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.

Reuters [8/22/2025 5:06 AM, Kanishka Singh, 45746K] reports a federal judge on Thursday ordered a halt to new construction at "Alligator Alcatraz" and barred bringing more detainees to the migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades touted by President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams also ordered the removal of some equipment and supporting infrastructure at the remote facility. The judge in Miami, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, sided with environmental groups who say the facility is endangering the Everglades and its wildlife. Florida, which is partnering with the federal government in the building of the facility, immediately filed an appeal. The order said that authorities must remove "all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project," within 60 days. It added that some fencing and additional lighting that had already been installed must also be removed. The environmental groups that mounted the legal challenge welcomed Thursday’s ruling. The facility is located 37 miles (60 km) west of Miami in a vast subtropical wetland that is home to alligators, crocodiles and pythons - imagery that the White House leveraged to show its determination to remove migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the U.S. under former President Joe Biden. The complex in southern Florida at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport is estimated to cost $450 million annually and could house some 5,000 people, officials estimate. The Department of Homeland Security had set aside funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s shelter and services program to cover a "large part" of the cost of the detention center. Two environmental groups filed a legal motion in June seeking to block further construction at the detention site, saying it violated federal, state and local environmental laws. The AP [8/21/2025 11:05 PM, David Fischer, Mike Schneider and Freida Frisaro, 34837K] reports that the state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly after the ruling was issued. "The deportations will continue until morale improves," DeSantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi said in response to the judge’s ruling. The judge said she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can’t bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property. The order does not prohibit modification or repairs to existing facilities, "which are solely for the purpose of increasing safety or mitigating environmental or other risks at the site.,". The preliminary injunction includes "those who are in active concert or participation with" the state of Florida or federal defendants or their officers, agents, employees," the judge wrote in an 82-page order. The judge said state officials never sufficiently explained why the facility needed to be in the middle of the Florida Everglades. "What is apparent, however, is that in their haste to construct the detention camp, the State did not consider alternative locations," Williams said. Judge cites decades-long efforts to preserve Everglades. Williams said her order gave the state and federal defendants time to wind down the facility so that it can undergo the required environmental assessments. She noted the three-quarters century of efforts to preserve the Everglades. "Since that time, every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades," she wrote. "This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.” Axios [8/21/2025 10:34 PM, Sommer Brugal, Jeff Weiner, 14595K] reports that construction was paused earlier this month, following a judge’s order. Both the DeSantis and Trump administrations have said the facility has had zero impact on the environment, citing the airstrip that was already on the site before they built the facility. The court cited expert testimony that repurposing the site has resulted in "a myriad of risks" to its sensitive surroundings, including runoff and wastewater discharge that could harm the Everglades. Williams noted testimony indicating the new lighting alone had reduced the habitat for the protected Florida panther by 2,000 acres. She also noted that testimony from the Miccosukee Tribe indicated that its members lost access to trails they’d previously used for hunting and harvesting ceremonial and medicinal plants. Williams concluded the state failed to evaluate the impact of expanding that airstrip into a detention facility and "consulted with no stakeholders or experts and did no evaluation of the environmental risks." "Here, there weren’t ‘deficiencies’ in the agency’s process," Williams wrote. "There was no process." "This is a landmark victory for the Everglades and countless Americans who believe this imperiled wilderness should be protected, not exploited," said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them."

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New York Times [8/22/2025 3:16 AM, Albert Sun, 330K] reports President Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations may be coming closer to reality. Until June, deportations had lagged behind immigration arrests and detentions. By the first week of August, deportations reached nearly 1,500 people per day, according to the latest data, a pace not seen since the Obama administration. With an infusion of cash from Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill signed in July — an extra $76 billion that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can spend over a little more than four years — the agency appears poised to scale its operations even further. At least 180,000 people have been deported by ICE under Mr. Trump so far. At the current higher pace, the agency is on track to deport more than 400,000 people in his first year in office, well more than the 271,000 people ICE removed in the year ending last September but still short of the administration’s stated goal of one million deportations a year. (The Department of Homeland Security says the total number of deportations so far under Mr. Trump is much higher — at 332,000. That figure includes people who are turned around or quickly deported at U.S. borders by Customs and Border Protection.) ICE now uses about a dozen charter planes every day to conduct deportations and move detainees around the country, almost twice as many as in January, according to data collected by Tom Cartwright, an immigration advocate who tracks ICE flights. In May, ICE modified its contract with CSI Aviation, its primary air charter company, to increase the number of flights per week. It has also resumed using a limited number of military planes. ICE’s expanded operations have drawn nationwide protests, fierce backlash and an endless series of legal challenges. But officials have pressed forward with aggressive tactics anyway. Mr. Trump may be catching up to President Barack Obama, whom immigrant advocates called the “deporter in chief,” but the nature of his immigration enforcement has been very different. The hundreds of thousands of people removed under Mr. Obama were mostly recent border-crossers, and ICE focused its arrests in the interior of the country on criminals. In late May, Stephen Miller, a White House immigration policy adviser, ordered ICE leaders to escalate arrests across the board, even if it meant broadening its focus beyond immigrants with a criminal record. Since then, almost all of the increase in arrests has been of people without any prior criminal convictions. Immigration arrests of people with a past violent criminal conviction increased to about 1,900 in June from about 1,100 in December. At the same time, arrests overall tripled to more than 28,000 and arrests of people with no past conviction or charges increased by almost 20 times. But the summer surge experienced in much of the country did not last. Arrests peaked at an average of almost 1,200 per day in early June, but the pace has since fallen back to levels seen in April. It’s unclear why arrests dropped, but in Los Angeles, high-profile street arrests and raids triggered a backlash that led to protests and the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines. Because deporting people who are in the country unlawfully is logistically challenging, to reach its goal of speeding deportations, ICE will likely need to hire more agents not only to arrest people but also to ensure due process, said Blas Nuñez-Neto, who was a homeland security adviser to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The agency will also need to procure more detention space to hold people for several weeks while their removal is arranged, he said, and contract for more aircraft for removal flights. Flush with new money on top of its 2025 budget of $10 billion, ICE is preparing to spend to address each of those chokepoints. Tricia McLaughlin, a D.H.S. spokeswoman, said the new funding would go toward hiring 10,000 ICE agents and adding 80,000 new detention beds. Some $45 billion is designated for expanding detention, and $14 billion is set aside for transporting people out of the country. ICE also intends to expand detention partnerships with state and local governments, like the one for the facility Florida has named “Alligator Alcatraz,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

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NBC News [8/21/2025 10:00 AM, Suzanne Gamboa, 43603K] reports that the number of immigrants in the United States appears to be shrinking for the first time since the 1960s — though the population of unauthorized immigrants reached a record-setting 14 million just two years ago, the Pew Research Center said in new reports released Thursday. In January, the U.S. immigrant population hit 53.3 million, the largest in the country’s history. Six months later, it appears to have shrunk by a million people, to 51.9 million. "The data we are looking at represented a dramatic change," said Jeffrey Passel, the Pew Research Center’s senior demographer. The reduction is reflected in the labor force, which lost over 750,000 workers since January, according to Pew, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and data analysis institute. "The U.S. population of working-age people isn’t growing. That means the only way the workforce can grow is from new immigrants coming in," Passel said. "If the workforce isn’t growing, it’s harder for the economy." The reduction is the result of immigration policy changes at the border that began in 2024, during the Biden administration, and the immigration crackdown President Donald Trump imposed since he took office this year, Pew said. The Trump administration’s amplified immigration crackdown has led to increased arrests and detentions of immigrants and citizens at homes and worksites and in the streets. It has also led to curtailments of legal immigration with stepped-up scrutiny for visa applicants, cutoffs of refugee entries, travel bans and new procedural barriers for legal migration. The New York Post [8/21/2025 6:46 PM, Chris Nesi, 43962K] reports the Department of Homeland Security said that 1.6 million illegal migrants have voluntarily left the US since Trump came to office — contributing to the massive decline in the immigrant population. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem also praised the reduction of the illegal immigrant population, saying in a statement last week that the decline "is already being felt nationwide, from reduced strain on public services to a resurgence in local job markets.”

AP [8/21/2025 11:32 AM, Mike Schneider, 37974K] reports the number of people residing in the United States without legal permission will rise to a record high of 14 million in 2023, a research group said Thursday, a significant increase that still falls far short of estimates by President Donald Trump and some immigration critics. The Pew Research Center’s figure rose from 11.8 million a year earlier and surpassed the previous high of 12.2 million in 2007. The increase was driven by about 6 million who were in the country with some form of legal protection. Trump has eliminated many of those protections since taking office in January. Pew, whose estimates go back to 1990, said that while 2023 is its last full analysis, preliminary findings show the number increased in 2024, albeit at a slower pace after then-President Joe Biden severely restricted asylum claims at the border in June of that year. The number declined this year under Trump but is likely still above 14 million. While the findings are unlikely to resolve the debate, the Pew report is one of the most comprehensive attempts to measure illegal immigration. Nearly all of the increase came from countries other than Mexico. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and India accounted for the largest numbers after Mexico. Totals in Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Ukraine, and Peru doubled in two years. Trump said in a March address to Congress that 21 million people “entered the United States” over the previous four years, far exceeding Pew estimates and what border arrest figures suggest. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group largely aligned with his policies, estimated 18.6 million in March. The Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors immigration restrictions, reported that there were 14.2 million people in the United States illegally last month, down from a peak of 15.8 million in January. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem highlighted the reported six-month decline of 1.6 million. “This is huge,” she said in a press release last week.

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NewsNation [8/21/2025 4:22 PM, Ali Bradley, 6811K] reports U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use increased funding to buy, own and operate its own fleet of airplanes to deport immigrants. Department of Homeland Security sources confirm to NewsNation that Noem is pushing to use billions in new funding to buy planes outright — a move which would end years of hiring charter companies to deport immigrants. ICE currently rents between eight and 14 planes at a time — enough to deport about 15,000 people per month. The goal, according to ICE officials, is to double that figure to 30-35,000 removals per month. ICE estimates it would need about 30 plans to replace its current charter system. In total, the fleet could cost upwards of $12 billion. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s recent tax bill, however, earmarked a massive $75 billion for ICE under the so-called "big, beautiful bill." The agency would be responsible for plane maintenance in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration rules and regulations. The Trump administration has said it intends to deport roughly 1 million immigrants a year. According to data over Trump’s six months in office, ICE has deported upwards of 150,000 people, which includes self-deportations.

FOX News [8/21/2025 5:11 PM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports the reliably liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the West Coast handed the Department of Homeland Security a win on Wednesday after a panel of judges ruled to allow DHS to revoke refugee status for illegal immigrants from three key countries. The judges unanimously sided with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had been sued by a group called the National TPS Alliance over the July revocation of TPS for Honduran, Nicaraguan and Nepalese migrants. Noem’s chief spokeswoman remarked that TPS in its name is supposed to be temporary and made a reference to the "unvetted immigration" aspect of the program. There are about 60,000 migrants who fall under this particular TPS group, according to CBS News.

FOX News [8/21/2025 2:36PM, Breanne Deppisch, 40019K] reports a federal appeals court cleared the way this month for U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to continue to rule on the fate of hundreds of CECOT migrants deported by the Trump administration earlier this year — dissolving an emergency stay it previously handed down, and sending the case back down to the lower court for further consideration. Members of the appeals court panel — Judges Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao and Justin Walker — ruled on the matter earlier this month, but it came into effect for the first time this week. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit formally dissolves the emergency stay it granted to the Trump administration earlier in June, due to what the judges said was a significantly new factual situation at play after CECOT detainees were transferred from El Salvador to Venezuela. The order also punts the case back to Boasberg for consideration in light of the new circumstances. Judges stressed in their order that they were not ruling on the lower court injunction, or the merits of the appeal filed by the Trump administration. "Under these circumstances, it would make little sense for this court to review a preliminary injunction that, in all likelihood, has been overtaken by events," they said. Rather, they said, the decision was based solely on new developments in the case, after the CECOT migrant class was sent to Venezuela under a diplomatic agreement and prisoner exchange struck with the Maduro regime.

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CBS News [8/21/2025 10:37 PM, Staff, 45245K] reports the U.S. will stop issuing worker visas for commercial truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Thursday. He said the change was effective immediately. "The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers," Rubio wrote in a post on X. A State Department spokesperson said later Thursday the pause was done "in order to conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of screening and vetting protocols used to determine their qualifications for a U.S. visa.” The spokesperson noted it "applies to all nationalities and is not directed at any specific country.” The Trump administration in the past months has taken steps to enforce the requirement that truckers speak and read English proficiently. The Transportation Department said the aim is to improve road safety following incidents in which drivers’ ability to read signs or speak English may have contributed to traffic deaths. "As we have seen with recent deadly accidents, foreign truckers can pose risks to American lives, U.S. national security, and foreign policy interests," the State Department spokesperson said. "Ensuring that every driver on our roads meets the highest standards is important to protecting the livelihoods of American truckers and maintaining a secure, resilient supply chain.” The move comes amid a commercial truck driver shortage in the U.S. According to the American Trucking Association, a trade group, the industry is facing a shortage of about 60,000 drivers. Meanwhile, the Trump administration also said Thursday it is reviewing more than 55 million people who have valid U.S. visas for any violations that could lead to deportation. In a written answer to a question from the Associated Press, the State Department said all U.S. visa holders, which can include tourists from many countries, are subject to "continuous vetting," with an eye toward any indication they could be ineligible for permission to enter or stay in the United States. Should such information be found, the visa will be revoked, and if the visa holder is in the U.S., he or she would be subject to deportation. Bloomberg [8/21/2025 7:16 PM, Mario Parker, 19085K] reports that the move follows a deadly Aug. 12 crash on the Florida Turnpike involving a truck driver who the Department of Homeland Security said was in the country illegally. The driver of the rig, accused of making an illegal U-turn, is a migrant from India and had been issued a commercial driver license in California, after obtaining a work permit by the federal government. The Department of Transportation said on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into the crash. Top Republican officials, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have used the episode to fuel a political rivalry with California Governor Gavin Newsom. The Daily Wire [8/21/2025 2:22 PM, Virginia Kruta, 3184K] reports Harjinder Singh, who entered the United States illegally in 2018, was granted a commercial driver’s license in California. He made an illegal turn from the outside lane at a spot marked "Official Use Only," and his truck crushed a minivan that had been driving in the inside lane. Singh has since been arrested for vehicular homicide and was slapped with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer. The tragedy that unfolded in Florida also sparked a battle between Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin and the X account run by Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) Press Office when McLaughlin argued that three American citizens would still be alive if not for the license granted to Singh in California.

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AP [8/21/2025 8:52 PM, Matthew Lee, 37974K] reports the Trump administration said Thursday it is reviewing more than 55 million people who have valid U.S. visas for any violations that could lead to deportation, part of a growing crackdown on foreigners who are permitted to be in the United States. In a written answer to a question from The Associated Press, the State Department said all U.S. visa holders, which can include tourists from many countries, are subject to “continuous vetting,” with an eye toward any indication they could be ineligible for permission to enter or stay in the United States. Should such information be found, the visa will be revoked, and if the visa holder is in the United States, he or she would be subject to deportation. Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has focused on deporting migrants illegally in the United States as well as holders of student and visitor exchange visas. The State Department’s new language suggests that the continual vetting process, which officials acknowledge is time-consuming, is far more widespread and could mean even those approved to be in the U.S. could abruptly see those permissions revoked. There were 12.8 million green-card holders and 3.6 million people in the U.S. on temporary visas last year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The 55 million figure suggests that some people subject to review would currently be outside the United States with multiple-entry tourist visas, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute. She questioned the value of spending resources on people who may never return to the United States. The State Department said it was looking for indicators of ineligibility, including people staying past the authorized timeframe outlined in a visa, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity or providing support to a terrorist organization. “We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance indicating a potential ineligibility,” the department said. The U.S. also will stop issuing worker visas for commercial truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday on X. He said the change was effective immediately. “The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Rubio posted. The Trump administration in the past months has taken steps to enforce the requirement that truckers speak and read English proficiently. The Transportation Department said the aim is to improve road safety following incidents in which drivers’ ability to read signs or speak English may have contributed to traffic deaths. The State Department said later Thursday it was pausing the processing of these work visas to review its “screening and vetting protocols.”

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Bloomberg [8/21/2025 3:53 PM, Eric Martin, 19085K] reports the State Department has revoked more than twice as many visas since President Donald Trump’s inauguration as the same period in 2024, an official said, as the White House looks to tout its crackdown on foreigners that it says pose a threat to public safety. Those revocations include nearly four times as many student visas, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. According to the official there are more than 55 million foreign visa-holders in the US, and their status is vetted constantly. On Monday, the State Department said it had revoked the visas of more than 6,000 international students, including between 200 and 300 over terrorism concerns. The administration has sought to highlight how it’s getting tough on people who overstay their visas, engage in criminal activity or pose a threat to public safety. But Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have also come under criticism over allegations that it’s revoked visas of people who disagree with the administration’s views, especially around Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza. That scrutiny has been part of Trump’s broader mass deportation campaign, which has seen masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carry out thousands of arrests across the country. About 37% of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in July were of people with no US criminal convictions or pending charges, according to recent data.

New York Times [8/22/2025 3:16 AM, Zach Montague, 330K] reports a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration had unlawfully withheld visas from a number of people because of a travel ban President Trump instituted in June, which barred visa access for individuals from 19 countries. The decision from Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Federal District Court in Washington applied narrowly to seven dozen people who had been selected for entry to the United States on “diversity visas.” Such visas offer a pathway to permanent residency, and 55,000 of them are granted every fiscal year to people from countries with low immigration rates to the United States. She found that those individuals were then unlawfully refused the visa because of the travel ban Mr. Trump had instituted more than a year after they had won the lottery in May 2024. The ruling could have broader implications for the approximately 29,000 others from countries covered by the travel ban who won the diversity visa lottery in 2024, according to State Department data. The individuals involved in the lawsuit hailed from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Togo, Somalia and Iran, and their visas were either denied outright or remained in processing. The lawsuit argued that the Trump administration had stalled, refusing to process visa requests before Sept. 30, when their eligibility to receive a visa through the program is set to expire. Judge Sooknanan, who was appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., rejected the government’s argument that the State Department should be allowed to act on Mr. Trump’s order and ignore pending applications from countries that had been included on the list, given that existing laws allow people to get visas through the lottery program. In her opinion, Judge Sooknanan cited a precedent set by the Supreme Court last year that prohibits federal agencies from relying on their own interpretations of the law to make policy, adding that the State Department had done so in this case. She wrote that the administration had cited “longstanding practice” in seeking to deny visas to people barred by presidential action, but that doing so represented “turning away from the text of any statute.”

Daily Signal [8/21/2025 6:03 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 668K] reports the State Department is condemning a Biden-appointed federal judge’s ruling barring the Trump administration from using the president’s latest travel ban to deny visas to foreigners from certain countries. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a 2024 appointee of then-President Joe Biden, ruled Thursday that the State Department cannot rely on the 19-country ban to refuse to process applications for winners of the Diversity Visa lottery who would lose their visas if not issued by the end of September. "Another example of wrongful judicial overreach aimed at curtailing this Administration’s strong and unwavering efforts to keep Americans and our communities safe," Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesman for the State Department, told The Daily Signal. Sooknanan’s ruling still allows immigration authorities to deny the foreign citizens entry to the U.S. by turning them away at a port of entry or instructing airline officials in those countries to refuse to board them. "We will continue to relentlessly work to ensure the president of the United States is able to use every tool he has available, including visas, to finally bring oversight to who we allow to visit our country," Piggot said.

Breitbart [8/21/2025 2:43 PM, John Binder, 2608K] reports that President Donald Trump can end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for tens of thousands of migrants living in the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week, overturning a decision from Biden appointee Judge Trina Thompson. Late on Wednesday evening, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in a 3-0 decision that Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can move forward with its plans to end TPS for roughly 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. As Breitbart News reported, in June and early July DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of TPS for migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. In response, TPS migrants, represented by Soros-linked organizations, sued the Trump administration to stop their deportations. Last month, Judge Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California wrote a scathing order that accused Trump and Noem of "racial animus" and halted their efforts to end TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. Thompson wrote that "color is neither a poison nor a crime," and claimed that Trump and Noem invoked a "discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population." "The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all Plaintiffs seek," Thompson wrote in her now-overturned ruling. "Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood.” The case is National TPS Alliance v. Noem, No. 3:25-cv-05687 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The Daily Caller [8/21/2025 9:48 AM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports he Trump administration, which has aggressively sought to end TPS protections for other foreign nationals living in the country, hailed the decision as a "major legal victory.” "This is yet another huge legal victory for the Trump Administration, the rule of law, safety of the American public," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a public statement. "Temporary Protected Status was always meant to be just that: Temporary.” "TPS was never meant to be a de facto asylum system, yet that is how previous administrations have used it for decades while allowing hundreds of thousands of foreigners into the country without proper vetting," McLaughlin continued. "This unanimous decision will help restore integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe.” The appeals court victory means the Trump administration can move forward with removing roughly 7,000 Nepalis whose TPS designations expired on Aug. 5, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Some 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans will be eligible for removal once their TPS designations end on Sept. 8. Under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump administration has already nixed TPS for roughly half a million Haitians, 350,000 Venezuelans and over 160,000 Ukrainians and other foreign nationals, attracting a slate of lawsuits.

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The Hill [8/21/2025 10:25 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12414K]

New York Times [8/21/2025 7:44 PM, Maxine Joselow, Alexandra Berzon and Eli Murray, 143795K] reports the new rule came down from Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, in June — a decree that she would crack down on wasteful spending by personally approving any expense over $100,000. But Ms. Noem has been slow to sign off on new spending requests, including hundreds of projects that officials have deemed critical to protecting national security and advancing President Trump’s immigration agenda, according to internal documents reviewed by New York Times. As of July 30, the most recent date reflected in most of the documents, at least 530 spending requests were awaiting Ms. Noem’s approval, while more than 1,500 other spending requests were awaiting review by lower-level officials before they could land on her desk, according to the documents. And while Ms. Noem said in a June memo that her reviews of the requests could take five days, in many cases they are taking weeks, the documents show. A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said that as of Monday, Ms. Noem did “not have a single contract on her desk awaiting signature” — a statement that could not be independently verified. But what is clear, from documents and interviews with people briefed on the spending requests, is that the bottleneck in the approval process has halted some operations while threatening further disruptions across the sprawling department, which includes more than a dozen agencies and divisions focused on issues as varied as immigration enforcement, airport security and disaster response. At the Transportation Security Administration, for example, a contract for airport screening equipment that helps detect fake passports expired in early July while awaiting approval. A lapse in the contract “increases the likelihood of bad actors boarding aircraft using fraudulent identification,” T.S.A. officials wrote in the internal documents. “Failure to award this contract action will significantly impact TSA’s ability to monitor and analyze vulnerabilities across the agency’s field information systems. … The most affected system will be TSA’s Credential Authentication Technology which checks passenger identification and Secure Flight vetting status. During an outage, Secure Flight data cannot be fed to the system, thereby requiring Transportation Security Officers to use less secure, manual methods for verifying passenger identification. This increases the likelihood of bad actors boarding aircraft using fraudulent identification and severely impacts passenger throughput at checkpoints.” The company that provides the screening service furloughed its employees after receiving a stop-work order, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. If the contract is not renewed soon, T.S.A. agents could be forced to manually inspect passports and driver’s licenses, leading to long waits at airports nationwide, the person said. Tricia McLaughlin, a D.H.S. spokeswoman, declined to provide up-to-date data for all agencies but said the $100,000 policy had been a success, ensuring that “money goes precisely where it’s needed most” and not to “greedy fat cat contractors.” “It is stunning that for years career bureaucrats were unilaterally signing off on hundred-million-dollar contracts leading to massive waste, fraud and abuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” she said.

Chicago Tribune [8/21/2025 8:21 AM, Staff, 5352K] reports if a major hurricane approaches Central Florida this season, Maria knows it’s dangerous to stay inside her wooden, trailer-like home. In past storms, she evacuated to her sister’s sturdier house. If she couldn’t get there, a shelter set up at the local high school served as a refuge if needed. But with accelerating detentions and deportations of immigrants across her community of Apopka, 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Orlando, Maria, an agricultural worker from Mexico without permanent U.S. legal status, doesn’t know if those options are safe. All risk encountering immigration enforcement agents. "They can go where they want," said Maria, 50, who insisted The Associated Press not use her last name for fear of detention. "There is no limit.” Natural disasters have long posed singular risks for people in the United States without permanent legal status. But with the arrival of peak Atlantic hurricane season, immigrants and their advocates say President Donald Trump’s robust immigration enforcement agenda has increased the danger. Places considered neutral spaces by immigrants such as schools, hospitals and emergency management agencies are now suspect, and advocates say agreements by local law enforcement to collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement make them more vulnerable and compel a choice between being physically safe and avoiding detention. "Am I going to risk the storm or risk endangering my family at the shelter?" said Dominique O’Connor, an organizer at the Farmworker Association of Florida. "You’re going to meet enforcement either way.” For O’Connor and for many immigrants, it’s about storms. But people without permanent legal status could face these decisions anywhere that extreme heat, wildfires or other severe weather could necessitate evacuating, getting supplies or even seeking medical care. Federal and state agencies have said little on whether immigration enforcement would be suspended in a disaster. It wouldn’t make much difference to Maria: "With all we’ve lived, we’ve lost trust.” Florida’s Division of Emergency Management oversees building the state’s new detention facilities, like the one called "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Everglades. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds are being used to build additional detention centers around the country, and the Department of Homeland Security temporarily reassigned some FEMA staff to assist ICE. In past emergencies, DHS has put out messaging stating it would suspend immigration enforcement. The agency’s policy now is unclear. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email that CBP had not issued any guidance "because there have been no natural disasters affecting border enforcement." She did not address what directions were given during CBP’s activation in the Texas floods or whether ICE would be active during a disaster.

FOX News [8/21/2025 4:12 PM, Cameron Arcand, 40019K] reports the Washington State Department of Licensing is investigating how an illegal immigrant obtained a commercial driver’s license as questions loom after a deadly crash in Florida that killed three people last Tuesday. The case has reignited debate over state licensing loopholes and immigration enforcement, raising questions about how a noncitizen without legal status could have obtained a commercial driver’s license. The suspect, Harjinder Singh, entered the United States illegally in 2018 at the southern border, but he was denied authorization to work by the first Trump administration in 2020. Still, he was able to get a commercial driver’s license in California, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He also got a commercial driver’s license in July 2023 in the state of Washington, which is against the law there, according to the Department of Transportation. The driver allegedly made a U-turn in an area on the Florida Turnpike where such a turn is prohibited, causing his truck to crash with a minivan, killing three people. In addition, he failed an English proficiency assessment and a road sign test done by federal investigators. However, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office got into an exchange on X with DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin about the details of how he got a work permit.

Daily Caller [8/21/2025 4:00 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports federal immigration authorities have arrested a second illegal migrant involved in the fatal truck crash that killed three people on a turnpike earlier in August. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Harneet Singh, a 25-year-old illegal migrant from India and brother of the driver who allegedly made an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway that resulted in a fatal crash, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) exclusively confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Harneet was in the passenger seat of the truck when the fatal accident occurred. Like his brother, Harneet entered the U.S. unlawfully, according to DHS. Border Patrol agents encountered the Indian national on May 15, 2023 and was ultimately released into the country by the Biden administration. ICE agents nabbed Harneet on Monday, and he is expected to remain in the agency’s custody pending deportation proceedings. Harneet’s brother, Harjinder Singh, has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide after allegedly making an illegal turn through an "Official Use Only" access point in St. Lucie County, blocking all lanes. A vehicle smashed into his truck during the turn, resulting in all three people in the car being killed. The fatal accident has reignited debate around illegal immigration enforcement and highway safety standards. The Trump administration has continued to blast California for allowing the illegal migrant to obtain a Commercial Driver’s License. Following the accident, investigators discovered that Singh has incredibly poor knowledge of both the English language and American road signs, prompting questions as to how he obtained a state-issued Commercial Driver’s License.

FOX News [8/21/2025 3:05 PM, Rachel Wolf, 40019K] reports an illegal immigrant who is facing three counts of vehicular homicide in Florida was extradited from California to the Sunshine State on Thursday. On Aug. 12, Harjinder Singh allegedly made an illegal U-turn in an unauthorized area on the Florida Turnpike, colliding with a minivan and killing three people. He was arrested in California, where he fled after the deadly crash. The Department of Transportation (DOT) said that after the crash Singh failed English and road sign tests. Collins did not hold back in his criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s immigration policies during a news conference in the Golden State. Singh crossed into the U.S. illegally in 2018 through the southern border and was able to obtain a CDL in California. The first Trump administration rejected his request for work authorization in September 2020, according to Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs. FOX News [8/21/2025 5:17 PM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins on Thursday blamed California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the deaths of three Floridians, allegedly caused when an illegal immigrant trucker who obtained a CDL in California made an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike and struck a van. Collins declared his visit to California "isn’t business as usual" as he prepared to depart for Tallahassee with Indian national Harjinder Singh in tow. Collins claimed Newsom is the culprit for systemic issues, particularly on the illegal immigration front, that he said led to Singh wrecking in St. Lucie County Aug. 12. "I don’t want to be here today. We’re here today because of tragedy. Three Floridians’ lives ended early. "Three lives lost because of Gavin Newsom, because of California’s failed policies. We’re done with that s---.” Collins said Singh illegally crossed the border, got a CDL in California and later could only answer three of 16 questions properly due to English illiteracy when he was interrogated by Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) following the deadly crash. "That thug fled back here because he knew these policies would defend him.” Collins spoke of allegations against Singh in the broader context of illegal immigrants putting citizens in danger. "How many more lives have to be lost because of Gavin Newsom’s failed policies? How many more lives have to be lost because of fentanyl, because of gangs, because of rampant disregard for American citizens?" Collins said. "The fact of the matter is Gavin Newsom continues to care more about tweets and what goes out on social media than taking care of the American citizens and the citizens of California.”

Blaze [8/21/2025 9:30 AM, Staff, 1559K] reports an illegal immigrant truck driver has been accused of causing a crash in Fort Pierce, Florida, that killed three people. The driver failed English and road sign tests. Harjinder Singh crossed into the United States illegally in 2018 via the southern border, before obtaining a commercial driver’s license in California. When he attempted to obtain work authorization, it was rejected by the first Trump administration on September 14, 2020. Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Trisha McLaughlin is well aware that Singh was initially rejected by the Trump administration, which is why she’s pointing the finger at California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) for the deaths. "[Three] innocent people were killed in Florida because Gavin Newsom’s California DMV issued an illegal alien a Commercial Driver’s License — this state of governance is asinine. How many more innocent people have to die before @GavinNewsom stops playing games with the safety of the American public?" McLaughlin said in a post on X. In an attempt to get back at McLaughlin, Newsom responded on his press office X account, "Hey, genius: the federal government (TRUMP ADMIN) already confirmed that this guy meets federal and state immigration requirements — YOU issued him a work permit (EAD)."
"As usual, the Trump Administration is either lying or clueless," he added. McLaughlin wasn’t having it, responding, "False. Harjinder Singh is in the United States illegally and his work authorization was rejected under the Trump Administration on September 14, 2020. It was later approved under the Biden Administration June 9, 2021.” "The state of California issues Commercial Drivers Licenses. There is no national CDL. Sincerely, Genius," she fired back.

The Hill [8/21/2025 7:17 PM, Alex Gangitano, 12414K] reports that President Trump on Thursday visited federal law enforcement at a U.S. Park Police operations center in Anacostia amid his crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C, touting what he described as significant changes to the nation’s capital. Trump spoke to hundreds of federal law enforcement officers, including those from the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; National Guard; U.S. Marshals Service; Secret Service; Metropolitan Police Department (MPD); and Homeland Security Investigations. “It’s like a different place, different city,” Trump said of D.C. “Now, I think right now it’s better than it has been in years and in a couple of weeks, it’s going to be far better,” he said. Trump was flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Attorney General Pam Bondi, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, among others. “It will look like Augusta,” Trump said, referring to the famous golf course in Georgia that hosts the Masters. “We’re going to be redoing all of your parks. And it’s going to happen fast. It’s going to go up like a miracle.” The president said that D.C. will be “maxed out in terms of beauty.”

FOX News [8/21/2025 1:20 PM, Anders Hagstrom and Liz Friden, 40019K] reports that the Pentagon is encouraging its civilian employees to join a "volunteer force" assisting the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration efforts, Fox News has learned. The Defense Department notified its roughly 950,000 civilian employees in a Wednesday email, saying they can apply to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on a temporary basis. "DHS and the DOD officially signed a [memorandum of agreement] that allows DOD civilians to participate in the detail," a U.S. defense official told Fox News. "DOD civilian employees are now able to apply for these details via USAJOBS. The Department pushed out an email to civilian employees encouraging them to apply yesterday." The USAJOBS posting says "extensive overtime" may be required and conditions at some locations could be "austere." It adds that ICE and CPB may pay for all base pay, overtime, premium pay and travel expenses. The listing adds that deployment locations include facilities along the U.S. border, or ICE and CBP facilities throughout the interior of the United States. "Your country is calling on you to serve at ICE and defend the Homeland," acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement earlier this month. "In the wake of the Biden administration’s open border policies, the dedicated men and women of ICE now face unprecedented challenges in removing millions of criminal illegal aliens from our country." "Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, we now have funding to recruit and hire Americans who want to patriotically serve their country and protect American communities," Lyons added.

Wall Street Journal [8/21/2025 6:51 PM, Annie Linskey and Alex Leary, 646K] reports President Trump said his takeover of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., had made the city safe in a matter of days, as he visited a U.S. Park Police facility in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood Thursday. The president spoke briefly to about 300 law-enforcement officials from various agencies and made bold promises about his plans for the nation’s capital. In addition to reducing crime, he said he would go to Congress for funding to restore medians, clean graffiti from walls, fix asphalt and improve the grass in parks, an area in which he said he has expertise because of his ownership of several golf courses. “We’re going to have the best capital ever,” said Trump, who brought pizza from “Wiseguy Pizza” and bags of hamburgers from the White House mess for the law enforcement and National Guard members. “It’s like a different place,” Trump said of the city, adding he has received calls from friends thanking him and saying they had returned to restaurants. He gave an extended riff on his aspirations to improve the grass in Washington, saying that when he is done it will look like the greens at Augusta National Golf Course, where the Masters are played, and touched on his loathing of windmills. City officials have said the takeover is unwarranted and violent crime in the city was down 35% last year from 2023, Justice Department data show, to the lowest level in more than 30 years. Trump and his allies have questioned the validity of that data. The president was accompanied Thursday by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller among other officials.

CNN [8/21/2025 10:20 PM, Kristen Holmes, Samantha Waldenberg and Adam Cancryn, 662K] reports President Donald Trump said Thursday he would expand the law enforcement and National Guard crackdown he ordered in Washington, DC, this month to other jurisdictions as he appeared at a US Park Police facility to promote the initiative. "We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while," he said to dozens of law enforcement agents and National Guard members gathered outside the facility to hear him speak. Earlier this month, Trump ordered the federal government to take control of DC’s police department and deployed National Guard troops – a broad federal effort that has drawn the ire of many city residents. Trump had teased earlier in the day that he planned to join law enforcement in the streets of DC, though he appeared to scrap those plans for a more standard meet-and-greet with those he has deployed. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that some members of the Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, who would handle a presidential movement like this one, had been caught off guard by the president’s announcement. "I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police, and with the military, of course," the president told radio host Todd Starnes earlier Thursday. Trump would not likely be able to duplicate the DC initiative exactly if he were to try it in other areas of the country. DC, which is not a part of any state, has restrictions on its ability to govern its own affairs, and the president has the ability to effectively federalize its police force. The city also has a far more robust regular federal law enforcement presence than other US cities.

Bloomberg [8/21/2025 5:53 PM, Josh Wingrove, 19085K] reports President Donald Trump visited a Park Police operations facility to thank federal law enforcement officers he’s deployed to patrol the streets of Washington, DC, saying he expected their deployment to last “for a while.” “We’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” Trump said. “We want to make this absolutely perfect, it’s our capital.” The visit to the building in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood appeared less dramatic than his suggestion on a radio show earlier Thursday that he would be “going out” with a patrol in a “secret” trip with the police and military, but nevertheless returned focus to his controversial move last week to surge US officers and troops into the nation’s capital and put the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control. “We’re not playing games. We’re going to make it safe,” Trump said. The president brought hamburgers and pizza to the officers he visited to thank them for their service.

ABC News [8/21/2025 1:19 PM, Lalee Ibssa, Michelle Stoddart, Isabella Murray, and Ivan Pereira, 27036K] reports that President Donald Trump met with police and military in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to oversee the surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard, who are responding to what he says is a crime emergency in the district. Trump visited the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility in Southeast D.C., which is serving as the gathering point for all the agencies involved in the operation, thanking officers and members of the military and delivering hamburgers from the White House and pizza. Trump left the White House in the presidential limousine -- nicknamed "the Beast" -- with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller Thursday afternoon to visit the facility. "I just want to thank everybody very much for being here," Trump said. "I wanted to do this. We’ve had some incredible results that have come out, and it’s like a different place. It’s like a different city. It’s the capital. It’s going to be the best in the world." The president spoke for several minutes, touting his anti-crime push. "You got to be strong, you got to be tough," Trump urged the group. "You got to do your job. Whatever it takes to do your job." In a radio interview earlier Thursday, Trump said he would be "going out tonight" with the law enforcement and military, but he returned to the White House after the visit to the facility. The president mobilized the National Guard one week ago to assist the police, claiming crime was out of control. Officials have said Guard personnel are not making arrests, only helping to detain people briefly if necessary before handing them off to law enforcement. [Editorial note: consult source link for video]

New York Times [8/21/2025 7:29 PM, Chris Cameron, Elena Shao, and Kenny Holston, 143795K] reports that President Trump has overseen an expansive effort this month to take control of law enforcement in Washington, carrying out a conspicuous show of force in the nation’s capital in what he has described as an effort to combat crime. The most attention-grabbing component of that takeover has been his initial deployment of more than 800 D.C. National Guard troops, with another 1,000 coming from Republican-led states. That deployment, echoing Mr. Trump’s deployment of Guard troops in California to support immigration raids earlier this year, has been part of a wider effort by the president to meld military operations with domestic law enforcement, particularly in his immigration crackdown. But so far, the National Guard has operated primarily in a support role in Washington. Guardsmen deployed in the city have mostly stayed in tourist-heavy areas near national monuments and transit hubs, and have so far done little to directly enforce the law. There have been some exceptions: National Guard lawyers have been transferred to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, essentially acting as low-level civilian prosecutors. Instead, the National Guard presence primarily supports a smaller force of roughly 500 federal law enforcement agents that have more actively participated in Mr. Trump’s crackdown on crime.

AP [8/21/2025 8:56 PM, Chris Megerian and Jacquelyn Martin, 37974K] reports Federal authorities have set up checkpoints around the nation’s capital, sometimes asking people for their immigration status and detaining them, as President Donald Trump’s crackdown ensnares more residents each day. Trump claimed that a crime crisis required his Republican administration’s intervention in the Democratic-led city this month, brushing aside statistics that showed the problem was already waning. However, immigration enforcement appears to be a priority, as more than a third of people arrested in the last two weeks were in the country illegally, according to the White House. Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard soldiers have surged into Washington, leaving some residents on edge and creating tense confrontations in the streets. A day care center was partially closed Thursday when staff became afraid to go to work because they heard about federal agents nearby. An administrator asked parents to keep their children at home if possible. Other day cares have stopped taking kids on daily walks because of fears about encountering law enforcement. The White House said there have been 630 arrests, including 251 people who are in the country illegally, since Aug. 7, when Trump began surging federal agents into the city. Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure since then, seizing control of the D.C. police department on Aug. 11 and deploying more National Guard troops, mostly from Republican-led states. On Thursday evening, Trump visited with officers and troops at a U.S. Park Police facility in the latest show of force from the White House. “We’re not playing games,” he said. Trump suggested that operations in the city could be drawn out and serve as a model for others around the country. “We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” he said.

CNN [8/21/2025 1:09 PM, Hannah Rabinowitz and Katelyn Polantz, 23245K] reports Washington DC’s top federal prosecutor says that her office will pursue the toughest criminal charges for arrests made in the Trump administration’s purported crime crackdown, even as the office softens enforcement of a DC law that makes it illegal to possess rifles and shotguns in the city. The policy changes, according to people briefed on the matter, come as US Attorney Jeanine Pirro seeks to bolster support for President Donald Trump’s declaration of a crime emergency, which has included a takeover of the municipal police department and surge of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in parts of the city. The change appears to have already had an impact in DC’s Superior Court, where most misdemeanor, street crime and domestic violence charges are prosecuted like in a local or state court, but by the federal prosecutors from Pirro’s office. Multiple times this week, several dozen more arrestees were charged with crimes and appeared in the court initially. In the past, a significant number of daily arrests wouldn’t have resulted in charges, a practice referred to as "no-papering," often because the evidence is too unreliable or weak to use against defendants. Pirro’s new policy pushes prosecutors to allow the cases to play out in court, even ones that might typically have been abandoned. The DC US Attorney’s office has wrestled for years with the issue of how to charge some of the lower-level arrests made by the city’s Metropolitan Police Department. The office is also unique in that it oversees bringing charges in federal and local charges because the jurisdiction is not a state. "In line with President Trump’s directive to make D.C. safe, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has made it clear that the old way of doing things is unacceptable," her spokesman Tim Lauer said in a statement. "She directed her staff to charge the highest crime that is supported by the law and the evidence.”

The Daily Wire [8/21/2025 10:50 AM, Tim Pearce, 3184K] reports federal agents took down and arrested a man in Washington, D.C., who is in the United States illegally and was arrested last year for allegedly sexually assaulting a child. A journalist from NBC Washington witnessed the arrest take place on the National Mall and posted a video of it online. The man, an illegal alien from Mexico, can be seen getting out of his car and appearing to attempt an escape from federal agents on foot before he is thrown to the ground and detained. "I don’t owe anything! I don’t owe anything!" the man yells in Spanish, according to NBC. "Please! I’m not a criminal! I work here! I want to be with my family!". The unlawfully present alien has been identified as David Perez-Teofani, 36. He has a court order to be deported from the United States, and has entered the country illegally at least three times, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The man was previously arrested in January of last year in Virginia on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 and indecent liberties with a child under 15. Prosecutors later dropped the charges. "Yes, this illegal alien from Mexico was previously arrested in January 2024 in Fairfax County for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13. Glad he is off of Washington DC’s streets thanks to President Trump, Secretary Noem, and ICE," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. FOX News [8/21/2025 4:07 PM, Cameron Arcand, 40019K] reports social media erupted on Wednesday and Thursday after an illegal immigrant was arrested in Washington, D.C., on child sex crime charges in a video that’s gone viral. Mexican national David Perez-Teofani exited his vehicle when officers approached him, and he was tackled when he tried to make a break for it, according to the video from an NBC Washington reporter. In the video, he’s heard yelling in Spanish while being held on the ground. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin explained what happened, saying the individual allegedly entered the country illegally three times, had a final order of removal and was arrested in Fairfax County in January. "Yes this illegal alien from Mexico was previously arrested in January 2024 in Fairfax County for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13. Glad he is off of Washington DC’s streets thanks to [President] Trump, [Noem] and [ICE]," she posted to X. The video made rounds on the app with a wide range of reactions. Breitbart [8/21/2025 5:00 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 2608K] reports the illegal immigrant who captured the hearts of leftists as he yelled that he just wanted to be with his family during his Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest in D.C. was arrested last year for a child sex crime. Video — taken by NBC4 reporter Aimee Cho — of the ICE arrest of the illegal immigrant, as he shouted in Spanish that he was not a criminal and just wanted to be with his family, went viral. This plea won the hearts and minds of many leftists, who used this as their own example of what they believe is cruelty. However, as it turns out, this man — identified as David Perez-Teofani — was arrested last year for a child sex crime. In January 2024 he was arrested in Fairfax County for "aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13" according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin. According to DHS, Perez-Teofani has illegally entered the United States three times and "had a final order of removal and chose to voluntary return- twice."

AP [8/21/2025 6:52 PM, Ben Finley, 37974K] reports a U.S. magistrate judge is expected to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a Tennessee jail Friday while he awaits trial on federal human smuggling charges. The release will provide the closest thing to freedom Abrego Garcia has felt since he was wrongfully deported to a notorious El Salvador prison in March, making him a face — if not the face — of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers stated in a court filings Tuesday that a private security firm will take Abrego Garcia from Tennessee to Maryland when he’s freed. But Abrego Garcia’s liberty before trial could be short-lived. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may detain him once he arrives in his adopted state of Maryland and could try to deport him again. Depending on who’s telling his story, there are two very different versions of Abrego Garcia. Trump and his administration cast him as an MS-13 gang member and a tireless smuggler of migrants across the country. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys portray him as a family man and construction worker who was arbitrarily deported and then vindictively charged to save political face.

Axios [8/21/2025 9:30 AM, Brittany Gibson, 14595K] reports the House Oversight Committee’s top Democrat is seeking information about Corey Lewandowski and his work as a special government employee. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent an inquiry letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday following multiple media reports that Lewandowski may be working past the legal time limit for his role while wielding significant power in the department. Lewandowski, a long-time aide to President Trump, has been working as a special government employee, or SGE, advising DHS Sec. Kristi Noem. Axios reported that the White House is now monitoring Lewandowski’s working hours to ensure he doesn’t exceed the 130-day legal limit for SGEs serving in the government. It’s an unpaid post that doesn’t require divesting from other business interests. Lewandowski’s authority has also grown at DHS, according to a report from CNN, including making decisions on firing staff, putting staff on leave and involvement in grant funding. Lewandowski has been referred in some media reports as Noem’s de facto chief of staff and her gatekeeper. Garcia requested that DHS provide more information about Lewandowski’s role and impact at the agency, including: A complete accounting of Lewandowski’s workdays, including calendars and device metadata from DHS devices he’s used; Documents related to Lewandowski’s role in making personnel decisions, including hirings and firings; Documents or communications between Lewandowski and any lobbying or government consulting firms; And documents and communications between Lewandowski and the Office of Government Ethics, including his financial disclosure forms and any adherence to conflicts of interest protocols.

Washington Examiner [8/21/2025 12:34 PM, Robert Schmad, 1563K] reports in July, the Middle East Forum released a report claiming that the Department of Homeland Security had approved $25 million between 2013 and 2023 to groups with "documented links to foreign terrorist organizations." Within a month, DHS moved to cancel and review grants made out to those groups. DHS documents, first reported on by Fox News Digital, indicate the agency has cut $8 million worth of grants, with one official saying that, although the agency is conducting an independent review, it took the report from the Middle East Forum "very seriously." The Middle East Forum’s report highlighted DHS grants provided to organizations such as the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, which DHS’s internal document flagged as linked to Hamas and terrorist financiers, and the Islamic Center of America, whose congregants regularly express support for Hezbollah. The bulk of the grants awarded to what the Middle East Forum described as "terror-linked and extremist groups" was disbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which is intended to provide religious organizations with resources to guard against hate-driven violence.

Daily Wire [8/21/2025 9:48 AM, Virginia Kruta, 3184K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security openly mocked media outlets in a Wednesday post, claiming that their use of the phrase "undocumented immigrant" was no less ridiculous than the use of "they/them" pronouns to indicate gender identity. The official X account for DHS shared a graphic that showed several cut-out headlines, all of which used the term "undocumented immigrants" instead of "illegal aliens" when referring to those who were in the United States illegally. "Undocumented immigrant accused in fatal drunken driving crash to remain jailed," one read, and another said, "Eleven undocumented immigrants arrested in Seymour." A third read, "Who are they undocumented immigrants in Texas." "Undocumented immigrant" is the immigration equivalent of "they/them." DHS has no interest in the left’s open borders pronouns. "Alien" is the technical legal term, and that is what DHS will use. "Illegal" is the only way to correctly describe lawbreakers. "‘Undocumented immigrant’ is the immigration equivalent of ‘they/them,’" the post read. "DHS has no interest in the left’s open borders pronouns." "‘Alien’ is the technical legal term, and that is what DHS will use. ‘Illegal’ is the only way to correctly describe lawbreakers," the post continued, adding as an afterthought, "Next thing you know you will be calling burglars ‘undocumented houseguests.’"

Axios [8/21/2025 7:50 PM, Marc Caputo, 14595K] reports that, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed a visa-waiver accord with Argentine officials last month, Marco Rubio — the national security director and secretary of state — didn’t get a heads-up until after the fact, according to five sources familiar with the situation. Now the White House and National Security Council want to make sure there’s no repeat of such a scenario. All U.S. government workers must "clear the purpose and scope of any proposed call, conversation, meeting or trip with the NSC prior to engagement," according to an Aug. 8 memo written by Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that was reviewed by Axios. "Any proposed agreements, directives or demands involving foreign leaders or countries must be notified, coordinated and approved through the interagency process at the White House, via the NSC," the memo said. "No commitments or statements binding the United States may be made without prior NSC approval." Foreign policy under President Trump is conducted in a top-down fashion at breakneck speed in multiple high-stakes situations across the globe. That sometimes has led to occasions in which different departments and Cabinet secretaries aren’t completely on the same page. The Argentina case wasn’t the only such instance, but it was the biggest one yet, the sources said. "This memo was not directed at any specific individual," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a written statement. "It was sent to the president’s entire top-tier team to emphasize the importance of a coordinated and deliberate approach to advancing the President’s foreign policy agenda." Noem traveled to Latin America last month and signed a July 28 "statement of intent" with Argentine counterparts to readmit the country to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which would eventually enable citizens of that country to travel to the U.S. for 90 days without a waiver. Rubio, however, wasn’t informed in advance and was "blindsided" and "annoyed" by the announcement, two sources who spoke with him said. "The policy itself isn’t a problem, it was just a breach of protocol," one of the sources said. "Marco likes Kristi and he talks to her all the time. It’s just that this is not a good way to conduct foreign policy if the lines of communication are like this." One source said the NSC was made aware of Noem’s plans in Argentina, however, and speculated that it didn’t reach Rubio’s desk in Trump’s streamlined NSC, which has scrapped slower, deliberative processes that would have avoided this situation. Sources in other departments say they weren’t aware of any briefing on the visa waiver plan and that it didn’t reach Rubio.

AP [8/21/2025 3:23 PM, Staff, 12715K] reports that Uganda has agreed to a deal with the United States to take deported migrants as long as they don’t have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The ministry said in a statement that the agreement had been concluded but that terms were still being worked out. It added that Uganda prefers that the migrants sent there be of African nationalities, but did not elaborate on what Uganda might get in return for accepting deportees. The U.S. Embassy in Uganda declined to comment on what it called "diplomatic negotiations," but said that diplomats were seeking to uphold President Trump’s "policy of keeping Americans safe." The Trump administration has been seeking ways to deter migrants from entering the country illegally and to deport those who already have done so, especially those with criminal records and including those who cannot easily be deported to their home country. Human rights activists criticized the deportee deal as possibly going against international law. Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs, on Wednesday had denied that any agreement on deportees had been reached, though he said his government was in discussions about "visas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues." He also suggested that his country would draw the line at accepting people associated with criminal groups.

Daily Caller [8/21/2025 12:08 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports that the Trump administration secured another international partner in its quest to establish multiple third-country destinations for migrants deported from the United States. Uganda has agreed to a "temporary arrangement" in which it will accept foreign nationals deported from the U.S. under certain conditions, according to a Thursday announcement from the country’s foreign affairs ministry. The declaration makes Uganda the second East African nation in recent months to formally accept asylum seekers removed from the U.S., giving a boost to the White House’s deportation agenda. "As part of the bilateral cooperation between Uganda and the United States, an Agreement for cooperation in the examination of protection requests was concluded," said Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, permanent secretary of Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a public statement. "The Agreement is in respect of Third Country Nationals who may not be granted asylum in the United States but are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin," Waiswa continued. Waiswa said that this is a "temporary arrangement" and under the condition that Uganda will only accept asylum seekers with no criminal records. The permanent secretary added that Uganda would prefer individuals from other African nations, but did not appear to make that a non-negotiable stipulation. Both countries are hashing out details on how the deal will be implemented. A spokesperson for the Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

CBS News [8/21/2025 8:10 AM, Staff, 45245K] Video: HERE reports the United States is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Trump’s effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels, a White House official confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday, confirming a report by the Reuters news agency. The USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson were to depart for the region over the next few days, the official said. A Defense Department official confirmed to The Associated Press that the military assets had been assigned to the region in support of counter narcotics efforts. The official, who was not authorized to comment about military planning, said the vessels would be deployed "over the course of several months.” The deployment of U.S. destroyers and personnel comes as Mr. Trump pushes for using the U.S. military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into American communities, and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities. Mr. Trump has also pressed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically by more aggressively pursuing Mexico’s cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Mr. Trump and others of any intervention by the U.S. military. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [8/21/2025 6:00 AM, Raul A. Reyes, 12715K] reports as the Trump administration continues to ramp up immigration enforcement actions, a group of lawmakers is suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement for placing restrictions on detention center visits — obstructing Congress’ role in overseeing government functions. Twelve House Democrats filed a lawsuit challenging new guidelines that require advance notice for oversight visits and render certain facilities off-limits. "No child should be sleeping on concrete, and no sick person should be denied care," said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles). "Yet that’s exactly what we keep hearing is happening inside Trump’s detention centers.” These lawmakers are right to seek access to detention facilities. Detention centers have long been plagued by poor conditions, so the need for oversight is urgent. With record numbers of migrants being detained, the public has a right to know how people in the government’s custody are being treated. The U.S. operates the world’s largest immigration detention system, at a cost of $3 billion a year. This money is appropriated by Congress — and comes with conditions. Under existing law, none of the funds given to Homeland Security may be used to prevent members of Congress from conducting oversight visits of "any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens." In addition, the law states that members of Congress are not required to "provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility." So ICE’s attempt to place limits on oversight appears to be illegal. In response to the lawsuit by House Democrats, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Homeland Security, said: "These members of Congress could have just scheduled a tour. Instead, they’re running to court to drive clicks and fundraising emails." She added that ICE was imposing the new limits, in part, because of "obstructions to enforcement, including by politicians themselves.” McLaughlin might have been referring to a May scuffle outside a Newark, N.J., detention center that led to charges being filed against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) and the arrest of the city’s mayor. But this incident would not have occurred if immigration officials had followed the law and allowed lawmakers inside to survey the facility’s conditions. Indeed, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, told a congressional hearing in May that he recognized the right of members to visit detention facilities, even with no notice. And the notion that any government agency can unilaterally regulate Congress runs afoul of the Constitution. The legislative branch has the right and obligation to supervise the executive branch. Simply put, ICE cannot tell members of Congress what they can or cannot do.

Houston Chronicle [8/21/2025 9:03 AM, Doug Sackman, 2356K] reports the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign has not spared the U.S. agricultural industry, with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement frequently raiding farms across the country in search of undocumented workers. Now, farmers are facing a crisis the administration has helped create: not enough people to pick crops. On a recent call to CNBC, President Donald Trump said, "We can’t let our farmers not have anybody." To assure farmers that he had their back despite the immigration raids, he sought to distinguish immigrants he called "criminals" and "murderers" from nonthreatening farm laborers who have been picking crops for years. To do so, Trump used an old stereotype for farmworkers: "These people do it naturally, naturally." Trump recounted asking a farmer: "What happens if they get a bad back? He said, ‘They don’t get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die.’" "In many ways, they’re very, very special people," said Trump, referring to undocumented farmworkers. Trump is labeling some of the people his administration has targeted for deportation as naturals. As a historian of American agriculture and labor, I think the Trump administration’s contradictions on farmworkers are part of a long history of idealizing farming in America. It’s a history in which race, nature, exploitation and the very identity of America itself have all been involved.

Bloomberg [8/21/2025 1:42 PM, Arvelisse Bonilla Ramos, 19085K] reports with $45 billion earmarked for the Trump administration’s expansion of immigration detention, dozens of companies are gunning for contracts to build the sprawling tent camps at the center of the White House’s strategy. Some are prison operators that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically works with; many are firms with no detention experience. Their appeal: They can build things fast. Several specialize in building tents for disaster-relief operations, including the Virginia-based company recently awarded $1.26 billion to construct the largest facility in the US. The administration’s reliance on makeshift tent camps is drawing concerns about abuse, mismanagement and corruption. Human-rights groups and lawyers for detainees have already alleged inhumane conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, which the state denies.

Washington Examiner [8/22/2025 3:19 AM, Staff, 1563K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has taken significant steps to make the country safer for American citizens. Such actions were again implemented this week after two fatal car crashes. In conjunction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, DHS arrested two illegal immigrants from Angola who were involved in two separate car crashes in Maine, which resulted in two pedestrians being killed. On Aug. 16, a vehicle driven by Mukendi Mbiya struck and killed Stacy Strattard, a 64-year-old resident of Gray, Maine. She was pronounced dead at the scene as first responders arrived, according to DHS. Mbiya first arrived in the U.S. on a B-2 tourist visa on Dec. 23, 2018, DHS reported in a press release. He was supposed to depart the country on June 22, 2019, but overstayed his visa. ICE officials arrested him on Aug. 18, 2025, after his driving resulted in an innocent American losing her life. In Lewiston, Maine, another tragedy involving an illegal immigrant driving and an innocent pedestrian dying. Elizabeth Camacho was killed after Lionel Francisco hit her with his vehicle in Kennedy Park in Lewiston, Maine. The car reportedly "jumped the curb" of a street before hitting and killing Camacho, who was a Massachusetts resident. The local jurisdiction is reportedly pursuing any criminal charges against Francisco for killing Camacho, according to a statement from DHS. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented on the accidents. She noted the tragic trend of illegal immigrants being involved in car crashes that end the lives of American citizens. "It seems to be almost a daily occurrence where an illegal alien driving kills innocent Americans," said McLaughlin. "All of these deaths are preventable because these illegal aliens should have NEVER been in our country. These two illegal aliens in Maine came to the country on B-2 tourist visas that allowed them to remain in the country for six months. Both overstayed their visas and never left the U.S." "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to our visa programs to ensure they are not exploited by illegal aliens as one-way tickets to remain in the U.S.," she added.

Breitbart [8/21/2025 6:59 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is joining in as the Washington, DC, police enforce traffic and licensing laws against the growing number of illegal moped drivers. D.C. has been plagued with a wave of drivers using motorized bikes to deliver food and other items and who are either oblivious to, or purposefully flaunting, safety and the common rules of road. And the local police have recently begun cracking down on errant and dangerous moped drivers. Unfortunately, local prosecutors have usually simply released anyone the D.C. police may have arrested, making the crackdown mostly a hollow effort. Now, though, with ICE joining the effort, drivers who are in the country illegally are not just being released and are, instead, headed for temporary detention and eventual deportation. According to Washington Post, ICE officers are shadowing the D.C. police as they pull over moped drivers and are then stepping in after the police conclude their stop. ICE then checks immigration status and arrests the driver if there is an immigration violation. As one police officer told the paper, ICE agents "are in the back while we make the stop. Then while we are verifying permit status, they are using that information to determine immigration status.” D.C. City Council Member Chander Jayaraman said the situation has become too dangerous, as moped drivers speed across the roads, weave in and out of traffic, and often completely ignore safety rules. "They’re driving haphazardly. There is no instruction or guidance even for the users on what they’re supposed to do legally," Jayaraman told NewsNation. "I think that is an area we can definitely do better.” NewsNation also found that delivery companies such as Uber and DoorDash often find it difficult to determine if applicants are who they say they are and have legal work permits. With drivers being considered "independent contractors," most don’t have to work through strict verification procedures that other employees have to navigate. In general, they only have to provide a valid driver’s license and a Social Security number, the latter of which is easily faked or stolen from a real U.S. citizen.

Telemundo [8/22/2025 12:07 AM, Staff, 2782K] reports the security secretary also told Telemundo News that more than 1.5 million migrants opted to self-deport, in many cases using the CBP Home application. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [8/21/2025 12:43 PM, Christie Thompson, Anna Flag, and Manuel Torres 4932K] reports that Contractor Héctor Madrid Reyes was driving to Home Depot in March of this year when another car rear-ended him. While he was exchanging information with the other driver, a Georgia State Patrol officer arrived and asked for their driver’s licenses. Madrid didn’t have one. The Honduran national had come to the United States as a teenager and was awaiting a hearing on his asylum case. “There’s no public transportation where we live, no Uber or Lyft,” said his wife, Jacqueline Maravilla. “Everything is 45 minutes away. It’s a calculated risk we have to take to support our family.” This risk has increased for thousands of immigrant families under the Trump administration, as it expands efforts to deport people with no criminal record or with lesser charges. From January to May, deportations of immigrants whose most serious conviction was a traffic violation—such as driving without a license—more than tripled, reaching nearly 600 in May, according to new estimates from The Marshall Project. In total, more than 1,800 people with traffic violations will be deported by 2025. Immigrants without criminal convictions account for two-thirds of the more than 120,000 deportations between January and May. For another 8%, the only offense on their record was illegal entry into the United States. About 12% were convicted of a violent or potentially violent crime. The numbers contradict officials’ claims that immigration enforcement is being applied to "the worst of the worst" criminals. The figures are estimates resulting from an analysis by The Marshall Project based on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data provided to the Deportation Data Project in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The group noted that the data may be incomplete, so the actual number of deportations could be higher.

Washington Examiner [8/21/2025 1:59 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 1563K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is spending upwards of $2.4 million on new vehicles and a custom wrap that includes the agency’s name, logo, and the phrase "defend the homeland." Four companies received no-bid contracts with ICE, as the department cited an "anticipation of surge staffing." This comes as the agency pursued a hiring campaign that resulted in 100,000 applications within two weeks. "The agency’s need for the services is so urgent and compelling that providing full and open competition would result in unacceptable delays and seriously hinder the Government’s recruiting initiative," ICE wrote in its contracting document. Hendrick Motorsports in Charlotte, North Carolina, sold 25 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs to the tune of $2.25 million to ICE. As for the wrap, it will cost $174,000 among three companies for the design and application. The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. ICE has recently functioned under many emergency orders to expedite processing for illegal immigrants. Since President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency at the Mexican border, ICE made no-bid contracts to open the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey and a GEO Group-owned detention center in Michigan.

The Hill [8/21/2025 12:33 PM, Tara Suter, 12414K] reports Nobel laureate Paul Krugman said in a Wednesday Substack post that the Trump administration is "about to ICE the economy" with its immigration crackdown. "I worry, as everyone should, about how a huge expansion of this deeply un-American organization may be used as a tool of presidential power and repression," Krugman said in a Substack post, discussing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "Furthermore, give people power without accountability — and it’s hard to give a better example than masked, unidentified agents authorized to use force — and some of them will abuse their position. And given what ICE has already been doing, what kind of people do you think are likely to sign up as it massively expands?" he added. "Compared with these issues, concerns about the economic impact of mass deportations are definitely second-tier. But they’re still important, and a subject I know something about. So the rest of this post will be devoted to how the Trump administration is about to ICE the economy." Krugman argued in his Substack post that the U.S experiencing a mass loss of immigrant workers would cause negative economic disruption because they "aren’t spread evenly across the economy.”

Washington Examiner [8/22/2025 3:19 AM, Staff, 1563K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has taken significant steps to make the country safer for American citizens. Such actions were again implemented this week after two fatal car crashes. In conjunction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, DHS arrested two illegal immigrants from Angola who were involved in two separate car crashes in Maine, which resulted in two pedestrians being killed. On Aug. 16, a vehicle driven by Mukendi Mbiya struck and killed Stacy Strattard, a 64-year-old resident of Gray, Maine. She was pronounced dead at the scene as first responders arrived, according to DHS. Mbiya first arrived in the U.S. on a B-2 tourist visa on Dec. 23, 2018, DHS reported in a press release. He was supposed to depart the country on June 22, 2019, but overstayed his visa. ICE officials arrested him on Aug. 18, 2025, after his driving resulted in an innocent American losing her life. In Lewiston, Maine, another tragedy involving an illegal immigrant driving and an innocent pedestrian dying. Elizabeth Camacho was killed after Lionel Francisco hit her with his vehicle in Kennedy Park in Lewiston, Maine. The car reportedly "jumped the curb" of a street before hitting and killing Camacho, who was a Massachusetts resident. The local jurisdiction is reportedly pursuing any criminal charges against Francisco for killing Camacho, according to a statement from DHS. According to DHS, Francisco entered the country on Jan. 30, 2025, on a B-2 tourist visa — a visa which expired on July 30, 2025, but Francisco did not leave. He was reportedly operating his vehicle while using a learner’s permit. ICE arrested him on Aug. 15, 2025. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented on the accidents. She noted the tragic trend of illegal immigrants being involved in car crashes that end the lives of American citizens. "It seems to be almost a daily occurrence where an illegal alien driving kills innocent Americans," said McLaughlin. "All of these deaths are preventable because these illegal aliens should have NEVER been in our country. These two illegal aliens in Maine came to the country on B-2 tourist visas that allowed them to remain in the country for six months. Both overstayed their visas and never left the U.S.” "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to our visa programs to ensure they are not exploited by illegal aliens as one-way tickets to remain in the U.S.," she added.

(B) NBC News Daily [8/21/2025 1:53 PM, Staff] reports that there was a protest this morning in front of Portland City Hall over a city council vote to accept millions in federal funding for the jetport. That funding may require cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The $21 million grant comes with high demands. Entering the agreement means that the City of Portland will now be mandated to cooperate with ICE. Portlanders say the city council did not include public input, making this deal through closed executive session.

FOX News [8/21/2025 7:50 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports acting ICE Director Todd Lyons vowed to "flood" Boston with agents after Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu doubled down on her pledge to uphold the city’s sanctuary policies and resist the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Speaking on the local radio program "The Howie Carr Show," Lyons responded to Wu by saying, "Now you’re going to see more ICE agents come to Boston to make sure that we take these public safety threats out that she wants to let go back into the communities.” He pointed to the Trump administration’s "Operation Patriot," which sent federal agents into the Boston area in March and yielded over a thousand arrests. "We are going to keep doing it in Boston," Lyons said. "We’re going to continue to do our mission. We’re going to keep making Boston safe as she’s failing to do with these sanctuary city policies.” Pressed on whether ICE will surge agents to the Boston area, similar to how agents are in Washington, D.C., Lyons responded, "One hundred percent you will see a larger ICE presence.” "We’re definitely going to, as you’ve heard the saying, flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions," he added. "And, obviously, Boston and Massachusetts decided that they wanted to stay sanctuaries, and sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about in neighborhoods.” Lyons pointed out that, during Operation Patriot, ICE pursued "targeted enforcement operations" of criminal aliens released by the City of Boston and Massachusetts. Operation Patriot resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,500 illegal immigrants, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and child sex predators. Sources at ICE told Fox News that 790 of those arrested had criminal convictions or charges, and 277 had final removal or deportation orders. The sources said that all the targeted criminals were roaming the streets of Massachusetts cities freely before being apprehended. The operation ran throughout May and involved ICE teams from other states in the Northeast, as well as authorities from the FBI, DEA and ATF. Speaking on Wednesday, Lyons said, "There’s so many of these criminal aliens that keep getting released to go out and commit more crimes that local law enforcement have to deal with, and we can take that, you know, violent criminal illegal alien instantly out of the neighborhood.” This follows U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi setting a deadline of Tuesday for sanctuary jurisdictions to drop their policies that block cooperation with federal authorities. Speaking on Fox Business, Bondi said she sent letters to 32 mayors and seven governors "telling them you better comply or you’re next.” Bondi highlighted a letter she sent to California Gov. Gavin Newsom in which she warned that "individuals operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
NBC News [8/21/2025 3:19 PM, Kimmy Yam, 43603K]
NewsMax [8/21/2025 1:54 PM, Jim Mishler, 4779K]
Daily Wire [8/21/2025 10:22 AM, Hank Berrien, 3184K]

NBC News [8/21/2025 5:56 PM, Daniella Silva, 43603K] reports Catalina Rojas got engaged last week and was thrilled to begin planning one of the most exciting moments in her life. Those plans were quickly derailed on Wednesday when her fiancé was detained by immigration authorities during a warehouse raid in Edison, New Jersey. He now faces deportation. Rojas’ fiancé, an immigrant from Honduras, was swept up with more than two dozen others in an immigration enforcement operation at the package distribution warehouse where he worked. The workplace raid is one of the largest federal immigration actions in the region to date and comes as pressure ramps up on officials to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to deport 1 million undocumented immigrants a year. Authorities have so far said little about the operation. The Edison mayor’s office said in a statement that 29 people were taken into custody as part of the raid. The Edison Police Department was informed by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday that the agency would be conducting an operation in the area, according to the statement.

FOX News [8/21/2025 11:17 AM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation crackdown spooked leaders in at least one Democratic-majority East Coast city, as its mayor and city council suddenly removed a scheduled vote on approving a "Welcoming City" ordinance from this month’s agenda. Mayor Sal Panto Jr., of Easton, Pennsylvania, a moderate Democrat, moved to strike the ordinance vote from the agenda, with all but its sponsor, Councilwoman Taiba Sultana, backing the move, according to Lehigh Valley News. One member was absent. The ordinance would have given the city – 80 miles west of New York City and 60 miles north of Philadelphia – a designation shared by Chicago, where leaders use the term "welcoming city" instead of the more politically charged "sanctuary city.” Sultana told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that values should come first and lamented the decision. "The Council’s decision stemmed from a place of pragmatism rather than principle… But the majority felt that formally adopting the ‘Welcoming City’ bill now would effectively paint a target on our city – a target for an administration that has demonstrated a willingness to weaponize federal funds against political adversaries," she said. In recent weeks, Attorney General Pam Bondi has threatened civil action and withholding of federal funding from sanctuary cities or municipalities that do not align with federal immigration law – and Easton leaders didn’t want that kind of attention. "This threat, while legally dubious, is very real. It jeopardizes the critical funding that our residents, including our undocumented neighbors who contribute immensely to our economy, depend on for essential services like education and public safety," Sultana said.

Politico [8/21/2025 4:22 PM, Gregory Svirnovskiy, 2100K] reports an Atlanta-based reporter detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since June is suing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, along with other administration officials, for his immediate release, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia announced Thursday. Mario Guevara — a Salvadoran national and award-winning journalist who says he entered the country lawfully in 2004 — was arrested in June while reporting at a Georgia “No Kings Day” rally. Despite an immigration judge ordering his release on bond in July, Guevara has remained in detention ever since his initial arrest after a government appeal, according to his Thursday petition, filed in a district court in Southern Georgia. Now, Guevara is detained at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in southeast Georgia, the only journalist in the country currently jailed as a result of reporting, he contends. “The Government’s continuing detention of Mr. Guevara on the basis of his journalism is intended to silence him, prevent him from reporting in the future, and retaliate against him for his past speech and reporting, in violation of the First Amendment,” the filing states. The AP [8/21/2025 1:37 PM, Kate Brumback, 37974K] reports that a petition filed in federal court late Wednesday says the government is violating Guevara’s constitutional rights to free speech and due process. It argues that he is being punished for filming police, which is legal, and that he is being subjected to unlawful prior restraint because he’s unable to report while in custody. The filing asks the court to order his release “so that he may rejoin his family and community and pursue his constitutionally protected journalistic activities.” The filing names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and top ICE officials. “Accusations that Mario Guevara was arrested by ICE because he is a journalist are completely FALSE,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement. The Department of Justice declined to comment. Axios [8/21/2025 3:48 PM, Kristal Dixon, 14595K] reports that in the petition, Guevara’s lawyers said the government claimed he was a danger to the community because he owned a firearm, recorded law enforcement, and disobeyed orders to stay out of the roadway while covering the DeKalb County protest. Not only is filming the police protected speech, but county investigators determined Guevara, who lives in Lilburn, did not defy police orders and did not intend to "disregard law enforcement directives," according to the petition. Federal immigration officials placed a hold on his detention at the DeKalb County Jail, meaning they would take him into custody upon his release. The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office also charged him with misdemeanor traffic offenses stemming from an incident that happened prior to his arrest. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Guevara on June 18, the petition said. Both DeKalb and Gwinnett counties later dropped the charges.

Wall Street Journal [8/21/2025 4:39 PM, Victoria Albert, 646K] reports a Georgia-based journalist arrested by local police while covering a “No Kings” protest in June has sued the Trump administration, alleging his continuing detention is retaliation for his reporting on immigration-enforcement actions. Local police detained Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran national and Spanish-language reporter, on criminal charges that include unlawful assembly and obstruction of an officer. Officials later dropped the charges. ICE transferred Guevara to a detention facility a few days after his arrest. President Trump’s mass deportation efforts have sparked fears among free-speech advocates that the administration will use immigration enforcement to target critics. Guevara is one of several noncitizens who have sued the government over what they describe as an unlawful attempt to chill their First Amendment rights. The judge overseeing Guevara’s immigration case granted him bond in early July—but the government took the unusual step of appealing that decision and seeking to keep him detained, his lawyers said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Georgia’s southern district. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin denied that Guevara has been targeted for his journalism. The Justice Department declined to comment.

AP [8/22/2025 1:33 AM, Rebecca Santana, 37974K] reports that, at an obstacle course in the humid Georgia heat, an instructor shows recruits how to pull a wounded partner out of danger. In a classroom with desks cluttered with thick legal books about immigration law, recruits learn about how the Fourth Amendment governs their work. And on a firing range littered with shell casings, new recruits for Immigration and Customs Enforcement practice shooting their handguns. “Instructors, give me a thumbs up when students are ready to go,” a voice over the loudspeaker said before a group of about 20 ICE recruits practiced drawing and firing their weapons. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia, is the epicenter of training for almost all federal law enforcement officers, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who are at the center of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Now, with lots of money approved by Congress this summer starting to flow into ICE, the agency is in midst of a huge hiring effort as it aims to get thousands of new deportation officers into the field in the coming months. On Thursday, The Associated Press and other news organizations got a rare look at the Basic Immigration Law Enforcement Training Program that new ICE recruits — specifically those in the Enforcement and Removal Operations unit responsible for finding, arresting and removing people from the country — go through and what they learn. ICE is getting $76.5 billion in new money from Congress to help it meet Trump’s mass deportation goal. That’s nearly 10 times the agency’s current annual budget. Nearly $30 billion of that money is for new staff. They’re hiring across the agency, including investigators and lawyers, but the numbers they’re hiring in those areas pale in comparison to how many deportation officers are coming on board. Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, was at the training demonstration Thursday. He said the agency currently has about 6,500 deportation officers and is aiming to hire 10,000 more by the end of the year. With that hiring surge has come concerns that vetting or training of new recruits will be shortchanged. The Border Patrol went through a similar hiring surge in the early 2000s when hiring and training standards were changed; arrests for employee misconduct rose. Lyons pushed back on concerns that ICE might cut corners when it comes to training. although he said they have made changes designed to streamline the process. “I wasn’t going to water down training,” said Lyons. Caleb Vitello, the assistant director of ICE in charge of training, says new recruits will go through about eight weeks of training at the Georgia facility. But they also have training before and after they come here. One key change, Vitello noted: ICE cut out five weeks of Spanish-language training because he said recruits were only getting to the point of being “moderately” competent in Spanish. He said language translation technology can help fill that void in the field.

FOX News [8/21/2025 4:27 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40019K] reports a biotech CEO is taking Uber to court after an illegal immigrant driver was caught on camera violently assaulting him in downtown Charleston, South Carolina—sending his dog crashing to the pavement. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Charleston County, alleges TC BioPharm CEO Bryan Kobel, 45, suffered a concussion in April after Uber driver and illegal Russian national Uliumdzhiev Vadim Nikolaevich, 42, attacked him in a King Street restaurant parking lot. Nikolaevich was arrested and released on a $10,000 bond for second-degree assault and battery, according to Charleston County Sheriff’s Office records. He was later placed on an immigration hold after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Georgia, according to Kobel’s attorneys. Authorities later told Kobel that Nikolaevich’s driver’s license was fake, and he was a Russian national living in the U.S. illegally. The suit alleges that, as a direct result of Nikolaevich’s conduct while working for Uber and Raiser, Kobel suffered serious injuries and losses, including lost enjoyment of life, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and medical expenses. Furthermore, attorneys claim the rideshare giant is negligent in screening, hiring and monitoring drivers, leading to safety risks for its riders.

AP [8/21/2025 3:06 PM, Scott Bauer, 3790K] reports that a Wisconsin court commissioner has resigned from his job after he asked to see an immigration arrest warrant, the latest conflict between judges and President Donald Trump’s administration over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Peter Navis, who worked as a Walworth County Court Commissioner for four years, resigned from his position last month, county clerk Michelle Jacobs said Thursday. She declined to comment further because it is a personnel matter. The incident that cost Navis his job happened on July 15. It was first reported on Thursday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The blowup in Navis’ courtroom comes after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was charged in May with obstructing federal officers and attempting to hide a person to avoid arrest. Authorities said Dugan tried to help a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents who wanted to arrest him in her courthouse. Dugan is seeking to have the charges against her dropped, arguing that she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. A ruling on that motion by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman is pending. Navis was presiding in his courtroom that day in the case of Enrrique Onan Zamora Castro, of Milwaukee, who faced a misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license for the second time in three years. Navis said in an interview Thursday that about 15 minutes before Castro’s case was to be called, a deputy told him that Castro was going to be arrested on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, on an immigration warrant.

Houston Chronicle [8/21/2025 6:30 PM, Sarah Smith, 2356K] reports seventeen days after Roland Beainy, the face of the viral restaurant Trump Burger and an ardent fan of the president, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and accused of not being in the country legally, Iyad Abuelhawa — who founded the Trump Burger forerunner in 2016; whose wife recently slammed Beainy for taking credit for their idea; who, 20 years ago, was accused of injecting 1,100 Exxon Mobil employees with fake flu vaccines and then, while in jail, snitched on another inmate’s murder-for-hire-plot before pleading guilty in his own case — was also detained by ICE and is being held in untenable conditions, according to his attorney. Abuelhawa was arrested on June 2, according to ICE, and is being held in a detention center in Montgomery County. ICE claimed Abuelhawa had not been in the country legally since an immigration judge ordered his deportation in September 2009. His attorney, Jennifer Lopez, said Abuelhawa had been kept in the United States after that "to multiple [government] agencies’ benefit" and declined to elaborate further. Lopez said he was struggling with diabetes and a heart condition — to the point, she said, that he was unable to feel his legs from the knee down and needed a wheelchair — and was not getting necessary insulin or blood sugar monitoring in custody. "He’s not doing well," she said. "In my opinion, they’re waiting for him to die.” Lopez said she had filed requests asking that Abuelhawa be paroled due to his condition and been denied. (As of publication, ICE has not responded to a request for comment.).

Houston Chronicle [8/21/2025 3:53 PM, Caroline Wilburn, 2356K] reports charges were dismissed this week against a Houston-area man accused of throwing his cellphone at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s vehicle last month, causing several hundred dollars in damage, according to court records. Sergio Olivares, 22, of Humble, was arrested July 9 and charged with two misdemeanors for reckless driving and criminal mischief, according to court records. The reckless driving charge was dropped two days after his arrest on July 11, while the criminal mischief charge was dismissed Wednesday, court records show. Attorney Brent Wasserstein, representing Olivares, declined to comment on the charge dismissals. Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman’s office wrote about Olivares’s arrest shortly after it happened and accused him of chasing and damaging the car belonging to ICE agents. Herman declined to share photos of damage to the vehicle.

FOX News [8/21/2025 4:04 PM, Louis Casiano, 40019K] reports an illegal immigrant was arrested Tuesday after she tried seeking sanctuary at a Colorado probation office, authorities said. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were initially targeting Darwin Arriche-Sierra, 35, a Venezuelan citizen with two convictions for driving under the influence, during a traffic stop. However, Arriche-Sierra was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by Carolina Suarez-Estrada, 32, a Colombian citizen, who was also in the U.S. illegally. When agents tried to conduct a vehicle stop in Chaffee County, Suarez-Estrada failed to stop and drove to a county probation office to seek sanctuary inside, ICE said.

FOX News [8/21/2025 5:15 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he rammed his truck into an agent and government vehicles during an immigration operation in San Diego. The case comes the same week another illegal immigrant, Harjinder Singh, was accused in a Florida crash that killed three people, underscoring renewed scrutiny of Biden-era immigration enforcement. According to an ICE statement, the illegal, Rolando Nava Pacheco, is facing up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for striking a federal agent and government vehicles in an attempt to flee. Homeland Security agents stopped Pacheco during an immigration operation in San Diego for suspected immigration violations on Aug. 11. According to a DOJ statement, after the federal agents identified themselves as law enforcement, Pacheco attempted to flee by accelerating his white truck and striking an agent and a government vehicle. The DOJ statement says the agents "verbally announced themselves as federal agents and requested identification from (the) vehicle’s driver." "As the white truck recklessly tried to flee the area, a federal agent driving a government vehicle attempted to block the path of the white truck," the DOJ statement said. As a result, "the driver of the white truck proceeded to strike the federal agent’s vehicle head on." Pacheco is now facing charges of assault on a federal officer resulting in bodily injury and destruction of federal property.

Daily Caller [8/21/2025 6:53 PM, Hailey Gomez, 985K] reports voters from across California gathered Tuesday on the steps of the state Capitol to join Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Pastor Jack Hibbs in opposing new legislation that would expand who can serve as a caregiver for minors. Braving the heat, attendees traveled by bus, plane and car to rally against AB 495, the Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025, which largely affects children of illegal immigrant parents. Introduced in February by Democratic Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, the bill has drawn strong pushback from voters, who told the Daily Caller News Foundation they are dissatisfied with the bill’s language and concerned about children potentially ending up in the hands of a trafficker. AB 495 would expand who can serve as a caregiver through a single-page affidavit, including nonrelatives. The new caregiver would then have the right to make decisions like "school-related medical care" without the school or health provider being liable, according to the text. A rally call from Hibbs was first sent out in July during a church service and subsequently posted to his social media. "I need all of you to take August 19th off. Just plan on having a sore throat or something that day. I’m gonna ask all of you to drive, bus, fly, I don’t care how you get there," Hibbs said in a video. "But I want you to meet me at the Capitol Steps in Sacramento, because Sacramento, our elected leaders are right now trying to get a bill passed that’s the unthinkable.” While the legislation could potentially affect all children in California, Democrats have specified that the guardianship handoff is intended to aid illegal immigrant families facing deportation or immigration detention.

Breitbart [8/21/2025 3:24 PM, John Binder, 2608K] reports President Donald Trump’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has initiated deportation proceedings of tens of thousands of illegal aliens who had been left in legal limbo by former President Joe Biden’s administration, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, said that under the Biden administration, the agency "had no policy" on NTAs and thus "when a case was denied and the person was just in limbo and had no other legal pathway here, nothing was happening." Under Trump, Edlow said, that has all changed. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), immigration benefits include "granting of U.S. citizenship to those who are eligible to naturalize, authorizing individuals to reside in the U.S. on a permanent basis, and providing noncitizens with the eligibility to work in the United States." Since Trump took office, about 86,500 NTAs have been issued to illegal aliens who failed to secure immigration benefits and were thus placed in deportation proceedings. One USCIS official told Breitbart News that the administration has been ramping up the issuance of NTAs in recent months. Indeed, figures published in June showed that at the time, about 26,700 NTAs had been issued since Trump took office. NewsMax [8/21/2025 10:15 PM, Staff, 4779K] reports that officials say nearly 60,000 of the 86,500 NTAs under Trump’s USCIS have been issued in just the past few months, reflecting the administration’s intensified enforcement. Edlow said a strong NTA policy is essential to prevent hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from remaining in the U.S. indefinitely without resolution. "There should be an end to those cases," he said. "That end is either them getting relief before an immigration judge or their ultimate removal from this country."

Reuters [8/21/2025 4:40 PM, Jasper Ward, 45746K] reports a Venezuelan-born Catholic priest with a valid U.S. religious worker visa was temporarily denied re-entry to the U.S. this week, and was only granted admission following an appeal by Miami’s Catholic archbishop, his office said in a statement. The temporary denial of entry to Father Gustavo Santos came after President Donald Trump in June partially restricted entry to people from Venezuela and six other countries. Individuals on religious worker visas were not included in those restrictions. After returning to the U.S. on Tuesday from a trip to London, Santos "was unexpectedly and wrongfully denied admission into the United States," the Archdiocese of Miami said in a statement. Archbishop Thomas Wenski worked with Catholic Legal Services lawyers to bring the case before a federal judge. "As a result, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reconsidered the case, and Father Santos has since been released and allowed to reenter the country," said the statement, which was released on Tuesday.

Bloomberg News [8/21/2025 6:25 PM, Isaiah Poritz, 75K] reports the Trump administration’s attempts to re-implement its "remain in Mexico" policy for asylum seekers continued to divide a three-judge appeals court panel at oral arguments Thursday. The administration is asking the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn a lower court’s order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the Migrant Protection Protocols, first adopted in 2019 under Trump’s first term. The protocols, which were rescinded under the Biden administration, require asylum seekers coming through the southern border to remain in Mexico while their legal appeals play out.

Free Beacon [8/21/2025 4:55 PM, Adam Kredo, 500K] reports the Trump administration is preparing to block visas for Palestinian terrorists slated to appear later this month at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan, which will feature a number of radical Palestinian activists, a senior State Department official told the Washington Free Beacon. "Given the public invite lists seem to include a number of terrorist sympathizers, we are going through and ensuring all international speakers slated to attend the conference are being placed on a ‘look out’ status for visa applications, so we are alerted if a request is submitted and can ensure they are appropriately processed," the senior official told the Free Beacon. While the official would not identify which of the nearly 40 speakers would be assigned special "look out" status, some are Palestinians who have spent years behind bars in Israel for conspiring to kill Jews. Hussam Shaheen spent 27 years in prison for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was released from prison just months ago, on Feb. 1, in a deal that exchanged Israeli hostages for Palestinian terrorists. Omar Assaf, a former member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, is also slated to appear, along with Lama Ghosheh, a Palestinian journalist from East Jerusalem. Assaf spent eight years in jail for his role in the DFLP terror group—a member group of the Palestine Liberation Organization—and Ghosheh received a three-year sentence from an Israeli court in 2023 for inciting violence and praising terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza. Also slated to speak at the conference is Gaza-based poet Mosab Abu Toha, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his writings on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Soon after, his extremist anti-Israel social media posts came to light.

Washington Examiner [8/21/2025 1:07 PM, Paul Bedard, 1563K] reports that two years after former President Joe Biden’s open border policies pushed the illegal migrant population in America to a new record of 14 million, officials today revealed that President Donald Trump just set a new, more positive record. On July 20, the fewest ever number of illegal immigrants were seized on the southern border. "The Border Patrol apprehended just 116 illegal aliens — the lowest single-day total in agency history," according to the House Committee on Homeland Security. The panel’s new report also showed that the number of illegal immigrants encountered at the Southwest border in July was a record low of 7,382, a drop of nearly 93% from the Biden era. "This is the lowest monthly total in [Customs and Border Protection] history, breaking the previous record set last month," said the committee’s monthly border briefing. To help put the Trump border achievements in perspective, the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli just revealed the Pew Research Center’s report on the illegal immigrant population and highlighted the new record set during Biden’s administration. Pew Research: Illegal immigrant population reached a record 14 million in 2023 — after the largest increase in two years ever recorded (was 3.5M in 1990). Preliminary data indicates continued growth into 2024 and a decrease in 2025. The "U.S. unauthorized immigrant population reached a record 14 million in 2023," said Pew. The number was so large, added Pew, that the illegal immigrant population made up 27% of the overall foreign-born population in America.

Washington Examiner [8/21/2025 1:19 PM, Sydney Topf, 1563K] reports that the Department of the Interior announced Wednesday that it is deputizing federal border agents to serve alongside U.S. Park Police at National Park sites, becoming the latest to join President Donald Trump’s D.C. takeover. “Interior has authorized a service-wide deputization of [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] officers to serve alongside [U.S. Park Police] and intensify crime deterrence efforts on [National Park Services] sites,” Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum wrote on X. “Thank you to these brave officers who are working 24/7 to enforce POTUS’ directive to make D.C. safe again!” The post did not mention if federal border agents were only being sent to National Park sites in D.C., and the Interior Department declined to comment further than the secretary’s post on X. The Washington Examiner also contacted CBP and NPS for comment. Following the announcement on social media, Burgum later posted on X, "Energy Security = National Security. It’s just that simple!". There are many National Park sites in D.C., including heavy tourist spots like the National Mall and Ford’s Theater. National Park sites are typically under the U.S. Park Police’s purview. Since Trump’s federal takeover of the district, there has been a surge in law enforcement, including the National Guard, at sites such as the National Mall. Since the surge began, there has been an 83% decrease in carjackings, a 46% decrease in robberies, and a 22% decrease in violent crime, according to the D.C. Police Union.

FOX News [8/21/2025 5:21 PM, Diana Stancy, 40019K] reports the Pentagon has created a new medal for service members who’ve deployed to the southern border to assist federal law enforcement with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The Pentagon unveiled plans for a Mexican Border Defense Medal for U.S. troops serving with Joint Task Force Southern Border, according to a new memo the Pentagon released Aug.13 that was shared on social media. Now, service members will receive the Mexican Border Defense Medal (MBDM) instead of the Armed Forces Service Medal (AFSM) like they previously earned for supporting Customs and Border Protection at the border, the memo said. The Pentagon said in July that approximately 8,500 military personnel are assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Border, and have been tasked with responding to security threats there. The task force got underway in March and completed approximately 3,500 patrols between then and July, according to the Pentagon. Those eligible for the award must have deployed since Jan. 20 to support Customs and Border Protection, and served within 100-nautical miles from the international border shared with Mexico in either Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California. Those who’ve also served in adjacent waters up to 24 nautical miles away from the border also are eligible.

Bloomberg [8/21/2025 5:56 PM, Laura Curtis, 19085K] reports postal services across the world are cutting off parcel deliveries to the US as the fast-approaching end of a tariff exception for low-value packages sows chaos in global shipping. As of Aug. 29, President Donald Trump is ending the so-called de minimis exemption that has applied to more than 4 million parcels processed by US Customs and Border Protection each day. In response, a growing number of national mail services plan to temporarily suspend service to the US as soon as this week, citing a lack of clarity from American authorities on how the duties will be collected and how to submit required data. The service interruptions highlight the seismic impact from Trump’s decision to eliminate the de minimis exemption. The policy had allowed low-value parcels to flow into the US from around the world with little interruption. Now, postal services, online sellers, consumers and shipping companies are attempting to sort through the costly and complicated process to comply with US rules with little guidance from federal agencies.

Federalist [8/21/2025 9:41 AM, Beth Brelje, 982K] reports during Joe "Autopen" Biden’s administration, it was often harder for a divorced parent to get custody of their own child than it was for a random stranger to get custody of an unaccompanied minor in the U.S. illegally. Parents battling for custody must often submit to criminal background checks for everyone in the household, psychological testing, a home study from a social worker, and be cross-examined in court testimony. In fact, some states requires Sunday school teachers undergo an FBI background check; many insurance companies require it. Under Biden, custodians of unaccompanied minors only needed a pulse. Federal law requires sponsors of unaccompanied minors to be fingerprinted, get a criminal background check and a home study before keeping a child under their roof. But according to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) data released this week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), placed 11,488 children with unvetted sponsors who were not their parent or legal guardian, and who were not fingerprinted or did not receive a background check, between Jan. 2021- to Jan. 2025. During that same time. the Biden-administration failed to conduct home studies for 79,143 children under age 12, including 1,961 children who were placed where a home study was recommended but not done. "HHS regulations require home studies before releasing a child 12 years or younger to a sponsor who is not their parent or legal guardian," a summary of the data reads. "The Biden-Harris administration ignored this rule and failed to conduct home studies for approximately 10 percent of migrant children who were recommended to have one."

New York Times [8/22/2025 3:16 AM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Mark Bonamo, 330K] reports federal officers detained dozens of immigrant workers at a warehouse in Edison, N.J., on Wednesday in what appeared to be among the largest federal raids in the state since President Trump took office. The hourslong operation was conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose officers arrived at the warehouse along a busy stretch of shipping facilities west of New York City about 9 a.m. The federal officers arrested 29 people, according to the Edison mayor’s office, which said that the township’s Police Department had been notified that the Department of Homeland Security, which runs the customs agency, would be in the area on Wednesday. The purpose of the operation remained unclear on Wednesday night, and it was unclear if other federal agencies had been involved. The Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection agency did not reply to requests for comment. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Univision that the agency had carried out “a surprise inspection” of the warehouse. The agency also told Univision that the operation was part of routine customs enforcement efforts, not specifically immigration-related, but that officers had checked the immigration status of workers. The warehouse — where packages were stacked high in a space about the size of a professional football field — handles shipping for major online retailers, distributing packages across the Northeast, three workers told New York Times. The facility is a bonded warehouse, a facility where importers can store foreign goods still in transit without immediately paying import duties and that is under the supervision of the Customs and Border Protection agency, one worker said. The agency has said that it is authorized to conduct unannounced inspections at bonded warehouses to ensure that facilities are adhering to “protocols for the importation of cargo entering the United States.” Workplace immigration raids have been uncommon in the New York City area, where most arrests have unfolded inside immigration offices and courthouses. Wednesday’s warehouse raid appeared to be at least the second this summer in Edison, a township and commercial hub of about 100,000 people that is about a one-hour drive from New York City.

New York Times [8/22/2025 3:00 AM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Wesley Parnell and Mark Bonamo, 143795K] reports a maze of warehouses wind through this New Jersey suburb, where highways assure easy access to New York City and beyond. In Edison, thousands of immigrant workers toil in hundreds of warehouses, sorting millions of boxes arriving from nearby ports before being sent by trucks across the United States. But this summer has delivered something else. Immigration raids a few weeks apart at two warehouses have unsettled the daily rhythms of this busy corridor, where Amazon, FedEx and UPS have a large presence. The second raid happened Wednesday and resulted in the arrests of 29 workers, among the largest sweeps in the region since President Trump took office. Warehouses have been left short-staffed and behind schedule as detained workers were sent to immigration jails and others stopped showing up. Business owners, who often rely on staffing agencies to verify the immigration status of workers who are hired to operate forklifts and load trucks, are alarmed. And immigrant workers are rattled. Documented and undocumented, they power a critical cog in the country’s delivery network from Edison, an immigrant-rich township of 100,000 people a short drive from Staten Island. “It’s a fear where one cannot be calm, whether you are sleeping or at work,” said Jose Ante, 37, an Ecuadorean warehouse worker who said he had a work permit and an active asylum case but still feared being picked up by the immigration authorities. “It’s a psychological trauma, really, wondering if you have to run, to hide, to know where you could hide, even if you did nothing wrong,” he said during a lunch break on Thursday. The workplace raids in Edison, over a stretch of six weeks, led to the detention of 49 workers, making them the most visible symbols in New Jersey of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The first major raid took place on July 8, when immigration and customs agents descended on a wine and liquor warehouse and detained 20 workers, most of them Hispanic, who the federal government said did not have legal status. That operation was eclipsed by Wednesday’s. U.S. Customs and Border Protection was involved in both raids, which had similar hallmarks. Both of the raided facilities are bonded warehouses, which are subject to the supervision of the customs agency. The agency cited its authority to conduct unannounced inspections of such facilities, which are used by importers to hold foreign goods before paying import duties. Once inside the warehouses, agents interrogated and verified the legal status of the workers; it was unclear if they had inspected merchandise. On both occasions, they chased some workers who ran, gave up on a number who hid and detained dozens with zip ties. On Wednesday, Nelson Alvarez was working as a security guard at the second warehouse to be raided. Eight officers got out of two S.U.V.s in the morning, told him not to move and grabbed his walkie-talkie, he said. “I told them I had to ask for my boss’s permission and if they had any authorization,” Mr. Alvarez recalled on Thursday. “They said they were Border Patrol and customs and that they didn’t have to ask for permission to be here.”

Wall Street Journal [8/21/2025 9:00 PM, Kejal Vyas, 646K] reports Cesar Atencio and Lina Arias rushed with their two small children toward the U.S. border in January, aiming to beat the crackdown on immigration President Trump had promised when he returned to office. They didn’t make it. Crossing Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert in a van on a frigid morning, they were stopped by gang members posing as police and kidnapped for ransom. “They told us they had good news and bad news,” said Arias, 27. “The bad news was for us, that Trump was president and that the border was closed. The good news was for them, that smugglers would be able to charge more for trafficking people and drugs.” The Trump administration’s hardened border controls and pledges to deport migrants en masse have all but halted the flow of people toward the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time in decades. U.S. authorities say migrant encounters at the border are down 93% from a year ago, to about 7,800 in July. Countries from Ecuador to Costa Rica to Guatemala are becoming more restrictive to migrants, too. Latecomers to the largest movement of people in the region’s modern history are stuck in limbo all around the Americas. Few are returning home. The violence, political persecution and galloping inflation that drove them from countries including Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador persist. Those who do want to go back often lack the money or documents to do so. Several hundred thousand migrants are stuck in Mexico alone, aid workers and United Nations officials estimate. “We wanted to find a safe place, but all the doors keep shutting,” said Atencio, 32.

New York Post [8/21/2025 9:34 PM, Marissa Matozzo, 43962K] reports that, following TSA rules isn’t just about catching your plane on time — it’s about keeping the skies safe. The shoes-off rule may be gone, but the 3.4-ounce liquids limit is still very much in effect. Now, the agency has added three new items to the "don’t pack" list, and hair lovers — listen up, because cordless hair tools could get you in trouble. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (the FAA) via TheStreet, any curling irons or flat irons powered by gas cartridges or butane — including gas refills (spare cartridges) for them — are banned in checked bags. TSA will confiscate them if they spot them, though you can bring these gadgets in your carry-on if they have safety covers to prevent accidental activation. Regular corded hair tools? They’re fine, whether in your suitcase or your backpack. The crackdown joins TSA’s ever-growing "no-go" roster, which already bans everything from e-cigs and vape pens to lithium phone chargers, spray paint, sparklers, and anything else that could turn your carry-on into a safety hazard. As of July 7, travelers no longer have to kick off their shoes at TSA checkpoints, an internal memo shows — a move credited to new tech and a fresh look at security risks, according to One Mile at a Time. But it’s not all confiscations and headaches — TSA is also rolling out perks for families and troops. As The Post previously reported, the Transportation Security Administration is adding family lanes under a new program called "Families on the Fly," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced at Nashville International Airport. After a successful trial run purposely done in Orlando, Florida, because it’s near Disney World, the lanes will expand to airports popular with families, with a $15 PreCheck discount for families who enroll. "There will be expanded areas that will give them the benefit of recognizing that they have children with them and will help make sure that we have the ability to take care of them and their families as they go through this expedited process with their kiddos," Noem said last month. Military travelers aren’t left out either. The TSA’s "Honor Lane," currently at 11 airports, will go nationwide, while Gold Star families get free PreCheck and military spouses can enroll for just $25. "We want everybody to know that we’re extremely grateful for their service to our country and recognize the sacrifice that their families have made," she said. Mobile units will even hit bases to make sign-ups easier. Current service members and civilian DoD staff already have access by adding their DOD ID to reservations. The expansions arrive shortly after TSA scrapped the dreaded shoe-removal rule, and Noem hinted more changes could be coming, including potential easing of the liquids, aerosols, and gels restrictions. "Remember, every single thing that happens at a checkpoint today is being evaluated," Noem also shared.

Detroit Free Press [8/21/2025 10:43 AM, Jenna Prestininzi and Mariyam Muhammad, 3744K] reports if you’re planning to fly out of one of Michigan’s airports this fall, you may want to leave your cordless hair care tools at home — they’re banned from checked baggage. The Transportation Security Administration banned three types of cordless hair care tools from packed luggage on flights, though they’re allowed in carry-ons with safety covers, according to the TSA banned items list. The Federal Aviation Administration says that these kinds of cordless hair tools are banned, according to TheStreet: Cordless curling irons or flatirons containing gas cartridges. Gas refills (spare cartridges) for curling irons or flat irons. The three cordless hair products are allowed in your carry-on bags as long as they have safety covers to prevent activation, according to federal guidelines. Live lobsters are allowed through security, but TSA says your lobster friend must be transported in a clear, plastic, spill-proof container. A TSA officer will visually inspect your lobster at the checkpoint.

Federal News Network [8/21/2025 11:14 AM, Michele Sandiford, 1147K] reports a new House bill would reverse cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The FEMA Critical Staffing Act would require the agency to reinstate employees fired under the Trump administration. It would also require FEMA to bring back the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and the flood mitigation assistance program. The bill is being sponsored by several House Democrats. It comes as Congress and the Trump administration consider broader reforms to FEMA.

CBS News [8/21/2025 6:46 PM, Staff, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Hurricane Erin is unleashing its wrath on parts of Virginia and North Carolina as it makes its way north. The hurricane path will keep its strongest winds offshore. CBS News senior weather correspondent Rob Marciano is tracking the storm. Plus, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis shares his thoughts on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

CNN [8/21/2025 10:15 PM, Mary Gilbert, 23245K] reports Erin is starting to turn away from the United States but don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet: The massive hurricane is still churning up the Atlantic Ocean, keeping dangerous conditions in place for more than 1,000 miles of the East Coast. Hurricane Erin has been a major disruption for coastal communities this week – especially North Carolina’s Outer Banks – even without making landfall. It’s stirred up life-threatening rip currents that prompted dozens of rescues and sent rushing water and sand over island roads. Erin could keep pushing the ocean onto coastlines through at least Friday. The hurricane made its closest approach to US soil Wednesday night as it skirted just 200 miles from the Outer Banks. It brought serious coastal flooding that has eroded beaches and shut down parts of the highway linking the barrier islands. Erin’s northeast turn away from the US began early Thursday and it’s forecast to find its gas pedal soon and accelerate away from the coast.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [8/21/2025 4:46 PM, Eduardo Medina and Rick Rojas, 143795K]

FOX Carolina [8/21/2025 10:01 AM, Staff] reports Hurricane Helene victims in North Carolina are receiving more federal funding, officials announced Wednesday. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the state has been provided with an additional $96 million to support the communities rebuilding from the storm. The funds are being distributed by FEMA and will go toward hundreds of state and local recovery projects. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, FEMA is moving faster than ever before to get Americans the relief they need,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “This move to continue supporting North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene is a testament to that fact.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [8/21/2025 4:21 PM, Doc Louallen, 27036K] reports as Hurricane Erin churned off the North Carolina coast this week, its powerful waves destroyed most of the remaining sea turtle nests on Emerald Isle, dealing a blow to what had been shaping up as a successful nesting season. "Out of our 10 remaining nests, we’ve probably lost eight of them," Dale Baquer, president of the volunteer group Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol, told ABC News. The losses started Monday, before the Category 2 hurricane made its closest approach to the coast, Baquer said, noting that they began the nesting season with 23 nests. Thirteen had successfully hatched before the storm but only two nests now remain viable after Erin’s impact. "We knew it was coming, but the waves were a bit higher and sooner than we had hoped," Baquer said. Unlike some other states that allow relocating eggs to hatcheries, North Carolina prioritizes keeping the hatching process natural, she said. The Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol coordinates 280 volunteers who monitor the area’s 13-mile stretch of beach, according to Baquer. From May through August, volunteers conduct daily morning walks searching for turtle tracks and new nests. Each nest typically contains between 80 to 150 eggs, Baquer said. "When they see tracks, they call me and I send out a team to help dig and locate the eggs," Baquer explained.

Washington Examiner [8/21/2025 12:08 PM, Staff, 1563K] reports that parents who lost their daughters from flood waters at Camp Mystic said their deaths were "100% preventable" and asked the legislature to implement mandatory safety protocols for camps statewide. Camp Mystic, an elite Hill Country multi-million-dollar enterprise, repeatedly appealed to FEMA to remove it from a 100-year flood plain designation; the appeals were granted, according to federal records. Located in "Flash Flood Alley," the Guadeloupe River tore through part of the camp, taking the lives of 27 campers and counselors and one of the camp’s owners. The camp charges roughly $8,800 for four weeks and roughly $15,000 for the summer, with an additional $2,000 for horseback riding, a relative who lost a camper told The Center Square. The camp had no alarms, no cell phone tower or communication capabilities, including radios, or evacuation system in place, parents said. Campers were told to stay in their cabins. A Houston area mother, Lindsey McLeod McCrory, who attended the camp, told news outlets the policy she and others followed during a 1987 flood event was to stay in their cabins. Thirty-eight years later, her daughter, Blakely, died from flood waters that killed the youngest children bunked just feet from the river. At a Texas Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Michael McCown, who lost his daughter, Linnie, 8, said, "We trusted Camp Mystic with her precious life, but that trust was broken in the most devastating way. The camp had a heightened duty of care, and they failed to perform. That failure costs 25 campers and two young counselors their lives. No one had to die that day."

Breitbart [8/21/2025 10:25 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports that a Navy pilot was rescued after ejecting from a U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet off the coast of Virginia. The pilot was conducting a training routine flight at around 10 a.m. EDT Wedenesday morning at the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. Search teams found and rescued the pilot at around 11:12 a.m., Navy spokesperson Lt. Jackie Parashar said. The Navy confirmed the Coast Guard brought the pilot to the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital but provided no further details about his condition, a spokesperson for Sentara, Dale Gauding, confirmed. The F/A-18E has not been retrieved from the water and the cause of the crash is still under investigation. This follows the events of multiple crashes involving Hampton Roads-based Navy Fighter Jets as this marks the sixth F-18 that the Navy has been lost in the last 10 months. In April, an F/A-18E fighter rolled off the side of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea. Roughly a week later, another F/A-18 Super Hornet fell off the deck and into the Red Sea. The F/A-18E Super Hornet jet costs the Navy around $67 million.

(B) CBS Mornings [8/21/2025 8:54 AM, Staff] reports that investigators are looking into the explosion onboard the W Sapphire. The US Coast Guard says it is recovering remnants of the ship from that explosion. A draft restriction is still in place for boaters in the area but the Fort McHenry Channel is still open. The ship is anchored near the Bay Bridge until the investigation is over.

Chicago Tribune [8/21/2025 8:55 AM, Deanese Williams-Harris, 5352K] reports a 17-year-old boy was pronounced dead Wednesday night after being pulled from the water at Lighthouse Beach in Evanston, officials said. Shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Evanston Fire Department was alerted to Lighthouse Beach for a report of a teenage boy who had gone underwater along the break wall on the north side of the beach, officials said. The first arriving rescuers arrived shortly before 9 p.m. and started a water recovery. A drone with infrared technology was deployed to the search as well as marine units and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, officials said. Due to poor water conditions Wednesday, rescuers quickly shifted to the south side of the beach where the teenage boy was found shortly before 9:30 p.m. about 30 yards off the break wall, officials said. The Evanston Fire Department began advanced life support measures before taking the victim to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

CyberScoop [8/21/2025 2:30 PM, Matt Kapko] reports the Chinese state-backed threat group Silk Typhoon has raised the pace of attacks targeting government, technology, legal and professional services in North America since late spring, according to CrowdStrike. “We were calling this jokingly, ‘the summer of Murky Panda,’ because we’ve seen so much activity from them over the last couple of months,” said Adam Meyers, senior vice president of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, using the firm’s nomenclature for the cyberespionage group. CrowdStrike has worked on more than a dozen cases involving Murky Panda during the past few months, including two active incident response cases, Meyers said. The group, which has been active since at least 2023, is “one of the top-tier Chinese threats that we’ve been seeing a lot this summer,” he said. Murky Panda exemplifies how Chinese attackers are gaining access to victim networks and infrastructure via vulnerabilities, unmanaged devices, the cloud and pivots between cloud services. The group’s advanced techniques in cloud environments are evident, as it enables prolonged access and lateral movement to downstream victims by abusing delegated administrative privileges in cloud solution providers, CrowdStrike said in a research report released Thursday.

CyberScoop [8/21/2025 6:30 PM, Matt Kapko] reports Apple rushed an emergency software update to its customers Wednesday to address an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability affecting the software powering the company’s most popular devices. The out-of-bounds write defect — CVE-2025-43300 — allows attackers to process a malicious image file resulting in memory corruption. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals,” the company said in a series of security updates for iOS, iPadOS and macOS. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency added the defect to its known exploited vulnerabilities catalog Thursday. Apple did not say how many active exploits it’s aware of or how many people are impacted. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters [8/21/2025 7:36 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports that a ransomware attack that encrypted certain elements of dialysis firm DaVita’s (DVA.N) network impacted 2.7 million people, the U.S. health department’s website showed on Thursday. The firm had disclosed in April that it was hit by a cyberattack. At the time, it said it would continue to provide patient care as it took measures to restore certain functions, but it could not "estimate the duration or extent of the disruption." DaVita provides dialysis, a treatment which mechanically cleans a patient’s blood when their kidneys are not functioning properly, through its network of nearly 3,000 outpatient clinics and at-home services. DaVita confirmed in a statement that the threat actor gained unauthorized access to its labs database, which contained some patients’ sensitive personal information. "We’re notifying current and former patients and providing them with resources, including complimentary credit monitoring, to help safeguard their data," the company said on Thursday. Despite the attack, DaVita said its teams maintained uninterrupted delivery of critical care. The cybersecurity incident had resulted in a temporary disruption of the company’s operations.

CyberScoop [8/21/2025 10:30 AM, Greg Otto] reports a 20-year-old Florida man received a 10-year federal prison sentence Wednesday for his role in the notorious Scattered Spider cybercrime organization, marking the first conviction of a member from the group responsible for breaching more than 130 major companies. Noah Michael Urban, 20, of Palm Coast, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in two separate federal cases spanning Florida and California. A federal judge sentenced Urban to 120 months in prison with three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $13 million in restitution to victims. The sentence exceeded federal prosecutors’ recommendation of eight years, reflecting the scope of Urban’s criminal activities that investigators say caused between $9.5 million and $25 million in total losses. Urban operated under multiple online aliases including “King Bob,” “Sosa,” and “Gustavo Fring” while participating in sophisticated cybercrime schemes from 2021 to 2023. In the Florida case, prosecutors said Urban and co-conspirators used SIM swapping techniques to steal at least $800,000 in cryptocurrency from five victims between August 2022 and March 2023.

The Hill [8/21/2025 10:25 AM, Julia Shapero, 12414K] reports that Russian state-sponsored hackers have targeted thousands of networking devices associated with U.S. critical infrastructure sectors over the past year, the FBI warned Wednesday. The cyber actors are associated with the Russian Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Center 16 and have taken aim at a vulnerability in certain Cisco devices, according to an agency public service announcement. In some cases, hackers have been able to modify configuration files to enable unauthorized access, which they have used to conduct reconnaissance on networks. This has "revealed their interest in protocols and applications commonly associated with industrial control systems," the FBI said. Cisco’s threat intelligence research arm, Talos, explained in a separate advisory that a subcluster of this group, which it has named "Static Tundra," is targeting a seven-year-old vulnerability in the company’s Smart Install feature. The firm has offered a patch for the vulnerability, but it remains a problem in unpatched and end-of-life network devices, it warned. "Once they establish initial access to a network device, Static Tundra will pivot further into the target environment, compromising additional network devices and establishing channels for long-term persistence and information gathering," Talos noted.

Daily Signal [8/21/2025 6:46 PM, Virginia Allen, 668K] reports since Jan. 20, the Trump administration has killed 272 "jihadis" around the world, according to Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism on the president’s National Security Council. Among the first terrorist threats eliminated under President Donald Trump was a leading member and recruiter for ISIS. "This [was] a man planning to kill Americans," Gorka explained during a discussion of "Trump’s New Counterterrorism Strategy Landscape" at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon. Trump had been sworn in for a second time just over a week before when Gorka, the national security adviser, and other members of Trump’s national security team walked into the Oval Office "with a map of that region with a satellite photograph of the individual," Gorka recounted. He and the other officials told Trump that members of the national security community had been watching this "key ISIS jihadi," who was then in Somalia, for 18 months. "The president looked up from the Resolute Desk," Gorka recalled, "and said to us, ‘What do you mean, ‘We’ve been watching him for a year and a half’? Kill him.’". Less than 30 hours later, Gorka said, he was in the Situation Room of the White House and "like a Tom Clancy movie—but better, because it’s real—at exactly 8:45 a.m. … that piece of human filth was turned into red mist. That was Day 11.” The story depicts what Gorka describes as Trump’s counterterrorism strategy. September of 2026 will mark 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S., and Gorka says the Trump administration is aiming to "finish the job" the U.S. began after that attack. "It is my intent, through various means, over a very short duration, to apply the ultimate tools of counterterrorism to so demoralize [and] decapitate … the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world that I will be put out of business," Gorka said.

Telemundo [8/21/2025 6:25 PM, Staff, 144K] reports that the director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Terry Cole, accused Venezuela on Thursday of collaborating with Colombian guerrillas like the National Liberation Army (ELN) to send "record quantities of cocaine" to Mexican cartels trafficking to the United States. "Venezuela has become a narco-terrorist state that continues to collaborate with the FARC and the ELN of Colombia to send record quantities of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexican cartels, which continue to enter the United States," Cole said in an interview with Fox News. Cole added that despite the Trump administration’s strengthening efforts to dismantle drug trafficking networks, especially along the borders, so far in 2025 they have "seized more cocaine than in previous years" and warned that the amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl entering the country "continues to increase." "Venezuelan corruption, the Venezuelan dictatorship, is narco-terrorism. They continue to send this poison to the United States, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, not to mention the members of the Tren de Aragua gang they send to our country to destroy its beautiful streets," he warned, echoing Trump’s claims. Cole’s accusations against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro come after White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt asserted Tuesday that Washington is prepared to "use all its power" to stem the "flow of drugs into its country," amid the controversy over the deployment of three ships with 4,000 troops in Caribbean waters near Venezuela.

FOX News [8/21/2025 5:14 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40019K] reports Villanova University reported an active shooter alert through its Nova Alert system on Thursday, urging students and staff to lock and barricade doors. The university said to move to a secure location and stay clear of Law School Scarpa Hall. The Radnor Township Police Department said it is continuing to clear buildings and asked all nearby residents and students to continue sheltering in place. As of 5:48 p.m., there are no reported victims, according to police. The incident remains active. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed Pennsylvania State Police, local and federal law enforcement are on site. ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division said it is providing assistance. No additional details about the threat have been released.

Reported similarly:
Axios [8/21/2025 5:38 PM, Isaac Avilucea, 14595K]
Daily Caller [8/21/2025 5:23 PM, Mariane Angela, 985K]

New York Post [8/21/2025 6:37 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 43962K] reports an active shooter was reported at Villanova University on Thursday afternoon, sparking pandemonium as new students were on campus for move-in day. Students and visitors, including many families helping their children get settled, were directed to shelter in place, according to the Radnor Township Police Department. An alert from the university ordered everyone to stay away from the Law School Scarpa Hall, located on the West Campus near nine residence halls and a dining hall, according to a campus map. No victims have been reported, according to the RTPD. Authorities and other officials are sweeping through the buildings to help evacuate people sheltering in place.

Reported similarly:
AP [8/21/2025 6:40 PM, Staff, 37974K]
ABC News [8/21/2025 6:17 PM, Meredith Deliso, 27036K]
CNN [8/21/2025 6:20 PM, Cindy Von Quednow, Michael Callahan, 23245K]
USA Today [8/21/2025 6:41 PM, Fernando Cervantes Jr, 64151K]
NewsNation [8/21/2025 6:48 PM, Brittney Donovan, Patrick Djordjevic, 6811K]
Washington Examiner [8/21/2025 5:45 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K]

CNN [8/21/2025 7:02 PM, Brenda Goodman and Meg Tirrell, 662K] reports the man who fired more than 500 rounds at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appears to have tried to get onto the agency’s campus two days before the August 8 shooting, according to an agency email obtained by CNN. During the investigation, the CDC’s Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation discovered video footage that shows a man resembling the shooter, Patrick Joseph White, trying to enter the CDC’s main campus on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 6. He tried to enter the campus at the first guard station but was turned away by CDC security "without incident." The shooter did not attempt to enter the campus on Friday, August 8, prior to the attack, the email said. "The video evidence does not 100% confirm the person’s identity," the email reads, but authorities believe the likelihood that it’s White is very high. According to the email, which was sent to employees by Jeff Williams, CDC’s head of security, it’s not uncommon for shooters to "probe" or scout a scene before an attack. "This is an understandably distressing development, and we want to emphasize that CDC security measures were effective," the email said.

The Hill [8/21/2025 7:29 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12414K] reports that U.S. forces on Tuesday killed a senior ISIS official in Syria, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) announced in a statement Thursday. The "successful raid" in northern Syria targeted an unnamed senior ISIS member who also served as a "key financier who planned attacks in Syria and Iraq," according to the Centcom statement. Centcom said the senior ISIS member had relationships in the region, "posing a direct threat to U.S. and Coalition forces and the new Syrian Government." "We will continue to pursue ISIS terrorists with unwavering determination, throughout the region," Centcom’s commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, said in the statement. "Together with our partners and allies, CENTCOM remains steadfast in our commitment of ensuring the lasting defeat of ISIS and the protection of the U.S. homeland," he continued. Trump has moved to ease sanctions significantly on Syria in the wake of the ousting of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in December. A delegation of congressional members recently visited Syria and met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa and other senior officials in the administration. Centcom forces last month killed another senior ISIS leader, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani. U.S. officials similarly said the ISIS members posed a threat to U.S. and coalition forces, including the Syrian government.

The Hill [8/21/2025 4:19 PM, Rachel Frazin, 12414K] reports that the Trump administration has launched a national security probe into imports of wind turbines and their components — a move that could ultimately lead to higher tariffs for wind energy. The probe, which marks the latest salvo in the administration’s efforts to stymie wind energy, was announced in a Federal Register notice Thursday. "On August 13, 2025, the Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security of imports of wind turbines and their parts and components," says the notice. It does not explicitly lay out the reasons for or evidence behind the probe, and the Bureau of Industry and Security did not immediately respond to questions from The Hill. But the administration requested information from the public on topics including the role of foreign supply chains, the impact of foreign government subsidies and predatory trade practices and whether there’s any ability to weaponize foreign-built wind turbines and their parts. The investigation was initiated under section Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Such probes are supposed to determine the national security impacts of imports and allow the administration to make adjustments, including tariffs, based on their results. The probe was being launched as President Trump continues his efforts to stifle renewable energy buildout, including by repealing subsidies and setting up new hurdles for approval. This week, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that "We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar."

DailySignal [8/21/2025 9:36 AM, Virginia Allen, 668K] reports Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is reducing her office by over 40% before the end of fiscal year 2025 on Sept. 30. The move, according to Gabbard’s office, will "save taxpayers over $700 million per year.” The downsizing comes as the Trump administration continues its aim to reduce waste in the federal government. "ODNI and the [Intelligence Community] must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the U.S. Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the president and policymakers," Gabbard said in a statement Wednesday. Gabbard is calling the downsized and refocused office "ODNI 2.0.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S. to bring needed changes to the Intelligence Community. But according to Gabbard, the office has strayed from its founding intent. "Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence," the director said. The announcement to downsize ODNI came just one day after Gabbard said she is stripping the security clearance of 37 former or current intelligence professionals. Gabbard claims the intelligence professionals are losing clearance because they "have abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”

NBC News [8/21/2025 11:02 PM, Minyvonne Burke, 43603K] reports a U.S Navy sailor was convicted Wednesday of espionage after he sold Navy secrets to a Chinese intelligence officer, federal officials said. Jinchao Wei, a 25-year-old who also goes by Patrick Wei, was found guilty of six crimes, including conspiracy to commit espionage, espionage, and unlawful export of, and conspiracy to export, technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. He was found not guilty of one count of naturalization fraud. Prosecutors said Wei used his position as a machinist’s mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at Naval Base San Diego to feed information to a Chinese intelligence officer who recruited Wei on social media in February 2022. He held a U.S. security clearance and had access to sensitive national defense information, including the weapons on the Essex, prosecutors said. Amphibious assault ships allow the military to project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the Navy’s amphibious readiness and expeditionary strike capabilities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a news release. An attorney for Wei said there was no doubt that his client’s actions were wrong, but said Wei "never intended to harm the United States.” "It was never disputed that Jinchao made numerous errors in judgment. He was young and naive and regrettably agreed to share some very low level information in exchange for easy money," attorney Sean Jones said in a statement Thursday. According to the news release, the intelligence officer initially presented himself as a naval enthusiast working for a shipbuilding company in China. However, evidence revealed that Wei had suspected the intelligence officer’s true identity and motive. Prosecutors said Wei told a friend who was also in the Navy that he thought he was "on the radar of a China intelligence organization" and was "extremely suspicious" about the person. Wei told his friend that the person was "interested in the maintenance cycle of naval ships" and wanted Wei to walk the pier on a daily basis to see which ships were docked, according to the news release. Wei told his friend that the person would pay him $500. Although Wei told his friend that he believed it was "quite obviously" espionage, Wei continued to communicate with the person on an encrypted messaging application and "began spying for the intelligence officer," the attorney’s office said.

Reuters [8/21/2025 10:35 AM, Idrees Ali an Jonathan Landy, 45746K] reports that military chiefs from the United States and a number of European countries on Thursday presented options to their national security advisers for providing security guarantees to Ukraine, officials said. This followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to help protect the country under any deal to end Russia’s 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine. A Pentagon statement said U.S. and European planners had developed the military options for "appropriate consideration" by allied national security advisers. Reuters was first to report that the military leaders were preparing the options. The chiefs of defense for the United States, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Ukraine met in Washington, D.C., between Tuesday and Thursday. A source familiar with the matter said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, held a conference call on Thursday with his European counterparts to discuss the options. Final details must still be worked out, the source said, but European countries would provide "the lion’s share" of any forces involved in security guarantees for Ukraine. That echoed Vice President JD Vance’s comment on Wednesday that Europe would need to shoulder "the lion’s share" of the costs of the operation. "The planning work continues," said the source, adding that Washington still was "determining the scope of its role."

FOX News [8/21/2025 9:54 AM, Caitlin McFall and Jacqui Heinrich, 40019K] reports Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov may be looking to bring China into the ongoing negotiations as NATO leaders and Ukrainian officials convene this week to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv. Lavrov suggested that Moscow was only interested in "truly reliable" guarantees for Ukraine, which he argued should be based on a 2022 draft accord that was discussed by Ukrainian and Russian negotiators during the early days of the war. But the proposal never came to fruition due to a major sticking point for Kyiv, which argued that the plan gave Moscow too much power over its security. The proposal would have provided Ukraine with security guarantees provided by a group of nations, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – which Russia is a part of – which Kyiv said effectively gave Moscow veto powers over any future attempts to provide it with military aid. China is also a member of the U.N. Security Council and has not only drawn international scrutiny for its refusal to condemn Russia’s illegal invasion but has faced international rebuke over its support of Moscow during the war. "Russia agrees that security guarantees for Ukraine be provided on an equal basis with the participation of countries such as China, the USA, Britain, and France," Lavrov said Wednesday, according to a translation by Russian state media RIA in a post on Telegram. Though it is unlikely that Ukraine would agree to a plan that would grant Russia, and possibly China, any authority over its future security, Beijing said it supports "fair and objective" peace talks.

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