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.

NewsMax [8/15/2025 1:01 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4622K] reports approximately 1.6 million people without legal immigration status have left the United States since the start of the Trump administration, according to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. "In less than 200 days, 1.6 MILLION illegal immigrants have left the United States population. This is massive," Noem said in a social media post thanking President Donald Trump. She added that the decrease would yield safer streets, reduced taxpayer spending, less burden on schools and hospitals and improved job prospects for Americans. The figure comes from a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a group that supports lower immigration levels but has acknowledged its estimate may overstate the decline. The Department of Homeland Security said the claim is based on CIS’s analysis of data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), administered by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPS collects information on birthplace and citizenship, but does not ask respondents about immigration status. CIS noted several caveats in its methodology. It said increased enforcement measures may have led to fewer immigrants responding to the survey, possibly exaggerating the apparent drop. The center also said its data on legal immigration through July 2025 is incomplete, adding further uncertainty to the estimate.

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(B) KFOX14 Morning News 8-9A [8/15/2025 10:49 AM, Staff]

CNN [8/15/2025 12:40 PM, Natasha Bertrand, 21433K] reports the US military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two US defense officials told CNN — a dramatic show of force that will give the president a broad range of military options should he want to target drug cartels. The deployment of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to US Southern Command, which has not been previously reported, is part of a broader repositioning of military assets to the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility that has been underway over the last three weeks, one of the officials said. A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser are also being allocated to US Southern Command as part of the mission, the officials said. A third person familiar with the matter said the additional assets are "aimed at addressing threats to US national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region." On Friday, the US Navy announced the deployment of the USS Iwo Jima, the 22nd MEU, and the two other ships in the Amphibious Ready Group — the USS Fort Lauderdale and the USS San Antonio — but did not say where they were going. The Washington Examiner [8/15/2025 3:03 PM, Mike Brest, 1934K] reports President Donald Trump has sought to use the military more to stop drug cartels, several of which the administration has already designated as foreign terrorist organizations. It’s been one aspect of Trump’s focus on securing the U.S. southern border and stopping the flow of illegal immigration and smuggling into the country.

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Daily Caller [8/15/2025 10:50 AM, Wallace White, 1010K]
Telemundo47 [8/15/2025 4:39 PM, Staff, 131K]

FOX News [8/15/2025 4:35 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday announced there have been nearly 200 arrests in the nation’s capital, including those of murder suspects and illegal gun offenders, since the Trump administration federalized the city to tackle crime. Bondi announced Friday afternoon there have been 189 arrests in Washington, D.C., "and counting." Among those arrested were two homicide suspects, 17 suspected drug traffickers, 39 suspected illegal gun offenders, and two sexual predators, according to Bondi. She added there were 75 arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has assisted D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in reinforcing patrols and manning city checkpoints since President Donald Trump took emergency control of the police force on Monday. Bondi’s announcement comes one day after she rescinded illegal immigration protections in D.C. and instated an "emergency police commissioner" for the police department. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator (DEA) Terry Cole will take over for Metro Police Chief Pamela Smith, who has come under fire for directives that limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Bondi’s order, "Restoring Safety and Security to the District of Columbia," targeted the city’s sanctuary city policies and nixed limits on how MPD could interact with illegal immigrants.

Washington Examiner [8/15/2025 7:08 PM, Kaelan Deese and Anna Giaritelli, 1563K] reports that one in three arrests made in Washington, D.C. this week were tied to immigration-related offenses, according to federal law enforcement data and sources familiar with President Donald Trump’s federally led public safety operation in the nation’s capital. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post to X on Friday that there had been more than 120 arrests this week in the district. That arrest tally rose to over 189 as of Friday, including 75 Immigration and Customs Enforcement-related arrests, according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service and a senior administration official familiar with the matter. Per standard procedure, anyone determined to be in the country illegally is handed over to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which manages the nation’s civil immigration detention system and oversees removals. While the Washington Examiner could not verify the names or identities of all individuals arrested on immigration-related charges, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin highlighted one example from Wednesday evening. McLaughlin said ICE agents assisting a Metropolitan Police Department traffic safety checkpoint arrested Raul Giovanni Quintanilla-Cabezas, a Salvadoran national who overstayed a tourist visa and whose record includes sexual solicitation. McLaughlin said about 150 protesters gathered nearby and directed derogatory comments at ICE and partner personnel. "Our message is clear: Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States," she added.

The AP [8/15/2025 11:54 PM, Lindsay Whitehurst, Stephen Groves, Ashraf Khalil and Alanna Durkin Richer, 37974K] reports the Trump administration on Friday reversed course and agreed to leave the Washington, D.C., police chief in control of the department, while Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a new memo, directed the District’s police to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law. The order from Bondi came after officials in the nation’s capital sued Friday to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington police. The night before, his administration had escalated its intervention into the city’s law enforcement by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department, essentially placing the police force under the full control of the federal government. The attorney general’s new order represents a partial retreat for the Trump administration in the face of intense skepticism from a judge over the legality of Bondi’s earlier directive. But Bondi also signaled the administration would continue to pressure D.C. leaders to help federal authorities aggressively pursue immigrants in the country illegally, despite city laws on the books that limit cooperation between police and immigration authorities. In a social media post Friday evening, Bondi criticized D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, saying he “continues to oppose our efforts to improve public safety.” But she added, “We remain committed to working closely with Mayor Bowser.” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office said late Friday that it was still evaluating how it can comply with the new Bondi order on immigration enforcement operations. The police department already eased some restrictions on cooperating with federal officials facilitating Trump’s mass-deportation campaign but reaffirmed that it would follow the district’s sanctuary city laws. In a letter sent Friday night to D.C. citizens, Bowser wrote: “It has been an unsettling and unprecedented week in our city. Over the course of a week, the surge in federal law enforcement across D.C. has created waves of anxiety.” She added that “our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now,” but added that if Washingtonians stick together, “we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy – even when we don’t have full access to it.” The Wall Street Journal [8/15/2025 7:39 PM, Sadie Gurman and Louise Radnofsky, 646K] reports that the change came after U.S. Judge Ana Reyes ordered the Justice Department and the city’s leaders to come to a deal quickly over the issue and not risk a dangerous situation in which it wasn’t clear who was in charge of the local police in the nation’s capital. Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb rushed to court Friday after Bondi on Thursday night issued a directive that said the police department would now have to receive approval from the head of the federal drug agency, Terry Cole, before issuing any new policy directives. The lawsuit from the District of Columbia said Bondi’s initial order “threatens to wreak operational havoc within the department,” sowing confusion about the authority of current Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, and what policies the agency’s 3,100 officers must follow. “In short, it attempts to divest the District and its residents of any control of their local police force and place it, for all purposes, under the control of the federal government,” the suit says. Schwalb said after the hearing that the outcome was “a win” and that as a result, he said he believed “Chief Smith and Mayor [Muriel] Bowser rightfully remain in command of MPD.” CBS News [8/15/2025 9:45 PM, Jake Rosen, 45245K] reports that late Thursday night, Bondi named Terry Cole, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, emergency police chief in Washington, as part of her sweeping orders to increase federal control over the Metropolitan Police Department. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes heard Friday’s arguments in the case, which is centered around Section 740 of the Home Rule Act of 1973. That provision allows the president to require the D.C. mayor to provide "such services of the Metropolitan Police force as the President may deem necessary and appropriate" for up to 30 days. President Trump invoked Section 740 Monday, placing the D.C. MPD under direct federal control to crack down on crime in the district. "I think these are the kinds of issues that should be decided between the district and the government," Reyes said. "If I have to step in, I will.". Now, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith will continue leading the department, according to Yaakov Roth, principal deputy attorney general in the Justice Department. At the end of the hearing, Roth said the Justice Department would make Cole an intermediary between the White House and MPD during the Trump administration’s takeover of the city’s police. For now, the federal takeover is expected to last 30 days. Both sides agreed to continue the arguments over immigration policy next week, after the new policies are written. On Thursday night, Bondi, whose department is overseeing the 30-day federalization, announced an order terminating some of the "sanctuary" immigration policies in the nation’s capital. Under her order, the MPD would temporarily fully cooperate with federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration authorities. Bondi also rescinded guidance issued by D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith just this week that allowed police officers to transport ICE agents and their detainees and to share immigration information during traffic stops. Smith’s directive had still barred most local involvement in federal immigration enforcement. Bondi also removed guidance that prohibited D.C. police officers from searching databases to determine a person’s immigration status, even when there’s no underlying criminal warrant. NewsMax [8/15/2025 6:03 PM, Staff, 4779K] reports that that district officials, led by Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb, immediately branded the move unlawful and vowed not to comply. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes said she would issue a restraining order if Bondi’s directive was not amended by Friday evening. Justice Department attorneys agreed to revise the order, confirming that Cole could only request services from the police — through the mayor — rather than seize command. But the judge left unresolved the explosive question of whether Trump can direct D.C. officers to enforce immigration laws. That issue is expected to be decided next week.

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Washington Post [8/16/2025 5:00 AM, Emma Uber and Clarence Williams, 32099K]
Bloomberg [8/15/2025 8:22 PM, Sabrina Willmer, 75K]
Reuters [8/15/2025 9:24 PM, Sarah N. Lynch, Tim Reid and Jan Wolfe, 45746K]

The AP [8/15/2025 1:40 PM, Lindsay Whitehurst, Stephen Groves, Ashraf Khalil, and Alanna Durkin Richer, 56000K] reports the nation’s capital sued to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of its police department in court on Friday, hours after his administration escalated its intervention into the city’s law enforcement by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department. Washington’s police chief said Trump’s move would threaten law and order by upending the command structure. “In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive,” Chief Pamela Smith said in a court filing. The legal battle playing out Friday showed the escalating tensions in a mostly Democratic city that now has its police department under the control of the Republican presidential administration that exists in its midst. Trump’s takeover of the police department is historic yet had played out with a slow ramp-up in federal law enforcement officials and National Guard troops to start the week. As the weekend approached, though, signs across the city — from the streets to the legal system — suggested a deepening crisis over who controls the city’s immigration and policing policies, the district’s right to govern itself and daily life for the millions of people who live and work in the metro area.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [8/15/2025 4:38 PM, Sarah N. Lynch, Tim Reid, and Jan Wolfe, 51390K]
(B) CBS Mornings [8/15/2025 7:11 AM, Staff]
FOX News [8/15/2025 6:11 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 46878K]

CBS News [8/15/2025 12:13 PM, Jake Rosen, 51860K] Video: HERE reports the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi Friday for trying to end local directives that limit cooperation between D.C. police and federal immigration authorities during the Trump administration’s takeover of the District’s police force. The Trump administration’s attempts to end the policies represents an effort "to divest the District and its residents of any control of their local police force and place it, for all purposes, under the control of the federal government," D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote in a complaint. Bondi’s order terminating the local directives came Thursday night and amounted to a sweeping reversal of "sanctuary" policies in the nation’s capital. It allowed the Metropolitan Police Department, at least temporarily, to fully cooperate with federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration authorities. The attorney general said she was naming Terry Cole, the current head of the DEA, as emergency police chief in Washington. She cited Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration to reverse several local police policies. The D.C. attorney general is asking a federal judge to vacate Bondi’s order and declare that the U.S. attorney general lacks the authority to issue orders asserting "operational control" over the district’s police department. "These unlawful assertions of authority will create immediate, devastating, and irreparable harms for the District. Most critically, the order threatens to upend the command structure of MPD and wreak operational havoc within the department, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike," Schwalb wrote. "There is no greater risk to public safety in a large, professional law enforcement organization like MPD than to not know who is in command."

Daily Caller [8/15/2025 10:13 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports the attorney general of Washington, D.C., is arguing that city leaders are "not legally obligated" to adhere to an executive order ending sanctuary policies. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an executive order on Thursday dismantling policies within the District of Columbia that protect illegal migrants and cementing the federal government’s hold on local law enforcement. However, Democratic D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb submitted a letter later that evening that called on Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief of Police Pamela Smith to ignore the order. "It is my opinion that the Bondi order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it," Shwalb wrote to Smith, a letter that was shared on social media by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. "Having been duly appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council, you are the lawfully appointed Chief of Police of the District of Columbia," Shwalb continued. "Therefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor." Earlier on Thursday, Smith released a memo that paved the way for more cooperation between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The memo allowed the MPD to notify ICE agents of individuals who are not in law enforcement custody, share information about individuals not in MPD custody and even provide transportation for federal immigration employees and detained migrants. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF that the memo was "an important first step" for public safety and added that DHS looked forward to "partnering more closely" with their D.C. counterparts. Border Czar Tom Homan said the memo was "way past due" in a separate statement to the DCNF.

NewsMax [8/15/2025 8:50 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports Washington, D.C.’s mayor and attorney general both rebuked Attorney General Pam Bondi’s move to name an "emergency police commissioner" for the district. 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. However, Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb both pushed back on the order. "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 wrote on social media. "We have followed the law." Schwalb declared Bondi’s move illegal.

New York Times [8/15/2025 12:15 PM, Michael Gold, 153395K] reports House and Senate Democrats on Friday introduced legislation that would end the Trump administration’s control of Washington’s police department, part of an escalating effort to fight President Trump’s takeover of the nation’s capital. The resolutions, which have little chance of advancing in the Republican-controlled Congress, would terminate the state of emergency that Mr. Trump declared in his executive order on Monday that federalized the Metropolitan Police Department. Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a president can order D.C.’s mayor to give him temporary control of the police, but Congress can terminate the authority. The resolutions were introduced the same day that D.C.’s local government filed a lawsuit challenging Mr. Trump’s efforts. It argued that he and Attorney General Pam Bondi had exceeded the scope of their authority under the Home Rule Act, which in 1973 granted D.C. a limited degree of self-government. The city of about 700,000 people has no voting power in Congress. Representative Jamie Raskin, whose Maryland district includes the Washington suburbs, accused Mr. Trump in a statement of a “hostile takeover of D.C.’s police force” that was part of larger pattern of abusing presidential power. Mr. Raskin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, introduced the resolution in the House, with Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nonvoting delegate from the District of Columbia, and Robert Garcia of California, the leading Democrat on the Oversight Committee, which oversees Washington. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland brought the resolution in the Senate. Their legislation faces long odds given Republicans’ lock on power on Capitol Hill and their unwillingness to break from Mr. Trump. G.O.P. leaders in both chambers have voiced support for the president’s actions in Washington. Democrats would need support from Republicans to ever allow the matter to proceed to the floor. But the effort offers a hint at how Democrats may try to fight Mr. Trump’s actions in Washington and use them to make larger political arguments to the American public.

The Hill [8/15/2025 11:40 AM, Miriam Waldvogel, 18649K] reports that President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said Friday that the administration is not asking Washington, D.C., police to directly enforce immigration laws, adding that officers must cooperate with federal authorities. Homan’s comments come after Attorney General Pam Bondi sought to roll back the District’s "sanctuary" policies around migrants, including lifting the block on local police cooperating with immigration enforcement. "Law enforcement needs to work with law enforcement," Homan told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. "We’re not asking Metro PD to be immigration officers, but when you’re enforcing criminal law and when you find an illegal alien not only in violation of immigration law here illegally but involved with criminal activity, they absolutely should call us." He added that he hopes the administration’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital could be an example for the rest of the country. FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that authorities have made more than 120 arrests since Trump announced the federal takeover, writing on the social platform X, "the good cops are getting the job done." Homan told NewsNation he believed the increased police and military presence in the nation’s capital has deterred crime in the city. "It’s not just the people that are arresting that are making D.C. safer, it’s the message we’re sending that we’re out here in force," he said. "I think there are a lot of criminals staying off the street because they know the city is overwhelmed with law enforcement."

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [8/15/2025 1:17 PM, Emily Hallas, 1934K]

New York Times [8/15/2025 5:15 AM, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, 153395K] reports when a police dispatcher relayed that a man had walked into Howard University Hospital in Washington with a gunshot wound one night this week, it was not just the local police who showed up to investigate. A group of U.S. Border Patrol and other federal agents descended on the brown-brick hospital two miles from the White House, parking their S.U.V.s in front of the main entrance. A few blocks away, a team of F.B.I. agents was helping to conduct a traffic stop on a Mercedes on the side of a busy street; hours later, agents who ordinarily investigate federal weapons violations stood watch as local police officers tried to subdue a disturbed man at a bus stop. President Trump’s announcement on Monday that the federal government was assuming law enforcement responsibility in the nation’s capital has begun to quietly transform the day-to-day business of policing. Routine calls that might have been handled solely by the Metropolitan Police Department now attract an alphabet soup of federal agencies, including agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the F.B.I. In a city where federal law enforcement officials regularly go to work in offices, they are suddenly out on the street, visible almost everywhere — except for those hidden behind the tinted glass of unmarked cars. Each evening this week, federal agents have rolled out of a vast federal Park Police station south of the Anacostia River to ride through the District until the early morning hours. Agents have appeared at a range of locations, strolling by bars and restaurants in the trendy U Street Corridor, patrolling a near-empty National Mall after dark and winding through apartment complexes.

New York Times [8/16/2025 3:18 AM, Campbell Robertson and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, 330K] 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.”

New York Times [8/15/2025 7:21 PM, Jess Bidgood, 143795K] reports tt has been a strange five days in Washington, where I live. In a remarkable exertion of his power, President Trump has taken over the city police force and deployed the military to patrol the streets, becoming the first president in history to turn a city of 700,000 people into a laboratory for what he describes as crackdown on crime. It has put the federal government in the quotidian business of clearing homeless camps and monitoring nightlife, and left residents fearful and unsettled by questions like who can be stopped, and for what — and who is in charge. Many of the details of Trump’s takeover are vague. What’s become clear, though, is that the administration’s grip on the city has only tightened as the week has worn on, while pushback — both in the courts and on the streets — has begun to intensify. There was a palpable increase in federal law enforcement on the streets, but few details about the arrests they have made. Residents of Washington, D.C., are used to the presence of federal law enforcement officials like the Secret Service or the United States Park Police. But they are not usually used to seeing so many of them, or in quite these roles. My colleague Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, who has been out nightly covering how Trump is deploying the hundreds of federal officers he has at his command, watched F.BI. agents conducting traffic stops. He observed agents who ordinarily investigate federal weapons violations standing watch as local police officers tried to subdue a disturbed man at a bus stop. They have also cleared homeless camps. There are scant details, however, about exactly what these officers are doing. The White House is releasing data claiming dozens of arrests per night, but they are not always specifying exactly what crimes the people arrested are accused of committing. Officials have telegraphed a larger surge over the next few days, saying that 100 to 200 soldiers might be on the streets at any given time to support police officers. While their presence may well increase, the situation could come to resemble Trump’s deployment of some 4,000 California National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June.

FOX News [8/15/2025 4:48 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports Eric’s mother, Tamara Jachym, told Fox News Digital she thinks Trump’s federalization of the DC police department ‘needs to be done.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [8/15/2025 9:40 AM, Danielle Wallace and Anders Hagstrom, 46878K] Video: HERE reports U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, temporarily leading Washington, D.C.’s police at President Donald Trump’s request, announced Thursday that she had sent letters giving sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide one week to comply with federal immigration laws or face Department of Justice action, contrasting South Carolina with Democratic states like New York and California. Bondi was in Greenville, South Carolina, on Thursday for a panel discussion with state Attorney General Alan Wilson, several members of Congress and local law enforcement agencies. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital moments before the announcement, Bondi responded to whether temporary federalization of local police departments could be done beyond D.C., such as in New York or elsewhere. "Oh, let’s wait and see what’s going to happen," Bondi told Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace. "But I just sent sanctuary city letters to 32 mayors around the country and multiple governors saying, ‘you better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement, because if you aren’t, we’re going to come after you.’ And they have, I think, a week to respond to me, so let’s see who responds and how they respond." Bondi announced on social media that the DOJ has sent "demand letters" to sanctuary cities, counties and states as "a key step in our strategic effort to eradicate sanctuary policies from California to New York." Threatening lawsuits, she said that "any sanctuary jurisdiction that continues to put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens can either come to the table or see us in court." After Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s primary win in June, the New York City Police Department reportedly saw retirement filings surge. Bondi, who criticized incumbent Mayor Eric Adams over the city’s sanctuary status in the past, told Fox News Digital on Thursday it’s crucial for officers’ safety for them to have strong leadership. Adams has cooperated with border czar Tom Homan on federal immigration enforcement. "It starts at the top and our leaders have to support our law enforcement," Bondi told Fox News Digital. "They risk their lives every single day to keep us safe. There’s no ordinary day in the life of a police officer nor for their families, because they leave the house every day, and they don’t know what to expect. And our government, our leaders, have got to back them and that’s got to happen in New York. We have got back our law enforcement. We’ve got to back the NYPD. We have to back all of our federal, state and local officers around this country." [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Reported similarly:
The Hill [8/15/2025 11:20 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K]

FOX News [8/15/2025 2:40 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel has the latest on efforts to stop illegal immigration on ‘The Faulkner Focus.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Axios [8/15/2025 4:02 PM, Steph Solis, 13599K] reports U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has put Boston on notice: Cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown or else. Boston is one of 32 cities the Trump administration is going after for having policies that restrict local police cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bondi gave Boston Mayor Michelle Wu until Tuesday to send a response confirming her "commitment to complying with federal law," per a letter she sent to Wu this week. The letter asks Wu to identify specific initiatives the city is taking to eliminate sanctuary policies. "Any sanctuary jurisdiction that continues to put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens can either come to the table or see us in court," Bondi wrote on X Thursday, announcing the "demand letters." "Unlike the Trump administration," Wu said in a statement to Axios, "Boston follows the law."

Washington Post [8/15/2025 10:59 AM, Staff, 32099K] reports across the District, hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents have arrived in the city as part of President Donald Trump’s takeover of D.C. policing. Since Trump’s announcement Monday, the new law enforcement presence has been met by the public with a mix of curiosity and vehement opposition. Sightings show Guard members with Humvees stationed at landmarks and federal agents working alongside D.C. police to carry out arrests in sometimes tense interactions. Trump justified the exertion of executive power to reduce crime in a city he has depicted as a lawless wasteland, despite 30-year lows. After U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered sweeping changes to law enforcement policies in the city Thursday night, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued Trump and suggested, with D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), that the city will not comply with the order. The Guard and federal agents have been seen in at least 20 incidents in all four quadrants of the city, according to a Washington Post review. This number is likely an undercount due to the widespread nature of officer activity in the District. The Post built a map of these locations based on independently verified visuals posted to social media and firsthand accounts from reporters in D.C. The types of agents were identified by badges, insignia and uniforms in the visuals. Of the 815 National Guard members who have been activated in D.C., up to 200 are on the streets at any given time, defense officials told reporters Thursday. The Guard members are currently unarmed and are there to provide a visible presence and support federal law enforcement. While officials said they will not conduct law enforcement duties, their activation orders allow that capability if needed. Since Monday, agents from at least 10 federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE and the Drug Enforcement Administration, have been seen operating in D.C. While the District is normally policed by a patchwork of more than 6,600 local and federal officers, Trump’s memorandum includes approximately 500 additional federal officers. Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department’s officer count alone already puts D.C. ahead of any other large city in the United States per capita. Including the additional federal officials means there’s one officer for every 100 residents in D.C.

New York Post [8/15/2025 12:31 PM, Steven Nelson, 49956K] reports the Justice Department worker accused of throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal agent was re-arrested by an armed team of at least a half-dozen US Marshals in a dramatic Wednesday night raid, new video shows. Sean Charles Dunn, 37, was cuffed a second time inside his apartment about a mile northwest of the White House — after being slapped with a felony assault charge. Footage of the raid was posted by the White House on X Thursday evening with the caption: "Nighttime Routine: Operation Make D.C. Safe Again Edition.". In a stunning twist, Attorney General Pam Bondi had revealed hours earlier that Dunn was a DOJ Criminal Division employee. In the same statement, Bondi announced Dunn was fired from his post as an international affairs specialist working to help extradite criminal suspects to and from the US. "This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ," the AG said. "You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement." "He thought it was funny," DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Wednesday in announcing the federal case. Well he doesn’t think it’s funny today because we charged him with a felony: Assault on a police officer … So there, stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else!"

Washington Post [8/15/2025 3:39 PM, Teo Armus and Mariana Alfaro, 32099K] reports immigrants and advocacy groups were already on high alert this week after D.C. police moved to allow increased collaboration between District officers and federal immigration enforcement agencies, the latest development in the Trump administration’s campaign against crime in the nation’s capital. But after a dizzying back-and-forth involving top D.C. leaders and Attorney General Pam Bondi — who late Thursday sought to reverse that police order for being too lenient and issued her own directive calling for an end to the District’s “dangerous sanctuary policies” — many of those groups are now sounding even louder alarms. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has sued seeking an immediate stop to Bondi’s orders, and is asking a federal judge on Friday to issue an emergency temporary restraining order. He said in an interview on CNN on Friday morning that he had “never seen any action that causes more risk to the public safety.”

The New York Times [8/15/2025 9:54 PM, Miriam Jordan, 143795K] reports a federal judge rejected on Friday the Trump administration’s second attempt to end a decades-old legal agreement that mandates basic standards of care and oversight for children in U.S. immigration custody. Judge Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the Flores Settlement Agreement, in effect since 1997, must remain in place. Court-appointed monitors and lawyers will continue to have access to migrant children in border stations and family detention centers to ensure that the government is complying with the agreement. The first Trump administration tried and failed in 2019 to dissolve the settlement agreement. And in a 20-page ruling, Judge Gee criticized the government for trying again, even though, she wrote, “they point to no meaningful change either in factual conditions or in law since their last motion to terminate.” Under the 1997 consent decree, migrants who are 17 years old and younger must be held in the “least restrictive” setting while efforts are made to expeditiously release them. The minors must receive adequate meals, clean water, clothing, education and medical assistance, among other basic needs. The judge said that neither the Homeland Security Department nor the Department of Health and Human Services, which are responsible for migrant children, were in “sufficiently substantial compliance to warrant termination of the Flores Settlement Agreement.” The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling again, setting the stage for the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The AP [8/16/2025 10:33 PM, Valerie Gonzalez, 23245K] reports Gee called last week’s hearing "déjà vu" after reminding the court of the federal government’s attempt to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement in 2019 under the first Trump administration. She repeated the sentiment in Friday’s order. "There is nothing new under the sun regarding the facts or the law. The Court therefore could deny Defendants’ motion on that basis alone," Gee wrote, referring to the government’s appeal to a law they believed kept the court from enforcing the agreement. In the most recent attempt, the government argued they made substantial changes since the agreement was formalized in 1997, creating standards and policies governing the custody of immigrant children that conform to legislation and the agreement. Gee acknowledged that the government made some improved conditions of confinement, but wrote, "These improvements are direct evidence that the FSA is serving its intended purpose, but to suggest that the agreement should be abandoned because some progress has been made is nonsensical.” Attorneys representing the federal government told the court the agreement gets in the way of their efforts to expand detention space for families, even though Trump’s tax and spending bill provided billions to build new immigration facilities. Tiberius Davis, one of the government attorneys, said the bill gives the government authority to hold families in detention indefinitely. "But currently under the Flores Settlement Agreement, that’s essentially void," he said last week. The Flores agreement, named for a teenage plaintiff, was the result of over a decade of litigation between attorneys representing the rights of migrant children and the US government over widespread allegations of mistreatment in the 1980s. The agreement set standards for how licensed shelters must provide food, water, adult supervision, emergency medical services, toilets, sinks, temperature control and ventilation. It also limited how long US Customs and Border Protection could detain child immigrants to 72 hours. The Department of Health and Human Services then takes custody of the children.

FOX News [8/15/2025 9:20 AM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 46878K] Video HERE reports from "Alligator Alcatraz" to a new "Deportation Depot," Florida says it is leading the way in enforcing federal immigration laws. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the state will open a new immigration detention center dubbed "Deportation Depot" at a shuttered former prison in Sanderson, north Florida, expanding the state’s capacity to hold and deport migrants. The new facility will be located at Baker Correctional Institution, about 43 miles west of Jacksonville and will initially hold 1,300 beds and can be expandable to 2,000. DeSantis said the facility, which has been dormant since 2021, will build on the success of Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades and is expected to be operational in two to three weeks with staffing by the Florida National Guard and state contractors. "There’s a massive part here at Baker Correctional that’s vacant and isn’t being used for any state correction activity," DeSantis said at a press briefing. "Talk about ready-made infrastructure, this is something that’s very appealing from that perspective.". DeSantis touted the relative ease and economy of setting up the northern Florida facility, estimating the build-out cost to be $6 million. That’s compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars the state has committed to constructing the vast network of tents and trailers at the south facility in the rugged and remote Florida swamp. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS Miami [8/15/2025 3:55 PM, Staff, 51860K] reports amid legal wrangling over a "Alligator Alcatraz," controversial center in South Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state plans to use a shuttered prison in North Florida to boost detention of people targeted for deportation. The conversion of Baker Correctional Institution, which state corrections officials mothballed four years ago because of staffing shortages, into a second detention center in Florida will scrap a plan to house immigrant detainees at Camp Blanding west of Jacksonville, DeSantis indicated. The cost to get the Baker County prison up-and-running will total around $6 million, compared to about $75 million to $100 million for a detention center at Camp Blanding, which is used as a training facility for the Florida National Guard, according to state Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie. Guthrie said the federal government has pledged to give his agency $608 million to house 5,000 undocumented immigrants as part of the state’s support of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation efforts. `DeSantis’ announcement about the prison came amid at least a temporary halt on additional construction at the Everglades site and as two federal-court fights continue. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Aug. 7 temporarily blocked state officials from additional construction or infrastructure, paving or installation of new lighting at the remote facility.

Latin Times [8/15/2025 4:56 PM, Pedro Camacho, 1100K] reports a suspicious white powder that led to the evacuation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan was determined to be non-hazardous after testing, police sources said on Friday. Hazmat teams responded Thursday afternoon after five envelopes containing the substance were discovered in a mailroom on the ninth floor of the building, which houses ICE, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and an immigration court. Some personnel were evacuated, while others were instructed to shelter in place after two people were initially exposed. The five envelopes have been sent to the FBI’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, for further testing, but police sources consulted by CBS News have confirmed that the powder was non-hazardous. Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday that the incident occurred at approximately 4 p.m. and that city and federal partners were investigating, urging the public to avoid the area. Hazmat teams remained on site "to ensure the safety of everyone inside and outside of the building," the mayor added.

New York Post [8/15/2025 5:49 PM, Joe Marino and Anna Young, 43962K] reports one of the suspicious white-powder envelopes sent to an ICE office in Manhattan this week included a menacing note saying it was delivering "karma" for migrants, law-enforcement sources told The Post. The sinister note — found in one of five envelopes containing boric acid discovered Thursday in the ninth-floor mailroom at 26 Federal Plaza — appeared to include lyrics from the Anthrax song, "A Skeleton in the Closet" and bore a return address from an ICE building in Washington, DC, sources said. Sources said six employees were in the room — including two within the contamination zone — when the disturbing envelopes were found, prompting authorities to swiftly evacuate the government building, also home to the US Department of Homeland Security, immigration court and other federal agencies. Officials said there were no reported injuries. Thirty-nine detainees on the floor above were relocated to New Jersey as a precaution, the source said.

Reported similarly:
CBS New York [8/15/2025 12:33 PM, Mark Prussin, Alice Gainer, and Adi Guajardo, 51860K] Video: HERE

New York Times [8/16/2025 3:18 AM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, 330K] reports that, in early July, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York pardoned an immigrant from Laos to stave off his deportation, but unlike dozens of pardons she has granted before, the governor did not publicize this action. The man Ms. Hochul pardoned, Somchith Vatthanavong, 52, had been convicted of manslaughter as a teenager after he admitted to fatally shooting a man in 1988 during a confrontation at a Brooklyn pool hall, arguing that he had acted in self-defense. Mr. Vatthanavong, who had legally entered the United States as a refugee when he was a child, fleeing the aftermath of the Vietnam War, served 14 years in prison before being released in 2003. He then built a life in New York, marrying and raising two children who are U.S. citizens. But President Trump’s return to power heightened the likelihood that Mr. Vatthanavong would be deported because of his conviction 35 years earlier. So community groups and his wife and lawyers mounted a campaign to persuade the governor’s office — through petitions, meetings and phone calls — to pardon Mr. Vatthanavong, a move that could result in his deportation order being vacated. On July 1 — the day before Mr. Vatthanavong had a mandatory immigration appointment that his lawyers believed would lead to his arrest — Ms. Hochul signed a certificate granting him an unconditional pardon, “including offering relief from removal.” Mr. Vatthanavong was portrayed by his family and supporters as a rehabilitated man who had paid his debt to society for a deadly mistake from his youth. His lawyers said the pardon had blocked Mr. Vatthanavong’s deportation and reverted his status back to legal permanent resident. “It’s lifted a huge weight off my shoulders,” Mr. Vatthanavong, who goes by Sammy, said in a phone interview on Thursday. “I’m grateful.” Ms. Hochul, a moderate Democrat who typically issues pardons in batches on a rolling basis, did not issue a news release when she pardoned Mr. Vatthanavong six weeks ago, as she had for many of the 94 people she had previously pardoned or whose sentences she had commuted. Aides for Ms. Hochul said on Thursday that the governor had been planning to announce Mr. Vatthanavong’s pardon this week as part of a larger batch of pardons, which are considered by a panel of experts. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said that Mr. Vatthanavong “would be on a deportation flight to Laos” if not for Ms. Hochul’s intervention.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [8/15/2025 3:50 PM, Vaughn Golden, 49956K]

AP [8/15/2025 5:19 PM, Collin Binkley] reports teachers, social workers, nurses and other public workers would be cut off from a popular student loan cancellation program if the Trump administration finds their employer engaged in activities with a "substantial illegal purpose," under a new federal proposal released on Friday. The Education Department took aim at nonprofits or government bodies that work with immigrants and transgender youth, releasing plans to overhaul the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Opponents fear the new policy would turn the loan forgiveness benefit into a tool of political retribution. The proposal would give the education secretary the final say in deciding whether a group or government entity should be excluded from the program, which was created by Congress in 2007 to encourage more college graduates to enter lower-paying public service fields. The proposal says illegal activity includes the trafficking or "chemical castration" of children, illegal immigration and supporting foreign terrorist organizations. President Donald Trump ordered the changes in March, saying the loan forgiveness program was steering taxpayer money to "activist organizations" that pose a threat to national security and do not serve the public. The public will be given 30 days to weigh in on the proposal before it can be finalized. Any changes would take effect in July 2026.

The Washington Post [8/15/2025 11:59 AM, Marianne LeVine, Liz Goodwin, and Dan Lamothe, 32099K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem is living for free in a military home typically reserved for the U.S. Coast Guard’s top admiral, officials familiar with the matter said. The highly unusual arrangement has raised concern within the agency and from some Democrats, who describe it as a waste of military resources. Noem recently moved into Quarters 1, a spacious waterfront residence at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington where the Coast Guard commandant typically resides. She did so because of concerns over her safety after the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published photographs in April of the area around Noem’s residence in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. McLaughlin described Noem’s time at the commandant’s residence as temporary. She did not specify how long the setup would last or how long Noem has lived there. Noem pays no rent to live in the commandant’s house, according to an official familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. That’s a departure from how other Cabinet secretaries have handled similar arrangements. Other Cabinet officials, including during both Trump administrations, have paid to use military housing that otherwise would be occupied by top generals and admirals. Noem’s housing has raised eyebrows among current and retired Coast Guard officials, as well as Democrats, who warn that Noem risks creating the perception that she is exploiting the perks of her position as DHS secretary, in which she supervises the Coast Guard. They say her decision could set off a chain reaction that could displace other senior members of the service in a situation with limited housing. The Hill [8/15/2025 5:05 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12414K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security said it was a wide range of death threats, as well as reporting that showed the area around Noem’s Navy Yard condo that spurred the unusual arrangement at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, where the Coast Guard commandant typically lives. "Following the media’s publishing of the location of Secretary Noem’s Washington DC apartment, she has faced vicious doxing on the dark web and a surge in death threats, including from the terrorist organizations, cartels, and criminals gangs that DHS targets. Due to threats and security concerns, she has been forced to temporarily stay in secure military housing. Secretary Noem continues to pay rent for her Navy Yard residence," Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. The move has prompted criticism from some Democrats, who say Noem is improperly using military resources because Cabinet officials traditionally pay fair market value to stay in federal housing that otherwise would be occupied by top military officials. FOX News [8/15/2025 1:50 PM, Greg Norman, 46878K] reports that "Following the media’s publishing of the location of Secretary Noem’s Washington D.C. apartment, she has faced vicious doxxing on the dark web and a surge in death threats, including from the terrorist organizations, cartels, and criminal gangs that DHS targets. Due to threats and security concerns, she has been forced to temporarily stay in secure military housing," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "Secretary Noem continues to pay rent for her Navy Yard residence. "It’s a shame that the media chooses sensationalism over the safety of people enforcing America’s laws to keep Americans safe," McLaughlin added.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [8/15/2025 3:08 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K]

NewsMax [8/15/2025 2:55 PM, Sam Barron, 4622K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is hitting back after they claim The Washington Post doxxed Secretary Kristi Noem’s living arrangements. "This is truly sick, @washingtonpost," DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social media. "The media doxxed Secretary Noem’s precise apartment location as she faces daily death threats, including from the terrorist organizations, cartels and criminal rings @DHSgov targets. Due to the increased threats and safety concerns, she has been forced to temporarily stay in secure military housing. The Washington Post chooses to again publish where she lives. A revealing lack of basic humanity for another person’s safety." In the story, the Post details Noem’s rent-free living arrangement, calling it "highly unusual." Noem was forced to change residences in April after the Daily Mail published photographs of her D.C. home, McLaughlin told the Post. McLaughlin also told the Post Noem’s current living arrangement in military housing was "temporary" and did not say how long she would live there. "If you cannot find humanity in another human’s safety and security, I invite you to find it here," McLaughlin said in an email to the Post, including a link to Washington National Cathedral. "[The] need for heightened security for Secretary Noem should make sense, even to a reporter, given she has DHS going after the worst of the worst. That includes hundreds if not thousands of members of international cartels and terrorist organizations."

CBS News [8/15/2025 6:38 AM, Staff, 51860K] 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."

Washington Examiner [8/15/2025 5:00 AM, Staff, 1934K] reports within just two weeks of launching a patriotism-themed join.ICE.gov website, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been flooded with over 100,000 applications to help the Trump administration enforce our nation’s immigration laws. This ICE recruitment boom is part of a larger pattern of interest in serving the nation, particularly among young men filling security, law enforcement, and military service roles. It is a welcome change from Joe Biden’s presidency, when few were inspired to serve their country. The decline in federal law enforcement service under the last Democratic president is completely understandable. Less than a year into his term, Biden’s open borders policies created a crisis at the southern border with over 10,000 Haitians camping in squalid conditions under a bridge in Texas waiting to be processed into the country through Biden’s catch-and-release policies. When Border Patrol officers tried to end the chaos Biden himself had created and restore order, left-wing activists for the migrants falsely claimed that Border Patrol agents on horseback had whipped Haitians trying to enter the country illegally. "To see people treated like they did, horses running them over, people being strapped," Biden said while making a whipping motion with his hand. "It’s outrageous. I promise you those people will pay." It was a classic reiteration of the central bleeding heart lie that animates so much vacuous passion and policymaking on the Left. Everything Biden said about the Border Patrol agents was false, as a subsequent investigation by the Department of Homeland Security proved. But Biden did not apologize to the agents he had slandered, who had only been trying to clean up his mess. Morale plummeted among Border Patrol staff after this incident. Who can be surprised? Trump is the polar opposite of Biden and other elected Democrats who reflexively blame law enforcement for any incident, even before it is investigated. Trump believes in the mission of the Border Patrol. And he believes in the mission of ICE, unlike Democrats who are still calling the agency a "terrorist organization." Trump also believes in the Secret Service, the FBI, the Coast Guard, and every branch of the military. The agents know it, and those contemplating a career in one of these services also know it. Every young man thinking of serving his country has reason to be relieved and encouraged that the unpatriotic Democratic Party no longer controls the White House. That is why, in addition to ICE, there have been recruitment surges at the Border Patrol, the Secret Service, the FBI, the Coast Guard, and the Army. Record high levels are being achieved.

FOX News [8/15/2025 5:00 AM, Steve S. Rao, 46878K] Video: HERE reports since his first presidential run, President Donald Trump’s immigration rhetoric was laser-focused on building walls and banishing "bad hombres." Love it or loathe it, the logic was clear: control the border and swiftly deport those "bringing crime" into the country. Six months into his second term, however, Trump’s focus has drifted. A new American Immigration Council report shows that instead of taking aim at criminals and bad actors, the Trump administration is now targeting law-abiding immigrants, including many long-standing and valued members of our communities. This isn’t what Americans expected, and it’s not what we want. A recent Gallup poll found that just 30% of us want less immigration, while a record-high 79% say immigration is good for the country. Even those who worry about border crossings have no desire to see our neighbors detained or harassed. The data clearly shows that in recent months ICE has shifted to targeting noncriminal immigrants. After Trump’s inauguration, more than three-quarters of ICE detainees had criminal records. Today, though, barely half of detainees have been in legal trouble; the rest are law-abiding folks scooped up by agents eager to nab bonuses for meeting detention quotas. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [8/15/2025 4:45 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1559K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement performed another successful sweep on Thursday that resulted in the arrests of several sexual offenders and "violent thugs," according to a press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News. The Department of Homeland Security detailed several of the criminal illegal aliens’ arrests that spanned multiple states, including California, Illinois, Texas, and Utah. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, "It is sickening to see how many pedophiles, sex offenders, and violent thugs were allowed to roam our streets and prey on Americans. Every single day ICE arrests these criminals and is removing them from our country." The DHS noted that Americans are applying to join ICE "in droves" to help the agency’s "mission to remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."

The Washington Post [8/15/2025 6:05 AM, Douglas MacMillan, N. Kirkpatrick, and Lydia Sidhom, 32099K] reports when President Donald Trump took office this year, the United States already commanded the largest immigrant detention system in the world with a capacity of close to 50,000 migrants. Right away, his administration set a goal of doubling it. An internal planning road map obtained by The Washington Post shows for the first time exactly how immigration authorities plan to reach that goal, including by opening or expanding 125 facilities this year. By January, ICE will have the capacity to hold more than 107,000 people, internal agency documents show. The documents outline the strategy behind ICE’s breakneck expansion, a chaotic effort that has already triggered lawsuits and accusations of cruelty. The agency has repurposed sections of military bases and revived dormant prisons, partnering with private prison contractors, local sheriffs and Republican governors to house its record number of detainees. The road map, last updated July 30, shows that ICE intends to expand immigrant detention to new parts of the country, nearly doubling its number of large-scale, mega-detention centers and relying increasingly on makeshift “soft-sided” structures that can be built in a few weeks and taken down just as easily. The government is also planning to dramatically expand its capacity for detaining parents and children in what could amount to the nation’s largest family detention program in decades. The plans are still in flux and some of the contracts are not finalized. The Post reviewed an earlier version of the road map that showed 12 fewer contracts but few other changes. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in an email that the planning document was created by ICE but said the list was outdated and had not been approved. She said the listed contracts “are not accurate” but declined to elaborate. Breitbart [8/15/2025 8:20 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports that ICE has released plans to open new detention centers in parts of the country that have not hosted such facilities in the past. The plans also include a large number of "soft-sided" housing units — presumably meaning tents — to grow detention spaces quickly. The initial plans are being funded by the $45 billion negotiated by Congress in the recently passed "Big Beautiful Bill." The funding has allowed ICE to quickly reach out to award contracts to construction and management companies to begin ramping up construction plans. Two of the companies receiving contracts include Geo Group, currently ICE’s largest contractor, and CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private prison managers. The states with the most space include Texas, Louisiana, California, Georgia, and Arizona. Other states preparing to see an enlargement of facilities include Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Mississippi, and 38 other states and U.S. territories. The plans will be augmenting contracts already awarded. In July, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a $1.26 billion plan to build a center at Fort Bliss, which is near El Paso, Texas, and encompasses more than 1.12 million acres of land along the border with Mexico and also features an airport. The new facility will have room for 5,000 beds and will likely serve as a deportation hub for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). That same month, plans were announced to place detention housing at a military base in Indiana’s Camp Atterbury and another at New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

NewsNation [8/15/2025 2:14 PM, Ali Bradley and Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports that detention centers across the United States that are housing immigrants who entered the country illegally are beginning to fill up despite the Department of Homeland Security recently adding four new facilities that will hold those in federal custody facing deportation. About 1,000 of the 5,000 detention beds at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas — nicknamed "The Lonestar Lockup" — are expected to be filled by the end of this week. The facility is considered the nation’s largest immigrant detention center and began adding detainees earlier this week, when 100 immigrants were moved into the center. Texas Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, have toured the Fort Bliss detention center, which other local officials have characterized as a "concentration camp for migrants." Gonzales, who represents much of Texas’ southern border, called El Paso County Commissioner David Stout’s characterization of the facility "comical." "He’s gaslighting everybody," Gonzales told NewsNation. "That’s the furthest thing from the truth." The detention centers, which include two in Florida, "Alligator Alcatraz" and the "Deportation Depot," join another recent addition in Indiana, which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the "Speedway Slammer." The expansion of migrant detention centers is continuing months after DHS officials announced that ICE’s current allotment of facilities had reached capacity.

Bloomberg [8/15/2025 11:00 AM, Rachel Adams-Heard, Sophie Alexander, and Fola Akinnibi, 19320K] reports in 2024, months before the presidential election and long before the words “Alligator Alcatraz” became shorthand for President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, a little-known company in Indiana was pitching a sure-to-be controversial idea: a sprawling tent camp in El Paso, Texas, where people would be held in pens and surveilled from overhead by guards in wooden structures. The company, USA Up Star LLC, had never done detention work. As a disaster-response company that mostly set up tent camps after weather emergencies, it was nothing like the multibillion-dollar private prison operators that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically contracts with to detain people. But USA Up Star’s owner and president, a brash Marine veteran named Klay South, had been making connections. An ethics disclosure released by the US Department of Homeland Security shows the company was a consulting client of Tom Homan. A career immigration official, Homan had led ICE for a period during Trump’s first term and was expecting another immigration-related role in the event of a second. USA Up Star executives had regular calls and meetings with Homan to explore an expansion into immigration detention, according to three people who have direct knowledge of the conversations and asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Homan is now Trump’s border czar. In that role he’s emphasized not only the expansion of detention—the administration has set a goal of more than doubling capacity, to at least 100,000 beds—but also doing it with haste. Thus, Homan has become the most important advocate for the use of makeshift tent camps for immigration detention. And an industry is now pivoting to meet the demand he and ICE have created. South wrote in response to emailed questions that he had no comment, adding “everything you wrote in there is not even remotely true.” He declined to elaborate. The company hasn’t received a contract for detention, and it’s far from certain it will: More than a dozen companies that provide tents and related support services are angling for pieces of the $45 billion that Congress has committed specifically for detention facilities.

Bloomberg [8/15/2025 7:00 AM, Sophie Alexander and Dylan Sloan, 19320K] reports a select group of government contractors could see a windfall after the Trump administration secured an unprecedented $45 billion for the mass detention of immigrants. It’s not just the owners of private prison companies who could get rich: Several small, family-owned firms have also landed on a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shortlist of 41 companies, putting them in an exclusive and potentially lucrative pool. From Texas to Florida, the companies and the families behind them are fighting for contracts that are bigger than anything they’ve seen before. Some of those applying have already made small fortunes in immigration-related government contracting, including work on Operation Lone Star, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s effort to respond to rising border crossings. Others have little to no experience with detention work and have largely built their businesses on disaster response, specializing in constructing small tent cities after an emergency hits. With President Donald Trump and his border czar Tom Homan aiming to arrest thousands of immigrants a day, ICE is desperate for more detention space, fast. To get it done, the government is increasingly building similar tent cities, positioning these companies as front-runners for big contracts. Already, some $1.6 billion has been committed to a group of firms tapped to build two tent camps—one state-run facility in the Florida Everglades, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, and another facility at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, that would be the largest in the country with its plan for 5,000 beds. More are expected in the coming weeks and months with tens of billions of dollars left to spend.

NBC News [8/15/2025 8:00 AM, Juliana Jiménez J., 44540K] reports a woman who claims she was assaulted by her boyfriend is now in a detention center in Louisiana after he called the police to accuse her of assault and then contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement and told them she didn’t have legal immigration status, the woman’s mother alleged to Noticias Telemundo. In a separate case from April, a Salvadoran woman in Houston called 911 to report being a victim of domestic violence. Legal records reviewed by the Houston Chronicle indicate that police then called ICE. The women’s stories are not unique, activists and experts tell Noticias Telemundo, explaining that in some cases abusers use immigration status to control or abuse their victims — who come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Experts say victims are more fearful now amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and recent immigration raids. Isaret Jeffers, founder of the Tree Collective, which supports farmworkers in the Tampa, Florida, area, said several undocumented women farmworkers have told her they’re enduring abuse from their partners for fear that reporting them will lead to their deportation. Isabel Martínez, manager of the social services program at the Tahirih Justice Center, focused on helping victims of gender-based violence, said women fear that "not only will nothing happen to the abuser, but now I will have to be deported, or be detained, or get into trouble if I call the police.".

Washington Post [8/15/2025 6:00 AM, Tobi Raji and Angie Orellana Hernandez, 32099K] reports as tens of millions of U.S. public school students begin a new academic year, some of the nation’s largest school districts are taking steps to shield them from President Donald Trump’s expansive deportation operation. New York City’s school system unanimously passed a resolution this year that prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering schools and accessing campus facilities, students and student records without a judicial warrant. Philadelphia public schools issued a statement this week outlining what school leaders should do if a federal agent requests access to a school building and asks to detain or interview a student. And in Los Angeles, school leaders announced Monday that they are erecting “safe zones” in areas targeted by ICE to protect students as they travel to and from school. As the Trump administration increases its enforcement action, broadening who they detain and where they conduct raids, parents fear that school campuses — once considered off limits to federal agents under long-standing ICE policy — won’t be spared from the crackdowns. There are roughly 733,000 school-aged undocumented children living in the United States, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank. In the United States, children have been legally entitled to a free education regardless of immigration status since the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe. School leaders across the country told The Washington Post in January, days after the second Trump administration took office, that they are trying to reassure immigrant parents that it is still safe to send their children to school. But in an effort to carry out what Trump has promised will be the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, his administration has rolled back ICE’s “sensitive locations” policy, which, with some exceptions, required agents to obtain special approval to conduct enforcement actions in certain places like schools. “The atmosphere is one of concern. Parents are very hopeful that their kids can have some sense of normalcy,” said Evelyn Aleman, founder of Our Voice, a local group in Los Angeles that serves as a forum for Latino and Indigenous families. “But at the same time, they’re concerned because the raids are still happening. People are still getting picked off the street.”

FOX News [8/15/2025 3:09 PM, Charles Creitz, 46878K] reports the Department of Homeland Security took more rhetorical fire this week from the left over its "mass deportation operation" enforcement of immigration laws, and growing numbers of detainees in federal installations. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers and advocates came together to back a new state bill that would ban law enforcement from obscuring their identity – as many ICE officers wear masks to protect themselves from being doxxed – where a union boss accused ICE of "disappearing innocent people.". "I frankly have been horrified by the conduct of these federal agents as has been reported in the media," said AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council President Danny Bauder. Bauder, flanked by state Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Center City, and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, went on to accuse ICE of acting like a famous mob informant from an Al Pacino film. "I want to be very clear: kidnapping and disappearing innocent people is disgusting, it’s shameful, it’s un-American, and any claims to the contrary are absurd," he said Thursday outside ICE’s office in Chinatown. "There is no good reason why a public servant would ever have to obscure or hide their identity while working in uniform. These ICE agents are not Donnie Brasco in some sort of deep cover situation to take down this enormous organized crime gang.". "These are people who are engaged in violent, warrantless kidnapping and detention, and they need to be held accountable for their actions," Bauder said.

NewsNation [8/15/2025 5:17 PM, Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports allegations of women being mistreated by federal immigration officers and men posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have prompted nearly three dozen Democratic lawmakers to demand Homeland Security officials immediately launch an investigation and change the way the federal agency does its job. In a letter sent this week by members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE director Todd Lyons, White House border czar Tom Homan and Jennifer Fenton, the associate director of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, DWC members expressed “grave concerns” over how masked agents are treating women during federal immigration enforcement operations. “All our lives, we are taught to fear masked men in unmarked vehicles,” the letter stated. “We learn we should run from such men to avoid being kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or killed. Yet, ICE is increasingly conducting raids and arrests in masks, plain clothes, without visible identification or badges, using unmarked vehicles – tactics that cause confusion, terror, and mistrust among the public.” ICE has been criticized by immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers for officers failing to properly identify themselves while conducting immigration enforcement operations around the United States. Many of the complaints involve masked agents who have been accused of hiding behind anonymity, making it easier for impersonators to carry out attacks on women, the DWC members suggest. The letter says ICE impersonators are being enabled to “leverage women’s uncertainty and fear of immigration consequences to rape, harass and abuse them.” Noem said at a news conference last week in suburban Chicago that ICE officers are “always wearing something” that identifies them as federal immigration officers and the operation to which they are assigned.

(B) CBS Mornings [8/15/2025 7:56 AM, Staff] reports Lincoln County turned down a portion of $135,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security because of a catch. Counties that accept these grants would have to participate in joint operations with ICE agents, share information with them, and detain non-citizens who have not been charged with a crime. That money would have gone toward new equipment.

Bloomberg [8/15/2025 9:00 AM, Greg Ryan, 19320K] reports Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has vowed to find out from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement who they’re arresting in her city and why. But despite repeated efforts to get answers, federal immigration authorities have refused to provide even basic details, Wu told Bloomberg. Wu pledged in June to regularly submit Freedom of Information Act requests to ICE, seeking the names of immigrants who have been ensnared in deportation efforts in Boston; an explanation of why they were detained, including criminal records; and the location where they are being held. Communication on those requests has been paltry, with federal officials failing to share any information, Wu said. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons in June told the Boston Herald that the agency welcomed the push for transparency because it will help “show how the mayor’s lack of cooperation hurts her neighborhoods.” Still, Boston has struggled to get answers about even the number of detainer requests that have been submitted after ICE said local officials were ignoring some of the appeals, Wu said. “We’ve asked half a dozen times in all different ways and still months later have not been able to receive something as basic as a list of what detainer requests that you claim to have sent were actually sent,” Wu said in an interview on Thursday at Bloomberg’s Boston office. On certain issues, communication with the Trump administration “has not been possible — not for lack of trying.” Officials in Boston and other cities have complained that ICE is keeping the public in the dark about its operations and disputed President Donald Trump’s claims that the enforcement campaign is focused on “the worst of the worst.” More than a third of ICE arrests nationwide last month were of people with no US criminal convictions or pending charges.

Chicago Tribune [8/15/2025 8:54 PM, Cayla Bamberger, 5352K] reports federal immigration authorities have seized a 7-year-old New York City public school student, the youngest-known local school kid to be detained during the second Trump administration. Dayra, an Ecuadorian student at P.S. 89 The Jose Peralta School of Dreamers in Queens, and her mom were separated from her 19-year-old brother during an immigration check-in on Tuesday at 26 Federal Plaza, according to the family and their advocates. Her last name is being withheld as a minor. "We were all very scared," Patricio, Dayra’s mom’s boyfriend who lives with the family, said in Spanish. "Because we knew they were going to arrest them." Dayra and her mom, Martha, were shipped off to a detention center in Texas, advocates said. The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement locator showed Martha as of Friday afternoon at South Texas Family Residential Center, one of the largest immigration facilities in the country. The center was reopened this year after the Biden administration shuttered it. (The locator does not provide information for detainees under 18.) "She called me yesterday, she told me she was fine. But she is very afraid of returning to Ecuador," Patricio said of Martha, who fled domestic violence in the country. An immigration judge had previously denied her asylum bid and ordered the family deported, according to court records, but they continued to report to their check-ins as required by law. Dayra’s brother, Manuel, 19, was being held at 26 Federal Plaza, before being moved to a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, according to the locator. He recently graduated high school on Long Island and was supposed to start college this year, Patricio said. The Department of Homeland Security, the agency that houses ICE, did not immediately comment. "We are hearing extremely concerning reports about an immigrant family, including a 7-year-old local public school student and her 19-year-old brother, detained by ICE," Councilman Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens) said in a statement. "My office is working actively to obtain all the details. We are in contact with the local school, DOE officials, and federal offices to learn more and fight to make sure the family can be reunited." "Family separation is horrific, and ICE must stop these cruel tactics."

NBC News [8/15/2025 12:40 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 44540K] reports a local Mexican restaurant chain in Pennsylvania is trying to forge ahead a week after a worksite immigration raid left property damage at two of its storefronts and a workforce afraid to show up to their jobs, according to two employees and a witness who spoke with NBC News. It all started Aug. 7 when immigration authorities showed up at two Emiliano’s Mexican Restaurant & Bar locations in the Pittsburgh area. As many as 16 workers were detained — nine worked at a location in Gibsonia, a suburb north of Pittsburgh, and seven others worked at another location in the nearby township of Cranberry. In a social media post that same afternoon, which included a video taken by a worker, the business accused agents of storming into its restaurants and leaving "a trail of fear, confusion, and destruction" that included a burned kitchen, torn ceiling tiles, broken doors, a safe cut open by an agent and trashed food. The incident raises questions over the tactics used by authorities at this particular raid. This week, gas plumbers fixed a stove that was damaged during the raid, according to two people working at the restaurant chain. Staffing was also thin at the locations targeted by immigration authorities as employees who witnessed the raid, including those who are U.S. citizens, remain "in shock," they added. "No one wants to go back, everyone is scared.". Both workers who spoke with NBC News requested to not be named to protect their family’s privacy because of an ongoing federal investigation in connection with last week’s events. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania declined to clarify what the investigation it is leading is about. As the immigration arrests were happening last week, someone alerted an emergency response immigration hotline run by Casa San Jose, a local nonprofit that advocates for Latino and immigrant communities. The organization quickly dispatched about 20 volunteers to both locations to act as legal observers, collect testimonies and provide support to the workers and families affected, according to Jaime Martinez, a community defense organizer at Casa San Jose. At the Gibsonia location, "the raid actually caused a kitchen fire that agents were unable to extinguish at the beginning, which put people in danger," Martinez told NBC News on Tuesday.

Telemundo Amarillo [8/15/2025 3:09 PM, Eduardo Uzcátegui, 4K] reports a Hispanic family in Georgia pleaded Friday for their 18-year-old son to return home after being taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On August 8, 18-year-old Roberto Itzep Caba was stopped by police in Lyons, central Georgia, for running a stop sign before arriving at his school, Toombs County High School. Lyons is located about six miles east of Vidalia, known for its onion fields. The Toombs County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to our sister station WTOC that the young man, a standout student and football athlete, had no criminal history and was arrested for not having a driver’s license. Once his fingerprints were taken, according to the sheriff, ICE was immediately alerted because there was a nine-year-old "administrative warrant" against the young man. His family said he was taken into ICE custody despite having posted a bond of more than $1,000 to local authorities. As WTOC reported Tuesday, Itzep Caba is being held at the Stewart Detention Center.

(B) Today [8/15/2025 8:57 AM, Staff] reports that the Department of Homeland Security is weighing in on a deadly crash saying one Illinois law was the cause of it. The accident took place last week in Orangeville where Darcy Connolly-Brunner was hit and killed by an undocumented Guatemalan national Rolando Ico-Choc who also died in that crash. Authorities suspect he may have been under the influence. Officials with the DHS say that Brunner’s death could have been avoided. They said ICE asked seven times for custody and local law enforcement was forced to ignore those requests because of the Illinois Trust Act.

Chicago Tribune [8/15/2025 7:42 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, 5352K] reports the minutes dragged into hours on Wednesday night as Jose Gregorio Gonzalez tossed and turned through the night. At 5 a.m. the next day, he was scheduled to donate his kidney to his younger brother, Alfredo Pacheco, who was also restless. By 2 a.m. the two couldn’t stay in bed any longer and began to get ready for a day that they thought would never come. "Es un milagro, porque todo estaba contra nosotros," Gonzalez said. "It’s a miracle, because all odds were against us." His mind raced back to the nights he spent locked inside an immigration detention center earlier this year, convinced he would soon be deported, while his younger brother pleaded with ICE officials to let him stay. Gonzalez was Pacheco’s only hope to keep living after being diagnosed with terminal renal failure. When doctors told Pacheco he needed a kidney transplant, Pacheco stepped up. "Nunca lo pensé dos veces," Gonzalez said in Spanish. "I didn’t think about it twice." But in March, just shy of a few weeks to begin the process for the transplant, Gonzalez was suddenly arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside their home in Cicero. Without him, Pacheco’s condition would continue to deteriorate, putting him on an endless waiting list to get a transplant due to his immigration status. And doctors warned that time was running out. Gonzalez knew it: If he was deported, his brother would die. On Thursday, the brothers were admitted to the University of Illinois Hospital, where the transplant surgery was successfully performed. Hospital officials confirmed that both Pacheco and Gonzalez were recovering well. After mounting pressure from advocates and elected officials, ICE granted Gonzalez a temporary humanitarian parole so that they could proceed with the transplant, an unexpected move at a time when the agency is ramping up enforcement. Unlike in past administrations, immigration experts say agents today have less discretion over individual cases and are under pressure to meet deportation quotas, leaving little room for compassion. Though Gonzalez must return to Venezuela by March - after he’s recovered from surgery - he says he’s deeply grateful to the agent who, as he put it, "touched his heart" and gave him the chance to save his brother’s life. "Con fe, todo se puede," Gonzalez said, smiling, his voice quiet and weak. "Everything is possible if you have faith." Even through the surgery, Gonzalez wore the ankle monitor that ICE activated when he was released from the Clay County Jail in southwest Indiana. The brothers now face a long and perhaps complicated road to recovery. The two have limited funds from the few hours of work that Pacheco was able to put in after dialysis over the last few months. Gonzalez was still waiting for the work permit that ICE officials promised.

Chicago Tribune [8/15/2025 4:10 PM, Richard Requena, 3987K] reports walking out of Catholic mass at St. John XXIII parish in Evanston Thursday morning, Lois Farley Shuford expressed alarm that the parish’s two priests, who both came to the United States with a mission to serve the poor, might be forced to leave the country. The possibility of losing the immigrant priests intensifies the worry for people in the parish, where about half the congregants are immigrants from Mexico. They’re facing heightened fears as they see news reports about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seizing immigrants on the streets. The priests, Rev. Koudjo K. Jean-Philippe Lokpo, of the west African nation of Togo, and Rev. José Manuel Ortiz, of Mexico, are here on R1 religious worker visas that permit them to serve in the United States. But the federal government is so backed up in processing paperwork that Rev. Lokpo might be forced to leave in October, and only an attorney’s intervention saved Rev. Ortiz from having to leave the country by the end of July. That has upset parishioners, who say the two men have devoted their lives to serving others, and have done tremendous good for the people in the parish.

New York Post [8/15/2025 5:57 PM, Jennie Taer, 43962K] reports an illegal immigrant accused of killing high school sweethearts in a drunk driving crash was nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after sanctuary cops in Wisconsin gave the feds less than an hour’s notice before letting her walk free, the Department of Homeland Security told The Post Friday. Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila was drunk and driving her SUV the wrong direction on a highway outside Madison on July 20, when she allegedly struck a vehicle and killed the two teens, according to police. Passenger Hallie Helgeson, 18, died at the scene, while 19-year-old Brady Heiling, who was behind the wheel, ultimately succumbed to his injuries after fighting for his life for five days. Immigration agents collared Honduran national Martinez-Avila, 30, outside the Dane County jail on Aug. 13 as she waltzed out after posting her $250,000 bond, according to DHS. ICE initially lodged a detainer with the Dane County jail on July 22 — but the sheriff denied the request, saying deportation would allow her to evade justice, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Then, cops at the jail called ICE less than an hour before letting Martinez-Avila walk free, DHS said. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin railed against the local cops for giving ICE the small window to arrest the illegal immigrant. Martinez-Avila was charged with two counts of felony vehicular homicide and impaired driving.

FOX News [8/15/2025 7:31 PM, Alexandra Koch, Brooke Taylor, 40019K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday lodged an arrest detainer against an illegal immigrant from Lebanon accused of kidnapping his Uber passenger in Texas. Sameh Mohamad Chami, 49, was arrested by Friendswood Police Department on Aug. 6 after allegedly sexually assaulting a young woman while working as an Uber driver, according to a report from affiliate FOX 26 Houston. The 21-year-old victim fell asleep in the backseat of Chami’s car after a late night at a Galveston saloon and reportedly woke up in the front seat of his car parked near a school with her shorts unbuttoned. The woman’s family was following her location and tracked her to an empty parking lot at about 3 a.m., according to the report. She told police she remembered Chami putting his hands down her pants. Friendswood police said Chami intentionally ended the ride before dropping the woman off at home, FOX 26 reported. Chami entered the U.S. on Dec. 2, 2021, under the Biden administration, on a B-2 tourist visa with permission to remain for six months, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He applied for and was granted an extension until Dec. 1, 2022, but failed to depart as
"ICE lodged an arrest detainer against Sameh Mohamad Chami-a criminal illegal alien let into our country by Joe Biden," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement to Fox News. "This depraved criminal was charged with aggravated kidnapping after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 21-year-old girl who was a passenger in his Uber car. President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem unleashed our brave law enforcement to take down these sickos and to protect women from sexual predators." The detainer was issued on the day of Chami’s arrest to ensure he is transferred to ICE custody and not released into American neighborhoods, according to DHS. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.," DHS wrote in a statement. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS Colorado [8/15/2025 6:19 PM, Anna Alejo, 45245K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be months away from opening more immigrant detention centers in Colorado, which would nearly triple the detention capacity of ICE in the state. The agency is looking to reopen shuttered prisons in Hudson northeast of Denver and Walsenburg in southern Colorado. The federal government has allocated more than $170 billion for immigration enforcement. It’s part of President Trump’s promise of mass deportations. This week Colorado members of Congress said ICE is close to signing a deal to add detention beds in Hudson. On Friday, Washington Post reported it obtained federal documents showing what ICE is planning for Colorado and other states. That includes adding 1,400 beds in Walsenburg, 1,100 in Hudson, 28 in Ignacio on the Southern Ute reservation and 170 more beds at the current facility in Aurora -- bringing that capacity to more than 1,500 detainees, according to Washington Post. People in Walsenburg are wondering if a shuttered private prison will reopen as early as this fall. "No, not in Colorado," said protestor Valerie Harper with Grassroots Pueblo. "These are no longer criminals they’re picking up. They’re targeting Brown people and sorting it out later.” "They’re doing everything under wraps, nobody knows if they’re going to open, where they’re going to open," said protestor Eliott Kahn, who said he traveled to Walsenburg from Pueblo West. Protestors gathered at the Huerfano County Correctional Center, where private prison company Core Civic has bid for a contract with ICE. Kahn is concerned where this is headed. "Everyone wants criminals deported, I mean these people in MS13 and Tren de Aragua, they’re terrible people nobody minds that those people are deported. We want to stop the illegal deportations as well as the arrest of hard working immigrants. Everything is secretive. They wear masks, everything it’s just all very illegal, very scary because if they come for these people they can come for us.” Walsenburg’s Mayor Gary Vezzani says reopening the Huerfano facility to detain immigrants will be a boost as the town tackles debt. "I think ICE does a lot better more good things than they do bad things, it’s too big an agency to say there isn’t some bad but all in all I think you’ve got to support your country and they’re part of our country," the mayor said. Vezzani said that he’s heard nothing official about the expanded detention plans for his town. "Core Civic has never really contacted us, told us anything. They’ve kept it up all these years and they’re just expecting back in. They have not asked our permission, they have not asked to be in joint contact, there’s nothing in writing, nothing.” ICE is close to signing a deal to reopen a facility in Hudson, according to Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat who represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Center Square [8/15/2025 4:21 PM, Liam Hibbert] reports the superintendent of the nation’s fifth-biggest school district said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed not to conduct raids or arrests in schools in Las Vegas or the county surrounding it. The move comes in direct defiance of President Donald Trump, who rolled back immigration enforcement protection earlier this year for special spaces like churches and schools. In Nevada, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo recently signaled an intention to allow full ICE activity. Ebert added she and school district Police Chief Henry Blackeye talked to immigration enforcement officials. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice put Nevada on a list of immigration enforcement "sanctuary states," as requested by Trump. Neither the DOJ or Trump administration have explained why Nevada is considered a sanctuary state. It’s one of the two states on the 12-state list with a Republican governor. In the latest legislative session in Nevada, the only bill passed by both chambers directly addressing ICE activity was related to schools. AB 217 would have banned schools or school employees from allowing ICE agents on school grounds, but was vetoed by Gov. Lombardo, who called it "well-intentioned but fundamentally overbroad."

CNN [8/15/2025 10:11 AM, Hanna Park, 21433K] reports a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake landed a Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son in US immigration detention for more than three weeks, her attorney told CNN. Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn’t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN. But Shaw didn’t realize the travel permit that allowed her to exit and re-enter the US had expired. That’s when Shaw and her son, whose immigration documents were valid, were taken into custody by CBP. Shaw tried to get a humanitarian parole, which would have allowed her to enter the US and return home, but she was denied, her attorney said. Shaw then asked if her boyfriend or a friend could pick up her son since his documents were up to date, but she was again denied, Thorward said. They were transported to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, roughly 2,000 miles from their home. Shaw’s detention is among the latest examples of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which, despite pledges to focus on violent criminals, has also swept up lawful residents like Shaw. Shaw told Thorward the Department of Homeland Security said she may be released on Friday, but Thorward said she has not received any direct updates from authorities. CNN has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding Shaw’s case. New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry said it was in contact with Shaw but declined to provide further details for privacy reasons.

Breitbart [8/15/2025 8:16 AM, Bob Price, 3077K] reports a twice-deported illegal alien from Mexico injured a federal agent after crashing into federal vehicles, injuring one of the agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials stated. The man entered the U.S. twice in October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and was arrested this week after attempting to flee from arrest. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers attempted to arrest the previously deported Mexican national on August 11. The man fled in a vehicle after a vehicle stop and eventually crashed into two government vehicles, officials reported. The crash resulted in an injury to a federal officer. "The arrest of this individual for assaulting ICE officers underscores our unwavering commitment to safeguarding the safety of law enforcement personnel and holding offenders accountable," said Homeland Security Investigations San Diego Special Agent in Charge Shawn Gibson. "We will not tolerate violence against law enforcement, and we are resolute in our pursuit of justice." ICE officials did not name the Mexican national but said he entered the U.S. illegally twice in October 2020 through the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego. They said he was smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico in the trunk of the sedan. In addition to being deported on two prior occasions, he reportedly has a prior conviction for driving under the influence. He now faces federal charges for assaulting a federal agent. He could also face a felony charge of illegal re-entry after removal.

New York Times [8/16/2025 3:18 AM, Jesus Jiménez, 330K] 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.”

Reported similarly:
CNN [8/15/2025 114:39 AM, Dalia Faheid, Kelly McCleary, Rebekah Riess, 21433K]
FOX News [8/15/2025 10:03 AM, Greg Norman, 46878K]
SFGate [8/15/2025 8:24 PM, Olivia Hebert, 11503K]

CNN [8/15/2025 6:17 PM, Staff, 662K] reports a man yelled for help as a group of men – one of whom said he was with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – picked him up and pushed him into a car outside a Los Angeles courthouse Wednesday, video shows. The detention has been condemned by the county’s top judge and the man’s lawyers, who said such operations will deter people from showing up to court. Video obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows the man being carried away with his hands bound behind his back. Those detaining him are in plainclothes, and some are wearing masks. The detained man repeatedly screams, "Can you help me, please?" as his body flails. The man is then pushed into the back seat of an unmarked car. It’s not clear where he was taken. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to CNN’s questions about whether ICE was involved in the detention or why the man was detained. But the incident happened as ICE increasingly make arrests at courthouses under recent guidance from the Trump administration. Los Angeles County Superior Court’s presiding judge issued a critical statement in response to questions about Wednesday’s incident, saying such operations will have a negative effect on the judicial system. "While the court is rarely notified of federal immigration enforcement activity occurring outside our courthouse, I am deeply disturbed by such actions," the presiding judge, Sergio C. Tapia II, said in a release. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security previously operated under guidelines that limited immigration enforcement at or near courthouses, but the Trump administration rescinded those guidelines shortly into the president’s second term. Masked law enforcement officers have been showing up at courthouses across the country to arrest migrants. Trump officials have argued the previous guidance hampered the ability of immigration enforcement officers to apprehend people they say are dangerous individuals. "The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a May news release. "It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be. It is also safer for our officers and the community. These illegal aliens have gone through security and been screened to not have any weapons.".

Los Angeles Times [8/15/2025 9:35 AM, Jenny Jarvie, 14672K] reports while the number of immigration raids in Southern California have slowed in recent weeks, the focus on Home Depots appears to have intensified. Parking lots at those stores have become a key new battleground in the federal government’s evolving strategy of immigration enforcement. “Home Depot, whether they like it or not, they are the epicenter of raids,” said Pablo Alvarado, the co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a group that represents the tens of thousands of day laborers working in L.A. On Thursday, agents moved on a Home Depot parking lot in Monrovia, sending laborers running, including a man who jumped a wall and onto the 210 Freeway, where he was fatally struck. A day prior, fear of a possible raid at a Ladera Ranch location sparked warnings across social media. Since a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal agents from targeting people solely based on their race, language, vocation, or location, the number of arrests in Southern California declined in July. But over the last two weeks, some higher-profile raids have returned, often taking place at Home Depot locations, where immigrant laborers congregate looking for work. The Department of Homeland Security did not answer questions from The Times about how many people have been arrested over the last week at Home Depots across L.A. or explain what why the agency has resumed raids outside hardware stores. After last Friday’s raids on Van Nuys, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said four of the seven individuals arrested had criminal records, including driving under the influence of alcohol, disorderly conduct and failing to adhere to previous removal orders. She dismissed activists’ claims that the Trump administration was violating the temporary restraining order. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — not their skin color, race, or ethnicity,” McLaughlin said. “America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities.”

(B) Good Morning America [8/15/2025 7:11 AM, Staff] reports ICE agents descended on downtown Los Angeles, conducting a raid near where Gavin Newsom was announcing redistricting plans. State officials say the man federal officials arrested that event was there selling strawberries. Agents apprehended at least one person before moving on. A death in a separate ICE operation was discovered in Los Angeles County. A man city officials say was fleeing ICE agents at Home Deport reportedly fled the store on foot, was hit by a vehicle, and killed. Department of Homeland Security weighed in, saying the victim was not being pursued by DHS law enforcement at the time and are not aware that this incident happened until operations in the area had concluded.

Daily Caller [8/15/2025 11:57 AM, Hudson Crozier, 1010K] reports a Department of Justice (DOJ) official prosecuting anti-deportation riot cases in California says the violence has only hardened resolve in enforcing immigration law. Rioting mobs that ransacked California with fires, vandalism and assaults on law enforcement starting in June have not stopped Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from fulfilling its mission, Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Essayli’s Central California office has charged dozens with attacking federal agents or otherwise trying to impede ICE operations as violence against immigration officials skyrockets nationwide. "I’d tell them to think again," Essayli said of would-be rioters. "They’re not going to derail our operations. None of our operations have been derailed. We have not been dissuaded from conducting immigration enforcement." "In fact, we had a very high-profile enforcement operation last week … so all they’re doing is causing us to double down and invest more resources in these immigration enforcement operations," Essayli said.

San Diego Union Tribune [8/16/2025 12:30 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1648K] reports a parent waiting nearby to pick up his child from Linda Vista Elementary School was arrested Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, school officials said. The arrest occurred days after the start of the school year, and a week after another parent — who an immigration judge had ordered deportation in absentia — was taken into custody by federal immigration agents outside an elementary school in Chula Vista during morning drop-off. Immigration enforcement arrests have increased locally within the first months of the Trump administration. One of the administration’s first actions was to rescind Biden-era guidance that restricted immigration enforcement operations "in or near" certain protected places, including schools. Families and officials alike said such enforcement actions during school drop-off or pickup can send fear through the community. "This did just not happen to one household. It happened to an entire school community," San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabiola Bagula said Friday at a news conference outside the school. "It left children, families and staff, with questions and fears that no one, especially our youngest learners, should have to carry.” ICE did not immediately provide information about the arrest, and school officials said they did not know why the father was detained. Thursday’s arrest happened about 3:10 p.m., just before school dismissal, as the man waited in a line of cars near the campus, school officials said. Other families were present, but not students, officials added. Homeland Security officials called the school’s principal, Miriam Atlas, following the arrest. She then informed the child’s mother of the situation, Bagula said. "We have added counselors and district staff at the school today because the ripple effects of an incident like this extend far beyond the moment itself," Bagula said. "They live in the stories that children will tell for the rest of their lives, in the questions they ask and in the worry that they carry home.” Sabrina Bazzo, a trustee on the San Diego Unified School District board, referred to the incident as "unacceptable.” "How do we expect our students to stay focused on learning when they have to worry about their parents and family members not feeling safe right outside this door," she said. Bazzo said she had heard that some parents had started organizing to pick up other students in case their parents felt uncomfortable about coming to school. In a letter to parents on Thursday, Principal Miriam Atlas stressed that "school grounds are safe spaces that cannot be accessed by ICE without a proper, signed warrant.” "We have reiterated our policies and protocols to all staff to ensure everyone understands these critical guidelines. In California, schools cannot ask about immigration status during enrollment or share student records without parental consent or a court order," the letter reads.

Los Angeles Times [8/15/2025 1:19 PM, Christopher Buchanan and Brenda Elizondo, 14672K] reports Union del Barrio, a political volunteer organization is training educators and community members in patrol methods to alert students and parents of potential ICE activity.On the first day of instruction at Maya Angelou Community High School, teachers and students filed onto campus as volunteers monitored activity from their and at the school’s entrance. Ron Gochez, an organizer for UdB and a history teacher at Maya Angelou, spoke with The Times before the school day began.

SFGate [8/15/2025 11:35 AM, Staff, 11503K] reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took six people from an East Oakland home during an immigration raid Tuesday, including a 17-year-old boy and an adult with a developmental disability, according to a lawyer from a Bay Area legal assistance group. The six, some of whom are part of the same family from Central America, were taken from the home and initially detained at the ICE field office in San Francisco before being sent to different parts of the country, said Nikolas De Bremaeker, an attorney with Centro Legal de La Raza in Oakland. De Bremaeker said he spoke with the aunts and mother of the people arrested and was then able to talk to several of them while they were still being held in San Francisco. "A child and a person with Down syndrome should never be detained," De Bremaeker said. "Point blank, they should not be held in a detention center, much less in the detention center that isn’t even built to hold anyone more than a few hours." The conditions at the San Francisco facility are inhumane and often overcrowded, he said, with small cells, bare cement floors and exposed toilets, where detainees are given pieces of plastic to use as blankets. De Bremaeker said none of the people he talked to have criminal records and several had pending immigration cases. On Thursday, De Bremaeker said most were sent to Tacoma, Washington, and one was transferred to a detention center in Southern California, while the 17-year-old was sent to an ICE facility in New York state. An ICE spokesperson Friday declined to confirm the Oakland raid or the current locations of the people De Bremaeker spoke to.

Breitbart [8/15/2025 2:59 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that former President Joe Biden’s administration “truncated” vital security questions administered to foreign nationals seeking naturalized American citizenship to hike naturalizations and, as a result, reshape the nation’s electorate. In February 2021, almost immediately after taking office, Biden signed an executive order enlisting USCIS and other federal agencies to help increase annual naturalizations — that is, granting foreign nationals naturalized American citizenship. The order made clear that USCIS ought to “eliminate barriers in and otherwise improve the existing naturalization process … [and] substantially reduce current naturalization processing times…” Edlow, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, reveals that the Biden administration appears to have carried out the executive order by, among other actions, shortening security questions for foreign nationals seeking citizenship. “When the interview was being conducted, what I can tell you is they had gone ahead and truncated the security questions,” Edlow said. “So instead of answering and confirming an applicant’s answers to every question, they went ahead and asked just very basic, general questions, and based on the answers to those, essentially assumed that the other answers were the same,” Edlow continued. “So it was, it was shortening the interview in a way that would have allowed for more people to go through the process.”

San Francisco Chronicle [8/15/2025 9:02 AM, Mitra Naseh, 4120K] reports thousands of Afghans living in the United States face an uncertain future after a federal appeals court ruled on July 21, 2025, that the Trump administration can end a humanitarian relief program that provided them work permits and protection from deportation. About 8,000 Afghans and 7,900 Cameroonians benefiting from this humanitarian protection were affected by the May 2025 decision from the administration to terminate TPS. Afghans in the U.S. first received TPS in 2022, after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in late 2021. In 2023, the Department of Homeland Security extended TPS for Afghans through 2025, as the conditions that triggered the initial designation – namely, armed conflict in Afghanistan – were deemed to be ongoing. In May 2025, however, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of TPS for Afghans, stating that Afghanistan no longer poses a threat to the safety of its nationals abroad and that Afghan nationals can safely return to their country. "We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation," Noem said in May 2025. "Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country."

Bloomberg Law [8/15/2025 11:07 AM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 1707K] reports the Department of Homeland Security in its newest regulatory agenda said it plans an August release of a proposal to base the allocation of H-1B specialty occupation visas on wage levels for job openings. Under the proposal initially cleared by the White House Aug. 8, selection of registrations and petitions would favor workers offered pay corresponding to higher Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics wage levels. The agency also plans to amend rules governing employment authorization of asylum seekers as well as parolees and others granted deferred action. It will also revisit eligibility rules for cap-exempt H-1B specialty occupation visas, employment-based green cards, and temporary work visas for religious workers.

CBS Los Angeles [8/15/2025 8:25 PM, Jasmine Viel, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Los Angeles police arrested a man for DUI after he crashed into an immigration services office on Friday morning. The California Highway Patrol said the collision happened just before 6:20 a.m. near the intersection of East Gage Avenue and Compton Avenue. The suspect’s white SUV crashed through the front of Comunidad Latina Inmigrante. Jesus Chavez, one of the consultants, said he moved his staff to an office next door so they can keep helping the predominantly immigrant neighborhood. "We helped the community to fill out forms and prepare for citizenship, to get their citizenship and provide classes," he said. "Unfortunately, this accident is impacting my office because this community came to my office wanting to receive help for citizenship.". Staff said the lobby where the driver crashed through is typically packed with dozens of people waiting for immigration services help.

Reuters [8/15/2025 7:31 AM, Ted Hesson, 51390K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is discussing a refugee admissions cap of around 40,000 for the coming year with a majority allocated to white South Africans, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter and an internal refugee program email, reflecting a major shift in the U.S. approach to refugees. Angie Salazar, the top refugee program official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told state-level refugee workers that she expected the cap to be 40,000, according to an email summary of an August 1 meeting reviewed by Reuters. The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some 30,000 of the 40,000 spaces would be devoted to Afrikaners, a largely Dutch-descended minority in South Africa that Trump has prioritized for resettlement. Trump’s focus on resettling Afrikaners could upend the precedent around the refugee program, which for decades had bipartisan support.

USA Today [8/15/2025 8:00 AM, Adam Stone, 75552K] reports Diane Sabatino oversees efforts to secure the nations ports of entry: Sea, land, and air. That’s no small task. In addition to some 1.2 million individuals, "we see about 90,000 truck, rail and sea containers that arrive every day, and about 105,000 shipments of goods," says Sabatino, acting executive assistant commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations. "It’s about $9.2 billion worth of imported products," she says, and tucked in among those products are serious hazards: From hard drugs to agricultural pests to counterfeit goods. Through CBP, the Department of Homeland Security balances the need to keep legitimate traffic flowing smoothly while intercepting the bad stuff. That dual need, to facilitate security and commerce, creates an unusual mission set for CBP. "In the Office of Field Operations (OFO), we have a unique role in law enforcement," Sabatino says. "We’re making sure that our processes are streamlined to ensure that we’re supporting good commerce, while at the same time interdicting those things that could be disruptive to our national security and our economic prosperity." In pursuing that mission, OFO has to screen for a vast range of possible hazards. There’s narcotics: cCocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl. "The fentanyl precursors arrive in air cargo as well as our maritime environment and in passenger environment," Sabatino says.

The Hill [8/15/2025 10:47 AM, Jeff Arnold and Ali Bradley, 18649K] reports that a government surplus auction company that acquired up to $350 million in unused construction materials from President Trump’s unfinished wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is reportedly ready to return them to the U.S. government as part of a recent agreement. GovPlanet was set to sell unused steel panels, bollards and concrete after former President Biden ordered construction on parts of the wall to stop after he took office in 2021. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is currently in talks with the company regarding the return of the materials for pennies on the dollar. DHS sources told NewsNation that a deal between the government and GovPlanet has been reached but did not provide details. Published reports, however, indicate that the auction site and DHS reached an agreement last week to have a third-party contractor take control of the materials in the next 90 days. Requests for comment on the reported pact sent by NewsNation to GovPlanet, the White House and DHS on Thursday were not immediately returned. The president told reporters Wednesday that Bondi is working "very hard" to sue GovPlanet, which listed the used building materials from the wall for sale in December on its website. Trump added that his administration plans to "take the wall back" and that, as he understands it, the government will "take the wall back" and put the wall back up.

FOX Business [8/15/2025 12:02 PM, Edward Lawrence and Suzanne O’Halloran , 9940K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection has busted up a duty-evasion ring attempting to evade President Trump’s tariffs, FOX Business exclusively reports. The CBP uncovered over $400 million in unpaid trade duties through investigations permitted under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), a tactic used to police and stop illegal transshipments and other methods aimed at defrauding the U.S. government. That figure is expected to rise as the investigation deepens. "CBP’s EAPA program is a critical component of our trade enforcement efforts. We’re working tirelessly to prevent evasion and ensure a level playing field for U.S. companies," said Rodney Scott, CBP Commissioner. "Our mission, under the leadership of President Trump, is to support economic fairness, protect domestic industry, and uphold the integrity of U.S. supply chains" according to a release detailing the sting.

Los Angeles Times [8/15/2025 6:00 AM, Steve Fisher, 14672K] reports inside a windowless and dark shipping container turned into a high-tech surveillance command center, two analysts peered at their own set of six screens that showed data coming in from an MQ-9 Predator B drone. Both were looking for two adults and a child who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and had fled when a Border Patrol agent approached in a truck. Inside the drone hangar on the other side of the Ft. Huachuca base sat another former shipping container, this one occupied by a drone pilot and a camera operator, who pivoted the drone’s camera to scan 9 square miles of shrubs and saguaros for the migrants. Like the command center, the onetime shipping container was lit mostly by the glow of the computer screens. The hunt for the three migrants embodied how advanced technology has become a vital part of the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the border. The Department of Homeland Security allocated 12,000 hours of MQ-9 drone flight time this year at the Ft. Huachuca base, and says the flights cost $3,800 per hour, though an inspector general report in 2015 said the amount is closer to $13,000 when factoring in personnel salaries and operational costs. Maintenance issues and bad weather often mean the drones fly around half the allotted hours, officials said. With the precipitous drop in migrant crossings at the southern U.S. border, the drones are now tasked with fewer missions. That means they have the time to track small groups or even individual border jumpers trekking north through the desert.

San Diego Union Tribune [8/15/2025 8:02 PM, Caleb Lunetta, 1648K] reports the names of a 59-year-old driver and three Customs and Border Protection officers involved in a shooting where the man allegedly sped through a secondary inspection and nearly struck the officers at the Otay Mesa border crossing were released Friday. Humberto Chavarria-Cervantes, of Los Angeles, was fired upon by three CBP officers, San Diego police Lt. Arturo Swadener said. San Diego police responded to the shooting under a countywide protocol designed to keep law enforcement agencies from investigating themselves when an officer opens fire. The officers, identified as Richard Labak, Jerald Talob and Hugo Osuna, have worked for the agency for 22, 6 and 2 years, respectively. Chavarria-Cervantes, a U.S. citizen, was not hit by gunfire, but suffered minor cuts when his windshield shattered during the shooting, Swadener said. None of the officers were injured. Separately, Homeland Security Investigations agents are looking into the actions of the suspect, Swadener said. HSI officials will also conduct an administrative investigation into the officers’ discharge of their weapons. The shooting occurred shortly after Chavarria-Cervantes was attempting to drive into the United States from Mexico at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry around 9 p.m., Swadener said. At some point, he was ordered to head to secondary inspection, but allegedly attempted to flee. He was unable to drive through the north end of the lot because it was blocked, Swadener said. He then turned around and tried driving south at a high speed, smashing through two gates and nearly hitting CBP officers. The three officers opened fire, striking the vehicle, investigators said. Chavarria-Cervantes stopped the vehicle and surrendered. Chavarria-Cervantes later tested positive for methamphetamine, Swadener said.

CBS San Francisco [8/15/2025 11:55 AM, Chelsea Hylton, 51860K] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents appeared outside of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and local leaders held a rally to unveil a proposed redistricting plan that Democratic lawmakers hope to put before voters in a special election. A group of masked agents showed up in trucks outside of the news conference. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino said agents were conducting "roving patrols" in the area. Bovino confirmed to CBS Los Angeles that one person was arrested outside the museum. Newsom’s office posted a video on X showing the agents outside of the museum saying, "BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!". U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded, "Our law enforcement operations are about enforcing the law—not about Gavin Newsom," she said in a statement. "CBP patrols all areas of Los Angeles every day with over 40 teams on the ground to make LA safe.".

Reported similarly:
AP [8/15/2025 7:26 AM, Staff, 56000K]

The Hill [8/15/2025 8:45 AM, Miriam Waldvogel, 18649K] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) criticized Border Patrol as "sick and pathetic" after armed agents made a show of force outside the governor’s Thursday press conference to announce retaliatory redistricting measures. "It just said everything you need to know about the setting that we’re under," Newsom said after the event. " That they chose the time, manner, and place to send their district director outside right when we’re about to have this press conference." He added, "It’s everything we know about Donald Trump’s America." Border Patrol agents made one arrest in the area near the presser, located at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Gregory Bovino, the local Border Patrol chief, denied that there was any other motive in the agency’s presence downtown. "Breaking the law is not coincidental. Breaking the law is breaking the law," he told local reporters.

FOX News [8/15/2025 11:40 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports CBP El Centro Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to address Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claims that agents targeted a site outside his rally in Los Angeles for an ICE raid. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [8/15/2025 5:43 PM, Gregory Bull, 37974K] reports U.S. border patrol agents made more arrests in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, arresting a woman selling food outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles and workers at a car wash in Montebello, California. The detentions come days after agents jumped out of the back of a truck and made arrests at a Home Depot as part of a raid the agency official called “Operation Trojan Horse.” Since June, the Los Angeles region has been a battleground in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration strategy.

AP [8/15/2025 7:50 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents made more arrests in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. Since June, the Los Angeles region has been a battleground in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration strategy. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Houston Chronicle [8/16/2025 7:08 AM, Anusha Fathepure] reports the Transportation Security Administration launched a quicker version of PreCheck at 15 airports across the United States, including Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. TSA PreCheck Touchless ID uses an enhanced facial recognition technology to streamline the security process, allowing eligible passengers to verify their identity using facial recognition rather than a physical ID, according to the TSA website. To participate, travelers must be enrolled in TSA PreCheck and fly with a participating airline, such as Fort Worth-based American Airlines. Passengers must opt into the program through their airline or the Airside Digital Identity app, which stores a mobile version of a government-issued ID. Once enrolled, a special Touchless ID icon appears on the mobile boarding pass. At the checkpoint, participants scan a QR code from their phone and undergo a facial scan. The process typically takes fewer than five seconds and is intended to reduce physical contact and improve efficiency, according to TSA. The agency says biometric images are deleted within 24 hours and not stored for future use. The touchless ID is available at 14 other airports besides Dallas, including Chicago O’Hare, Denver International, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and others.

USA Today [8/15/2025 11:59 AM, Michelle Del Rey, 75552K] reports that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) launched a quicker version of PreCheck, although the service is currently available at only 15 airports in the United States. TSA PreCheck Touchless ID utilizes an enhanced facial recognition technology, Traveler Verification Service, which creates a secure biometric template of a passenger’s live facial image and compares it to images the passenger previously provided to the federal government. The live image is taken at an airport checkpoint. The technology is currently being used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to TSA’s website. It’s supposed to be faster because passengers do not need to present an ID card or boarding pass. Passengers who have consented to use the technology can opt out at any time. To use the feature, passengers must opt in through a participating airline’s profile. TSA and CBP are allowing airports and airline partners to request the use of Traveler Verification Services for identity verification under an established TSA process. Upon approval, partners purchase camera equipment to take photos of voluntary passengers at airport baggage drop and boarding locations. The pictures are used to create biometric templates, which are compared against existing government images, according to the TSA’s website. During an airline partner’s mobile app check-in process, the airline alerts passengers if they can opt in to the service.

Daily Caller [8/15/2025 5:25 PM, Melanie Wilcox, 985K] reports newly released bodycam footage shows the tense moments after police allegedly removed a Southwest Airlines pilot from the cockpit for trying to fly while drunk in January. Captain David Allsop arrived at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia shortly prior to 6 a.m., according to WJCL News. However, TSA agents claimed they smelled alcohol on him. Allsop allegedly boarded the airliner and started pre-flight checks before officers arrived and removed him. A Southwest employee reportedly asked police to delay taking Allsop into custody, according to WJCL News. The Federal Aviation Administration revoked Allsop’s license in July, according to WJCL News. Criminal charges against him remain pending.

USA Today [8/15/2025 11:59 AM, Michelle Del Rey, 75552K] reports the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) launched a quicker version of PreCheck, although the service is currently available at only 15 airports in the United States. TSA PreCheck Touchless ID utilizes an enhanced facial recognition technology, Traveler Verification Service, which creates a secure biometric template of a passenger’s live facial image and compares it to images the passenger previously provided to the federal government. The live image is taken at an airport checkpoint. The technology is currently being used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to TSA’s website. It’s supposed to be faster because passengers do not need to present an ID card or boarding pass. Passengers who have consented to use the technology can opt out at any time.

The Hill [8/15/2025 1:16 PM, Amalia Huot-Marchand, 18649K] reports two Democratic Senators sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday urging her to end a policy requiring her personal sign-off on grants of more than $100,000. “We write to convey our deep concerns about the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) policy requiring the Secretary’s personal approval of all expenditures exceeding $100,000, including those for disaster-related costs,” wrote Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). “This directive, as currently implemented, creates dangerous delays and undermines the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) effectiveness, placing lives at unnecessary risk,” they continued. This comes after reports that FEMA’s response to the devastating Texas floods in June may have been delayed by Noem’s policy. The letter said this resulted in call centers being “understaffed in the crucial early days of the disaster, leaving thousands of survivors without answers or assistance.” The senators argue $100,000 is an extremely low threshold given the scale of FEMA’s work. Disaster recovery often requires millions of dollars in resources to be mobilized in hours. These extra bureaucratic steps, according to the letter, also hinder the agency’s ability to coordinate with other local agencies. “These failures are not isolated missteps, but foreseeable outcomes of a policy that centralizes decision-making at the expense of speed and flexibility,” the senators wrote. Noem last month denied the policy had slowed federal response efforts in Texas, saying it was an “accountability measure” in an interview with NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

CNN [8/16/2025 7:26 AM, Mary Gilbert, Allison Chinchar, and Rebekah Riess, 21433K] reports Hurricane Erin is rapidly intensifying as it tracks above the northeastern Caribbean Saturday, churning up rough surf and sending rain and gusty winds to islands south of its path. Erin was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 130 mph as of Saturday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. Erin is located about 150 miles northeast of Anguilla, the National Hurricane Center notes. The storm is passing just north of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend while making a gradual turn toward the north. It’s unlikely it will make a direct landfall on any of the northeastern Caribbean islands, though tropical alerts are in place for some of these areas cautioning potential threats. Erin is forecast to track north over the western Atlantic next week, away from the United States and Bermuda, but that could change if the storm turns more or less sharply than currently forecast. Even if the forecast remains consistent, Erin could cause issues for both places in the form of rough surf and dangerous rip currents. Continued strengthening is expected throughout the day on Saturday, powered up by the warmer than normal Atlantic. In fact, by the middle of next week, Erin is forecast to at least double or triple in size, which will result in rough ocean conditions over the western Atlantic. The AP [8/15/2025 11:28 PM, Dánica Coto, 43603K] reports that the U.S. government has deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution as forecasters issued a flood watch for the entire U.S. territory from late Friday into Monday. Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters have been inspected and could be opened if needed. The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that it closed six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the U.S. Virgin Islands to all incoming vessels unless they had received prior authorization. Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane. "These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement," said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas’ disaster risk management authority. Dangerous surf and rip currents are expected to affect the U.S. East Coast next week, with waves reaching up to 15 feet (5 meters) along parts of the North Carolina coast that could cause beach erosion, according to Accuweather. "Erin is forecast to explode into a powerful Category 4 hurricane as it moves across very warm waters in the open Atlantic. Water temperatures at the surface and hundreds of feet deep are several degrees higher than the historical average," said Alex DaSilva, Accuweather’s lead hurricane expert. Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. This year’s season is once again expected to be unusually busy. The forecast calls for six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph.

AP [8/15/2025 6:21 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports Erin strengthened into a hurricane on Friday as it approached the northeast Caribbean, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding and landslides. The storm is expected to remain over open waters, although tropical storm watches were issued for Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Martin, St. Barts, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten. Heavy rains were forecast to start late Friday in Antigua and Barbuda, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and southern and eastern Puerto Rico. Up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) are expected, with isolated totals of up to 6 inches (15 centimeters), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane center also warned of dangerous swells but said the threat of direct impacts in the Bahamas and along the east coast of the United States “appears to be gradually decreasing.” The storm was located about 365 miles (585 kilometers) east of the Northern Leeward Islands. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin is forecast to eventually take a sharp turn northeast that would put it on a path between the U.S. and Bermuda. “All of our best consensus aids show Erin turning safely east of the United States next week, but it’ll be a much closer call for Bermuda, which could land on the stronger eastern side of Erin,” he said. Erin is the Atlantic season’s first hurricane. It is forecast to become a major Category 3 storm late this weekend and pass some 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Puerto Rico.

The Hill [8/15/2025 2:20 PM, Amalia Huot-Marchand, 18649K] reports that the U.S. Secret Service will conduct a routine threat exercise at the White House between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. Friday, as President Trump is out of town for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Secret Service warned that residents could hear simulated gunfire coming from the White House and should not be alarmed. All roads will be accessible, but some sidewalks along the White House complex will be closed. The Secret Service has a double mission to protect the president and conduct investigations on potential threats. These routine trainings are meant to keep agents ready and alert if anything happens. The protective detail for the president has come under scrutiny since the attempts on Trump’s life during last year’s presidential campaign. An assassin narrowly missed shooting Trump in the head during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., piercing Trump’s ear in a shooting that killed one man attending the event. The shooter was killed. Last month, six agents were fired due to their actions following an investigation into the assassination. "The Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission," the report found, according to CBS News. "The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved."

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [8/15/2025 5:11 PM, Mallory Wilson, 964K]
Washington Examiner [8/15/2025 5:40 PM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K]

(B) Good Morning America [8/15/2025 8:28 AM, Staff] reports that a judge has certified charges against a man in a case involving multiple card skimming devices found at local Walmart’s. He is facing charges in at least six localities, including Lynchburg, Bedford, Danville, Halifax County, and Colonial Heights. The US Secret Service says when questioning him, he told them a Chinese man paid him $200 to install the skimmers.

CyberScoop [8/15/2025 12:20 PM, Derek B. Johnson] reports a federal court has upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to impose stricter data breach notification regulations on the telecom sector, including requirements that the industry notifies customers when their personally identifiable information is exposed in a hack. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the FCC did not overstep its statutory authority last year when it updated existing data breach notification requirements to require telecoms to report on any customer PII lost during a data breach. In its opinion, the majority wrote that “based on the statutory text, context, and structure, [existing law] gives the FCC the authority to impose reporting requirements in the event of a data breach of customer PII.”

CyberScoop [8/15/2025 1:31 PM, Matt Kapko] reports Cisco disclosed a maximum-severity vulnerability affecting its Secure Firewall Management Center Software that could allow unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary shell commands and execute high-privilege commands, the vendor said in a security advisory Thursday. The enterprise networking vendor said it discovered the vulnerability — CVE-2025-20265 — during internal security testing. Cisco released a patch for the defect along with a series of 29 vulnerabilities in other Cisco Secure technologies. “To date, Cisco’s Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any malicious use or exploitation of this vulnerability, and we strongly urge customers to upgrade to update releases,” a Cisco spokesperson told CyberScoop. “If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement a mitigation as outlined in the advisory.” The disclosure marks yet another vulnerability in a widely used edge technology — a common and persistent point of intrusion for attackers. Edge technologies, including VPNs, firewalls and routers, harbored the four most frequently exploited vulnerabilities in 2024, according to Mandiant’s M-Trends report released earlier this year. “Anytime you see ‘remote, unauthenticated command injection,’ you should be concerned,” Nathaniel Jones, VP of security and AI strategy at Darktrace, told CyberScoop. “These are exactly the types of vulnerabilities that pose significant danger because they are highly attractive to nation-state actors like Salt Typhoon — and such groups are likely to move quickly to exploit them.” Darktrace hasn’t observed exploitation in the wild, nor is it aware of a proof-of-concept exploit. “But, this type of vulnerability means the clock is ticking. I’d bet a proof-of-concept is available come Monday,” Jones said.

Blaze [8/15/2025 11:00 AM, Maurice Richards, 1805K] reports while the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage has dominated headlines, another danger has quietly re-emerged — one far more dangerous to American lives than a frozen conflict in Eastern Europe. Donald Trump has legitimized a man who once led an al-Qaeda/ISIS faction, lifting U.S. terrorist designations and sanctions to recognize him as Syria’s leader. For millions of Trump voters, ending America’s involvement in endless wars and repudiating the neocons who started them was a central promise. Trump’s campaign video "Preventing World War III" called out warmongers and globalist elites like no other candidate before him. He vowed to replace them with patriots and pursue an expressly America First foreign policy. But instead of draining the neocon swamp, Trump has given it fresh water. His recognition of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani — the protégé of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — has kept us on the endless war track. This isn’t what MAGA voted for.

New York Times [8/16/2025 4:30 AM, Carol Rosenberg, 153395K] reports Don Arias lost his younger brother in the Sept. 11 attacks. He has traveled to Guantánamo Bay three times to attend hearings in the case, hoping it would end in a death sentence for the man accused of being the mastermind of the plot. Elizabeth Miller was 6 when her father died on that dark day. She had favored a plea agreement reached last summer with three of the defendants, who would have received life sentences after describing their precise roles as conspirators in the attacks. Two different generations. Two opposing opinions and experiences. Yet Mr. Arias and Ms. Miller now both doubt the case will ever end. After an emotional year in which the plea agreement was twice upheld and twice invalidated, and with more appeals on the horizon, they are among the Sept. 11 family members who have become disillusioned with the case that is meant to deliver justice for the worst domestic terrorism attack in U.S. history. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man accused of hatching and directing the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people, has been in custody for more than two decades. He was first charged in 2008, and a date has not been set for his trial. “I kind of resigned myself,” said Mr. Arias, 68, a retired Air Force officer whose brother Adam Arias worked for an investment company at the World Trade Center. “Let them rot down there. Let them languish in legal limbo for the rest of their lives. They will have to answer to their crimes to a higher power one day.” Ms. Miller’s father, Douglas C. Miller, a firefighter in Rescue Company 5 of Staten Island, was also killed at the World Trade Center. She has made the weeklong trek to the court four times since 2021. “At this point, regardless of what path you are advocating for as a 9/11 family member, there is no end in sight,” said Ms. Miller, 30. “I think I’m just losing faith.” Five men have been charged in the case. But it has been complicated by the defendants’ odyssey in C.I.A. prisons after they were captured in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003. Rather than send them to the United States directly for trial, the George W. Bush administration kept them incommunicado, and subjected them to torture. They were moved to Guantánamo Bay in 2006, where they remain today, and have been charged twice in death penalty cases, in 2008 and 2012. But the trials have not begun.

CBS News Pittsburgh [8/16/2025 6:53 AM, Jessica Guay, 51860K] Video HERE reports a teenager has been charged with several counts of attempted homicide in connection with a mass shooting in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood that happened earlier this summer. Pittsburgh Police say that Aaron Reddix, 16, is a repeat offender and is now facing charges for the shooting at Garland Park that sent multiple people to the hospital on June 22. Police say Reddix fired the shots that injured four people at the party and that investigators were able to Reddix to the crime scene using surveillance footage and cell phone data and matched the bullet casings found at the scene to stolen handguns found after a carjacking and police chase crash just a few days later.

AP [8/15/2025 11:53 AM, Jim Comez, 56000K] reports Australia on Friday launched its largest military exercises with Philippine forces, involving more than 3,600 military personnel in live-fire drills, battle maneuvers and a beach assault at a Philippine town facing the disputed South China Sea, where the allies have raised alarm over Beijing’s assertive actions. The exercises are called Alon, meaning wave in the Philippine language, and will showcase Australia’s firepower. The drills will involve a guided-missile navy destroyer, F/A-18 supersonic fighter jets, a C-130 troop and cargo aircraft, Javelin anti-tank weapons and special forces sniper weapons. Military officials said defense forces from the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Indonesia will join as observers. "This exercise reflects Australia’s commitment to working with partners to ensure we maintain a region where state sovereignty is protected, international law is followed and nations can make decisions free from coercion," Vice Admiral Justin Jones of the Royal Australian Navy said in a statement. The combat exercises are "an opportunity for us to practice how we collaborate and respond to shared security challenges and project force over great distances in the Indo-Pacific," Jones said. The exercises will run until Aug. 29.

Reuters [8/15/2025 9:29 AM, Steve Holland, 24051K] reports that U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would announce tariffs on imports of steel and semiconductor chips in coming weeks. "I’ll be setting tariffs next week and the week after on steel and on, I would say, chips," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. He said the rates would be lower at the start to allow companies to build up domestic manufacturing in the U.S., rising sharply later, following a pattern he has also outlined for tariffs on pharmaceuticals. He gave no exact rates. "I’m going to have a rate that is going to be lower at the beginning - that gives them a chance to come in and build - and very high after a certain period of time," he said. Trump said he felt confident that companies would opt to manufacture in the United States, rather than face high tariffs. Trump has upended global trade by imposing sharply higher duties on nearly all countries’ exports to the United States, along with tariffs on specific sectors, such as automotive. It was not immediately clear if another tariff increase on the metals was in the offing. Trump said last week he would impose a tariff of 100% on imports of semiconductors, but companies that committed to building up manufacturing in the United States would be exempt.

Reuters [8/15/2025 12:02 AM, Steve Holland, 45746K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should agree a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they’re not", after holding a summit with President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield a ceasefire. In a major shift, Trump also said he had agreed with Putin that the best way to end the war was to go straight to a peace settlement - not via a ceasefire, as Ukraine and its European allies, until now with U.S. support, have been demanding. Trump’s comments came after he met Putin for nearly three hours in Alaska on Friday at the first U.S.-Russia summit since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on Truth social. The war - the deadliest in Europe for 80 years - has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts. Trump said he would hold talks at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday, adding: "If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.” Zelenskiy said after a lengthy conversation with Trump following the Alaska summit that Ukraine was ready for constructive cooperation, and he supported the idea of a trilateral meeting. "Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace," he wrote on social media. But Putin made no mention of meeting Zelenskiy when speaking to reporters earlier. Russian state news agency TASS quoted Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov as saying the possibility of a three-way summit including Zelenskiy had not been discussed. In a post-summit interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump signaled that he and Putin had discussed potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine. "I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on," Trump said. "I think we’re pretty close to a deal," he said, adding: "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.” Putin signaled no movement in Russia’s long-held positions on the war, but said he agreed with Trump that Ukraine’s security must be "ensured". "We are ready to work on this. I would like to hope that the understanding we have reached will allow us to get closer to that goal and open the way to peace in Ukraine," Putin said at a brief media appearance after the summit where neither leader took questions.

Reported similarly:
Roll Call [8/15/2025 8:05 PM, John T. Bennett, 511K]
NewsMax [8/15/2025 9:26 PM, Staff, 4779K]

ABC News [8/16/2025 3:06 AM, Rachel Scott, 27036K] reports President Donald Trump has been speaking with NATO leaders over the phone, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, ABC News has learned. This follows what was described as a "lengthy" call with President Zelenskyy. Trump has been working the phones for much of the six hour journey back to Washington, D.C., Leavitt said

The AP [8/16/2025 5:45 AM, Samya Kullab and Elise Morton, 37974K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump says after his Alaska summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the best way to end the war in Ukraine is to go directly to a peace accord, rather than going through a ceasefire first. Trump wrote on his social media site after the summit and calls with Ukrainian and European leaders: “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.” Trump confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet him at the White House on Monday. He said that “if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he plans to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington next week after Trump’s summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin ended without an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy said he held a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump on Saturday after the U.S. leader met Putin in Alaska. He thanked Trump for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.” Reuters [8/16/2025 4:36 AM, Kanishka Singh and Steve Holland, 45746K] reports Zelenskiy said Ukraine supported Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia. He also said he discussed with Trump the "positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security.” "Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this. On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war," Zelenskiy said on X. Axios reporter Barak Ravid said, citing a source, that Trump told Zelenskiy and European leaders during the phone call that Putin was not interested in a ceasefire but in a comprehensive agreement to end the war. "I think a fast peace deal is better than a ceasefire," Trump said in the call, according to Ravid, who cited a source on the call without identifying that person. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

US News & World Report [8/15/2025 3:39 PM, Tom Balmforth and Jonathan Landay, 24051K] reports that Russia is preparing to test its new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile and if successful, plans to use the results to bolster its negotiating position with the West, Ukrainian military intelligence said on Friday. Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the service, issued the written statement to Reuters just before U.S. President Donald Trump was due to hold talks in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He did not give an assessment of the possible timing of the test in the statement, given in response to questions submitted by Reuters for a report published on Tuesday that Moscow was preparing to test the 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile. He did not say how his service arrived at its assessment. It has for years received intelligence from the United States and its NATO allies, and it has its own networks inside Russia. Reuters on Tuesday reported two U.S. researchers and a Western security source as saying that Moscow was readying a test of the Burevestnik at its Pankovo test site on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. The researchers said imagery from Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, showed extensive activities at the site, increases in personnel and equipment and the presence of ships and aircraft associated with previous tests of the weapon dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO.

ABC News [8/16/2025 5:15 AM, Trisha Mukherjee, 31733K] reports over the course of the past four years since the Taliban took control of Kabul, plunging Afghanistan into a humanitarian crisis and stripping away women’s rights, millions of Afghans who initially fled have now been expelled from Iran and Pakistan, according to the United Nations. Over 1.5 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan so far this year, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM). 700,000 Afghan migrants have returned to Afghanistan from Iran this year as of June 2025, according to the UN. Some have never set foot in Afghanistan, while others haven’t been in the country since fleeing it decades ago, said Arafat Jamal, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan. Russia became the first country to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s official government, but other countries have not done so. Many of the returnees arrived at the Afghan border in buses “bewildered, disoriented, and tired and hungry,” according to Jamal.

Reuters [8/15/2025 11:19 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports the United States’ practice of installing location trackers in chip shipments at risk of diversion to China reflects the "instincts of a surveillance empire," China’s state-run media outlet Xinhua said in a commentary published on Friday. Reuters reported earlier this week that U.S. authorities had secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips to detect diversions to China, which is under U.S. curbs for advanced chip exports. The Xinhua commentary, titled "America turns chip trade into a surveillance game," cited "reports" that Washington had embedded such trackers, accusing the United States of running "the world’s most sprawling intelligence apparatus". The U.S. government has in the past few years tightened restrictions on the exports of advanced chips as well as related technology and equipments to China, as the two superpowers vie for technological dominance.

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