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.

Axios [4/7/2025 7:57 PM, Sam Sabin, 13163K] reports the Department of Homeland Security offered employees the choice between deferred resignation, early retirement or an immediate buyout, according to an email obtained by Axios Monday evening. The email from Secretary Kristi Noem is part of a broader push to drastically reduce headcount across the federal government, including at the nation’s top cyber defense agency. Noem laid out the voluntary offers in an email with the subject line, "Reshaping the DHS Workforce." Employees have until next Monday, April 14, to decide if they will take the deferred resignation, early retirement offer or buyout. Those who take the deferred resignation will be offered a "brief period of paid administrative leave to complete key tasks, submit retirement documentation and prepare for departure." Most departures would happen before the end of fiscal year 2025, Noem wrote. Workers can also choose to do a buyout in which they get a lump sum of $25,000, "or an amount equal to severance pay if lower," per the email. Eligible employees are also able to participate in an early retirement program, Noem said. Those employees typically will have reduced pensions and health care benefits. "By offering these options, we intend to provide flexibility for employees who may be considering a change, retirement or new career opportunities while also supporting the Department’s operational readiness," Noem wrote. A senior DHS spokesperson said in a statement that, "the American people deserve a government that works for them, something President Trump has promised." Bloomberg [4/7/2025 8:41 PM, Margi Murphy, 1620K] reports Department of Homeland Security employees on Monday evening were asked to consider voluntarily resigning, retiring or taking a “buyout” of as much as $25,000 under a new “voluntary workforce transition program” intended to slash the department’s staff, according to an email seen by Bloomberg. The workers have until midnight on April 14 to opt for one of three options: the Deferred Resignation Program, the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment, which provides as much as $25,000 in a one-time payout, according to the email from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Thank you for your continued dedication to the Department of Homeland Security and our nation’s security,” she said. “Your service and professionalism are greatly appreciated.” The offers were made to “employees in roles slated for voluntary departures.” It was unclear how many employees received the email. “The American people deserve a government that works for them, something President Trump has promised,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Monday night. “Every dollar spent and position filled at DHS should be focused on our core mission of securing our homeland and keeping the American people safe.” Reuters [4/7/2025 9:00 PM, Marisa Taylor and Janaki Venugopalan, 41523K] reports that a host of U.S. federal agencies have unveiled fresh buyout offers to slash the federal workforce in recent days, renewing the voluntary program that preceded the first wave of mass firings led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency after President Donald Trump took office in January.

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FOX News [4/7/2025 12:55 PM, Emma Colton, 46189K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is "unapologetic" about using lie-detector tests on staffers as it aims to snuff out "leakers" who feed internal agency information to the public, Fox News Digital learned. "Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security," Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs, told Fox News Digital Monday. "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." McLaughlin’s response follows Politico’s Friday reporting that the department had administered a lie detector test in March to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Chief Cameron Hamilton following a meeting between DHS and an advisor to President Donald Trump, Corey Lewandowski. The test ultimately cleared Hamilton, according to the outlet, as officials worked to determine if information from the meeting had been leaked. The meeting reportedly focused on Trump administration efforts to "eliminate" FEMA – an agency Trump repeatedly has railed against for not doing its job in effectively aiding citizens during disasters.

Politico [4/7/2025 8:40 PM, Josh Gerstein, 11599K] reports Venezuelans in the United States labeled by President Donald Trump as “alien enemies” must be given a chance to challenge their deportations before being expelled from the country, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday. But the justices, in a 5-4 split, scrapped a trial judge’s order that had imposed a sweeping block on all deportations under Trump’s invocation of the two-centuries-old Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used law meant to guard against foreign invasions in wartime. The decision will shift litigation over the issue from a class-action lawsuit in Washington, D.C., to federal courts in Texas, where the detainees are being held. There, the detainees can file individual petitions challenging their detentions. Courts in Texas may not be especially receptive to such petitions. Any appeals will be heard by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s most conservative federal appeals court. Still, the Supreme Court’s ruling appears to deal a setback to Trump’s attempt to swiftly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, under powers used only three prior times in U.S. history, most recently in World War II. Nevertheless, Trump declared victory Monday. “The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself. A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” he wrote on Truth Social. Lawyers representing the Venezuelan nationals targeted for deportation have argued that many of them have no gang affiliation — and that the administration’s evidence of any gang ties is scant or nonexistent. The high court’s ruling makes clear that these detainees must be given some due process before they are deported. The Washington Post [4/7/2025 7:28 PM, Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow, 31735K] reports that the 5-4 ruling did not touch on the underlying legal questions of the challenge. It leaves open the possibility the migrants could refile their case in Texas or other jurisdictions where they are detained. But for now, it opens the door for the Trump administration to deport more Venezuelan migrants under the act, although it also said the government must give prospective deportees notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal. And it appears to take the central legal issues of the case away from U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, whose temporary restraining order blocking the deportations prompted impeachment calls from Trump and his allies. The court’s three liberal justices dissented, joined in part by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The liberals warned of potential "life or death consequences" from the majority’s order and criticized their colleagues, saying their ruling "flouts well-established limits ... creates new law on the emergency docket, and elides the serious threat our intervention poses to the lives of individual detainees.” President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which is aimed at removing citizens of a nation with which the United States is at war, after declaring the presence of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang in the United States an "invasion.” Government attorneys said Boasberg’s block on such deportations while litigation continues was an unconstitutional imposition on the president’s broad authority to deal with national security issues and conduct foreign policy. They claimed the gang is operating in the United States at the behest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an idea disputed by government intelligence agencies. "This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country—the President...or the Judiciary," acting solicitor general Sarah M. Harris wrote in court filings. "The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the President. The republic cannot afford a different choice.” Boasberg halted the deportations temporarily in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of five migrants. The organization says Trump can’t invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans because the United States is not at war with the country. It called the president’s use of the act "unprecedented.” "The act was meant solely to address ‘military’ hostilities directed at the United States, not criminal activity by a gang during peacetime," ACLU attorneys wrote in a filing. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling on in a social media post. "President Trump was proven RIGHT once again! SCOTUS confirms our Commander-in-Chief Donald J. Trump has the power to stop the invasion of our country by terrorists using war time powers. LEAVE NOW or we will arrest you, lock you up and deport you," she wrote. The ACLU called the justices’ ruling that migrants are entitled to challenge the government’s claim that they are gang members "a huge victory.” "We are disappointed that we will need to start the court process over again in a different venue but the critical point is that the Supreme Court said individuals must be given due process to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act," lead ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement. Roll Call [4/7/2025 8:53 PM, Chris Johnson, 503K] reports that the Supreme Court ruled that individuals facing removal under the presidential proclamation can file claims in court that give them a form of due process to give them a chance to contest the allegations — and must be given a chance to do so. “The only question is which court will resolve that challenge,” the unsigned decision states. The majority said the claims must be filed where the detainees are being held in Texas, and that the government must notify the detainees of their removal in a way that will allow them “to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.” The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward had challenged the removals under the proclamation in a different way in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In the decision, the majority said it did not reach the question of the government’s interpretation that Trump is within his power to use the Alien Enemies Act to make these removals, which he has used to send alleged gang members to a prison in El Salvador with a record of human rights abuses. Attorneys for the migrants have raised warnings in court filings that the government has admitted that many individuals removed to the prison don’t have criminal records in the United States and the process for identifying who is a member of the gang is flawed. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor points out that all nine justices agree that lower courts now will probe whether a migrant is in fact a member of Tren de Aragua and the meaning of an “invasion” or “predatory incursion.” The 1798 law states that noncitizens age 14 and up can be removed as “alien enemies” whenever there is “a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion” is tried “by any foreign nation or government.”

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Washington Examiner [4/7/2025 10:40 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump and his Cabinet celebrated their victory in a Supreme Court decision allowing the administration to deport under the Alien Enemies Act. The court ruled in Trump’s favor 5-4 on Monday, clearing Trump to use the 1798 statute typically reserved for wartime threats. He had used the act to fast-track the deportation of alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang recently designated a terrorist organization by the State Department. The president was quick to celebrate the victory in a post on Truth Social. "The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself. A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!" he said. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that she would act quickly to take advantage of the decision. "Following tonight’s landmark Supreme Court ruling, the American people can rest assured that @Sec_Noem, @RealTomHoman and I will direct our assets to scour the country for any remnants of Tren De Aragua and DEPORT THEM," Bondi said.

The New York Times [4/8/2025 3:23 AM, Adam Liptak, 330K] reports Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Monday temporarily blocked a trial judge’s order directing the United States to return a Salvadoran migrant it had inadvertently deported. The chief justice, acting on his own, issued an “administrative stay,” an interim measure meant to give the justices some breathing room while the full court considers the matter. The order came just hours after the administration asked the court to block the trial judge’s order instructing the government to return the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, by 11:59 p.m. on Monday. Judge Paula Xinis of the Federal District Court in Maryland had said the administration committed a “grievous error” that “shocks the conscience” by sending Mr. Abrego Garcia, to a notorious prison in El Salvador last month. In the administration’s emergency application, D. John Sauer, the U.S. solicitor general, said Judge Xinis had exceeded her authority by engaging in “district-court diplomacy,” because it would require working with the government of El Salvador to secure his release. “If this precedent stands,” he wrote, “other district courts could order the United States to successfully negotiate the return of other removed aliens anywhere in the world by close of business,” he wrote. “Under that logic, district courts would effectively have extraterritorial jurisdiction over the United States’ diplomatic relations with the whole world.” In a response to the court, Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said their client “sits in a foreign prison solely at the behest of the United States, as the product of a Kafka-esque mistake.” They added: “The district court’s order instructing the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return is routine. It does not implicate foreign policy or even domestic immigration policy in any case.” Mr. Sauer, the administration’s lawyer, said it did not matter that an immigration judge had previously prohibited Mr. Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador. NPR [4/7/2025 2:20 PM, Jasmine Garsd and Joel Rose, 29983K] reports that the Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the lower court in Maryland lacked jurisdiction because Garcia was in El Salvador and writing that the judge’s order was "absurd" and "interferes with sensitive international negotiations." Chief Justice John Roberts in a brief order issued this afternoon said Xinis’ order would be stayed until the Supreme Court weighed in on the case. He added that responses should be filed by 5pm on Tuesday. The Supreme Court provided no further details. The White House argues that Abrego Garcia is a member of the Salvadoran gang known as MS-13. "He should be behind bars, whether it be in El Salvador or in a U.S. detention facility. He should not be on the streets of America," said Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, in an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered. "An immigration judge reviewed evidence and determined he actually is a verified member of MS-13," McLaughlin told NPR on Sunday. "There’s also intelligence reports that he’s involved in human trafficking." But Abrego Garcia’s lawyers vigorously dispute those allegations. And his lawyers note that he has no criminal record in the U.S., El Salvador, or any other country.

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The Washington Post [4/7/2025 5:48 PM, Justin Jouvenal and Maria Sacchetti, 31735K] reports that the fate of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador remained in limbo Monday after the Supreme Court briefly paused an order requiring the Trump administration to bring him back to the United States. A lower-court judge had told the government to fly Kilmar Abrego García to the U.S. by 11:59 p.m. Monday. The Salvadoran immigrant, who is married to a U.S. citizen, was deported despite a court ruling forbidding it. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. gave Abrego García’s attorneys until Tuesday to respond to the government’s request to allow his deportation to stand while litigation over the matter continues. The truncated timeline indicates the Supreme Court is likely to act quickly in the case. Abrego García’s lawyers submitted their filings shortly after the administrative stay was announced. One of them, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement that “we have every confidence” the high court will resolve the case “as quickly as humanly possible.” Their filing said Abrego García “sits in a foreign prison solely at the behest of the United States, as the product of a Kafkaesque mistake.” Abrego García’s situation has become a focal point of the Trump administration’s attempt to deport millions of noncitizens from the United States — and the court battles over the legality of that campaign. The 29-year-old sheet metal apprentice fled El Salvador as a teenager because of death threats from gang members. Trump officials have argued that they have no power to return him because he is now in the custody of a foreign government. U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis forcefully pushed back on that assertion Sunday, writing that the federal government certainly does have the authority to return Abrego García and that while Trump officials have also alleged he is a leader of the MS-13 gang, they have offered “no evidence” to prove that. Officials made the allegation based on a report from a confidential informant, but that information did not result in Abrego García being charged with a crime or otherwise implicated. “Nothing came of it,” the judge wrote. Xinis noted that the Trump administration is paying the Salvadoran government $6 million to detain Abrego García and other deportees. An agreement between the two countries states that U.S. officials will decide what happens to the detainees in the future. She also noted that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem recently visited the Salvadoran prison and met with President Nayib Bukele and other officials, saying the jail remained a tool for U.S. immigration enforcement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit declined on Monday to overrule Xinis’s decision. The three-judge panel unanimously agreed that the order to bring Abrego García back “should not be stayed.” “The United States Government has no legal authority to snatch a person who is lawfully present in the United States off the street and remove him from the country without due process,” said the decision, written by Judge Stephanie Thacker. “The Government’s contention otherwise, and its argument that the federal courts are powerless to intervene, are unconscionable.” Deporting Abrego García “most assuredly” violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process, Thacker wrote. She pointed out that the U.S. government has readmitted wrongfully deported migrants before. “Now it must clean up the mess it has made” in Abrego García’s case, the order said. In a concurring decision, Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III acknowledged that the lower-court judge was essentially ordering U.S. officials to ask a foreign country to turn over one of its citizens to them. He wrote that Xinis’s order required the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego García’s release, “rather than demand it.” The Daily Caller [4/7/2025 1:07 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1082K] reports "The United States cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations in advance, least of all when a court imposes an absurdly compressed, mandatory deadline that vastly complicates the give-and-take of foreign-relations negotiations," the DOJ wrote in its appeal to the Supreme Court. "The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding," the DOJ continued, arguing that the order "set the United States up for failure." "Complicating the negotiations further, the alien is no ordinary individual, but rather a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization, MS-13, that the government has determined engages in ‘terrorist activity’ or ‘terrorism’ — or ‘retains the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism’ — that ‘threatens the security of United States nationals or the national security of theUnited States,’" the DOJ wrote in its appeal Monday. "[Garcia is] actually a member of MS-13 and was involved in human trafficking … It is a gang that rapes, maims, and kills Americans for sport. They should not be on U.S. soil," Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Friday.

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Wall Street Journal [4/7/2025 5:33 PM, Joseph De Avila and Jan Wolfe, 646K] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia married his American wife in 2019 with a glass partition between them and their rings handed to each other by an immigration officer. With Jennifer Vasquez Sura nearing the end of a high-risk pregnancy and the U.S. government pressing to deport Abrego Garcia to his native El Salvador, the couple thought a wedding in an ICE detention center might be their only chance, his wife said in court documents. Though Abrego Garcia had entered the U.S. without authorization when he was a teenager, an immigration judge spared him from deportation. Transporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador—where a gang had targeted his family’s pupusa business—would endanger his life, the judge said. Officials couldn’t send Abrego Garcia back to his home country, the judge’s 2019 order said. Abrego Garcia returned to his wife and their children in Maryland. He went back to work as a sheet-metal laborer and more recently began a five-year apprenticeship program to become a licensed journeyman, taking classes at the University of Maryland. He had regular check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Despite the order, the Trump administration loaded the 29-year-old on a plane six years later, on March 15, and sent him to El Salvador’s notorious prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as Cecot. Abrego Garcia remains there, as a tense legal battle over his future plays out at home. He has become an example of what is at stake for immigrants accused of allegations that can be hard to disprove in immigration courts. Federal officials say he was deported to the prison in error, but add that they have no authority to bring him home. “The individual in question is a member of the brutal MS-13 gang,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said Friday. “Whether he is in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he will be locked up and off America’s streets.”

Blaze [4/7/2025 11:35 AM, Joseph Mackinnon, 1668K] reports that the Trump administration deported an illegal alien on March 15 who was found by more than one immigration court to be a "danger to the community" and a member of the terrorist organization Mara Salvatrucha. While a prime candidate for removal, government attorneys indicated that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was ultimately deported to El Salvador "because of an administrative error." An Obama judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to bring the Salvadoran national back into the United States. On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis doubled down on her order, claiming that immigration agents "had no legal authority to arrest [Abrego Garcia], no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere." Xinis appeared particularly concerned that Abrego Garcia, whose lawyers claimed he is not a gangster, has been placed in a facility that "intentionally mixes rival gang members without any regard for protecting the detainees from ‘harm at the hands of the gangs,’" stating that the "risk of harm shocks the conscience." The Obama judge further suggested that Abrego Garcia’s detention at the southern nation’s Terrorism Confinement Center "appears wholly lawless"; that "equity and justice compels" Garcia’s return to the United States; that the "legal basis for the mass removal of hundreds of individuals to El Salvador remains disturbingly unclear"; and that the government’s "jurisdictional arguments fail as a matter of law." Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin underscored in an interview last week that Abrego Garcia "is actually a member of MS-13 who was involved in human trafficking. It’s unbelievable the framing of this. Whether this man is in El Salvador or in a U.S. detention center, he should be locked up."

Breitbart [4/7/2025 12:38 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 2923K] reports that according to reports, the DOJ lawyer in question, Erez Reuveni, did not "zealously advocate" for the government’s position in the case, leading to his suspension. His supervisor, August Flentje, was also suspended. Reuveni reportedly said in court, "Our only arguments are jurisdictional… He should not have been sent to El Salvador." Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, "At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States. Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences." The man in question, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, resided in Maryland, and the administration has attributed his deportation to El Salvador to an "administrative error." "On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error," a recent filing read. According to reports, a judge ordered that Garcia be returned, but the Trump administration filed an emergency stay. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also emphasized this point, describing Garcia as an "illegal criminal who broke our nation’s immigration laws." "He is a leader in the brutal MS-13 gang, and he is involved in human trafficking," she said, reminding reporters that MS-13 is now a designated foreign terrorist organization. "Foreign terrorists have no legal protections in the United States of America," she pointed out. "And this administration is going to continue to deport foreign terrorists and illegal criminals from our nation’s interior."

NPR [4/7/2025 2:03 PM, Luke Garrett, 29983K] Audio HERE reports that the Trump administration has defended its deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia — a Maryland man mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador — saying "due process does look different" for people they say are members of gangs the White House has designated as terrorist organizations. Abrego Garcia was arrested and deported in March, despite having been granted protection by an immigration judge in 2019 that should have prevented him from being deported to El Salvador. The Justice Department has admitted the deportation was an "administrative error," but DOJ lawyers argued in court papers that he is a member of the criminal gang MS-13. In an interview with All Things Considered guest host and NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid on Sunday, Tricia McLaughlin — assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security — said the Trump administration’s deportations are legal. "In every single case, there is due process," McLaughlin said. But, she added, there are different processes for people deemed members of terrorist groups. Tricia McLaughlin: Well, that actually is just not true. An immigration judge reviewed evidence and determined he actually is a verified member of MS-13. There’s also intelligence reports that he’s involved in human trafficking. So I think the bottom line for the American people and for those who are listening today is that this individual in question, who’s an MS-13 gang member, he should be behind bars, whether it be in El Salvador or in a U.S. detention facility. He should not be on the streets of America. Khalid: And so there’s a different set of rules - you’re saying - for foreigners living in the U.S.? McLaughlin: If you are here on a visa, absolutely. There is a — that is a privilege, not a right. And the secretary of state maintains the authority to revoke that visa. And if that’s the case, then ICE and DHS will enforce it. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Reuters [4/7/2025 7:13 PM, Nate Raymond, 4998K] reports a U.S. appeals court on Monday declined to lift an order blocking the Trump administration from sending people with final deportation orders to countries not cited in earlier proceedings without first letting them make a case for humanitarian protection. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit+ Court of Appeals rejected a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to put on hold a nationwide temporary restraining order issued by a judge on March 28. The order has hobbled its ability to fast-track deportations of thousands of migrants who could not be removed to the countries they originated from for reasons including that the individuals had already won protections against being sent back. Immigrant legal rights groups sued last week to prevent the administration from deporting migrants with final orders of removal to countries that were not previously raised in their immigration proceedings. Their lawsuit, filed last week on behalf of a group of migrants, took aim at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy designed to fast-track the deportations of thousands of migrants who had been released from detention. The migrants’ lawyers argue the policy exposed an untold number of people to the risk of being sent to countries they did not originate from and that were not listed in their final deportation orders as potential locations for deportation. They said that lack of notice from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deprived them of the ability to raise claims that they feared they could suffer persecution, torture or death if deported to those newly identified countries. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, an appointee of Trump’s Democrat predecessor Joe Biden, concluded on March 28 that the plaintiffs had established a likelihood of showing that the administration’s practice violated their due process rights. The judge, in a subsequent written version of his decision, said the administration had shown no concern that without a court order, deportations in violation of the Convention Against Torture could regularly and immediately occur. "Due process requires that an individual be given notice of where they are being taken and a meaningful opportunity to show that, if taken there, they will likely be subject to persecution, torture, or death," he wrote.

Bloomberg Law [4/7/2025 2:04 PM, Allie Reed, 120K] reports that the Trump administration’s rapid implementation of policy changes works well "if the government wants to create as much outrage as possible," but may be less effective for soundly addressing legal issues, a Massachusetts federal judge said at a hearing Monday on humanitarian parole programs. Judge Indira Talwani’s concerns are exemplified by an erroneous email the US Department of Homeland Security sent to some Ukrainian immigrants giving them seven days to leave the US due to their parole under a humanitarian program being terminated. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

New York Times [4/7/2025 4:38 PM, Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush, 145325K] reports that the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to enact major elements of its agenda have led to a series of courtroom clashes between increasingly skeptical judges and the beleaguered lawyers responsible for defending the government’s positions, which some have come to see as indefensible. The Justice Department’s thinned-out civil division has borne the brunt of the growing conflict. Inside the division, the strains of pushing the legal limits on topics as varied as mass deportations, spending power and punishing law firms are taking a major toll. Government litigators, their ranks increasingly depleted, often find themselves in court with few facts to defend policies they cannot explain, according to current and former officials. Career lawyers representing the government have a long tradition of arguing for the goals of Republican or Democratic administrations, regardless of their personal views. What is different now, they say, is that they increasingly feel trapped between President Trump’s partisan political appointees, who insist on a maximalist approach, and judges who demand comprehensible answers to basic questions. Last week, Judge Edward M. Chen of Federal District Court for the Northern District of California called it “disingenuous” for the Department of Homeland Security to claim that ending a temporary protected status for over 350,000 Venezuelans would not lead to deportations.

NewsMax [4/7/2025 4:50 PM, Theodore Bunker, 4998K] reports Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, on Monday told Semafor that Congress is "taking too long" to approve funding for detention centers and other immigration enforcement efforts. Asked during the interview about concerns about manpower and the amount of space available for immigrants who have been detained by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homan said, "We’ve got to have Congress fund this operation." He added that the administration is "hoping to get some funding through reconciliation, but … we got to hope Congress gets that done because there is a limited amount of funds, and to do more we got to buy more detention beds. We need more flights. We need more officers. We need more overtime. Bottom line is: The more money we get, the more successful we will be. We got a lot of people, but resources matter. We got to hire more agents. And the biggest issue I see right now is the need for more detention beds. I support any approach that gives us the money we need to do this operation," he said. "Is it taking too long? Yes, it’s taking too long. I wish they would have passed it by now."

Breitbart [4/7/2025 3:19 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) official Antonio Gracias says millions of migrants, who were welcomed to the United States under former President Joe Biden, are now on the nation’s Medicaid rolls and voter rolls — with some having voted in last year’s election. Most recently, DOGE chief Elon Musk said that potentially millions of illegal aliens who arrived in the U.S. under Biden have secured Social Security numbers.

Washington Post [4/7/2025 12:00 PM, Timothy P. Broglio, 31735K] reports that a very sad day has dawned. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had to make the gut-wrenching decision this week to end our work with the federal government to resettle refugees and coordinate support services on the government’s behalf for unaccompanied children entering the United States. Our programs — among the nation’s largest and longest-serving refugee resettlement efforts — will shut down by the end of the fiscal year. The bishops’ decision came after the federal government suspended our cooperative agreements to resettle refugees. The drastic reduction of these programs forced us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution. I want to be clear that this decision to end our resettlement agency does not mean walking away from helping refugees and others. The Catholic Church will find new means to help those we have served in the past and will serve in the future. The bishops will also continue to advocate energetically for public policy reforms that provide orderly, secure immigration processes and ensure the safety of everyone in our communities. There is no change in our collective commitment to advocate on behalf of men, women and children suffering from the scourge of human trafficking. This is a painful end to a life-sustaining partnership the Catholic Church in the U.S. has had with our government and that has spanned decades across administrations of both political parties.

Reported similarly:
Axios [4/7/2025 4:15 PM, April Rubin, 13163K]

NPR [4/7/2025 1:54 PM, Andrea Hsu, 29983K] reports that Mahri Stainnak had just started a job at the Office of Personnel Management focused on bringing more engineers, technologists and scientists into the government. Sherrell Pyatt helped to resolve personnel disputes, including through mediation, at the Department of Homeland Security. Jessica Swan’s position at the Department of Education was overseeing grants to help some 5 million children in the U.S. learn English. That’s despite the fact that they were not working in DEIA offices at the time of their dismissals. They contend their jobs don’t conflict with those executive orders. Instead, they believe they are among hundreds and possibly thousands of federal employees targeted because of their past involvement with government DEIA programs and initiatives — or perhaps because the Trump administration merely associated them with the concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Many of these workers say they’ve never received an explanation for why they’re being fired. Now, Stainnak, who uses they/them pronouns, is asking for their job back. They are the named appellant in a complaint filed with the independent agency tasked with hearing personnel disputes within the federal government. The complaint alleges that Stainnak was among a pool of federal employees unlawfully fired by the Trump administration as a punishment for "their perceived political affiliations." "These offices have obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining [the department’s] mission," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, referring to Pyatt’s office and two others.

New York Times [4/7/2025 3:19 PM, Benjamin Oreskes, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, and Hamed Aleaziz, 153395K] reports During President Trump’s first months in office, officials in his administration have used the threat of withholding federal funding to bend institutions and municipalities to their ideological will. That strategy shows no signs of abating. The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing billions of dollars in grants for cities and states to make sure recipients comply with Mr. Trump’s priorities on immigration enforcement and diversity programs. Now grant beneficiaries must “honor requests for cooperation, such as participation in joint operations, sharing of information or requests for short-term detention of an alien pursuant to a valid detainer,” according to the terms and conditions for grants distributed by the department. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency have already identified nearly $1 billion in funding they think should be cut and another almost $4 billion that is being reviewed, according to a memo reviewed by The New York Times. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that the homeland security 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.” “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,” Ms. McLaughlin added.

(B) Today [4/7/2025 8:56 AM, Staff] reports that the Tufts University student who was detained and held briefly in Vermont had a hearing scheduled with a judge in Burlington today over the phone. Rumeysa Ozturk is being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana but her lawyers petitioned the case while she was still in Vermont. A federal judge says it is up to the Vermont court to decide if it has jurisdiction to take over the case.

(B) CBS Mornings [4/7/2025 8:25 AM, Staff] reports that roughly 1000 people converged in Sackets Harbor Saturday in support of a family detained at a Sackets Harbor farm last month. Protesters marched from the Sackets Harbor visitor center to the home of border czar Tom Homan, urging ICE to bring the family home. A few counterprotesters also made an appearance in front of Homan’s home. According to Homan, the family is being held while the crimes are being investigated.

Univision [4/7/2025 3:25 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports a federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order blocking Florida’s Senate Bill 4-C, considered one of the harshest immigration laws in the United States. SB 4-C creates a new statewide crime for immigrants who are in the country illegally and arrive in Florida. To be charged with this new crime, an individual must be over 18 years of age, and authorities must prove that the individual entered or attempted to enter Florida “after entering the United States by evading or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officials.” District Judge Kathleen Williams suspended the law for 14 days, and a new hearing was scheduled for April 18. According to the court ruling, the law likely violates the Supremacy Clause and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it assumes power that is exclusively the federal government’s to control immigration and interstate commerce.

Florida Politics [4/7/2025 5:44 PM, Jesse Scheckner] reports that following reports of overcrowding and “inhumane” treatment at the Krome Detention Center, Miami-Dade Democrats are demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant them a tour of the facility so they can witness the conditions firsthand. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava penned letters to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem requesting visits to the Homestead-based center, which immigrant women detained there have reportedly described as “Hell on Earth.” They complained, among other things, of being crammed into cells, denied the ability to regularly bathe, forced to sleep on concrete floors and chained for hours without food, water or bathroom access. In her Monday letter, Wilson referenced a March 30 report by the Miami Herald about protests outside the detention center last month, following news of deteriorating conditions and the deaths of two detainees. Wilson said she had also heard “directly from immigration lawyers about the unacceptable conditions at Krome,” including the aforementioned indignities and “female detainees being held in a facility designated for men.” “These alarming accounts illustrate the urgent need for me to exercise my duty of congressional oversight and intervention,” she said.

Detroit Free Press [4/7/2025 7:35 PM, Tresa Baldas, 4124K] reports a lawyer’s spring break trip to the Dominican Republic with his family ended on a troubling note at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday: He was detained by federal agents, questioned about his clients, and asked to give up his cellphone, he says. But Dearborn attorney Amir Makled, who is representing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested at the University of Michigan last year, stood his ground. He didn’t give up his phone. "I’m an American citizen. I’m not worried about being deported," Makled said he recalled thinking to himself in the airport interrogation room. "So, I tell them, ‘I know you can take my phone. I’m not going to give you my phone, however ... 90% of my work is on my phone. You’re not getting unfettered access to (it).’ ". What followed was a 90-minute, back-and-forth verbal tussle between Makled and two federal agents, who, he said, ultimately released him without taking his phone, but looked at his contacts list instead. For the 38-year-old civil rights and criminal defense attorney, it was a daunting experience that he says highlights a troubling phenomenon that’s occurring across the United States: Lawyers are getting targeted for handling issues the administration of President Donald Trump disagrees with. ‘This administration is doing something that no administration has done — they’re attacking attorneys’. Makled’s airport experience comes in the wake of a memo that President Donald Trump issued to the U.S. Justice Department last month, in which he directed the agency to seek sanctions against attorneys, alleging they are helping fuel "rampant fraud and meritless claims" in the immigration system. That’s the bit that Makled said irritates him. He’s not an immigration lawyer, he says. So why did the government want his phone, he asks? "This current administration is doing something that no administration has done — they are attacking attorneys," Makled said, stressing lawyers from big and small firms alike are being targeted. "This is a different type of threat to the rule of law that I see. They are now challenging the judiciary, or lawyers, they’re putting pressure (on them) to dissuade attorneys from taking on issues that are against the government’s issues. We have an obligation as lawyers to stand up to this stuff.” In a statement to the Free Press, Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham defended the government’s airport tactics. "Claims that CBP is searching more electronic media due to the administration change are false. CBP’s search numbers are consistent with increases since 2021, and less than 0.1% of travelers have their devices searched," the statement reads.

CBS News [4/7/2025 5:52 PM, S.E. Jenkins, 51661K] reports a North Texas man is in custody and faces charges after allegedly making online threats to shoot and kill U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced Monday. At the end of March, the FBI received a tip that Rob King, 35, was posting online threats to "shoot and kill ICE agents on sight," according to Chad Meacham, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas. The informant said he confronted King about the posts on Facebook, according to the FBI, and reported that "King confirmed not only that he had made the post, but that he was serious about his willingness to kill ICE agents, and that he had no remorse for doing so.” King allegedly posted a threat on a social media platform, stating: "If I see ICE agents in my neighborhood I’m opening fire. It’s time to stop being p****** 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.” The informant said that King had been living in the Dallas area; however, after confronting him, King said he had nowhere to live and was "presumably living out of his vehicle," according to court documents. Additional online threats against Greg Abbott and Kristi Noem. According to court documents, King also made online threats against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and posted on Instagram his belief that President Donald Trump is "a traitor to our country and interests" and "demand[ed] he be put to death.” The affidavit states that King’s Facebook profile was linked to an Instagram account which included a post where King "double[s] down" about shooting ICE agents, and "threatens family members that ‘there will be hell to pay’ if they are stalking his page and feeding information about his posts to anyone.” King was arrested on April 2 and is currently in the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility. His bond has been set at $7,500. He has a detention hearing Wednesday at 1 p.m. His charges were not included in the Department of Justice’s press release but authorities did say he was charged in federal court.

FOX News [4/7/2025 3:51 PM, Louis Casiano, 46189K] reports a Texas man who threatened to "open fire" on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents if they came to his neighborhood was charged Monday in federal court. Robert Wilson King, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in McKinney, Texas, after he made disturbing threats online on March 29, Homeland Security Investigations said last week. On Monday, King appeared in federal court where he was charged with transmitting interstate threats. King, 35, posted a series of threats on Facebook targeting ICE agents and making disparaging remarks about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, authorities said. In the first, King shared a PBS NewsHour article and 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 tried in a war criminal court with the rest of the Nazis when this is all over and I hope she is ripped apart in a gulag. Nothing less for a Nazi scum. This is America now a Nazi fascist state. Disgusting." He then wrote a second post where he threatened to target immigration agents. Noem previously issued a stern warning after a similar threat was made by someone on TikTok. "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," she wrote in a March 30 post on X.

San Diego Union Tribune [4/7/2025 5:38 PM, Phillip Molnar, 1682K] reports San Diego and Baja California business leaders and elected officials are on a lobbying mission in Washington, D.C., this week as tariffs ripple through the cross-border economy. A coalition of more than 140 people, organized by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, will be meeting with dozens of federal officials to talk about concerns over tariffs, funding cuts and other business policies of the Trump administration. Mexican leaders on the trip include Tecate Mayor Roman Cota, Baja California Congresswoman Ana Santana, and Tijuana Councilmembers Gina Arana, Heriberto Ramirez, Melissa Pacheco, Michel Garcia, Monica Padilla and Pablo Yañez. Some of the biggest names the coalition will be meeting with are Pete Flores, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; California Sen. Adam Schiff; Trevor Kellogg, under secretary at the Department of Commerce; Brenda Johnson-Turner, assistant secretary of the Navy; and Sara Yun, director of the Bureau of Energy Resources.

NBC News [4/8/2025 5:00 AM, Julia Bonavita, 44742K] reports the Trump administration is considering launching drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico as part of an ambitious effort to combat criminal gangs trafficking narcotics across the southern border, according to six current and former U.S. military, law enforcement and intelligence officials with knowledge of the matter. Discussions among White House, Defense Department and intelligence officials, which are still at an early stage, have included possible drone strikes against cartel figures and their logistical networks in Mexico with the cooperation of Mexico’s government, the sources said. Still, the administration has made no final decision and reached no definitive agreement about countering the cartels. And unilateral covert action, without Mexico’s consent, has not been ruled out and could be an option of last resort, the sources said. It is unclear whether American officials have floated the possibility of drone strikes to the Mexican government. If Mexico and the United States proceed together with drone strikes or other action, it would not be the first time they have launched a joint effort to take on the cartels, nor would it be the first time that American military and intelligence worked in concert with Mexico’s law enforcement and army. But what the Trump administration is contemplating could be unprecedented both in the number of U.S. personnel involved and in the use of American unmanned aircraft to bomb cartel personnel and assets. Administration officials and nominees have repeatedly refused to rule out drone strikes in public statements. The U.S. military and the CIA have dramatically stepped up surveillance flights over Mexico to collect intelligence in advance of what is likely to be a major campaign against the cartels, which the White House has labeled a threat to national security, the six sources said. The flights are being carried out with Mexico’s approval, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said. "They’re looking to build a target deck," one of the former officials, who is familiar with the administration’s plans, said of the surveillance flights. The potential target list most likely could include cartel operatives, vehicles, warehouses and other parts of the gangs’ network, the sources said. The White House National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment. The office of Mexico’s president and the Foreign Affairs Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The administration has already been shifting military, intelligence and law enforcement resources toward combating the cartels, current and former officials said. President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, refused to rule out unilateral U.S. military action inside Mexico. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly warned Mexican officials in private about possible unilateral U.S. action. Both have said variations of "all cards are on the table" when it comes to tackling the cartels.

The Hill [4/7/2025 11:39 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K] reports that President Trump said Sunday he would "love" to send American inmates to El Salvador’s mega-prison but first needs to check if it’s legal. Speaking with reporters on Air Force One, Trump was asked whether he plans to discuss with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele his offer to take in and house American prisoners. "Well, I love that," Trump said. "If we could take some of our 20-time wise guys that push people into subways and that hit people over the back of the head and that purposely run people over in cars — if he would take them, I would be honored to give them." "I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different," he said. "If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it, but I would only do according to the law." "I think if we could get El Salvador or somebody to take them I’d be very happy with it. But I have to see what the law says," Trump added. The Trump administration last week deported another group of men it claims were all members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. A White House official said this latest deportation was carried out under immigration authorities, not the Alien Enemies Act. The White House has been sued over its use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants and has been ordered to suspend deportations under it.

The City Paper [4/7/2025 4:05 PM, Staff] reports what appeared to be the perfect photo-op for President Petro and the culmination of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s first visit to Colombia can now be summarized – to use Noem’s words – as “contentious.” Noem’s comments were given during a U.S. media interview with NEWSMAX and have reached the highest political circles within the Petro government. During her visit to Colombia on March 27, Noem first met with Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia to discuss bilateral cooperation on migration, organized crime, and border security. The visit resulted in the signing of a letter of intent to expand biometric data sharing — a move lauded by both governments as a tool to combat transnational criminal networks and improve migration management. Speaking alongside Sarabia in Bogotá, Noem described the talks as “frank and constructive.” At the same time, Sarabia praised the dialogue as a “realistic and effective” step toward respecting the dignity of migrants and reinforcing the two nations’ long-standing alliance. But less than a week later, in the televised interview, Noem radically shifted her tone. She characterized her meeting with Petro as “contentious” and claimed the Colombian president had expressed sympathy for members of the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua (TdeA), even going so far as to refer to some cartel members as “his friends.” “He [Petro] talked about how Tren de Aragua members were misunderstood, that they really just needed ‘more love’ and ‘understanding’,” Noem said. “He talked about how some of the cartel members ‘were his friends’, and I told him clearly: cartel members, if they are your friends, we will kill them. President Trump is going after these dangerous criminals, and there will be consequences.” Noem also said she warned Petro that the U.S. would never legalize drugs and accused the Colombian leader of spending the first 30 minutes of their meeting criticizing the U.S. government. The backlash in Colombia has been immediate and fierce.

CBS News [4/7/2025 1:07 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports that the South Sudan foreign ministry is criticizing the revocation of U.S. visas for all its nationals, calling it unfair and saying it was based on an incident that didn’t involve one of its citizens but another African national. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. decided to revoke all visas for South Sudanese citizens because the country’s government failed to accept the return of its citizens being removed from the U.S. in a "timely matter." "It is time for the Transitional Government of South Sudan to stop taking advantage of the United States," Rubio said in a statement. "Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States. Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them." It was the first such measure singling out all passport holders from a particular country since President Trump returned to the White House on Jan. 20, having campaigned on an anti-immigration platform. No new visas will be issued, Rubio said, and "we will be prepared to review these actions when South Sudan is in full cooperation." In a statement on Monday, South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said that the deportee who was denied U.S. entry on Friday was found to be a Congolese national and he was returned to the U.S. and all supporting evidence was shared with American officials.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/7/2025 12:40 PM, Staff, 41523K]
Axios [4/7/2025 3:34 PM, Avery Lotz, 13163K]

Wall Street Journal [4/7/2025 5:50 PM, Staff, 646K] reports the Trump Administration’s never-back-down style is becoming a governance problem with overtones of cruelty. On Monday the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to block a district court’s ruling to return a wrongly deported Salvadoran migrant. Chief Justice John Roberts offered a temporary stay so the Court can consider it. The fight is over Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who the Administration admits it mistakenly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador with more than 260 criminals and gang members. On Friday federal Judge Paula Xinis ruled that the Administration must seek to return him to the U.S. by 11:59 p.m. ET Monday. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit rejected the Administration’s request to block the order. According to the Trump Administration’s filing, “the Constitution charges the President, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the Nation against foreign terrorists.” Solicitor General John Sauer argues Judge Xinis’s ruling “dictat[ed]” to the U.S. “that it must not only negotiate with a foreign country to return an enemy alien on foreign soil, but also succeed by 11:59 p.m. tonight” and that could set a terrible precedent of “district court diplomacy.” Not quite. In his concurrence to the Fourth Circuit decision denying the demand for a stay, Reagan appointee Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote that Judge Xinis’s order doesn’t violate executive control of foreign policy. Judge Wilkinson added that facts of the case “present the potential for a disturbing loophole: namely that the government could whisk individuals to foreign prisons in violation of court orders and then contend, invoking its Article II powers, that it is no longer their custodian, and there is nothing that can be done.” He called this a path to “perfect lawlessness.”

Washington Examiner [4/7/2025 5:36 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports the Trump administration is shopping around for private contractors who can build immigrant detention facilities across the United States, signifying plans for a massive expansion of its deportation operation. In a newly listed request for proposals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials asked contractors to submit plans for new facilities, security, medical support, and other services for a price tag of $45 billion over the next couple of years. The contract request, reported by the New York Times, was listed last week and could mean a further expansion of the White House’s mission to arrest and remove millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S., a hallmark of the Trump campaign. However, Congress is considering a boost of $175 billion over the next decade to the committees that oversee immigration enforcement, meaning that the agency could be receiving a larger budget than previously.

FOX News [4/8/2025 12:00 AM, Louis Casiano, 46189K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have come to an agreement to permit ICE to access taxpayer information to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation. The Trump administration filed a memorandum of understanding late Monday with a court to create guardrails and a process for ICE requests to the IRS to further investigations of criminal illegal immigrants who have failed or refuse to leave the United States 90 days after a judge has issued a final order of removal. "The Internal Revenue Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a clear and secure process to support law enforcement’s efforts to combat illegal immigration," a Treasury Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The bases for this MOU are founded in longstanding authorities granted by Congress, which serve to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans while streamlining the ability to pursue criminals," the statement said. "After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, President Trump’s highest priority is to ensure the safety of the American people." A senior Treasury Department official said the illegal immigrants have been given due process but have overstayed 90 days post a judge’s removal order. The MOU outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer data information is protected while allowing law enforcement to pursue criminal violations, the official said. The Treasury Department is committed to protecting the privacy of law-abiding taxpayers, but a criminal exception obligates the agency to assist law enforcement, the senior official said. A draft agreement reported last month by Washington Post said it would limit ICE to confirm the addresses of illegal immigrants who have final removal orders. Blaze [4/7/2025 3:50 PM, Cortney Weil, 1668K] reports that though no formal agreement between the two agencies has been finalized, a draft of an agreement said that the IRS would assist ICE with information requests that: include names, addresses, and other identifying data of illegal aliens already issued a dated final deportation order; and come from DHS Sec. Kristi Noem or acting ICE director Todd Lyons.

CBS News [4/7/2025 3:40 PM, Nicole Brown Chau, Lilia Luciano, 51661K] reports tattoos of crowns, a clock and other symbols have been used by the Trump administration to allege Venezuelan men deported from the U.S. are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. But experts and police in a Colorado city who have investigated the gang say tattoos aren’t reliable markers of affiliation. The administration alleges the deportees it sent to El Salvador’s notorious maximum security prison are gang members, mostly with Tren de Aragua, and some with MS-13. It has also acknowledged that "many" of them have no criminal records. In Aurora, Colorado, which Mr. Trump has claimed is a "war zone" overrun by the Tren de Aragua, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said it’s very difficult to identify Tren de Aragua members. Chamberlain said he would not describe the city as a "war zone," but said Aurora has been "ground zero" for the gang’s activities. Asked if he was worried some migrants were incorrectly identified as gang members, Mr. Trump’s "border czar" Tom Homan said he’s not. Homan said the government did not rely just on tattoos, but would not share evidence to prove the deportees are gang members.

Axios [4/8/2025 4:36 AM, Brittany Gibson, 13163K] reports immigration agents are the "principal" deciders on whether a detainee is linked to a gang and should be deported immediately, border czar Tom Homan told Axios in an exclusive interview. If agents determine the answer is yes, Homan said, the Trump administration believes that detainee’s rights to due process are limited. Not so fast, the Supreme Court said late Monday. The court signaled that detainees designated as "enemies" of the U.S. could be deported, but should have some way to challenge their removal. Homan’s comments to Axios came on a day when the Supreme Court began to sort out how far President Trump can go in his aggressive push to deport immigrants the administration sees as threats to the U.S. In a separate decision, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked a lower court’s order that the U.S. return a Maryland man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who the administration admits was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador. Garcia, a Salvadoran who had been in the U.S. since 2011 and was here legally, was among those swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in raids last month that officials say targeted alleged gang members and criminals. Many of those arrested were men like Garcia who say they weren’t in gangs or wanted for crimes, civil rights advocates and other critics say. Garcia’s case has become a much-watched test of the White House’s zealous push for deportations. Homan declined to comment on Garcia’s case. But he told Axios that Trump is simply "using the laws on the books" to quickly deport unauthorized and potentially dangerous immigrants under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act. "People who are enemies of the United States don’t have the same level [of] due process [as in] the normal process," Homan said. "People keep saying they have no criminal history," he added. "I’ve been doing law enforcement since 1984. Many gang members don’t have criminal history. It’s more than criminal history." Homan said ICE conducts "deep dive" investigations into detainees being considered for removal, looking at their social media posts, criminal records, immigration records and information from confidential informants and surveillance. "ICE is the principal arbiter" in weighing whether such factors warrant deportation, Homan said. "There’s a Homeland Security task force and a lot of agents involved. ... But it starts with ICE." The administration claims Garcia is a member of MS-13, a transnational gang that U.S. officials have designated as a terrorist organization. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinia in Maryland said Trump’s team made a "grievous error" deporting Garcia, and that evidence indicating he’s a gang member "consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie."

Axios [4/7/2025 10:54 AM, Russell Contreras, 13163K] reports that three-fourths of the Venezuelan migrants flown from Texas to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador three weeks ago had no apparent criminal record, a CBS News 60 Minutes report out Sunday found. Why it matters: The lack of evidence of a criminal record is consistent with many other immigrant removals under the Trump administration so far and poses serious questions over the deportations to El Salvador, as a judge ordered at least one man returned. The big picture: The migrants were removed after President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 last month to accelerate mass deportations of Venezuelan migrants suspected of being gang members. Civil liberties groups have attacked the move since the deportations came with little to no due process, arguing that the United States is not at war and, therefore, unjustified in its use of the 18th-century wartime law. By the numbers: The CBS News 60 Minutes report found that 75% of 238 migrants sent to the Salvadoran mega-prison known as the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) had no traces of a criminal record. At least 22% of the men on the list have criminal records here in the United States or abroad, but the vast majority are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting and trespassing, the 60 Minutes review found. Only a dozen are accused of murder, rape, assault and kidnapping. It is unclear whether a criminal record exists for about 3% of those deported. A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman told 60 Minutes that many of those without criminal records "are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters, and more. They just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S." Border Czar Tom Homan said immigration agents spent hours conducting rigorous checks on each of the men to confirm they are members of Tren de Aragua.

CNN [4/8/2025 5:00 AM, Emma Tucker, 908K] reports that, as the Trump administration continues to expand its deportation actions, startling scenes have emerged in recent weeks of masked federal agents in plain clothes detaining international students on campus or near their homes, raising serious questions about those tactics and their authority to wear face coverings. There is no federal policy dictating when officers can or should cover their faces during arrests, but historically they have almost always worn them only while performing undercover work to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations, law enforcement experts told CNN. Practices have seemingly changed due to the concern agents will be targeted as a byproduct of the Trump administration’s policies, in a climate where the average person can use technology to expose an officer’s personal information, said Jerry Robinette, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security special agent in charge, who currently serves as a consultant for law enforcement agencies. The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has taken aim at pro-Palestinian student activists and critics of Israel’s policies. Immigration advocates, attorneys and civil litigators are warning against the normalization of federal agents concealing their faces while detaining nonviolent students. It is standard procedure for ICE officers and other agents from the Department of Homeland Security to wear plain clothes during field operations if they properly identify themselves as a law enforcement officer, according to John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. But the issue of using masks to deliberately cover the faces of people involved in the operations has become a "lightning rod," as footage from the detentions – which may have received less attention had the agents followed typical protocols – have "suddenly become high interest," Miller said. "It raises the question, if they are legitimate law enforcement agents carrying out a proper arrest under the law, why are they hiding their identities?" Miller said. The optics are striking because historically in the US, agents have almost always gone without face coverings when arresting some of the country’s most dangerous criminals – such as John Gotti, the head of the Gambino crime family, or the cartel boss El Chapo – unlike in countries like Mexico, Italy or those in the Eastern Bloc, according to Miller and John Sandweg, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and former acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. While the doxxing threat is "real," Miller said, the detentions are under scrutiny because they’re not being conducted in "crowded demonstrations where they are surrounded by people with cameras and phones, recording video, but in discreet locations like residences, street corners and parking lots.”

NewsNation [4/7/2025 7:15 PM, Jeff Arnold, 6866K] reports impersonators pretending to be immigration agents are spreading fear among migrants already uncertain about their future in the country. Cases of illegitimate Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been reported across the country. Some have been charged with federal criminal crimes of impersonating a federal law enforcement agent. In Florida, a 23-year-old man was recently arrested and charged when police said that he claimed to be an ICE agent and threatened to deport two men after he pulled their vehicle over and demanded their identification. A 33-year-old South Carolina man was arrested in January after he was accused of stopping a vehicle with Latino men inside and claimed to be with ICE. Video of the encounter involving Sean Michael Johnson allegedly claiming that Latinos were "going back to Mexico" went viral. Johnson was charged with three counts of kidnapping, impersonating a law enforcement officer, petty larceny and assault and battery. In North Carolina, a 37-year-old man purported to be an ICE agent and allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at a local hotel, saying he would have her deported if she did not have sex with him, NewsNation local affiliate WBTV reported. In North Dakota, a man posing as an ICE agent walked an inmate out of a local jail after telling officials he was there to pick him up. Jail officials only learned of the mistake when the real immigration officer showed up. But such cases are only hurting legitimate efforts by ICE, which reported in March it had arrested more than 32,800 people in the first 50 days of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. "ICE works very hard on its image — an image that is constantly being torn apart by the open border and (the) Abolish ICE movement," John Fabbricatore, a retired chief of the Denver ICE field office, told NewsNation. "Impersonators tarnish that image and create an even more resistive relationship with ICE.” Fabbricatore, the retired ICE field office chief, said that impersonators can be very damaging to legitimate ICE activity. An ICE spokesman said that the agency "strongly condemns" the impersonation of its agents and that those doing so can face local, state and federal charges.

NewsMax [4/7/2025 8:31 PM, Nick Koutsobinas, 4998K] reports that, last week, the Department of Homeland Security posted online a call for bids to build detention facilities, as well as other services over the next two years, to manage the deportation of illegal migrants. The request, issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, includes plans for infrastructure, security, medical care, and logistical support — at a projected cost of $45 billion, according to New York Times. The proposal indicates the Trump administration’s plans to expand its deportation operations, a central promise of the 2024 campaign. ICE is already detaining more individuals than Congress has funded, with roughly 47,900 people in custody as of late March, according to the Washington Examiner, and despite congressional appropriations for just 41,500 beds. ICE’s current budget stands at nearly $10 billion. The agency lacks the resources to fund this expansion alone. However, Congress is currently weighing a $175 billion increase over the next decade for ICE. If approved, it would empower the agency to carry out the administration’s broader deportation agenda. In February, Trump border czar Tom Homan said, "Our level of success depends on the resources I have. The more money we have, the more beds we can buy."

NPR [4/8/2025 5:00 AM, Jaclyn Diaz, Adrian Florido, 29983K] reports that, after a dinner with his wife and friends, Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by immigration agents at his New York apartment on March 8. The next night, the Columbia University graduate student went to bed in a remote Louisiana detention center almost three hours from the nearest city. Mask-wearing agents picked Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk up off the street near Boston, and less than a day later checked her into a private prison in rural, southern Louisiana. Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri was arrested near Washington, DC, and shipped first to Louisiana before being sent to a detention center in Texas. Students and scholars that the Trump administration has arrested as part of the president’s promise to deport pro-Palestinian activists have been whisked in some case more than a thousand miles away – despite their lawyers’ attempts to stop it – to detention centers in the remote South that advocates have described as "black holes" where people are kept in deplorable conditions. Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi are home to 14 of the 20 largest immigration detention centers in the country. Democratic and Republican administrations have long used them as a hub for immigrant detention. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s decision to quickly ship several of the academics arrested in the last few weeks to Louisiana has brought heightened awareness to how crucial the state has become in the process since Donald Trump’s first term. And it has revived concern about a longstanding practice called "forum shopping," a strategy lawyers for the detained say the government is using to have these deportation cases heard before more conservative courts. In court papers, government lawyers claim ICE sent Khalil, Khan Suri and Ozturk to Louisiana because there were no available beds or "detention space" in facilities closer to where they were arrested. On Friday, the federal judge hearing a challenge to Ozturk’s arrest questioned the credibility of the government’s claim. In her ruling rejecting the government’s request to transfer the case to Louisiana, the judge noted that when the Turkish national was picked up outside Boston, there were available beds about a hundred miles away at an ICE facility in Maine. And a lawyer for Khan Suri, a Georgetown University professor and Indian national, asked why – if the government was looking for bed space – her client is now sleeping on the floor.

New York Times [4/7/2025 2:49 AM, Ed Shanahan, 145325K] reports three children and their mother have been released from federal custody after being detained by immigration enforcement agents last month at an upstate New York dairy farm, officials said on Monday. The case sent shock waves through tiny Sackets Harbor, N.Y., a village of about 1,400 people on Lake Ontario where the children were enrolled, and well liked, at the town’s school. The family’s detention was another move amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown to touch off protests. About 1,000 people rallied on the family’s behalf on Saturday, according to North Country Public Radio. The release of the woman and her children — a third grader and two high school students — was announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and the local state assemblyman, Scott Gray, a Republican. “We are open to working with federal immigration enforcement to crack down on gang members or violent criminals,” Ms. Hochul said in a statement. “But I will never support cruel actions that rip kids out of school or tear families apart.” Mr. Gray said in a separate statement that “we are all profoundly grateful” that the family had been returned to New York. The mother and her children, who have not been publicly identified, were taken into custody on March 27 after immigration agents arrived at North Harbor Dairy to arrest a South African man sought on a charge of distributing images of child sexual abuse, court documents said. The man was arrested, and seven other people deemed to be in the United States illegally were detained as well, Thomas D. Homan, the Trump administration’s “border czar,” said last week in an interview with a local TV station, WWNY. “It wasn’t a raid,” Mr. Homan said in the interview. “It was a search warrant execution at a house where a family was found in the country illegally.”

Reported similarly:
AP [4/7/2025 5:21 PM, Carolyn Thompson]
CBS News [4/7/2025 5:14 PM, Alex Sundby, 51661K]
NBC News [4/7/2025 5:59 PM, Nicole Acevedo and Andy Weir, 44742K]
Telemundo [4/7/2025 3:00 PM, Staff, 2454K]

FOX News [4/7/2025 1:38 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46189K] reports that an email sent to New Jersey State Police staff revealed that officers were asked not to comply with federal arrest warrants, bringing attention to the state’s "sanctuary" policies. The email sent on March 24 was made public by Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who said he does not fault the head of the department, Col. Patrick Callahan, but the state’s policies that are in place, as well as Democratic leaders. "The fact that my campaign received this email is evidence that brave and courageous law enforcement officers throughout New Jersey are angry about being handcuffed by liberal Democrat policies in Trenton, making our communities less safe," Ciattarelli said in a statement. "The blame goes to Governor Murphy, Attorney General Platkin, and the Democrat legislature for mandating absurd policies like the Immigrant Trust Directive," the Republican continued. "We will be partners with the Trump Administration in fixing our immigration system and restore law and order," he said if elected governor in November, as Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy will be termed out of office after serving two terms. The email from Callahan, which was obtained from the Ciattarelli campaign and reviewed by Fox News Digital, said his team is not legally permitted to follow "Outstanding Administrative Warrants of Removal from the United States," as 27,000 "hits" were recently added to the National Crime Information Center. Murphy’s office and DHS did not comment in time for publication.

FOX News [4/7/2025 3:59 PM, Michael Lee, 46189K] reports the Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill that will prohibit agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) from entering sensitive locations without a warrant. The legislation, Senate Bill 828, which will ban ICE agents from schools, libraries and churches unless the agency is able to obtain a warrant, passed the Democratic-dominated House of Delegates on a 98-39 vote. It now returns to the state Senate where, if approved as amended, it will proceed to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s desk. But Maryland lawmakers are putting a roadblock in front of that effort, with the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature arguing that ICE tactics have spread fear through local communities.

Telemundo Washington DC [4/7/2025 2:24 PM, Rosbelis Quinonez, 38K] reports that Elsy Berríos’ children reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arbitrarily detained their mother in Maryland. David Ulises Berrios Castro, the detainee’s son, told Telemundo 44 that he believes the agents were waiting for his mother and took advantage of her stopping to pick up two coworkers in Westminster, Carroll County. Her family insists that Elsy Berrios has no criminal record. "It was here, two blocks from the house. Perhaps they weren’t in order, so they didn’t come directly to the house, but they could have waited outside," the young man said. Karen Cruz Berríos, Elsy Berríos’ other daughter, was in the car when the ICE agents intercepted her mother. The young woman immediately began recording the arrest. In the video, both women can be heard demanding to see the arrest warrant, but the officers refused and broke the vehicle’s window. "Don’t grab her like that," Karen yelled at the officers as they tried to restrain her mother to put handcuffs on her. Meanwhile, Elsy Berrios’s attorney confirmed to Telemundo 44 by phone that she has an open asylum process, no criminal record, and has not been charged with any crime related to this detention. The woman is being held in Pennsylvania and is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing on April 14. This outlet contacted ICE by email twice about this case and has not yet received a response.

Washington Examiner [4/7/2025 1:07 PM, Luke Gentile, 2296K] reports that an illegal immigrant was charged with the murder of a Virginia man, who was allegedly stabbed and staggered into a woman’s home before he died. Jose Velasquez-Martinez, a 27-year-old El Salvador native, allegedly stabbed Brandon Probst, 29, in the neck. The incident followed an altercation on March 27 outside a woman’s residence in Warrenton, Virginia, according to a Monday report citing the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office. Probst entered the home of Joette Breeden, who discovered him bleeding at approximately 10:00 p.m., according to the report. Breeden alerted emergency officials, and Probst was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died of his injuries. Although Breeden did not know who stabbed Probst, Velasquez-Martinez was taken into custody on March 31 and charged with murder and malicious wounding, according to authorities. Velasquez-Martinez was confirmed as an illegal immigrant by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Jose Velasquez-Martinez, 27, is an illegally present Salvadoran national," an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to Fox 5 DC. "He illegally entered the United States on an unknown date in 2011, at an unknown location, and without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.” Breeden said bad actors are a consequence of illegal immigration.

FOX News [4/8/2025 4:00 AM, Julia Bonavita, 46189K] reports that, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting criminal migrants throughout U.S. communities, one Florida city’s showdown with the governor has created a ripple effect throughout the Sunshine State. Last month, a Fort Myers City Council meeting spiraled into chaos as officials sparred over a provision allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to train local law officers to identify criminal aliens and aid in deportation. ICE’s 287(g) program aims to facilitate partnerships between the federal agency and local cities throughout the country. City officials in Fort Myers initially failed to pass the program on a 3-3 vote, with one member not in attendance, following a heated meeting that left two members in tears. "I was embarrassed for our city," Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson told Fox News Digital. "I believe the residents of our city want leadership that is strong, can listen to the difficult issues and make decisions.” Voicing their opposition on the record, council members Darla Bonk and Diana Giraldo became visibly upset as they denounced the program. "It is a tumultuous day and age, and this is a day I hate to be in this seat," Bonk said, as she noted the risk of Fort Myers losing state and federal funds. "But my city is not for sale.” "I can’t stand behind this as an immigrant, the only immigrant sitting [on] this council," Giraldo said. Members of the Fort Myers City Council were not immediately available for comment. State officials took note of the city’s apparent hesitation to enact the program, with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier penning a letter to the city council demanding it walk back its position or risk legal action. Uthmeier said that by failing to enact the program, Fort Myers had inadvertently declared itself a sanctuary city, which is prohibited under Florida law. "Failure to correct the Council’s actions will result in the enforcement of all applicable civic and criminal penalties," Uthmeier wrote. Suddenly, Fort Myers was thrust into the national spotlight as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration waited for officials to make their next move, threatening the loss of state and federal funds. "Under this 287(g), we’ve said all jurisdictions in Florida must assist with immigration enforcement," DeSantis said during an immigration enforcement discussion at New College of Florida, two days after Fort Myers failed to approve the agreement. "You saw this thing where the city council’s fighting the mayor and the police chief about whether [the] Fort Myers Police Department should be involved in it.” DeSantis went on to say that, under Florida law, each county and municipality within Florida must enter an agreement with ICE. "The last thing you want is to have the governor and the attorney general at odds with your city," Anderson said. "I felt that we did create a de facto sanctuary city. That’s not the message we want to send. [Our] message is that we are a law-abiding community and we don’t tolerate criminal behavior."

FOX News [4/7/2025 12:11 PM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports that the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office said Thursday they arrested a man for impersonating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. Police say that 23-year-old José Juan Lopez attempted to pull over two Hispanic men, threatening to deport them. However, the victims were wary of Lopez and recognized that he did not appear to be a law enforcement officer. "The victims, both Hispanic males, told deputies that Lopez, who lives in Indiantown, told them he was an ICE Agent and demanded their identification further threatening to deport them," according to the sheriff’s office. "The victims, suspicious of Lopez, drove off and called 911." When deputies tracked Lopez down a short while later, he claimed to be the victim. "Deputies were able to track Lopez, who claimed he was the actual victim and said the two men threatened him with deportation," the sheriff’s office said. "After further questioning, deputies arrested and charged Jose Juan Lopez with impersonating a federal law enforcement agent." Police also said that Lopez had previously been arrested for resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance, violation of probation, child abuse, domestic battery and battery. It is unclear whether he was convicted on any of those charges.

(B) NBC 5 News at 11:00am [4/7/2025 12:12 PM, Staff] reports that a man who was taken into custody while he was in Chicago to care for his sick brother. Jose Gregorio Gonzalez was detained by ICE last month and held at a detention center in Indiana. His supporters say he does not have a criminal record here or in his home country of Venezuela. After public outcry, he was released under humanitarian parole to care for and possibly donate a kidney to his brother. Gonzalez will be fitted for an ankle monitor today as part of his parole.

FOX News [4/7/2025 5:48 PM, Stepheny Price, 46189K] reports a Texas-based airline has signed a long-term agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration Control and Enforcement agency to carry out deportation flights. Beginning in May, Avelo Airlines, which is headquartered in Houston, shared with Fox News Digital that they will have three planes flying out of Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA), in Arizona to "support the department’s deportation efforts." A spokesperson for the airline said the planes will include three 737-800s and that the domestic and international flights will begin on May 12. The airline said it will also open a base at AZA with Avelo pilots, flight attendants and aircraft technicians, as well as appropriate local leaders. USA Today [4/7/2025 4:18 PM, Zach Wichter, 75858K] reports ultra-low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines recently signed a deal with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to carry out deportation flights under a charter agreement. The flights will be operated by three Boeing 737-800 aircraft based at Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona and will begin on May 12. The airline plans to open a crew base at the airport to support the deportation operations and is hiring flight attendants and aircraft technicians to work and service the charters.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/7/2025 8:08 PM, Susan Haigh, 5046K]

Univision [4/7/2025 7:24 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports a Peruvian immigrant married to a U.S. citizen who had been arrested by an immigration agent in Puerto Rico was finally released last Friday, Univision Noticias could confirm. Camila Muñoz’s lawyer confirmed that the judge decided to release her on bail after knowing the details of the 26-year-old’s legal situation. "A judge granted him bail after we explained to him that he has a case of outstanding status adjustment due to his marriage to an American citizen. The judge agreed that there was no reason to keep her in detention," the legal representative told Univision News correspondent Claudia Uceda. "Camila has yet to fight for her immigration case, but at least now she can do it from home, with her husband by her side," she added. Muñoz, who was returning to the U.S. from spending her honeymoon in Puerto Rico when she was arrested, had her expired visa and was sent to a detention center in Louisiana. In total, she spent 49 days in custody until she was released after being bailed last Friday. Her American husband, Bradley Bartell, denounced after the arrest that the woman had no criminal record and that she was already processing her permanent residence in the United States. "Don’t travel," he came to recommend to the Bartell, who voted in last year’s presidential election for Donald Trump, who has made the tightening of immigration policies one of his government’s main hallmarks.

NBC News [4/7/2025 9:21 PM, David Noriega, 44742K] reports that, growing up in Venezuela, Andry Hernandez Romero discovered an early love for theater, costume design and makeup by participating in his small town’s annual festival for Three Kings Day. “He would design and sew his own costumes, and he would do the makeup for all the women in the parade,” said Reina Cardenas, Hernandez’s close childhood friend. Later, as he pursued a career as a makeup artist, Hernandez had a crown tattooed on each of his wrists. His family says the tattoos were a symbol of his beloved Three Kings festival. But they are also, according to U.S. government records, what landed him on a plane full of Venezuelan men the Trump administration deported to a megaprison in El Salvador. Those deportations, carried out without court hearings under the Alien Enemies Act, are now the subject of a heated legal battle that has reached the Supreme Court — and which some say has brought the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis. For Hernandez’s family, the deportations are a source of constant anguish. They have had no contact with Hernandez since March 14, the last time they spoke to him on the phone from an immigration detention facility in the United States. “I think about him every day; I cry about him every day,” said his mother, Dolores Alexis Romero de Hernandez. “What are they doing to him, how are they treating him? Is he in there with bad people?” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [4/7/2025 12:47 PM, Dana Taylor, 75858K] reports that Among the nation’s nearly 14 million estimated unauthorized immigrants, more than two million didn’t sneak over the border or overstay a visa but rather took what was once a legal pathway to the United States endorsed by President Joe Biden. The problem with that? Well, Biden isn’t president anymore, Donald Trump is. And so, what was legal just a few months ago, could easily be illegal tomorrow. The question is, what happens to people who made reasonable plans for staying in the US but suddenly find themselves illegal virtually overnight? What about their families, their kids, their employers? USA TODAY Immigration and Border Reporter Lauren Villagran joins The Excerpt to share her reporting on this developing story. How have immigrants reacted in this moment? But those who have not taken any additional action or who don’t qualify for anything else are watching with bated breath at what happens. The Trump Administration Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem, has moved to eliminate Temporary Protected Status for both Venezuelans and Haitians. She has canceled the Cuban, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelan humanitarian parole program. So as you mentioned, there is one of dozens of cases that have been brought against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Noem’s decision to cancel the Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans as well as Haitians. However, the government will argue that Temporary Protected Status, though underpinned by law, is executive authority. The Department of Homeland Security can decide to provide Temporary Protected Status. It always has an end date and a limit. Secretary Noem decided to cancel it ahead of its current limit. But in the past Homeland Security secretaries have done that. The Temporary Protected Status can come and go. [Editorial note: consult video at source link for video]

FOX News [4/7/2025 12:41 PM, Adam Sabes, 46189K] reports that the Trump administration has begun a new wave of visa revocations for international students studying at American universities. Universities across America said over the weekend that the visas of several international students were revoked. It’s unclear if the visa revocations are associated with anti-Israel actions by the affected international students. The most recent wave of visa revocations impacted international students at Harvard University, University of Michigan, Stanford University, University of California, Los Angeles, Ohio State University and more. At Harvard University, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked the visas of three graduate students and two recent graduates. The visa revocations were discovered during a "routine records review," according to The Harvard Crimson. Most impacted institutions also learned that student visas had been revoked during a review of records, and weren’t contacted by DHS. "We are not aware of the details of the revocations or the reasons for them, but we understand that comparable numbers of students and scholars in institutions across the country have experienced similar status changes in roughly the same timeframe," the Harvard International Office wrote in an email to students. Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Washington Post [4/7/2025 5:29 PM, Susan Svrluga, 31735K] reports scores of international students and scholars across the country have recently learned that their visas have been abruptly revoked, according to university leaders, leaving college officials scrambling to understand what is happening and how to advise frightened students. It is unclear how many visas have been revoked or whether the targeted people were all notified that they must now leave the country, college officials said. But in recent days universities have found records terminated by the government without clear reasons or recourse for appeal or corrections. The latest changes are adding to the climate of uncertainty on many college campuses as moves by the Trump administration rapidly upend budgets, policies and practices. A group of 15 national higher education associations have asked to meet with officials from the departments of State and Homeland Security to clarify the situation. ACE sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem asking for an explanation amid reports that student visas are being revoked and records terminated in SEVIS without information being shared with schools they attend. The groups also asked about recent communication to U.S. consulates requiring enhanced social media vetting for all student visa applicants.

AP [4/7/2025 5:49 PM, Annie Ma] reports colleges around the country are reporting some of their international students’ visas are being revoked unexpectedly, expressing alarm over what appears to be a new level of government scrutiny. Visas can be canceled for a number of reasons, but college leaders say the government has been quietly terminating students’ legal residency status with little notice to students or schools. That marks a shift from past practice and leaves students vulnerable to detention and deportation. The list of colleges that have discovered students have had their legal status terminated includes Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, UCLA and Ohio State University. The Trump administration has targeted students who had been involved with pro-Palestinian activism or speech, with a few high-profile detentions of students including Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who was a leader of protests at Columbia University. But more schools are seeing visas stripped from students with no known connection to protests. In some cases, past infractions such as traffic violations have been cited. Some colleges say the reasons remain unclear to them — and they are seeking answers. Many college officials and students have only found out about the changes when they have checked a federal database and seen changes to an individual’s immigration status.

New York Times [4/7/2025 8:33 PM, Vimal Patel, Miriam Jordan and Halina Bennet, 145325K] reports at least 147 international students were abruptly stripped of their ability to stay in the United States in recent days, according to universities and media reports, sowing fear among students and confusion at schools scrambling to help students facing detention and possible deportation. The moves targeted students at a wide range of universities, from private institutions like Harvard and Stanford to public ones like the University of Texas at Austin and Minnesota State University-Mankato. The University of California had dozens of cases reported across its campuses. Several immigration lawyers told The New York Times that they began receiving frantic emails and calls late last week from students who had been notified by the State Department or their universities that their visas or statuses had been terminated without clear justifications. Criminal convictions have always put students at risk of losing their statuses, but traffic infractions and participation in political actions have rarely been cited as grounds. In some cases, immigration officers have arrested international students related to their involvement in pro-Palestinian causes. In other cases, students had committed legal infractions, such as driving over the speed limit or while intoxicated, often years ago, several immigration lawyers said in interviews. But lawyers said the Trump administration had often given no reason at all, leaving them to guess why students were targeted. “This upends all usual practice by the government,” said Miriam Feldblum, chief executive of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, which represents more than 570 public and private colleges and universities across the country. “They are terminating students’ statuses in a way they have never done before and with virtually no explanation and little recourse to correct or appeal by either the institution or the students.” Late last month, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, ordered diplomats to scour the social media postings of some visa applicants to keep away from the country those suspected of criticizing the United States and Israel.

(B) CNN News Central [4/7/2025 1:46 PM, Gloria Pazmino] reports that an organization representing more than 1600 colleges is seeking answers amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Hundreds of international students have had their visas revoked, leaving many other fearful of being detained and then kicked out of the country. Education Council sent a letter to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem asking for clarity.

Bloomberg Law [4/7/2025 6:04 PM, Sam Skolnik, 120K] reports a southern California college student seeks to reverse the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of its program that tracks their status as non-immigrant, full-time international student F-1 visa holders. DHS’s decision to end the Student and Exchange Visitor Program effectively strips program participants of their ability to remain as students in the United States, says the unidentified "Student Doe #1" plaintiff. The lawsuit, filed April 5 in the US District Court for the Central District of California, names as defendants DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons. The F-1 visa revocations were designed to "coerce" students such as the plaintiff into abandoning their studies "and ‘self-deporting’ despite not violating their status," Doe alleges. The new DHS policy appears to be "primarily targeting" African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and Asian students, according the lawsuit. The student says they’re bringing the action to challenge ICE’s illegal termination of their SEVIS record under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Declaratory Judgment Act, but isn’t challenging the revocation of their visa. The student is also suing on Fifth Amendment due process grounds, alleging that the defendants terminated their SEVIS record based on improper grounds without prior notice and without providing an opportunity to respond. There are "hundreds, if not more" F-1 students nationwide whose SEVIS records were "abruptly and unlawfully" terminated by ICE last week, the lawsuit says. Doe, who hails from a predominantly Muslim country, says they’re using a pseudonym out of fear of retaliation by the government, and of harassment or blacklisting by third parties. Doe seeks an order to vacate and set aside DHS’s termination of their SEVIS status and restore their record, and award reasonable attorney fees and costs. Doe was joined on Monday by "C.S.," a foreign national who until recently was in lawful F-1 student visa status, who filed a proposed class action complaint against Noem and DHS in the Western District of Pennsylvania. C.S., who claims to be a "bona fide student" in that district who is pursuing a "full course of study," says that DHS terminated their SEVIS record based on a criminal records check.

Newsweek [4/7/2025 11:52 AM, Sean O’Driscoll, 5220K] reports President Donald Trump’s decision to cut all funding to groups that help legal migrants become American citizens is being challenged in a federal court. Some groups are already cutting services, and the case will significantly affect immigration services in the United States. Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Solutions In Hometown Connections via email for comment on Monday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has cut all funding to the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program (CIGP), which was administered through the DHS and educated legal migrants about how to apply for citizenship. The Washington Post reported on April 2 that dozens of community and faith-based groups, public libraries, and adult education and literacy organizations "received notices Thursday informing them that their work ‘no longer effectuates the program goals and the Department’s priorities.’" One of those groups, Solutions In Hometown Connections, is the lead plaintiff in a legal challenge in Maryland federal court to stop the cuts. They claim that as soon as they came to court to challenge the Trump administration’s freezing of funds, DHS canceled the program entirely. "Two days after Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary relief challenged Defendants’ indefinite freeze of grant funds, Defendants terminated the grants," the plaintiff lawyers state in a filing on April 7. "Plaintiffs challenge Defendants’ unlawful freeze and now mass termination of CIGP grants as statutory, regulatory, and constitutional violations—all claims within this Court’s wheelhouse and jurisdiction." They allege that the decision to end the program was "arbitrary and capricious," a legal term used when a court is asked to examine the reasoning behind a policy decision. They requested a nationwide injunction against the decision after the DHS strongly objected to nationwide injunctions in its filing to the court.

Axios [4/7/2025 1:16 PM, Steph Solis, 13163K] reports that Emerson College is the latest Boston-area institution to see an international student’s visa revoked. Why it matters: The lives of international students across the country are being upended as the Trump administration terminates student visas, often without immediate explanation. The latest: The Department of Homeland Security revoked the student’s visa status in its online system, Emerson College president Jay Bernhardt said in a message to students. Bernhardt said Emerson is working with the affected student, who has requested privacy. While some students nationwide have lost their visas after pro-Palestinian protests, Bernhardt said: "We have no reason to believe that this student was targeted for protest-related activity." State of play: Colleges across Massachusetts saw student visas revoked this weekend, more than a week after the high-profile detainment of Tufts University international student Rumeysa Öztürk, ostensibly for pro-Palestinian activism. A second Tufts international student had their visa revoked, a Tufts spokesperson told Axios. Tufts encouraged that student to seek "outside immigration resources" for support and said the university is still gathering information. Harvard University confirmed that the Trump administration revoked the visas of three students and two recent graduates last week. The federal government also revoked five UMass Amherst students’ visas, New England Public Media reported. An undisclosed number of Boston University students’ visas were terminated, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to say how many, citing privacy reasons. Other universities, from UCLA to Columbia University, have also seen students’ visas revoked.

NewsNation [4/7/2025 7:53 PM, Hannah King, 6866K] reports a Kansas man and his Kansas City based attorney have filed a lawsuit in the Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas. Evenezer Cortez Martinez, is a Roeland Park, Kansas resident. He’s also a DACA recipient. Among the defendants include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There are also a few U.S. Officials in the suit too. On March 23, 2025, Cortez Martinez arrived at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport on a flight from Mexico City. He was gone a couple of days while visiting family after his grandfather died. Court documents say he had his approved DACA application and a legally valid advance parole document (travel document)—which was valid until April 14, 2025—with him. After arriving in the United States, Cortez Martinez appeared for inspection different times and was questioned. He gave his documents to authorities. His attorneys say he “cooperated and truthfully answered” officers questions. Cortez Martinez was then denied entry into the United States, indicating that he was “inadmissible to the United States pursuant to section 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I) of the INA as an immigrant without an immigrant visa based on the fact that [he had been] ordered removed in absentia on June 11, 2024.” They further determined that Mr. Cortez Martinez’s advance parole document was issued in error, and therefore he was subject to an expedited removal order for failing to be in possession of a valid entry document, the suit states. It’s unclear if there was a hearing in the June 2024 absentia situation, or what came from it. His attorneys allege denying his entry into the United States was based on an official’s “incorrect determination that the existence of a removal order in and of itself abated the ability of USCIS to issue a valid advance parole document.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [4/7/2025 7:00 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waived some of the country’s most iconic environmental protection laws Monday as she sought to cut through delays and speed construction of President Trump’s border wall in California. Parts of at least 29 laws were waived, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Eagle Protection Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. "There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States," Ms. Noem said in a regulatory filing in the Federal Register. The waiver applied to both barrier construction and to the roads that the Border Patrol builds alongside the wall to speed agents to where they detect incursions. The decision to waive the laws was expected — the administration did it in Mr. Trump’s first term, and President Biden did it too during his term. Still, it remains controversial. "This waiver is another cynical attack by the Trump administration on border communities and wildlife, who deserve the same protections that prevail everywhere else in the country," said Laiken Jordahl, southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). The waivers cover about 10 miles of border. Much of it would be replacing or adding extra layers of fencing where a barrier already exists. But one segment would go where there is no fence currently. CBD said the barrier would block wildlife that currently migrates back and forth across the border. Mr. Trump erected more than 450 miles of fencing during his first term. Mr. Biden halted all construction on his first day, though he was unable to get Congress to repeal the money. He was forced to start some construction, albeit at a slower pace than critics had called for.

AP [4/8/2025 12:23 AM, Valerie Gonzalez, 34586K] reports migrants who were temporarily allowed to live in the United States by using a Biden-era online appointment app have been told to leave the country “immediately,” officials said Monday. It was unclear how many beneficiaries would be affected. More than 900,000 people were allowed in the country using the CBP One app since January 2023. They were generally allowed to remain in the United States for two years with authorization to work under a presidential authority called parole. “Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security,” the Department of Homeland Security media affairs unit said in response to questions. Authorities confirmed termination notices were sent to CBP One beneficiaries but did not say how many. They were urged to voluntary self-deport using the same app they entered on, which has been renamed CBP Home. “It’s time for you to abandon the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security wrote to a Honduran family that entered the U.S. at the end of last year. The Associated Press reviewed the email received Sunday. Others shared the same email on social media platforms. Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit organization that provides legal aid to migrants, said some who received the revocation letters are from Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. CBP One was a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s strategy to create and expand legal pathways to enter the United States in an attempt to discourage illegal border crossings. By the end of December, 936,500 people had been allowed to enter with CBP One appointments at border crossings with Mexico. President Donald Trump ended CBP One for new entrants on his first day in office, stranding thousands in Mexico who had appointments into early February.

Breitbart [4/7/2025 11:35 AM, Bob Price, 2923K] reports that El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents seized $175,000 in cash from a group of 21 Romanian nationals at an interior immigration checkpoint in New Mexico. The Romanians are linked to an organized crime network, a Border Patrol official stated. El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar posted a report on X revealing the seizure of $175,000 in cash at the Alamogordo, New Mexico, interior checkpoint. Agents found the undeclared currency after the Romanian migrants initially declared $30,000. Slosar said the 21 Romanian nationals are linked to an organized criminal ring. Elsewhere in New Mexico, El Paso agents arrested a previously deported felon as he attempted to illegally re-enter the U.S. near Santa Teresa. The illegal alien’s criminal history includes a conviction for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Slosar said the man will be prosecuted under 8 USC 1326 before being removed from the U.S. Late last month, Santa Teresa agents arrested another criminal alien. This man had a previous conviction for assault on a peace officer. He also had a lengthy history of violent crimes in the U.S. This illegal alien will also face prosecution for illegal re-entry after removal. He will be deported following his prosecution.

Blaze [4/7/2025 12:07 PM, Cortney Weil, 1668K] reports that a Chinese national believed to be in the United States illegally took her own life recently at a Border Patrol detention facility in Arizona. On March 29, a 52-year-old Chinese woman — who had reportedly overstayed her B-1/B-2 visitor visa — fashioned a noose at the BP facility in Yuma and hanged herself. According to a statement from Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the woman did not receive medical attention "for nearly two hours." Jayapal also alleged that facility officials mishandled required wellness checks on the woman. Though logs showed that "multiple welfare checks were conducted," a processing coordinator apparently indicated to the congresswoman that he did not conduct them. The Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility was likewise "unable to verify" whether those checks even occurred, her statement said. A CBP spokesperson confirmed the death on Thursday, the Tucson Sentinel reported, five days after it happened. According to the spokesperson, the woman was found "unresponsive in a cell." "Emergency Medical Services were called to the station and transported the woman to the local hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.” An agency spokesperson then told the Sentinel on Friday that the suicide occurred just out of the range of surveillance cameras that constantly monitor the facility. "In this case, Border Patrol’s ability to observe the incident was limited due to privacy constraints — the incident occurred in a bathroom stall where cameras were not able to capture the full angle," the spokesperson said.

New York Times [4/7/2025 3:03 PM, Johnny Diaz, 145325K] reports two U.S. border protection officers in Southern California have been charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes to allow people to enter the country through the country’s busiest land port of entry without showing proper documents, prosecutors said. The officers, Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez, were charged on March 24 with conspiracy to bring in aliens for financial gain, bringing in aliens for financial gain and receipt of bribes by a public official, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. An investigation began after several smugglers who were arrested in September told investigators they had been working with U.S. border inspectors, according to a criminal complaint that was unsealed on March 25. The scheme lasted from August 2024 through January 2025, prosecutors said.

Univision [4/7/2025 6:53 PM, Staff, 5325K] Video: HERE reports TSA agent Desiree Brown died after being shot while driving through Biscayne Gardens. The bullets also hit her 11-year-old daughter and her boyfriend’s 12-year-old son, who are in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital. At the moment it is unknown who fired.

Homeland Preparedness News [4/7/2025 8:59 AM, Melina Druga] reports bipartisan legislation recently introduced in the U.S. Senate would restore the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as an independent cabinet-level agency. The FEMA Independence Act would remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agency then would report directly to the president. The bill also would require FEMA’s Senate-confirmed leader have “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security” in both the public and private sectors. U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the bill. “This commonsense, bipartisan bill will help cut red tape and save lives by separating FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and restoring its status as an independent, cabinet-level agency,” Tillis said. “With the recent devastation caused by Helene in Western North Carolina, the need for this legislation is more urgent than ever. We must pass this bipartisan legislation to help those who are suffering and get FEMA working again for those in need.”

USA Today [4/7/2025 4:26 PM, John Bacon, Stephanie Kuzydym, and Christopher Cann, 75858K] reports a deadly storm system that slammed a swath of the nation with tornadoes and days of unrelenting rainfall continued to slide through the Southeast on Monday afternoon and evening. The threat was not over, as "scattered severe storms are expected this afternoon across parts of northern Florida and southeastern Georgia to the eastern Carolinas," the Storm Prediction Center warned in mid-afternoon update. Cities such as Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, remained in the line of fire. Meanwhile, in states slammed by the train of storms over the last few days, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, crews pulled people from floodwaters and ordered evacuations, especially near bulging waterways. On Monday, the Ohio River in Cincinnati reached its highest level in nearly 30 years. Meanwhile, the Kentucky River near Monterey, about 20 miles from the capital Frankfort, was forecast to crest at 57 feet on Tuesday, well above its 33-foot flood stage. Flood advisories were in effect from Ohio and Illinois to Louisiana and Alabama. And with hundreds of roads still underwater, schools across the region canceled classes and officials urged residents to remain cautious as flooding persists. "Remember, this event is not over until the water has receded," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Monday.

New York Times [4/7/2025 6:26 PM, Benjamin Oreskes, Dana Rubinstein and Grace Ashford, 145325K] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency is cutting $325 million in grants that was to go to New York State, much of it destined for essential flood mitigation efforts in New York City, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office. The cuts are part of a broader assault by President Trump and Kristi Noem, his homeland security secretary, on the federal government’s disaster response responsibilities, with both arguing that states should shoulder the burden for this work. But the loss of the FEMA funds will be particularly damaging to the New York City area, where the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed 14 New Yorkers in 2021, drowning 11 of them in basement apartments. FEMA announced on Friday that it was canceling the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, calling it in a statement “wasteful and ineffective” and “more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.” Close to $1 billion that has been awarded but not distributed to government entities will be diverted back to the Treasury Department, the agency said — adding that it was “canceling all BRIC applications from fiscal years 2020-2023.” The cuts affect all of New York State but are largely concentrated in New York City.

ABC News [4/7/2025 6:02 PM, Emily Shapiro, 31638K] reports the rain may have stopped, but Kentucky’s governor warned the danger isn’t over from the four days of deadly storms that devastated the central U.S. with catastrophic flooding and destructive tornadoes. Many roads remain flooded and some rivers and creeks are at or above flood stage, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Monday. "Do not drive through water, do not move barricades," Beshear pleaded. He stressed that even when water is receding, it’s still dangerous to drive. In Louisville, Kentucky, over 60 people were evacuated on Monday from a hotel surrounded by flooded roads, according to Louisville Metro Emergency Services. Twenty-four people have died since Wednesday from the storms, with the fatalities spanning Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi and Indiana. Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced a new website, Floodsmart.gov, to help people directly access flood insurance quotes. "It’s quick and easy and takes just a few minutes. Insured survivors recover faster," Cameron Hamilton, senior official performing the duties of FEMA administrator, said in a statement. "With spring flooding and hurricane season both approaching fast, it’s important to take this first step so you can better protect the life you’ve built."

FedScoop [4/7/2025 12:00 AM, Staff, 56K] reports the White House Office of Management and Budget released a pair of memos to provide agencies with guardrails for how they use and purchase artificial intelligence in the government, replacing Biden administration guidance but maintaining some of the same structures. Both memos, which are dated April 3, represent some of the first major policy actions President Donald Trump has taken on the government’s use of AI. Trump began his administration by rolling back former President Joe Biden’s AI executive order and later issuing one of his own that called for an AI action plan and a review of the previous administration’s work on the technology. Specifically, the order included directions to revise the Biden OMB’s AI governance and acquisition guidance. The first new memo (M-25-21) provides guardrails for use and replaces Biden’s directive on the same topic (M-24-10). That document states agencies are to focus on three priorities when accelerating the federal use of AI — innovation, governance and public trust — which align with an executive order on the technology from the first Trump administration. But that directive also maintains things that were established under the Biden administration, like chief AI officers and their council and a special management process for potentially risky AI uses it now calls “high-impact.” Similarly, the second memo on AI acquisition (M-25-22) replaces the Biden OMB’s guidance on government purchasing of the tech (M-24-18).

AP [4/7/2025 7:23 PM, Michelle L. Price and Lolita C. Baldor, 1769K] reports the Trump administration is having early discussions about a grand military parade in the nation’s capital this summer, something that is a long-held dream of President Donald Trump. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that the administration had reached out to the city about holding a parade on June 14 that would stretch from Arlington, Virginia, where the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are located, across the Potomac River and into Washington, D.C. The Army is in early discussions about potentially adding a parade to the Army’s 250th birthday festival, which is being held June 14, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are ongoing and no decisions have been made. June 14 is also Trump’s 79th birthday. The White House in a statement said that "no military parade has been scheduled.” The Army birthday festival, which has been in the planning stages for about two years, is to include an array of activities and displays on the National Mall, including Army Stryker armored vehicles, Humvees, helicopters and other equipment. In a statement, Col. David Butler, an Army spokesman, said that "it’s too early to say yet whether or not we’re having a parade but we’re working with the White House as well as several government agencies to make the celebration a national level event.” Trump in his first term proposed having a grand military parade in the U.S. after watching one in France on Bastille Day in 2017. Trump said after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees that he wanted a grander one in Washington on Pennsylvania Avenue. But the event never happened due to expected high costs, with one estimate of a $92 million price tag, and logistical hangups. Takis Karantonis, the chair of the Arlington County Board, said in a statement that Secret Service contacted the county on Friday "regarding the possibility of a military parade to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army, but no further details were offered.” Karantonis said it was not clear what the scope of the parade would be but said, "I would hope the Federal Government remains sensitive to the pain and concerns of numerous active military and veteran residents, who have lost or might lose their jobs in recent federal decisions, as they reflect on how best to celebrate the Army’s anniversary.”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/7/2025 12:52 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12829K]

(B) CBS Mornings [4/7/2025 8:27 AM, Staff] reports Jupiter Police say a man in the area made a concerning Facebook post containing threats against President Trump. The Secret Service says they brought him in for questioning. Jupiter Police later arrested him. This follows a few other arrests of men across Palm Beach County and along the Treasure Coast accused of making threats toward the president.

CBS News [4/7/2025 9:11 PM, Scott MacFarlane, Kiki Intarasuwan, 51661K] reports Ryan Routh, the suspect in the second alleged assassination attempt against President Trump, has formally asked a judge to suppress statements from the eyewitness who identified him to police as the suspect with a high-powered rifle who was a few hundred yards away from Mr. Trump at his Florida golf course. Prosecutors say Routh plotted to kill Mr. Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as the then-Republican nominee played golf on Sept. 14, 2024, at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Before Mr. Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent and fled, according to prosecutors. Law enforcement said the eyewitness statement was critical to finding and then charging Routh. In a 13-page court filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the defense alleged police induced or were "impermissibly suggestive" when questioning the witness, who was allegedly shown a single photograph of Routh taken after he was detained. Routh’s legal team claimed police created a situation in which an "irreparable misidentification" would occur and asked a judge to exclude the witness identification of Routh from the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2025. The defense argued that the testimony would be "constitutionally inadmissible" in court. When law enforcement announced charges against Routh last year, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said after police received a call from Secret Service at 1:30 p.m. that shots had been fired, a witness saw a man jumping out of the bushes and fleeing in a black Nissan. Law enforcement found an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks that contained ceramic tiles and a GoPro camera in the bushes at the scene, Bradshaw said. Secret Service officials later confirmed the suspect did not fire any shots and said he did not have a line of sight to Mr. Trump. The Justice Department had also said a witness saw Routh running across the road from the golf course and getting into a black Nissan Xterra. "Based on information provided by the witness, Routh was later apprehended heading northbound on I-95 by officers from the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office," the department said.

FOX News [4/7/2025 6:06 PM, Greg Wehner, Preston Mizell, 46189K] reports the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has helped the U.S. Coast Guard save $32.7 million by eliminating an "ineffective IT program" known as the Logistics Information Management System (CG-LIMS), the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Fox News Digital. "Another win for government efficiency at DHS!" Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday. "Continuing the crucial work of DOGE, the Coast Guard eliminated an ineffective IT program, saving over $32 million and focusing its resources where they’re most needed to protect the homeland. The USCG continues to deliver on the President’s priorities, maximizing its efficiency while securing our borders and maritime approaches." But starting no later than May 1, 2025, all program activities regarding CG-LIMS will end. According to the Coast Guard, the termination is the result of the program’s inability to deliver on its full requirements in the near future. The $32.7 million saved will instead be used "to address emergent Coast Guard needs," according to the military service. Personnel that worked on CG-LIMS will be "reassigned to fill critical personnel shortages" within the Coast Guard, it said. The Coast Guard said it will continue to search for alternatives to resolve gaps in IT logistics, and achieve the necessary functionality envisioned by the Service.

Reported similarly:
NBC 30 New Britain [4/7/2025 9:11 PM, Angela Fortuna]

Military.com [4/7/2025 5:01 PM, Patricia Kime] reports the Coast Guard is planning a radical redesign that includes more personnel, improved technology and acquisition systems, and changes to its organization that include a service secretary. Exact details of the service’s transformation, known as "Force Design 2028," have not been released, but plans call for changes in personnel policy, including modernization of the Coast Guard Reserve and civilian management; restructuring at the headquarters level; and improvements to acquisitions processes and information technology systems, according to an April 3 news release. According to the Coast Guard, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed the restructure. Sean Plankey, billed as "senior adviser to the secretary for the Coast Guard," is leading the effort.

Marine Link [4/7/2025 10:21 PM, Staff, 94K] reports the US Coast Guard has terminated the Logistics Information Management System (CG-LIMS). In a statement it said, the action is an early milestone in the Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028 (FD 2028) initiative and advances the work of DOGE. It aims to fulfil the President’s direction to maximize efficiencies and cost savings. “Program activities will end no later than May 1, 2025, and are the result of the program’s inability to deliver on its full requirements in the foreseeable future. Like the other armed services, the Coast Guard continues to experience challenges in the Service’s attempts to replace outdated legacy logistics IT systems due to the number and complexity of business-related tasks and transactions required to maintain the fleet of assets and capabilities.” According to the US Coast Guard website, CG-LIMS aimed to integrate existing and future capabilities across the Coast Guard enterprise to best sustain its mission support operations by leveraging modern, cloud-based technology to deliver an integrated capability. The project was expected to begin initial operating capability in 2027 and reach full operating capability in 2031. The assets targeted to utilize CG-LIMS included 245 cutters, 200 aircraft, 1,800 boats, shore-based systems, aids to navigation equipment and command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) equipment. CG-LIMS was to integrate Navy supply and maintenance services with those of the Coast Guard to support national priorities in peace and war. With the program’s termination, the Coast Guard will realign approximately $32.7 million in previously appropriated funding to address emergent Coast Guard needs, and CG-LIMS personnel will be reassigned to fill critical personnel shortages within the Service. The Coast Guard is exploring alternatives to resolve logistics IT gaps and achieve the necessary functionality originally envisioned by the Service. FD 2028 is an accelerated effort to establish a blueprint for change and transform the Coast Guard to ensure the Service is ready for the future. Focused on four campaigns—people, organization, contracting and acquisition, and technology—FD 2028 is a once-in-a-generation effort to investigate and ultimately transform the Coast Guard’s ability to adapt to its current and future operating environment.

90.1 FM Woods Hole [4/7/2025 9:21 AM, John Basile] reports Former State Representative Ruth Provost is following up on an idea she had more than two decades ago when she represented the Upper Cape in the Massachusetts House. Back then, she was successful in getting legislation passed that would recognize the Coast Guard’s roots in Massachusetts. The idea was to have a sculptor create a monument, and a location was chosen in the Statehouse. But Provost lost her bid for reelection and the idea was dormant until recently. Now, Provost is working with the Coast Guard Heritage Museum in Barnstable to raise funds to have a painting completed for a prominent spot in the Statehouse. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

ABC 25 West Palm Beach [4/7/2025 12:07 PM, Staff] reports getting a first look at a rescue that happened in Riviera Beach over the weekend. Deputies responding to multiple reports of people drowning at Ocean Reef Park. A lot of different agencies responded; Riviera Police and the U.S. Coast Guard. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [4/7/2025 3:41 PM, Taylor Ardrey, Ashley Varese, 75858K] reports a Florida boat captain has been has been arrested and charged after he was captured on camera in a viral confrontation with a fisherman. The footage, titled "Charter Captain jumps on my boat and tries to fight me for no reason," has garnered over 500,000 views on YouTube. It shows the April 1 conflict between 22-year-old Gage Towles and 40-year-old Brock Horner. Horner, owner of Tarpon Coast Fishing Charters, has since been arrested and charged with burglary with assault or battery following an investigation, according to Punta Gorda Police Department and the Daytona Beach News-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. According to police, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard have also opened investigations into the matter.

CW 34 Fort Pierce [4/7/2025 5:37 PM, Sophie Pendrill, 27K] reports a person stranded on a capsized boat near Boynton Beach was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard said that their rescue mission began after watchstanders from District 7 received a report of an overdue vessel from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. Officials noted that the person was stranded on the boat around 35 miles northeast of Boynton Beach. No injuries were reported.

Reported similarly:

NBC 5 West Palm Beach [4/7/2025 5:08 PM, Staff]

Maritime Executive [4/7/2/ 6:46 PM, Staff, 325K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard has released the results of an investigation into the death of an engineer aboard the OSV Red Stag in Port Fourchon, Louisiana in 2023. The crewmember was electrocuted after opening a high voltage electrical panel without authorization. On the afternoon of October 13, 2023, Red Stag was moored alongside at the Adriatic Marine dock in Port Fourchon, and was preparing for its next charter. At about 2000 hours, the vessel’s first engineer adjusted ballast by activating the vessel’s mud pump system, turning it on and off using the emergency stop button on the aft deck rather than the control panel belowdecks. When finished, he left the e-stop in the "off" position. This is normal practice, according to the Coast Guard. According to the Coast Guard, the unqualified engineer was training for his engineering license but was not qualified to access and work on the 480-volt panel for the mud pump. It is unknown why he opened the panel, but the Coast Guard suspects that he was unaware that the pump e-stop on deck was turned off. He then bypassed company safety policies and attempted to troubleshoot it himself. "It is reasonable to assume that if the Unqualified Engineer was more experienced with the operation of the mud pump system, he may have verified the status of the pump’s emergency stop and de-activated it, preventing him from having to open the 480 volt panel and prevented the incident from occurring," the Coast Guard concluded. The investigators also noted that Red Stag lacked some form of an indicator to show that the e-stop was activated; if an indicator had been present, the engineer might have realized that the system was already working as designed. Likewise, a lock on the cabinet would have prevented unauthorized access. The operating company initiated a fleetwide safety stand-down after the fatality to review policies with all crewmembers. The Coast Guard found no regulatory breaches, and made no additional recommendations.

San Diego Union Tribune [4/7/2025 9:48 PM, Christian Martinez, 1682K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a pair of boats last weekend off the coast of San Diego, and more than 30 Mexican nationals aboard were detained, the agency said. The first vessel, a suspected smuggling vessel, was first detected around 11 p.m. Friday, about 27 miles west of San Diego. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Navy aircraft monitored the boat, which crossed the U.S.-Mexico maritime boundary around 7 a.m. on Saturday, the Coast Guard said in a release. The vessel crossed into the U.S. contiguous zone, a region which extends 24 miles from the coast, around 10:35 a.m. A boat crew boarded the vessel and located eight Mexican nationals on board. Footage released by the Coast Guard from what appears to be a body-worn camera shows a Coast Guard officer boarding the boat with his weapon drawn. He tells those on board in Spanish to put their hands on their heads. Those onboard were transferred to the custody of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A day later, at 1:35 p.m. on Sunday, a Coast Guard cutter intercepted a 45-foot boat 6 miles off the coast of Point Loma. The vessel was boarded, and 19 Mexican nationals, including a boy and a girl, were located. They were transferred to the custody of Border Patrol.

ABC 10 San Deigo [4/7/2025 5:18 PM, Staff] reports U.S. Coast Guard and Navy crews intercepted an apparent human-smuggling attempt off the coast of San Diego over the weekend, taking eight Mexican nationals into custody, authorities reported Monday. The suspected undocumented immigrants crossed into U.S. waters south of Point Loma in a 40-foot cabin cruiser at about 7 a.m. Saturday, according to USCG public affairs. Personnel from the Coast Guard cutter Terrell Horne and USN guided-missile destroyer Spruance intercepted the boat about 3 1/2 hours later and took the occupants — seven men and a woman, all of whom claimed Mexican nationality — into custody without incident, officials said. The Navy turned over the detainees to Department of Homeland Security agents in Oceanside, according to the Coast Guard. The San Diego Patch [4/7/2025 6:32 PM, Kristina Houch, 1070K] reports that the 40-foot cuddy cabin-style vessel, which was carrying eight migrants, crossed into U.S. waters south of Point Loma around 7 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard cutter Terrell Horne and Navy-guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance deployed boarding teams and intercepted the boat around 10:35 p.m. about 27 miles west of San Diego. Officials took seven men and one woman into custody. All eight people, who claimed Mexican nationality, were turned over to the Department of Homeland Security agents in Oceanside, according to the Coast Guard.

Reported similarly:
FOX 5 San Diego [4/7/2025 5:46 PM, Rhea Caoile]
Times of San Diego [4/7/2025 5:17 PM, Staff]

Your Alaska Link [4/7/2025 7:51 PM, Staff] reports a major drug bust took place in Kodiak after a multi-agency investigation led to the seizure of over 10 pounds of cocaine. On March 31, the Alaska State Troopers Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit, along with the Kodiak Police Department, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, and both Alaska State and Wildlife Troopers, carried out an operation targeting the trafficking of cocaine. The investigation focused on 52-year-old Nathaniel Scott Newman and 40-year-old Whitney Sands, both from Kodiak. During the search, authorities seized approximately 10.2 pounds of cocaine, along with over $21,000 in cash and drug trafficking paraphernalia. The street value of the seized cocaine is estimated at nearly half a million dollars — $463,400 — if it had been sold locally. Newman and Sands were arrested and taken to Kodiak Jail, where they face charges of Misconduct Involving Controlled Substances in the 3rd degree.

CyberScoop [4/7/2025 5:08 PM, Matt Kapko] reports Google addressed 62 vulnerabilities affecting Android devices in its April security update, including a pair of actively exploited software defects that were first disclosed in December. Google said the two vulnerabilities — CVE-2024-53197 and CVE-2024-53150 — “may be under limited, targeted exploitation.” The pair of flaws under active exploitation are high-severity and affect the Linux kernel’s USB audio driver, according to Google. The most severe of the actively exploited vulnerabilities, CVE-2024-53150, carries a CVSS score of 7.1 and allows attackers to obtain potentially sensitive data. The second actively exploited vulnerability, CVE-2024-53197, is part of a zero-day exploit chain developed by Israel-based digital forensics company Cellebrite. Serbian security services abused a Cellebrite zero-day exploit chain in “a Cellebrite product to break into the phone of a youth activist in Serbia,” Amnesty International’s Security Lab said in a report released in February. Google said source code patches for all 62 vulnerabilities covered in this month’s security update will be released to the Android Open Source Project repository by Wednesday.

ABC News [4/7/2025 2:13 PM, Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin, 34586K] reports that at this year’s Boston Marathon, 12 years after the deadly marathon bombing, law enforcement will be watching "a broad set of potential soft targets for an attack," according to a bulletin obtained by ABC News. About 30,000 runners are participating in the April 21 race and another half-million spectators are expected along the route. According to the bulletin, congested areas where the largest amount of people gather -- particularly designated viewing areas -- are likely the most vulnerable spots for a mass casualty attack, along with nearby publicly accessible areas, tunnels, pre-event gatherings and post-event celebrations. A policy change may provide a motivation for an attack, the bulletin said, pointing to marathon organizers allowing runners to select "non-binary" regarding gender. "Following this announcement, individuals posting content consistent with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism posted online calling for an attack on the 2023 Boston Marathon, according to an organization that tracks violent extremist activity online," the bulletin said. "Some of these individuals called for an attack similar to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings." The bulletin said law enforcement officials are unaware of any specific or credible threats to high-profile attendees of the Boston Marathon but are highlighting the threat environment for these officials’ awareness. "Absent a specific, actionable threat to the 129th Boston Marathon, the FBI and [the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis] are providing indicators to aid law enforcement and first responders in identifying and mitigating threats," the bulletin said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [4/7/2025 7:06 PM, Mark Swanson, 4998K] reports lawmakers from both parties are pushing back on the White House’s assertions that the Signal flap is all in the past, vowing to press on with their investigations, The Hill reported. The White House last week said the "case has been closed" as to how an editor from a magazine was inadvertently added to a group chat about military action in Yemen. But lawmakers — Republicans included — aren’t there yet. "I think that’s very hopeful messaging," Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told The Hill. "And maybe it is — but we’ll wait and see what the inspector general for the [Defense Department] says," adding that "we’ll look into it on a bipartisan basis.” Todd Young, R-Ind., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Hill that not all concerns have been addressed. The Guardian reported Sunday that Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg’s phone number was erroneously saved as that of National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes on the phone of national security adviser Mike Waltz last October, when Hughes was a spokesman for President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Waltz was an advocate for Trump. Hughes copied and pasted an email from Goldberg and texted it to Waltz as background for an interview Waltz was doing to rebut a negative story Goldberg wrote about Trump. So when Waltz went to add Hughes to the group chat last month about military action in Yemen, it was actually Goldberg’s number, according to The Guardian. Since the group chat flap, subsequent reports have come out that Waltz used Gmail to conduct government business and that he had as many as 20 different Signal chats set up to coordinate on different situations.

Breitbart [4/7/2025 1:34 PM, Kristina Wong, 2923K] reports that the Guardian reported Sunday that Brian Hughes, a then-Trump campaign spokesman who is now a National Security Council spokesman, had copied and pasted an email query from Goldberg during the 2024 presidential campaign — which included Goldberg’s contact number — and texted it to Waltz, who then accidentally saved the number in his phone under Hughes’ contact information. Goldberg’s number was erroneously saved during a "contact suggestion update" by Waltz’s iPhone, the review found. Later, Waltz would accidentally include Goldberg instead of Hughes when setting up a group chat to discuss U.S. military strikes against the Houthis on the encrypted messaging application Signal — which government officials have been allowed to use to communicate since the Biden administration. Goldberg revealed the contents of the group chat on the strikes later, which Trump critics tried to use to attack members of the administration in the chat — most notably Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The paper cited three people briefed on the matter. It also reported that President Donald Trump had "briefly considered" firing Waltz over the episode, and that he was more angered by Waltz having Goldberg’s number in his phone than that they had used the app to discuss the strikes.

Reuters [4/7/2025 3:51 PM, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Lili Bayer, 41523K] reports that U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, who holds a senior position in NATO, has been fired as part of what appears to be an expanding national security purge of top officials by the Trump administration, three sources told Reuters on Monday. The information was not immediately confirmed by the Pentagon. However, the sources told Reuters that allies had been notified that Chatfield had been removed from her job. Chatfield, the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee, is one of only a handful of female Navy three-star officers and was the first woman to lead the Naval War College, a job she held until 2023. The firing is the latest to rock the Pentagon after Thursday’s removal of General Timothy Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. For the Navy, it follows the firing of its top officer, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to become Chief of Naval Operations. President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a cool view of NATO, as well as European allies, since taking office in January. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his first trip to NATO headquarters in February to warn Europe against treating the United States like a "sucker" by making it responsible for its defense. It was unclear if any official reason was given for Chatfield’s dismissal, or if it was related to any U.S. policy direction on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/7/2025 8:05 PM, Lolita C. Baldor, 48304K]
USA Today [4/8/2025 12:22 AM, Tom Vanden Brook, 75858K]

Daily Wire [4/7/2025 2:02 PM, Daniel Chaitin, 4672K] reports nearly 70 countries have reached out after President Donald Trump unveiled his "Liberation Day" tariffs last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday. That estimate comes after Bessent and other Trump administration officials stated over the weekend that more than 50 nations had contacted the United States to initiate negotiations on trade. "I can tell you that there are 50, 60, maybe almost 70 countries now who have approached us," Bessent said during an interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business. Almost 70 countries have now approached us wanting to help rebalance global trade. Bessent went on to suggest that discussion with other countries could drag on for months, stating, "It’s going to be a busy April, May, maybe into June.” Dozens of foreign nations are facing a tariff baseline of 10% and, in some cases, much higher rates as part of the "Liberation Day" tariffs Trump announced last week at the White House. Trump has shown a willingness to escalate, warning China he would impose a 50% additional levy if the country does not withdraw its retaliatory tariff. Officials in Trump’s administration have said they are focused on wrangling trade deficits the United States has endured for decades, including "non-tariff cheating.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer identified Argentina, Vietnam, and Israel as some of the nations that want to discuss achieving "reciprocity," according to POLITICO. While meeting with Trump at the White House on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to eliminate his country’s trade deficit with the United States. That came after Trump revealed that he spoke with the prime minister of Japan, which, like Israel, is facing new tariffs above the baseline, and expects a "top team" to engage in negotiations. Bessent, who along with Greer will continue the talks, said Japan is "a very important military ally. They’re a very important economic ally. And, the U.S. has a lot of history with them.”

Washington Examiner [4/7/2025 11:35 AM, Mike Brest, 2296K] reports that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is set to travel to Panama in the coming days to visit his Panamanian counterparts amid the Trump administration’s pursuit of "reclaiming" control of the Panama Canal. Hegseth will participate in the 2025 Central American Security Conference, and he will meet with senior civilian, military, and security leaders to "strengthen our partnerships with Panama and other Central American nations toward our shared vision for a peaceful and secure western hemisphere," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said last Friday. Parnell did not mention the canal specifically, but it’s an undertone of the trip, given the president’s determination that it’s in the United States’s interest to reclaim it. The U.S. built the canal to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between the east and west coasts of the United States. It turned over control to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty President Jimmy Carter signed in 1977. President Donald Trump told members of Congress last month, "To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it."

Breitbart [4/7/2025 11:15 PM, Staff, 2923K] reports the Hong Kong firm in charge of two key Panama Canal ports has flouted the terms of its contract, according to a Panamanian audit released Monday, as US and Chinese firms fight for business on the waterway after President Donald Trump threatened to seize it. The audit found "many breaches" of the concession awarded to a subsidiary of logistics giant CK Hutchison to operate the two ports, and concluded that Panama did not receive $1.2 billion it was owed under the contract. The subsidiary, called Panama Ports, benefited from many tax exemptions and also had irregularities in a previous audit that was used to justify an extension of the concession first awarded in 1997, said state comptroller Anel Flores. "This is a very delicate issue," Flores told journalists, adding that he would file a complaint with prosecutors in the coming days over the unpaid concession fees. The release of the audit results came hours before US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived in Panama, which has come under strong pressure from Trump to reduce Chinese influence on the US-built canal. The United States has said it is a threat to its national security — and the region as a whole — for a Hong Kong company to operate ports at either end of the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, through which five percent of all global shipping passes. Hegseth will meet Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Tuesday and visit the canal, which opened in 1914. He will also participate in a security conference with Central American officials. Although the waterway has been under Panamanian control since 1999 under international treaties, Trump has threatened to take it back, by force if necessary, arguing that it is effectively controlled by Beijing. Flores on Monday denied that the announcement of Panama Ports failing to honor the concession contract had anything to do with the Hegseth visit. "This is an autonomous act by Panama," Flores said. However, some analysts had predicted that this audit would in fact purport to show irregularities, so that Panama could strip the Chinese company of the contract and thus appease the Trump administration. "It comes as a surprise to no one that the audit turns up alleged irregularities, since the idea was to have some kind of legal justification strong enough to cancel the concession," Euclides Tapia, a professor of international relations, told AFP.

Wall Street Journal [4/8/2025 1:15 AM, Staff, 646K] Video HERE reports Denmark is planning to spend over $1.5 billion to protect Greenland. WSJ explains how dog-sleds and drones will bolster defenses—and why the U.S. abandoned several military bases there decades ago. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [4/7/2025 2:00 PM, Tom Rogan, 2296K] reports that a Diplomatic Security Service shift supervisor assigned to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s protective detail was arrested by Belgian police at a Brussels hotel last Monday after arguing with hotel staff and fighting with responding police officers. Later that week, Rubio stayed in the same place, Hotel Amigo, while attending NATO’s foreign ministers meeting. The DSS veteran, whose name the Washington Examiner is withholding, was a senior agent on the DSS advance party to Belgium. That protective advance party was responsible for securing the hotel and conducting final security preparations at the various sites in Brussels for Rubio’s visit. The agent engaged in an altercation with numerous police officers, leading to his arrest. The agent was released from police custody later that day after intervention by the U.S. Embassy. A State Department spokesman told the Washington Examiner, "The Diplomatic Security Service is aware of allegations of an incident involving an employee in Brussels, Belgium on March 31, 2025. While we don’t discuss specific personnel matters, the allegations are being examined." The Belgian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment. Brussels police initially said, "Are you requesting confirmation of the arrest? Please note that we cannot provide details about the circumstances," but failed to respond to follow-up inquiries. The Hotel Amigo and its ownership did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

NPR [4/8/2025 3:08 AM, Alex Leff, 29983K] reports Iran says it will have indirect talks with the United States this weekend in Oman, opening a possible path to diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program but revealing a potential sticking point about the format for negotiating. President Trump said Monday, "We’re having direct talks with Iran." Speaking in the Oval Office beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the U.S. and Iran would have "a very big meeting" on Saturday at "almost the highest level." He did not say where, or who would take part. Overnight, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media: "Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks." During Trump’s first term, he withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by former President Barack Obama and signed by several world powers. As a part of that deal, Iran agreed to limits and inspections on its nuclear development in return for relief from economic sanctions. When Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, the U.S. imposed tough sanctions and what Trump called "maximum pressure" on the country. An annual U.S. intelligence report made public last month said "we continue to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon." This year Iran’s leaders have rejected Trump’s offers to engage in direct negotiations. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian cited America’s "breach of promises" and said "they must prove that they can build trust." An aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran was open to indirect talks.

Axios [4/8/2025 4:03 AM, Barak Ravid, 13163K] reports President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the U.S. delegation for nuclear talks with Iran on Saturday in Oman, two sources familiar with the plan tell Axios. President Trump surprised the world Monday by announcing the high-level meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials. If diplomacy fails, the next stage is likely war. So far, there have only been negotiations about the negotiations — which don’t yet seem to be resolved. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, whom Iranian press reports say will be Iran’s chief negotiator, insisted the talks would be "indirect" — with Omani mediators passing messages between the sides. Trump insisted the talks would be "direct." Two U.S. officials told Axios that is indeed the plan. Whatever the format, the stakes are clear. "If the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger," Trump said, when asked by Axios if he was prepared to use military force to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. "You know, it’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon." Trump kicked off the nuclear diplomacy last month with a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in which he gave Tehran two months to make a deal, without actually saying when the clock would start ticking. Khamenei had publicly dismissed the idea of direct talks with Trump — who withdrew from previous Iran deal in 2018 — but responded with a letter of his own in late March. Omani mediators have exchanged messages between the sides since Khamenei transmitted his response. The exchange has mostly been "a negotiation about the format of the negotiations," as one U.S. official put it, with the U.S. prioritizing efficiency and the Iranians wanting slower indirect talks that would allow them to build trust and assess the U.S. endgame. Trump’s preferred direct format "would mark a vital shift from talking past each other to talking with one another," says Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group.

AP [4/8/2025 4:20 AM, Staff, 34586K] reports China said Tuesday it would “fight to the end” and take countermeasures against the United States to safeguard its own interests after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports. The Commerce Ministry said the U.S.’s imposition of “so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’” on China is “completely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practice.” China, the world’s second-largest economy, has taken retaliatory tariffs and the ministry hinted in its latest statement that more may be coming. “The countermeasures China has taken are aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintaining the normal international trade order. They are completely legitimate,” the ministry said. “The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the blackmailing nature of the US. China will never accept this. If the US insists on its own way, China will fight to the end,” it added. Trump’s threat Monday of additional tariffs on China raised fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war. Stock markets from Tokyo to New York have become more unstable as the tariff war worsens. Trump’s threat came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs he announced last week. “If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” If Trump implements his new tariffs on Chinese products, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would reach a combined 104%. The new taxes would be on top of the 20% tariffs announced as punishment for fentanyl trafficking and his separate 34% tariffs announced last week. Not only could that increase prices for American consumers, it could also give China an incentive to flood other countries with cheaper goods and seek deeper relationships with other trading partners, particularly the European Union.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/7/2025 11:14 PM, David Pierson, 145325K]
Breitbart [4/8/2025 2:55 AM, Staff, 2923K]

Los Angeles Times [4/7/2025 11:52 AM, Chris Megerian and Josh Boak, 13342K] reports that undeterred by a stock market collapse that has continued for days, President Trump threatened additional tariffs on China on Monday, raising fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war. Trump’s threat, which he delivered on social media, came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs announced last week. "If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th," he wrote on Truth Social. "Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! If Trump implements his plans, U.S. tariffs on imports from China would reach a combined 104%. The new taxes would be on top of the 20% tariffs announced as punishment for fentanyl trafficking and his separate 34% tariffs announced last week. Not only could that increase prices for American consumers, it could give China an incentive to flood other countries with cheaper goods and seek deeper partnerships with other trading partners. As of midday on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen 750 points, or 2%. The S&P 500 had slumped 1.5%, and the Nasdaq composite was off 1.2%. The drop in the markets briefly reversed in the morning after a false report that Trump was considering a pause in his tariff plans.

FOX Business [4/7/2025 12:59 PM, Greg Norman, 10702K] reports that President Donald Trump said China would approve a deal to sell TikTok to an American buyer "in 15 minutes" if he "gave a little cut in tariffs." Trump made the remark on Air Force One following a report from Reuters that the U.S. was close to making a deal with the Chinese-owned TikTok to spin off its U.S. operations into a new company owned by American investors, but the Chinese government wouldn’t agree to it, citing the Trump administration’s new tariffs. "I would say it is largely true. The report is that we had a deal pretty much for TikTok. Not a deal, but pretty close. And then China changed the deal because of tariffs," Trump said Sunday. "If I gave a little cut in tariffs they would approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs, right?" Reuters reported that the deal had been approved by investors, the U.S. government and Chinese-owned ByteDance, TikTok’s owner. ByteDance would keep a minority stake in TikTok under the deal. Trump on Friday had extended a deadline for ByteDance to sell the app to an American buyer or have the platform shut down in the U.S. "My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress. 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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

New York Times [4/7/2025 8:05 PM, Lauren Hirsch, David McCabe and Sapna Maheshwari, 145325K] reports that, last Wednesday, the Trump administration believed it had a plan to save TikTok. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, along with some of its U.S. investors, and officials in Washington had coalesced around a new ownership structure for the popular video app, four people familiar with the situation said. That structure, the people said, would help TikTok satisfy the terms of a federal law that required the app to find a new owner in order to address national security concerns, or face a ban in the United States. Under the plan, new investors would own 50 percent of a new American TikTok entity, while Chinese owners would retain less than 20 percent, the limit specified by the law, two of the people said. ByteDance told the White House that Beijing was comfortable with the general structure, two of the people said. By Thursday morning, a version of a draft executive order from President Trump that outlined the broad strokes of the deal was circulating, according to a copy that was viewed by New York Times. Then the plan hit a wall. ByteDance called the White House with the news: Now that Mr. Trump had announced a slew of tariffs on Chinese imports, the Chinese government would not let the TikTok deal proceed, two of the people said. In response, Mr. Trump bought the app more time. On Friday, he paused enforcement of the federal law, extending the deadline for a TikTok deal into mid-June. “The report is that we had a deal, pretty much, for TikTok, not a deal but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs,” Mr. Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One. The standstill highlights how the video app is mired in a geopolitical tussle between the United States and China over trade and tech supremacy. It also illuminates China’s power over TikTok’s future in the United States, raising questions about whether a deal for TikTok will ever get done.

Wall Street Journal [4/8/2025 12:01 AM, Jared S. Hopkins, 646K] reports China is moving fast to dominate biotechnology, and the U.S. risks falling behind permanently unless it takes action over the next three years, a congressional commission said. Congress should invest at least $15 billion to support biotech research over the next five years and take other steps to bolster manufacturing in the U.S., while barring companies from working with Chinese biotech suppliers, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology said in a report Tuesday. To achieve its goals, the federal government and U.S.-based researchers will also need to work with allies and partners around the world. “China is quickly ascending to biotechnology dominance, having made biotechnology a strategic priority for 20 years,” the commission said. Without prompt action, the U.S. risks “falling behind, a setback from which we may never recover.” The findings convey the depth of worry in Washington that China’s rapid biotechnology advances jeopardize U.S. national security. Yet translating the concern into tangible actions could prove challenging.

CNN [4/8/2025 4:03 AM, Brad Lendon, 908K] reports America’s largest military shipbuilder has signed a deal with a South Korean company that experts say could be a big step in helping the US Navy build new warships to keep pace with rival China in fleet size. Virginia-based HII (Huntington Ingalls Industries) and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries inked the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday at a defense exhibition in Maryland. “Today’s agreement reflects our commitment to explore all opportunities to expand US shipbuilding capacity in support of national security,” HII Executive Vice President Brian Blanchette said at a ceremony at the Sea Air Space 2025 exposition. “By working with our shipbuilding allies and sharing best practices, we believe this MOU offers real potential to help accelerate delivery of quality ships.” A Hyundai Heavy Industries statement noted that both HII and the South Korean shipyard build Aegis destroyers, the backbones of the US and South Korean surface fleets. Aegis ships provide protection against missile threats, including powerful ballistic missiles in the arsenals of rivals China and North Korea. “This MOU is particularly significant as it marks the first collaboration between two leading shipbuilding companies from Korea and the US, both of which have the capability to construct the world’s most advanced Aegis ships,” the statement said. Hyundai Heavy Industries operates the world’s largest shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, and it builds 10% of the world’s ships, according to the company’s website. Analysts have long called for the US to take steps with allies like South Korea and Japan to cooperate on naval shipbuilding as Chinese shipyards have been churning out warships at breakneck speed, giving the People’s Liberation Army Navy the world’s largest fleet. Meanwhile, Washington has failed to keep pace, due in large part to limited capacity in shipyard space and insufficient workers in the US. “This agreement is a strong start towards alleviating the impact of America’s shortfall in shipbuilding capacity,” said Hawaii-based analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain.

Reuters [4/7/2025 5:10 PM, Alexandra Alper, 54903K] reports that President Trump on Monday directed a powerful US national security panel to take a fresh look at Nippon Steel’s bid for US Steel to help determine if "further action" is appropriate, raising hopes for an elusive greenlight for the deal. "I direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States… to conduct a review of the acquisition of U.S. Steel by (Nippon Steel) to assist me in determining whether further action in this matter may be appropriate," the memo reads. US Steel did not respond to requests for comment. Nippon Steel said it was "pleased" by the news. "We have been confident from the outset that an objective, fact-based review of our proposed partnership with U.S. Steel will show that it strengthens American economic and national security," it said. The White House directive sent the share price of US Steel up 12%, as investors took it to mean the Trump administration was considering greenlighting the merger after former President Joe Biden blocked the tie-up in January on national security grounds. Following the block, the two companies sued CFIUS, which scrutinizes foreign investments for national security risks, alleging that Biden prejudiced the committee’s decision and violated the companies’ right to a fair review. Last month, the Trump administration filed a motion to extend two deadlines in US Steel, and Nippon Steel’s lawsuit against a US national security panel to give the government more time to wrap up merger talks with the firms.

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