort, Lunday said, “We are executing transformational change to renew the Coast Guard. Force Design 2028 will ensure the Coast Guard remains Semper Paratus, Always Ready, to serve the American people.” FD 2028 focuses on four campaigns, namely: people; organization; acquisition and contracting; and technology.

FOX 25 Gulfport [4/4/2025 11:20 AM, Staff, 55K] reports Congressman Mike Ezell has introduced the Secretary of the Coast Guard Act of 2025. If passed and signed into law, the piece of legislation would provide the Coast Guard with a dedicated civilian leader. Adding another layer of civilian leadership would help ensure the Coast Guard receives the resources and the support necessary to continue important national security missions. Under this act, the Coast Guard structure will mirror the framework of the Department of Defense. In a statement released by Congressman Ezell, he said that the U.S. Coast Guard plays an important role in the nation’s security. He then went on to say that the Coast Guard should earn similar recognition that other military branches receive.

FOX 13 Tampa Bay [4/5/2025 1:00 AM, Staff] reports the man at the center of a boating rage incident in Punta Gorda was arrested Friday night. Charter captain Brock Horner, 40, was taken into custody and charged with burglary with assault or battery, non-forced entry. On April 1, Horner was captured on video screaming at a young boater, Gage Towles, in the Peace River. He is seen pulling his boat alongside Towles’ boat without permission and unlawfully boarding it, according to a joint news release by the Punta Gorda Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The incident was captured on video that Towles recorded. Horner is accused of threatening Towles, escalating the incident into a criminal offense, according to investigators. In addition to the criminal investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard and the FWC are conducting separate investigations due to the location of the incident.

Reported similarly:
NBC 8 Tampa [4/4/2025 11:45 PM, Sierra Rains, 200K]

HS Today [4/4/2025 6:30 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Coast Guard interdicted and detained 8 Mexican fishermen engaged in illegal fishing and seized approximately 150 pounds of fish in federal waters off southern Texas last Friday. Coast Guard Station South Padre Island boat crews in coordination with Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi Command Center watch standers and Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi aircrews, detected and interdicted a total of 8 Mexican fishermen engaged in illegal fishing north of the Maritime Boundary Line (MBL) in the Gulf of America. After interdicting two lanchas, Coast Guard crews took the fishermen into custody, brought them ashore, and transferred them to U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel for processing. Coast Guard personnel also seized approximately 150 pounds of red snapper, along with fishing gear and equipment found on board the vessels. Both of the lanchas were seized.

HS Today [4/4/2025 6:30 AM, Staff, 38K] reports a Coast Guard Air Station San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew and the crew of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) rescued 17 aliens and one American aboard a disabled and adrift vessel approximately 50 miles southwest of San Diego Sunday. A 35–foot vessel with 18 individuals aboard was spotted in international waters taking on water and requesting assistance around 7:55 a.m. The Spruance launched a 7-meter rigid hull inflatable boat crew to assist. The 18 individuals were rescued from the water and safely brought aboard the Spruance.

HS Today [4/4/2025 6:30 AM, Staff, 38K] reports a Coast Guard Sector San Juan inspections team discovered an Anhydrous Ammonia hazardous cargo shipment threatening the safety and security of the Puerto Nuevo Terminals (PNT) port facility last Wednesday. A Coast Guard investigation into the situation is ongoing. A team of three Coast Guard Marine Science Technicians conducting a routine examination at the facility identified three tank-containers, one of which was deemed to be unlawful, with more than 5,000 gallons of Anhydrous Ammonia, a hazardous, highly toxic and corrosive gas or colorless liquid which is flammable in high concentrations. After the finding, an interagency team including personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Coast Guard Investigative Services (CGIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigrations and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), U.S. Army National Guard, and the U.S. Marshals Service conducted a sweep of Puerto Nuevo Terminals, inspecting other containers.

DVIDS [4/5/2025 12:05 PM, Chief Warrant Officer Sara Muir, 777K] reports just days ago, on March 29, 2025, the crew of the USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) raced to Namoluk Atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), rescuing two mariners adrift in an 18-foot skiff. Spotted by a Caroline Islands Air aircrew, the distressed vessel was quickly reached by Oliver Henry’s crew. The crew recovered the survivors and safely returned them—along with their skiff—to Namoluk, coordinating with local authorities. Lt. Ray Cerrato, Oliver Henry’s commanding officer, said, “Bringing mariners back to their families never gets old—it’s a feeling that stays with you. This isn’t our first time, and yet every rescue reminds us why we’re out here. We’re proud to be part of this Pacific community, connected by water, and ready to step up for our Freely Associated partners whenever they need us.” This latest success comes ahead of April 6—406 Day—celebrating the 406 MHz frequency of Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs).

CBS News [4/4/2025 4:40 PM, Margaret Brennan, Nicole Sganga, Andres Triay, 51661K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is facing significant cuts amid the administration’s broader effort to pare down the federal workforce, CBS News has learned. As many as 1,300 agency employees could be pushed out or incentivized to leave, three sources familiar with the plans said. CISA employed nearly 3,400 people as of the most recent data. The timing of the cuts is unclear. The workforce reduction is likely to come in weeks, not months, one source familiar with the plans said, but workers are likely to see a second "fork in the road" email first.

Politico [4/4/2025 8:00 PM, Maggie Miller and Amy Mackinnon, 2100K] reports lawmakers and national security veterans reacted with shock on Friday to President Donald Trump’s decision to fire the head of one of the country’s most powerful intelligence agencies, describing it as a “chilling” action that would damage America’s cyber defenses and “roll out the red carpet” for attacks on critical networks by foreign adversaries. Gen. Timothy Haugh, a four-star general who served as head of both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, was largely seen as an apolitical and uncontroversial appointee. He was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in 2023 under then-President Joe Biden and had worked in signals intelligence for three decades. Haugh’s firing on Thursday evening leaves two of the nation’s top cyber and intelligence agencies without Senate-confirmed leadership and suggests that Trump is prioritizing loyalty over experience as he continues to fill senior roles in his administration. It also follows a massive breach of U.S. telecommunications networks by China-backed hacking group Salt Typhoon that allowed hackers to spy on the phones of senior U.S. officials, including Trump and Vice President JD Vance. “We’re under attack, and the president just irresponsibly removed our most important general from the field,” said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of both the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees. “This is an outrageous decision.” The Washington Post first reported on Haugh’s firing, which was detailed on X by far-right activist Laura Loomer. According to The New York Times, she met with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday and presented him with materials critical of several national security staff. NSA Deputy Director Wendy Noble, who the Post reported been reassigned to a position in the Pentagon, was also fired, along with multiple members of the White House National Security Council. Loomer, in an X post, suggested the firings were politically motivated. “NSA Director Tim Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble have been disloyal to President Trump,” she said. “That is why they have been fired.”

New York Times [4/5/2025 5:01 AM, David E. Sanger and Nick Corasaniti, 145325K] reports when President Trump abruptly fired the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command on Thursday, it was the latest in a series of moves that have torn away at the country’s cyberdefenses just as they are confronting the most sophisticated and sustained attacks in the nation’s history. The commander, General Timothy D. Haugh, had sat atop the enormous infrastructure of American cyberdefenses until his removal, apparently under pressure from the far-right Trump loyalist Laura Loomer. He had been among the American officials most deeply involved in pushing back on Russia, dating to his work countering Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election. His dismissal came after weeks in which the Trump administration swept away nearly all of the government’s election-related cyberdefenses beyond the secure N.S.A. command centers at Fort Meade, Md. At the same time, the administration has shrunk much of the nation’s complex early-warning system for cyberattacks, a web through which tech firms work with the F.B.I. and intelligence agencies to protect the power grid, pipelines and telecommunications networks. Cybersecurity experts, election officials and lawmakers — mostly Democrats but a few Republicans — have begun to raise alarms that the United States is knocking down a system that, while still full of holes, has taken a decade to build. It has pushed out some of its most experienced cyberdefenders and fired younger talent brought in to design defenses against a wave of ransomware, Chinese intrusions and vulnerabilities created by artificial intelligence. “At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyberthreats — as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored — how does firing him make Americans any safer?” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Thursday night after General Haugh’s ouster.

Federal News Network [4/4/2025 1:41 PM, Dan O’Donohue, 1089K] reports consider losing power, water, communications, transportation and sewage services — both for yourself and your supply chain — for weeks or even months. China seeks, and is well on its way, to achieve the commanding ability to wreak such havoc upon us. Only in the shadows of cyberspace could this malicious penetration not be considered the act of war that it is. Without a call to arms, our nation is dangerously vulnerable today, and still more tomorrow, to increasingly sophisticated and brazen cyberattacks. Within competing priorities and limited budget, cybersecurity must be a priority for any administration. Drones are relatively easy to observe so spur alarm. Unseen Chinese state-sponsored hackers have broadly compromised our nation’s critical infrastructure and networks with profound consequences for our way of life and ability to defend it. Just two Chinese cyberattack teams, Volt and Salt Typhoon, illustrate the collapse of our cyber deterrence with potentially devastating consequences. Without restraint, Volt Typhoon broadly infested our internet-connected industries and infrastructure. Salt Typhoon hackers achieved much the same in their compromise of network routers and devices to steal network traffic. Alarmingly, although these attacks were acknowledged this year, they may have secretively begun more than three years ago. Caught in public, China boldly and unabashedly continues the attack to achieve nothing less than the destruction of the American people’s will with a homeland attack whenever they choose. Given China’s continued employment of these open, advanced, persistent hackers, how many are yet to be discovered? Deterrence has failed. Risk is intolerably out of balance to our strategic disadvantage. The vulnerability of our water, transport, medical, energy and military transport sectors is high. The consequences of an attack could be devastating to our society and military. The threat is increasing as China, Russia and others double down on cyber as an asymmetrical strategic weapon. The collaboration of ransomware criminals and sophisticated state capability creates a hybrid enterprise difficult to defeat or even identify. Restoring cyber deterrence through resiliency will be an administration-critical action in coordination with private industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an example of what can be done. Essential to deterrence is a hardening that reduces vulnerability and so denies benefit to our attackers beyond current practice. The government will have to take the lead, as they have successfully set standards for nuclear power. Market forces have proved ineffective. Without enforcement, the incentives are weak for any company to take on the cost. Government and industry must invest, or attacks will continue undiminished with severe consequences ― the least of which is the Damocles Sword of demonstrated vulnerability that undermines our policies for great power competition.

Yahoo! News [4/4/2025 4:52 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports following an order by the Michigan Supreme Court, a judge ruled that a woman accused of threatening a shooting at Michigan State University will stand trial. Last week, the state Supreme Court vacated the Court of Appeals decision in People v. Kvasnicka, which found a statute making terrorist threats or falsely reporting terrorism a felony unconstitutional. People v. Kvasnicka was a case heavily referenced by the lawyer of Hope Duncan of Eastpointe, who is facing charges after allegedly posting on social media that there would be "another school shooting" at MSU. Mike Nichols, Duncan’s lawyer, previously told 6 News that the Court of Appeals decision was enough ground to get the charges dismissed. "Count one dies because the statutes are not constitutional. Count two dies with it. The case never should’ve been brought like this," Nichols told 6 News. "The way it was drafted, it covers too much language that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment.” However, since the Michigan Supreme Court vacated the decision, Duncan’s charges of False Report or Threat of Terrorism and Using a Computer to Commit a Crime stand.

AP [4/4/2025 6:50 PM, Lolita C. Baldor and Lisa Mascaro, 2600K] reports President Donald Trump has abruptly fired the director of the National Security Agency, according to U.S. officials and members of Congress, but the White House and the Pentagon have provided no reasons for the move. Senior military leaders were informed Thursday of the firing of Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, who also oversaw the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, the officials said. They received no advance notice about the decision to remove a four-star general with a 33-year career in intelligence and cyber operations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions. The move has triggered sharp criticism from members of Congress and demands for an immediate explanation. And it marks the latest dismissal of national security officials by Trump at a time when his Republican administration faces criticism over his failure to take any action against other key leaders’ use of an unclassified Signal messaging chat that included The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to discuss plans for a military strike. It’s unclear who now is in charge of the NSA and the Cyber Command. Also fired was Haugh’s civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble. The NSA notified congressional leadership and top lawmakers of the national security committees of the firing late Wednesday but did not give reasons, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the matter. The person said Noble has been reassigned to the office of the defense undersecretary for intelligence. The White House did not respond to messages seeking comment. The NSA referred questions about Haugh to the Defense Department. The Pentagon did not respond to questions about why he was fired or provide other details.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/4/2025 6:45 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12829K]
DefenseScoop [4/4/2025 10:10 AM, Mark Pomerleau, 150K]

AP [4/4/2025 6:50 PM, Lolita C. Baldor and Lisa Mascaro, 1089K] reports President Donald Trump has abruptly fired the director of the National Security Agency, according to U.S. officials and members of Congress, but the White House and the Pentagon have provided no reasons for the move. Senior military leaders were informed Thursday of the firing of Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, who also oversaw the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, the officials said. They received no advance notice about the decision to remove a four-star general with a 33-year career in intelligence and cyber operations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions. The move has triggered sharp criticism from members of Congress and demands for an immediate explanation. And it marks the latest dismissal of national security officials by Trump at a time when his Republican administration faces criticism over his failure to take any action against other key leaders’ use of an unclassified Signal messaging chat that included The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to discuss plans for a military strike. It’s unclear who now is in charge of the NSA and the Cyber Command. Also fired was Haugh’s civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble. The NSA notified congressional leadership and top lawmakers of the national security committees of the firing late Wednesday but did not give reasons, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the matter. The person said Noble has been reassigned to the office of the defense undersecretary for intelligence. The White House did not respond to messages seeking comment. The NSA referred questions about Haugh to the Defense Department. The Pentagon did not respond to questions about why he was fired or provide other details.

Washington Post [4/4/2025 10:12 AM, Jeremy Roebuck, 31735K] reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has not discussed with President Donald Trump the use by top national security officials of the unclassified messaging app Signal to discuss highly sensitive military plans. She also appeared to foreclose the possibility of a Justice Department investigation into the matter. “Those cases would have to be referred to me. They have not been referred to me,” Bondi said, speaking at an unrelated news conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She referred to reports Thursday that the Pentagon’s inspector general will launch his own internal review, and she repeated denials by top officials that the material at issue was classified. “The agencies themselves said it was sensitive and not classified,” Bondi said. Experts have told The Washington Post that the material, including the timeline for March drone attacks on Yemen, would typically have been considered highly classified and that discussing it on a commercially available messaging app instead of secure government lines of communication posed a security risk. Democratic lawmakers have called on the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether officials mishandled classified information. But the Trump administration has sought to downplay the severity of the incident. Trump has acknowledged that the National Security Council is conducting an in-house review of its officials’ use of the Signal app. On Thursday, the Pentagon inspector general’s office said it would scrutinize disclosures made by Hegseth.

Reuters [4/4/2025 1:13 PM, Mike Stone, 41523K] reports that the U.S. is asking defense contractors for information on space-based interceptors to knock out incoming missile threats, as the Pentagon explores President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense shield. The idea of strapping rocket launchers, or lasers, to satellites so they can shoot down enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles as they lift off is not new - it was part of the Star Wars initiative devised during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. But it represents a huge and expensive technological leap from current capabilities. The notice, published on Friday, is the first alert to industry that the Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Space Force are holding a series of meetings to discuss space-based interceptors. In the notice, they ask companies to provide specific information on actual or conceptual "space-based interceptors" that would knock out ICBMs during the "boost phase" - the slow and predictable climb through the Earth’s atmosphere. Current defenses target enemy missiles while they travel through space. The Pentagon said it is also interested in concepts capable of "post-boost, early midcourse, or midcourse intercept that show a path to boost-phase intercept, including kinetic and non-kinetic effectors, sensors/seekers, and fire control solutions."

The Hill [4/4/2025 12:07 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports that a coalition of unions sued the Trump administration Friday over its directive to agencies to terminate their collective bargaining agreements with federal employee unions. President Trump last week signed an order directing 18 agencies to end the union contracts, citing a provision of the federal civil service law that allows such exceptions for national security agencies. But the unions argue Trump showed his hand in a fact sheet accompanying the order that complained about "hostile Federal unions" that had "declared war on President Trump’s agenda" by launching numerous suits challenging his policies. "The vast overbreadth of the list of excluded agencies and the incongruity between the stated rationale of national security and those agencies’ primary functions would itself raise questions that the invocation of national security was pretextual," the suit states. "But here there is no need to speculate as to the true rationale behind the Exclusion Order. The White House made clear that it was eliminating federal labor law protections for the vast majority of federal workers in response to constitutionally-protected speech and petitioning activity by Plaintiffs and other federal employee unions in opposition to executive actions by the Trump Administration."

FOX News [4/4/2025 9:40 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46189K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slated to meet with Panama leaders next week amid President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to regain control of the key strategic and military resource. The Trump administration has been outspoken about national security threats presented by alleged Chinese interference. During a February visit to the country, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in an X post that "the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area.” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed on Friday the secretary of defense will attend the 2025 Central American Security Conference, participating in discussions that will "drive ongoing efforts to strengthen the U.S.’s partnerships with Panama and other Central American nations," according to a report from the Associated Press. The president, who has criticized the six-figure premiums imposed on U.S. ships traveling along the vital waterway, previously suggested repurchasing the canal. It was built by the U.S. over the span of multiple decades, but was eventually handed over to Panama during the Carter administration. The "Panama Canal Repurchase Act," a bill that was recently introduced in Congress, would give Trump the authority to negotiate with appropriate Panamanian government officials to reacquire the Panama Canal. Panama President José Raúl Mulino previously said China does not have influence over the canal and accused Trump of "lying" about potentially acquiring it, according to the AP. BlackRock, Inc. later announced a $23 billion deal with Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson to take ownership of the Panamanian ports of Cristobal and Balboa, along with 43 ports in 23 other countries, Fox News Digital previously reported. The canal could be used as leverage for China in U.S. tariff negotiations. Hegseth will also visit Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to meet with military members and leadership at the 7th Special Forces Group, according to the AP.

Wall Street Journal [4/4/2025 12:54 PM, Alan Cullison and Michael R. Gordon, 646K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he told a top Kremlin envoy visiting the U.S. that Russia needs to clarify whether it is committed to peace in Ukraine and that the White House expects an answer soon. The messages come as Trump has shown signs of irritation at the pace of peace talks. The Kremlin envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, completed two days of talks with President Trump’s Russia negotiator at the White House on Thursday, the first high-level bilateral meeting in the U.S. since before the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Rubio said that Dmitriev was given a message to take back to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. “needs to know whether you’re serious about peace.” “Ultimately, Putin will have to make that decision,” Rubio told reporters at a NATO conference in Brussels on Friday. “We will know from their answers very soon whether they are serious about proceeding with real peace or whether it’s a delay tactic.” Trump is hoping to halt the Ukraine war in part to clear away a major obstacle to a broader rapprochement with the Kremlin.

New York Times [4/4/2025 3:33 PM, Michael Crowley, 145325K] reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Russia is running out of time to convince the Trump administration that it is serious about striking a peace deal with Ukraine and not just playing for time. Speaking in Brussels after a two-day gathering of NATO ministers, Mr. Rubio said that the United States was losing patience with “talks about talks” and hinted that Russia was in danger of facing more American sanctions. “We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not,” he told reporters. Members of Congress, he added, are already crafting new sanctions measures that administration officials are “not going to be able to stop” without signs of progress. President Trump has vowed to end the war in Ukraine and is mediating talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Many observers had assumed that Russia would embrace such a deal and Ukraine would resist it, given that Russia occupies about one-fifth of its neighbor and has suffered staggering casualties. But Mr. Rubio’s remarks were the latest sign that the Trump administration is coming around to a view long held by the Biden administration, and by Mr. Rubio himself when he was a Florida senator: that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia does not bargain in good faith.

New York Times [4/4/2025 7:59 AM, Adam Rasgon and Ameera Harouda, 145325K] reports the Israeli military pressed deeper into northern Gaza by ground on Friday after issuing a series of evacuation orders calling on Palestinians to flee, part of its escalating offensive against Hamas in the war-battered Gaza Strip. The expansion of ground operations came after the Palestinian health authorities said on Thursday that dozens of people, including children, were killed in Israeli strikes on a school turned shelter in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City. On Friday, the Israeli military said the strikes were targeting well-known militants in a Hamas command and control center, without naming them. The evacuation orders have brought renewed hardship to Palestinians who had already endured displacement from their homes and miserable conditions during the first 15 months of the war. A shaky two-month cease-fire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March after the two sides failed to reach an agreement to extend it, ending a brief respite for Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli military has since embarked on a major bombing campaign and seized territory in Gaza in a tactic that Israeli officials have said was intended to compel Hamas to release more hostages. As the Israeli military operation expanded, Hamas’s military wing on Friday appeared to threaten the remaining Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza. In a statement that did not mention the plight of its own people, Hamas said its fighters were holding some captives in the evacuation zones under “strict security measures that are extremely dangerous to their lives.” The armed group has in the past threatened the well-being of hostages in the face of Israeli bombardments. The military said its recent campaign had dismantled weapons infrastructure and killed militants, including Mohammed Awad, whom it described as a senior military commander in the Mujahedeen Brigades, a small armed group in Gaza.

New York Times [4/5/2025 3:21 AM, By Adam Rasgon and Ameera Harouda, 330K] reports dozens of people were killed on Thursday in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, according to local health authorities. The deadly strike took place as Israel was ramping up its offensive in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release more hostages being held in its captivity. The Israeli military said that it was looking into reports about the incident and could not immediately provide a comment. The bodies of 27 people killed in the strike arrived at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the health ministry said. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its casualty counts. Multiple videos verified by New York Times show an explosion and its chaotic aftermath at the Dar al-Arqam school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, where civilians were sheltering. In the videos, people can be seen carrying victims, including children, to ambulances as fires burn in the background. A video filmed by Anas al-Sharif, a reporter for Al Jazeera, shows more than a dozen wounded children at the Ahli Arab hospital, including some covered in dust. Israel has accused Hamas of embedding its forces in civilian spaces, including schools and hospitals. Mohammed al-Najjar, 32, had been sheltering at the school when a series of airstrikes pounded into the building, he said. “We were surprised when the school was bombed,” he said in a voice message, adding that a second round of airstrikes was carried out later.

Wall Street Journal [4/4/2025 10:15 AM, Laurence Norma and Michael R. Gordon, 646K] reports the U.S. is pressing to hold direct nuclear talks with Iran, U.S. officials say, as the Trump administration seeks an ambitious goal: dismantling Tehran’s nuclear program. If Iran agreed to engage, the talks would be the first sustained direct negotiations between the two countries since President Trump withdrew from the previous nuclear agreement in 2018. The Trump administration is seeking to go far beyond what was achieved in that deal, negotiated by the Obama administration, and is aiming to move quickly on talks at a time when Western officials have assessed that Iran is closer than ever to being able to assemble a nuclear weapon. It is likely to be a tall order. Tehran has for decades refused to abandon its nuclear program, insisting it has a right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful purposes. After years of negotiations, the U.S. agreement that Tehran could continue significant uranium enrichment was key to unlocking the 2015 nuclear deal. That wouldn’t suffice this time, according to a senior administration official, who said the U.S. would be aiming to eliminate the program. Speaking late Thursday, Trump told reporters that it would be better to have direct talks. “I think it goes faster, and you understand the other side a lot better, than if you go through intermediaries,” he said. “I know for a fact that I think they would like to have direct talks.” Iranian officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Wall Street Journal [4/4/2025 4:21 PM, Hannah Miao and Clarence Leong, 646K] reports the trade war between the world’s two largest economies reached new terrain on Friday when China said it would impose blanket tariffs on all U.S. goods, striking back decisively at President Trump’s “Liberation Day” blitz. China said it would hit all U.S. goods with an additional 34% tariff starting Thursday, matching the level of the White House’s latest tariff on Chinese imports. Beijing also put controls on more than two dozen U.S. companies, curbed access to rare-earth minerals and launched a probe into U.S. chemicals giant DuPont. “This is an aggressive, escalatory response that makes a near-term deal to end the trade war between the two superpowers highly unlikely,” Capital Economics China economist Leah Fahy wrote in a note to clients Friday. The intensifying tit-for-tat battle between the U.S. and China stands to wreak havoc on both economies and unleash chaos on global trade, with the flows of billions of dollars worth of goods at stake. The White House’s new levy on China, on top of earlier duties already imposed by Trump this year as well as ones predating his second term, will raise the average tariff rate on Chinese imports to about 70%, economists estimate. Meanwhile, China’s 34% tariff would push the average duty on U.S. goods to around 50%, according to Capital Economics.

New York Times [4/5/2025 3:21 AM, Sapna Maheshwari, 330K] reports President Trump on Friday granted TikTok another reprieve by announcing that he would extend the deadline for when the popular app had to make a deal to be separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States. TikTok, which had been facing a Saturday deadline for a deal, now has another 75 days to find a new owner to comply with a federal law that requires it to change its structure to resolve national security concerns. That puts the new deadline for a deal in mid-June. The delay was President Trump’s second for TikTok this year. He first paused enforcement of the law in January, even after it was unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court. “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday, adding that “we do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’” He added that he looked forward to “working with TikTok and China” to close the deal and suggested he would consider using the app as a negotiating chip with China on tariffs. Mr. Trump’s latest action highlights the intractable nature of the dilemma with TikTok, which has endured years of scrutiny in the United States over its Chinese ties. Even as lawmakers and U.S. officials repeatedly raised questions about whether TikTok was secure, the app cemented its role as a cultural juggernaut, with more than 170 million users in the country who use it to make memes and share videos. The extension is happening at a particularly fraught time in U.S.-China relations. This week, Mr. Trump levied a 34 percent tariff on goods from China. On Friday, Beijing retaliated with 34 percent across-the-board tariffs on imports from the United States. Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested he could lower the China tariffs as part of a deal for the app, which will need the Chinese government’s approval. The delay also renewed questions about Mr. Trump’s willingness to put his presidential power ahead of the rule of law. The federal law that aimed to change TikTok’s ownership or have the app be banned was passed last year with wide bipartisan support and took effect in January after the Supreme Court ruling. But Mr. Trump effectively overrode the law when he paused enforcement of it that month. For now, one thing is certain: TikTok will continue to operate in the United States for the foreseeable future. In January, the app briefly went dark around the time the federal law took effect, before flickering back to life. ByteDance on Friday acknowledged for the first time that it has been involved in the TikTok negotiations with the U.S. government.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/4/2025 2:01 PM, Julia Shapero, 12829K]
FOX News [4/4/2025 1:39 PM, Greg Norman, 10702K]

FOX News [4/4/2025 7:21 PM, Brie Stimson, 10702K] reports as the United States came close to making a deal with Chinese-owned TikTok to spin off its US operations into a new company owned by U.S. investors, the Chinese government said it wouldn’t agree to it, citing the Trump administration’s tariffs, according to a report. The deal had been approved by investors, the U.S. government and Chinese-owned ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, according to Reuters, citing two sources. ByteDance would keep a minority stake in TikTok under the deal. President Trump on Wednesday announced a 34% tariff on goods coming to the U.S. from China on top of a previously announced 20% tariff. TikTok faced a ban in the U.S. in January if it failed to divest to U.S. investors, but Trump extended the deadline when he came into office and extended it again on Friday. "My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress," he wrote on Truth Social on Friday. "The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.” He added, "We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!). This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security! We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’ We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!". Trump has said he would be willing to negotiate on tariffs if China agrees to the ByteDance deal.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/4/2025 1:39 PM, Greg Norman, 10702K]

FOX News [4/4/2025 1:42 PM, Haley Chi-Sing, 46189K] reports that a conservative legal group is challenging President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, calling them "an unlawful attempt" to make Americans pay higher taxes on Chinese imports. The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed an initial complaint in Florida district court Thursday, challenging Trump’s "unlawful use of emergency power to impose a tariff on all imports from China." "By invoking emergency power to impose an across-the-board tariff on imports from China that the statute does not authorize, President Trump has misused that power, usurped Congress’s right to control tariffs, and upset the Constitution’s separation of powers," Andrew Morris, senior litigation counsel at NCLA, said in a statement released. Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 1 titled "Imposing Duties to Address the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China," and amended it on Mar. 3 to raise tariffs on Chinese imports from 10% to 20%. Plaintiff Emily Ley, owner of Simplified, a Pensacola, Florida-based company, argues Trump’s invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose the tariffs is unlawful. The plaintiff also argues that her business will be harmed as a result of Trump’s action.

Reuters [4/4/2025 8:40 PM, Trevor Hunnicutt and Kanishka Singh, 41523K] reports the head of Taiwan’s National Security Council arrived in the United States for talks with President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday, days after China concluded war games around Taiwan. Joseph Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the "special channel," the Financial Times reported earlier. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on January 20. Earlier this week, China’s military concluded two-day war games around Taiwan in which it held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea, marking an escalation of exercises around the island. Taiwan has denounced China for holding the drills. The United States, Taiwan’s most important international supporter and main arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, condemned the latest exercises earlier this week. Taiwan is only one area of tension between the United States and China whose ties have been tested by multiple issues such as human rights, the origins of COVID-19 and trade tariffs, including measures put in place by Trump this week. Trump’s tariffs this week also upset Taiwan which called them unreasonable. Trump has also been critical of Taiwan for taking U.S. semiconductor business, saying he wants the industry to re-base to the United States. Taiwan’s top security official has said the Trump administration’s support for Taiwan remains "very strong." China has stepped up rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, calling him a "parasite" on Tuesday in the wake of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticized Beijing.

Reuters [4/5/2025 3:52 AM, Staff, 24727K] reports the Philippines expressed alarm on Saturday over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown against alleged Chinese spies. Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine intelligence agency to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime. The Philippines’ National Security Council disputed Beijing’s accusations, saying the three were former recipients of a government scholarship programme created under an agreement between the southern Chinese province of Hainan and the western Philippine province of Palawan. "They are ordinary Filipino citizens with no military training who merely went to China at the invitation of the Chinese government to study," National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said in a statement. "They are law-abiding citizens with no criminal records and were vetted and screened by the Chinese government prior to their arrival there," he added. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside office hours. Hainan and Palawan both face the South China Sea, a strategic waterway where the two countries have staked out overlapping claims and have clashed frequently over the past two years. "The arrests can be seen as a retaliation for the series of legitimate arrests of Chinese agents and accomplices by Philippine law enforcement," Malaya said. Philippine authorities have arrested at least a dozen Chinese nationals in the last three months on suspicion of espionage, accusing them of illegally obtaining sensitive information on military camps and critical infrastructure that could undermine Manila’s national security and defence. China has expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled China’s claims have no basis under international law, although Beijing does not recognise that ruling.

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