Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

CBS News [8/30/2025 12:00 AM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 45245K] reports a federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration effort to expand fast-track deportations throughout the U.S. under a process known as expedited removal, indicating that officials are trampling on migrants’ due process through the policy’s expansion. While it will almost certainly be appealed, Friday’s order is a major setback for the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, including its campaign to arrest asylum-seekers at immigration courthouses across the U.S. — an operation that has relied on the expansion of expedited removal. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb paused a January directive that had expanded the expedited removal policy — long limited to border areas and recent arrivals — to anywhere in the country and to those who arrived in the past two years. Expedited removal allows federal immigration officials to quickly deport certain migrants, without allowing them to see an immigration judge, unless they claim asylum and pass an interview with a U.S. asylum officer. Before President Trump took office for a second time, the fast-track deportations only applied to unauthorized migrants apprehended within 100 miles of an international border and who had been in the U.S. for less than two weeks. Cobb said the pro-immigrant advocates who challenged the legality of the nationwide expansion of expedited removal had made a "strong showing" that the effort "violates the due process rights of those it affects." "In so holding, the Court does not cast doubt on the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, nor on its longstanding application at the border," Cobb wrote in her opinion. "It merely holds that in applying the statute to a huge group of people living in the interior of the country who have not previously been subject to expedited removal, the Government must afford them due process. The procedures currently in place fall short." Cobb indefinitely postponed the January expansion of expedited removal, and guidance issued to implement it. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday’s ruling "ignores the President’s clear authorities under both Article II of the Constitution and the plain language of federal law." "DHS is exercising its full authority under federal law by placing illegal aliens who have been here for less than two years into expedited removal," the department added. "President Trump has a mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst. We have the law, facts, and common sense on our side." Reuters [8/30/2025 12:28 AM, Nate Raymond, 43603K] reports that the policy mirrored one the Trump administration adopted in 2019 that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration later rescinded, and immigration authorities have made "aggressive" use of the new removal power in recent months, Cobb said. But she said that unlike the population of migrants traditionally subject to expedited removal who were detained shortly after crossing the border, the group now being targeted had long since entered the country. "That means that they have a weighty liberty interest in remaining here and therefore must be afforded due process under the Fifth Amendment," she said. "When it exponentially expanded the population subject to expedited removal, the Government did not, however, in any way adapt its procedures to this new group of people." Cobb, a Biden appointee, said that "prioritizing speed over all else will inevitably lead the Government to erroneously remove people via this truncated process." She called it a "skimpy" process that violates affected migrants’ due process rights under the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. The administration had asked Cobb to pause her eventual ruling so it could prepare an appeal, but she declined to do so. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement that the ruling ignored Trump’s legal authority, adding he "has a mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst." The American Civil Liberties Union, representing the plaintiff, Make the Road New York, did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, Cobb also blocked the Trump administration from fast-tracking the deportation of potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were paroled into the U.S. under Biden’s humanitarian programs.

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AP [8/30/2025 12:51 AM, Aamer Madhani, 34837K]

The AP [8/29/2025 3:40 PM, Janie Har, 37974K] reports a federal appeals court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States, saying that plaintiffs are likely to win their claim that the Republican administration’s actions were unlawful. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status for Venezuelans while TPS holders challenge actions by Trump’s administration in court. The 9th Circuit judges found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior extension of temporary protected status because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit it. Then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration had extended temporary protected status for people from Venezuela. In an email, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security blasted the decision as more obstruction from “unelected activist” judges. The New York Times [8/29/2025 6:42 PM, Zach Montague, 143795K] reports that the Supreme Court ruled in May that the administration could for now deport the migrants while the legality of its policy was litigated. The question of whether President Trump can legally deport the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had been offered safe haven under the program has been making its way through the courts since he ended the program in February. It will almost certainly be ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court. But in May, the justices intervened on an emergency basis, issuing a brief unsigned order that allows the administration to proceed with the deportations while the litigation continues. Friday’s ruling was part of that litigation. It came from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found unanimously that the administration could not undo an existing Temporary Protected Status designation, which Congress had devised to be “predictable, dependable and insulated from electoral politics.” “No administration has attempted to vacate an existing temporary protection status designation in the 35 years in which the program has existed,” the opinion said. Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, a Clinton appointee, wrote the opinion. The panel also included Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. and Judge Anthony D. Johnstone, both Biden appointees. The administration has complained that lower court judges are exceeding their authority by issuing rulings that appear to counter the Supreme Court’s signals about its views. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said in an emailed statement that the Temporary Protected Status program had been abused, and that the decision “delays justice and undermines the integrity of our immigration system.” “Under God, the people rule,” the statement said. “Unelected activist judges cannot stop the will of the American people for a safe and secure homeland.”

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National Review [8/29/2025 4:44 PM, Dan McLaughlin, 109K]

National Review [8/29/2025 4:57 PM, Kamden Mulder, 109K] reports the Department of Homeland Security awarded $110 million in grants to faith-based organizations and nonprofits across the country, aiming to bolster security for these communities and groups. The money is awarded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. More than 600 faith-based groups will receive grant money. “In the face of violent criminals and radical organizations intent on hurting American communities, the Trump Administration is helping houses of worship, schools and community centers to harden their defenses against attacks and protect themselves,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a post on X. The announcement, made earlier this month, came just before Robin Westman, a 23-year-old transgender-identifying man, opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School, killing two children and injuring 18 others. According to Noem, the money granted to these organizations can be used “on security enhancements, like cameras, warning and alert systems, gates and lighting, access control systems and training programs for staff.” “Instead of using grant money to fund climate change initiatives and political pet projects, we are using this money to protect American communities — especially places where people gather in prayer,” Noem said. The money is available for faith-based organizations of all beliefs, including Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish-affiliated institutions, according to FEMA.

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AP [8/29/2025 6:25 PM, Rebecca Santana, Amanda Seitz and Valerie Gonzalez, 37974K] reports the Trump administration is planning to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children who had come to the U.S. without their parents, according to a letter sent Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, and the Central American country said it was ready to take them in. The removals would violate the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s "child welfare mandate and this country’s long-established obligation to these children," Wyden told Angie Salazar, acting director of the office within the Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for migrant children who arrive in the U.S. alone. "This move threatens to separate children from their families, lawyers, and support systems, to thrust them back into the very conditions they are seeking refuge from, and to disappear vulnerable children beyond the reach of American law and oversight," the Democratic senator wrote, asking for the deportation plans to be terminated. It is another step in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement efforts, which include plans to surge officers to Chicago for an immigration crackdown, ramping up deportations and ending protections for people who have had permission to live and work in the United States. Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Martínez said Friday that the government has told the U.S. it is willing to receive hundreds of Guatemalan minors who arrived unaccompanied to the United States and are being held in U.S. facilities. Guatemala is particularly concerned about minors who could age out of the facilities for children and be sent to adult detention centers, he said. The exact number of children to be returned remains in flux, but they are currently discussing a little over 600. He said no date has been set yet for their return. "The idea is to bring them back before they reach 18 years old so that they are not taken to an adult detention center," Guatemala Immigration Institute Director Danilo Rivera said at the time. He said it would be done at Guatemala’s expense and would be a form of voluntary return. The plan was announced by President Bernardo Arévalo, who said then that the government had a moral and legal obligation to advocate for the children. His comments came days after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Guatemala. Quoting unidentified whistleblowers, Wyden’s letter said children who do not have a parent or legal guardian as a sponsor or who don’t have an asylum case already underway, "will be forcibly removed from the country.”

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The Los Angeles Times [8/29/2025 8:37 PM, Matthew Lee, 12715K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked the visas of a number of Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization officials ahead of next month’s annual high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, where the groups previously have been represented. The State Department said in a statement Friday that Rubio also had ordered some new visa applications from Palestinian officials be denied. The move is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to target Palestinians with visa restrictions and comes as the Israeli military declared Gaza’s largest city a combat zone. The State Department also suspended a program that had allowed injured Palestinian children from Gaza to come to the U.S. for medical treatment after a social media outcry by some conservatives. The State Department didn’t specify how many visas had been revoked or how many applications had been denied. The department did not immediately respond to a request for more specifics. It wasn’t immediately clear if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be affected. The agency’s statement did say that representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the United Nations would be granted waivers under the U.S. host country agreement with the U.N. so they can continue their New York-based operations. "It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace," the statement said. "Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism — including the October 7 massacre — and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by U.S. law and as promised by the PLO.” The Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, told reporters Friday that he had just learned of Rubio’s decision and was assessing its impact. "We will see exactly what it means and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly," he said. Mansour said Abbas was leading the delegation to next month’s U.N. meetings and was expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years. He also was expected to attend a high-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on Sept. 22 about a two-state solution, which calls for Israel living side by side with an independent Palestine. CNN [8/29/2025 5:37 PM, Jennifer Hansler, 23245K] reports that a State Department official confirmed that "Abbas is affected by this action along with approximately 80 other PA officials.” According to Friday’s announcement from the State Department, the Palestinian Authority’s Mission to the UN "will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement.” However, refusing Abbas a visa would appear to violate that agreement as the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a non-member observer state. The policy will also severely limit the presence of Palestinian officials at the annual global summit as the war in Gaza continues and a number of key allies prepare to recognize a Palestinian state. In a statement Friday, the Palestinian presidency expressed "deep regret and astonishment at the US State Department’s decision not to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation participating in the UN General Assembly meetings next September." The statement called on the US to "reconsider and reverse its decision.” Asked about the announcement, Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said Friday, "we will see exactly what it means and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.” In the statement announcing the move, the State Department accused the PA and the PLO of taking steps that "materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.” "Before we take them seriously as partners in peace, the PA and PLO must completely reject terrorism and stop counterproductively pursuing the unilateral recognition of a hypothetical state," State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on X.

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The New York Post [8/29/2025 4:29 PM, Josh Christenson, 43962K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fired two dozen Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees Friday following “massive” cybersecurity failures that compromised government networks and put operations “at risk.” The ousted employees include FEMA Chief Information Officer Charles Armstrong, Chief Information Security Officer Gregory Edwards and 22 other IT workers at the agency, reps told The Post. “FEMA’s career IT leadership failed on every level. Their incompetence put the American people at risk,” Noem said in a statement. “When DHS stepped in to fix the problem, entrenched bureaucrats worked to prevent us from solving the problem and downplayed just how bad this breach was.” Noem stated that the agency’s network was accessed by “a threat actor” after ordering a cybersecurity review at FEMA. It’s unclear whether the threat came from a foreign actor, though the Department of Homeland Security was one of several agencies using Microsoft software to be targeted by Chinese state-linked actors last month. The Beijing-sponsored hackers also breached SharePoint software used by the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is responsible for maintaining and modernizing the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. DHS spokespeople said that the IT team “lied to officials about the scope and scale of the cyber vulnerabilities” and “avoided scheduled inspections.” FEMA also was not using multi-factor authentication and ignoring other “cirtical vulnerabilities.” “These deep-state individuals were more interested in covering up their failures than in protecting the Homeland and American citizens’ personal data, so I terminated them immediately,” Noem added. “The American people deserve results from their government.” Reuters [8/29/2025 6:36 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports Noem’s statement gave few specifics about the nature of the breach except to blame FEMA’s staff, two dozen of whom she said she had fired. Noem said the hack threatened "the entire Department and the nation as a whole" but at the same time said that "no American citizens were directly impacted." She added: "No sensitive data was extracted from any DHS networks.” DHS did not immediately respond to a message seeking further clarity on what happened. Noem devoted nine paragraphs of her statement about the breach to attacks on FEMA’s IT staff, accusing them of "failure," "neglect," "incompetence" and dishonesty. She said 23 of them had been fired. Reuters could not immediately verify her claims. News of the FEMA breach - and the mass firing purportedly connected to it - follows an open letter of dissent against the agency’s leadership signed by scores of current and former FEMA employees. The letter warned Congress that the inexperience of top appointees of President Donald Trump’s administration could lead to a catastrophe on the level of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast of the United States 20 years ago. FEMA has extended a hiring freeze through at least the end of this year, according to three sources familiar with the matter, as the peak of hurricane season approaches. The Department of Homeland Security "is committed to ensuring FEMA delivers for the American people," a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement on Friday. The spokesperson did not respond to a question about the hiring freeze. CNN [8/29/2025 7:13 PM, Gabe Cohen, 662K] reports that the public firings mirror similar actions taken by Noem and DHS in February. After Elon Musk tweeted that FEMA staff had illegally distributed federal funds to New York City to house migrants, Noem terminated four workers – including the agency’s highly respected chief financial officer – saying the group had "effectively laundered" the funds and lied to leadership. A CNN investigation revealed a different story: FEMA staff had repeatedly sought legal guidance and believed they were following the administration’s orders. DHS has also administered polygraph tests to more than a dozen high-ranking FEMA officials – including its former Trump-appointed acting chief – in a hunt for media leaks.

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Reuters [8/29/2025 7:39 PM, Dietrich Knauth, Nate Raymond and Tom Hals, 20690K] reports a divided U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president’s use of the levies as a key international economic policy tool. The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision comes as a legal fight over the independence of the Federal Reserve also seems bound for the Supreme Court, setting up an unprecedented legal showdown this year over Trump’s entire economic policy. Trump has made tariffs a pillar of U.S. foreign policy in his second term, using them to exert political pressure and renegotiate trade deals with countries that export goods to the United States. The tariffs have given the Trump administration leverage to extract economic concessions from trading partners but have also increased volatility in financial markets. Trump lamented the decision by what he called a "highly partisan" court, posting on Truth Social: "If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country.” He nonetheless predicted a reversal, saying he expected tariffs to benefit the country "with the help of the Supreme Court.” The 7-4 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., addressed the legality of what Trump calls "reciprocal" tariffs imposed as part of his trade war in April, as well as a separate set of tariffs imposed in February against China, Canada and Mexico. Trump justified both sets of tariffs - as well as more recent levies - under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. IEEPA gives the president the power to address "unusual and extraordinary" threats during national emergencies. "The statute bestows significant authority on the President to undertake a number of actions in response to a declared national emergency, but none of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax," the court said. "It seems unlikely that Congress intended, in enacting IEEPA, to depart from its past practice and grant the President unlimited authority to impose tariffs.”

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CNN [8/30/2025 4:00 AM, Audrey Ash, Curt Devine, 23245K] reports that, the month before a shooter opened fire on children gathered in a Minnesota church this week, the Trump administration cut funding in the state for efforts to identify potential mass shooters and head off their violence. The grants were ended as part of $18.5 million in cuts to a Homeland Security program that the Trump administration decried as partisan and unsuccessful — but which some experts and lawmakers say bolsters work to spot early warning signs of mass shooters like Robin Westman, who died of self-inflicted wounds after killing two children and wounding 18 others at a Catholic Mass on Wednesday. "The capacity to combat domestic terrorism is eroding," said Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It seems like the eye has been taken off the ball in terms of domestic terrorism prevention in this country – that terrorism is not that major a concern.” Even Westman—in journal writings—questioned not being identified as a potential threat by authorities. "Should be harder for people like me to carry out these attacks," Westman wrote at one point. Another time the shooter thought some purchases would draw suspicion. "I have been showing signs for a while, I need to be stopped! I don’t want to abandon my plan, but I really want to be stopped for the sake of my family.” The scuttled grants, which were run by the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3), an arm of DHS, had funded local programs at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to assess and manage mass violence threats. In July, DHS pulled the funds to the two local agencies, which totaled about $800,000. A letter from DHS shared with CNN alleged the money had gone to "openly partisan and political organizations.” On Friday, a DHS spokesperson defended that decision, saying in a statement that "the grant program previously administered by CP3 was nothing more than a slush fund for left-wing ideologies, and did next to nothing to combat actual threats in our communities.” But some lawmakers say that argument is baseless and that yanking the grants has left the state less equipped to prevent tragedies like this week’s attack at Annunciation Catholic School. The cancelation of that grant "limits our state law enforcement from access to vital federal counterterrorism partners and resources and leaves Minnesota communities more vulnerable to violent attacks," said Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, one of six Democratic lawmakers who sent a letter to DHS earlier this month imploring the agency to reinstate the grant to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

The Hill [8/29/2025 10:06 AM, Filip Timotija, 12414K] reports attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are asking a federal judge to issue a gag order against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, to bar them from making "baseless public attacks" against the Salvadoran national who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador earlier this year. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said in a Thursday motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee that Trump administration officials have targeted their client since he was released from prison, leveling "highly prejudicial, inflammatory and false statements." "To safeguard his right to a fair trial, Mr. Abrego respectfully renews his earlier requests that the Court order that all DOJ and DHS officials involved in this case, and all officials in their supervisory chain, including [Bondi and Noem], refrain from making extrajudicial comments that pose a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing this proceeding," the attorneys said in a 15-page motion to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw. Noem has accused Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally, of being associated with the Salvadorian gang MS-13. His lawyers have denied the accusation. "He doesn’t belong here. He won’t be staying here. America is a safer nation without this MS-13 Gangbanger in it," The Department of Homeland Security said of Abrego Garcia in a post on social media Monday. "If Kilmar Abrego Garcia did not want to be mentioned by the Secretary of Homeland Security, then he should have not entered our country illegally and committed heinous crimes," a DHS official told The Hill on Friday morning. "Once again, the media is falling all over themselves to defend this criminal illegal MS-13 gang member who is an alleged human trafficker, domestic abuser, and child predator," the DHS official continued. "The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal alien has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story." They added, "We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims."

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New York Times [8/29/2025 9:19 PM, Jody García, Miriam Jordan and Jazmine Ulloa, 143795K] reports the Trump administration has been coordinating with the Guatemalan government to send hundreds of minors who crossed the southern border without an adult back to their home country, according to two people familiar with the administration’s efforts and Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. The children are currently in shelters awaiting release into the United States, and their repatriation without an opportunity to make a case to remain in the country would be a first, according to legal experts. “Summarily deporting children without due process will in many cases put them in harm’s way,’’ said Michelle Brané, executive director of Together and Free, an advocacy organization that focuses on migrant children and families. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act specifically bars expedited removal of unaccompanied children, said the lawyer, who called the move “unprecedented.” Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Ramíro Martínez, said a plan to repatriate minors, many of them adolescents, was outlined during a visit to the country by the Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, in July. “It’s a number greater than 600 minors, and we are figuring out how they should return to Guatemala,” said Mr. Martínez. He added that Guatemalan officials “would prefer it to be done in a gradual and planned manner.” Hundreds of thousands of children, mainly from Central America, have crossed the southern border into the United States alone in the last decade, many seeking to join friends or family members. Many of these children have won the right to remain in the United States permanently by proving that they were abandoned or persecuted in their home countries and left fleeing violence and poverty. The number of unaccompanied children arriving in the United States has plunged since Mr. Trump took office. There are currently 2,000 in shelters, which collectively have the capacity to hold about 15,000. But the minors have proved to be a vexing problem for the Trump administration as it seeks to crack down on illegal immigration, because children are granted certain legal protections. The administration has taken steps that it has said are designed to ensure that the children are safe and are not victims of trafficking or exploitation — and some who arrive are. But advocates for the children say these efforts, which include dispatching agents who specialize in gang investigations to check on them, are intended to stir fear and accelerate deportations.

CBS New York [8/29/2025 6:46 PM, Marcia Kramer, 45245K] Video: HERE reports the Trump administration is zeroing in on New York City and others with sanctuary laws, like Chicago and Los Angeles, as it plans to ramp up immigration enforcement operations after Labor Day. Tom Homan, the White House border czar, issued the warning that New York City is in the crosshairs after President Trump’s federal takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., which also includes efforts to arrest undocumented immigrants. Homan made it clear that cities like New York will be targeted next as the federal government prepares for a new wave of immigration roundups. "You’re gonna see a ramp up of operations in New York. You’re gonna see a ramp up of operations continue in LA and, you know, Portland, Seattle," he said. New York’s sanctuary city laws allow only limited cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in cases that involve people convicted of crimes. "All these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE, where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country, especially those cities, we’re gonna address that. We don’t have that problem in Texas and Florida where all the sheriffs are working with us," Homan said.

Blaze [8/29/2025 4:45 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1559K] reports President Donald Trump and his administration are expanding their efforts to carry out the largest deportation initiative in the nation’s history. Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security is planning an operation in Chicago that would involve 200 agency officials and the use of the Naval Station Great Lakes, according to the New York Times. The DHS’ draft request, which awaits review by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reportedly stated that the agency will use the naval base for "facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs" for a 30-day operation in the Chicago Metropolitan area. It requests space for 250 department personnel and a "Tactical Operations Center," an "Incident Command Post," bathrooms, laundry facilities, and parking for 140 vehicles, according to the document reviewed by the Times. The draft request also seeks storage space for medical supplies and weapons, such as rubber bullets and tear gas, the outlet reported. The Trump administration has repeatedly warned sanctuary leaders, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D), that it plans to focus law enforcement efforts in jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

The Hill [8/29/2025 8:49 AM, Filip Timotija, 12414K] reports the Trump administration is weighing plans to use a Navy base near Chicago to support migrant detention efforts in the Windy City as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) crackdown on illegal immigration. DHS asked the Naval Station Great Lakes for "limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS operations," the base’s spokesperson, Matt Mogle, told The Associated Press (AP). Mogle said no decision has been made regarding the request and that the base, located about 35 miles north of Chicago, has not gotten a formal request to support the deployment of the National Guard. The request to the base comes as Trump has greenlighted the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. as part of an effort to combat crime. The president also deployed soldiers in June to Los Angeles in the wake of protests sparked by an uptick of activity in the region by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump’s border czar Tom Homan confirmed Thursday morning that the administration is discussing the use of the base near Chicago to aid in immigration raids. "It’s under discussions. Maybe by the end of the day, but it’s being discussed," Homan told reporters at the White House.

USA Today [8/29/2025 7:24 PM, Michael Loria, 64151K] reports Chicago city leaders and Illinois officials are warning residents of the nation’s third-largest city to keep protests from getting out of hand if the Trump administration follows through on its promise to deploy the National Guard. "When it comes to federal agents or the National Guard, these people work for the federal government and their rules of engagement are different," Chicago Police Superintendent warned at a news briefing on Aug. 27. "Keep it peaceful, try not to obstruct or become physical with federal agents or members of the National Guard." The warning from the city’s top cop comes as Chicagoans expect the White House to bring its immigration crackdown to the city sometime after Labor Day. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker warned Chicagoans to expect military checkpoints with "unidentified officers in masks while taking their kids to school." But he asked protesters to refrain from giving federal troops reason to engage. "I know you, Chicago," Pritzker said. "When you protest, do it peacefully, be sure to continue Chicago’s long tradition of nonviolent resistance." Protests that saw cars set ablaze over federal immigration enforcement are what prompted Trump to deploy the National Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles. The White House deployed troops to Washington, D.C. after declaring a crime emergency, despite falling violent crime numbers. Violent crime rates are also falling in Chicago, according to police department data. An annual Labor Day march quickly transformed into an anti-Trump protest as soon as the president "said he was going to bring an occupying force to our city," Stacy Davis Gates, president of the city’s powerful teacher’s union, told USA TODAY. "It feels chaotic, aggressive, intimidating, unnecessary and it feels racist," said Davis Gates, who is Black. "Having an occupying force in an American city sent by an American president is wrong, it’s bad for the taxpayer, it shifts valuable resources from need to intimidation."

Breitbart [8/29/2025 6:35 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports the left is lashing out as the Trump administration prepares to use Chicago’s Great Lakes Naval Station as a base for immigration enforcement sweeps in Chicago and Illinois. The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly asked the Navy facility to gear up for "limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS operations," according to the Wall Street Journal. The plans are still in the early stages for the facility situated about 35 miles north of downtown Chicago. Trump border czar Tom Homan told reporters that the administration plans to dedicate a "large contingent" of forces to Chicago, but he did not have any further information about the coming efforts. "Operations are ramping up across the country, but you could see a ramp up of operations in Chicago, absolutely," Homan said. "You’re going to see a ramp up of operations in New York; you’re going to see a ramp up of operations continue in L.A., Portland, Seattle, all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE," he added. Chicago’s self-professed "progressive" Mayor Brandon Johnson has been vociferously opposing any ramping up of ICE activity in the Windy City and in an appearance last week on left-wing MSNBC even urged Chicagoans to "rise up" in violence against federal law enforcement officers. Radical Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker has also warned the president against ramping up any enforcement focus on Chicago. Like Johnson, Prizker threatened the federal government, saying, "The state of Illinois is ready to stand against this military deployment with every peaceful tool we have.” Other Democrats have jumped on the bandwagon, including former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who decried the possible use of the Naval Station for immigration enforcement. "When I reported for duty at Naval Station Great Lakes, I never imagined that some day a US President would seek to use it as a base for surveillance and enforcement activity on American soil. Our military was not set up to cater to the whims of a would-be American dictator," Buttigieg wrote in a post on X.

CBS News [8/29/2025 8:37 PM, Ed O’Keefe, Joe Walsh, 45245K] reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told CBS News the Trump administration has not communicated with his state on a reported plan to send military forces to Chicago, calling the idea an "invasion" and arguing President Trump has "other aims" aside from cracking down on crime. Asked about a possible military deployment to America’s third-largest city, which was recently reported by Washington Post, Pritzker told CBS News: "It’s clear that, in secret, they’re planning this — well, it’s an invasion with U.S. troops, if they, in fact, do that." Mr. Trump has deployed National Guard forces and federal agents to the streets of two other major cities — Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — in recent months, part of what the president casts as a crackdown against illegal immigration, violent crime and civil unrest. Last week, the president said his administration could take similar steps in Chicago. Mr. Trump called the city a "mess" and lashed out against Mayor Brandon Johnson, saying, "We’ll straighten that one out probably next." Mr. Trump is planning major immigration enforcement operations in Chicago that could start as soon as next week, echoing a similar operation in Los Angeles, sources told CBS News. And Washington Post has reported that the Pentagon is drawing up plans to potentially send thousands of National Guard members to the Midwest’s largest metro area as early as September — though those plans haven’t been publicly confirmed. Pritzker told CBS News that, if Mr. Trump sends the Guard to Chicago, voters "should understand that he has other aims, other than fighting crime." The governor argued that the president’s gambit may be part of a plan to "stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections." He also called the idea "an attack on the American people." "Now, he may disagree with a state that didn’t vote for him. But, should he be sending troops in? No," Pritzker said in an interview with CBS News in Chicago. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson rejected Pritzker’s accusations and blasted the city’s violent crime rate. "It’s amazing the lengths this slob will go to in order to deflect from the terrible crime crisis that has been plaguing Chicago for years," Jackson said in a statement to CBS News. "Chicago’s residents would be much safer if Pritzker actually did his job and addressed his crime problem instead of trying to be a Resistance Lib hero." The Guard deployments in Los Angeles and D.C. have drawn stiff pushback from elected officials who argue local police are better able to handle crime, and warn the presence of federal agents and military personnel could inflame tensions. Future military deployments could also draw legal challenges. While Mr. Trump controls the D.C. National Guard outright, the governors of the 50 states typically control their own Guard forces except in certain circumstances.

CBS Chicago [8/29/2025 8:51 PM, Charlie De Mar, 45245K] Video: HERE reports the Trump administration is ramping up for an immigration crackdown in Chicago, with a naval base possibly serving as a command center for the entire operation. President Donald Trump has vowed to send in federal help to Chicago, just as he’s done in Washington, D.C. Despite violent crime being down year over year, the president and his administration continue to falsely claim that Chicago has a crime and violent immigrant problem. In the spring, the Department of Justice slashed nearly $160 million in grants meant for violence prevention, $16 million was earmarked for Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said that the move was about the 2026 elections. "He’s defunding our efforts to fight crime so he can send troops into the city of Chicago for one reason, and I want everyone to pay attention. It’s about the elections in 2026 and about interrupting our ability to have a fair and free election in 2026," he said. "I had one person say it took years to build this, but it could take months to tear it down," Rita Oceguera said. Oceguera spoke with local violence prevention groups facing the reality of these budget cuts. She’s a reporter for The Trace—a newsroom focused on gun violence. "In speaking to violence prevention leaders and organizers, what they were saying is that if President Donald Trump was serious about reducing gun violence and helping Chicago, then he would reinstate the funding that was recently cut," she said. New York Times reviewed a request from the department. The report says the Trump administration plans to ramp up immigration enforcement in Chicago—calling for a 30-day operation at the naval base, featuring 250 people, parking for 140 vehicles, storage space for medical supplies, bathrooms, and laundry, and rubber bullets and tear gas. "I don’t know why they would need rubber bullets and tear gas, Gov. JB Pritzker said. "They want to inflame something, that’s what they want. "I mean all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE, where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country," White House Border Czar Tom Homan said. The Naval Station Great Lakes, located just outside of Chicago, is normally used for training recruits. A spokesman for the base said that, while they received a request to assist Homeland Security with logistical needs, they have not been asked to support the National Guard.

Breitbart [8/30/2025 6:20 AM, Ian Hanchett, 3077K] reports on Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Briefing,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that the Trump administration is focusing on Chicago for immigration enforcement and crime “because there’s clearly a disdain for working people.” And the actions aren’t about crime, but the Trump administration is “working to, not only divide communities, but conquer them.” Host Jen Psaki asked, “Clearly, Chicago is, like, in the craw of Trump, because there are two threats against Chicago coming from the administration right now. One is this big immigration crackdown. The other is Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard over crime. What does that say to you about their motivations and the fact that they’re targeting your city?” Johnson answered, “Well, it’s because there’s clearly a disdain for working people. Instead of the federal government and the president of the United States of America focusing in on how we can drive unemployment down in our communities, how we can make sure that people can put food on their table, and to ensure that every single child has access to a high-quality education, he has done the opposite of that. He has, again, sown seeds of division and working to, not only divide communities, but conquer them. What we’re doing in Chicago is working. I’ve made critical investments in employment, particularly our young people. Over 31,119 young people had summer jobs, a 50% increase since I’ve taken office. I’ve expanded mental and behavioral health care services. We’re on pace to build 10,000 affordable units by the end of my first term. And we’ve revamped our entire detectives bureau so that we can actually hold people accountable. And, as a result of those investments, homicides are down 32%, shootings, shooting victims are down nearly 40%, robberies are down nearly 35%, vehicular carjackings are down almost 50%. There is more work to do, don’t misunderstand me, but what I know what works is that, when you invest in people, and, particularly, communities that have been historically locked out of opportunities, that’s how we build safe and affordable communities, not just across Chicago, but across America.”

Chicago Tribune [8/29/2025 8:41 AM, Alice Yin and Jeremy Gorner, 5352K] reports Mayor Brandon Johnson decried President Donald Trump as inhumane Thursday evening following reports of a major immigration sweep starting imminently in Chicago. Speaking at a North Side town hall, the mayor again warned it would be "unconstitutional" and "illegal" for the federal government to send troops to patrol the city’s streets and vowed to uphold Chicago’s longstanding sanctuary city policy for immigrants. "The city of Chicago is emphatically clear that we do not want our streets occupied by federal troops," Johnson said. "Unless there’s a warrant, these federal agents do not have the right and the authority to bullguard their way through our institutions, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that we stand up to tyranny." The mayor’s office also released a statement Thursday evening saying the possible operation was "deeply concerning" and resembled a similar strategy used in Los Angeles, where roiling protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were met with a military response. "We reject any attempts that put Chicagoans in danger as a means of furthering the President’s political ends," the Johnson statement read. "In the event of enhanced immigration enforcement in Chicago, we will continue to issue guidance to all City departments and ensure that Chicagoans know their rights."

FOX News [8/29/2025 2:49 PM, Cameron Arcand, 40019K] reports that the Trump administration is weighing National Guard deployments in Chicago, drawing new attention to how immigration-related arrests have become a central feature of its crackdown in Washington, D.C. Many of the arrests since President Donald Trump announced the crackdown earlier this month have been immigration-related, including alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13. The federal surge in the capital city is now inspiring the possibility of targeting Chicago and other blue cities next. In Chicago, ICE is expected to use the Great Lakes Naval Station as a home base for a major immigration enforcement operation in the area soon, according to the New York Times. "Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent," Trump said on Friday. Like residents in D.C., Chicagoans are already pushing back against Trump’s potential plans. "Unlawfully deploying the National Guard to Chicago has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement when we know that trust between police and residents is foundational to building safer communities," Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson fired back in a statement. "An unlawful deployment would be unsustainable and would threaten to undermine the historic progress we have made." "President Trump has been clear: We are going to make our streets and cities safe again. Across the country, DHS law enforcement is arresting and removing the worst of the worst, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles and rapists that have terrorized American communities. Under Secretary Noem, ICE and CBP are working overtime to deliver on the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again," a senior DHS official previously said in a statement.

NewsNation [8/29/2025 9:32 PM, Jeff Arnold and Kellie Meyer, 6811K] reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has not yet received word about the Trump administration’s plans to send federal immigration enforcement officers and agents to Chicago after Labor Day, which the Democrat on Friday called "offensive.” But the lack of official notice from the White House about what is expected to be a multi-agency federal deployment to Chicago after Labor Day isn’t stopping state and city officials from devising a strategy to maintain peace and prevent chaos from taking over city streets, Chicago’s police superintendent said this week. On Thursday, White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed that "a large contingent" of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will be sent to Chicago. Homan said that he would not disclose how many resources would be sent. New York Times reported late Thursday that 200 Homeland Security officials would be sent. The report, citing a draft report on the use of Naval Station Great Lakes near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, indicated that space for 250 department personnel had been requested. In addition, the plan asked for a tactical operations center and an incident command post, bathrooms, laundry facilities, parking for 140 vehicles and storage space for medical supplies and weapons including rubber bullets and tear gas. On Friday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said he had no updates on Chicago, but said that the Trump administration is committed to the eradication of organized street violence across the country. Using the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as an example, Miller said Trump is "proud to be using federal law enforcement and our National Guard to make this city safe and peaceful for Americans.” However, Miller, without providing specifics on what is planned for Chicago, said cities that have "sanctuary" policies in place are the jurisdictions Trump is targeting for large-scale operations. On Thursday, Homan said New York City, Portland and Seattle could all be in play for similar post-Labor Day federal law enforcement operations, along with Chicago.

AP [8/29/2025 1:53 PM, Rebecca Santana and Elliot Spagat, 37974K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration plans to surge officers to Chicago for an immigration crackdown in its latest move to expand the federal law enforcement presence in major Democratic-run cities, according to two U.S. officials. The operation in the country’s third-largest city is expected to last about 30 days and could start as early as Sept. 5, a Department of Homeland Security official told The Associated Press on Friday. Another U.S. official said the timing for what could be a sustained immigration enforcement effort resembling this summer’s operations in Los Angeles is awaiting final approval. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been made public. Chicago is home to a large immigrant population, and both the city and the state of Illinois have some of the country’s strongest rules against cooperating with federal government immigration enforcement efforts. That has often put the city and the state at odds with Trump’s administration as it tries to carry out his mass deportation agenda. The Trump administration asked the military this week for use of the Naval Station Great Lakes, north of Chicago, to support immigration enforcement.

Detroit Free Press [8/29/2025 6:05 AM, Niraj Warikoo, 3744K] reports Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib asked White House officials for funds for his city and to ease restrictions on Yemeni immigrants. Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib is hopeful about his city getting federal funds and immigration relief for Yemenis after he met recently in the White House with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, the Homeland Security Advisor and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for policy. Last week, on Aug. 20, Ghalib had meetings in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House with senior officials. In addition to Rubio and Miller, Ghalib also met with James Blair, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for legislative, political and public affairs.

Blaze [8/29/2025 11:15 AM, Cortney Weil, 1559K] reports while federal immigration officials work around the clock to deport foreigners out of the United States these days, some law enforcement agents in Texas are scrambling to keep one Chinese national here after he allegedly stole proprietary cancer research with plans to take it back to his homeland. Yunhai Li, a post-doctoral researcher, joined the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2022. According to KTRK, Li claimed in a signed legal statement that he had been working on a vaccine to keep breast cancer from metastasizing. Li was in the U.S. on a research exchange scholar visa issued by the State Department. Moreover, much of his research was funded by federal entities like the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Health, and as a recipient of federal funding, Li signed documents promising to abide by confidentiality agreements and data storage and sharing restrictions, KTRK reported. Toward the end of his research, Li uploaded about 90 GB of research data to his personal Google drive, his statement said, according to the outlet. After MD Anderson officials approached him about the uploaded data, he deleted it, offering proof that he had done so. However, according to KRIV, Li also allegedly uploaded the data to the Chinese server Baidu. Li had also continued to receive funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and maintained his employment at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University during his time in America without disclosing that information to MD Anderson, documents said, according to KRIV. The forms Li signed to receive federal U.S. funding make plain that such conflicts of interest are forbidden.

CBS News [8/29/2025 7:26 AM, Staff, 45245K] Video HERE reports Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday there was "no way" American troops could invade Venezuela after Washington deployed multiple warships and 4,000 troops to the Caribbean to pressure the leftist strongman. The United States said the deployment to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela’s territorial waters, is an anti-drug trafficking operation. Venezuela has responded by sending warships and drones to patrol its coastline and launching a drive to recruit thousands of militia members to bolster its defenses. "There’s no way they can enter Venezuela," Maduro said, vowing that his country was well prepared to defend its "peace, sovereignty and territorial integrity." The United States has, however, made no public threat to invade. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [8/29/2025 4:30 PM, Leena Nasir, 985K] reports Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin slammed Kim Kardashian for wading into the immigration debate Friday, accusing the reality star of siding with violent criminals. McLaughlin said Kardashian was "misinformed and detached from the very reality of the operations in Los Angeles she has decided to opine on" in an interview with TMZ. Kardashian has recently backed efforts to win freedom for certain offenders. "These are the violent criminals who Homeland Security, under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, have removed from Los Angeles’s streets: murderers, rapists, gang members and child pedophiles," McLaughlin said. McLaughlin pressed further, asking "Why does Ms. Kardashian continue to do the bidding of criminals at the expense of innocent Americans and brave law enforcement?" McLaughlin’s latest remarks came after Kardashian criticized Trump-era mass deportations while speaking at an event in Venice, Italy, where she claimed most of those being removed from the United States were non-criminals.

(B) Newschannel 20 Sunrise 6a [8/29/2025 7:32 AM, Staff] reports that the man accused of stabbing a Springfield woman to death two years ago has been arrested in Mexico. Gabriel Calixto has been wanted for the murder Emma Shafer since July 2023. The Sangamon County State’s Attorney says they are working with federal authorities to extradite Calixto back to Illinois to face murder charges. There has not been another information released about the circumstances around Calixto’s arrest and where the extradition proceedings currently stand. Back in May, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Springfield to advance the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. She came under scrutiny after naming Emma Shafer in a press conference.

New York Times [8/29/2025 12:27 PM, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Jeff Adelson, Campbell Robertson, and Bernard Mokam, 153395K] reports Juan Carlos Dela Torre had already experienced one run-in with one of the roving crews of federal law enforcement agents who descended on Washington, D.C., this month. Then on Friday night came another. He was standing on the sidewalk smoking a joint, which the officers grabbed as evidence of “consuming marijuana in a public space,” a misdemeanor in the district. The officers took him to a local police station, searched him and, they said, found a small amount of the stimulant MDMA. He was sent to jail. “I’ve never seen this much police presence in my whole life,” said Mr. Dela Torre, 37, a massage therapist who has lived in Washington since 1994. “You guys are worried about some guy smoking a joint on the corner on a Friday night?” President Trump declared that crime in Washington was “out of control” earlier this month and said he would use the power of the federal government to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor — and worse.” But a review by The New York Times of about a thousand arrests that were made during the first two weeks of the federal law enforcement surge suggests that the operation has been more of a sprawling dragnet than a targeted crime-fighting operation.

FOX News [8/29/2025 3:42 PM, Alex Nitzberg, 40019K] reports Sean Charles Dunn, the Justice Department worker fired after being accused of throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent earlier this month, has been charged with a misdemeanor. Dunn was previously charged with a felony, but a grand jury declined to hand down an indictment. Footage of the episode shows an individual apparently running away from authorities after hurling the item at the officer. A statement of facts attached to a criminal complaint filed earlier this month said Dunn shouted at CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore and tossed a sandwich at him.

Bloomberg [8/29/2025 6:50 PM, Isaiah Poritz, 790K] reports Texas will get a second shot at defending the legality of a sweeping state law allowing it to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants before a full federal appeals court. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted Friday to rehear the case before the full court, known as en banc. In a separate order, the New Orleans-based appeals court also vacated the court’s previous ruling from July, which found the law conflicts with the longstanding principle that the federal government has sole power over immigration enforcement.

Reuters [8/29/2025 6:46 AM, Tom Hals, 20690K] reports as President Donald Trump began his push to send the National Guard and Marines to U.S. cities, military leaders privately questioned whether the troops had received proper training and warned of the "far-reaching social, political and operational" risks of aiding law enforcement, according to a Reuters review of military records disclosed in court. U.S. Army officials planning an operation in MacArthur Park during the June deployment in Los Angeles determined that using troops to protect agents carrying out Trump’s immigration crackdown posed an "extremely high" risk to civilians, troops and the military’s reputation, according to an internal document. Officials warned that the operation could attract protests and spiral into a riot with potential for "miscommunication and fratricide" as well as accidental harm to civilians, including children, the operation planning document said. The trove of internal military reports and messages, disclosed during a trial to resolve a lawsuit by California Governor Gavin Newsom, offers a rare inside look at concerns from commanders after Trump broke a long-standing tradition against using the military in support of domestic law enforcement over the objections of local officials. Since deploying 4,000 National Guard and 700 U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to quell protests against immigration arrests, Republican Trump has sent National Guard troops to Washington and is considering expanding the military presence in other Democratic-run cities.

Breitbart [8/29/2025 4:57 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports Florida police have discovered how migrants who cannot speak English have been getting licenses to drive 18-wheelers on the nation’s highways. Investigators in Florida have discovered that one way is by using hidden cameras and ear pieces when they enter a drive’s license facility to take their commercial truck driving license (CDL) test, WTLV-TV reported. Investigators from the Florida State Police have discovered that some foreign-born applicants are using a camera and an ear piece connected to someone outside the DMV facility who speaks their language to cheat on the tests. The applicant uses the camera to scan the test so his cohort can read the questions, then they tell the applicant how to answer the test questions over the ear piece. That way, the migrants can pass the test without having read a single question or understood any of the answers. Recently, the State Police arrested and convicted several migrants who used this cheat to take CDL tests at a Jacksonville, Florida, DMV. The investigators say that the camera cheat scheme is highly organized and has likely been going on for quite a while. Another investigation in Florida caught several DMV employees illegally selling driver’s licenses to migrants at a state facility in Bay County. Officials said that the employees had sold upwards to 1,000 licenses to migrants who never took the driver’s test. Florida is not the only state where investigators have discovered schemes to fraudulently get driver’s licenses for migrants.

Daily Caller [8/29/2025 10:19 PM, Hailey Gomez, 985K] reports U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner said Friday on Fox News’ "Jesse Watters Primetime" that illegal immigrants may no longer "live in taxpayer-funded housing.” In March, Turner and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the "American Housing Programs for American Citizens," ending "the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens." Discussing how HUD plans to prevent illegal migrants from living in public housing, Turner said the department has already issued a letter to the D.C. Housing Authority requesting its full list of residents and those without U.S. citizenship. (RELATED: Alex Padilla Says Illegal Immigrants Are Long-Term Residents Who Just ‘Happen To Be Undocumented’). "President Trump is serious not only in cleaning up the crime in our streets, but also American citizens will be prioritized when it comes to living in HUD-funded, government-funded housing," Turner said. "We just sent out a letter to the D.C. Housing Authority, and it has been received by them. And, as you said, they have 30 days to give us a full, comprehensive account of everyone living inside of D.C. housing that are receiving Section 8 vouchers or any type of HUD funding.” "We want the names, the address, the number of people in the unit, the size of the unit, the cost of the unit. And they must give us their American citizenship status or eligible immigration status. No longer will we allow illegal aliens to live in taxpayer-funded housing here in America. In the last administration, in the Biden administration, they turned a blind eye. They didn’t collect the data," Turner added. "But those days are over. We are collecting the data to make sure they’re illegal aliens. And for that criminal activity, no one doing criminal activity is living in HUD-funded housing, which is literally on the backs of taxpayers in America.” Under the Biden administration, the border crisis became a major issue for the president as officials estimated a total of 10.8 million encounters with illegal migrants since fiscal year 2021. With a massive influx of illegal immigrants coming into the United States, Democrat mayors of sanctuary cities like Denver and New York City eventually asked the administration for funding to address the issue in 2023. By 2024, reports indicated that due to the surge of illegal immigrants, the U.S. had an estimated shortage of 4 million to 7 million housing units, with developers struggling to keep up with the demand for homes. In addition to housing concerns, rent in 2024 saw an increase of 20.9% since 2021, which had already risen due to inflation under Biden. According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies, an estimated 59% of illegal immigrant households use one or more welfare programs, which costs taxpayers an estimated $42 billion.

The Hill [8/29/2025 2:30 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12414K] reports that House Democrats are asking the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to open an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after it told a watchdog group that it was no longer retaining text messages when the nonprofit sought communications about immigration enforcement in Los Angeles. The letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is serving as NARA’s acting archivist, asks for an investigation into whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "failed to notify NARA about unlawful destruction of Federal records." The request comes a day after American Oversight called for an investigation into DHS’s response to its public records requests, in which the agency told the group that "text message data generated after April 9, 2025, is no longer maintained." Government agencies are required to retain public records, including their text messages. "DHS did not explain why it wrote otherwise in the July 23 letter or why it could produce no text message records in response to American Oversight’s FOIA request," House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote in the letter to Rubio, referring to the Freedom of Information Act. "Given the contradictory statements made by DHS, we ask that NARA open an investigation into this matter.". DHS and the National Archives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

USA Today [8/29/2025 8:02 AM, Sarah D. Wire, 64151K] reports hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to skip the barbecue and spend their Labor Day protesting President Donald Trump and the billionaires who support him. "We’re excited to see a lot of folks turning out and really turning up the heat on the administration and on the billionaires that are really driving the agenda, especially as we’re seeing increased attacks on our communities," Saqib Bhatti, executive director of Action Center on Race and the Economy, told USA TODAY. More than a thousand "Workers Over Billionaires" events are planned nationwide on Labor Day and the surrounding days. Taking place in small and large cities in nearly every state, the events are designed to build on the momentum of other large-scale protests including No Kings Day in June and Good Trouble Lives On in July. They are led by labor organizations, including the AFL-CIO, and other advocacy groups such as May Day Strong, Public Citizen and Indivisible. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the protests. Instead, it provided a quote from Vice President JD Vance about Democrats not voting for the GOP tax and spending bill and a quote from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about Labor Day. "We finally have a President who fights and delivers for the American worker every single day. President Trump believes that American workers are the heart and soul of our economy and our national identity, which is why he’s championed an agenda that puts them first always," she said.

New York Times [8/29/2025 5:35 AM, Jean Guerrero, 153395K] reports the U.S.-Mexico border is no longer just a line on a map; it is a roaming force, drifting through our cities and ravaging schools, courthouses and workplaces. It has become unmoored from geography, dragging its violence and impunity into the heart of American life. Once confined to the borderlands, the Border Patrol — with its culture of Wild West impunity — is now operating across the country, joining Immigration and Customs Enforcement in raids far from ports of entry. Gun-toting agents, sometimes in cowboy hats, are treating places like Los Angeles and other cities deep in the United States as if they were lawless outposts on a hostile frontier. ICE, the Border Patrol and other agencies have been deputized to carry the border with them — to enforce its racialized, exclusionary logic wherever they go. It has become routine to see masked agents jump out of unmarked vans to detain people violently, based on their skin color. The border no longer divides only countries. It snakes between white and brown, between families and neighbors, between citizens and the rights they once thought were inviolate. The brute force that it once unleashed out of sight, in remote desert regions at the nation’s edge and behind the locked doors of detention centers, is beginning to erupt in broad daylight.

Daily Caller [8/30/2025 2:37 AM, Jason Lewis, 985K] reports the national media silence over an illegal alien with a California commercial driver’s license (CDL) accused of killing three people while making an unlawful U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike is instructive on several fronts. First, it continues the trend of open-border journalists—from the Wall Street Journal to CNN—to place global commerce and identity politics above the lives of Americans. Newsrooms have buried the story because they know how fundamentally disgraceful their editorial decisions really are. Whether promoting ‘sanctuary cities’ while criticizing attempts at restoring law and order or downplaying the deaths on our highways due to illegal immigrant drivers—these folks, along with the politicians they back, are the real culprits. Second, the very notion of granting any driver’s license, let alone one for a semi, to someone who cannot read road signs in English is so demonstrably lunatic on its face that no sane person could possibly support it. And yet, California is one of 19 states that issues licenses regardless of immigration status and the ability to understand America’s traffic laws. In fact, the alleged perpetrator in the Florida crash answered just two of twelve questions correctly when tested for English language proficiency and could only identify one out of four highway signs shown to him, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). How Harjinder Singh was able to obtain a CDL in California where applications are supposedly administered in English is no more a mystery than welfare time limits—blue state outlaws ignore them. In wacked-out Washington state, where Singh had another CDL, officials allow tests to be taken in English, Spanish, Russian, or Serbian-Croatian. All of which I’m sure you’ve seen on America’s road signs. Worse, for a mere passenger car drivers license, it’s a free for all with almost every state administering exams in a multitude of foreign languages. Multiculturalism is killing people. And so are the people who enable it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. is pausing all issuance of visas for commercial truck drivers, something that probably should have been done the moment. President Trump signed an executive order requiring the enforcement of decades-old English-proficiency rules for commercial drivers. Singh first entered the country illegally from India via Mexico (where else?) in 2018, but contrary to the usual lies from Gov. Gavin Newsom, "his work authorization was rejected under the Trump Administration on Sept. 14, 2020. It was later approved under the Biden Administration June 9, 2021.” So you’ve got a situation where the state of California along with the Biden administration enabled an incompetent illegal alien to drive a semitrailer across the country. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, once Singh made the unlawful U-turn, a minivan in the adjacent lane crashed into the trailer, killing the three Americans.

The Hill [8/29/2025 11:30 AM, Reps. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.), Michael Guest (R-Miss.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), 12414K] reports twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast with a force our communities will never forget. Entire neighborhoods were swept away. Families were displaced. Lives were lost. The devastation that Mississippi endured in August 2005 remains one of the most painful chapters in our state’s history. Even in the darkest hours, the people of Mississippi showed the strength of their spirit. Neighbors helped each other clear debris. Churches and community groups opened their doors. Volunteers from across the nation joined hands with us to begin the long process of rebuilding. The resilience born out of tragedy has defined us ever since. Over the last two decades, Mississippi has rebuilt not only our homes and businesses, but also our sense of community and determination. Our Gulf Coast is once again a hub of commerce, tourism and industry. New schools, stronger infrastructure and revitalized neighborhoods stand as proof of what can be accomplished when we work together. We still bear the scars of Katrina, but we also carry the lessons of preparedness, resilience and faith. Still, our recovery is not yet finished. To this day, some Mississippi cities and communities are waiting for FEMA to release funding for critical infrastructure projects made necessary by Katrina’s damage. Local governments that stepped up to rebuild have been left holding the bill. That is unacceptable. Federal promises made to our people in the aftermath of disaster must be kept. Our delegation remains committed to cutting through the bureaucracy and making sure every community gets the resources it was promised.

New York Times [8/29/2025 5:35 AM, David L. Ulin, 153395K] reports Southern California was made to burn. The earliest wildfire recorded there was in 1889 and scorched 300,000 acres. Given such a history, it might be tempting to see the calamitous Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires in Los Angeles County in January as part of a continuum. That would be a mistake. Rather, these fires show we need a new way of thinking about fire: as not only natural disaster, but also environmental threat with a high risk of long-term harms to health. In part, this has to do with more frequent fires in the wildlife urban interface, where the city meets the wilderness. Both the Eaton and Palisades fires affected this type of terrain, which the historian and social critic Carey McWilliams (among others) once characterized as “rurban,” which is to say, untamed and densely populated at once. Blazes in these areas consume, in addition to brush and undergrowth, all sorts of manufactured materials: lead paint and piping, lithium batteries and computers, cleaning solutions and artificial fibers, automobiles and electric wires. Soil samples collected from the Palisades and Altadena have revealed the presence of heavy metals and other toxic elements, including arsenic, lead and mercury. If not properly remediated, such contamination can linger, with potential effects including not only cancer but also damage to the brain and nervous system, especially in children under 3. That makes every fire in the wildlife urban interface a potential public health emergency. Normally, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would take the lead on testing the soil and other sites for contamination after such an event. In February, however, the Corps announced it would not order sampling to see if properties had been properly decontaminated, citing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s refusal to authorize remediation efforts of that scope. Such a pullback is hardly exclusive to Southern California; in recent months, FEMA has denied disaster aid to West Virginia and Washington. This means that survivors in Los Angeles, as well as elsewhere, are on their own more than ever.

Washington Examiner [8/30/2025 5:00 AM, Staff, 1563K] reports just three months after the State Department announced it would “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students, President Donald Trump reversed course Monday, promising to more than double the number of student visas given to Chinese nationals to 600,000. The administration was right the first time. There are far too many students on college campuses dedicated to undermining U.S. national security, and the federal government should focus on cutting higher education’s dependence on foreign nationals, not making it worse. Responding to questions about trade talks with China during a Monday Oval Office meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Trump said it was “very important” to admit more Chinese students, as many as 600,000, which is more than double the 277,000 in the country now. “You know what would happen if they didn’t [come to the United States]?” Trump asked rhetorically. “Our college system would go to hell very quickly. And it wouldn’t be the top colleges, it’d be colleges that struggle on the bottom.” The White House has issued a statement saying Trump’s 600,000 “references two years worth of visas” and is “simply a continuation of existing policy.” But existing policy isn’t good enough. To the extent that some colleges are struggling to survive, and because the birthrate is collapsing, undergraduate college enrollment peaked more than a decade ago. The solution should be to fix our fertility crisis, not replace our own population with foreign nationals, particularly those picked by an enemy dedicated to weakening America.

FOX News [8/29/2025 3:26 PM, Greg Norman, 40019K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported nearly 200,000 people so far since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, a Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital, putting the agency on track to record its highest number of removals in a decade. The spokesperson said Friday that ICE removed 199,600 individuals from the U.S. between January and Aug. 27, 2025. In the first three months of this ongoing fiscal year, between the beginning of October 2024 and the end of December 2024 – which were former President Biden’s final months in office – ICE said it deported 71,405 people. The combined figure puts ICE at around 271,000 deportations during the federal Fiscal Year 2025, which ends Sept. 30. ICE removed 271,484 individuals during the previous fiscal year, which was the highest figure since FY2014 under former President Barack Obama, when there were 315,943 deportations. Of the last fiscal year’s removals, around 33% had "criminal histories," ICE said, including 47,885 with charges or convictions for assault, 16,552 for sexual assaults and other sexual offenses and 2,699 for homicides. White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday, "Operations are ramped up across the country." A senior Department of Homeland Security official also told Fox News Digital that recent total deportations from all federal agencies "have reached nearly 350,000" and "this is just the beginning."

DailySignal [8/29/2025 1:25 PM, Virginia Allen, 668K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a number of illegal aliens across the U.S. on Thursday, including criminals with sodomy and murder convictions. "These vicious murderers, pedophiles, rapists, and violent criminals have no place in this country," a senior Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement Friday. "We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it: If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we WILL find you, arrest you, and deport you," the DHS senior official added. "The days of letting dangerous criminals terrorize American citizens are over." President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem "will continue to do everything in their power to fulfill the American people’s mandate to remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country," the DHS official said. The following are five of those "worst of the worst" criminal illegal aliens arrested Thursday. They all remain in ICE custody and face removal proceedings, according to DHS. Marvin Antonio Salmon is from Jamaica and has been convicted in Hartford, Connecticut, of homicide and assault. Trung Tran, a Vietnamese national, has previously been convicted "for first-degree rape, cruelty toward a child, rape with a weapon, sodomy, and aggravated assault in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma," according to the DHS. Tomas Pablo-Ramos’ criminal convictions include sexual assault of a child. He is from Guatemala and was convicted in Dallam County, Texas. Salvadoran Santos J. Flores has been convicted in Suffolk County, New York, for criminal sexual acts. Kent Orozco-Martinez, from Colombia, was convicted in Wake County, North Carolina, of felony breaking and entering.

Los Angeles Times [8/29/2025 8:00 AM, Brittny Mejia, 12715K] reports they came from all across America to join President Trump’s deportation machine. A Border Patrol agent, his firefighter wife and their 3-year-old daughter who drove nearly eight hours for jobs that could bring them closer to home. A man from Tennessee who wanted to apply because of "the way things have become with the illegal immigration and the strain it’s been on our economy." And a young Latino who was already catching flak for trying to work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A friend texted: "Oh hell no Ricardo I thought you was joking. I will not speak to you ever again if you become and ice agent ... You have a dad who was deported dude." They showed up Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, drawn by the Department of Homeland Security, which has mounted a campaign reminiscent of a wartime recruitment drive. Its images of Uncle Sam — wearing a baseball cap with the letters ICE or with an eagle behind him — tell people "AMERICA NEEDS YOU." This week’s two-day career expo marked the first major hiring event staged by ICE since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which earmarked about $170 billion for border and immigration enforcement, including tens of billions of dollars for hiring deportation agents and other personnel. ICE officials say it’s the first of several hiring events planned around the country. Whether the agency will reach its goal remains to be seen, but a couple of days in Texas shows there’s no shortage of applicants eager to join an agency that has become essential in Trump’s push to drive out immigrants who are in the country illegally. In all, 3,000 people attended the expo, and nearly 700 received tentative job offers, according to ICE.

Los Angeles Times [8/29/2025 6:00 AM, Andrea Castillo and Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee, 12715K] reports mattresses on the floor, next to bunk beds, in meeting rooms and gymnasiums. No access to a bathroom or drinking water. Hourlong lines to buy food at the commissary or to make a phone call. These are some of the conditions described by lawyers and the people held at immigrant detention facilities around the country over the last few months. The number of detained immigrants surpassed a record 60,000 this month. A Los Angeles Times analysis of public data shows that more than a third of ICE detainees have spent time in an overcapacity dedicated detention center this year. In the first half of the year, at least 19 out of 49 dedicated detention facilities exceeded their rated bed capacity and many more holding facilities and local jails exceeded their agreed-upon immigrant detainee capacity. During the height of arrest activity in June, facilities that were used to operating with plenty of available beds suddenly found themselves responsible for the meals, medical attention, safety and sleeping space for four times as many detainees as they had the previous year. "There are so many things we’ve seen before — poor food quality, abuse by guards, not having clean clothes or underwear, not getting hygiene products," said Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, a coalition that aims to abolish immigrant detention. "But the scale at which it’s happening feels greater, because it’s happening everywhere and people are sleeping on floors.” Shah said there’s no semblance of dignity now. "I’ve been doing this for many years; I don’t think I even had the imagination of it getting this bad," she added. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the allegations about inhumane detention conditions false and a "hoax." She said the agency has significantly expanded detention space in places such as Indiana and Nebraska and is working to rapidly remove detainees from those facilities to their countries of origin. McLaughlin emphasized that the department provides comprehensive medical care, but did not respond to questions about other conditions.

Politico [8/29/2025 2:00 PM, Alfred Ng, 14810K] reports an activist has started using artificial intelligence to identify Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents beneath their masks — a use of the technology sparking new political concerns over AI-powered surveillance. Dominick Skinner, a Netherlands-based immigration activist, estimates he and a group of volunteers have publicly identified at least 20 ICE officials recorded wearing masks during arrests. He told POLITICO his experts are “able to reveal a face using AI, if they have 35 percent or more of the face visible.” The AI-powered project adds a new twist to the debates over both ICE masking and government surveillance tools, as immigration enforcement becomes more widespread and aggressive. ICE says its agents need to wear masks to prevent being unfairly harassed for doing their jobs. To their critics, agents in masks have become a potent symbol of unaccountable government force. The masking, and the counter-campaign to identify agents, has prompted a crossfire of bills on Capitol Hill. ICE agents “don’t deserve to be hunted online by activists using AI,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on border management and the federal workforce. Some Democrats concerned about the masking are pushing for regulations to make it easier to identify law enforcement officials — but they still say they’re uneasy that vigilante campaigns have begun using technology to do it. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who co-sponsored a bill called the VISIBLE Act to require ICE officials to clearly identify themselves, has “serious concerns about the reliability, safety and privacy implications of facial recognition tools, whether used by law enforcement … or used by outside groups to identify agents,” an aide told POLITICO. The Department of Homeland Security criticized his ICE List project in a July statement, saying Skinner’s efforts appear to be responsible for doxing federal officers. In response to efforts to identify ICE agents, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy and technology, introduced the Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxxing Act in June, which would make it illegal to publish a federal officer’s name with the intent to obstruct a criminal investigation.

CNN [8/30/2025 6:07 AM, Nicquel Terry Ellis, 23245K] reports they have helped put out fires in neighborhoods, offered shelter, food and spiritual guidance to those in need and provided live coverage of protests and immigration enforcement to hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers. Many are parents and the sole providers for their families. But despite their contributions, immigration officials still detained them as part of President Donald Trump’s massive crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The arrests happened as some of these immigrants were working or commuting to and from their jobs. Neighbors, friends and colleagues have united behind many of the community pillars taken into custody in recent months raising tens of thousands of dollars for their families and legal fees and urging immigration authorities to release them.

Politico [8/29/2025 1:52 PM, Myah Ward, 14810K] reports the Trump administration is preparing an immigration enforcement blitz in Boston in the coming weeks, according to a current administration official and a former administration official. The latest plans, which could still change, would involve a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and represent the latest Democratic-run city to be targeted by President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has frequently clashed with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and criticized the city’s so-called sanctuary policy — which limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal agents looking to arrest and remove undocumented immigrants. The clampdown could come soon after a similar surge in Chicago in September, the former official and current official said. But the operations could also happen concurrently, the administration official said. “The highest degree of national security and public safety concerns are in sanctuary cities,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. “So without getting into specifics, and revealing any operational details, the president has been clear repeatedly that we’re going to be prioritizing enforcement in these sanctuary jurisdictions as a matter of public safety and national security.” Flooding Boston with immigration enforcement officials would represent the latest escalation in the administration’s campaign against Democrat-led cities, and, following action in Los Angeles and Washington, would continue to blur the lines between the military, policing and immigration enforcement across the country. It’s part of a broader strategy that could define the next chapter in the White House’s efforts to carry out the president’s promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The Trump administration has thus far struggled to meet its arrest and removal quotas but the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” provided billions in new funding to beef up ICE efforts. “All these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country, especially those cities, we’re going to address that,” border czar Tom Homan said at the White House this week. “So we’re going to take the assets we have and move them to problem areas like sanctuary cities where we know for a fact there are public safety threats, illegal aliens on the streets every day.”

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [8/29/2025 3:26 PM, Mark Swanson, 4779K]

Bloomberg [8/29/2025 11:01 AM, Nacha Cattan, Francesca Maglione, and Liam Knox, 19085K] reports Columbia University is welcoming its largest-ever freshman class, allaying school administrators’ concerns that two years of campus turmoil and a crackdown on US colleges by President Donald Trump would crimp enrollment. The class of 2029 has 1,806 students, a 20% increase over last year, according to university figures released Friday. The surge followed a big jump in admissions, which one Columbia official said was due to internal worries that some applicants would balk at the tumult that has engulfed the Ivy League school and that more foreign applicants would face visa difficulties. Instead, commitments largely held firm, said the person, who asked not to be named because the admissions process is private. Columbia, which admitted more students from its waiting list than in recent years, will be able to handle the larger group by adding instructors, optimizing classroom space options, hiring more advisers and expanding dining options, Acting President Claire Shipman told the incoming class in a letter. “Even in the face of uncertainty across higher education, we had an applicant pool filled with bright and engaged young minds, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to invite more of them into our community,” Shipman wrote. The Trump administration launched a sweeping attack on US universities this year, freezing billions of dollars in federal research funding and clamping down on visas for foreign students. The government accused schools from Columbia to Harvard University of mishandling antisemitic incidents on campus and went on to target their diversity programs and alleged liberal bias.

Univision [8/29/2025 10:37 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports a group of female detainees at the ICE Processing Center in south Louisiana, known as Basile, contacted Univision Noticias to denounce that a group of officials transferred a Venezuelan immigrant to a solitary confinement cell this Friday with excessive use of force, which started a hunger strike by the women. According to the detainees’ account, a group of officers entered the Delta Delta Delta detention units at 4:00 p.m. (local time), where the women, who have committed minor crimes, are being held, to conduct a search. One of the detained women, Yidalpris Salas, a Venezuelan national, unintentionally threw a roll of toilet paper while joking with another detainee, which was considered by the officers as disrespectful. "Yidalpris was joking with a colleague and unintentionally threw the toilet paper, it didn’t hit anyone, it flew into the air. (But) the officers took it as an offense. They took her out of the unit by herself, and they denied her the right to a translator and all the staff spoke to her in English. They just spoke to her in English and she didn’t understand," said one of the detainees, who did not ask not to use her name for fear of reprisals. Then, "six officers arrived, handcuffed her hands and feet and took her away, it was violent," he added. Another detainee reported that the custody officers used riot gear during the intervention, with disproportionate force for the situation. As a protest measure, women in custody in that unit posted signs in the windows demanding that Salas be returned. "They have her in the punishment unit. An officer came and let us know that the mistake was throwing the toilet paper," the source stated. "We told them we would go on hunger strike, and they still brought us the food," he added. Univision Noticias asked the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for their version of what happened, but as of press time had not received a response. The immigrants explain that the treatment at the ICE center in Lousiana is "very xenophobic", that "the staff is racist" and that they are denied "the right to translators". In addition, they denounce that "there is a lack of medical attention" needed by the detainees. Tania Wolf, an attorney for the National Immigration Project, confirmed the incident in a statement. "There are now 14 riot officers covering the Delta Delta Delta Delta dorms in an attempt to intimidate women who object to this situation," she said, in addition to confirming that the detainees can identify two of the officers as executing the excessive use of force. The National Immigration Project asked ICE authorities for a response to their concerns regarding the health status of the woman who was removed from the dormitory and to clarify whether, in accordance with regulations, she is being evaluated by medical personnel as soon as possible. They also requested that the recordings from the unit’s video surveillance cameras be safeguarded from 3:00 p.m. onwards.

CBS Chicago [8/29/2025 6:55 PM, Sabrina Franza and Julia Ingram, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Federal forces are expected to arrive in Chicago as soon as next week for a sweeping immigration crackdown using the same tactics that sparked protests in Los Angeles earlier this year. Families who have already been fighting to stay together in the United States are bracing for impact, including a husband and wife who have already been separated before by an immigration battle. Reunited after an immigration judge granted bond in the case, they said they’re waiting to be pulled back in, as federal law enforcement may find themselves in Chicago for a large-scale immigration crackdown. "He was the best person I knew. He was God fearing, he was protective, he cared about me and my kids," Cynthia Myers said. She and Cheiah Amidoubimba Fall were broken apart just over a year after getting married. On June 4, Myers would normally be at work, but that day, she said she decided to go with her husband to his scheduled asylum hearing at 55 East Monroe. "As soon as we finished, wrapped talking with the judge, and we were going to walk out the door, ICE agents surrounded us, and just grabbed him. And I went to intervene, like, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing,’ and the guy pushed me back and he’s like, ‘Hey, don’t interfere with a federal crime,’" she said. CBS News Chicago analyzed ICE data, which shows that as of July 29, the Trump administration made around eight immigration-related arrests in Illinois daily—that’s an about 39% increase since last year. With news that the administration plans to ramp up immigration enforcement in the city as early as next week, families, including Cynthia and Cheiah, are starting to worry about what will happen at their next court dates. Gov. JB Pritzker said his office has not heard directly from the White House about increased immigration enforcement. ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials would not provide specifics on that immigration crackdown, but a Homeland Security spokesperson provided the following statement: "DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens—including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists—across the country. It is no surprise that these criminals flock to sanctuary cities where politicians protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets putting American lives at risk. DHS will go to wherever these criminal illegal aliens are—including Chicago and Boston. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, nowhere is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.”

Breitbart [8/29/2025 11:10 AM, Bob Price, 2608K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a Venezuelan illegal alien wanted for torturing and attempting to kill a woman in his home country—the fugitive burst into tears after being placed in a police vehicle in North Texas earlier this month. The Venezuelan man fled to the U.S. and was released from custody during Biden-era catch-and-release policies.ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers teamed up with U.S. Marshals deputies and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to arrest 31-year-old Raul Enrique Pargas Rodriguez, an illegal alien fugitive from Venezuela. The arrest took place in Plano, Texas, on August 14, ICE officials reported this week. "This dangerous criminal alien allegedly beat, demeaned and tortured a young woman in some twisted version of Russian roulette and then fled to the United States when his attempt to murder her fell apart," said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas acting Field Office Director Joshua Johnson. "Thanks to a tip from the U.S. Border Patrol, we were able to track him down and safely take him into custody so that he can be repatriated to Venezuela to face justice for his alleged crimes.”

Univision [8/29/2025 11:35 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports the Mayor of Riverton confirmed through a press release that the Riverton Police Department has signed an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The 287(g) agreement allows local officers to perform some functions of Immigration agents. An attorney explains what you should be aware of. The contents expressed in this piece are not legal advice. Please consult with an attorney for your particular case. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [8/30/2025 7:00 AM, Kimmy Yam, 43603K] reports after a violinist who has played with high-profile orchestras was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, members of Utah’s music community are rallying in support of his release. Donggin Shin, 37, who came to the U.S. from South Korea with his father when he was a child, was abruptly arrested at a hotel parking lot while he was on a work trip in Colorado, his attorney Adam Crayk told NBC News. He was placed in ICE detention on Aug. 18. With a hearing slated for early September, his colleagues from the Salt Lake City area are hoping to send a message to the administration and beyond that Shin, who goes by the name John, is a valued part of the community. “John has been in this country since he was 10 years old and he was brought here by his parents. He didn’t get a choice in the matter,” violinist and conductor Gabriel Gordon said. “He is not somebody that is taking from the community, but is giving.” A senior Department of Homeland Security official said in response to NBC News’ questions about Shin, “Our message is clear: criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States.” According to charging documents, Shin was identified by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team, which is generally focused on apprehending immigrants who have committed serious crimes and are considered threats to national security. In Shin’s case, the arrest was prompted by an old misdemeanor impaired driving offense that occurred while Shin was navigating his father’s battle with brain cancer, Crayk said. “We are literally having fugitive ops and Homeland Security Investigations, which are two law enforcement agencies that focus on really terrible, terrible things, relegated now to looking for people like John,” Crayk said. The senior DHS official did not elaborate on the details of Shin’s arrest but noted that his history includes a DUI conviction.

National Review [8/29/2025 1:27 PM, James Lynch, 109K] reports immigration authorities announced Thursday the arrest of an illegal immigrant pedophile with a lengthy criminal record who was living in a residence that was operating an at-home daycare. Immigration and Customs Enforcement nabbed Ezequiel Cruz-Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, on Thursday. His criminal history includes sex offenses involving a child under 14, sexual battery, illegal possession of a firearm, driving under the influence, and robbery. Cruz-Rodriguez was a member of the Logan Heights gang, a primarily Mexican gang based in San Diego, where the illegal immigrant was residing. At the time of his arrest, he was living with his wife who operates a home daycare. His wife is a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “It is SICKENING to think this pedophile criminal illegal alien was residing inside the home where a daycare operates and hiding out in a sanctuary city,” a senior Department of Homeland Security Official said. “Thanks to the brave work of our ICE law enforcement officers, this criminal illegal alien, convicted pedophile, and known Logan Heights gang member—will no longer be able to prey on children inside a daycare. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, sickos like this will not walk free in the U.S.”

Reported similarly:
San Diego Union Tribune [8/29/2025 6:56 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1648K]

Los Angeles Times [8/29/2025 5:28 PM, Melissa Gomez, 12715K] reports Francisco Longoria, a San Bernardino man who was driving his truck when a masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer shot at it, has been arrested and charged by federal authorities. They allege he assaulted immigration officers during the incident. In a statement, Longoria’s attorneys said Homeland Security Investigations agents arrived at the Longoria household at 4:18 a.m. Thursday, with an armored personnel carrier, a type of military vehicle, and deployed more than a dozen "fully armed and armored" agents to swarm the home, breaking the locks on his gate. An agent called out to Longoria to come out, using a bullhorn, as agents stood at each door and pointed their rifles at the door and at the occupants inside, the attorneys said. On that day, federal immigration officers stopped Longoria in San Bernardino. During the encounter, Longoria, who was in his truck with his 18-year-old son and 23-year-old son-in-law, feared for his safety and drove off after masked officers shattered his car window, his attorneys said. Department of Homeland Security officials have said officers were injured during the encounter when Longoria tried to "run them down." Longoria’s attorneys dispute their client injured the officers or attempted to hit them, and earlier this week they called for an investigation of the shooting. On Friday morning, the U.S. attorney’s office confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Longoria the day before. Word of his arrest was earlier reported by the San Bernardino Sun. Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said Longoria made an initial appearance before a U.S. District Court judge in Riverside, and is set to be arraigned on Sept. 30. The federal magistrate judge ordered him released on a $5,000 bond. Longoria was being held at the San Bernardino County jail, in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, as of Thursday afternoon, McEvoy said in an email.

Univision [8/29/2025 4:08 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports an 18-year-old California teenager, detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has had a "nightmarish" August. He was sent by immigration authorities to various detention centers in California and Arizona, and was scheduled to be sent to Louisiana—where a deportation center is located in Alexandria—to eventually be returned to his home state. Guerrero-Cruz was arrested in Van Nuys, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County, California, on Friday, August 8, while walking his dog, just days after his 18th birthday. He added that during the arrest, the officers mocked him, saying that thanks to his capture, they could "drink this weekend" for the $2,500 they would receive. He was taken into custody at the Los Angeles Detention Center and then at the Adelanto Detention Center, 80 miles from Van Nuys. Nearly three weeks after his arrest, on August 26, he was transferred to a detention center in Arizona. On August 26, Rivas introduced a bill called INFORM, which requires ICE to notify the families of detainees when they have been transferred between custody facilities, following the Guerrero-Cruz case.

Telemundo20 [8/29/2025 2:55 PM, Shelby Bremer, 51K] reports an Escondido family says a North County father was detained at the annual ICE checkpoint he has attended regularly for more than 20 years. Adonis Constantinovici fled Romania in 1990 at age 10 and arrived in Iowa as a refugee, according to his family. There, he ran into trouble, pleading guilty to multiple misdemeanors, including theft, public intoxication, marijuana possession, and others, beginning in 1999, according to a review of Iowa court records. Constantinovici was ordered deported in 2001, but, his family told NBC 7, Romania refused to accept him. "He supposedly can’t return to Romania because they have no record of his citizenship," his father-in-law, Alan Giesecke, said Thursday. Constantinovici’s father first fled Romania, and his son later joined him with his mother and sister, Andromeda Constantinovici, who later enlisted in the military. Adonis went for his checkup on July 21 and was told to return in August, according to his family. When he returned last week, he was taken into custody. A search of the ICE detainee locator shows he remains at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Now, Tiffany said, they have no idea what ICE’s plan is for Adonis, or even specifically why he was detained. She said Adonis said agents told him they had a warrant for his arrest because he didn’t show up in July, but she had evidence that he did.

FOX News [8/29/2025 1:13 PM, Preston Mizell, 40019K] reports that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is changing its policy manual to prevent illegal migrants who voted in elections or attempted to register to vote from receiving citizenship under new guidelines. The policy update will also include USCIS initiating deportation proceedings against any illegal migrant who committed a form of voter fraud or claimed to be a U.S. citizen for any purpose or benefit. "Illegal voting undermines the will of the American people and threatens the legitimacy of our elections," USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser told Fox News Digital. "Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are making changes to prevent and punish aliens who voted illegally in our elections from gaining U.S. citizenship. "Aliens who facilitate or perpetuate illegal voting face swift and severe consequences," Tragesser added. Under current USCIS guidelines, illegal migrants must demonstrate good moral character (GMC) to qualify for citizenship. The new guidelines, which will take effect Friday afternoon, specify that attempting to circumvent voter laws or unlawfully claiming to be a U.S. citizen would be a failure of GMC requirements and prevent an illegal migrant from applying for citizenship. Fox News Digital obtained an internal leadership guidance memo that will be sent to employees at USCIS on Friday afternoon, which outlines the course of action for implementing the updated policy and clarifies that illegal migrants who fail to meet GMC will be issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) and be referred for criminal prosecution.

Bloomberg [8/29/2025 12:27 PM, Nick Wadhams, 19085K] reports rhe Trump administration is proposing strict new visa limits for Chinese journalists in the US as part of a broader push to curtail stays by foreign students and reporters, in a move that prompted pushback from Beijing. The new rule, spelled out in a Department of Homeland Security proposal released this week, would limit journalist visas for mainland Chinese citizens to 90 days, with the possibility to extend. Journalists from other countries would face a 240-day limit, scrapping the current policy that allows them to stay as long as their assignment lasts. The 90-day limit would revive restrictions President Donald Trump sought at the end of his first term, which former President Joe Biden scrapped before they became law. The proposal will face a 30-day public comment period. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the country opposed “discriminatory practices taken by the US against specific countries.” “For too long, past Administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging US citizens,” DHS said in a statement. The proposal fits into Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, which has seen the administration step up visa revocations, ban citizens from several countries from entering the US and expel thousands of undocumented migrants.

Breitbart [8/29/2025 5:45 PM, Neil Munro, 2608K] reports President Donald Trump’s deputies are capping migrant student visas at four years, making it more difficult for white-collar migrants to sneak into Americans’ professional jobs. "For too long, past Administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the U.S. virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amounts of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging U.S. citizens," said a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which added: “This new proposed rule would end that abuse once and for all by limiting the amount of time certain visa holders are allowed to remain in the U.S.” The four-year reform also applies to the J-1 visas — which are often used by university scientists — and sets much shorter times for the I visas granted to foreign journalists. The announcement also calms widespread concerns that Trump’s deputies want to annually import hundreds of thousands of foreign graduates. This week, Trump seemed to suggest that he wants to double the inflow of Chinese students into U.S. colleges. The visa curbs do not cancel Bush’s "Optional Practical Training" program that annually provides work permits to 400,000 foreign students and graduates of U.S. colleges. Overall, companies keep roughly 1.5 million foreign graduates in U.S. jobs.

FOX News [8/29/2025 10:45 AM, Staff, 40019K] reports a China expert warns that President Donald Trump’s Chinese student visa push amid trade talks between the United States and China could exacerbate the growing CCP "influence" in American universities. China policy expert Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, explains where things stand right now, as several conservatives sounded the alarm on how the push could enable the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in the U.S. Sobolik explained that Chinese students in the United States can become a major national security liability, adding that the CCP has taken advantage of Chinese nationals to "advance malign influence operations.” "They do this by re-appropriating basic and applied research in American universities, taking it over to China, and stealing American innovations, essentially," he said. "And they also will conduct espionage. They will silence Chinese students on American campuses and force them to either advance the CCP propaganda line or silence them. And that’s just unacceptable.” Sobolik continued by pointing out the history of the trade agreements between Trump and Xi Jinping. "I think it’s partially a function of the fact that [Trump’s] trying to get to a trade deal with Xi Jinping and he wants to smooth that road, make sure there aren’t any bumps along the way, much like he did in his first term when he was trying to get his phase one trade agreement with China negotiated," he said. President Donald Trump said in a Tuesday cabinet meeting that the "college system would go to hell very quickly" if the Chinese student visa policy were significantly altered. "And it wouldn’t be the top colleges, so it’d be colleges that struggle on the bottom. And you take out 300,000 or 600,000 students out of the system," Trump said.

Reuters [8/30/2025 6:03 AM, Doyinsola Oladipo, 45746K] reports a new $250 "visa integrity fee" imposed on travelers to the United States risks piling more pressure on the struggling travel industry, as overseas arrivals continue to fall due to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and hostility to many foreign countries. Overseas travel to the U.S. fell 3.1% year-on-year in July to 19.2 million visitors, according to U.S. government data. It was the fifth month of decline this year, defying expectations that 2025 would see annual inbound visitors finally surpass the pre-pandemic level of 79.4 million. The new visa fee, set to go into effect on October 1, adds an additional hurdle for travelers from non-visa waiver countries like Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and China. The extra charge raises the total visa cost to $442, one of the highest visitor fees in the world, according to the U.S. Travel Association, a membership organization. "Any friction we add to the traveler experience is going to cut travel volumes by some amount," said Gabe Rizzi, President of Altour, a global travel management company. "As the summer ends this will become a more pressing issue, and we’ll have to factor the fees into travel budgets and documentation."

AP [8/29/2025 12:24 PM, Patrick Whittle and Mae Anderson, 37974K] reports the case of a Maine police officer arrested by immigration authorities even though he was vetted by a government system called “E-Verify” has raised questions about what employers can do to make sure they’re employing people who can legally work. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin accused Old Orchard Beach, Maine, of “reckless reliance” on the E-Verify program when it hired Jamaica national Jon Luke Evans, who was later detained and agreed to leave the country earlier this month. But it’s the government’s own program. And experts say there’s not a whole lot more employers can do in terms of vetting. “I think employers are between a rock and a hard place,” said Madeline Zavodny, an economics professor at the University of North Florida. “Even an employer who is trying to comply with the law can have difficulty doing it.”

AP [8/29/2025 12:09 PM, Patrick Whittle, 37974K] reports some U.S. businesses verify applicants’ eligibility to work using an online government system called E-Verify. When individuals present their documents showing they’re authorized to work, employers can check the validity of that information by using the free tool to compare it with records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. A Homeland Security official has accused authorities in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, of "reckless reliance" on the program after a Jamaica national working as a police officer there was arrested by immigration authorities even though he’d been vetted through E-Verify when he was hired. But experts say there are few other options for validating information on work eligibility.

Daily Caller [8/29/2025 12:22 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports federal prosecutors have charged a foreign national in North Carolina with voting in at least two federal elections and believe he may have participated in local elections for the past twenty years. Denis Bouchard, a 69-year-old Canadian citizen who has resided in the U.S. since the 1960s, never obtained American citizenship, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Despite this, he is accused of listing himself as a citizen on voter registration applications in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential election, casting a ballot in both contests. The Canadian man’s alleged election meddling may go back much further in time, with prosecutors suspecting that he voted in local county elections since the early 2000s. "Every single time a noncitizen casts an illegal vote in North Carolina, it steals and nullifies the vote of an actual citizen," U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said in a public statement. "If the records are correct, this Canadian citizen appears to have voted in New Hanover and Pender County elections over the past 20 years." "We intend to prove his illegal conduct in court and put an end to it," Boyle continued. Federal prosecutors are working with the North Carolina Board of Elections on the ongoing investigation.

AP [8/29/2025 10:01 AM, Megan Janetsky, 37974K] reports more than 14,000 mainly Venezuelan migrants who hoped to reach the United States have reversed course and turned south since U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown began, according to a report published Friday by the governments of Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. The phenomenon, known as "reverse flow" migration, is largely made up of Venezuelan migrants who fled their country’s long-running economic, social and political crises only to encounter U.S. immigration policy no longer open to asylum-seekers. Migration through the treacherous Darien Gap on the border of Colombia and Panama peaked in 2023 when more than half a million migrants crossed. That flow slowed somewhat in 2024, but dried up almost completely early this year. Friday’s report, published with support of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that northward migration had dropped 97% this year.

New York Post [8/29/2025 4:07 PM, Jennie Taer, 43962K] reports the US-Mexico border saw a significant jump in border crossings in August — fueled by illegal migrants deported under President Trump’s immigration crackdown trying to sneak back into the country, sources told The Post. Border agents encountered more than 7,200 illegal crossers this month, preliminary data obtained exclusively by The Post shows — a 57% surge from the 4,600 migrants recorded in July, which was the lowest number in recorded history. Still, despite the notable rise, the number pales in comparison to the rush seen at the border under the Biden administration. The feds caught roughly 58,000 illegal migrants last August and more than 132,000 in August 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection data. A Homeland Security source said the jump was driven by deportees swept up in Trump’s mass deportation campaign trying to sneak back into the US. A Border Patrol insider also said that agents are seeing an increase in violent, criminal migrants trying to cross.

FOX News [8/29/2025 8:29 PM, Louis Casiano, 40019K] reports a woman who tried to run over U.S. Border Patrol agents assisting in the arrest of two illegal immigrants in Maine was arrested this week, authorities said. Olivia Wilkins, 24, was charged with aggravated reckless conduct, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, driving to endanger, hindering apprehension, obstructing government administration and failure to stop for an officer, the Department of Homeland Security said. The Border Patrol agents were assisting the Maine State Police (MSP) and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) with a commercial vehicle rollover accident Monday involving Jhoan Andres Ortiz-Calderon and Victor Hugo Cardona-Calderon. Ortiz-Calderon had a final order of removal from an immigration judge, and Cardona-Calderon overstayed his visa and had not obtained a work permit, authorities said. While walking the two men to a USBP vehicle, Wilkins, a bystander, began verbally abusing authorities, DHS said. "She then used her vehicle to drive at the group of law enforcement, squealing the tires and swerving, nearly hitting them," a news release states. Sheriff’s deputies chased Wilkins, who crashed her vehicle along the side of a road, where she was arrested. "This incident comes just two weeks after a threatening letter with a white powdery substance was sent to an ICE office in New York City. Less than a week ago, a violent rioter was charged with assault in San Francisco after he threatened to stab an ICE officer and harm his family. Earlier in the week, there was a bomb threat at a Dallas ICE facility," a DHS spokesperson said. "These incidents come after months of smears and rhetoric by activists, politicians and the media comparing ICE law enforcement to the Nazi Gestapo, kidnappers and the Secret Police," the spokesperson added. "This shameful rhetoric has fueled a culture of hate against law enforcement, resulting in a 1,000% increase in assaults against them. All sanctuary politicians, activists and the media need to turn down their temperature.” Across the country, immigration authorities have been attacked, harassed, doxxed and injured, the Trump administration has said.

Washington Post [8/30/2025 7:00 AM, Joshua Partlow and Brianna Sacks, 32099K] reports for nearly two months, the firefighters battling a blaze among the evergreen forests of western Washington have helped save historic buildings and lakefront homes in a community that thrives on summertime tourists visiting the Olympic National Park. On Wednesday, as helicopters were still dousing the flames of the 9,000-acre Bear Gulch fire, federal officials drove up in SUVs, checked IDs, then escorted 44 of those firefighters off the premises, arresting two of them on charges of illegally entering the country. “We got hit by ICE,” a voice says in one of the videos of the episode posted to social media. The immigration raid by Border Patrol agents on an active fire scene shocked many veteran wildland firefighters. Several of them said they could not remember a similar episode happening in the past. And some worried that such brazen enforcement would distract firefighters working in strenuous environments and have a chilling effect among a workforce that relies heavily on immigrant labor. “Firefighting is a difficult, dangerous job and firefighters need to keep their focus on the fire,” said Dale Bosworth, a former chief of the U.S. Forest Service. “We don’t need to have those kind of distractions. It’s dangerous.” The firefighters caught up in the immigration raid worked for two Oregon-based companies, ASI Arden Solutions Inc. and Table Rock Forestry Inc., on contracts with the U.S. Forest Service. The Border Patrol agents arrived at the request of the Bureau of Land Management following a criminal investigation, according to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security. Attempts to reach ASI Arden Solutions by phone and email were unsuccessful. A person at a phone number associated with Table Rock Forestry said that none of its employees had been arrested but didn’t answer additional questions. “U.S. Border Patrol steadfastly enforces the laws of the United States and unapologetically addresses violations of immigration law wherever they are encountered,” Border Patrol Blaine Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rosario P. Vasquez said in the statement. But the episode outraged many in the Northwest, from firefighters to public officials.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [8/29/2025 8:04 AM, Staff, 45245K]

AP [8/29/2025 5:40 PM, Martha Bellisle, 37974K] reports lawyers are demanding the release of a longtime Oregon resident arrested by Border Patrol while fighting a Washington state wildfire, saying Friday that the firefighter was already on track for legal status after helping federal investigators solve a crime against his family. His arrest was illegal, the lawyers said, and violated Department of Homeland Security polices that say immigration enforcement must not be conducted at locations where emergency responses are happening. He is one of two firefighters arrested this week while working the Bear Gulch Fire in the Olympic National Forest, which as of Friday had burned about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) and was only 13% contained, forcing evacuations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Thursday that it had been helping the Bureau of Land Management with a criminal investigation into two contractors working at the fire when it discovered two firefighters who they said were in the country without permanent legal status. The firefighter, whose name has not been made public, lived in the U.S. for 19 years after arriving with his family at age 4. He received a U-Visa certification from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon in 2017 and submitted his U-Visa application with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the following year. Charging the man with an immigration violation was “an illegal after-the-fact justification” given his U-Visa status. When the Bureau of Land Management was asked to provide information about why its contracts with two companies were terminated and 42 firefighters were escorted away from the state’s largest wildfire, it declined. It would only say it cooperates with other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.

AP [8/29/2025 7:43 PM, Martha Bellisle, 37974K] reports lawyers are demanding the release of a longtime Oregon resident arrested by Border Patrol while fighting a Washington state wildfire, saying Friday that the firefighter was already on track for legal status after helping federal investigators solve a crime against his family. His arrest was illegal, the lawyers said, and violated Department of Homeland Security polices that say immigration enforcement must not be conducted at locations where emergency responses are happening. He is one of two firefighters arrested this week while working the Bear Gulch Fire in the Olympic National Forest, which as of Friday had burned about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) and was only 13% contained, forcing evacuations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Thursday that it had been helping the Bureau of Land Management with a criminal investigation into two contractors working at the fire when it discovered two firefighters who they said were in the country without permanent legal status. The firefighter, whose name has not been made public, has lived in the U.S. for 19 years after arriving with his family at age 4. He received a U-Visa certification from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon in 2017 and submitted his U-Visa application with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the following year. The U-Visa program was established by Congress to protect victims of serious crimes who assist federal investigators, and the man has been waiting since 2018 for the immigration agency to decide on his application, according to Stephen Manning, a lawyer with Innovation Law Lab, a Portland-based nonprofit that’s representing the firefighter. A senior DHS official said in a statement to the AP on Friday that the two men apprehended were not firefighters and were not actively fighting the fire. Officials said they were providing a supporting role by cutting logs into firewood. "The firefighting response remained uninterrupted the entire time," the statement said. "No active firefighters were even questioned, and U.S. Border Patrol’s actions did not prevent or interfere with any personnel actively engaged in firefighting efforts.” When the Bureau of Land Management was asked to provide information about why its contracts with two companies were terminated and 42 firefighters were escorted away from the state’s largest wildfire, it declined. It would only say it cooperates with other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security. "These law enforcement professionals contribute to broader federal enforcement efforts by maintaining public safety, protecting natural resources, and collaborating with the agencies, such as the Border Patrol," Department of Interior spokesperson Alyse Sharpe told The Associated Press in an email.

Axios [8/29/2025 9:19 AM, Melissa Santos, 14595K] reports undocumented immigrants made up nearly 5% of Washington state’s population in 2023, according to a new Pew study. That was the eighth highest share among U.S. states, and ninth highest when including Washington, D.C. The increase in Washington’s unauthorized immigrant population mirrors nationwide trends. The U.S. saw a sharp jump in unauthorized immigrants during the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency, Axios’ Russell Contreras reports. In 2015, Pew estimated Washington was home to about 250,000 undocumented immigrants, or about 3.5% of the state’s population. By 2023, that number had climbed to 375,000, Pew found — roughly 4.7% of the state’s population

New York Times [8/29/2025 5:01 AM, Hamed Aleaziz and Jesus Jiménez, 153395K] reports Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief leading the Southern California immigration crackdown that has stirred outrage and won the admiration of President Trump, said he had been told by federal officials to be on standby. He may be tapped to recreate his aggressive Los Angeles raids in other American cities. “I’ve definitely received direction to be ready in the event that they want me to go,” Mr. Bovino said. Mr. Bovino, 55, is the face of the Trump administration’s campaign to round up, detain and deport thousands of undocumented immigrants in the nation’s second-largest city. In just 11 weeks, he has gone from being the little-known head of one of the least busy sectors on America’s Southern border to the tactical commander of a contentious multiagency federal operation. He has been testing the limits of politicized law enforcement, clashing on social media with California Democrats and producing Hollywood-style promotional videos of his masked, heavily armed officers marching to Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA.” He questioned an Army general’s loyalty to the country when the general expressed reservations about the National Guard’s involvement in one show of force at a Los Angeles park, according to court testimony. And he’s a named defendant in two lawsuits accusing his agents of crossing legal lines, including arresting Latino residents based on their skin color and regardless of their immigration status.

DailySignal [8/29/2025 1:45 PM, Virginia Allen, 668K] reports that since the start of 2025, border security measures have cost the Mexican cartels more than $1 billion, according to estimates by the El Paso Sector of the Border Patrol in Texas. "We’re hurting them in the pocketbook," interim Border Patrol Chief for the El Paso Sector Walter Slosar tells The Daily Signal. In recent years, Slosar says he can recall days when as many as 2,700 illegal aliens were arriving at the border daily, but now, Border Patrol is encountering about 40 illegal aliens a day in the El Paso Sector, which includes the two westernmost counties in Texas—Hudspeth and El Paso—and all of New Mexico. The criminal cartels control much of the Mexican side of the southern border and force illegal aliens to pay them to either be guided to the border or smuggled across. In 2021, a House Homeland Security Committee report found that the cartels made an estimated $13 billion on human smuggling alone. The cartels charge migrants varying amounts, based upon factors such as where they are from, if they have family in the U.S. with financial means, or if they have a criminal record. With the change in border policies under the Trump administration, "smuggling fees are going through the roof," Slosar says. "They used to get two or three attempts per smuggling payments. Now they’re getting one. If they get returned, they’ve got to pay again, so it’s really slowing down that volume." In fiscal year 2021, Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 1.5 million illegal aliens at the southern border, compared with fewer than 450,000 so far in fiscal year 2025, which ends Sept. 30.

CNN [8/29/2025 8:56 AM, Alexandra Skores, 23245K] reports when a United Airlines "technology issue" halted several thousand flights a few weeks ago, it added another incident to a cascade of problems the airlines and national aviation system have seen in recent years. Southwest Airlines had one of the most significant technology meltdowns in recent aviation history three years ago, during Christmas, when crew scheduling software failed, stranding passengers, their belongings and crew members all over the country. Since then, the US has seen multiple Notice to Airmen outages affecting the federal computer system that sends alerts to pilots about conditions that could affect the safety of their flights. Plus airplanes have been grounded by tech issues affecting various airlines and the more wide-reaching CrowdStrike software glitch that’s been described as the "largest IT outage in history." These operational interruptions, while disruptive to passengers, happen because airlines and aviation officials see safety as paramount, said Eash Sundaram, a tech investor and venture capital and digital executive who previously served as executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer at JetBlue Airways. United’s outage earlier this month was resolved within a few hours and the airline implemented delays and cancellations to return operations to normal. But it shows that commercial air travel for the roughly three million people that take to the sky each day in the United States can be a complex dance, requiring technology that tracks everything from crew members and aircraft to the weight of planes to be running correctly. And if any one of these systems gives out, it can have a cascading effect.

USA Today [8/29/2025 1:19 PM, Zach Wichter, 64151K] reports the Transportation Security Administration is expecting 17.4 million passengers to pass through its checkpoints between Aug. 28 and Sept. 3 for Labor Day getaways (and some other travel), and the agency said it’s hard at work to make sure the experience is as smooth as possible for travelers. The TSA’s Acting Deputy Administrator, Adam Stahl, spoke to USA TODAY and offered guidance on what travelers can expect this holiday weekend and discussed some of the agency’s longer-term strategies to make airport security more seamless and less stressful for all. Among Stahl’s top tips were arriving at the airport with plenty of time for potentially long security lines and familiarizing yourself with the TSA’s rules.

AP [8/29/2025 11:33 AM, Staff, 37974K] reports over 17 million people were expected to travel by air from Thursday through Wednesday, according to the Transportation Security Administration, with Friday being the day with the most travelers. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [8/29/2025 3:01 PM, Staff, 19085K] Video: HERE reports Passengers at American airports complied in resigned exasperation with rules like having to remove shoes and limit shampoo in hand baggage — part of security measures put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Bloomberg’s Allyson Versprille reports.

New York Times [8/29/2025 5:00 AM, Ben Blatt and Christine Chung, 153395K] reports if you’ve flown in the last 15 years, you probably know about T.S.A. PreCheck, the program intended to speed vetted travelers through dedicated airport security lanes: You don’t have to remove your shoes or belt and can keep liquids and electronics in carry-ons. Over time, the Transportation Security Administration program, which costs under $80 for five years, has become less exclusive as its membership numbers have soared to more than 22 million. Meanwhile, the standard security line has begun to resemble the PreCheck line, with the recently announced end of the shoe removal rule; new lanes for families and veterans at certain airports; and the rollout of more advanced imaging technology. So how much time does PreCheck actually save travelers at some of the busiest U.S. airports? We analyzed publicly available data from some major airports, including the three in the New York area.

NewsMax [8/29/2025 9:11 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4779K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is canceling thousands of Federal Emergency Management Agency contracts after the Department of Government Efficiency found billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and unnecessary spending, according to a report on Friday. Spending cited in the report included $10.7 million on public safety announcements, $3.3 million for employee marketing, $1.6 million for two workshops, and more than $1.2 million for a "conference center concierge," reported The Daily Caller, which obtained a sample of the contracts flagged for termination. Other contracts covered brief meeting planning, paperwork shredding, social media recruiting, and diversity programs. "Any American who opened the books at FEMA and saw their lackluster spending controls and policies would be horrified," a FEMA spokesperson told The Daily Caller. "Secretary Noem has been an extraordinary leader, bringing spending best practices, fiscal responsibility, and mission alignment to an agency that has run amok for far too long." Noem on Thursday criticized inefficiencies in federal disaster relief over the past 15-20 years. At a meeting of the FEMA Review Council, she called for reforms to speed up federal support and give states more control over long-term recovery, saying the priority should be reducing bureaucratic delays to deliver resources such as emergency aid and search-and-rescue services.

Reuters [8/29/2025 6:15 PM, Courtney Rozen and Nathan Layne, 45746K] reports the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has extended a hiring freeze through at least the end of this year, according to three sources familiar with the matter, as the peak of hurricane season approaches. The Trump administration froze hiring government-wide through October 15, with exceptions for public safety employees and a few other categories. FEMA is extending that freeze, according to the sources. News about the freeze trickled through the agency the same week that three dozen former and current FEMA employees signed a public letter of dissent against the agency’s leaders. The letter, sent by a mix of former political appointees and permanent staff, said the inexperience of the Trump administration’s top appointees could lead to catastrophe at the level of Hurricane Katrina.

The Hill [8/29/2025 6:00 AM, Rachel Frazin, 12414K] reports twenty years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, killing 1,392 people and raising serious questions about the nation’s ability to handle natural disasters, current and former employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) say the Trump administration is moving emergency management policy backward. The nation dramatically revamped its emergency response policies after the disastrous flooding in New Orleans, including through legislation named after the storm, known as the Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA). Now the Trump administration is seeking new changes to FEMA, arguing more power and money should be given to the states. President Trump has discussed axing FEMA entirely, though officials have dramatically shifted their tone and in recent months have emphasized reforms, rather than a closure. Even those calls have generated worries on Capitol Hill and pushback from former FEMA employees. This week, during a meeting of that council, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was considering shortening the window for postdisaster funding. "The president believes that we should be in a disaster response portfolio and footprint, but the long-term mitigation should not be something that the federal government is continuing to be involved in to the extent that it has been in the past," she said. Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, said in a statement to The Hill that Noem "personally reviews and approves any contract above $100,000." "This process saved U.S. taxpayers an additional $10.7 billion. Since taking office, Secretary Noem has reviewed more than 5,000 contracts and reviews all contracts within 24 hours," McLaughlin said.

The Hill [8/29/2025 1:30 PM, Justin Angel Knighten, 12414K] reports that twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. enters another dangerous season with a fractured national emergency response system. Katrina showed what happens when truth and trusted communication are missing. Those lessons are now in danger of being lost. The Gulf of Mexico is nearly two degrees warmer than normal. The Atlantic is very active. Floods are striking communities across the country, and wildfires are burning in the West. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts an above-normal number of storms as we move into the most dangerous stretch of hurricane season. People need to know what is happening, why it matters, who has answers, and what comes next. When local messages were delayed, vague, or not translated into locally spoken languages, trust collapsed, no matter how much aid arrived. Local communication is the backbone of disaster response, and local information centers are vital in a crisis. When states, territories or Tribal Nations are stretched thin, they rely on FEMA’s capacity and expertise to deliver urgent, accurate information at scale. FEMA, the National Weather Service and other safety agencies have had authorities stripped and capabilities weakened. Experienced external affairs professionals have been forced out, taking decades of expertise with them. FEMA staff and funds are being shifted away to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement. New Department of Homeland Security bureaucracy is slowing resilience funding and delaying approved recovery dollars for North Carolina. The same red tape slowed the Texas flood response. First, FEMA must activate the JIC during future catastrophic disasters and shield it from Homeland Security interference. The experienced career leaders who remain at FEMA must be able to do their jobs. FEMA should have full authority over Emergency Support Function-15 and the National JIC, not the Department of Homeland Security.

New York Times [8/29/2025 5:02 AM, Eduardo Medina, 153395K] reports Erander Guss-Lee, a security guard, stood outside an auditorium in New Orleans one night this week, hearing fragments of a documentary about Hurricane Katrina that was being screened: Clips of news anchors in the days after the storm, straining to describe the destruction and human suffering. Tearful recollections. Saxophones sounding mournful but defiant notes. Ms. Guss-Lee just wanted to go home. She was proud of her city — no question. But she was not eager to relive Katrina and all the misery that followed. “We’re still here,” she said. “Believe that.” New Orleans had survived, which was not necessarily a given in those early days and weeks after the devastating storm. The city looked as if it had been annexed by the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of people were languishing in a damaged Superdome that had become “a shelter of last resort,” and a sluggish and chaotic federal response stoked fears that they had been forgotten. But as the city marks the 20th anniversary of Katrina this week, mere survival, for many residents, does not feel like enough. After the flood and the trauma, New Orleans was flush with financial resources, big ideas and hope that some of its worst and most pernicious problems might have washed away for good. The city might not only stagger back to life, but get better governance, better flood protection, better schools, better police. Two decades later, much of that hope has gone unrealized.

Washington Examiner [8/29/2025 11:41 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K] reports Oklahoma officials, including Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK), and federal lawmakers are backing a push from President Donald Trump for states to create larger emergency response programs instead of using Federal Emergency Management Agency resources. Stitt hosted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the president’s FEMA review council to "advocate for greater flexibility for state and local emergency managers in our disaster response." "Today and this week, you guys are gonna spend a lot of time talking about how to best respond to disasters nationwide," Stitt said, according to NOTUS. "It’s our experience that FEMA’s response to disasters is not necessarily effective or efficient." "We know our land, we know our people, and we know how to respond faster, leaner and smarter than Washington ever could. That’s the ‘Oklahoma standard,’ and that should be the American standard," Stitt said. Noem, whose agency houses FEMA, said every disaster should be "locally executed," "state-led," and with support from the federal government. The Trump administration has floated outright dismantling FEMA and has urged states to create their own agencies to handle disaster relief.

CNN [8/29/2025 7:32 AM, Edward-Isaac Dovere, 23245K] reports President Donald Trump revoked Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection on Thursday, according to a copy of a letter reviewed by CNN. Former presidents receive Secret Service protection for life. Harris, as a former vice president, received six months of protection after leaving office, according to federal law. That period ended on July 21. However, her protection had been extended for an additional year via a directive – not made public until now – signed by then-President Joe Biden shortly before leaving office, according to multiple people familiar with the undisclosed arrangement. That is the order Trump canceled in his letter, titled "Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security" and dated Thursday. "You are hereby authorized to discontinue any security-related procedures previously authorized by Executive Memorandum, beyond those required by law, for the following individual, effective September 1, 2025: Former Vice President Kamala D. Harris," the letter reads in full. The White House and Secret Service did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment. CBS News [8/29/2025 10:52 AM, Scott MacFarlane, Nicole Sganga, Jennifer Jacobs, Aaron Navarro, Melissa Quinn, and Callie Teitelbaum, 45245K] Video: HERE that former vice presidents, their spouses and children younger than 16 typically only continue to receive protection by the Secret Service for up to six months after leaving office under a law passed by Congress in 2008. But for recent administrations, an outgoing vice president’s detail has been extended beyond that allotted time because of a heightened threat environment. Federal law allows the secretary of Homeland Security to direct the Secret Service to provide temporary protection for a former vice president for longer than six months after leaving the White House "if the Secretary of Homeland Security or designee determines that information or conditions warrant such protection." Former President Joe Biden had signed an executive order in early January that extended Harris’ detail to 18 months after she left office, two senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security told CBS News. But Mr. Trump made the decision Thursday to revoke that continued protection, and an executive memorandum was issued to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directing her to rescind Harris’ Secret Service detail, effective Sept. 1, the officials said. The directive was then forwarded to the Secret Service, and the agency will comply with the order, the Homeland Security officials said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Wall Street Journal [8/29/2025 9:25 AM, Tarini Parti, 646K] reports Harris was entitled to six months of Secret Service protection after leaving office. That period was extended by a year by former President Joe Biden before he departed the White House, but Trump canceled the extension in a memorandum, according to the White House official. “The Vice President is grateful to the United States Secret Service for their professionalism, dedication, and unwavering commitment to safety,” said Kirsten Allen, senior adviser to Harris.

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Washington Examiner [8/29/2025 11:06 PM, Brady Knox, 1563K] reports the California Highway Patrol will take over security for former Vice President Kamala Harris after President Donald Trump revoked her Secret Service protection. Harris’s Secret Service had been atypically expanded by former President Joe Biden beyond the six months after leaving office, typically allocated to former vice presidents. After Trump ended the protection in a memorandum on Thursday, California officials scrambled to add new security for Harris. Sources told the Los Angeles Times that the CHP has been allotted to cover her. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) would have to approve the agreement, but his office remains silent. "Our office does not comment on security arrangements," Newsom spokeswoman Izzy Gordon told the outlet when asked about the arrangement. "The safety of our public officials should never be subject to erratic, vindictive political impulses.” The stripping of Secret Service protection from Harris could complicate her upcoming book tour for her short-lived presidential campaign memoir, "107 Days." The tour has 15 stops, including international visits. A recent threat assessment from the Secret Service found no credible evidence of a threat to Harris’s safety, according to the Associated Press. Harris’s loss of Secret Service protection isn’t the first such case, as Trump stripped former National Security Advisor John Bolton and former CIA director Mike Pompeo of their Secret Service protection earlier this year.

Reuters [8/29/2025 3:42 PM, Idrees Ali, Patricia Zengerle and Andrea Shalal, 45746K] reports a large buildup of U.S. naval forces in and around the Southern Caribbean has officials in Caracas and experts in the United States asking: is the move aimed at combating drug cartels, as the Trump administration has suggested, or is it for something else entirely? Seven U.S. warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or are expected to be there soon, bringing along more than 4,500 sailors and marines. U.S. President Donald Trump has said combating drug cartels is a central goal for his administration and U.S. officials have told Reuters that the military efforts aim to address threats from those cartels. Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff, said on Friday the military buildup was aimed to "combat and dismantle drug trafficking organizations, criminal cartels and these foreign terrorist organizations in our hemisphere." But it is unclear exactly how the U.S. military presence would disrupt the drug trade. Among other things, most of the seaborne drug trade travels to the United States via the Pacific, not the Atlantic, where the U.S. forces are, and much of what arrives via the Caribbean comes on clandestine flights. Venezuelan officials believe their government might be the real target. While U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, the current buildup exceeds the usual deployments in the region.

FOX News [8/29/2025 6:36 AM, Kurt Knutsson, 40019K] reports most modern Windows PCs rely on Microsoft Defender as their first line of defense against malware. Over the years, it has evolved into a capable and often underrated antivirus that blocks a wide range of threats. But a hacker group has found a way to abuse a legitimate Intel CPU tuning driver in a "Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver" (BYOVD) attack to completely disable Microsoft Defender. The technique has been observed since mid-July 2025 and is already being used in active ransomware campaigns. The method doesn’t rely on exploiting a software bug or delivering an obviously malicious file. Instead, it takes advantage of how the Windows driver system is designed to allow deep hardware access.

CyberScoop [8/29/2025 9:41 AM, Tim Starks] reports China’s reliance on domestic technology companies to carry out large-scale hacking operations—as highlighted by the U.S. government and its allies this week—is a weakness that poses risks for Beijing, a top FBI official told CyberScoop. Cyber agencies from around the world published an alert Wednesday about what officials have described as an indiscriminate cyberespionage campaign from Chinese Communist Party-backed hackers like the group known as Salt Typhoon. The alert also named three Chinese companies that it says have assisted that hacking. “These enabling companies, they failed,” Jason Bilnoski, deputy assistant director in the FBI’s cyber division, told CyberScoop. “This investigation, and that of our partners, are exposing that the use of these enabling companies by the CCP is a failure.” The lack of control China has over what those companies do precisely created an opening for investigators, Bilnoski said. “They have this unregulated system of using these enabling companies, and it does create a risk between CCP-sanctioned actions and the mistakes by these enabling private companies that they are utilizing,” he said.

ABC News [8/29/2025 8:42 AM, Aaron Katersky, 27036K] reports Luigi Mangione, the accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer, may have influenced last month’s deadly attack on NFL headquarters in New York City, federal prosecutors argued in a new court filing. By carrying out the assassination-style killing of CEO Brian Thompson last year on a Midtown Manhattan street, Mangione "hoped to normalize the use of violence," instead of reasoned dialogue, to achieve political objectives, prosecutors said. The prosecutors used last month’s mass shooting attack on the NFL headquarters in Midtown as an example. Mangione allegedly wrote "deny," "depose" and "delay" on the bullets used to kill Thompson, authorities said. In a notebook found after his arrest, Mangione allegedly wrote in a journal, "The target is insurance" because "it checks every box." "The murder was thus, by the defendant’s own admission, calculated to resonate beyond this specific victim and to generate scorn, outrage, or fear toward the health insurance sector more broadly," prosecutors said. "Simply put, the defendant hoped to normalize the use of violence to achieve ideological or political objectives. Since the murder, certain quarters of the public -- who openly identify as acolytes of the defendant -- have increasingly begun to view violence as an acceptable, or even necessary, substitute for reasoned political disagreement." The government believes Mangione deserves the death penalty in part because he poses a continuing danger by seeking to influence others.

NPR [8/29/2025 4:36 PM, Odette Yousef, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports a day after an assailant killed two children and wounded 18 other children and adults at a Catholic church in Minnesota, the FBI said the attack was motivated by "hate-filled ideology." But online materials presumed to belong to the shooter paint a more complex picture, say several extremism analysts. Instead, they say the emerging profile appears to align with a growing trend of school shootings committed by young people who harbor a misanthropic view of the world, who revere perpetrators of mass violence and who seek notoriety within communities that share that obsession. Cooter and other analysts have been combing through videos that were uploaded around the time of the attack to a YouTube account believed to belong to Robin Westman, the 23-year-old shooter. In his social media post, FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency found in Westman’s writings and other materials "anti-Catholic, anti-religious references," "hatred and violence toward Jewish people" and "an explicit call for violence against President Trump." But Cooter and Zoschak note that these are just a sampling of the animus that Westman displayed against a wide range of targets. They say that to select just a few is to ignore the larger picture that emerges from the evidence they’ve viewed: that Westman was obsessed with mass killing, particularly of children, for any — and no — reason at all. FOX News [8/29/2025 7:59 AM, Staff, 40019K] reports Brian O’Hara made the remark after telling reporters that "no evidence ever be able to make sense" of the mass shooting that left two children dead and 18 others injured Wednesday. However, he said, the Minneapolis Police Department "will do our best to determine and identify a specific motive." "What we have seen so far is this is an individual who, unfortunately, like so many other mass shooters that we have seen in this country too often and around the world, had some deranged fascination with previous mass shootings and very disturbing writings that demonstrate hatred towards many different individuals and different groups of people," O’Hara said. "And he fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters." Acting United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joe Thompson said Thursday that Westman left behind "hundreds of pages of writings, writings that describe the shooter’s plan, writings that describe the shooter’s mental state, and, more than anything, writings that describe the shooter’s hate. "The shooter expressed hate towards almost every group unmanageable. The shooter expressed hate towards Black people. The shooter expressed hate towards Mexican people. The shooter expressed hate towards Christian people. The shooter expressed hate towards Jewish people," Thompson continued. "In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us. The shooter’s heart was full of hate. There appears to be only one group that the shooter didn’t hate. One group of people who the shooter admired. That group were the school shooters and mass murderers that are notorious in this country.” Thompson also said Westman, "more than anything," was focused on killing children.

New York Times [8/30/2025 5:01 AM, Julie Bosman, Aric Toler, and Jeff Ernst, 153395K] reports it was Independence Day, and the plan to kill children inside Annunciation Catholic Church was coming together. “Oh my God! I got it! I have a shotgun!” the attacker wrote in a diary entry dated July 4, adding that a high-powered rifle was next on the shopping list. “It was not too difficult at all!” For much of this year, Robin W. Westman described in three secret diaries how she planned to commit mass murder. On Wednesday, the authorities identified her as the person who had opened fire on an all-school Mass in Minneapolis and killed two children and injured 18 other people. It was unclear whether the attacker had shared her plans with family or friends before the shooting. Messages to parents and other family members were not returned. The videos of the diaries were posted on Ms. Westman’s personal YouTube channel and included specific details about the shooting. They also included biographical information that The Times has corroborated. The Times captured the videos shortly after the attack, before YouTube shut down the channel. Early indications suggest that the shooter worked to keep the plot hidden. Diary entries were written in English, but using Cyrillic letters. The entries indicated that weapons and ammunition were carefully concealed from friends, roommates and a romantic partner. A small circle of confidants appeared to have shrunk further in the last several months. And safeguards such as background checks were easily navigated, even in Minnesota, a state that has in recent years made it more difficult to buy a gun. In the diaries, Ms. Westman, 23, wrote of an early fascination with school shooters that she had nurtured since a young age. She pondered the cost of guns and ammunition and debated whether to fire upon a concert venue or political rally, eventually settling on her former elementary school’s church, Annunciation. Earlier this year, Ms. Westman wrote, she had been watching so many mass shooting videos online that she worried about being placed on a Federal Bureau of Investigation watch list. But in early July, she was thrilled to discover that a state-issued gun permit had arrived in the mail. The F.B.I., she wrote, “had NO idea what they just did.” “That also means they have no suspicion of me or at least not enough to deny my application!” she wrote. “What a wonderful treat to come home to.”

CNN [8/29/2025 5:30 AM, Eric Levenson, 23245K] reports when evaluating how secure a location is, experts generally talk about "soft" targets like schools or "hard" targets like police stations. The deadly shooting in Minneapolis – at a combined church and school – was at the extreme end of that spectrum. "Certainly houses of worship and schools are the softest of soft targets, and (the shooter) knew that clearly," said Donell Harvin, former DC Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence. The attack at Annunciation Catholic Church while schoolchildren gathered for morning Mass underscored the particular security challenges that religious schools face in the age of the school shooting. These hybrid institutions have to balance the need for secure school grounds for children with the welcoming and openness that is fundamental to organized religion. "There’s a clash of tenants here," CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller said. "The first is a school, which is (designed) to protect the children and have a layered approach to security. But the second is the house of worship, which is by principle … meant to be open to all at any time."

Washington Examiner [8/30/2025 6:00 AM, Robert Schmad, 1563K] reports violence against Catholic churches has been on the rise for the past few years, both secular and religious organizations have warned. Now, some are levying criticism at state and federal authorities for what they have said was an inadequate response to such concerns following Wednesday’s shooting at Minneapolis’s Annunciation Catholic School that left two young children dead. Data collected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, CatholicVote, and the A-Mark Foundation all point to high levels of vandalism, arson, threats, and shootings targeting Catholic churches in recent years. Some Minnesotans and national political commentators have said that, given these threats were known long before the shooting, the response of public safety officials was lacking. For instance, leaders of independent and Catholic schools in Minnesota penned a letter to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) in April 2023 expressing an “urgent and critical need” to make “sure our schools are secure and safe considering the most recent, and continuing attacks, on our schools in this country and in our state,” citing the then recent attack on Christian school children in Tennessee. Though Walz was reportedly supportive of providing funding to better secure schools, no resources were disbursed for that purpose. After the request of religious school leaders was ignored in 2023, attacks against Catholic churches occurred at high levels.

Washington Post [8/30/2025 6:00 AM, Michelle Boorstein, 32099K] reports since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, public security funding for congregations and religious schools has climbed into the billions of dollars. While much of it has been secured by religious minorities, the deadly shooting this week at a Minneapolis parish could be a moment of change for Catholics, the country’s largest faith group. “Heretofore, and understandably, the risk was greater to Jews and Muslims because that’s where threats occurred. This incident may be more isolated, but it’s clearly a wake-up call for Catholics that this not only can but does happen anywhere,” said Jim Cultrara, director of education for the New York State Catholic Conference, the church’s policy arm in the state, and co-chair of the state organization representing nonpublic schools. In Minnesota, religious advocates have been pressing in recent years for more state funds — for public and private schools. The state in 2023 passed a $50 million grant program for building and cybersecurity for public schools. Leaders of Catholic and independent school groups had sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz (D) asking him to urge the legislature to include nonpublic schools. “The exclusion of one sector of schools … is a discriminatory act against our students,” read the letter, which said there were 72,000 students in the state in nonpublic schools. Besides federal nonprofit security grants that religious groups can apply for, Minnesota is one of about 20 states that have state-level security funding programs for nonprofits and religious schools, said Ethan Roberts, deputy executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota, an umbrella group. However, he said, it has provided only about $250,000 per year since it launched in 2017. Stephanie Graff, deputy commissioner for Minnesota’s Department of Education, said the state has two “long-standing” public funding streams for nonpublic schools that connect to safety: One is for transportation, and the other is for prevention-oriented initiatives like counselors and mental health support. Those add up to $53 million this year and $57 million next year. “I hear so much more from private schools about maintaining those two funding streams. Those are the ones I hear about,” she said. In the wake of the Annunciation shootings this week, she said, “we’re hearing about [more security funding] now. These pieces really need to be worked through with the legislature. Those are the conversations we need to have. We are always interested in all ideas on the table. These are all of our kids.”

AP [8/29/2025 7:24 PM, Aamer Madhani, 37974K] reports a Social Security official who has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging the Department of Government Efficiency officials mishandled Americans’ sensitive information says he’s resigning his post because of actions taken against him since making his complaint. Charles Borges, the agency’s chief data officer, alleged that more than 300 million Americans’ Social Security data was put at risk by DOGE officials who uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight. His whistleblower disclosure was submitted to the special counsel’s office on Tuesday. In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Borges claimed that since filing his whistleblower complaint, the agency’s actions make his duties “impossible to perform legally and ethically” and have caused him “physical, mental and emotional distress.” “After reporting internally to management and externally to regulators, serious data and security and integrity concerns impacting our citizens’ most sensitive personal data, I have suffered exclusion, isolation, internal strife, and a culture of fear, creating a hostile work environment and making work conditions intolerable,” Borges added. The Project Government Accountability Office, which is representing him in his whistleblower case, posted Borges’ resignation letter on its website Friday evening. Borges declined to comment. “He no longer felt that he could continue to work for the Social Security Administration in good conscience, given what he had witnessed,” his attorney Andrea Meza said in a statement. She added that Borges would continue to work with the proper oversight bodies on the matter. In his whistleblower’s complaint, Borges said the potentially sensitive information put at risk by DOGE’s actions includes health diagnoses, income, banking information, familial relationships and personal biographic data. “Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital healthcare and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for re-issuing every American a new Social Security Number at great cost,” said the complaint.

Bloomberg [8/29/2025 10:18 AM, Ntando Thukwana, 19085K] reports South Africa’s state-owned postal company halted some services to the US indefinitely, after President Donald Trump revoked duty-free access for international parcels. While all parcels or other items containing goods destined for the US will be suspended, documents, letters and exempted mail classes such as military mail will still be accepted, the South Africa Post Office said in a statement on Friday. “Given the complex processes required to comply with the new regulation, we have no choice but to temporarily suspend these shipments,” it said. “We regret any inconvenience this may cause to our customers.” US consumers were previously able to buy cheap goods from abroad under what was called the de minimis exemption, which allowed for smaller packages to be shipped into the US duty-free. That tariff exemption was revoked in May for China, before being repealed for the rest of the world in a presidential order signed last month with the purpose of preventing the inflow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl. The South African announcement follows similar decisions by other national postal services that have suspended their shipping services to the US, including Japan, Britain and Australia.

Bloomberg [8/29/2025 11:14 AM, Daryna Krasnolutska and Olesia Safronova, 19085K] reports President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he and the European leaders will “connect” next week with Donald Trump to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Friday, Zelenskiy said the call will take place during one of the meetings the Ukrainian president is going to have with European leaders. The talks will be his latest push to win legally binding commitments from western allies as part of peace talks to end Russia’s full-scale invasion, which is well into its fourth year. “We need to dot the i’s and cross the t’s for security guarantees,” Zelenskiy said. “There are questions like ‘boots on the ground’ which can only be discussed at the leaders’ level,” he said without elaborating. Zelenskiy also didn’t give any further details about his schedule or the potential date for the call with Trump. Ukraine and its allies have intensified work on security guarantees after Zelenskiy, European leaders, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the US president met in Washington on Aug. 18. As Trump pushes for a quick agreement between Kyiv and Moscow on ending the war, Ukraine’s allies are focusing on pinning down what security guarantees they can provide to ensure that any agreement reached with Vladimir Putin can hold.

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