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.

CBS News [8/14/2025 3:46 PM, Jacob Rosen, Nick Kurtz, 51860K] reports Washington, D.C., police officers will now be able to assist federal immigration authorities by sharing information about people who are not in police custody and by transporting federal immigration agents and detained individuals, according to a new order signed by Metropolitan Police Department chief Pamela Smith and published Thursday. The order represents a shift from the Metropolitan Police Department’s previous policy, which limited cooperation between the department and federal immigration authorities. D.C. law still prohibits local law enforcement in the nation’s capital from sharing information about people being held in D.C. custody with immigration officers. Smith’s order does not alter the current D.C. policy barring police officers from searching databases solely to check someone’s immigration status. District of Columbia police also may not arrest people whose only crime is being in the U.S. illegally. The Sanctuary Values Amendment Act passed in 2020 gave MPD independent authority from immigration officials. The city’s status as a so-called "sanctuary city," which limits local cooperation with federal immigration agents, has come into question with the policy change. There have been over 140 arrests by law enforcement since Aug. 7, when the Trump administration first moved federal police assets into the city, according to the White House and FBI. FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that at least 29 arrests made on Wednesday were "immigration-related." FOX News [8/14/2025 2:41 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports that according to the order, Metropolitan Police Department officers can now help with "sharing information about persons not in MPD custody" such as during "traffic stops" and can provide "transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects," according to NBC 4 Washington. However, the order says personnel cannot "make any inquiry through any database solely for the purpose of inquiring about an individual’s immigration status.” "Members shall not make inquiries into any person’s immigration status for the purpose of determining whether they have violated the civil immigration laws or for the purpose of enforcing civil immigration laws," the order stated. "Members shall not arrest individuals based solely on federal immigration warrants or detainers as long as there is no additional criminal warrant or underlying offense for which the individual is subject to arrest," the order continued. Politico [8/14/2025 3:34 PM, Gregory Svirnovskiy and Cheyanne M. Daniels, 2100K] reports that the district’s officers will be empowered to share information with immigration agencies about people at traffic stops and to transport agency employees and their detainees, per the order. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the order a “game changer.” “That means that as soon as they encounter somebody who is committing a crime, they will share that with ICE and we will be able to get those illegal criminals out of this country and we’ll make America safer,” Noem said on Fox News. Attorney General Pam Bondi later nullified MPD’s order and suspended other DC police regulations restricting immigration status inquiries and prohibiting arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. Noem called out the need for leaders in several Democratic strongholds in particular to “grow up” and begin to do the same. “That’s what we need New York City to do, we need L.A. to do that, we need Chicago to do that,” Noem said. “We need all these other leaders to grow up and start sharing this information on these criminals that shouldn’t be in our country in the first place and send them back home to face the consequences for their crimes.” The Hill [8/14/2025 3:10 PM, Filip Timotija, 18649K] reports Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Wednesday that D.C. "under federal control is not going to be a sanctuary city." The memo comes three days after the president approved the deployment of the National Guard and other federal agents into the nation’s capital to help curb crime, arguing the District is riddled with it. FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday that 45 arrests were made overnight in the nation’s capital.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [8/14/2025 3:01 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 138952K]
Axios [8/14/2025 4:45 PM, Anna Spiegel, 13599K]
USA Today [8/14/2025 6:56 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 75552K]
Free Beacon [8/14/2025 2:00 PM, Matthew Xiao, 773K]

FOX News [8/15/2025 3:40 AM, Elizabeth Pritchett, 46878K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a two-page order on Thursday rescinding illegal immigration protections in Washington, D.C., and naming an "emergency police commissioner" for the city’s Metropolitan Police Department. Bondi’s order, titled "Restoring Safety and Security to the District of Columbia," mostly took aim at sanctuary city policies within the nation’s capital, rescinding any order that limits how Metropolitan police officers can handle interactions and incidents with illegal immigrants. She also stripped power from Metro Police Chief Pamela Smith by naming Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole as the department’s "emergency police commissioner," granting him all the "powers and duties vested" in the position. Cole has the ability to issue general orders, executive orders and written directives affecting all members of the department, and existing department leadership must receive his approval before issuing directives of their own. Bondi also explicitly rescinded three orders issued by the Metro police within the past two years related to illegal immigration – the most recent one being an executive order issued by Smith earlier on Thursday limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. While Smith’s order stated that Metro officers could now assist in "sharing information about persons not in MPD custody" and provide "transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects," it prohibited personnel from making "any inquiry through any database solely for the purpose of inquiring about" immigration status. "Members shall not arrest individuals based solely on federal immigration warrants or detainers as long as there is no additional criminal warrant or underlying offense for which the individual is subject to arrest," the order stated. Bondi rescinded that order hours later. She also suspended a June 2024 general order limiting inquiries into immigration status and an October 2023 general order preventing arrests solely for federal immigration warrants. "To the extent that provisions in this order conflict with any existing MPD directives, those directives are hereby rescinded," Bondi concluded in her order on Thursday. The order comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital and announcing a federal takeover of the police department. Since then, federal law enforcement and the National Guard have been visible throughout the district. On Wednesday night alone, numerous agencies arrested 45 people – 29 of them illegal immigrants – as part of the major crime crackdown. "Residents of the District of Columbia, the thousands of Americans who commute into the District for work every day, and the millions of tourists from all over the world who visit our nation’s capital have a right to feel safe and to be free from the scourge of violent crime," Bondi’s order stated. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The New York Post [8/15/2025 12:27 AM, Victor Nava, 49956K] reports "DC will not remain a sanctuary city. Actively shielding criminal aliens will not happen," Bondi declared in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. The attorney general’s comments came as she issued a new directive voiding commands issued – as recently as earlier Thursday – by DC Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith. Smith’s latest order had directed DC cops to only assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) taking part in Trump’s sweeping city crime crackdown by transporting migrants apprehended by ICE and sharing information about individuals detained during traffic stops. The same order barred DC police from using law enforcement databases "solely for the purpose of inquiring about an individual’s immigration status" and making arrests "based solely on federal immigration warrants or detainers.” DC police were also restricted from letting ICE know when jailed illegal migrants would be released, sharing photographs of them, allowing ICE to question them and holding them in custody at the request of federal immigration agents. "They’re trying to protect criminal aliens," Bondi said of DC officials, arguing that "criminals are going to flee to DC" if the city remains a safe haven for illegal migrants. "We’re not going to let that happen," she pledged. Bondi’s directive also named Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Terry Cole MPD’s "Emergency Police Commissioner for the duration of the emergency declared by the President.” Cole will "assume all of the powers and duties vested" in the DC chief of police and have the authority to issue any commands to cops while the MPD’s 3,400-member police force remains under federal control. Existing MPD leadership, including Smith, must receive approval from Cole before issuing any further directives to officers, according to Bondi’s order. "They report directly to me," Bondi said of Cole and US Marshal Chief Gadyaces Serralta, who is supervising the federal takeover of DC. "And I report to the president of the United States.” "So, yes, you must comply. You must give the information to our ICE, to our Homeland Security officers," she said of DC police. "If they have information of an illegal alien living in DC, they must give us that information.”

New York Times [8/15/2025 12:49 AM, Devlin Barrett and Karoun Demirjian, 330K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night rescinded Washington policies that restrict the local police from aiding in immigration enforcement as she moved to tighten the Trump administration’s grip on law enforcement in the nation’s capital. The two-page order from Ms. Bondi also declared that Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who had already been overseeing the federal takeover of the city’s police department, was now the “emergency police commissioner,” with “all the powers and duties” invested in the city’s police chief, Pamela A. Smith. The police department, including Chief Smith, must now receive approval from Mr. Cole before issuing any directives, the attorney general declared. The directive seems intended to turn Washington from a sanctuary city into one that aggressively pursues undocumented immigrants, and was the most overt imposition yet by the Justice Department on the city’s police since the 30-day federal takeover. It also appeared to open a new flashpoint in the relationship between the city’s Democratic leadership and the Republican administration. In a legal opinion, the D.C. attorney general, Brian Schwalb, told Mayor Muriel Bowser that Ms. Bondi’s directive removing power from the police chief was “unlawful.” “You are not legally obligated to follow it,” he advised her. Mr. Schwalb said the 1973 Home Rule Act, which granted Washington its limited self-government, gave the president the authority “to direct the mayor to provide” the president with police department services to address an emergency. The law does not give the president the authority, the letter said, to “alter the chain of command,” to rescind or suspend orders or to “otherwise determine how the District pursues purely local law enforcement.” In a social media post late Thursday night, Ms. Bowser appeared to agree. “There is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official,” she wrote, referring to Ms. Bondi’s directive. Ms. Bowser has criticized President Trump’s decision on Monday to declare a crime emergency in the nation’s capital and flood the city with hundreds of National Guard troops and additional federal law enforcement agents. But the budding conflict threatened to upend what the mayor and police chief had characterized as a cooperative relationship with the Trump administration since the takeover. The local police have been conducting joint patrols with federal agents, and Washington’s leaders have said they could use the help to reduce crime. Ms. Bondi’s order followed a milder immigration directive Ms. Smith had issued Thursday morning. The earlier directive loosened restrictions on whether local police officers working with the new federal agents swarming the city could talk about the immigration status of people they stopped. But that order also reiterated longstanding city policy preventing the police from pursuing immigration cases.

AP [8/15/2025 12:58 AM, Ashraf Khalil and Alanna Durkin Richer, 37958K] reports the Trump administration, stepping up its crackdown on policing in the nation’s capital, on Thursday named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to be Washington’s “emergency police commissioner” with all the powers of the police chief — a significant move that increases national control over the city as part of the federal government’s law-enforcement takeover. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a directive issued Thursday evening that DEA boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” The Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Bondi said. It was not immediately clear where the move left Pamela Smith, the city’s current police chief, who works for the mayor. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb responded late Thursday that Bondi’s directive was “unlawful,” arguing that it could not be followed by the city’s police force. “Therefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” Schwalb wrote in a memo to Smith, setting up a potential legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote on social media that “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.” Bondi’s directive came hours after Smith directed MPD officers to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody — such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. The Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief’s directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of “sanctuary policies.” Bondi said she was rescinding that order as well as other MPD policies limiting inquires into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. All new directives must now receive approval from Cole, the attorney general said. The police takeover is the latest move by President Donald Trump to test the limits of his legal authorities to carry out his agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to bolster his tough-on-crime message and his plans to speed up the mass deportation of people in the U.S. illegally. It also marks one of the most sweeping assertions of federal authority over a local government in modern times. While Washington has grappled with spikes in violence and visible homelessness, the city’s homicide rate ranks below those of several other major U.S. cities and the capital is not in the throes of the public safety collapse the administration has portrayed. The late-night announcement came after an eventful day in the ongoing federal operation. Smith’s earlier directive effectively brought together Trump’s moves on city law enforcement and his nationwide efforts to curb immigration, and Trump had praised it in the hours before Bondi’s announcement. “That’s a very positive thing, I have heard that just happened,” Trump said of Smith’s order. “That’s a great step. That’s a great step if they’re doing that.”

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [8/15/2025 4:21 AM, Paul Bois, 3077K]

The Hill [8/14/2025 4:58 PM, Ellen Mitchell and Colin Meyn, 18649K] reports the National Guard started ramping up its presence in Washington on Thursday, deploying troops to the National Mall and Metro stations as President Trump’s takeover of city crime-fighting begins to take shape. Overnight, the first signs of on-the-ground resistance to federal forces popped up in response to a checkpoint that halted traffic on one of the city’s main streets. The White House said more than 1,600 personnel were involved in operations across the city on Wednesday, making 45 arrests, mostly of immigrants who lacked permanent legal status. While the Guard had a relatively small footprint in the city earlier this week, by Thursday, all of the roughly 800 Army and Air National Guard troops Trump ordered to the streets had mobilized for duty, the Pentagon confirmed. She added that the guard members will assist the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement officers with “community safety patrols,” protecting monuments, federal facilities and traffic control posts, and “area beautification.” The number of guard members have steadily increased since Monday evening, when they were first spotted along the National Mall. Asked why the Guard hasn’t been positioned in areas of higher crime rates, he said the lead law enforcement agency “has not asked us for that.” The Trump administration is also looking at plans to set up a 600-person National Guard “quick reaction force” to quickly deploy to U.S. cities to quell protests or other unrest, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The program could be created and funded at the earliest in fiscal 2027 if using the Pentagon’s annual budgetary process, with an open question as to whether it could begin sooner through other means of funding. It’s not known how much the D.C. National Guard deployment will cost, with Wilson saying there will likely not be an estimate until the mission is over. FOX News [8/14/2025 2:46 PM, Morgan Phillips, 46878K] Video: HERE reports all 800 National Guard members have now been mobilized in Washington, D.C. as part of President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown, according to the Defense Department. The Guard members are not armed, according to Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson. They’re supporting other federal law enforcement agencies and are serving duties that include "monument security, community safety patrols, protecting federal facilities and officers, traffic control posts and area beautification." They are located near the National Mall, Union Station and near a U.S. Park building in Anacostia, D.C. "The scope of support may be adjusted based on the needs of our partners," Wilson said. "This would be very similar to the [Los Angeles] mission, where we can temporarily detain someone and then turn them over to the law enforcement." Personnel from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secret Service were spotted patrolling the streets of D.C. Wednesday night, largely in groups, around the city in central downtown locations: Metro Center, 14th Street, Logan Circle and Chinatown. Some even ventured into residential neighborhoods. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told "Fox and Friends" that 45 arrests were made overnight, bringing the total to around 100 since the operations formally began on Monday. In addition, 29 illegal immigrants were detained, and three illegal firearms were seized on Wednesday evening. At least 400 National Guardsmen have reported for duty as of Wednesday, and a total of 800 will be at the ready by the end of the week. They will patrol the city in rotations, with about 200 out at a time. An additional 500 federal agents are a part of the White House’s task force to crack down on crime in the district. While operations began with a focus on nighttime, they are ramping up into a continuous 24/7 cycle. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [8/15/2025 3:43 AM, Meagan Flynn, Jeremy Roebuck and Olivia George, 32099K] reports D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and the city’s top legal official offered their most forceful pushback yet of President Donald Trump’s asserted takeover of the D.C. police department after they rejected orders from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night — setting the table for a dramatic conflict over the city’s limited autonomy. Bondi ordered the mayor and D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith to recognize Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as the District’s “emergency police commissioner,” empowering him to assume the full powers of the D.C. police chief and issue department policy. She also ordered the immediate suspension of D.C. police policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Bowser (D) and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, however, called the order unlawful and suggested they will not comply — the first significant sign of resistance from the city’s top officials since Trump exerted control over the police force Monday in an executive order. Bowser said there is nothing in the law that would support ceding “the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.” “Let us be clear about what the law requires during a Presidential declared emergency: it requires the mayor of Washington, DC to provide the services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the President,” Bowser said in a statement. “We have followed the law.” Schwalb sent a letter to Smith on Thursday evening informing her that the “Bondi Order is unlawful,” and “you are not legally obligated to follow it.” “No official other than you may exercise all the powers and duties of the Chief of Police or issue any executive orders, general orders, or other written directives that apply to members of the MPD,” Schwalb wrote. The pushback sets up a major power clash in entirely untested territory as the District clings to its limited home rule — granted under the 1973 Home Rule Act — and the Trump administration seeks to expand its control of law enforcement under the stated premise of a crime emergency, at a time when violent crime is at a 30-year low. The conflict is also the starkest illustration in three decades of the vast power that the federal government retains over the nation’s capital: The very law that gave D.C. the right to an elected local government also includes a provision allowing the president to “direct” the D.C. mayor to provide police services for federal purposes if the president declares an emergency — the provision Trump triggered on Monday. Bondi’s order was the first set of explicit directives issued to Bowser and Smith after the two spent days insisting that they retained control of the police department and that the arrangement with the Trump administration was more of a collaborative partnership. The directive appeared designed to put to rest questions about who was at the top of the chain of command. It came just hours after Smith again showed an openness to offering greater cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a new executive order — again showing the limits of the Bowser administration’s attempt to balance cooperating with the Trump administration while retaining the city’s liberal values and policies.

AP [8/14/2025 4:57 PM, Michael Kunzelman and Alanna Durkin Richer, 56000K] reports a man charged with a felony for hurling a sandwich at a federal law-enforcement official in the nation’s capital has been fired from his job at the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post Thursday. A video of Sean Charles Dunn berating a group of federal agents late Sunday went viral online. Dunn was arrested on an assault charge after he threw a “sub-style” sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent, a court filing said. Dunn, 37, of Washington, was an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department’s criminal division, according to a department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. “This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,” Bondi wrote. “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.” Sabrina Shroff, an attorney who represented Dunn at his initial appearance in federal court, declined to comment on the allegations against her client after Thursday’s hearing. A multiagency flood of uniformed federal law enforcement officers had fanned out across the city over the weekend after the White House had announced stepped-up measures to combat crime. That was before President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he was taking over Washington’s police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard. “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police. Dunn tried to run away but was apprehended, police said.

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Reuters [8/14/2025 1:44 PM, Andrew Goudsward and Jana Winter, 51390K]
NBC News [8/14/2025 3:19 PM, Michael Kosnar, Gary Grumbach, Dareh Gregorian, 44540K]
Daily Wire [8/14/2025 7:47 AM, Zach Jewell, 3816K]

FOX News [8/14/2025 3:01 PM, Staff, 46878K] Video: HERE reports Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital she’s demanding answers from sanctuary jurisdictions on what they’re doing to cooperate with the Trump administration after D.C. police federal takeover.

Axios [8/14/2025 10:21 PM, Rebecca Falconer, Russell Contreras, 13599K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered an end to Washington, D.C., sanctuary policies, a spokesperson for her office said Thursday evening. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb told the city’s police chief on Thursday night that Bondi’s directive that also saw DEA head Terry Cole appointed "emergency police commissioner" and enabling him to have the powers of the police chief was "unlawful." When asked whether Schwalb’s guidance in the letter to Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith applied to Bondi’s sanctuary policies order as well, a spokesperson for the D.C. mayor’s office said the attorney general’s legal findings speak to those issues as well." The announcement comes amid a Trump administration crackdown of D.C. that’s seen the president deploy hundreds of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement and Bondi take control of the city’s police force. The announcement was made in a wider directive Bondi issued that saw Drug Enforcement Administrator Terry Cole appointed "emergency police commissioner," enabling him to have the powers of the police chief. The action rescinds an Aug. 14 executive order signed by Smith that enabled officers to assist federal immigration authorities, but which Bondi spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said on X had "enforced sanctuary policies" and "prevented arrests solely for federal immigration warrants," among other restrictions. Bondi also rescinded an October 2023 general order for MPD that Gilmartin said prevented arrests solely for federal immigration warrants. The attorney general also directed the MPD to "FULLY ENFORCE" a section of the D.C. Code that "makes it unlawful to crowd or obstruct streets, public or private building entrances, passage through parks, and engage in or continue demonstrations where it is unlawful or after being told to cease engaging," according to Gilmartin.

NPR [8/14/2025 10:37 AM, Rachel Treisman, 37958K] reports when President Trump announced his plans to mobilize Washington, D.C.’s National Guard and take control of its local police force, he suggested that other liberal-leaning cities could be next. "You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is," Trump said Monday. "We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t even mention that anymore, they’re so far gone. … We’re not going to lose our cities over this, and this will go further." The mayors of those cities — all of whom are Black and Democrats — have pushed back against Trump in recent days, pointing to data that shows crime is down in their communities. "I think it’s very notable that each and every one of the cities called out by the president has a Black mayor, and most of those cities are seeing historic lows in violent crime," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN. "The president could learn from us instead of throwing things at us." Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have declared they will not allow federal law enforcement to take over their cities. "We’re not going to allow a military occupation of the city," Lee told ABC7. "This is part of [Trump’s] effort to dismantle democracy, to militarize cities where people live which he does not recognize, understand or see." Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says Trump doesn’t have the authority to federalize local law enforcement in the first place. Legal experts agree. Rick Hills, a professor of law at NYU Law School, told NPR that Trump "cannot repeat what he’s doing in any other cities" — but talking about it scores political points for both sides.

FOX News [8/14/2025 6:49 PM, Diana Stancy, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump said a new directive allowing the Metropolitan Police Department to disclose information to federal immigration authorities about those they pull over at traffic stops is a step in the right direction — and signaled that other cities could also face a similar policy. The order, which Police Chief Pamela Smith approved Thursday, comes as Trump moved to federalize the nation’s capital’s police force and mobilize 800 National Guard troops to address crime in Washington. "What you’re saying is that it was a very positive thing," Trump told reporters about the new order Thursday. "When they stop people, they find they’re illegal, they report them, they give them to us, etc., that’s a very positive thing.” "I have heard that it just happened," Trump said. "That’s a great step. That’s a great step if they’re doing that. Yeah. I think that’s going to happen all over the country. We want to stop crime. I think if the Democrats aren’t strong on this issue, they won’t be able to do it.” The order means that Metropolitan Police can share details about their interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. In addition to Trump, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also hailed the new order a success earlier Thursday. "That means that as soon as they encounter somebody who is committing a crime, they will share that with ICE and we will be able to get those illegal criminals out of this country and we’ll make America safer," Noem told Fox News Thursday.

FOX News [8/14/2025 9:30 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses the latest Border Patrol operation in Los Angeles outside a Gov. Gavin Newsom event on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [8/14/2025 1:16 PM, Paul Kiefer and Kyle Swenson, 32099K] reports that Members of D.C.’s Health and Human Services team began clearing an encampment Thursday morning on a grassy no-man’s-land near the Kennedy Center after giving residents a day’s notice to remove their belongings. The clearing comes as the Trump administration has vowed to crack down on homeless encampments in the District and threatened to fine or arrest any individuals who refuse to be removed or placed in shelters. It also follows President Donald Trump declaring an emergency in the nation’s capital earlier this week and putting the city’s police department under federal control. He sent federal law enforcement agents on patrols in D.C. and deployed the National Guard to the city. D.C. police data shows violent crime, after a historic spike in 2023, is declining. By 8 a.m. Thursday at the encampment, three people had already packed their belongings and scattered. Six more were busy wiping down their tents and folding tarps to meet a 10 a.m. deadline set by the District. Several residents said they had been at the encampment for months. The District usually posts notices for clearings 14 days in advance, and the site had not been on the District’s list for clearings. Rebecca Dooley, a spokesperson for the deputy mayor for health and human services, said the encampment’s proximity to the highway qualified it for expedited removal, which requires only 24 hours’ notice. Dooley said the decision to clear the site was made Wednesday internally within the city’s health and human services agency. When asked if the White House was involved in the decision, she referred questions to the mayor’s communications team. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the clearing.

Breitbart [8/14/2025 10:12 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports that, dressed in camouflage fatigues, National Guard troops patrolled areas of Washington, D.C., on Thursday, dispatched by President Donald Trump to police what he has called "out of control crime" in the city. In actuality, crime in the district has fallen in recent years or remained flat. Despite this, Guard soldiers patrolled outside Washington’s main train station and swept homeless encampments ahead of a larger, federal law enforcement operation Thursday night in the city. The federal effort was underway shortly after 6 p.m. EDT Thursday near a popular homeless encampment outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, where most people who often sleep there already had left, New York Times reported. Most were encouraged to go to homeless shelters. "The district has worked proactively with homeless residents ahead of these actions to provide services and offers of shelter," a statement from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services said. "DC will support the engagements with wraparound services and trash pickup but the planned engagements are otherwise the purview of the federal agencies.” Some residents in the area pushed back on the troop presence in the 14th St. Northwest corridor. Some heckled the soldiers. "Go home, fascists," yelled one protester, and "get off our streets," the New York Post reported. Others stood at the intersection of the checkpoint and directed drivers to go the other way. Washington’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser walked a fine line between praise and criticism of the Guard troops’ deployment. She called Trump’s efforts "an authoritarian push," but earlier in the week expressed loose support for the effort. "The fact that we have more law enforcement and presence in neighborhoods, that may be positive," she said. Other protesters were less measured. "They are the goons of an openly fascist, openly violent regime," Ryan Zito, a Washington resident told NBC News. The planned federal operation targeted 25 sites in and around the district’s northwest quadrant, city council member Charles Allen said. Allen added that he was unclear about the details of the operation, and that the White House had not been in contact with local officials regarding details. Trump has said the National Guard presence has expanded to a 24-hour operation and will stretch beyond the originally scheduled 30 days. The Washington deployment could serve as a template for similar operations in the future. Washington Post, citing internal documents, said Trump could dispatch as many as 600 National Guard troops to military bases in Alabama and Arizona, and that still others could be deployed elsewhere as part of a "reaction force" to respond to violent civil events and crack down on crime.

CNN [8/15/2025 3:15 AM, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Kaanita Iyer, 21433K] reports small groups of federal agents gathered throughout Washington, DC, on Thursday night to clear out homeless encampments as part of President Donald Trump’s takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital. In Washington Circle – an area in southwest DC close to George Washington University – confusion quickly developed when several agents showed up after dark. "It was kind of a melee of (DC police), Secret Service, Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI," Jesse Rabinowitz, the campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center, told CNN. CNN did not observe agents removing tents at the Washington Circle site. DC officials and homeless advocates were waiting for expected federal law enforcement action – and there were notices posted on tents in the circle giving the homeless occupants until Monday to clear out, creating some confusion among the federal agents who didn’t seem to know about the Monday extension. CNN observed the notices from the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, which gave occupants until 10 a.m. on Monday to leave. Lawyers from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless intervened with the agents and pointed to the notice, according to Rabinowitz. After "an extended back and forth," the federal agents left the scene, he said. "This is exactly what happens when you have a federal government take over a city they know nothing about and not care anything about," he said. Homeless advocates had been bracing for the worst earlier this week, lobbying city officials to open up more shelter beds and mulling potential lawsuits in anticipation of federal officials’ stepped-up efforts to move the homeless out. A major sweep took place earlier Thursday morning at an encampment near a highway close to the vaunted Lincoln Memorial and Kennedy Center, where Trump’s motorcade often passes through. Last week, he posted photos of the encampment on social media. Trump, who announced aggressive new moves this week to federalize the local police force and deploy National Guard troops in the city, has also declared that homeless people "have to move out, IMMEDIATELY," and added, "we will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.” Some of the people who could be forcibly moved earlier in the day had been matched to housing programs, but because it takes a few months for things to get set in place, Queensland said she’s worried about people losing their chance because they’re going to be cut off from their support system. "I think the problem that it solves is that people in the administration, including Donald Trump, don’t want to see the fact that there are homeless individuals living outside, and whether they are in Virginia, in Maryland, or in a neighborhood that Donald Trump doesn’t drive through, people will still be experiencing homelessness," she added.

New York Times [8/14/2025 7:45 PM, Campbell Robertson and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, 138952K] reports the federal authorities were attempting to clear homeless encampments in northwestern Washington on Thursday night as part of President Trump’s sprawling takeover of the city’s law enforcement apparatus, after city officials and advocates had spent much of the day urging unhoused people to go to shelters or risk arrest. A federal operation that had been expected to start at 6:30 p.m. seemed to get underway only after dark. At around 9 p.m., federal agents from the F.B.I. and the U.S. Secret Service arrived at Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom area to remove a few tents where homeless people had long stayed, according to Wes Heppler of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. They retreated after a woman presented a city notice saying she had until Monday to leave. “We were told that there would be a list of sites that would receive closure activity from the National Park Service and other law enforcement officials, and we would support that effort by providing a connection to homeless services for those who are adversely impacted,” Wayne Turnage, Washington’s deputy mayor for health and human services, told reporters at the site of the clearing at Washington Circle. As the night unfolded and the city braced for raids, it was unclear how widespread or effective the raids were, with federal agents showing up in groups at sites and confronting the small numbers of homeless people they encountered. “The District has worked proactively with homeless residents ahead these actions to provide services and offers of shelter,” read a statement from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “D.C. will support the engagements with wraparound services and trash pickup, but the planned engagements are otherwise the purview of the federal agencies.” There were signs that the show of force might run into some obstacles. At Washington Square, Meghann Abraham, 34, who has been living outside in the area since March, presented agents with a notice that the city had given her earlier in the day, allowing her until Monday to clear out. The agents discussed the matter among themselves and then left soon after. Earlier, a little after 6 p.m., District of Columbia police officers arrived at an area outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, where homeless people often spend the night. Most of the homeless people had already departed when the police arrived, leaving behind belongings in piles on the sidewalk. The local police referred inquiries about the operation to the White House. In a briefing on Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that the police would be clearing encampments in Washington under “laws that are already on the books.”

NewsMax [8/14/2025 6:42 PM, Meg Kinnard, 4622K] reports some homeless residents of the District of Columbia were packing their belongings Thursday before expected sweeps to clear remaining encampments around the nation’s capital, part of President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of policing in the city. Trump said this week that homeless people will be moved far from the city in his crackdown on crime. But details of the plan to do so are unclear. Washington’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives Trump the opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda. It has prompted concern from advocates and others who say there are better ways to address homelessness than clearing encampments and leaving their occupants worrying about where they go. Near the Institute of Peace on Thursday morning, Associated Press journalists saw about a dozen homeless people packing their belongings. Items weren’t being thrown out by law enforcement, but an earthmover dug out and scooped away the remains of encampments, depositing them into the bed of an idling truck. Yards away, several demonstrators held signs, some critical of the Trump administration. Volunteers from agencies around the city that help homeless people were on hand, and advocates said they expected police to fan out across the city later Thursday to take down any remaining homeless encampments. Amber W. Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said she believed that "federal law enforcement will begin systematically rounding up and arresting unhoused people.” She said she believed officers would ask people to move on or would "offer shelter," arresting people if they refused either directive. "We do not have enough shelter beds for everyone on the street," Harding said. "This is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in D.C., but particularly for people without homes.”

Breitbart [8/14/2025 3:08 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports voluntary departures of illegal immigrants have increased since Alligator Alcatraz opened, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said during a press conference on Thursday announcing the opening of a second immigration facility in the Sunshine State. DeSantis said at the press conference that the demand is now there for a second facility, which is why they are opening north Florida’s "Deportation Depot" at the vacant portion of the Baker Correctional Institution, which is not being used for state correctional activity. DeSantis also revealed during the press conference that they have seen an increase in voluntary departures of illegal aliens since Alligator Alcatraz opened. This is in line with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has also urged illegal immigrants to take them up on the offer of voluntarily departing with a plane ticket to their home country and $1,000 gift upon their arrival there, contending this is far more cost-effective for the U.S. taxpayer.

Daily Wire [8/14/2025 2:06 PM, Virginia Kruta, 3816K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Thursday that more than 1.6 million illegal aliens have self-deported in the last 200 days, arguing that President Donald Trump’s approach to manage illegal immigration was working. Noem began with a post on X announcing the news and noting the positive impact that would have on the population in general. "In less than 200 days, 1.6 MILLION illegal immigrants have left the United States population. This is massive. This means safer streets, taxpayer savings, pressure off of schools and hospital services and better job opportunities for Americans," she said. In less than 200 days, 1.6 MILLION illegal immigrants have left the United States population. This is massive. This means safer streets, taxpayer savings, pressure off of schools and hospital services and better job opportunities for Americans. "We have 1.6 [million] illegal immigrants that have left this country voluntarily," she said. "And I think these numbers just show exactly the genius of Donald J. Trump, the brilliant mind that he has, that when he was elected in November, he knew he had to make America safe again, and he said, ‘Kristi, if you’re going to be my Homeland Security Secretary, we’re going to follow the law, you’re going to do commercials, you’re going to tell the world that no longer will we tolerate people being in our country illegally, and that they need to go home.’". The Hill [8/14/2025 2:43 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Thursday that the U.S. now has 1.6 million fewer illegal immigrants since the start of the Trump administration – a claim based on information from a restrictionist immigration group that said their own estimate may be overstated. “In less than 200 days, 1.6 MILLION illegal immigrants have left the United States population. This is massive. This means safer streets, taxpayer savings, pressure off of schools and hospital services and better job opportunities for Americans,” Noem wrote in a social media post thanking President Trump. The claim, the Department of Homeland Security said, is based on a report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which describes itself as a “low immigration” advocate. CIS identified several “caveats” to its estimate, which it said is based on immigrants’ willingness to respond to the Current Population Survey (CPS) crafted by the Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which CIS said “does not specifically identify illegal immigrants.” “Given the recent stepped-up enforcement efforts, it is possible that immigrants have become more reluctant to respond to the CPS,” the report states. “If this is the case, then our estimate of illegal immigrants based on the survey may be overstating the decline in their actual numbers. Further, our estimate of legal immigrants based on administrative data through July of 2025 is incomplete, further increasing uncertainty of our estimate of illegal immigrants. All this should be kept in mind when interpreting the figures presented here.” Estimates of the number of people unlawfully living in the U.S. typically hover around 13 million. The CPS survey does not ask respondents about their immigration status – only their birthplace and whether they are citizens. But Julia Gelatt with the Migration Policy Institute said migrants may indeed be hesitant to respond to the survey now that the Trump administration has allowed information sharing between agencies.

Breitbart [8/14/2025 5:33 PM, Neil Munro, 3077K] reports President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation policy is creating better job opportunities for Americans, Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem declared on August 14. The administration is pushing hard to deport migrants and to encourage self-deportation. For example, it has deported more than 1,000 planeloads of migrants, amid furious resistance from pro-migration Democrats, judges, and journalists. There is vast evidence that the departure of migrants opens jobs for Americans, raises their wages, encourages high-tech workplaces, and reduces hospital lines, school crowding, and total crime. But there is much online dispute about the number of migrants who have gone home because federal agencies collect very little data about the scale of illegal or legal migration. The CIS acknowledged the data uncertainty, and pro-migration critics said there is no evidence of any massive departure of migrants.

Blaze [8/14/2025 9:01 PM, Rebeka Zeljko, 1805K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is taking a victory lap after a steady winning streak on immigration enforcement, according to a memo obtained exclusively by Blaze News. The memo, which was circulated to Republican lawmakers on Thursday, details all of the major accomplishments that have taken place under President Donald Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership. Within Noem’s first 200 days in office, the United States experienced an "unprecedented" decline in the foreign born population, a surge in enforcement, and accelerated deportations. ‘A historic start to the largest deportation operation in American history.’. "This incredible achievement is the direct result of President Donald J. Trump’s decisive, unapologetic immigration policies and Secretary Noem’s aggressive, disciplined implementation - both of which have put Americans first," the memo reads. "Together, they have delivered the strongest immigration enforcement outcome in American history.” The United States experienced a 2.2 million drop in foreign born population since January, which is the largest ever recorded drop according to the memo. There has also been a 1.6 million drop in illegal aliens within the same time frame, which the memo said is "a historic start to the largest deportation operation in American history.” While there was a decline concentrated among non-citizens, there was simultaneously an increase in naturalized citizens. The memo also said that 2.5 million more U.S. born Americans were employed since January, which is a gain "supported by a tighter, fairer labor market.” These "record-shattering" figures are supported by the policies pushed by the White House and implemented by DHS. The Trump administration has restarted and accelerated the construction of the border wall, reinstated the "Remain in Mexico" policy, expedited deportations, reinforced cooperation with state and local law enforcement, and even cracked down on visa overstays with biometric exit tracking. "The United States is sending a clear message - it matters who enters our nation, and how they enter our nation," the memo reads. "The American people have given President Trump this mandate.”

FOX News [8/14/2025 3:41 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday hauled in some of the "worst of the worst" illegal immigrants convicted of heinous crimes against children, part of an ongoing federal effort to target violent offenders living in the U.S. unlawfully. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that under President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE is prioritizing arresting pedophiles, abusers and sexual predators. McLaughlin said 70 percent of ICE arrests target illegal immigrants who have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the U.S. "DHS is sending a clear message to illegal aliens: if you prey on children, if you victimize the innocent, ICE will find you, arrest you, and remove you from our country," McLaughlin said.

Axios [8/14/2025 3:18 PM, April Rubin, 13599K] reports President Trump said on Thursday that a next step for nationwide immigration enforcement would be identifying undocumented immigrants during traffic stops. The suggestion comes after Trump temporarily took control of Washington, D.C.’s police department and ordered the National Guard and FBI to aid law enforcement despite crime in the city being at a 30-year low. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith issued an executive order on Thursday allowing officers making traffic stops to notify ICE agents about encounters with undocumented immigrants. Earlier this week, Trump suggested similar law enforcement crackdowns in Chicago, Oakland, Los Angeles, Baltimore and New York City, which have recorded drops in violent crime. D.C. has a long-standing pro-immigration policy, including allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections and limiting cooperation with federal immigration agencies. When asked by reporters, Trump did not say whether his administration pressured Smith to change D.C.’s policy.

Breitbart.com [8/14/2025 3:07 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 3077K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi warned that California will lose federal funding unless Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) ends the state’s sanctuary city policies. Bondi revealed in a post on X that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had "delivered demand letters" to sanctuary cities, counties, and states throughout the nation as part of an effort to "eradicate sanctuary policies" from California. In her post, Bondi included a letter addressed to Newsom. In the letter to Newsom, Bondi explained that President Donald Trump had "directed" Bondi, in coordination with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to "identify sanctuary jurisdictions and notify them of their unlawful sanctuary status and potential violations of federal law." Under President Trump’s leadership, full cooperation by state and local governments in immigration enforcement efforts is a top priority. To ensure such cooperation, the President has directed the Attorney General of the United States, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to identify sanctuary jurisdictions and notify them of their unlawful sanctuary status and potential violations of federal law.

NewsMax.com [8/14/2025 5:06 PM, Theodore Bunker, 4622K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that the Justice Department has issued "demand letters" to various "sanctuary cities, counties, and states" as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. In a letter addressed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and released on social media, Bondi wrote: "The United States has a long history of cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies, including for immigration enforcement. Such cooperation is vital to enforce federal law and protect national security. Recognizing that need, Congress has codified the duty of states and local governments to cooperate in immigration enforcement efforts." She went on to claim that "for too long, so-called sanctuary jurisdiction policies have undermined this necessary cooperation and obstructed federal immigration enforcement," which she said allows immigrants "cover to perpetrate crimes in our communities and evade the immigration consequences that federal law requires." Bondi went on to warn that she is "committed to identifying state and local laws, policies, and practices that facilitate violations of federal immigration laws or impede lawful federal immigration operations, and taking legal action to challenge such laws, policies, or practices." She also noted that "individuals operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges."

The Los Angeles Times [8/14/2025 5:42 PM, Connor Sheets, Brittny Mejia and Julia Wick, 14672K] reports as Gov. Gavin Newsom prepared to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans on behalf of California, scores of federal immigration agents massed outside the venue Thursday. Newsom was set to speak at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, when Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino, who has been leading the immigration operations in California, arrived in Little Tokyo, flanked by agents in helmets, camouflage, masks and holding guns. The apparent raid Thursday, during which one person was detained, comes amid calls from elected officials for an end to renewed immigration operations across the L.A. area. In a press conference outside of the museum following the operation, Mayor Karen Bass said, "there’s no way this was a coincidence." In an emailed response, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Bass, "must be misinformed." "Our law enforcement operations are about enforcing the law — not about Gavin Newsom," she said. McLaughlin added that U.S. Customs and Border Protection "patrols all areas of Los Angeles every day with over 40 teams on the ground to make LA safe." The Washington Post [8/14/2025 7:45 PM, Reis Thebault, Angie Orellana Hernandez, and Patrick Marley, 32099K] reports Gregory Bovino, the El Centro sector chief for the Border Patrol, said in a video posted online that he was focused on safety and contended that he didn’t know Newsom was at an event at the Japanese American National Museum. “We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place since we won’t have politicians that will do that,” Bovino said in the video. The event was widely publicized, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she didn’t believe the Border Patrol’s visit was a coincidence. She called the agency’s actions disrespectful and provocative. The New York Times [8/14/2025 8:42 PM, Laurel Rosenhall, Jesus Jiménez and Hamed Aleaziz, 138952K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post on social media that Ms. Bass “must be misinformed.” “Our law enforcement operations are about enforcing the law — not about Gavin Newsom,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [8/14/2025 6:12 PM, Eliyahu Kamisher and Maxwell Adler, 19320K]
Breitbart [8/14/2025 6:55 PM, Paul Bois, 3077K]
CBS Los Angeles [8/14/2025 8:37 PM, Chelsea Hylton, 51860K] Video: HERE
FOX News [8/14/2025 5:44 PM, Peter Pinedo, Bill Melugin, 46878K]
San Francisco Chronicle [8/14/2025 6:10 PM, Sophia Bollag, 4120K]
Telemundo52 [8/14/2025 3:09 PM, Jonathan Lloyd, 103K]

CNN [8/14/2025 7:28 PM, Jon Sarlin, 21433K] Video: HERE reports Gov. Gavin Newsom formally kicked off his push Thursday to redraw California’s congressional maps in response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, setting up the next stage of his fight against both the Trump administration and a coalition of gerrymandering opponents within the state. As Newsom and his allies spoke, immigration agents made arrests outside the downtown Los Angeles venue.

The Hill [8/14/2025 6:22 PM, Filip Timotija, 18649K] reports Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) claimed that the White House was trying to intimidate elected officials at a Thursday press conference as federal agents turned up at the media event and arrested at least one individual. "The White House just sent federal agents to try to intimidate elected officials at a press conference. The problem for them is, Los Angeles doesn’t get scared and Los Angeles doesn’t back down. We never have and we never will," Bass said in a Thursday post on the social platform X. Bass, who has been critical of the administration’s immigration raids, argued the deployment of U.S. Border Patrol in downtown Los Angeles, near where California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) held a press conference, was not a "coincidence.” "This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face. Why would you do that? That is unbelievably disrespectful. It’s a provocative act," Bass said in a gaggle with reporters on Thursday. "They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles, and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now. This is just completely unacceptable. This is an administration, this is a Customs and Border Patrol that has gone amuck. This absolutely has to stop," the Los Angeles mayor added. "There was no danger here. There was no need to detain anyone here, and there was certainly no need to have a provocative act right here, where the governor is having a press conference.” Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement in the area, and the agents arrested one individual who is in the country illegally, Border Patrol sector Cmdr. Gregory K. Bovino said Thursday, according to NBC4 Los Angeles.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo [8/14/2025 7:19 PM, Staff, 3352K]

FOX News [8/14/2025 5:42 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] reports Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lashed out Thursday against federal authorities, calling them a source of "disorder" in the city after agents were spotted patrolling outside a museum where California Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a press conference to address the state’s plan to redraw congressional maps. Bass, who has harshly criticized the Trump administration for conducting raids to arrest illegal immigrants in the city, showed up and questioned the timing of the operation. "Our law enforcement operations are about enforcing the law — not about Gavin Newsom," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement. "CBP patrols all areas of Los Angeles every day with over 40 teams on the ground to make LA safe." Gregory Bovino, the chief patrol agent for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) El Centro sector, said Thursday’s operation was about public safety. The Daily Caller [8/14/2025 6:38 PM, Hailey Gomez, 1010K] reports that surrounded by reporters, Bass was asked by an NBC4 Los Angeles journalist if she believed the arrest was a “coincidence.” “There is no way this was a coincidence!” Bass yelled. “This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face. Why would you do that? That is unbelievably disrespectful.” “It’s a provocative act. They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles, and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now. This is just completely unacceptable,” Bass added. “This is an administration, this is a Customs and Border Patrol that has gone amok! This absolutely has to stop. There was no danger here. There was no need to detain anyone here, and there was certainly no need to have a provocative act right here where the governor is having a press conference.” Footage from FOX 11 showed Border Patrol agents detaining at least one person. California’s El Centro Sector Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino told the outlet agents were in the city to make it a “safer place,” adding that if politicians wouldn’t do it, they would. “So that’s why we’re here today … already making it a safer place. We’re glad to be here. Not going anywhere,” Bovino told Fox11. Bovino said the arrest occurred during routine “roving patrols” and denied accusations that the location was chosen because of Newsom’s press conference, according to ABC7. During Newsom’s press conference, the Democrat governor announced the launch of the state’s gerrymandering campaign, aimed at ousting roughly six Republicans from the House of Representatives. The move comes in response to Texas’ redistricting plan, with Newsom releasing a campaign video calling for an end to President Donald Trump’s “election rigging.”

New York Times [8/14/2025 11:08 PM, Jesus Jiménez, 138952K] reports a man died on Thursday after he was struck by vehicle on a freeway in Monrovia, Calif., as he was trying to flee an immigration raid at a Home Depot, officials said. Federal immigration agents were seen conducting an operation near a Home Depot on Thursday morning in Monrovia, a city about 20 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to Dylan Feik, the city manager. As the operation was unfolding, a man ran off, crossing a street and then entering the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210, a freeway. The man, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital, where he died, Mr. Feik said in a statement. Details about the immigration operation were unclear. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the person was “not being pursued by any D.H.S. law enforcement.” The agency added: “We do not know their legal status. We were not aware of this incident or notified by California Highway Patrol until hours after operations in the area had concluded.” Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. A portion of Interstate 210 was briefly closed. The California Highway Patrol was investigating the episode. “While we understand community members want to know more about the incident, the information provided in this update is all the city has to provide at this time,” Mr. Feik said. “We extend our condolences for the individual and his family.” Palmira Figueroa, a spokeswoman with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said that organizers were working to learn more about the crash and the man’s identity. Ms. Figueroa said that 10 to 12 day laborers were believed to have been detained during the immigration operation. She described the operation as “pretty aggressive” and said that agents had pursued day laborers in their vehicles. Judy Chu, a Democratic member of Congress whose district includes a portion of Monrovia, said on social media that the man’s death was “a result of the Trump administration’s strategy of sowing intimidation and fear throughout Los Angeles.” The fatal crash on Thursday came about a month after a similar episode in July at a cannabis farm in Ventura County. During an immigration raid there last month, a Mexican farmworker died from injuries after falling several stories from a greenhouse as he was trying to flee immigration agents. The man, who was later identified as Jaime Alanís, fell more than 30 feet and suffered injuries to his spine and his skull, according to the United Farm Workers union.

CBS News [8/14/2025 7:06 PM, Jeff Capellini and Ali Bauman, 51860K] Video: HERE reports the building at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan was evacuated on Thursday afternoon following reports of an unknown white powder. The FDNY said a call came in just before 4 p.m. saying the powder was reported found on the ninth floor of the building, which is home to the Department of Homeland Security and the New York City field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other agencies. A hazmat unit was dispatched to the scene to investigate. At an evening news conference, officials said they are awaiting test results on the powder, which was in four separate envelopes, adding those envelopes would also be sent to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. Officials said two people were exposed to the powder. Christopher Rhea, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York City field office, said, "Weapons of Mass Destruction and Hazard Evidence response teams immediately responded to the scene. The building was evacuated as per standard protocol and right now no threat remains to any employees or the public at this time.” Officials are asking people to avoid the area as they continue to investigate. The building at 26 Federal Plaza has been the scene of numerous detainments by ICE agents following routine immigration hearings. It has also been the site of several protests, alleging immigrants are being held in deplorable conditions. DHS maintains the building is not a detention center and says allegations of overcrowding or poor conditions are "categorically false.” "It is a processing center where illegal aliens are briefly processed to be transferred to an ICE detention facility," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a recent statement to CBS News New York. "All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. As we arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding.”

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New York Post [8/14/2025 9:34 PM, Joe Marino and Anna Young, 49956K]
ABC News [8/14/2025 8:39 PM, Meredith Deliso, 31733K]
Daily Caller [8/14/2025 9:05 PM, Hailey Gomez, 1010K]
Washington Examiner [8/14/2025 10:08 PM, Emily Hallas, 1934K]

AP [8/14/2025 4:11 PM, Kate Payne, 56000K] reports Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison as a federal judge decides the fate of the state’s holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be housed at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of downtown Jacksonville. It is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said. After opening the Everglades facility last month, DeSantis justified building the second detention center by saying President Donald Trump’s administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants. “There is a demand for this,” DeSantis said. “I’m confident that it will be filled.” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has trumpeted Republican governors’ efforts to expand their immigration detention capacity, calling Florida’s partnership a model for other state-run holding facilities. DeSantis touted the relative ease and economy of setting up the northern Florida facility at a preexisting prison, estimating the build-out cost to be $6 million. That’s compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars the state has committed to construct the vast network of tents and trailers at the south facility in the rugged and remote Florida swamp. “This part of the facility is not being used right now for the state prisoners. It just gives us an ability to go in, stand it up quickly, stand it up cheaply,” DeSantis said of the state prison, calling the site “ready-made.” It could take two to three weeks to get the facility operational, according to Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the agency in charge of building the immigration facilities. The state had announced plans to “temporarily” close the prison in 2021, due to persistent staffing shortages. “A building that’s been dormant now for a couple of years is going to have some unforeseen challenges,” Guthrie said when estimating the construction timeline. Among the renovations needed: air conditioning, which is not required under Florida’s standards for its prisons, despite the state’s sweltering climate.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [8/14/2025 12:02 PM, Patricia Mazzei, 138952K]
CBS Miami [8/14/2025 12:39 PM, Staff, 51860K]
USA Today [8/14/2025 3:40 PM, Ana Goñi-Lessan, 75552K]

CNN [8/14/2025 11:56 AM, Isabel Rosales, Holly Yan and Jason Morris, 21433K] reports two separate lawsuits could halt plans for "Alligator Alcatraz," the controversial makeshift immigrant detention center in Florida’s swampy Everglades. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump have touted the location of the facility, which can house 3,000 or more detainees. State officials say it’s situated between a large airport runway to ease deportation flights and wetlands teeming with alligators to help prevent escapes. But Democratic lawmakers who toured the facility described the conditions as barbaric, with "wall-to-wall humans" "packed into cages." Detainees reported worms in their food, toilets that don’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste and mosquito infestations. Now, a lawsuit over environmental concerns and another over detainees’ rights might stop operations at the facility – possibly leaving officials with the costly and logistically difficult task of rehousing the detainees elsewhere. "Alligator Alcatraz" is close to marshlands that serve as a crucial source of freshwater and drinking water for South Florida. Environmentalists are suing to stop the facility’s operations. Friends of the Everglades – a nonprofit committed to preserving the Everglades and its interconnected ecosystems – and the Center for Biological Diversity asked a court to issue an injunction "to halt the unlawful construction of a mass federal detention facility for up to 5,000 noncitizen detainees," the lawsuit states. "Defending the Everglades in this legal case is critically important," said Tania Galloni, the Earthjustice managing attorney for Florida, which represents some of the plaintiffs. "This is a public natural resource we all depend on, and transforming this site into a mass detention center is reckless, especially without any environmental review.” The lawsuit names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials as defendants in the lawsuit.

Federalist [8/14/2025 9:50 AM, M.D. Kittle, 1142K] reports Americans’ trust in corporate media has plummeted to its lowest level in more than five decades, according to Gallup polling. That trust gap should come as no surprise when reading the propaganda press’s hyperbolic coverage of the Trump administration’s immigration law enforcement policies. Department of Homeland Security officials say reporting on Alligator Alcatraz, the new Florida Everglades-based holding facility for illegal aliens facing deportation, has been drenched in “lies” and “baseless allegations.” “Nearly every single day, my office responds to media questions on FALSE allegations about Alligator Alcatraz. The media is clearly desperate for these allegations of inhumane conditions at this facility to be true,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Federalist. In a release exclusively provided to The Federalist, DHS says it hopes to set the record straight and debunk “all the hoaxes” surrounding the message-sending Alligator Alcatraz. McLaughlin asserts there have been some doozies pushed on social media and through many of the usual Trump-hating corporate media news outlets known for massaging the truth in the furtherance of the narrative they’re feeding. Correcting the record is particularly important amid escalating assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other DHS officials, Homeland Security said. “No feces are overflowing from toilets. Just like no one has died. Incinerators are not being used for nefarious purposes. These types of smears are directly contributing to our officers facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them,” the assistant secretary said. “Here are the facts: Alligator Alcatraz does meet federal detention standards. All detainee facilities are clean. Any allegations of inhumane conditions are FALSE.”

Washington Examiner [8/14/2025 5:57 PM, Haisten Willis, 1934K] reports President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is the latest person to face ethical questions surrounding his status as a special government employee. As an SGE, Lewandowski is supposed to work no more than 130 days in any given year, yet he may be working far more than that without fully logging his time, according to a report from Axios. Lewandowski acts as a de facto chief of staff to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the outlet said, yet he is officially working far less than full-time. DHS says Lewandowski’s time sheet is accurate. "Mr. Lewandowski’s time is kept by a career DHS employee who submits the paperwork on a bi-weekly basis. He has served 69 days," DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. "Mr. Lewandowski is a Special Government Employee."

New York Post [8/14/2025 3:08 PM, Steven Nelson, Jennie Taer and Diana Nerozzi, 49956K] reports Corey Lewandowski has logged just 69 days as a "special" employee of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — allowing him to serve another 61, the Trump administration said Thursday after weeks of speculation about Lewandowski apparently blowing past the 130-day limit. Lewandowski, 51, has served as Noem’s de facto chief of staff since late January, and fellow administration aides were puzzled when he remained on the job well past what they believed to be his end date in early June — leading to theories that he was using colleagues’ badges to clock into work. The Department of Homeland Security told The Post Thursday that 69 working days had been recorded by Trump’s former 2016 campaign manager, confirming a figure first reported by Axios. "Mr. Lewandowski’s time is kept by a career DHS employee who submits the paperwork on a bi-weekly basis," the department said. A White House official hailed plummeting illegal immigration numbers under Noem and Lewandowski’s leadership when asked about his status.

FOX News [8/15/2025 2:45 AM, Landon Mion, 46878K] reports a federal judge ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to stop providing access to Medicaid enrollees’ personal data, including their home addresses, to immigration officials. District Judge Vince Chhabria, an Obama appointee, granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security from using Medicaid data obtained from 20 states that filed a lawsuit to stop the data sharing. The order, handed down Tuesday, blocks HHS from sharing data on Medicaid enrollees in these states with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of targeting migrants for deportation. "Using CMS data for immigration enforcement threatens to significantly disrupt the operation of Medicaid—a program that Congress has deemed critical for the provision of health coverage to the nation’s most vulnerable residents," Chhabria wrote. The judge wrote that while there is nothing "categorically unlawful" about DHS collecting data from other agencies for immigration enforcement purposes, ICE has had a policy against using Medicaid data for that reason for 12 years. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has also long maintained a policy of using patients’ personal information only to run its healthcare programs. "Given these policies, and given that the various players in the Medicaid system have relied on them, it was incumbent upon the agencies to carry out a reasoned decision-making process before changing them," Chhabria wrote, adding: "The record in this case strongly suggests that no such process occurred.” Chhabria said the preliminary injunction will remain in effect until HHS provides "reasoned decision-making" for its new policy of sharing data with immigration officials or until litigation concludes. The disclosure of Medicaid data is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to give DHS more data to help locate migrants and carry out the president’s mass deportation plan. In May, a federal judge refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax data with ICE officials. "The Trump Administration’s move to use Medicaid data for immigration enforcement upended longstanding policy protections without notice or consideration for the consequences," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "As the President continues to overstep his authority in his inhumane anti-immigrant crusade, this is a clear reminder that he remains bound by the law.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
The Hill [8/14/2025 5:51 PM, Nathaniel Weixel, 18649K]
AP [8/14/2025 3:27 PM, Amanda Seitz and Kimberly Kindy]

FOX News [8/14/2025 6:38 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46878K] reports the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been authorized to seek the death penalty in a case against Teresa Youngblut, the woman accused in the Jan. 20 shooting that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland. A federal grand jury returned the four-count indictment Thursday against 21-year-old Youngblut, charging her with the murder of Maland, the assault of two other agents with a deadly weapon and related gun offenses. Attorney General Pamela Bondi formally authorized the pursuit of capital punishment, and the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont has filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the case, the agency said Thursday. Youngblut has been linked by investigators to "Ziz," a fringe, self-described vegan, anti-government, transgender-rights collective that federal authorities say may be connected to multiple homicides throughout the U.S. According to court documents, the new indictment outlines additional details about the hours leading up to the Jan. 20 shooting in Coventry, Vermont. Days before the deadly traffic stop, law enforcement took note of Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, a German citizen whose immigration status "was in question," the DOJ said. The agency said a hotel employee reported they were wearing tactical gear and appeared armed. Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division called the killing "an attack on the men and women who protect our communities and our borders," vowing that federal prosecutors "will not stand for such attacks.” Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher for the District of Vermont said his office would continue to "honor the men and women of law enforcement and the memory of Border Patrol Agent Maland by performing its prosecutorial duties so that justice may be done.” FBI Assistant Director Jose A. Perez described the murder of a federal agent as "more than a tragic loss," calling it "an attack on the security of our nation and the safety of our communities" and pledging the bureau "will not rest until those responsible are held accountable.” The Trump admin’s decision to fast-track Youngblut’s death penalty case came after her attorneys accused the DOJ’s timeline of being "unprecedentedly tight" and warned it could render the pretrial process "a near-pointless formality.”

Reported similarly:
New York Times [8/14/2025 6:54 PM, Jenna Russell, 138952K]
AP [8/14/2025 4:47 PM, Holly Ramer and Alanna Durkin Richer, 56000K]
USA Today [8/14/2025 4:29 PM, Trevor Hughes, 75552K]

CubaHeadlines [8/14/2025 2:50 PM, Richard Morales] reports the United States and Paraguay have reached a groundbreaking agreement allowing asylum seekers on American soil to be transferred to Paraguay for the evaluation of their protection claims. This initiative aims to curb illegal immigration, bolster security, and prevent the exploitation of the asylum system, according to official sources. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X, "Trump will no longer allow the U.S. asylum system to be abused. Today’s signing of a Safe Third Country Agreement with Paraguay enables asylum seekers in the United States to file their protection claims in Paraguay." He emphasized that this commitment will prevent the misuse of the American immigration system and help create a "safer hemisphere" with a key ally like Paraguayan President Santiago Peña. The State Department highlighted on X that this form of cooperation demonstrates the capability of both countries to work together in preventing illegal migration, which is regarded as a national security threat. According to EFE, the memorandum of understanding was signed in Washington by Rubio and Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, with the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security. Rubio hailed the day as "a great opportunity to reaffirm ties" and noted that irregular immigration is a shared concern for both governments. Ramírez Lezcano pointed out that the agreement transcends immigration policy, extending into areas such as security, trade, and investments. He added that the bilateral relationship is founded on shared values like democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar stated that this move is pivotal in the Trump Administration’s plans for allied countries to collaborate in reducing irregular entries into the United States. He also remarked that the asylum system had been previously abused and that agreements like this enable prioritization of resources for those truly in need of protection.

Washington Times [8/14/2025 2:50 PM, Mallory Wilson, 2106K] reports President Trump said Thursday he made strides in preserving Social Security by rooting out fraud and abuse, including getting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants off the program. Mr. Trump, in remarks marking the 90th anniversary of Social Security, said that excluding illegal immigrants from receiving the benefits had removed nearly 275,000 from the system. He also railed against Democrats for accusing him of gutting Social Security, and he said the retirement program was being “destroyed” under former President Joseph R. Biden and his Democrats. “Under Biden, Social Security went down like nobody’s ever seen. It deteriorated. There’s never been anything like it. The four years of Biden were very, very destructive. It couldn’t have gone on much longer,” he said. He added, “Biden never kicked anybody off. Everybody joined. And we’re carrying out historic deportations to remove many more illegals committing Social Security fraud. It’s a Social Security fraud that was taking place at levels that nobody’s ever seen. We cleared 12.4 million names listed in the Social Security database over 120 years of age. Think of that.”

NewsMax [8/14/2025 1:05 PM, Mark Swanson, 4622K] reports that Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who earlier this month rankled fellow lawmakers by saying she’s a "proud Guatemalan" before an American, soon after referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a "terrorist organization." Ramirez made the latest comments while giving the keynote address at Netroots Nation, a left-wing political convention originally organized by readers and writers of Daily Kos, on Aug. 8, The Daily Caller reported. "In my own district, in District 3, we’ve stood up rapid response efforts to defend our communities against [President Donald] Trump," Ramirez said in her address. "It’s why Tom Homan hates me so much. He says, ‘We come to Chicago, but Chicago’s too educated on their rights,’ because he hopes that we don’t know our rights so they can violate them. "Well, Tom Homan, let me tell you, all over the country: We will continue to stand up for our rights, and we will continue to call out the terrorist organization that is ICE." Ramirez, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee, said she is a proud Guatemalan. The Department of Homeland Security also responded on X, posting the video and quoting late President Theodore Roosevelt’s call for Americans to hold their allegiance to the United States. "There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism," the department posted. "Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.” Ramirez has also previously called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign, for ICE to be defunded, and has referred to the Trump administration as a "fascist government."

Breitbart [8/14/2025 11:45 PM, Pam Key, 3077K] reports CNN’s senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem said Thursday on “Anderson Cooper 360” that the Department of Homeland Security was using “Nazi propaganda.” Cooper said, “Some recent social media posts by the Department of Homeland Security have some concerned with extremism sounding the alarm, saying that posts like this one to recruit new ICE agents have undertones of white nationalism. Now, this one shows Uncle Sam at a crossroads between law and order and homeland and cultural decline. A caption above the image reads, ‘Which way, American man?’ that appears to be an allusion to the title of this book. Which Way Western Man was written by a white nationalist named William Gayley Simpson.” He added, “When contacted by CNN, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, ‘Calling everything you dislike Nazi propaganda is tiresome.’” Cooper asked, “What kind of message do you think the DHS is trying to convey?” Kayyem said, “It’s a combination of fear and nostalgia. Fear of the other, fear of an America that is going to be overrun by immigrants and caravans and whatever, and people who are going to rape and loot and do all these horrible things to you. And nostalgia this other world that existed at some stage where everyone is white and everyone is, is safe and there’s and there’s no diversity and there’s no cities and there’s prairies and this is purposeful. If DHS doesn’t know what they’re doing, people should lose their jobs. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re doing it to create an idea of the homeland that is consistent with their immigration policy, with their policy against cities, with their economic policy. And so this is just the manifestation of it.” She added, “I really think pushing back on the DHS spokeswoman’s comment is important. It is Nazi propaganda, period. It just is.”

AP [8/14/2025 2:44 PM, Alanna Durkin Richer, 56000K] reports the investigation began years ago after two drug dealers got into a car accident in a small Tennessee town. What followed was a series of secret wiretaps, a shootout with police and the discovery of drugs hidden in a tractor trailer that would eventually lead federal investigators back to cartel leaders in Mexico. The investigation culminated with Justice Department indictments unsealed Thursday against three leaders and two high-ranking enforcers of the United Cartels, a leading rival of Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The U.S. government is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of United Cartels’ top leader, Juan José Farías Álvarez — "El Abuelo," or the grandfather — along with multimillion-dollar rewards for the four others. All five are believed to be in Mexico. The cases, as outlined in court documents, provide a glimpse into how drugs produced by violent cartels in large labs in Mexico flow across the U.S. border and reach American streets. They also highlight the violent fallout that drug trafficking leaves in its path from the mountains of Mexico to small U.S. towns. "These cases in particular serve as a powerful reminder of the insidious impacts that global cartels can have on our local American communities," Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The chain started with a violent cartel in Mexico and it ended with law enforcement being shot at in a small town.” United Cartels is an umbrella organization made up of smaller cartels that have worked for different groups over time. It holds a fierce grip over the western state of Michoacan, Mexico.

Washington Examiner [8/14/2025 11:59 AM, David Zimmermann, 1934K] reports Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in a New Mexico county riddled with violent crime and drug trafficking, two days after President Donald Trump activated the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and temporarily took over the local police department. The emergency declaration applies to Rio Arriba County, the city of Española, and nearby pueblos, which are Native American villages. The county government requested the state’s help in response to an uptick in crime that has overwhelmed local resources, contributing to homelessness and fatal drug overdoses in the local community. Grisham’s order authorizes up to $750,000 in emergency funding for New Mexico’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to address the crime surge in Rio Arriba, which is located in the northern part of the state, about 25 miles from Santa Fe. "When our local leaders called for help to protect their communities, we responded immediately with decisive action," Grisham said in a statement. "We are making every resource available to support our local partners on the ground and restore public safety and stability to these areas that have been hardest hit by this crisis." Grisham did not mention a deployment of the National Guard, although the executive order authorizing the emergency declaration permits it.

Reuters [8/14/2025 11:53 AM, Ana Isabel Martinez and Natalia Siniawski, 51390K] reports Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that Carlos Trevino, former CEO of state oil company Pemex, had been arrested in the United States and would be deported to stand trial in Mexico for corruption charges. "It’s an extradition request that has been ongoing for about five years. He has finally been located and will be deported in the coming days. His trial will take place in Mexico," Sheinbaum said during her daily news conference. The president added that the arrest stems from a complaint filed by Emilio Lozoya, also a former Pemex director, who accused Trevino of receiving approximately 4 million pesos in bribes in exchange for authorizing a contract for the Ethylene XXI plant, linked to Odebrecht’s Braskem subsidiary.

FOX News [8/14/2025 7:00 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports around the year 1212, a boy preached to children in France that they should take up the cross and follow him to the Holy Land. Thousands did. None reached Jerusalem. Most gave up before leaving Europe. Others were shipwrecked or sold into slavery in the Islamic caliphate of Tunisia. Centuries later, the Biden administration’s facilitation of mass illegal entry by unaccompanied alien children (UACs) and releasing them into the hands of unvetted adults has caused misery on an even larger scale. The seed was planted years earlier. As Lora Ries, a former official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, wrote, a 2008 law called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) created incentives to "entice parents to send their children across the border unaccompanied to receive immigration benefits and gain a foothold in the U.S. so their families could hopefully later follow." In the early 2000s, between 4,800 and 8,200 UACs were encountered at the border per year. After the TVPRA, numbers rose, hitting 68,000 in 2014. Under Biden, federal agencies became the last leg in an international smuggling business that brought millions of inadmissible aliens to the U.S. from around the world, including 550,000 minors. As expert witness Tara Rodas testified to the House Homeland Security Committee in November 2024, "Criminal sponsors are defrauding the U.S. government by using this government program as a logistical chain in their trafficking operation." While illegal alien parents and labor-exploiting employers paid for UACs to get to the U.S. border, it was often our tax dollars that brought them inside the country and delivered them into the hands of barely vetted adult sponsors. Inadmissible UACs from further than Mexico who try to enter the U.S. illegally become the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Under Biden, children were released to putative sponsors in a matter of days. Verification of the sponsors’ identities was inexcusably lax. HHS released children to sponsors with whom they had no blood relation and allowed adult sponsors to send photos of identification documents rather than come in personally. There was little follow-up to check on the children’s welfare after placement with the sponsors.

The Hill [8/14/2025 3:30 PM, David Guterson, 18649K] reports earlier this summer, President Trump’s secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, pledged a "100 percent American workforce." The president really does intend to deport every single person here illegally, she claimed. In fact, since 1986, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has never criminally prosecuted more than 25 employers in any given year. And of those, only a few have been convicted or served prison time. In fact, knowingly hiring ineligible workers is not even considered a crime until, as Homeland Security puts it in a handbook for employers, there’s "a pattern or practice" of it. According to the Pew Research Center, there are as many as 8.3 million undocumented people working in the U.S. This gives employers ample opportunity to consciously avoid enlightenment regarding their legal status. Such avoidance, in fact, is standard practice — aided and abetted by the Department of Homeland Security and its one-page form. Either employers and employees should both pay a price, or no one should.

The Hill [8/14/2025 11:30 AM, Marcela Escobari and Alex Brockwehl, 18649K] reports Terrified employees are not showing up to work. Children who are American citizens are being deported without due process. Crops are being left to rot because farms can’t find workers to pick them. The Trump administration has claimed this is the price of a secure border. But Americans are no longer buying it. A record-high 79 percent of Americans now say immigration is a good thing for the country — a growing majority clearly believes U.S. policy should address immigration’s benefits, as well as its risks. A balanced policy is possible. By the end of its time in office, the Biden administration had brought order to the border. In our new research paper, we examine the successes and shortcomings of Biden’s term, offering lessons for a more pragmatic migration policy — one that advances America’s broad range of economic, security and humanitarian interests. We would be the first to acknowledge that the Biden administration’s response to record migration flows was imperfect. The administration was slow to support cities struggling with unprecedented migrant arrivals, ceded the narrative to its critics by playing defense on communications and waited too long to ramp up its enforcement efforts. But by the end of 2024, total monthly encounters at the Southern border fell from a high of 300,000 to fewer than 100,000. In fact, the number of authorized encounters at ports of entry via programs, such as CBP One and the special program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, exceeded the number of unauthorized encounters. Put another way, more than 80 percent of the current reduction we see in unauthorized border encounters occurred during the Biden administration. The Trump administration has reduced encounters from their prior levels by an additional 17 percent through costly and draconian measures. The immigration lessons from Biden’s term are not always intuitive. First, enforcement and lawful pathways are not opposing strategies — they are interdependent. We have often heard the refrain of needing to crack down first, and only then consider expanding lawful pathways. But the data tells a different story. When the U.S. paired increased enforcement with credible legal alternatives, irregular crossings plummeted. It was this mix — not enforcement alone — that brought numbers down.

New York Post [8/14/2025 3:33 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K] reports this will blow ICE’s cover. Immigration agents who have long gone undercover to make arrests across the country will soon be rolling in vehicles boldly emblazoned with the agency’s logo — leaving agents furious and scared for their lives. The new fleet will be dark blue with “ICE” plastered in giant, yellow letters across the side, along with the phrase “Defend the Homeland” in all caps, a photo obtained by The Post shows. The vehicles are expected to be rolled out in Washington, DC, imminently, sources said. They will then be gradually deployed across the country. “Obviously, we’re going to need additional vehicles as we build out our workforce, so there’ll be some marked vehicles from here in DC and around the country,” an ICE insider told The Post. But agents — who are dealing with a 1,000% increase in assaults by illegal immigrants and anti-ICE activists — say they’re concerned that this will further expose them to dangerous threats. “It’s like having a bullseye,” said one ICE source. “This will only raise officer-involved incidents in the streets because people will target the vehicles,” said another agency source, adding that agitators have already successfully “impeded operations.” It was not clear how many vehicles ICE will deploy nationwide or how much the new fleet will cost. However, the Department of Homeland Security said agency’s new wheels come after it received an influx of cash from the One Big Beautiful Bill. “ICE is a law enforcement agency, and like all other law enforcement agencies has a fleet of vehicles that includes those with ICE branding. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE finally has the resources to grow its workforce to support ICE’s mission, and that will include all types of additional vehicles,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post. “These specific vehicles will supplement the existing ICE fleet and support operations across the country,” she added. McLaughlin also defended the department’s commitment to the safety of its agents. FOX News [8/14/2025 10:24 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 46878K] reports DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s office released a fact sheet showing the rollout reflects broader enforcement gains in her first 200 days, including a reported 93% decline in border encounters, a near halt to illegal migration through Panama’s Darién Gap and more than 100,000 job applications to ICE since the "Defend the Homeland" campaign began. The department has also reopened the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office and logged more than 352,000 arrests since January. The House and Senate Homeland Security Committee Republican press offices did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The ICE union and agency spokespeople were also contacted. Public reaction to the rollout video on DHS’s X account was largely positive Thursday, with replies from veterans, law enforcement families and other supporters. ". Keep up the excellent work, thank you for protecting us," one user wrote. Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Breitbart [8/14/2025 12:02 PM, Jeff Poor, 3077K] reports during Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s "Hannity," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was looking to fill 10,000 openings while pointing out her department had received 110,000 applications from prospective candidates to fill those openings. "So, you have 10,000 openings," host Sean Hannity said. "You’re looking to hire 10,000 more ICE agents. You have already well over 100,000 applications?". Noem replied, "We do. In fact, as of today, about 110,000 applications in less than two weeks. And that’s what I find so encouraging is it’s clear the American people are behind President Trump and these officers. They have their backs, and they want to be a part of what’s happening in this country by making it safe again. So, despite what you know the fake news says, despite what the liberals and the socialists and the Marxists are parroting every single day out in their communities and to their supporters, it’s just not true. The American people are so happy, and they’re excited about the fact that the rule of law is going to apply to everybody, and that Americans and citizens who follow the law should be prioritized, and that President Trump is doing exactly that.”

Los Angeles Times [8/14/2025 5:38 PM, Andrea Castillo, 14672K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has walked back what lawyers called an illegal attempt to fast-track the deportation of a woman who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years and to expel her without an immigration court hearing, her attorneys said. Lawyers for Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul, 38, filed a lawsuit earlier this month to stop her imminent deportation to Guatemala. A U.S. district court judge in Arizona dismissed the case Wednesday after the federal government moved the woman to regular deportation proceedings and agreed in writing not to attempt expedited removal again, her lawyers said. The judge had granted an emergency request to temporarily pause the deportation while the case played out in court. The case highlighted broader concerns that the Trump administration is stretching immigration law to speed up deportations in its effort to remove as many immigrants as possible. In a sworn declaration, one of Co Tupul’s attorneys wrote that a deportation officer told her the agency had a “new policy” of placing immigrants in expedited removal proceedings after their first contact with immigration authorities. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that after Co Tupul’s lawyers provided documentation verifying she had lived in the U.S. for more than two years, “ICE followed the law and placed her in normal removal proceedings.” “Any allegation that DHS is ‘testing out’ a new policy regarding illegal aliens who have been in the country for longer than two years into expedited removal is false,” McLaughlin added.

DailySignal [8/14/2025 5:23 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 558K] reports the Trump administration arrested another illegal immigrant for sexual misconduct against a child. On Tuesday, ICE arrested Michael Kabiona, an illegal alien from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who had been convicted of sexual abuse against a child, an administration official told The Daily Signal. Kabiona’s crimes came to light after the victim disclosed the horrific details of her repeated abuse to an afterschool aide.

CBS New York [8/14/2025 7:50 PM, Natalie Duddridge, 51860K] Video: HERE reports Immigration advocates rallied on the steps of the New York City Department of Education’s headquarters on Thursday morning, demanding a student’s immediate release from federal custody. Mamadou Mouctar Diallo’s teachers joined city leaders at the rally and said he should be in his classroom at Brooklyn Frontiers High School, instead of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Diallo, a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea, was detained by ICE agents last week following a routine immigration court appearance at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, advocates said. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Diallo, "crossed the Southern border illegally as part of a caravan of 51 other illegal aliens apprehended by CBP on Jan. 13, 2024," adding "Diallo was released into our country by the Biden administration. ICE arrested him on Aug. 4, 2025. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.” ICE confirmed he is being held at a correctional facility in Pennsylvania. "Take a good look at this young man who came here from his home in West Africa. He’s alone," City Councilmember Rita Joseph said while holding his picture at the rally. "Mamadou did the right thing. He showed up for his routine check in and he was abducted. A student seeking a better life, pursuing his education, has been stripped.”

New York Post [8/14/2025 6:20 PM, Ben Kochman, 49956K] reports the Justice Department is bristling at the idea of providing toothbrushes to jailed migrants at a Manhattan ICE facility — claiming the detainees could use the teeth-cleaning tools as dangerous "weapons.” Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton’s claim came after a judge ordered Wednesday that conditions in a makeshift jail at 26 Federal Plaza be improved, acting on complaints that asylum seekers have been kept in dirty, overcrowded cells. "Toothbrushes can readily be improvised as weapons," Clayton’s office wrote, adding that ICE agents would prefer to continue providing migrants with "teeth-cleaning wipes" instead. The feds did not provide an example of a migrant using a toothbrush as a weapon. Jail inmates have fashioned the products into sharp tools in the past by shaving down the handle, but it’s unclear how serious of a threat toothbrushes are, given that they can be purchased at Brooklyn’s infamous Metropolitan Detention Center jail for 85 cents. Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Thursday to ban toothbrushes from the site for now, pending further argument.

Breitbart [8/14/2025 9:31 AM, John Binder, 3077K] reports three illegal alien MS-13 gang members are facing a host of charges against them in Nassau County, New York, including 14 counts of attempted murder and 49 counts of assault, after having been arrested in a joint law enforcement operation. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Nassau County Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have arrested 21-year-old illegal alien Elias Wilfredo Serrano Bonilla of El Salvador, 19-year-old Edras Daniel Velasquez Giron of Honduras, and 20-year-old Jeffrey Bladimir Valladares Archaga of Honduras — all of whom have are MS-13 gang members — in the sanctuary state of New York. ICE agents have lodged detainers against all three MS-13 gang members in the hopes of getting custody of them if they are released from jail at any time. "America is no longer a dumping ground for foreign criminals and gang members," Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement. "ICE will continue to find, arrest, and remove MS-13 and other terrorists who come here to wreak havoc on communities and destroy this nation.”

Breitbart [8/14/2025 1:19 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested a migrant in the sanctuary state of New York who was convicted of raping and sodomizing his 9-year-old stepdaughter. ICE agents arrested Michael Kabiona of the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week after he served just 10 years in a New York prison for raping his stepdaughter. Kabiona was found guilty in 2015 for repeatedly raping and sodomizing his stepdaughter over a two-year period that began when the girl was only 9 years old. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. "On August 12, ICE arrested Michael Kabiona, a criminal alien from the Democratic Republic of Congo, convicted for repeatedly raping his stepdaughter, starting when she was as young as 9 years old," the Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Thanks to ICE, this depraved pedophile is not in our communities to hurt and victimize more children. It’s disgusting that ICE law enforcement is experiencing a 1000% increase in assaults against them while they are removing creeps like this who commit unforgivable crimes against children. Our ICE agents are heroes, end of story. [Emphasis added]. ICE agents also arrested 31-year-old Noe Alberto Flores-Sandoval of El Salvador, who was convicted of attempted rape in Nassau County, New York, as well as 41-year-old Lorentino Martinez-Tejed of Mexico, who was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault of a minor in the sanctuary state of Illinois.

Telemundo 47 [8/14/2025 2:01 PM, Rafael Pujols, 145K] reports that ICE agents arrested another New York City public school student who has no criminal history and was attending his court date. New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Avilés-Ramos expressed her dismay on social media and urged people to continue sending their children to school. "It pains me to share that another one of our students was detained by ICE while attending his immigration hearing. Our Project Open Arms team is standing with the student’s family, working closely to connect them with legal support and other critical services," the chancellor said. I am heartbroken to share that another one of our students was detained by ICE while attending his immigration hearing. Mamadou Mouctar Diallo, 20, originally from Guinea, West Africa, is a student at Brooklyn Frontiers High School. His arrest by ICE agents occurred after leaving an appointment at 26 Federal Plaza last Monday. This has sparked a backlash from activists and elected officials. Dialo is at least the third city public school student detained by ICE this year. In May, Dylan López Contreras of Ellis Prep Academy in Marble Hill, Manhattan, was arrested under similar circumstances, and last month, Derlis Chusin was released on bail after more than a month in detention. Legal experts point to this latest case as an example that detention does not automatically mean deportation, and they say all available court remedies must be exhausted.

Daily Caller [8/14/2025 6:59 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 1010K] reports New Jersey Monitor senior reporter Dana DiFilippo claimed an illegal immigrant had no significant driving offenses before his arrest for allegedly causing a fatal crash, according to a screenshot obtained by the Daily Caller. Officials charged Raul Luna Perez, a Mexican national and illegal immigrant, with two counts each of vehicular homicide and assault in connection with a deadly crash that killed a New Jersey mother and her 11-year-old daughter and hospitalized another child, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced earlier in August. Luna-Perez allegedly drove under the influence on July 26 and crossed into opposing traffic, according to a New Jersey Monitor report. DiFilippo referred to Raul Luna-Perez as an "undocumented immigrant" in a screenshot of a since-deleted X post obtained by the Daily Caller She suggested the accused was at "the center" of the ongoing clash between President Donald Trump and Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. The Daily Caller is working to be your voice by asking the questions you care about. Support the mission by joining today. DiFilippo claimed that Luna-Perez had a "largely clean driving record, despite prior DUI arrests," according to the screenshot. Her account appears to have been deleted after DHS’ official account responded. "This is a clinically insane take. A largely clean driving record? This MONSTER had two prior DUIs before killing an innocent mother and her 11 year-old child. Another child was hospitalized," the agency alleged in a post on X. "We look forward to a story about the innocent victims of G0vernor Murphy’s sanctuary policies," the account continued.

CBS Philadelphia [8/14/2025 6:02 PM, Josh Sanders and Bill Seider, 51860K] Video: HERE reports Pennsylvania lawmakers and community advocates gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Philadelphia Thursday to rally in support of new legislation they say would bring much-needed transparency and accountability to law enforcement, especially federal immigration officers. The proposed legislation, called the "No Secret Police" bill, aims to ban law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, from wearing face coverings during operations and would require them to wear clearly marked uniforms that identify their agency. "The use of masks effectively dehumanizes enforcers while rendering invisible the people who are targeted," said state Sen. Nikil Saval, who co-sponsored the bill with state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti. Currently, there are no federal laws prohibiting law enforcement personnel from concealing their identity with face masks, leaving the issue to the states. "This means that accountability for law enforcement falls to individual states," Saval said. Cappelletti echoed that concern, saying that when ICE agents arrive in communities masked and armed, it sends a message that law enforcement can’t be trusted. "When ICE shows up with masks on and large weapons, it tells a community, don’t trust your law enforcement," Cappelletti said. The bill comes just weeks after masked men with guns were spotted during an ICE raid at a supermarket in Norristown, sparking outrage among immigrant advocates and elected officials alike. "We’re seeing attacks to a level we’ve never seen before," said Erika Guadalupe Nuñez, executive director of Juntos, an immigrant rights organization based in Philadelphia. "In general, and also just the political climate at hand, right, folks don’t believe that their rights are protected.”

Telemundo Amarillo [8/14/2025 5:40 PM, Staff, 4K] reports a Hispanic man from Georgia admitted to purchasing a 13-year-old girl for sex and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, state authorities reported Thursday. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced that Noé Borromeo Hernández, 43, a Mexican citizen residing in Kathleen (south of Macon, Georgia), has pleaded guilty to trafficking the minor. As part of his plea, Hernandez confessed to buying the girl, Carr said. According to the District Attorney’s Office, Borromeo was arrested in November 2024 and charged the following month after the girl revealed she had been sold for sex in Warner Robins. A Houston County Superior Court judge accepted the plea on August 7 and sentenced the Hispanic man to 30 years, of which he must serve the first 10 in prison. Borromeo, who applied for asylum in August 2023, has a detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is expected to be deported after serving his sentence. Borromeo is the second defendant convicted of trafficking this 13-year-old minor. In May 2025, Emma-Lee Garcia, 25, who sold the girl, was sentenced to 40 years. Two other defendants, Brian Smith and Demaria Williams, also face charges of allegedly purchasing the girl for sex.

(B) Local News Live [8/14/2025 2:42 PM, Staff] reports ICE raids in Nashville led to more than 200 people being arrested. State lawmakers say internal records are raising questions if the state is withholding important information. A lot of blank spaces and redactions are where there should be a name, race, and reasons people were stopped. THP gave access to 105 out of the 369 reported traffic stop records and there is no consistency in what is written down, what is left blank, and what is blacked out.

Axios [8/14/2025 1:34 PM, Nate Rau, 13599K] reports a highly scrutinized fundraising effort formed in response to President Trump’s immigration crackdowns in Nashville recently expanded its focus and will begin paying for legal services for immigrants. The Belonging Fund drew fierce criticism from Republicans, who blasted Mayor Freddie O’Connell for publicly promoting the effort and opposing local ICE raids. The move to cover legal work contradicts O’Connell’s repeated descriptions about the fund’s intent. O’Connell and the nonprofit Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which administers the Belonging Fund, were initially clear that money raised for the new fund would not be spent on paying for immigrants’ legal fees. "The Belonging Fund is not set up to support legal services," O’Connell said at a May 5 press conference announcing the formation of the fund. The fund does not use public money. Community Foundation CEO Hal Cato said at the press conference announcement the Belonging Fund would be used for child care, transportation, housing assistance, food insecurity and "anything else they need." "I think what you’ll probably see going forward is independent efforts to look at scenarios related to deportation, but that’s not what the Belonging Fund is constituted for," O’Connell said on May 5.

FOX News [8/14/2025 4:54 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports a Staten Island man and his mother are facing a slew of charges, including aggravated manslaughter and hindering apprehension, after authorities say he caused a deadly crash in Plainsboro, New Jersey during a dangerous BMW street race. Alvi Limani, 20, is charged with aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide, multiple counts of reckless assault by auto, endangering others, obstruction, tampering with records, leaving the scene of a fatal crash, and causing death or serious injury while driving with a revoked license. His mother, Vilma Vneshta, 42, is charged with hindering in the third degree. Both are being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center without bail. New Jersey State Police (NJSP) responded to Garden State Parkway south just after 7 p.m. on June 29 and found Albion Hysenaj, 20, of Staten Island, and another 20-year-old Staten Island resident, who were ejected from their car. Hysenaj and the 20-year-old were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, but Hysenaj was later pronounced dead, according to NJSP. The 20-year-old suffered serious injuries. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined two BMW cars were racing on the Garden State Parkway when the crash happened. The pair were arrested on July 17 near Miami, Florida, and detectives noted they purchased both a Florida ID, same-day passport, and plane tickets to Tirana, Albania. "Vneshta is Albanian and [is] believed to still have roots there," detectives wrote in an affidavit. The mother-son duo are currently being held at the Middlesex County Department of Corrections, according to jail records. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.

CBS Miami [8/14/2025 4:16 PM, Hunter Geisel, 51860K] reports a Miami man claiming to be a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was arrested for allegedly driving drunk in the Florida Keys while he had two young children in his vehicle, deputies said. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said they had arrested 42-year-old Scott Thomas Deiseroth of Miami on Wednesday afternoon after another motorist called to report his reckless driving. He is currently in jail and facing a DUI charge, along with two counts of child endangerment, authorities said. Deputies said Deiseroth identified himself as an ICE agent during the traffic stop. CBS News Miami reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and a spokesperson with the agency said they were not aware of the arrest and were investigating it.

FOX News [8/14/2025 3:15 PM, Matt Finn, 46878K] reports for decades, the infamous Figueora Street corridor in downtown Los Angeles has been a seedy haven for sex workers and human trafficking. In a new effort to take down a particularly heinous gang that allegedly runs a sex ring in the area, the federal government and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) executed a sweeping pre-dawn bust targeting eleven suspects wanted for allegedly drugging, raping, and selling women and children as young as 14-years-old. The bust was a partnership between the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and LAPD. Fox News was exclusively embedded during Wednesday’s early-morning operation aimed at taking down the Hoover street gang. Operation Broken Blade successfully took into custody 10 out of 11 of its targets.

DailySignal [8/14/2025 3:06 PM, Rebecca Downs, 558K] reports an illegal alien has been indicted by a grand jury in Ohio for disturbing sex crimes against a minor. Victor Juarez, a 26-year-old Mexican national, is accused of sexually exploiting a 12-year-old girl, including creating videos of such exploitation. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, Juarez allegedly created videos involving the girl on at least 13 occasions in October and November 2024 and has been charged with 13 counts of sexual exploitation of children. He was also charged with rape in February 2025 in Hamilton County. Labrador-Sierra has been charged by a grand jury for the Northern District of Ohio with several criminal offenses, including possession of a firearm by an alien unlawfully in the United States, making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, and making or using a false document.

Houston Chronicle [8/14/2025 5:21 PM, Julián Aguilar, 1982K] reports an immigrant whose detention has sparked outrage and protests across Central Texas was granted a bond Thursday morning by a judge at a Conroe immigration court. But Noe Guerrero, 33, a construction worker from Waco, will likely remain in detention after the federal government said it would appeal the decision. It’s the latest salvo from the Trump administration in the case against Guerrero, who was detained on his way to work last month after Immigration and Customs Enforcement pulled him over. Agents shattered his truck window and Guerrero was pulled from the vehicle, the Waco Bridge reported. ICE has since dropped its original charge — that Guerrero wasn’t carrying his required documents — but he’s remained in detention since his arrest on July 24. His bond issued Thursday is $5,000. A spokesperson with the ICE field office in Houston, which has jurisdiction over the Waco region, said the office is preparing a response to Thursday’s developments. Looper told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday that according to documents from ICE, Guerrero might have appeared on ICE’s radar due to an investigation the Texas Department of Public Safety launched in 2025 in Waco related to possible drug activity. Guerrero has never been charged with anything stemming from a DPS investigation.

(B) Good Day Seattle at 10AM [8/14/2025 1:02 PM, Staff] reports that a Snohomish County mother from New Zealand and her youngest son are currently being detained by ICE in Texas. According to her attorney, Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old were taken into custody as they returned from home in Vancouver. Shaw’s attorney says Border Patrol agents told her her travel permit was expired and only the work portion had been renewed. She has a pending green card application and all of her son’s paperwork were in order. She has repeatedly requested that her son be released. Shaw’s case is scheduled for a hearing at the end of the month.

CBS Los Angeles [8/14/2025 4:09 PM, Chelsea Hylton, 51860K] reports Mayor Karen Bass was joined by other local leaders in Los Angeles to reiterate their call for the end of what they have described as "discriminatory and reckless" immigration raids across the area. Bass has been an outspoken voice for the immigrant community in LA and has taken a stand against what she calls "unlawful raids from federal agencies.” At a news conference Thursday morning, Bass said every part of the city has been affected by the raids and the local economy has taken a "major blow because of it." She added that Angelenos stand united with a clear message to the Trump administration that the "discriminatory and reckless raids" need to end now. Bass was joined by Councilwoman Katy Young Yaroslavsky, women leaders, lawyers, members from One LA and other community organizations to highlight the financial setbacks businesses are experiencing, the fear struck into residents across the city and the negative effect of students not attending school.

New York Times [8/14/2025 4:20 PM, Jill Cowan and Orlando Mayorquín, 153395K] reports on Thursday morning, educators fanned out to Los Angeles public schools to do many of the things that are done every year on the first day of school to help families feel safe. They high-fived students and greeted parents dropping off their children. But this year, there was another task at hand: Looking out for federal immigration agents. As more than half a million students headed back to Los Angeles Unified School District campuses this week, the mood was tense against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s immigration raids. But district and local leaders sought to reassure students and their families with a vast mobilization of officials and community organizations. School district employees helped patrol the areas around schools in neighborhoods that have been the scene of raids in recent weeks. At Charles Maclay Middle School in Pacoima, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in the eastern San Fernando Valley, parents and students were welcomed by about a dozen staff members and volunteers holding signs in English and Spanish with messages of support. Social workers, counselors and others have reached out to more than 10,000 families at risk of being targeted by immigration enforcement, including many whose children stopped coming to school late last school year, district officials said. They said district staff would distribute a “Family Preparedness” package, which would include information about immigrants’ rights as well as instructions on how to designate alternate caretakers if parents are detained. School administrators have been trained in what to do if federal agents show up on campus. Bus routes have been altered or added to ensure hundreds of children whose parents are afraid to be on the street can still get to school. In total, more than 1,000 school district staff members were dispatched to help with the effort.

Los Angeles Times [8/14/2025 9:11 PM, Hannah Fry and Howard Blume, 14672K] reports Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was walking his family’s dog in Van Nuys on a recent morning when he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials, according to authorities and published reports. Guerrero-Cruz, who turned 18 this month, was set to start his senior year at Reseda Charter High School on Thursday, according to a GoFundMe page set up to support his family and legal fees. Instead, he’s being held in Department of Homeland Security custody pending removal from the United States, the agency confirmed in a statement to KTLA-TV. "Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz, an illegal alien from Chile, overstayed his visa by more than two years, abusing the Visa Waiver Program under which he entered the United States, which required him to depart the United States on March 15, 2023," the statement read. The department did not immediately respond to an email from The Times for further comment. When he was taken into custody Friday morning, immigration agents tied his dog to a tree and then unclipped his collar, allowing the animal to run loose on Sepulveda Boulevard, according to the GoFundMe page. "He is more than just a student — he is a devoted son, a caring brother, a loyal friend, and a valued member of our community. He carries a tremendous amount of responsibility at home, helping care for his five-month-old twin brothers and his six-year-old brother. He is a good student, with a kind heart, who has always stepped up for his family," according to the GoFundMe page. Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Alberto Carvalho said during a news conference Thursday that he spoke to the boy’s mother, who described the dismal conditions her son is facing in custody. She said her son was in a small holding area filled with 40 men, most much older than her son. "He is 18 years old, but he’s a kid. He has not been exposed to anything in his life," Carvalho said, recounting his discussion with Guerrero-Cruz’s mother. "He drinks water once a day. The food is insufficient. Mom said that there was not enough room for everybody to sit or lie down at the same time.” During their conversation, Carvalho said, she "was having difficulty holding back tears. She was crying with every word that came out of her mouth.” A person with knowledge of Guerrero-Cruz’s situation who declined to be named for fear of reprisal confirmed that he attended the high school in Reseda for his junior year. The person added that teachers are working to "make sure all students feel safe" despite the ongoing raids.

Telemundo [8/15/2025 1:46 AM, Danielle Smith, 37K] reports a person was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while waiting to pick up his child from Linda Vista Elementary School Thursday afternoon, the San Diego Unified School District confirmed. Several families, not including students, witnessed the incident, which occurred off campus around 3:10 p.m., Linda Vista Elementary School Principal Miriam Atlas said in a letter to parents. "We have been working with our school agencies, including the San Diego Unified Police Department, the Superintendent’s Office, and Youth Services, to ensure the affected family has the resources they need during this difficult time," Atlas wrote in the letter. The principal said ICE cannot enter the campus without a valid warrant and that the school administration has reminded its staff of the relevant policies and procedures. Atlas referred families to the SDUSD Equity Division website, which has a page dedicated to sharing information about the rights of the district’s community. Atlas also said resources will be available on campus if students or their families need support. The district superintendent is expected to address the incident during a news conference Friday morning. The gender of the detained individual is unknown at this time. NBC 7 has reached out to ICE for more information but has not yet received a response.

Telemundo52 [8/14/2025 9:26 PM, Christian Cazares andElizabeth Chavolla, 103K] reports two children have been left without their mother after she was detained by immigration agents in Riverside. The single mother was detained by immigration agents while heading to work with her son at her beauty salon. The video shows the moment the agents break the car window, and several masked federal agents identifying themselves as police officers surround the family before breaking the car window to arrest them. "My brother and I are suffering. It wasn’t fair," said Alexander Fabián García, son of the woman who was arrested. With his mother’s permission, 16-year-old Fabián García said the detained woman is his mother, Ángela Fabián, and that she was heading to her beauty salon on July 6 with his 18-year-old brother. The scene, according to the family, was an ambush that occurred just blocks from their home in Riverside. Fabián García said his mother isn’t a criminal. "Everything she does is good." The family told Telemundo 52 that the single mother from Oaxaca has been living in the country for more than 25 years, fighting for a better life for herself and her two children thanks to her beauty salon. "She couldn’t stop working. She had to take care of her children and pay her rent. Nothing is the same because now my two nephews will be left without her," said Ana Fabián Ángeles, sister of the detained woman. The 41-year-old mother remains at the Adelanto Detention Center, where her family said she recently celebrated her birthday. “We learned that she is volunteering, cutting the hair of detained people to support them,” said Sofía Spencer, the niece of the detained woman. Today the family said they are doing everything possible to move forward without the person who unites them. "I love you, Mom," was the message the detained woman’s son sent her through Telemundo 52’s cameras. The beauty salon remains closed, and the brothers say they don’t know if they can keep it running. Telemundo 52 attempted to obtain details from ICE regarding Ángela Fabián’s case, but has not received a response. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [8/14/2025 3:15 PM, Matt Finn, 46878K] Video HERE reports for decades, the infamous Figueora Street corridor in downtown Los Angeles has been a seedy haven for sex workers and human trafficking. In a new effort to take down a particularly heinous gang that allegedly runs a sex ring in the area, the federal government and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) executed a sweeping pre-dawn bust targeting eleven suspects wanted for allegedly drugging, raping, and selling women and children as young as 14-years-old. The bust was a partnership between the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and LAPD. Fox News was exclusively embedded during Wednesday’s early-morning operation aimed at taking down the Hoover street gang. The feds say members of the Hoover gang brazenly posted pictures on social media with stacks of cash, designer clothes and cars to lure vulnerable women into sex work with the promise of a lavish lifestyle. Instead, the 150-page criminal complaint says women ended up enslaved in a human trafficking enterprise in which they were mercilessly beaten, raped and sold for sex. Operation Broken Blade successfully took into custody 10 out of 11 of its targets. One suspect, 31-year-old Bryan Isrel managed to flee and remains at large – but Isrel is considered a fugitive by the DOJ, which is actively searching for him. Federal investigators say a female, Amaya Armstead, who goes by the street name "Lady Duck" was a lead target and prolific human trafficker. Armsted’s moniker Lady Duck is even tattooed on at least four victim’s bodies. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [8/15/2025 12:30 AM, Colin Sheeley, 44540K] reports a man was hit and killed on a Southern California freeway Thursday while he was running from an immigration raid at a Home Depot, authorities said. Dylan Feik, the city manager of Monrovia, in Los Angeles County about 10 miles northeast of Pasadena, said a police officer saw the raid after the police department received a call about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the area. During the activity, someone ran onto the 210 Freeway, he said. Shortly afterward, the fire department and emergency workers responded to a call of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian. The person was taken to a hospital and died from injuries sustained in the incident, Feik said. The California Highway Patrol said that the victim was a man and that the circumstances around his death are under investigation. His identity has not been publicly released. Video recorded moments after the accident shows a man in a black T-shirt lying near the inside lane of the freeway. Vincent Enriquez, who recorded the video, said he thought at first it was a motorcycle accident. "I was kind of confused on how he was on the freeway laying down," he said. "I assumed either he was hit by a car trying to cross or he must’ve gotten out of the vehicle from a car accident.” The Department of Homeland Security denied its agents chased the person and said they do not know the person’s legal status. "This individual was not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We were not aware of this incident or notified by California Highway Patrol until hours after operations in the area had concluded.” Feik said that the city did not have any additional information about the operation, including about any possible detentions, and that Monrovia has not received any communication from ICE. Palmira Figueroa, spokesperson for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said 13 workers were detained during the raid. "It was a violent, aggressive bust," she said. "Some of them were chasing workers in cars while they were running away.” Network organizers are trying to reach family members, as well as the other men who were detained, Figueroa said.

Chicago Tribune [8/14/2025 3:08 PM, Olivia Stevens, 3987K] reports at Governors State University, international students are a source of pride, as well as revenue. So as the Trump administration’s immigration and higher education policies usher in the revocation of thousands of student visas as well as fear of what might happen next, officials at the University Park school are preparing for the worst. "Every administration has a different viewpoint on how they handle international students," said Paul McGuinness, the Governors State vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. "But there’s also a difference in the type of institution and how you might benefit from students." The Trump administration canceled visas of international students at institutions including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago as part of a larger movement nationwide. The legal status of about 1,000 of the students across the country was later restored, but the president has continued to suspend the entry of some foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs as well as pull federal funding from elite research institutions. While nationwide international students make up 6% of total postsecondary enrollment, they represented 14%, or 627 students, at Governors State. Students at select partner universities in Ethiopia, China, India, Taiwan, Turkey, Canada and Chile receive discounted tuition, but international undergraduate and graduate students overall pay a higher rate than all domestic students, McGuinness said. While Governors State relies on little federal money, the university said a drop in international student enrollment, in conjunction with a looming "demographic cliff" due to fewer babies being born, could be financially devastating. Colleges and universities already experienced a 15% decline in enrollment between 2010 and 2021, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. A report released in December by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education says the number of 18-year-olds who graduate from high school each year will decrease by 13%, or nearly half a million, by 2041. Of the about 1.1 million international students in the U.S. during the 2023-2024 academic year, about 330,000 came from India and 277,000 came from China, which Trump called out as a target country for visa cancellations. McGuiness said top countries of origin among Governors State University students mirror national trends though the university declined to provide specific enrollment data for international students.

FOX News [8/14/2025 4:51 PM, Diana Stancy, 46878K] reports the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), America’s largest union of border patrol officers, is endorsing former top Trump Department of Justice official Aaron Reitz to be the next attorney general of Texas. This comes as current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican and Trump ally, has declined to run for re-election, instead choosing to challenge GOP Sen. John Cornyn for the U.S. Senate. Reitz is a former Marine who has also served on the staffs of Paxton and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Fox News Digital broke the news in June that Reitz was resigning his high-ranking position with the Trump DOJ to run for attorney general of Texas, entering what he is calling a "fight for the soul of Texas.” Until then, he was serving under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. Reitz’s campaign is now gaining new momentum with a key endorsement from the NBPC, a national group that represents nearly 20,000 Border Patrol agents and personnel. In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, NBPC President Paul Perez called Reitz "a principled fighter with a deep sense of duty and an unwavering commitment to supporting the mission of Border Patrol agents.” Perez said that Reitz "has had our backs time and again" throughout his career and that the NBPC is "confident Aaron will be a fierce and effective ally to defend every inch" of Texas’ over 1,200-mile-long southern border. "As Border Patrol agents, we take pride in standing on the front lines of America’s security. As a Marine, Aaron understands that commitment," said Perez.

CBS News [8/14/2025 6:05 PM, Kierra Frazier, 51860K] reports federal prosecutors said Thursday they would seek the death penalty against a Washington state woman accused of fatally shooting a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a traffic stop in January after she was indicted by a grand jury on a murder charge. Teresa Youngblut, 21, is accused of fatally shooting David Maland on Jan. 20 in northern Vermont. Police say she opened fire on agents during a traffic stop, sparking a shootout that also left her companion, Felix Bauckholt, a German national, dead. Youngblut initially faced federal firearm charges and was ordered held without bail in January. On Thursday, prosecutors announced that a Vermont grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Youngblut with the murder of the Border Patrol agent and the assault of two additional agents with a deadly weapon, along with related firearms offenses.

CBS New York [8/14/2025 7:50 PM, Natalie Duddridge, 51860K] Video: HERE reports Immigration advocates rallied on the steps of the New York City Department of Education’s headquarters on Thursday morning, demanding a student’s immediate release from federal custody. Mamadou Mouctar Diallo’s teachers joined city leaders at the rally and said he should be in his classroom at Brooklyn Frontiers High School, instead of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Diallo, a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea, was detained by ICE agents last week following a routine immigration court appearance at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, advocates said. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Diallo, "crossed the Southern border illegally as part of a caravan of 51 other illegal aliens apprehended by CBP on Jan. 13, 2024," adding "Diallo was released into our country by the Biden administration. ICE arrested him on Aug. 4, 2025. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.” ICE confirmed he is being held at a correctional facility in Pennsylvania. "Take a good look at this young man who came here from his home in West Africa. He’s alone," City Councilmember Rita Joseph said while holding his picture at the rally. "Mamadou did the right thing. He showed up for his routine check in and he was abducted. A student seeking a better life, pursuing his education, has been stripped.”

Daily Wire [8/14/2025 6:30 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3816K] reports two immigrants from Mexico were convicted by a Texas jury on Wednesday of harboring illegal aliens at their bakery near the southern border. Leonardo Baez-Lara and Alicia Avila-Guel were found guilty of two counts of harboring aliens and conspiracy at their business in Los Fresnos, Texas. The married couple, who are lawful permanent residents from Mexico, employed and housed illegal aliens at the shopping plaza they owned, federal investigators said. "The jury’s verdict affirms that the defendants knowingly conspired to harbor individuals in the country illegally, committed two separate acts of harboring, and did so for personal financial gain," said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee. "These actions not only violate federal immigration laws but also exploit vulnerable individuals for profit. This conviction sends a clear message: those who engage in human smuggling and harboring for financial benefit will be investigated, prosecuted and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Baez-Lara and Avila-Guel could face up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and lose their legal status upon sentencing. They are set to be sentenced on November 18. Testimony during the trial revealed that the pair provided a room for employees to live in the same shopping plaza as the bakery. "It was a rectangular room with mattresses on the floor and housed two employees at the time of inspection who were unauthorized to work in the United States. Testimony revealed the room was originally an insurance office which became repurposed as a storage area for kitchen equipment. Authorities also found electrical wires which, coupled with the absence of a fire extinguisher and only one entrance, resulted in a safety risk for the inhabitants," the Justice Department said.

UPI [8/14/2025 6:37 PM, Mark Moran, 3077K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection has launched Enhanced Passenger Processing, a streamlined security system for international travelers, at Los Angeles International Airport, the agency announced Thursday. "The innovative biometric solution is designed to streamline international arrivals experiences for U.S. citizens, reducing wait times in the international arrivals process," CBP said in a statement. Auto-capture cameras snap photos when a U.S. citizen arrives at an inspection area at LAX and uses biometric facial comparison technology to identify the traveler. The technology provides a "touchless, seamless, and secure arrival experience," CBP continued. The agency said officials have seen a 25% reduction in wait times nationally for U.S. citizens using the system. While the photo capture system is touchless, a CBP agent is stationed nearby to assist travelers with questions or address any issues that arise with the system.

New York Post [8/14/2025 11:52 AM, Isabel Vincent, 49956K] reports taxpayer funds totaling $25 million were handed to US groups with alleged links to terror organizations or extremist ideology, a bombshell new study has found. In a twist of irony, the funds were originally allocated to help deradicalize would-be terrorists, but may have ended up in the pockets of groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime, according to the report. The Department of Homeland Security gave out the cash through its disaster relief programs, including the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), between 2013 and 2024, according to the report released by the Middle East Forum, a think tank based in Philadelphia. "We’ve seen the left allocate billions of dollars towards the latest woke pet projects, but the Middle East Forum’s study of DHS spending uncovered something far more sinister," said Ben Baird, a project director at the Middle East Forum and co-author of the study. "Instead of protecting the homeland, the federal government is bankrolling extremists who idolize 9/11 hijackers and sympathize with the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre in Israel. "Taxpayer dollars meant to strengthen American security were used to undermine public safety." The group says it is working with DHS to "rescind grants to extremist groups" and to make the granting process more transparent.

New York Times [8/14/2025 6:50 PM, Judson Jones, 138952K] reports as Tropical Storm Erin moves west toward the Caribbean islands and the official forecast from the National Hurricane Center shows the storm likely beginning to curve — potentially even away from the United States — the center’s forecasters have exercised caution, consistently warning that there is a “greater than normal uncertainty” about where the storm will go after the weekend. But why? The uncertainty has to do with quite a few factors, but a main one is the output of the computer weather models that help meteorologists make their forecasts. Specifically, it’s a type of map called a spaghetti plot showing where a computer simulation predicts the center of the storm will be five, seven or even 14 days in the future. These mapped model outputs get their name from their resemblance to long strands of pasta. The closer the lines are together, the more confidence forecasters have in what the storm might do, because it means many of the models agree with one another. For the next few days, there is a pretty reliable consensus that the storm will track northwest. But how much and when it might turn north or even northeast are still big questions. “The confidence in the predicted location is less at, say, five days, than at two days,” said Richard Pasch, an expert at the Hurricane Center. “In the case of Erin, the model spread increases beyond five days, but not unusually so.” “It should be noted,” he added, “that the typically greater uncertainty in the forecasts at six and seven days is the main reason why the National Hurricane Center does not currently issue official forecasts at these longer time ranges.”

Miami Herald [8/14/2025 12:59 PM, Emily Goodin and Alex Harris, 3805K] reports that FEMA is staffing up again after a seven-month hiring freeze, but worries remain about the federal agency’s ability to react if a hurricane strikes. President Donald Trump’s pause on new federal jobs expired on July 15 and employment opportunities with the Federal Emergency Management Agency appeared on USAJobs — the federal government’s employment website — in the past two weeks. But key positions at the agency remain unfilled and there are concerns its reduced workforce could result in reimbursement delays if a hurricane strikes. Local governments in Florida are also stockpiling cash in case overall federal aid is cut. Tropical Storm Erin is expected to become the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season by Friday, although it’s unclear if the storm will impact the U.S. coastal states. Deanne Criswell, who was FEMA administrator in the Biden Administration, told McClatchy she was concerned the staff shortages could result in "having delays in getting reimbursed, and other contracts are having delays in getting reimbursed." One of the empty positions at FEMA is Administrator for Region Four, which is responsible for overseeing agency operations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. There is a deputy administrator in place but the top role hasn’t been formally filed since Robert Samaan vacated it in June.

CBS Chicago [8/14/2025 8:24 PM, Tara Molina, 51860K] Video: HERE some Chicago homeowners are still dealing the aftermath of the torrential rain that caused flooding at the end of July. It’s why the Federal Emergency Management Agency joined state, county, and city officials this week to go door-to-door in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood to survey the damage in one of the areas hit hardest by the storms. Weeks later, some in Garfield Ridge were still dealing with cleanup from the flooding, so city, county, state, and federal partners began performing a preliminary damage assessment on Wednesday to get a sampling of the damage. "We’re out on the street today," Illinois Emergency Management Agency recovery division chief Greg Nimmo. "We’re giving it everything we’ve got.” The preliminary damage assessment is the first step of a flood damage review before a state and local review that goes to the governor’s office before making a formal request for federal disaster recovery assistance from the White House; all following the major storms that soaked Chicago for three consecutive days in late July. "This is a necessary and preliminary step in order for the state to request federal assistance," said FEMA public affairs specialist Kim Keblish. "FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters; and that’s exactly what we’re doing today.”

Washington Examiner [8/14/2025 10:46 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1934K] reports that Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) on Wednesday requested funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for widespread flooding in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Emergency Management said that damage in southeastern Wisconsin met the federal threshold to receive disaster relief. The Milwaukee area saw more than 14 inches of rainfall in under 24 hours last week, resulting in large swaths of the area flooding. "Disastrous storms and flash flooding have displaced kids and families and damaged homes, businesses, community centers, and so much more," Evers said in a news release. "It is absolutely critical that Wisconsin receives every available federal resource to respond and help our communities rebuild." The request will allow FEMA to conduct a preliminary damage assessment, the first step for a state looking to receive federal disaster relief. "The damage caused by recent extreme weather is extensive, and it’s going to take significant time and resources to recover, repair infrastructure, and help support the folks and communities who have been affected. It’s clear we will need additional federal resources and support to do so," Evers said. Four rivers in the Milwaukee area — the Kinnickinnic, Milwaukee, Menominee, and Root rivers — hit record-high levels over the weekend. The Milwaukee River, which runs through downtown, saw more than 4 feet of water over flood level. Suburban Wauwatosa saw some of the worst damage, with Evers calling flooding in the area "unprecedented." The flooding canceled the final day of the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis. Milwaukee’s public works director, Jerrel Kruschke, said the city is still assessing damage.

USA Today [8/14/2025 2:48 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 75552K] reports Colorado has declared a statewide disaster emergency as two dozen uncontained wildfires rage across the state. Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order Aug. 14, declaring the disaster emergency, citing continued fire risk and weather conditions that have already led to fires so large they have broken records. Colorado is one of several western states currently facing large wildfires in sweltering summer conditions. "We are actively supporting fire detection and suppression efforts on multiple fronts," Polis said in a statement announcing the order. "This new action will bolster our ability to jump on fires early in partnership with local communities, and will help ensure the state, in partnership with local communities, has the resources necessary to combat wildfires this season.” The order doesn’t specify any one fire, but aims to address the state’s overall response. The ongoing Lee Fire, which has burned over 123,000 acres as of the morning of Aug. 14, is one of the state’s largest in history and has forced evacuations in western Colorado, including one at a state prison. That fire is just 3% contained, according to InciWeb, a federal government website that monitors wildfires. The Lee Fire is already the fifth-largest fire in state history in terms of acreage.

AP [8/14/2025 8:42 PM, Gene Johnson, Claire Rush and Cedar Attanasio, 11859K] reports the glacial flooding that sent residents of Alaska’s capital city scrambling this week has become an annual ordeal for those who live along the picturesque river that winds from the nearby Mendenhall Glacier. This year, a giant wall of reinforced sandbags erected with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held back the worst of the flooding in Juneau, to residents’ great relief. The damage was nothing like what happened the last two years, when flooding was rampant and some homes washed away. But the wall is merely a temporary barrier. The effort to devise a permanent solution is complicated by what scientists don’t yet know about how human-caused global warming will impact the yearly outbursts of water from an ice dam at the glacier. Juneau is just one of many communities around the globe struggling to engineer a way out of the worst damage from climate change. "We can’t keep doing this," said Ann Wilkinson Lind, who lives on the banks of the Mendenhall River. "We need a levee or some other permanent fix. ... This is an emergency situation that can’t take 10 years for this study and that study and every other study. It needs to be done now.” The Mendenhall Glacier is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Juneau, home to 30,000 people in southeast Alaska, and is a popular tourist attraction due to its proximity and easy access on walking trails. Homes on the city’s outskirts are within miles of Mendenhall Lake, which sits below the glacier, and many front the Mendenhall River. The glacial outburst flooding from the Mendenhall is itself a phenomenon caused by climate change, which is thinning glaciers around the world. A glacier nearby retreated, leaving behind a large bowl — Suicide Basin — that fills each spring and summer with rainwater and snowmelt dammed by the Mendenhall. When that water builds up enough pressure, it forces its way under or around the ice dam, enters Mendenhall Lake, and flows down the Mendenhall River toward Juneau. Flooding from the basin has been an annual concern since 2011 and has gotten worse, with new water-level records being set each of the last three years. City officials responded this year by working with state, federal and tribal entities to install the temporary barrier along roughly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of riverbank. The 10,000 "Hesco" barriers are essentially giant, reinforced sandbags intended to protect more than 460 properties, said emergency manager Ryan O’Shaughnessy.

Blaze [8/14/2025 11:49 AM, Joseph M. Hanneman, 1805K] reports a Rhode Island man indicted for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Donald J. Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller remains free on a GPS ankle monitor after two Democrat-affiliated federal judges refused the U.S. Department of Justice’s motions to jail him pending trial. Carl D. Montague, 37, of Providence, was charged in an August 13 indictment with threats against the president, interstate threats, and threatening to assault, kidnap, or murder a United States official. All are felony charges that carry possible prison terms from five to 20 years. Montague was originally arrested July 9, and despite four assault convictions since 2014, a magistrate judge refused to jail him on a motion from the DOJ. A President Joe Biden-appointed U.S. district judge later refused another DOJ motion to detain Montague and ordered that he wear a GPS monitoring device instead.

NewsMax [8/14/2025 6:33 PM, Michael Katz, 4622K] reports the Secret Service apprehended a person outside the White House on Thursday, the third day since President Donald Trump heightened law enforcement efforts in Washington, D.C. A video shared on X showed what appeared to be a white male in a striped shirt, tan shorts, and cap being wrestled to the ground by two Secret Service officers on Pennsylvania Avenue. One officer can be heard saying, "stop fighting" and "give me your hand." A third officer runs to the scene and a fourth arrives on a bicycle. A voice on the video tells pedestrians, "They’re going to close the avenue. Everybody to the park. Everybody to the park. Avenue is closed." The voice was likely referring to Lafayette Park, a common destination for people being directed away from the White House during security operations or closures. "On Aug. 14 at approximately 3:15 pm, U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers detained an individual near the White House complex who was harassing a water vendor," a Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement to Newsmax. "The individual was arrested for simple assault and resisting arrest and was transported to the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District for processing.” The individual’s name, age, and residence were not released. Newsmax reached out to D.C. Metro Police for comment.

Bloomberg [8/14/2025 12:38 PM, Myles Miller, 19320K] reports that the call to Beau Disbrow was unlike any the Anchorage realtor had ever received. His short-term rentals typically house tourists bound for glaciers, or business travelers passing through. This time, the request came from the US Secret Service. “Most of my short-term rentals were booked, but I did manage to put some of them into one home,” he said. It was not the last inquiry connected to the highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin set for Friday. Soon after the Secret Service call, the Russian consulate in New York phoned Disbrow with the same request. With no vacancies left, he referred the officials to a friend with furnished homes sitting empty. When Trump announced the Alaska meeting a week ago, the lone agent assigned to the Secret Service’s post in the Last Frontier began preparing to host hundreds of reinforcements in the days ahead. The agency’s mission was unusually complex: to protect both the American and Russian presidents at the same site, each surrounded by a heavily armed security detail. Four people familiar with the planning said the operation became an all-out sprint, compressed into a single week. Because the meeting is on American soil, the Secret Service can move weapons, communications equipment and medical gear without foreign restrictions. But the geography presents its own hurdles. Anchorage has limited hotel rooms and a small rental-car market, so vehicles and other assets are being flown in or driven from other parts of the state.

NewsNation [8/14/2025 10:22 AM, Sandra Sanchez, 5801K] Video: HERE reports wearing kevlar bulletproof vests under personal flotation devices in triple-digit heat, members of the U.S. Coast Guard packed into two boats and launched into the Rio Grande from a public boat ramp in this border town in deep South Texas. Border Report was allowed to ride along Thursday as part of the crew’s nightly patrols. The agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, assists the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection stop illegal immigration and drugs from Mexico. That mission has increased since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and Congress nearly doubled the Coast Guard’s budget — allocating about $25 billion for the agency — in the recent budget bill that Trump signed into law on July 4. "Since January of this year, we have stepped up certain assets to key maritime areas, such as the Rio Grande, and to surge forces down here to assist," said Chief Petty Officer Andrew Werner, who leads this Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team from New Orleans. They run two boats nightly loaded with weapons and other tactical equipment, as well as equipment to help anyone drowning in the Rio Grande. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [8/14/2025 12:27 PM, Staff, 51860K] reports the United States deployed two warships Wednesday to a shoal in disputed waters in South China Sea, where two Chinese ships collided earlier in the week while chasing a smaller Philippine ship. The high-seas accident raised concerns about maritime safety and questions about the extent to which the U.S. should involve itself in longstanding tensions between those countries. Both China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal and other outcroppings in the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay overlapping claims in the contested waters. The USS Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, and USS Cincinnati, a littoral combat ship, were shadowed by a Chinese navy ship while sailing about 30 nautical miles from the Scarborough Shoal. There were no reports of any untoward incident, Philippine coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said, citing information from U.S. officials and a Philippine surveillance flight. The U.S. Navy has staged what it calls freedom-of-navigation voyages and overflights in the South China Sea for years to challenge China’s restrictions and its demand for entry notifications in virtually the entire stretch of the disputed waters that it claims. That has angered China and its forces have had close runs-in with U.S. warships and aircraft on such patrols in international waters and airspace. The deployment happened after Washington’s ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, on Tuesday condemned "the latest reckless action by China directed against a Philippine vessel" in Scarborough. The rich fishing atoll off the northwestern Philippines has been the scene of increasingly tense confrontations between the Chinese and Philippine coast guard, fishing and other ships in recent years. The U.S. is also discussing the possible deployment of more missile launcher to the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against tensions in the South China Sea’s contested waters, as well as other security hotspots in Asia, Manila’s ambassador to Washington told the Associated Press on Thursday. However, neither side has reached a final decision on the matter, said ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez.

Reuters [8/15/2025 4:34 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports China’s defence ministry accused Philippine Coast Guard vessels on Friday of "dangerous manoeuvres" in response to reports of a collision earlier this week between two Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea. The Philippine vessels’ actions "seriously endangered the safety of Chinese vessels and personnel," ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin. Jiang neither confirmed nor denied that there had been a collision involving two Chinese vessels on Monday. "We demand that the Philippine side immediately stop its infringing and provocative rhetoric and actions," Jiang said. "China reserves the right to take necessary countermeasures." The Scarborough Shoal has been a major source of tension in what is a strategic conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce. Footage from the Philippine Coast Guard showed a Chinese coastguard ship trailing the PCG vessel before a Chinese navy ship suddenly cut across the path of the other Chinese ship, colliding with it and damaging the forecastle of the coastguard vessel. It was the first known crash between Chinese vessels in the area. The Philippines on Friday said it bore no responsibility for the collision. "It was an unfortunate outcome, but not one caused by our actions," Manila’s foreign minister Theresa Lazaro said in a statement. The Philippine Coast Guard deployed three vessels on Monday to deliver supplies for Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal before the collision took place, Manila said on Tuesday. The confrontation was the latest in a series of incidents amid a period of heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal voided Beijing’s sweeping claims in the region, saying they had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.

CNN [8/14/2025 4:12 PM, Katelyn Polantz, Aileen Graef] reports federal district courts are beginning to implement new approaches to guard confidential information in cases following a breach of the electronic databases used in the judiciary. The policy changes move an already vulnerable and antiquated record-keeping system to paper-only filings in some instances after a major cyber security breach of federal court records this summer that may have been perpetrated by a foreign government. Federal courts that have announced changes to how attorneys make sealed filings include are in Washington state, Florida, New York, Maryland and Virginia, representing only a small portion of the business of the federal judiciary across the country. The Administrative Office of the US Courts, which is the central administrator for the judicial branch of government, said last week it was working to further enhance security to prevent future attacks and protect sensitive documents. But it is up to each court to set their own policies for intaking filings. Officials working in the courts have long warned the systems could be vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Bloomberg [8/14/2025 5:37 PM, Jake Bleiberg and Jamie Tarabay, 19320K] reports Russian government hackers lurked in the records system of the US courts for years and stole sensitive documents that judges had ordered sealed from public view, according to two people familiar with the matter and a report seen by Bloomberg News. The attackers had access to what was supposed to be protected information for multiple years, the report on the breach shows. They gained access by exploiting stolen user credentials and a cybersecurity vulnerability in an outdated server used by the federal judiciary, according to the report, which says the hackers specifically searched for sealed records. The report, which was reviewed in part by Bloomberg, doesn’t identify the attackers. But investigators found evidence that they were a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, according to the people, who spoke on condition that they not be named because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. It’s unclear exactly when the hackers first penetrated the system and when the courts became aware of the breach.

Daily Wire [8/14/2025 9:15 AM, Zach Jewell, 3816K] reports U.S. air and naval forces are set to deploy to the Southern Caribbean Sea following President Donald Trump’s directive for the Pentagon to use the military for operations against Latin American drug cartels, Reuters reported on Thursday. Sources briefed on the move told Reuters that after Trump’s order, the Defense Department has begun deploying U.S. troops to address "threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region." Last week, Trump quietly signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, according to The New York Times. It remains unknown which specific cartels the president is targeting in his directive. After Trump was sworn into office, the United States designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. Most of those cartels primarily operate in Mexico, but the reported deployment of troops to the South Caribbean Sea suggests that the operation will focus more on Central and South America. Venezuela, whose northern coastline sits on the South Caribbean Sea, has been a recent subject of the Trump administration’s scrutiny. Shortly after the president took office, the State Department designated the Venezuelan international criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), as a foreign terrorist organization, and most recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its terrorist organization list.

FOX News [8/14/2025 12:39 PM, Ashley Oliver and Jake Gibson, 46878K] reports the Department of Justice announced on Thursday it brought criminal charges against five fugitives who are allegedly senior leaders of the United Cartels, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and involved in a massive drug distribution network. DOJ Criminal Division head Matthew Galeotti said the announcement was a "significant step" for the DOJ and a result of "extraordinary policework.” "This investigation began in a small town in Middle America and led to clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in Michoacán, Mexico. … This case demonstrates our relentless pursuit of cartel leaders who flood our communities with illegal drugs and terrorize citizens on both sides of the border with violence," Galeotti said. The Trump administration took a whole-of-government approach to addressing the United Cartels. In addition to the indictments unveiled on Thursday, the Treasury Department announced economic sanctions against several of its alleged leaders and the State Department announced $26 million in rewards for information leading to the arrests of the five defendants, who remain at-large.

Washington Examiner [8/14/2025 3:26 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1934K] reports the Justice Department on Thursday unsealed sweeping drug trafficking indictments against five top leaders of the United Cartels, a powerful Michoacán-based criminal syndicate that President Donald Trump earlier this year designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The case is being prosecuted in the Eastern District of Tennessee, where federal prosecutors say the investigation first began before expanding into an international operation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the charges aim to "dismantle the United Cartels and bring their leaders to justice for unleashing death and destruction on American citizens," as the Treasury Department simultaneously rolled out economic sanctions targeting the group, its leadership, and allied factions. Prosecutors allege they also deployed armed factions equipped with assault rifles, improvised explosive devices, armored vehicles, and even armed drones to enforce control in Mexico’s Tierra Caliente region. The five remain fugitives. The State Department announced reward offers totaling up to $26 million for tips leading to their capture, including $10 million for Farias Alvarez.

Breitbart [8/14/2025 12:52 PM, Lucas Nolan, 3077K] reports that the U.S. Department of Energy announced this week that it has made an initial selection of 11 projects to develop high-tech nuclear test reactors, part of the Trump administration’s ambitious plans to rebuild a domestic nuclear supply chain and quadruple U.S. nuclear energy output by 2050. Part of Trump’s plan includes re-shoring uranium enrichment, an industry that is now dominated by foreign competitors. The first signs of an attempt to bring this critical industry back to the U.S. were seen earlier this month, with the announcement of a new enrichment facility in Kentucky. The United States invented uranium enrichment and dominated the global nuclear fuel market until the 1980s. But decades of U.S. underinvestment — coupled with unfair competition from foreign, state-owned companies that benefit from subsidies and trade protections — has left the U.S. without a large-scale uranium enrichment capacity to meet commercial and national security needs. State-owned corporations based in Russia, China, and Europe own nearly 100 percent of the world’s uranium enrichment capacity. None of these foreign state-owned entities can meet U.S. national security requirements for enriched uranium. Congress has provided the Department of Energy with about $3 billion to jumpstart U.S. production of enriched uranium. The Biden Administration made initial selections that included two European state-owned enterprises that already dominate the U.S. market, along with the U.S. company operating in Ohio and a handful of startups that have a longer, more uncertain timeline to deployment.

Breitbart [8/15/2025 3:27 AM, Staff, 3077K] reports US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet Friday in Alaska in a high-stakes, high-risk summit that could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine. Putin will step onto Western soil for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and on which Russia has not relented, making rapid gains just before the summit. Trump extended the invitation at the Russian leader’s suggestion, but the US president has since been defensive and warned that the meeting could be over within minutes if Putin does not compromise. Every word and gesture will be closely watched by European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included and has publicly refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia. Trump, usually fond of boasting of his deal-making skills, has called the summit a "feel-out meeting" to test Putin, whom he last saw in 2019. "I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. "If it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future," said Trump, who gave the summit a one in four chance of failure. Trump has promised to consult with European leaders and Zelensky, saying that any final agreement would come in a three-way meeting with Trump and the Ukrainian president to "divvy up" territory. Trump has voiced admiration for Putin in the past and faced some of the most intense criticism of his political career after a 2018 summit in which he appeared cowed and accepted Putin’s denials of US intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election. Before his return to the White House, Trump boasted of his relationship with Putin, blamed predecessor Joe Biden for the war and vowed to bring peace within 24 hours. But despite repeated calls to Putin, and a stunning February 28 White House meeting in which Trump publicly berated Zelensky, the Russian leader has shown no signs of compromise. Trump has acknowledged his frustration with Putin and warned of "very severe consequences" if he does not accept a ceasefire — but also agreed to see him in Alaska. The talks are set to begin at 11:30 am (1900 GMT) Friday at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, the largest US military installation in Alaska and a Cold War base for surveillance of the Soviet Union.

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