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.

The AP [8/22/2025 10:02 PM, Sudhin Thanawala, 37974K] reports a judge ruled late Friday the Trump administration cannot deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and 30 other cities and counties because of policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts. U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting off or conditioning the use of federal funds for so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. His earlier order protected more than a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. An email to the White House late Friday was not immediately returned. In his ruling, Orrick said the administration had offered no opposition to an extended injunction except to say the first injunction was wrong. It has appealed the first order. Orrick also blocked the administration from imposing immigration-related conditions on two particular grant programs. The Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on sanctuary communities as it seeks to make good on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to remove millions of people in the country illegally. One executive order issued by Trump directs Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal money from sanctuary jurisdictions. Another order directs every federal agency to ensure that payments to state and local governments do not “abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.” The cities and counties that sued said billions of dollars were at risk. Orrick, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, said the executive orders and the “executive actions that have parroted them” were an unconstitutional “coercive threat.” The Daily Caller [8/23/2025 12:39 AM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports "The new plaintiffs have each alleged similar reliance on federal funding as the Cities and Counties and filed declarations showing similar harms to community health, welfare and social services and to their budgetary processes that depend on the regularly authorized grants of federal funding for a variety of critical needs," Orrick stated, according to court documents. "The challenged sections of Executive Orders 14,159 and 14,218, and the executive actions that have parroted them threaten to withhold all federal funding from the plaintiffs as sanctuary jurisdictions if they do not adapt their policies and practices to conform with the Trump administration’s preferences," the judge continued. "That coercive threat (and any actions agencies take to realize that threat, or additional Executive Orders the President issues to the same end) is unconstitutional, so I enjoined its effect. I do so again today for the protection of the new parties in this case.” The Obama-appointed judge has consistently ruled against the Trump’s administration’s quest to end sanctuary policies across the country. In April, Orrick deemed President Donald Trump’s executive orders cracking down on sanctuary cities to be likely unconstitutional, blocking his administration from enforcing them against a slate of liberal enclaves that were suing. "Here we are again," the judge wrote in the April order, referring to a previous executive order Trump signed in his first presidential term seeking to defund sanctuary cities — an order that Orrick also shot down at the time. In 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13,768, titled "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," a directive that sought to block federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions. Following a court challenge by San Francisco, Orrick ruled the order to be unconstitutional and that the defendants "faced irreparable harm absent an injunction," according to court documents. There is no official definition for a "sanctuary city" law or policy, but the label generally describes any policy for law that restricts local officials from assisting or otherwise cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal immigration agents. Typical sanctuary policies prohibit local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainer requests, sharing information with the agency or notifying immigration agents of an impending release of a wanted illegal migrant. FOX News [8/23/2025 4:38 AM, Landon Mion, 40019K] reports that many cities and counties sued the federal government, emphasizing that billions of dollars in funding were threatened. The Justice Department has also sued several cities, including New York and Los Angeles, over sanctuary policies. Orrick said Trump’s orders, and the "executive actions that have parroted them," demonstrated a "coercive threat" he ruled unconstitutional. Earlier this year, DHS posted a list of more than 500 sanctuary jurisdictions that the federal government determined to be noncompliant with the administration’s directives, adding that they would each be formally notified. DHS also said it would notify the local communities if they were potentially violating any federal criminal statutes. The list was later removed from the DHS website after the department was made aware that it included communities in support of the administration’s immigration policies.

New York Times [8/22/2025 2:44 PM, Henry Bushnell and Adam Crafton, 153395K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that the 2026 men’s World Cup draw will take place Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center, a performing arts venue in Washington, D.C. Trump made the announcement flanked by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office. The draw is the event at which all qualified teams learn their three group-stage opponents. Trump will almost certainly have a role in the event, which is both procedural and a spectacle. It typically includes musical performances and speeches before the teams are drawn, via sealed orbs, from pots into their World Cup groups. “The Kennedy Center will give it a phenomenal kick-off,” Trump said at Friday’s news conference, “and we’ll be involved.” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Carlos Cordeiro, an Infantino advisor and senior advisor to the White House’s World Cup Task Force, were also present for the announcement.

FOX News [8/23/2025 6:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] Video HERE reports President Donald Trump praised DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for moving to paint the entire southern border wall black, saying it will increase the wall’s effectiveness, making it "untouchable" for would-be illegal immigrants. Speaking to the press in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said, "I didn’t know she was listening" when he suggested the wall should be black. "So, I turn on last night and I see Kristi is painting the wall and it looked beautiful, by the way, when that paint went on, it’s beautiful," he said, adding, "It’s hot, if it’s white, it’s not hot. If it’s black, it’s going to be very hard to climb that sucker." The president also touted the wall’s quality, saying, "I built the same wall that the Border Patrol asked me to build," consisting of high-grade steel, reinforced with thick rebar and 9,000-pound concrete. Noem announced on Tuesday that the entire southern border wall will be painted black as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to increase the effectiveness of the wall as a deterrent. Speaking in front of a portion of the southern border wall in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, Noem explained that the wall would be painted entirely black for the dual purposes of making it heat up more and thus harder to climb, as well as preserving the metal from rust. Noem credited the "one big, beautiful bill" that was passed by Congress in July for allocating "an incredible amount of resources" that she said is "going to allow us to continue construction" of the wall, which she said is advancing at a pace of about half a mile of new wall per day. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [8/22/2025 12:16 PM, Lexi Salazar, Ken Molestina, and Katie Standing, 45245K] reports that the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. reached a record high of 14 million in 2023, according to a new Pew Research report. But due to shifting federal policies, that trend appears to be reversing. The report notes that for decades, the nation’s overall immigrant population has been climbing. In January of this year, 53.3 million immigrants lived in the U.S. But as of June, the population shrank by more than one million — the first decline since the 1960s. "Immigrants come and go to the country, so that ebb and flow is part of the story," said Dr. Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at Pew Research Center. "People are leaving, but what’s changed is how many people are coming to the United States. Changes in policy have made it harder, during the Biden years, but also Trump years, for immigrants to cross the border and seek asylum. So that flow has significantly dropped." In the two-year period between 2021 and 2023, the unauthorized immigrant population increased by 3.5 million. In 2023, 2.1 million unauthorized immigrants lived in Texas — the second-highest number of any state. The "unauthorized immigrant" label refers to those in this country without permanent status or active visas. According to researchers, this post-pandemic growth was driven primarily by the rise of unauthorized immigrants with some deportation protections. This population includes those paroled into the country under the Biden administration and asylum-seekers. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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Los Angeles Times [8/22/2025 6:00 AM, Hannah Fry, 12715K]

The Wall Street Journal [8/22/2025 12:16 PM, Lara Seligman, 646K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., to carry weapons, the latest move in President Trump’s efforts to ramp up security in the nation’s capital, according to two defense officials. As of Friday morning, there were over 2,000 Guard soldiers in Washington from six states—West Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee—as well as the District of Columbia, according to one of the officials. President Trump deployed the National Guard in the district earlier this month to increase security and lower the crime rate in the capital. Until now, the Guardsmen haven’t been armed, instead serving as a visible presence in places like Union Station and the National Mall and helping law enforcement with logistical and administrative tasks. That will soon change. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the Guardsmen in the district were preparing for an order to carry arms on Aug. 17. Hegseth has directed the National Guard to carry their service-issue weapons, and the soldiers will soon be armed in the district, said the second defense official. The news comes as Trump early Friday threatened a full “federal takeover” of the district, and accused Mayor Muriel Bowser of providing “inaccurate crime figures.” In a social-media post, Trump claimed, “There were no murders this week for the first time in memory.” “Washington, D.C. is SAFE AGAIN!” Trump wrote. “Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City! Washington D.C. will soon be great again!!!” The Guardsmen won’t make arrests, according to a White House official. “They may be armed, consistent with their mission and training, to protect federal assets, provide a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deter violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence,” the official said. The AP [8/22/2025 5:21 PM, Konstantin Toropin, Matt Brown and Chris Megerian, 37974K] reports that some local officials were harshly critical, with D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen saying Trump’s actions are “not of a president, but of someone on the march to an authoritarian takeover.” Trump initially called up 800 members of the District of Columbia National Guard to assist federal law enforcement in his bid to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration. Since then, six Republican-led states have sent troops to the city, growing the military presence. It’s unclear how long the deployment will last. “If I have to, I’ll declare a national emergency, which I don’t think I’ll have to do,” Trump said. He suggested that he could take a similar approach in other cities, such as Chicago and maybe New York. “After we do this, we’ll go to another location, and we’ll make it safe also,” Trump said in the Oval Office. Referring to Chicago as “a mess,” he said, “that will be our next one after this.” There were no signs that the National Guard’s role in D.C. would be changing. The troops have not taken part in law enforcement and largely have been protecting landmarks including the National Mall and Union Station and helping with crowd control. Some troops have fed squirrels. One Guard member helped a woman carry her belongings down the stairs in a train station. Others have been seen taking photos with passers-by, standing around chatting and drinking coffee. There have been no overt indications that they have faced threats that would require weapons. D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson said Trump was “inviting confrontation where there doesn’t need to be any. Trump has boasted that the city is safer than ever because of his intervention. He told reporters Friday that “it’s a miracle what’s happened.” “D.C. was a hellhole,” he said. “But now it’s safe.” He suggested that he could prolong the deployment of troops and federal agents in Washington. “The big question is how long do we stay?” he said. “Because if we stay, we want to make sure it doesn’t come back. So we have to take care of these criminals and get them out.”

AP [8/22/2025 6:32 PM, Will Weissert and Michelle L. Price, 37974K] reports with National Guard troops in the streets and federal agents at the door of his former adviser, President Donald Trump spent a heavy dose of his Friday channeling his inner tourist and reliving his bygone days as a sports team owner and construction mogul. He stopped by a gift shop near the White House, visited the Kennedy Center that he now chairs and returned to his increasingly gilded Oval Office to trumpet the U.S. cohosting next year’s World Cup. “We have a lot of fun,” Trump said. “We’re fixing up the whole world.” The president’s stops around the city came as the nation’s capital is increasingly on edge amid Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and federalization of Washington’s police force in an effort to better curb crime. Just before he left the White House, officials announced there had been 76 arrests citywide the previous evening as part of the crackdown. The Pentagon also said National Guard troops patrolling the streets of D.C. would soon start carrying weapons. “We are going to make D.C. totally safe. When people come from Iowa, Indiana, all of the beautiful places, and they come, they’re not going to go home in a body bag,” Trump said after visiting the People’s House exhibit and its gift shop. “They’re not going home in a coffin, and it’s very safe right now.” At the Kennedy Center, Trump’s activities Friday weren’t public, but he told reporters he’d show off the marble that might be used to refurbish the building — along with other planned renovations, including change the paint on its signature columns from gold to white. Trump has begun frequently joking about renaming it the Trump Kennedy Center but deadpanned Friday: “We’re not prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in a week or so.”

Axios [8/22/2025 3:38 PM, Justin Kaufmann, 14595K] reports President Trump signaled Chicago could be the next city to see federal law enforcement or military troops deployed to fight violent crime. The language Trump used Friday is the strongest indication yet that the federal government is planning to deploy troops to one of the country’s biggest cities. Trump is using the threat of a military takeover against Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, whom he calls "grossly incompetent," and against Gov. JB Pritzker, who has become a possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. Johnson fired back at Trump, saying his office hasn’t received formal communication about plans for deployment in Chicago. Trump and D.C. police officials are touting huge drops in crime since the National Guard was deployed 11 days ago. Trump has threatened to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago before, but now that he has done it in D.C., it could become a reality. The Daily Wire [8/22/2025 1:50 PM, Zach Jewell, 3184K] reports "Chicago is a mess, you have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent, and we will straighten that one out next. That will be our next one after this, and it won’t even be tough," Trump said. Trump also hinted at moving federal resources to New York City after taking care of Chicago. "And the people in Chicago … are screaming for us to come. They are wearing red hats, just like this one," Trump said, referring to his "Trump Was Right About Everything" hat. "African American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, ‘Please, Mr. Trump, come to Chicago, please.’ I did great with the black vote, as you know, and they want something to happen. So, I think Chicago will be next and then we’ll help with New York.".While Chicago has reported a decrease in homicides and other violent crimes in recent years, the Windy City is still lagging behind some other major cities in tackling its murder problem. In 2023, Chicago reported 617 homicides, which was a decrease from the 715 murders in 2022, but still higher than America’s two largest cities, New York City and Los Angeles.

Chicago Tribune [8/22/2025 6:39 PM, Alice Yin, 5352K] reports just hours after President Donald Trump suggested Chicago would be the next location for a federal troop deployment like the one occurring in Washington, D.C., both Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker said the president would be illegally abusing his power if he follows through on the threat. And in a post on the social media site X, Pritzker rejected Trump’s notion that Chicagoans were clamoring for the National Guard to patrol city streets. Pritzker later issued a statement saying that local police don’t want the federal intervention, and promised that "we will follow the law and stand up for the sovereignty of our state." The swift rebuke from both Johnson and Pritzker came as Trump answered questions in the Oval Office about the controversial deployment of 2,000 National Guard members in Washington as part of his purported crusade against big-city violence. Seemingly almost as a side thought, Trump said that "probably" Chicago would be the next city where he’d try to deploy troops to crack down on crime.

NPR [8/22/2025 7:32 PM, Meg Anderson, 34837K] Audio: HERE the Trump administration announced Friday that it has arrested more than 700 people in Washington, D.C., as part of the president’s mission to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro has frequently pushed for those who commit crimes to face harsher punishments. During a visit Thursday with federal law enforcement and National Guard troops deployed in the district, with President Trump by her side, she pledged to ensure arrests lead to charges. "I am making sure we back the blue to the hilt. Every arrest you make, we’re going to the longest way to make sure that we charge in those cases," Pirro told the group. According to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, there were about 800 arrests in the first 10 days of the federal takeover, which represents about 25% more arrests compared to the same period last year and a nearly 40% increase over the same period in 2023. It remains unclear how much overlap there is in White House and D.C. police arrest data. No definitive answer has been given by either. NPR has requested a full list of names of the people who have been arrested from both MPD and the Trump administration. Neither has provided it. Without that information, the public won’t know the full picture of who has been arrested or why, and whether the individuals remain in custody. It’s also unclear which agency made these arrests. A White House official, who was not authorized to share data publicly, indicated to NPR that about 40% of arrests during the initiative have been immigration-related; of the non-immigration arrests, that official said that between Aug. 9 and Aug. 17, about half occurred in the areas of Washington with the highest violent crime rates. NPR was not able to independently confirm those assertions.

Reuters [8/23/2025 6:04 AM, Tim Reid, 45746K] reports hundreds of National Guard soldiers in military fatigues and combat boots mingled with tourists, posed for selfies, and treated themselves to ice cream from food trucks on Thursday along Washington’s National Mall, one of the safest parts of America’s capital. On occasion an angry local would hurl verbal abuse at them, but the soldiers simply shrugged and carried on what appeared to be an undemanding assignment. Outside the National Museum of African American History and Culture, five members of the West Virginia National Guard were standing on the street corner far away from the city’s crime hot spots. "It’s boring. We’re not really doing much," said Sergeant Fox, who declined to give his first name. Fox is among almost 2,000 troops, including 1,200 from six Republican-led states, who are being deployed in Washington as part of an extraordinary militarization inside the Democratic-led city. The soldiers, some of whom told Reuters they did not get involved in arrests, are officially in Washington to support a federal crackdown on what President Donald Trump calls a crime epidemic. But that depiction appears to run counter to the fact that crime rates overall have shrunk in recent years. That disconnect, combined with the troop concentration near the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and in view of the U.S. Capitol, highlights criticism by the city’s Democratic leaders that this massive deployment is more a show of power by Trump, rather than a serious effort to fight crime. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said this week she did not think the arrival of troops was about tackling crime. She also expressed concern about the presence of "an armed militia in the nation’s capital." The soldiers seen by Reuters on Thursday were not armed, but the Pentagon said on Friday the troops will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons.

The Hill [8/22/2025 9:08 AM, Filip Timotija, 12414K] reports President Trump sent a warning to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) early Friday, threatening to extend the federal takeover of local police in the nation’s capital citing "inaccurate" crime reporting data. "Washington, D.C. is SAFE AGAIN! The crowds are coming back, the spirit is high, and our D.C. National Guard and Police are doing a fantastic job. They are out in force, and are NOT PLAYING GAMES!!!" the president wrote on Truth Social just after midnight Friday. "As bad as it sounds to say, there were no murders this week for the first time in memory." "Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City," he added. "Washington D.C. will soon be great again!!!". The Justice Department (DOJ) opened an investigation this week into the district’s crime reporting data. The probe is headed by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., the same office that said earlier this year that violent crime in Washington has reached a 30-year low. The president visited federal law enforcement at a U.S. Park Police center in Anacostia on Thursday evening, arguing the administration’s takeover of local police is already paying off.

Washington Post [8/23/2025 6:00 AM, Michael Brice-Saddler and Daniel Wu, 32099K] reports commuters and tourists leaving D.C.’s Union Station this week stepped out to an unusual scene: two armored trucks and a dozen or so National Guard troops clad in camouflage, milling about in the summer heat. “Welcome to D.C.,” said one Guard member, smiling as people walked past. He was met with a range of responses. “Welcome, gentlemen, welcome.” “Appreciate you guys.” “Go home, no one wants you here!” Tourists stopped to take selfies. A protester held a brightly painted sign that read “What Trump order won’t you obey?” At one point in the afternoon, the menacing Imperial March — Darth Vader’s theme song — blared from a loudspeaker placed behind the Guard members. Labi Oshunremi, 24, described the scene to his mom on the phone as he waited to cross the street to catch a train home to Philadelphia. He looked up at the armored vehicles, their wheel wells as tall as the Guard members and weaponless turrets mounted on their roofs. “It looks like Call of Duty,” he said, comparing the scene to the military video game. The spectacle offered a glimpse of the polarized sentiments in Washington as federal troops poured into the city after President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital. On Aug. 11, he placed the D.C. police department under direct federal control and ordered 800 D.C. National Guard members — who report to the president because the District does not have a governor — to patrol the streets. Days later, Republican governors from six states sent an additional 1,200 Guard members to assist. Guard members have not carried weapons in the District — but that might change soon after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday authorized them to do so. But while a majority of Washingtonians oppose Trump’s actions, their feelings about the troops on the ground are more nuanced. The Guard has declined to provide deployment locations, citing security concerns, but residents and The Washington Post have seen troops in areas including the National Mall, Nationals Park and Metro stations. While some people see them as an extra layer of security, others question their utility. Fifty-five percent of city residents said they’ve noticed an increased presence of federal law enforcement in D.C. since Trump’s Aug. 11 order, a Washington Post-Schar School poll found. Eighteen percent of that group said this has made them feel safer, while 61 percent said they feel “less safe,” and 20 percent said the increased presence hasn’t made a difference.

Washington Post [8/22/2025 9:22 PM, Maria Sacchetti and Jeremy Roebuck, 32099K] reports Kilmar Abrego García, the Maryland man illegally deported to his native El Salvador, has been released while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, his attorney said Friday, a blow to the Trump administration, which had promised that he would “never go free” in the United States again. Federal officials obeyed a pair of court orders to release Abrego from jail in Tennessee, where he is accused of smuggling migrants based on a 2022 traffic stop in that state, and allow him to return to Maryland with orders to wear a GPS tracking device. He has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case. However, soon after his release, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified Abrego that he could be deported to Uganda as soon as next week, according to two people with direct knowledge of the information. He was also ordered to check in Monday at a local ICE office. A federal judge in Maryland previously ordered immigration officers to give Abrego 72 hours’ notice of his potential removal to a third country, a time frame that excludes weekends. His lawyers are expected to challenge the possible removal. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson repeated the Trump administration’s claims that Abrego is a gang member and said his release was an “insult to his victims.” The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem lashed out at “activist liberal judges” in a statement on social media and called Abrego a “monster.” “We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country,” she wrote. The Wall Street Journal [8/22/2025 5:51 PM, Mariah Timms and Louise Radnofsky, 646K] reports Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said Friday that the administration had attacked him vindictively. “He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process,” they said in a statement. The Trump administration has repeatedly said that Abrego Garcia “will never walk America’s streets again.” If he is not in jail before trial, government lawyers said in court proceedings, immigration officers would quickly take him into their custody and fly him to a country such as Mexico or South Sudan. Xinis, the judge who in July ordered him returned to Maryland, has required the government to give Abrego Garcia and his lawyers at least 72 hours notice of plans to send him to another country, so he has a chance to try to challenge it. One of the conditions of his release was that the U.S. Marshals fitted him with a GPS monitor. His lawyers had previously said Abrego Garcia would make the 700-mile trip over the weekend, driven by a private security firm they had hired. On Friday, the magistrate judge overseeing Abrego Garcia’s release said he was being released into the custody of his brother. It isn’t clear how long Abrego Garcia will be free to see his family—including his wife and children—after his arrival there. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has an active order allowing them to supervise him in Baltimore while they prepare to deport him. FOX News [8/22/2025 5:29 PM, Breanne Deppisch, Ashley Oliver, 40019K] reports Abrego Garcia will also be required to wear an electronic monitoring device, and report to Pretrial Services for the District of Maryland. It also orders him to report there no later than 10 a.m. on Monday, August 25. News of his release was met with fierce backlash by some Trump officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who assailed Abrego Garcia’s release in a statement Friday as the work of "activist liberal judges" who have "attempted to obstruct" law enforcement. "We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country," she vowed. Fox News was told by multiple sources that neither DHS nor ICE has "immediate plans" to arrest Abrego Garcia on immigration grounds, due to the conditions laid out by a federal judge in Maryland. Still, the conditions of his release from federal custody, which were codified in excruciating detail in two separate federal districts in Tennessee and Maryland, have apparently sparked frustration among staff at both agencies, according to sources familiar with the matter. The agencies have reportedly been consulting with the Justice Department on further guidance, though any next steps on the matter remain unclear.

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New York Times [8/23/2025 2:49 AM, Alan Feuer, 330K]
Washington Post [8/22/2025 5:04 PM, Maria Sacchetti and Jeremy Roebuck, 29079K]
Bloomberg [8/22/2025 7:08 PM, Erik Larson, 75K]
The Hill [8/22/2025 3:52 PM, Rebecca Beitsch and Ella Lee, 12414K]
NPR [8/22/2025 4:08 PM, Ximena Bustillo, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, 34837K]
Reuters [8/22/2025 6:14 PM, Luc Cohen, 45746K]
Axios [8/22/2025 3:30 PM, April Rubin, Josephine Walker, 14595K]
CBS News [8/22/2025 5:39 PM, Kathryn Watson, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 45245K]
CBS News [8/22/2025 7:18 PM, Staff, 45245K] Video: HERE
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USA Today [8/22/2025 6:26 PM, Evan Mealins, Eduardo Cuevas, 64151K]
Washington Examiner [8/22/2025 3:24 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1563K]
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FOX News [8/22/2025 5:24 PM, Cameron Arcand, 40019K] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from custody is making waves on social media amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement being told they are not allowed to arrest him due to an order from a federal judge in Maryland. "Activist liberal judges have attempted to obstruct our law enforcement every step of the way in removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X. Today, we reached a new low with this publicity hungry Maryland judge mandating this illegal alien who is a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator be allowed free." Abrego Garcia is on his way back to Maryland from Tennessee, and a U.S. Magistrate Judge ordered that if he is taken into ICE custody that he will have "access to his attorneys" in order to "prepare for trial in this case."

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Daily Signal [8/22/2025 12:00 PM, Virginia Allen, 558K] reports a federal judge has issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration and Florida state officials from sending additional criminal illegal aliens to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the detention center in the Florida Everglades. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama, issued an 82-page ruling Thursday night siding with environmental groups who claim the facility is a risk to the wildlife in the Everglades. In her ruling, Williams ordered the state to also begin dismantling elements of the detention facility. Florida now has 60 days to remove the temporary fencing, some of the lighting, and “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project,” according to the judge’s ruling. Shortly after plans for Alligator Alcatraz were announced, environmental groups and the Miccosukee Indian Tribe of Florida filed a lawsuit to block the project, claiming the facility violated the National Environmental Policy Act. The act requires the government to take environmental impact into consideration when proposing major projects. “This ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade,” Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement.

CNN [8/23/2025 7:01 AM, Alaa Elassar, 23245K] reports nearly two months after the hasty and controversial birth of “Alligator Alcatraz,” a federal judge has slammed the brakes on the operation, ruling that no more detainees can be sent to the remote migrant detention camp deep in the marshy wetlands of the Everglades. Built in just a matter of days, the facility garnered sharp criticism for its treatment of migrants who have been confined in cages amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals, prompting members of Congress and state representatives that witnessed the conditions to demand its immediate closure. US District Judge Kathleen Williams on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The Miccosukee Tribe, a Native American tribe whose reservation lies within miles of the facility, raised serious concerns about the impact the facility will have on their land and the environmentally sensitive area, including the plants and animals that inhabit the Everglades. “The project creates irreparable harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality to endangered species in the area,” Williams said in the order. “We got news last night that we had a judge try to upset the apple cart with respect to our deportation and detainee processing center down in South Florida at ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ I just wanted to say this was not something that was unexpected,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Friday. “We knew that this would be something that will likely happen and we will respond accordingly.” “We’re not going to be deterred,” DeSantis said. “We are totally in the right on this.”

New York Times [8/22/2025 3:54 PM, Patricia Mazzei, 143795K] reports Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida vowed on Friday to defend an immigration detention center in the Everglades despite a federal judge’s order that it be shut down. Mr. DeSantis did not address the judge’s findings that the construction of the detention center, known as Alligator Alcatraz, violated a federal law requiring a review of potential environmental harms before such projects are built. Judge Williams barred new detainees from being sent to the Everglades detention center, which opened in early July as the nation’s first state-run facility for federal immigration detainees. She ordered that current detainees be transferred and that much of the lighting, fencing and other materials at the site be removed within 60 days. Lawyers for the DeSantis administration filed a notice to appeal immediately after the ruling. Judge Williams’s ruling is preliminary as the case continues to be litigated. The state will almost certainly ask the courts to keep the ruling from taking effect pending appeal. Lawyers for the environmental groups that sued to halt the construction at the Everglades detention center said on Friday that they, too, were ready for a long court fight.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [8/22/2025 3:05 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K]

Blaze [8/22/2025 11:10 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1559K] reports an Obama judge issued an injunction on Thursday ordering Florida not only to halt the arrival of new detainees to Alligator Alcatraz but to begin dismantling the facility. The Sunshine State isn’t rolling over, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office indicated that President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign will continue as planned. After DeSantis tasked state leaders with identifying places for a new detention facility to temporarily house outbound criminal noncitizens, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier made a public pitch in favor of "Alligator Alcatraz" — "an old, virtually abandoned airport facility" in the Everglades that could serve as "the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.". Uthmeier got his way, confirming in June that the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport would indeed become home to America’s first state-run facility for federal immigration detainees — a facility that the Department of Homeland Security told Blaze News would ultimately house up to 5,000 beds for illegal aliens in soft and hardened structures. Within weeks, the airport’s 10,499-foot runway was crowded with tents and unsavory characters set for deportation. As with virtually all effective initiatives related to the detention and deportation of criminal noncitizens, Alligator Alcatraz’s development was challenged by liberal activists. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Blaze News, "This ruling from an activist judge ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade. It is another attempt to prevent the president from fulfilling the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, terrorists, and rapists, from our country.". "This activist judge doesn’t care about the invasion of our country facilitated by the Biden administration, but the American people do," continued McLaughlin. "We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.". NewsMax [8/22/2025 6:31 PM, Jim Thomas, 4779K] reports Florida is moving ahead with its immigration crackdown even as a federal court ordered the state to shutter one of its most visible detention centers, pending appeal. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama-era appointee, ruled Thursday that the Everglades-based facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" must be dismantled within 60 days, citing environmental concerns. The order, which effectively blesses an ecological attack on the facility, requires the state to remove fencing, lighting and generators, effectively ending the center’s operations. Florida appealed the decision Friday morning to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. "This is a judge that was not going to give us a fair shake," DeSantis said during an event in Panama City. "This was preordained, very much an activist judge that is trying to do policy from the bench.". The governor insisted the ruling would not derail the state’s efforts to partner with the Trump administration on deportations. "This is not going to deter us. We’re going to continue working on the deportations, advancing that mission," he added. Florida has positioned itself at the forefront of immigration enforcement, authorizing state agencies to sign agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The state has also taken on high-profile cases, including dispatching Lt. Gov. Jay Collins to California this week to oversee the extradition of an immigrant from India accused of killing three people in a tractor-trailer truck crash. DeSantis argued that the previous administration failed to carry out removal orders, leaving the current system overburdened.

Univision [8/22/2025 2:35 PM, Rayne Anciani, 4932K] reports Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava spoke with the press this Friday outside Alcatraz Island. "When they leave, we’ll have to see what we can do to recover this natural environment," the mayor declared. The mayor said she supports U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ decision to halt the center’s expansion and detention. After her statement to the press, the mayor tried to enter the center but was unable to. She spoke for several minutes with two employees at the door. The official reported that she was told that the process to obtain credentials for entry takes at least 72 hours. The judge noted that she expected the detention center’s population to decrease within the next 60 days through the transfer of detainees to other facilities, and once that occurs, the fences, lighting, and generators must be removed. Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued that work and operations at the site should stop until federal and state authorities complied with environmental laws. Their lawsuit claims the project would jeopardize sensitive wetlands that are home to protected flora and fauna and would reverse billions of dollars in environmental restoration. People detained there report that the food is riddled with maggots, the toilets don’t work, and sewage floods the floors, while mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere. Sometimes, air conditioners are abruptly shut off in the stifling heat. Detainees report going days without showering or receiving prescription medication, and can only speak to lawyers and loved ones by phone.

USA Today [8/22/2025 11:13 AM, Jennifer Borresen, 64151K] reports a federal judge has ordered the closure and dismantlement of the South Florida Detention Facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, the federal migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades that opened July 3 and is capable of holding 3,000 or more inmates. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave federal and state governments 60 days to end operations at the mass detention center in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve on Aug. 21, USA TODAY reported. The center will remain open but construction must be halted and no new detainees may be brought in. Florida officials appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Alligator Alcatraz was built in eight days – and may serve as a blueprint for similar sites elsewhere. Florida plans to open a second site at the Baker Correctional Institution in northwest Florida, dubbed the "Deportation Depot." USA TODAY reviewed the construction, cost, size, and capacity of Alligator Alcatraz – as well as the political and environmental objections to it – to determine what other states may expect. At least five Republican-led states are reportedly in talks with the Department of Homeland Security to develop their own migrant detention facilities, based on Alligator Alcatraz, Reuters has reported. "We’ve had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told a Florida news conference on July 12.

FOX News [8/22/2025 10:04 AM, Morgan Phillips, 40019K] reports the Department of Homeland Security announced that $12 billion in savings have been made as a result of a contract review process and other cuts over the past two hundred days. DHS says Secretary Kristi Noem is personally reviewing and signing off on or declining any contract over $100,000, resulting in a $10.7 billion reduction, the department says. She’s reviewed over 5,000 contracts and DHS says decisions are made within a day. "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," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated. "While lobbyists and special interests are fighting for government contracts, Secretary Noem is fighting for the American taxpayer. In less than seven months, she’s saved the U.S. taxpayer $12 billion--that’s more than $50 million a DAY since she took office," Noem continued. In addition, the move of "eliminating career bureaucrats" resulted in $1.3 billion in cuts, without taking out roles that had a public safety element, according to DHS. As spending cuts were happening across the federal government earlier in the Trump administration under the Department of Government Efficiency, many Democrats were critical of the efforts. "Since hijacking the U.S. Digital Service to establish DOGE, Elon Musk’s unqualified staff have fanned out across the Federal government. They have embedded themselves within departments and agencies, including DHS, to seize sensitive data, purge civil servants, and gut programs with no regard to the critical services they provide everyday Americans," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a March 20 statement.

New York Times [8/23/2025 2:49 AM, Maxine Joselow, Alexandra Berzon and Eli Murray, 330K] 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.

New York Times [8/22/2025 8:30 PM, Minho Kim, 143795K] reports the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed a request for public records related to the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles this summer, saying that the agency had not maintained text message data among top officials since early April, according to its communications with a nonprofit watchdog group. A July 23 letter from the Homeland Security Department’s public records office, in denying the request from the nonprofit American Oversight, said that “text message data generated after April 9” was “no longer maintained.” The group had requested all messages received and sent by top department officials related to the deployment of the National Guard in the Southern California city, which President Trump authorized in response to protests over immigration raids. The agency gave a similar response on Thursday to a request for communications about the migrant detention camp in the Everglades called “Alligator Alcatraz,” telling American Oversight that it was “unable to locate or identify any response records” since the agency “no longer has the capability to conduct a search of text messages.” Under the Federal Records Act, government agencies are required to preserve all documentation that officials and federal workers produce while executing their duties, and they have to make federal records available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act unless they fall under certain exemptions. The responses from the department indicate that officials there are failing to preserve internal communications, which would violate federal law, said Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight. Text messages among top officials “are records that must be preserved and kept,” Ms. Chukwu said, “because they are created in the course of conducting government business.” “If they are not preserving those records, or if they are making so they cannot search for those records,” she added, “that is a violation of the Federal Records Act.” The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Hill [8/22/2025 12:09 PM, Filip Timotija, 12414K] reports at least three African countries so far have struck a deal with President Trump’s administration to accept deportees from the United States. Uganda became the latest African nation to forge an agreement with the administration to accept migrants who were deported from the U.S. The East African country said Thursday it had reached a "temporary" arrangement with Washington, saying it will not accept deportees who have a criminal record and unaccompanied minors. Kampala has joined the growing list of African nations that made deals with the U.S. government over deportees as the administration looks to ramp up deportations, part of Trump’s sweeping immigration agenda.Apart from Uganda, Rwanda accepted 250 deportees from the U.S. earlier this month. Rwanda struck an agreement with the U.S. in June. In early July, the Supreme Court greenlighted the Trump administration’s plan to send migrants to war-torn South Sudan, even as the deportees have no ties to the nation. Days later, South Sudan confirmed that eight convicted criminals were in its custody. The administration also sent five men from various countries to Eswatini last month. The African nation later said it will send those men back to their country of origin. The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that the five men — who are from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, and Yemen — have criminal backgrounds and convictions.

Federal News Network [8/22/2025 6:14 PM, Anastasia Obis, 1147K] reports the Pentagon is asking its civilian employees to sign up for a "volunteer force" to support operations along the southern border, according to a department-wide email sent Wednesday. "The secretary of Defense has authorized DoD civilian employees to participate in details to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)," the email reads. "Selected department employees will have a chance to offer critical support to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they fulfill the President’s intent to ensure a safe and orderly immigration system.". A defense official told Federal News Network that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo on June 1, which allows DoD civilian employees to participate in the volunteer program for up to 180 days. A job application page says volunteers will serve in critical support roles at ICE or CBP facilities. DoD civilians may be asked to deploy within 96 hours of receiving all approvals. The email prompts DoD civilians to submit their application through USAJobs, after which DHS will review applications and seek approval from the employees’ home organizations. Those not immediately selected will remain in the applicant pool to fill the agency’s future needs. Volunteers’ duties may include data entry, operational planning support, processing and throughput logistics and logistical support, according to the job application page. Michael Cogar, the deputy assistant defense secretary for civilian personnel policy, said DHS is seeking skills ranging from transportation security, data input and analysis, targeting and intelligence analysis, firearms, corrections, detention and prisoner processing, linguistics, case processing and human resources. "ICE, CBP, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense are embracing President Trump’s whole-of-government approach to protecting the American people. DoD civilians — who have already undergone rigorous vetting and demonstrated their commitment to serving this nation — are invited to volunteer for temporary ICE assignments to help make America safe again and remove national security threats—including gang members and terrorists from our country," a DHS spokesperson told Federal News Network.

FOX News [8/22/2025 7:35 PM, Jacqui Heinrich and Liz Friden, 40019K] reports up to 1,700 National Guardsmen are set to mobilize in 19 states in the coming weeks to assist the Department of Homeland Security with President Trump’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and crime, Pentagon officials confirmed to FOX News. Documents obtained by FOX News show planning for activations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming – with status effective from August through mid-November. Texas is projected to host the most significant Guard presence. The National Guard soldiers being mobilized will effectively serve as a support pillar to a sweeping federal interagency effort, while also serving as a visible deterrent force, a U.S. Defense official said. The service members supporting ICE will be preforming case management, transportation, logistical support, and clerical functions associated with the processing of illegal migrants at the facilities. "The in-and-out processing may include personal data collection, fingerprinting, DNA swabbing and photographing of personnel in ICE custody," the official said. President Trump has indicated in recent days his administration aims to broaden the DC operation to other states, telling a group of federal agents and National Guard troops at a DC patrol center Thursday, "We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places.". On Friday in the Oval Office, Trump said, "I think Chicago will be our next. And then we’ll help with New York," Trump said. A U.S. Defense official told FOX, "We won’t speculate on further operations, but can tell you that the department is a planning organization and continues to work and plan with other agency partners to protect federal assets and personnel.".

Blaze [8/22/2025 11:45 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1559K] reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that his department was immediately pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. "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," wrote Rubio. Concerns over foreigners driving big rigs on American roads came to a head on Saturday after Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old illegal alien from India, allegedly killed three people on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce while driving a tractor-trailer. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, "It is evident that the driver of the commercial semi-truck recklessly, and without regard for the safety of others, attempted to execute a U-turn utilizing an unauthorized location. As a result of his actions, the three occupants of the minivan are now deceased." Singh, who has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide, reportedly stole into the country in 2018 and, despite getting fast-tracked for deportation by the first Trump administration, managed to stick around. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Tuesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration launched an investigation into the crash.

Blaze [8/22/2025 1:00 PM, Gord Magill, 1559K] reports that by now we’ve all seen the video. An Indian man driving an 18-wheeler on the Florida Turnpike attempts an illegal U-turn, carelessly pulling his rig across two lanes of traffic. A minivan traveling at highway speed crashes into the trailer, killing all three of its occupants. The horrific August 12 accident has dominated headlines and social media for the past week and seems to have struck a very raw nerve in Americans across the country. Hardest to forget is the face of the driver, one Harjinder Singh. Thanks to driver-facing camera footage obtained and released by the trucking industry YouTube channel "Bonehead Truckers," we can watch Singh up close as he makes his fatal decision. It’s shocking to observe that Singh fails to check for oncoming traffic before executing his dangerous maneuver. More shocking still is the utter lack of emotion he displays in the seconds after the minivan has plowed into his trailer. Even once he exits his cab and surveys the carnage, Singh remains unnervingly expressionless. In a widely circulated photo of Singh standing outside his truck and staring into the camera, he appears to show no remorse or emotion of any kind. In fact, he looks almost defiant. Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin countered that the first Trump administration rejected Singh’s work authorization in 2020, only to have President Biden grant it in 2021. A spokesman for Newsom then retorted that Singh’s work permit was renewed this April.

Wall Street Journal [8/22/2025 5:34 PM, Staff, 646K] reports President Trump promised voters during his campaign for a second term that he had bigger things on his mind than retribution against opponents. But it is increasingly clear that vengeance is a large part, maybe the largest part, of how he will define success in his second term. His revenge campaign took an ominous turn Friday as FBI agents raided the home and office of Mr. Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton. They brought two broad warrants to search the “premises.” Agents showed up unannounced at his Bethesda, Md., home at 7 a.m. They confiscated his wife Gretchen’s phone because it was visible and not on her person. Mr. Bolton had already left for his office, which is where FBI agents greeted him. Kash Patel, the FBI director, sent out a cryptic tweet at 7:03 Friday morning that “NO ONE is above the law . . . @FBI agents on mission.” He didn’t specify to whom he was referring, but the timing is unlikely to have been coincidental. It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive. It’s unlikely that Mr. Bolton broke any laws on national secrets, and he certainly didn’t share any with us over our long association with him. But perhaps Mr. Trump intends for the process itself to be the punishment even if there is ultimately no criminal charge. Mr. Bolton has to pay for legal counsel, and his family has to endure the anxiety of being under federal government siege. Mr. Bolton has continued to speak candidly about Mr. Trump’s second-term decisions, pro and con, including in these pages this week. The President may also hope the FBI raid will cause Mr. Bolton to shut up, though knowing him we can’t imagine that working. The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.

FOX News [8/22/2025 5:00 AM, Troy Edgar, 40019K] reports across the country, liberal open-border politicians are trying to put ICE officers in danger. In addition to the wave of slanderous and demonizing rhetoric against those who enforce our immigration laws, they also want to ensure that these heroic men and women are under constant threat from radical retaliation in the privacy of their own homes. How? They want to ban federal law enforcement from wearing masks. Proponents of these bans claim that the masks cause chaos and undermine transparency. The common cry from politicians like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsom, failed vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, and others is that federal law enforcement officers are refusing to identify themselves before making arrests of illegal aliens. That could not be further from the truth. I’ve been on the ground during an operation, DHS law enforcement clearly identify themselves during arrests, stating their name, showing their badges, and wear identifiers on their gear like badges and patches. So why are authorities wearing masks during deportation operations? Because, if they do not, leftist rioters will dox, harass, and assault themselves and their family. That is not speculation, it is a fact. The politicians behind this push to expose ICE officers conveniently ignore the fact that they themselves – with their sanctuary policies, extreme rhetoric, and reckless actions – are endangering both the American public and law enforcement to begin with and creating the need to protect officers’ identities.

The Hill [8/22/2025 10:30 AM, Roger House, 12414K] reports President Trump has deployed federal law enforcement officers and the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. and threatened to take over predominantly Black Democratic cities by decree. The presidential orders are conducted on the pretext of fighting crime, but critics condemn them as nefarious acts of political provocation and racial intimidation. The deployments have spurred a debate over the legality of the administration’s use of federal police and the National Guard generally — and the role of Black cops and troops in carrying them out in particular. Should they follow orders of questionable legality, or instead disobey and protest through the appropriate channels? What follows is a cursory account of how Black police and militia have handled federal deployments to their communities in the past. This history may be of interest to those officers grappling with the implications of potential deployment to Black urban communities.

Daily Signal [8/22/2025 7:00 AM, Ben Shapiro, 668K] reports this week, news emerged that the Trump administration has been setting new standards with regard to incoming immigrants. According to Axios, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will not take into account the "positive attributes" of migrants entering the country; such attributes can include community involvement and educational level. Instead of simply seeking to rule out those with records of misconduct, the new system seeks to screen for better immigrants—immigrants who will enrich America. Along the same lines, the USCIS will now disqualify applicants who engage in or support "anti-American activity." As USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser explained, "America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies. … Immigration benefits—including to live and work in the United States—remain a privilege, not a right."

Washington Post [8/22/2025 6:45 AM, Shadi Hamid, 29079K] reports when something big and potentially frightening happens in American politics, I have a ritual of waiting. First, I decide not to read or listen to anyone else’s opinion on the topic, at least not right away. I try to sit with the news for a couple of hours, avoiding any rush to judgment. Then I’ll try to “feel” for my opinion. Most of all, I’m curious to know what my gut instinct is outside of other people’s expectations. I followed this ritual when the news came out of President Donald Trump’s plans to deploy National Guard troops in D.C. and take over the city’s police force. It had the tantalizing promise of an all-too-perfect test case. I knew what I should think, at least based on my position on the center-left of the political spectrum: If Trump was the one doing it, then it must be bad. But that’s not what I felt. My initial reaction, unmediated by social pressure, was one of intrigue and even sympathy. Trump’s ostensible justifications made at least some sense. Violent crime in D.C., after surging in 2023, has declined but remains elevated. It’s far worse in D.C. than in many other major American cities. It’s possible that Trump cares about D.C. crime, but it’s also true that he cares about amassing power, asserting his dominance and humiliating his opponents. An authoritarian impulse animates him. Knowing this, we should be wary of any action that encourages these tendencies toward the accumulation of power and the dismantling of checks and balances — even if that action seems initially justified. In other words, it is possible for Trump to be right and wrong at once. This is one of those times.

USA Today [8/22/2025 5:30 AM, Michael Brown, 64151K] reports Hurricane Katrina roared ashore in late August 2005, doing more than physically devastating New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast. Katrina also exposed layers of systemic failures − in infrastructure, planning, intergovernmental coordination, communications and, ultimately, in leadership at all levels. In the months and years following, the nation embarked on a frantic search for accountability. The face most frequently attached to this tragedy in search of blame became me, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This cascading chain of failure began decades before I became the undersecretary of Homeland Security and director of FEMA. Engineering experts warned that the Army Corps of Engineers’ levees and flood protection infrastructure were inadequate, poorly maintained and prone to catastrophic failure. Pressured by limited funding and a culture of underestimating risk, they built systems designed for a "fast-moving Category 3 hurricane," not a storm of Katrina’s size. The result was tragically predictable: Hours after Katrina’s landfall, the levees breached, immediately creating unprecedented logistical and humanitarian challenges.
In the chaotic aftermath, with the nation reeling and the 24-hour news cycle searching for targets, I became the personification of failure, even as systemic causes of the disaster went unexamined. The bipartisan congressional postmortem, "A Failure of Initiative," concluded that failures were pervasive, "at all levels of government." I failed to bluntly and publicly shout through the channels of the news media that I was not getting the personnel, equipment and logistical support so desperately needed to respond. I waited too long, even as I knew the system was collapsing around me. I deeply regret not walking to a microphone, calling out the systemic failures and embarrassing the administration into waking up and responding. History demands more honesty than scapegoating provides. The lesson from Katrina is the need for an objective, clear-eyed assessment of why all of us failed − me, mayors, governors, Cabinet secretaries and, yes, presidents − to lead us to contemporary reforms worthy of those who suffered and lost.

Daily Caller [8/22/2025 7:41 PM, Hailey Gomez, 985K] reports the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ripped corporate media Friday over how it reported the arrest of 58-year-old Alma Bowman, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that labeling Bowman an "immigration activist" is dishonest. Reports of Bowman’s detention surfaced in May, with Atlanta News First covering her arrest and outlets like the Georgia Recorder labeling her an "immigrant activist." Bowman had been detained in March after a routine check-in at ICE’s Atlanta field office, with the outlet noting her permanent residency was revoked over a $1,200 bad check conviction. While the outlet reported Bowman paid back the debt, her record shows four forgery charges and a 2013 narcotics charge for methamphetamine possession. According to the Macon Telegraph, she pleaded guilty in 2013 to forgery, one count of meth possession and three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. "Alma Bowman is a seasoned criminal illegal alien who has spent decades engaging in illicit activity and victimizing Americans. Her record includes multiple felony convictions for forgery, fraud and possession of methamphetamines as well as multiple drug and weapons possession charges," ICE told the DCNF.

USA Today [8/22/2025 4:10 PM, Michelle Del Rey, 64151K] reports a former seasonal reserve officer in Maine has agreed to leave the United States after federal authorities said he violated his visa by attempting to purchase a firearm. Jon-Luke Evans, who was born in Jamaica, began working for the Old Orchard Beach Police Department on June 13, according to a notice of employment termination file obtained by USA TODAY. The department said immigration officials confirmed he had authorization to work in the United States when he was selected to join the force, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials stated Evans overstayed his visa in 2023. ICE officers arrested Jon Luke Evans on July 25 in Biddeford, Maine, the federal law enforcement agency said in a news release. Evans told ICE officers he attempted to purchase a firearm for his employment as a police officer. The attempt triggered an alert to agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who worked with ICE to make the arrest. Evans lawfully entered the United States in September 2023 at Miami International Airport, but he violated the terms of his admission when he didn’t board a flight in October 2023 that was set to take him out of the country, ICE said. On Monday, Aug. 18, a judge granted Evans voluntary departure, meaning he was able to leave the country at his own expense instead of facing formal deportation proceedings. ICE said agents accompanied Evans to the airport to ensure he left the country on Monday.

New York Post [8/22/2025 7:36 PM, Anna Young, 43962K] reports a disgraced Big Apple teacher’s aide – once entrusted with caring for disabled students – was allegedly busted with a sickening stash of child porn, including thousands of vile videos, photos and files showing infants and toddlers being sexually abused, according to federal prosecutors. Alejandro Santos, 47, was arraigned Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court on an indictment charging him with possessing and transporting the depraved cache of files on his cellphone, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said. Prosecutors said the Bronx resident – who spent 23 years working for the city’s Department of Education – also possessed images of clothed children in classrooms and other settings, some of whom appeared to have physical disabilities. "The details of Alejandro Santos’ alleged crimes are among every parent’s worst nightmare," Ricky Patel, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations New York field. "This defendant worked closely with young kids nearly every day over the course of 23 years. Protecting minors from individuals like this defendant is not only paramount, it’s personal. I implore any person who believes they have information related to crimes involving Santos to contact authorities.". The alleged pervert – who worked at a Bronx school with mentally disabled children, some of them nonverbal – was cuffed at JFK Airport on July 15 after flying back from the Dominican Republic. Prosecutors said border patrol agents flagged the twisted educator as a suspected "high-risk" carrier of child sex abuse materials, initially uncovering at least 100 videos and images of the disturbing content on his phone. At least three minutes-long videos were found depicting nude babies and prepubescent girls being horrifically raped, sodomized and abused by adult men, a criminal complaint alleged.

NBC News [8/22/2025 7:17 PM, Julia Ainsley, Laura Strickler and Didi Martinez, 43603K] reports acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said parents in Washington, D.C., should not expect to see ICE officers visiting schools when kids go back to school in the nation’s capital on Monday. But he said there may be circumstances when ICE comes on school campuses in the future. "Day one, you’re not going to see us," Lyons told NBC News in an interview on Thursday. But he did not rule out the possibility of ICE needing to come on school campuses in the future in special circumstances. Lyons said ICE officers may need to make welfare checks on students in the district or anywhere in the U.S. if they were identified as an unaccompanied child when they crossed the southern border. "We want to use our special agents and our officers to go ahead and locate these individuals. And if [there are] some we haven’t, and the last known address was at a school, we just want to make sure that child is safe," Lyons said. "If we have the opportunity to reunite that parent with that child, that’s what we want to do.". Lyons also said there could be an "exigent circumstance" that would require ICE to go onto a school campus. "If it’s an exigent circumstance, something violent going on, yeah, we’ll respond to that," Lyons said. At a press conference this week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was asked to address fears by some parents that they could be detained by immigration officials. "I think people who have that concern for themselves personally and for all of us who are concerned for them and their safety are making adjustments," Bowser said. In the NBC interview, Lyons also addressed reports that some U.S. citizens have recently been arrested by ICE agents. Some were arrested for allegedly assaulting ICE officers, while others have been arrested in cases of mistaken identity and later released. "A lot of that stuff you are hearing about U.S. citizens being arrested, right? That is a training issue that we are working on. But people don’t have to worry about walking down the street and being asked for their papers or being asked for their passport," Lyons said. "When ICE is going after an individual, it’s a targeted operation.".

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [8/22/2025 10:16 PM, Mark Swanson, 4779K]
Telemundo [8/22/2025 11:42 PM, Julia Ainsley, Laura Strickler and Didi Martinez, 2782K]

Blaze [8/22/2025 5:50 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1559K] reports the arrest of an illegal alien on the streets of Washington, D.C., this week outraged many on the internet — that is, until authorities revealed the charges that had been filed against the suspect. A reporter captured the arrest on video. It shows ICE agents surrounding a man outside a car. When the man tries to make a run for it, the agents grab him and take him down to the ground. He begins to wail and cry as the arrest continues. Many online responded emotionally to the video. ICE identified the suspect as David Perez-Teofani, who allegedly crossed the U.S. border illegally three times. He also had been charged with one count of indecent liberties with a child under the age of 13 and aggravated sexual battery.

FOX News [8/22/2025 10:26 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 40019K] reports Thursday’s arrests in Washington, D.C. amid the Trump administration’s federal crime crackdown included a suspected member of the brutal Salvadoran street gang MS-13. "Just yesterday we made 40 arrests, took 5 more illegal firearms off our streets, and had 36 ICE arrests—including a suspected MS-13 gang member," Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X on Friday morning. Thursday’s arrests bring the total to 719 since President Donald Trump announced his effort to federalize the D.C. police on Aug. 11, according to Bondi. She thanked Trump for his "unwavering support to make DC safe again!". Approximately 800 National Guard troops have descended upon the city since the order, along with countless federal agents from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE and the DEA. On Aug. 15, Bondi said the total number of arrests was 189, meaning that over the past week, federal authorities have arrested 530 suspected criminals, an average of almost 76 per day. The suspects have been charged with crimes including homicide, drug trafficking, possession of illegal firearms and child sex crimes.

The Hill [8/22/2025 12:23 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports a Spanish-language reporter who was detained earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging he’s being held in custody in violation of the Constitution. Mario Guevara, 47, was arrested by police near Atlanta on June 14 while filming a "No Kings" protest — which sprung up in opposition to President Trump’s immigration agenda and summer military parade in Washington. Guevara has a large following and frequently covers issues tied to immigration in the Peach State as the founder of MG News. A judge in DeKalb County, Ga., dismissed his charges of unlawful assembly, obstruction of police and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway on June 25, but Guevara remains in federal custody The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Guevara is in the country illegally, while his lawyers say he is authorized to work and remain in the U.S. Over the past two months, he’s been shuffled through three detention centers despite attempts to pay a bond set by the immigration judge. Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appealed the bond, which has resulted in a delay in Guevara’s release. Local, regional and national press organizations have objected to his prolonged stay in custody by sending a letter to DHS last week urging Secretary Kristi Noem to release him on bond without delay.

Washington Examiner [8/22/2025 12:52 PM, Staff, 1563K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests surged by 367% in Georgia this year, with 4,500 illegal aliens arrested in the state between January 20 and July 31, compared to the 963 made under the Biden administration during the same time period in 2021, the Department of Homeland Security says. Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies Jessica Vaughan told The Center Square that "the big increase in ICE arrests in Georgia, particularly the arrests of criminal aliens, should have a noticeable effect on public safety, assuming that ICE is able to promptly process and remove them.". The Center for Immigration Studies is an "independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization," according to its website. Vaughan said that "removing so many criminal aliens from the community will mean safer streets, safer playgrounds, and safer businesses for everyone." Vaughan told The Center Square that "the increase in ICE activity is noticed by other illegal aliens in the community, and many of them are realizing that even if they have not committed other crimes, they may be discovered and arrested, so they are deciding to go home on their own. "This will open up job opportunities for Americans in Georgia, and relieve the cost to Georgia taxpayers of providing welfare benefits, health care, and education for illegal migrants and their families," Vaughan said. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the news release: "Biden’s open border [policies] allowed Laken Riley’s killer to be in the country and gave him the opportunity [to] brutally murder the young Georgia nursing student." "President Trump promised to put Americans first and remove violent criminals from our country and that’s exactly what we are doing," McLaughlin said. "Thanks to his and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, ICE is once again empowered to remove the worst of the worst – including murderers, pedophiles, gang members, drug traffickers, and terrorists," McLaughlin said.

Washington Examiner [8/23/2025 5:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1563K] reports the Washington Examiner took part in an all-day tour of the 5,400-acre Federal Law Enforcement Training Center on Thursday, accompanied by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. The center, known as FLETC, is located between Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia. Every year, FLETC hosts 68,000 students from 105 federal law enforcement agencies to be trained on-site, with about 3,000 on campus at any given time. Students who graduate will come back for additional training throughout their careers. Lyons compared FLETC to a college campus where students, despite studying various topics, are together in one setting. In this case, incoming and tenured employees from agencies such as the Secret Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Marshals Service live in a single community for several weeks or months as they complete certifications and trainings. Inside the secured perimeter, the campus boasts dormitories and apartment housing; a cafeteria able to accommodate thousands of students and staff; a state-of-the-art gym, large indoor pool, and physical training center; firearms training facilities; four driver training tracks; a main street and neighborhood set for active shooter and emergency response training; expansive educational buildings; and recreation sites, including a baseball field. When not in class, students can check out paddleboards and kayaks, among other equipment, for recreation. As government employees, recruits may come and go from the campus as they please when not in class or training. As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ICE received $29.9 billion for hiring staff, transporting illegal immigrants, and detaining families. On the hiring front, the money was intended for 10,000 new staff who specifically enforce immigration law within the United States. Before officers arrive on campus, located inside the small city of Brunswick, they will complete two weeks of online courses. Basic training for all incoming ICE recruits is eight weeks long. It used to include an additional five weeks of Spanish language classes, but that was recently rescinded and replaced with a translation service for officers in the field. Caleb Vitello, the former acting director of ICE who was moved by the Trump administration earlier this year to oversee ICE deportation officer training at FLETC, said training has been streamlined to address the increase in recruits. Depending on the number of arrivals, the site can expand its trainings to two to three shifts per day and have instructors available seven days a week, Vitello said.

FOX News [8/22/2025 11:12 AM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the brother of Harjinder Singh – the illegal immigrant who allegedly killed three people on Florida’s Turnpike in St. Lucie County while using a median cut prescribed for emergency vehicles to illicitly make a U-Turn. On Friday, ICE confirmed they had arrested Singh’s brother, Harneet Singh, 25, who was a passenger in Harjinder’s rig at the time of the crash. Officials said he is also in the U.S. illegally and was first detained on Monday. Harjinder Singh later fled to California, where Lt. Gov. Jay Collins traveled to oversee his extradition. "Three innocent people were killed in Florida because Gavin Newsom’s California Department of Motor Vehicles issued an illegal alien a Commercial Driver’s License—this state of governance is asinine," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "How many more innocent people must die before Gavin Newsom stops playing games with the safety of the American public?" McLaughlin said."We pray for the victims and their families. Secretary Noem and DHS are working around the clock to protect the public and get these criminal illegal aliens out of America.". Newsom’s office has strongly rejected any claims of culpability in the Singhs’ incident, claiming it was Florida who "let a murder suspect walk.". "California police had to step in and arrest him, and now Florida’s new LG is staging a photo op to pick him up," Newsom’s office said in a statement.

Chicago Tribune [8/22/2025 6:22 PM, Michelle L. Quinn and Meredith Colias-Pete, 5352K] reports the former School City of Hammond building and grounds director has now been formally charged with production, distribution, and possession of child pornography in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. A federal grand jury approved on Friday the three charges against David Michael Reyes, who has his initial hearing Aug. 28 at the Hammond courthouse after it was rescheduled. Reyes, 58, was employed as the director of buildings and grounds with SCH at the time of his arrest on August 15 and has been in custody since that date, the Post-Tribune previously reported. "Today’s charges stem from the quick and coordinated efforts of local and federal law enforcement, with the full cooperation of the Hammond City School System," Acting U.S. Attorney M. Scott Proctor said in a press release. "While an indictment is merely an allegation, it is imperative that we ensure we are addressing the full extent of criminal activity when allegations of crimes against children are involved. I am therefore calling upon members of our community who may have information concerning the charges in this Indictment, or similar allegations involving this Defendant, to provide that information to Homeland Security Investigations." According to court filings, Indiana State Police got a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a Discord user uploaded three files showing boys, some of whom were engaging in sex acts, the Post-Tribune previously reported. Investigators traced it to Reyes’ school district-issued cell phone. Hammond Police at around 7 a.m. Aug. 11 joined Department of Homeland Security officers to execute a search warrant at a home in the 400 block of Highland Street, according to a copy of the call the Post-Tribune received. The house was in "very poor condition," and officers called both Hammond Animal Control and Code Enforcement," the call reads.

FOX News [8/22/2025 4:05 PM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi received a response this week from the governor of the first state to pass "sanctuary" legislation, after she had warned it was engaged in "policies and procedures that hinder federal immigration enforcement to the detriment of the interests of the United States." Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, confirmed receipt of Bondi’s original letter from the prior week, writing back that she "respectfully disagree[s]" with Bondi’s assertion. State Rep. Rocky Barilla, D-Eugene, introduced the bill which was then signed by Gov. Neil Goldschmidt amid concerns police were wrongly profiling Latinos about their immigration status. In her response to Bondi, Kotek said in the nearly 40 years since, Oregon officials and law enforcement have not violated federal immigration law while abiding by the state policy.

New York Post [8/22/2025 3:58 PM, Josh Christenson, 43962K] reports a mob of rioters ambushed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in San Francisco, with one knife-wielding, keffiyeh-clad agitator threatening to "stab" one of the feds and "go after" his family, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday. Adrian Guerrero was charged with assaulting an officer and destruction of property over the alleged Wednesday attack on ICE officers in the Enforcement Removal Operations division, federal prosecutors said. He also screamed that he was "going to go after your family" and "going to stab you," during the melee on Montgomery Street in San Francisco. Earlier that morning, Guerrero also allegedly slashed a tire on a white Chevrolet with DHS and official government markings. He was later arrested. The knife-wielding menace was among a crowd of around 15 anti-ICE rioters who used pepper spray and socked officers in the ambush, DHS reps revealed Friday. US Federal Protective Services and members of the San Francisco Police Department later appeared to clear the area of the mob, in coordination with ICE officers. "Our brave ICE law enforcement are now facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them as they risk their lives to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

San Francisco Chronicle [8/22/2025 7:16 PM, Aldo Toledo, 3790K] reports federal prosecutors have charged a woman with slashing the tires of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van during a tense protest this week outside Department of Homeland Security offices in San Francisco’s Financial District, according to court documents. San Francisco resident Angelica Guerrero, 35, was charged with two misdemeanors in the Aug. 20 incident: assault on a federal officer and damaging government property. At about 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Enforcement and Removal Operations officers with DHS arrived in the area of 100 Montgomery Street to arrest someone, the complaint says. When agents tried to get the individual they arrested into the van, the complaint says, an individual later identified as Guerrero walked into the street and slashed the front left tire of their white van and walked away. Guerrero also "made repeated threats" to one agent, including threatening to stab the agent and threatening the agent’s family. Agents who arrested Guerrero seized a knife, the complaint says. Guerrero was held on a $10,000 bond and detained for a day in Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail before being released Thursday. She is due back in court on Sept. 8. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement that ICE agents are facing a "1000% increase in assaults" since mass deportation efforts began after President Donald Trump’s second term began. In the statement, Noem blamed the protests on San Francisco and its sanctuary laws the same day Trump added San Francisco to a list of American cities he says federal troops should "clean up.". "These acts of violence are fueled by sanctuary politicians’ rhetoric vilifying our law enforcement," Noem said. "We will not and have not let this violence stop us or slow us down. Everyday our law enforcement continues to enforce the law and arrest the most depraved criminals including pedophiles, terrorists, murderers, gang members, and sexual predators.".

Telemundo [8/23/2025 1:34 AM, Staff, 51K] reports two people were detained during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Encinitas Friday morning. According to advocates, the incident occurred near Park Dale Lane and Village Park Way, not far from where ICE agents conducted an operation and detained a man Wednesday morning. It is approximately a couple of blocks from Park Dale Elementary School. San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer shared a video of part of the encounter on social media. Activists addressed the operation during a demonstration in City Heights Friday afternoon. "What happened today in Encinitas, for example, is a systematic violation of human rights," one person said. For its part, ICE claims it conducted a targeted operation against a man with a criminal record that includes child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a law enforcement officer and other crimes. ICE states that a second man who had entered the United States illegally was also detained. Below is the full statement from Patrick Divver, director of ICE’s San Diego Field Office for Enforcement and Removal Operations: "This is another case of misinformed activists who are unaware of the scope and/or do not understand the lawful enforcement actions being taken, and who intrude and create unnecessary risks to themselves, the community and our agents. These actions further hinder our ability to remove individuals who pose a threat to public safety and contribute to misinformation that endangers everyone involved. San Diego ICE agents conducted an enforcement action targeting Yohan Diaz, an illegal alien from Mexico with a criminal history that includes child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a law enforcement officer, obstructing a public officer, vandalism, and driving under the influence of alcohol. As officers moved to arrest Diaz, they were met with interference from members of the public who unsafely and unnecessarily intruded into the law enforcement scene. Diaz violently resisted arrest and continued to be so aggressive that officers were forced to completely restrain him, including his legs, to protect the safety of the officers and the public. Diaz is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. The second individual, Limber Hernandez-Verudgo, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who illegally entered the United States in violation of federal law, was also detained and is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. ICE San Diego remains committed to enforcing federal immigration law while ensuring the safety of the community and our agents." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [8/22/2025 4:26 PM, Claudia Carrera, 4932K] reports on the morning of Thursday, August 21, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempted to force their way into the Presidential Barber Shop in Lynwood, in an operation that was ultimately stopped by the community and the barber’s employees. According to witnesses, officers were attempting to arrest a person inside the establishment, although it is unclear whether it was a customer or an employee. Those who witnessed the incident stated that the officers acted aggressively not only toward the people inside the barbershop, but also toward the neighbors who were recording the events. Ultimately, the operation resulted in no arrests, and the officers left the area.

NBC News [8/23/2025 7:00 AM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 43603K] reports the sight of masked federal agents in tactical gear descending on Home Depots across Southern California is forcing undocumented day laborers to weigh earning badly needed income against the risk of being arrested or deported. At least two Home Depot parking lots in the Los Angeles area were targeted Friday amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Day laborers were detained in North Hollywood and Alhambra as organizers shouted demanding to see warrants and attempted to obtain as much information as possible from handcuffed workers. The scene has become familiar this summer to day laborers, who are desperate to maintain a steady income in a local economy still recovering from January’s wildfires and the rising cost of building materials caused by tariffs. They wait in parking lots each morning, hoping to earn a day’s wage or, if they’re lucky, get hired for a long-term project that could mean weeks or months of steady pay. But the constant threat of arrest is taking a toll on many workers, who say they are traumatized and can’t sleep after watching friends and family members being arrested and taken to jail. “What can you do? In this country you can’t stay home. You need money for kids, bills, rent, food,” said Arturo, a day laborer who lives in Los Angeles and spoke in Spanish. Arturo and other laborers interviewed by NBC News spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or other federal officers.

FOX News [8/22/2025 9:12 AM, Rachel Wolf, 40019K] reports more than 55 million visa holders are now under continuous vetting as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration crackdown. The State Department first confirmed the move to the Associated Press, saying the reviews aim to determine whether individuals are ineligible to enter or remain in the country. The outlet added that if violations are found, visas will be revoked and if the individual is in the U.S., he or she could be subject to deportation. "The Department’s continuous vetting includes all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid U.S. visas," a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The spokesperson added that the department cancels visas when there are "indications of a potential ineligibility, which includes things like any indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization." The information the department is reviewing in the vetting process includes law enforcement records and "any other information that comes to light" after the visa is issued that could indicate ineligibility.

Reported similarly:
NewsNation [8/22/2025 8:26 AM, Mills Hayes, 6811K]

New York Times [8/22/2025 7:38 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 143795K] reports a State Department statement on Thursday saying that all holders of valid U.S. visas would be subject to “continuous vetting” sounded like a dire warning to the more than 55 million foreign nationals who have permission to be in the United States. But with few details about how the department plans to execute the effort, it was unclear if the pronouncement heralded a drastic culling of travel documents and acceleration in deportations, or something less. The federal government has long had broad power to revoke visas — and the Trump administration increasingly has been using it. Since his return to office, President Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority, expanding efforts to remove not only people in the United States without legal authorization, but also visa holders, including thousands of students whom the State Department said had “either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism” while in the country. Critics have accused Mr. Trump’s team of targeting visa holders in a haphazard and politically self-serving fashion, relying on what they argue are error-ridden databases to determine who has committed infractions serious enough to put their visas in jeopardy. In interviews, some expressed concern that millions could be unjustly affected if the State Department used such procedures across the entire visa system. In an emailed statement, the State Department defended its practices, arguing that it “revokes visas any time there are indications of a potential ineligibility,” and that officials “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.” Yet the ultimate impact of the State Department’s plans will depend on what the “continuous vetting” it cited actually entails.

Washington Post [8/22/2025 12:14 PM, Maham Javaid, 29079K] reports U.S.-bound tourists and business travelers from Malawi and Zambia must now post deposits of up to $15,000 to get U.S. visas, under a 12-month pilot program that came into effect this week and could expand to other countries, the State Department said. “Effectively, for most people from Malawi and Zambia, this bond policy is a travel ban,” said Steven Radelet, director of the global human development program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. “There are very few individuals, the wealthiest sliver of people, who can afford these bonds.” Malawian and Zambian travelers who already have U.S. business or tourist visas will not be affected, but those applying after Aug. 20, including children, will have to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, to deter visa overstaying, the department said, to be reimbursed on timely departure. Consular officers have discretion to set the amount.

San Diego Union Tribune [8/22/2025 3:13 PM, Jonathan Shorman, 1648K] reports the Trump administration is developing a powerful data tool it claims will let states identify noncitizens registered to vote. But Democratic critics and data experts warn it could allow the federal government to vacuum up vast quantities of information on Americans for unclear purposes. Some Democratic election officials and opponents of the effort fear President Donald Trump wants to build a federal database of voters to target political opponents or cherry-pick rare examples of noncitizen voters to fuel a sense of crisis. Republican election officials allied with the president counter that he’s helping states to maintain accurate voter rolls. The Trump administration has rolled out changes to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, tool at the same time the U.S. Department of Justice is asking states for copies of their voter rolls. The timing, combined with questions about what happens to voter data uploaded to the program, has alarmed critics. Trump wants Congress to pass a national proof of citizenship voter registration requirement and in March tried to unilaterally impose one for federal elections through executive order. But with the legislation stalled and the order halted by the courts, the citizenship data tool may offer a backdoor way to accomplish the same goal. SAVE was originally intended to help state and local officials verify the immigration status of individual noncitizens seeking government benefits. But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, this spring refashioned it into a platform that can scan states’ voter rolls if election officials upload the data.

AP [8/22/2025 7:31 PM, Tim Sullivan and Cathy Bussewitz, 37974K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this week that the U.S. will pause issuing work visas to some foreign truck drivers, warning darkly that they are "endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.". He provided no details Thursday in his two-sentence post on the social platform X, leaving some in the trucking industry wondering if many drivers would be affected. But the announcement appeared to be as much about politics as road safety, coming as a deadly Florida crash involving a foreign truck driver became increasingly politicized, with the offices of two ambitious governors battling publicly over responsibility. Will many drivers be affected? It depends how you define "many," and the exact number isn’t clear. But it appears that at most a few thousand of the country’s estimated 3.5 million commercial truck drivers would be affected by the new directive. The pause is aimed at drivers applying for three types of visas, the State Department said Friday, most notably the H-2B visa for temporary workers. Only roughly 1,500 visas for truck drivers were issued this fiscal year under the program, and 1,400 last year, according to Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The program has helped offset what many observers see as a persistent shortage of commercial drivers. But H-2B visas are capped for most years at 66,000, with drivers making up only a couple percent of the total.

Los Angeles Times [8/22/2025 11:00 AM, Carlos De Loera, 12715K] reports a new study from the Pew Research Center released Thursday shows that the number of unauthorized immigrants — the organization’s terminology for undocumented people — reached an all-time high of 14 million people in 2023. That’s up 3.5 million from 2021, which marks the largest two-year jump the center has recorded. Pew has sub-categorized unauthorized immigrants in two groups: those with deportation protections and those without. "There are some people who enter the country without authorization and have remained in that status since," the director of race and ethnicity research at Pew, Mark Hugo Lopez, told The Times. "There are others who may have come to the U.S. legally — for example on an H-1B visa — but their visa expired, they overstayed their visa and are now also classified as unauthorized immigrants, even though they entered the country legally.". Lopez went on to explain that there’s another subset: people who entered the country without authorization but are granted a number of exemptions, particularly temporary protection from deportation through different programs. This includes people like those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or those who are in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Unauthorized immigrants with protections were largely responsible for the increase from 2021 to 2023, Pew found. Overall, unauthorized immigrants made up 27% of the total foreign-born population in the U.S. in 2023, with 8 million having no protections and 6 million having some level of protection. California led the country with the largest unauthorized immigrant population at 2.3 million people, followed by Texas with 2.1 million people and Florida with 1.6 million people. The Sunshine State had the largest increase in the demographic from 2021 to 2023, probably due to then-President Biden’s immigration policies — such as the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program. Based on statistics from the Department of Homeland Security and other available government data, Pew estimates that the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population probably continued to increase through mid-2024. With the start of the new year and new presidency in 2025, Pew estimates that the unauthorized immigrant population probably declined by quite possibly as much as 1 million people. Despite that falloff, it is still believed that — as of July 2025 — the unauthorized immigrant population "almost surely" remains higher than in July 2023.

Breitbart [8/22/2025 6:27 PM, Lowell Cauffiel, 2608K] reports a Chinese national claiming to conduct research as a "visiting scholar" at a prestigious Michigan university now finds herself facing a long prison term after pleading no contest this week to three smuggling charges and making false statements to federal officers. Chengxuan Han, also a Ph.D. candidate at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, pleaded no contest this week in a Detroit federal court to sending four packages from China containing concealed biological materials to colleagues working in a University of Michigan laboratory. The incident is the most recent criminal case involving Chinese students possessing potential hazardous biological materials at the University of Michigan (U-M). As Breitbart News reported, in June the U.S. Attorney’s office in Michigan brought criminal charges against two other Chinese nationals loyal to the Chinese Communist Party for allegedly smuggling into a U-M research lab a fungus that could devastate American crops — biomaterial classified as "a potential agroterrorism weapon.". Also, the Department of Education announced last month a foreign funding investigation into U-M — a school considered "New Ivy" for offering an Ivy League-level education — citing "inaccurate and incomplete disclosures" in its foreign reports and pointing to its history of ties to China. On June 8, 2025, Han arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J1 visa. Customs and Border Protection officers conducted an inspection of Han, during which Han made false statements about the packages and the biological materials she had previously shipped to the United States…At the conclusion of the border inspection, Han was interviewed by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ICE HSI. During this interview, Han admitted to sending the packages, admitted that the packages contained biological material related to round worms, and admitted to making false statements to the CBP officers during her inspection.

USA Today [8/22/2025 12:43 PM, Michelle Del Rey, 3744K] reports authorities at Detroit Metropolitan Airport confiscated bushmeat twice within one week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an Aug. 20 news release. The bushmeat seized by CBP agents last month included 11 pounds of rodent meat from Togo, in West Africa, and 52 pounds of primate meat, declared as antelope, from Gabon, in Central Africa. The travelers also had additional, undeclared agricultural items in their possession. The first seizure occurred on July 15 and the second on July 20, the agency said. In a typical year, airport authorities encounter two dozen interceptions involving bushmeat. The meat was confiscated and handed over to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each passenger was fined $300 for the undeclared agricultural items. Rodent-type bushmeat interceptions are sporadic at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the agency noted, adding primate interceptions are rarer. Bushmeat is meat from wild animals, including monkeys, bats, cane rats, giraffes, antelopes and porcupines and elephants. The meat poses a significant risk of communicable diseases. It is illegal to import into the U.S. It’s primarily consumed in Africa, Latin America, and Asian countries, according to the International Fund for Wildlife Welfare. It’s estimated to make up between 80-90% of animal protein intake in rural regions of West and Central Africa, where it can be difficult to raise livestock. It’s considered an available or affordable source of protein.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [8/22/2025 4:49 PM, Claudia Moreno, 6K] reports a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air Marine Operations (AMO) air team conducted a high-risk rescue of an injured hiker in Franklin Mountains State Park on August 21. The operation began when the El Paso Air Branch Operations Officer received a distress call from the El Paso County Combined Search and Rescue (COMSAR) team, requesting assistance in locating and evacuating an injured man in a remote, hard-to-reach area. Due to the altitude and terrain, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with a lift capability was deployed. The crew used night vision goggles to conduct the search in dark conditions. With the assistance of COMSAR equipment, they were able to locate the hiker and establish a hover at 180 feet to insert an air rescue specialist. The specialist managed to rescue the hiker and bring five members of the COMSAR team on board. The helicopter transported the group to the incident command post, where the injured man was handed over to El Paso Fire and Rescue personnel for transport to a local hospital.

NewsNation [8/23/2025 12:07 AM, Patrick Djordjevic, 6811K] reports travelers have been warned to avoid packing certain hair tools in their checked baggage. The Transportation Security Administration rule made headlines this week, but NewsNation has learned it has been in place for quite some time. "Cordless curling irons that contain lithium metal or lithium-ion batteries or are gas- or butane-fueled are only allowed in carry-on bags," a TSA spokesperson told NewsNation. "A safety cover must be securely fitted over the heating element. The device must be protected from accidental activation.” TSA pointed NewsNation to its "What Can I Bring" page for a detailed list of items allowed in checked luggage and carry-on luggage. It follows a new "Families on the Fly" campaign launched by TSA last month to "enhance hospitality for families during the airport security screening experience.” Benefits include dedicated lanes for families — including ones for service members and their families — and $15 off TSA PreCheck enrollment per person. To the joy of many Americans, the TSA no longer requires individuals to take off their shoes as they move through security checkpoints at airports across the country. The policy first came into effect in 2006 following a failed shoe bombing five years earlier. "We want to improve this travel experience, but while maintaining safety standards and making sure that we are keeping people safe," Noem said during a news conference on July 8 at the Department of Homeland Security. The timing comes as the U.S. prepares for a surge of international visitors for major events, including the Olympics, World Cup matches and America 250 celebrations over the next 12 months.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [8/22/2025 5:05 PM, Bethany Heitman, 43603K]

New York Post [8/22/2025 12:33 PM, Brooke Steinberg, 43962K] reports no need to dip into your wallet for checked luggage for a big travel weekend. This Labor Day weekend, Hidden Valley Ranch plans to help travelers cover the cost of their checked bag fees — if they bring the ranch along for the journey. Due to the 3.4oz liquid limit for carry-on bags, ranch lovers who can’t go without the beloved dressing either have to leave it behind or check a bag and pay the extra cash. Hidden Valley Ranch doesn’t want their loyal consumers to be without ranch for the long weekend, so it’s covering the extra cost of checked luggage that has ranch in it. "Let’s be honest — ranch fans don’t travel light when it comes to flavor," Stacy Stokes, Vice President of Hidden Valley Ranch, said in a statement. "Since a full-size bottle can’t make it through security, we’re covering checked bag fees so you can bring the good stuff with you, no compromises. Consider Hidden Valley Ranch travel insurance for your taste buds this Labor Day Weekend." To take advantage of the promotion and get your luggage cost covered by Hidden Valley, travelers need to simply take a photo of their bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch packed inside their suitcase. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has suggested that she is pushing the TSA to ease up on its liquids, aerosols and gels rule. She announced last month that the TSA will no longer require passengers to remove their shoes at agency checkpoints — even if you don’t have TSA PreCheck.

NPR [8/22/2025 5:00 AM, Miles Parks and Stephen Fowler, 34837K] reports the Trump administration has indicated it may withhold tens of millions of dollars in election security funding if states don’t comply with its voting policy goals. The money comes from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant program, and voting officials say new requirements from the administration will make the money inaccessible for most of the country. About $28 million — or 3% of the overall Homeland Security Grant Program — is devoted to election security and now at risk, though some officials and experts worry that the new requirements could also endanger hundreds of millions of dollars in other grants for law enforcement. Voting officials say the amount of money at risk won’t make or break the country’s election security. But the potential withholding of funds over policy differences — combined with other recent election security cuts — has many wondering whether the Trump administration is prioritizing election security the way it claims it is. The grant money in question is administered within DHS by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and is meant to help state and local governments prepare for and prevent terrorism and disasters. For some of the grants, DHS designates priority areas to further target what the money is spent on, and three years ago the agency began designating election security as one of those priorities.

FOX News [8/22/2025 6:00 AM, Stepheny Price, 40019K] Video HERE reports the U.S. State Department has issued an updated travel advisory for Mexico, warning Americans about potential dangers in the popular vacation destination. Released on Aug. 12, the advisory raised Mexico to a Level 2 alert, urging travelers to "exercise increased caution" due to the threat of violent crime, including terrorism, kidnapping, and other criminal activity. U.S. officials also warned that in certain areas they may have limited ability to assist travelers in emergencies. "Violent crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery are widespread," the advisory notes. "There is also a risk of terrorist violence, including potential attacks." Robert McDonald, a retired supervisory Secret Service agent and a lecturer in criminal justice at the University of New Haven, told Fox News Digital the advisory should be viewed as a reminder rather than a deterrent. "It’s really a lot of situational awareness, a lot of common sense," McDonald said. "If you can avoid traveling into a hot zone, do so. Otherwise, just be smart about your surroundings.".

NPR [8/22/2025 4:02 PM, Jerry Clayton, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports family members of the victims of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting where 19 students and two teachers died, recently got a look at newly released files from the Uvalde Consolidated School District and Uvalde County from the day of the shooting. More than three years after the tragedy, their suffering lingers without answers to their questions about how the security protocols failed that day.

Reuters [8/22/2025 6:11 PM, David Shepardson, 45746K] reports President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration will conduct a "major" tariff investigation on furniture entering the United States, a step toward imposing higher duties. Trump said the investigation will be completed within the next 50 days but other national security probes have taken significantly longer than that. The Section 232 probe could serve as the legal basis for tariffs if a federal appeals court strikes down "reciprocal" tariffs that Trump imposed on a broad range of U.S. trading partners in April, as well as tariffs imposed in February against China, Canada and Mexico. Furniture would be the latest imported products targeted for a national security investigation by the Trump administration. On Thursday, it announced a national security probe into imported wind turbines and has previously targeted copper and other metals. The department has opened numerous probes into the national security ramifications of imports of airplanes, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, heavy trucks, timber and lumber, critical minerals and drones.

Wall Street Journal [8/22/2025 5:03 PM, Lara Seligman and Brett Forrest, 646K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Defense Intelligence Agency director Friday, according to a senior defense official and another person familiar with the move, the latest in a slew of senior national-security officials dismissed by the Trump administration. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey A. Kruse was leading the Pentagon agency in June when it issued an evaluation of U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities that concluded the attack had set back Tehran’s nuclear program only by a few months. The assessment contradicted President Trump’s assertion that the bombings had obliterated the Iranian sites. A senior Pentagon official confirmed the firing, saying that “Lt. Gen. Kruse will no longer serve as DIA director.” The official didn’t provide a reason for Kruse’s dismissal, which was reported earlier by the Washington Post. Kruse took over the agency early last year. The agency’s deputy, Christine Bordine, assumed the role of acting director, a spokesman for the Defense Intelligence Agency said.

Reuters [8/23/2025 2:59 AM, Nichola Groom, 45746K] reports the Trump administration on Friday ordered Denmark’s Orsted (ORSTED.CO) to stop far-advanced construction on an offshore wind project near Rhode Island, in a move that threatens to exacerbate the company’s financial troubles. With construction now frozen at 80% completion, Orsted has no immediate path to revenue generation, heightening pressure on the company as it seeks to shore up finances through a $9.4 billion emergency rights issue. The stop-work order, issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), is the administration’s latest effort to hinder U.S. renewable energy development and is the second time this year the Interior Department, which oversees BOEM, has halted work on a major offshore wind project. "Orsted is evaluating all options to resolve the matter expeditiously," the company said in a statement, adding that it was reviewing the financial implications of the order and was considering legal action. The company said it would "in due course" advise the market on the potential impact on its plans to conduct the rights issue. A spokesperson for the company, owned 50.1% by the Danish state, declined to comment further. On his first day in office in January, President Donald Trump suspended new offshore wind leasing pending an environmental and economic review of projects. He has repeatedly criticized wind energy as ugly, unreliable and expensive. The $1.5 billion project that Orsted was constructing, Revolution Wind, was scheduled to be completed next year and expected to produce enough electricity to power 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut. All offshore foundations had been installed and 45 out of 65 wind turbines were already in place, Orsted said. The National Ocean Energy Industries Association, an industry trade group, said halting work on a project that is almost finished would jeopardize jobs and investment. "These projects are not only about energy," NOIA President Erik Milito said. The stop-work order is driven by unspecified national security concerns arising from the administration’s review of offshore wind projects in federal waters, according to the letter, signed by BOEM acting Director Matthew Giacona.

Washington Post [8/22/2025 7:50 PM, Staff, 29079K] reports seven months before the FBI’s Friday morning raid on John Bolton’s home and office, Donald Trump revoked the former national security adviser’s clearances and took away his security detail. The president did so even though intelligence showed that the Iranians would love to see Bolton dead for helping orchestrate the killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Speaking to reporters on Friday afternoon, Trump made clear that he sees the raid as fair-game payback for the legal travails he endured during his years out of power. The president complained that FBI agents went through his son’s bedroom and his wife’s drawers when they searched Mar-a-Lago in 2022. "So I know the feeling," he said. The pursuit of 76-year-old Bolton underscores the danger of putting partisan hacks in top law enforcement jobs. The government needed to show probable cause to get a judge to sign the search warrant, so it’s possible there was a rock-solid predicate for the search. But Trump’s promises of retribution and revenge make the government’s motives suspect. So does FBI Director Kash Patel putting Bolton on a list of members of the "deep state" in his 2023 book "Government Gangsters.". It is a valid fear that the case against Bolton is a fresh instance of the old Soviet saying, "Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime." It comes against the backdrop of federal investigators looking for dirt on other Trump critics: New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California), former FBI director James B. Comey and former CIA director John Brennan. Trump does not conceal his view that the Justice Department should maintain no independence whatsoever from the White House. On Friday, while wearing a hat proclaiming "TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING," the president speculated that the search could turn up evidence that Bolton is "a very unpatriotic guy." Trump added that he did not have advance knowledge of the search, although it would have been fine if he had because he is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. The administration appears to be relitigating a fight it lost five years ago when the Justice Department tried unsuccessfully to stop Bolton from publishing his tell-all memoir about his tenure as national security adviser. Bolton emphatically denied that the book, based on notes he had taken, contained classified material. After a career White House staffer said Bolton had made the necessary edits to get the green light, the national security adviser who succeeded Bolton ordered an additional clearance review by a Trump loyalist. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth had harsh words for Bolton in 2020, even as he allowed him to publish: "Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States," he wrote. "He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability.".

Reported similarly:
New York Times [8/22/2025 6:06 PM, Matthew Cullen, 143795K]
Wall Street Journal [8/22/2025 2:08 PM, Sadie Gurman and Brett Forrest, 646K]
Bloomberg [8/22/2025 12:18 PM, Myles Miller, 19085K]
Breitbart [8/22/2025 9:41 AM, Staff, 2608K]
NPR [8/22/2025 2:55 PM, Ryan Lucas, 34837K]
AP [8/22/2025 9:13 AM, Staff, 37974K] Video: HERE

New York Times [8/23/2025 2:28 AM, Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush, 330K] Video: HERE reports F.B.I. agents on Friday spent hours searching the Maryland home and Washington office of John Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser who is now a frequent critic. The inquiry into Mr. Bolton seeks to determine whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information, according to two people familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe it. A lawyer for Mr. Bolton did not respond to a request for comment.

The Hill [8/22/2025 10:56 AM, Brett Samuels, 12414K] reports President Trump said Friday he was not given advance notice of an FBI search of former national security adviser John Bolton’s home but criticized his former aide as a "lowlife" and suggested he could be "very unpatriotic." "He’s not a smart guy. But he could be a very unpatriotic guy. We’re going to find out. I know nothing about it. I just saw it this morning, they did a raid," Trump told reporters when asked about the search. The president said he expected the Justice Department (DOJ) to brief him on the situation later Friday. "I tell [Attorney General Pam Bondi], and I tell the group, I don’t want to know, but you have to do what you have to do. I don’t want to know about it," Trump said. "It’s not necessary. I could know about. I could be the one starting it. I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer. But I feel that it’s better this way." Federal agents were seen searching Bolton’s home in Maryland on Friday morning. The FBI confirmed there was "court-authorized law enforcement activity" going on in the area.

The Hill [8/23/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Beitsch and Brett Samuels, 12414K] reports the search of former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton’s home and office is raising questions about whether the White House is flexing its law enforcement muscle to go after a frequent critic. It also parallels an event that the president and his circle have highly criticized: the search for classified records at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Bolton has become a fierce critic of President Trump since exiting the White House in September 2019 as national security adviser. He penned a book in 2020, titled “The Room Where It Happened,” that portrayed Trump as an erratic and uninformed leader. The Trump administration went to court in an effort to block its publication. It also ignited a criminal probe of Bolton. Both the court case and the criminal probe were dropped several months into the Biden administration. Those dynamics left various figures thinking politics were at play in the administration’s decision to go after Bolton. “We’re looking at this a little bit skeptically,” Chris Swecker, an agent for 24 years who served as an assistant director of the FBI under George W. Bush, said Friday in comments on Fox News. Swecker, describing conversations with his colleagues, said he and others were critical of President Biden’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, saying “just because you have the authority and the discretion to do something like this, doesn’t mean you should.”

The Hill [8/22/2025 6:13 PM, Emily Martin, 12414K] reports the FBI raided the home of, President Trump’s former national security adviser, early Friday. Vice President Vance pointed to classified documents as the reason. Vance said in an interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker for "Meet the Press" that "classified documents are certainly part of" the reason for the raid, in addition to broader concerns about Bolton that investigators are planning "to look into.". "If there’s no crime here, we’re not going to prosecute it. If there is a crime here, of course, Ambassador Bolton will get his day in court," Vance added. "That’s how it should be. But again, our focus here is on, did he break the law? Did he commit crimes against the American people? If so, then he deserves to be prosecuted.".

The Hill [8/22/2025 6:23 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports Vice President Vance said the Friday raid on former national security adviser John Bolton’s residence was not retribution for his political commentary critiquing the Trump administration. "We’re in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton. I will say we’re going to let that investigation proceed," Vance said during a clip of his interview with MSNBC’s "Meet the Press.". "What I can tell you is that, unlike the Biden DOJ and the Biden FBI, our law enforcement agencies are going to be driven by law and not by politics. And so, if we think that Ambassador Bolton has committed a crime, of course, eventually prosecutions will come," he added. His full interview with Kristen Welker is expected to air Sunday, with the vice president addressing questions about Bolton’s unexpected probe. In recent months, Bolton has been a vocal critic of President Trump’s foreign policy dealings, especially in relation to his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming the leader knows the way to "Trump’s heart.". His regular appearance on cable talk shows has caused some to speculate that the raid at his residence near Washington was motivated by his frequent rebukes to the current administration’s diplomatic efforts. However, Vance rejected those allegations and said the probe was tied to an investigation linked to classified documents potentially being stored at Bolton’s home. Both Trump and former President Biden, in addition to corresponding administration officials, have been accused of mishandling high-level paperwork in the past. "We are investigating Ambassador Bolton, but if they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determine that he has broken the law. We’re going to be careful about that," he told Welker in reference to potential criminal prosecution from the Department of Justice (DOJ). "We’re going to be deliberate about that, because we don’t think that we should throw people, even if they disagree with us politically, maybe especially if they disagree with us politically, you shouldn’t throw people willy-nilly in prison," he added. On Friday, the president said he was unaware of the sting at Bolton’s home and added that he would remain uninvolved in the current investigation. "I know nothing about it. I just saw it this morning, they did a raid," Trump told reporters when asked about the search while referring to Bolton as "unpatriotic.".

Washington Post [8/23/2025 6:00 AM, Natalie Allison and Michael Birnbaum, 32099K] reports days before his former national security adviser’s home and office were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, President Donald Trump had trained his sights on his onetime aide, publicly rebuking John Bolton for criticizing his policy toward Russia. The president said Friday he was not aware of the raids until they occurred that morning, and there is no evidence that the investigation into Bolton was launched in response to Bolton’s recent criticisms of Trump. People close to Trump have privately noted, however, that the president was bothered by Bolton’s recent deprecation of his attempts at peacemaking. And both Trump and some of his top appointees have talked openly about using the criminal justice system against his perceived enemies. That has raised questions about the timing of the decision to move forward with investigating long-standing allegations that Bolton improperly handled classified government material. On Friday, Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, home and his office in downtown D.C. were raided by federal authorities as part of an investigation into whether he illegally possessed or shared classified information, according to multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the matter. A White House official, who spoke about the investigation into Bolton on the condition of anonymity, denied that there was any correlation between the president’s public posts about Bolton and the timing of the FBI’s move to execute search warrants in a case against him nine days later. The official said the raids were “about following the law.” Vice President JD Vance on Friday did not answer a question from NBC’s “Meet the Press” about whether the White House had advance notice about the operation, but he said Bolton was “not at all” being targeted in an act of retribution.

CNN [8/22/2025 7:55 PM, Isabelle Khurshudyan, 23245K] reports Robert Hill called in sick to work when he heard about what was happening in his Bethesda, Maryland. Every major cable news network was broadcasting from a house just a few streets away, but Hill had to see it for himself. When he got to the street where President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton lives, Hill pulled out his phone to record video of the scene along with other neighborhood gawkers. Cars parked in the grass lined the narrow two-lane road. Directly across from Bolton’s home, there was a wall of TV news cameras focused on his front door. The driveway was full of unmarked vehicles – the FBI agents who’d arrived around 7 a.m. Friday to conduct a court-authorized search warrant. Bolton was not at home for the search, but his wife was seen talking to agents on the front porch when they first arrived in the morning. For much of the morning and early afternoon, the tree-lined, leafy patch of this affluent suburb 10 miles from downtown Washington was the focus of national attention. "There’s a lot of strange things going on in DC right now," said Nigel Hughes, a Bethesda resident and DC walking tour guide who also stopped by. "And now it comes to my own doorstep, so that’s fascinating.". Even in a neighborhood that’s used to the trappings of Washington’s elite, the moment felt extraordinary — an FBI raid on a former member of the sitting president’s own administration. With its large, gated residences and manicured front lawns, Bethesda is a popular place for politicians, as well as current and former administration officials, and it’s not unusual to see security details posted outside houses. That’s how everyone in the neighborhood knew where Bolton lived. Located on a busy street that connects two larger throughways, people living in the area used to see Secret Service at the house every day – until earlier this year, when Trump terminated Bolton’s security detail right after taking office again. "It almost doesn’t seem real," Hill said. "This is just wrong. It’s almost certainly political retribution.".

FOX News [8/22/2025 10:04 AM, Morgan Phillips, 40019K] reports a Navy sailor may face life in prison after a San Diego jury found him guilty of selling military secrets to China on Thursday. Prosecutors said Jinchao "Patrick" Wei, 25, used his position as a machinist’s mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at Naval Base San Diego to collect sensitive information and offer it to a Chinese intelligence officer who recruited him in February 2022. Wei held a security clearance and had access to information about the weapons systems aboard the Essex. In exchange, the officer paid Wei $12,000 over a year and a half. A jury convicted Wei on six of seven charges: espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and three counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act. The espionage-related charges carry life sentences and a $250,000 fine. Conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and each count of violating the act carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The Chinese intelligence officer approached Wei and posed as a naval enthusiast working for the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, a state-run yard. Wei suspected the officer of being linked to Chinese intelligence. "Wei told his friend that he is ‘no idiot’ and that ‘this is quite obviously f***ing espionage,’" according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

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