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

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

Reuters [12/14/2025 7:22 AM, Mrinmay Dey, 36480K] reports that Providence police have detained a "person of interest" in connection with the Brown University shooting that left two students dead and another nine people wounded at the U.S. Ivy League school. Providence’s Chief Public Information Officer for Public Safety Kristy DosReis told Reuters a person of interest was in police custody after the shooting at the Providence university. Brown said in an advisory on Sunday that police had also lifted a shelter-in-place order for its campus in Rhode Island. More than 400 law enforcement personnel had been deployed on Saturday as police sought a suspect who had entered a building where students were taking exams with a firearm. The Providence university said that police officers remained in areas still considered an active crime scene. Access to parts of the campus remained restricted on Sunday as police maintained a security perimeter around Minden Hall and nearby apartment buildings, said Brown, which has hundreds of buildings, including lecture halls, laboratories and dorms. Streets around the campus had been packed with emergency vehicles and security was heightened around the city on Saturday as officials said law enforcement agencies sought the gunman. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were working with local and state police. Officials released a video of a suspect, a male possibly in his 30s and dressed in black. Providence Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara said on Saturday the individual may have worn a mask, but officials were not certain. Investigators retrieved shell casings from the scene, but police were not prepared to release details, O’Hara added. The gunman fled after shooting students in a classroom in Brown’s Barus & Holley engineering building, where outer doors had been unlocked while exams were taking place, officials said. Detectives were looking into why that location was targeted, police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters at a news conference. Brown President Christina Paxson told reporters that all or nearly all of the victims were students, adding: "This is the day one hopes never happens, and it has". As news of the shooting spread, the school told students to shelter in place. Brown student Chiang-Heng Chien told local TV station WJAR he was working in a lab with three other students when he saw the text about the active shooter situation a block away. They waited under desks for about two hours, he said. Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee vowed that the shooter would be brought to justice. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday that he had been briefed on the situation, which he called "terrible." Compared to many countries, mass shootings in schools, workplaces, and places of worship are more common in the U.S., which has some of the most permissive gun laws in the developed world. The Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as any incident in which four or more victims have been shot, has counted 389 of them this year in the U.S., including at least six such shootings at schools.

NBC News [12/14/2025 1:56 AM, Dennis Romero, 34509K] Video: HERE reports a gunman killed two people and injured nine others after opening fire at Brown University’s engineering and physics building in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday, officials said. The unidentified gunman left after the shooting at the Barus & Holley building, on the eastern edge of the campus, Commander Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police, said Saturday night. People in the area were advised to shelter in place amid an active manhunt. A spokesperson Brown University Health, which operates Rhode Island Hospital, where the injured were being treated, said seven people remained in critical condition and one had been stabilized. An 11th victim was identified hours after the shooting, and had non-life-threatening injuries from fragments, officials said. The attack was reported just after 4 p.m. at Brown’s Barus & Holley building, a seven-story structure home to much of the university’ engineering and physics study and research, officials said. It happened inside a first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building, officials said. The outer doors of the building were open at the time because exams were taking place, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said. "It is unknown how he entered the building, but we do know that he exited the Hope Street side of that complex," O’Hara said. O’Hara described the gunman only as “a male dressed in black.” Providence police released security camera video that shows the person believed to be the shooter. The video, only a few seconds long, shows what appears to be a man in dark, loose pants, a dark jacket, and possibly also in a knit cap, walking down Hope Street and rounding a corner lined by a retaining wall. It does not clearly show the man’s face, nor does it show what happened beforehand. An alert on Brown’s Emergency Information website instructed people to lock doors, silence phones and stay safe. A shelter-in-place advisory was still in effect Saturday night for the campus — including any of the 11,000 enrolled students who remained at the Ivy League university — and the Providence neighborhoods surrounding the school, Smiley said. On Saturday afternoon, officials walked back an earlier alert stating someone was taken into custody, leaving people in the city of roughly 190,000 in fear and uncertainty. Speaking after he disembarked from Marine One at the White House Saturday night, President Donald Trump expressed sorrow. “What a terrible thing it is, and all we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt,” Trump said. State and local agencies were responding to the shooting, as were federal resources, including FBI personnel and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Both FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi also asked for prayers. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee called the attack "an unthinkable tragedy." "Our hearts are with the people of Providence and all those impacted," he said on X. CBS News [12/13/2025 11:45 PM, Kierra Frazier and Faris Tanyos, 39474K] reports Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said in a news conference that eight of the wounded were taken to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition. The hospital later said in a statement that six of those patients were in "critical but stable condition," one was in critical condition, and another was in stable condition. In a follow-up news conference late Saturday night, Smiley said that a ninth victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries when they "learned that they had received fragments from a shooting that had occurred near them." That victim did not sustain a gunshot wound and is expected to make a full recovery, Smiley said. Brown University President Christina H. Paxson told reporters in the second briefing that all the victims, those killed and wounded, were students. Smiley said that no arrests had been made, and a shelter-in-place was in place for the Brown University area. No weapons have been recovered, O’Hara said. A university alert told students to lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice. President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that he had been briefed on the shooting.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [12/14/2025 4:33 AM, Yan Zhuang, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Mark Arsenault and Mitch Smith, 135475K]
New York Times [12/13/2025 5:34 PM, Hannah Ziegler and Rylee Kirk, 153395K]
New York Post [12/13/2025 7:30 PM, Gabrielle Fahmy and Shane Galvin, 42219K]
New York Post [12/13/2025 10:40 PM, Zoe Hussain, 42219K]
Breitbart [12/14/2025 12:36 AM, Staff, 2416K]
AP [12/13/2025 8:40 PM, Kimberlee Kruesi, Jennifer McDermott, and Alanna Durkin Richer, 4109K]
AP [12/13/2025 6:15 PM, Staff, 31753K]
ABC News [12/13/2025 8:06 PM, Alexandra Faul, Ivan Pereira, and Luke Barr, 30493K] Video: HERE
CBS News [12/13/2025 8:21 PM, Kierra Frazier, Faris Tanyos and, Pat Milton, 39474K]
NBC News [12/14/2025 2:02 AM, Phil Helsel, Marin Scott and Sophie Comeau, 34509K]
FOX News [12/13/2025 4:46 PM, Alexandra Koch, Adriana James-Rodil, and Andrea Margolis, 40621K] Video: HERE
FOX News [12/13/2025 9:39 PM, Landon Mion, 40621K]
FOX News [12/14/2025 3:08 AM, Staff, 40621K]
USA Today [12/13/2025 9:32 PM, Bailey Allen, 67103K]
Blaze [12/13/2025 10:19 PM, Dave Urbanski, 1442K]
Daily Wire [12/13/2025 8:01 PM, Amanda Prestigiacomo, 2494K]
Daily Caller [12/13/2025 10:11 PM, Chris Butler, 835K]
Washington Examiner [12/13/2025 5:01 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K]

New York Post [12/13/2025 9:50 PM, Staff, 42219K] reports petrified Brown students can be seen cowering in a university library as loud bangs thunder outside, in exclusive video obtained by The Post. At least seven loud bangs are heard as over a dozen terrified and teary-eyed students crouch in front of library shelves during Saturday’s mass shooting, that left two dead and 8 critically injured. It was not clear what caused the noises, but after the final bang numerous police officers dressed in SWAT gear and holding firearms entered the library and order the students to put their hands up. Multiple loud bangs are heard as the students hide in front of the library shelves. The mass shooting has left two dead and eight critically injured. "Obviously there’s something going on, we’re here to help you… just listen to our commands we’ll get you out of here now," one officer said. Here’s the latest on the mass shooting at Brown University. The officer instructed the students to retrieve their belongings quickly before they would be escorted out of the library. The students then are seen frantically running to grab their bags before the video concluded.

Washington Post [12/13/2025 12:06 PM, Naftali Bendavid, 24149K] reports the Trump administration, amid a series of foreign and domestic challenges, is redoubling its efforts to blame an array of outside forces for America’s problems and enact policies that block those influences from crossing U.S. borders. Last week, the United States halted immigration applications from 19 countries. Shortly after, the administration announced an expanded travel ban covering more than 30 countries — “every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” in the words of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem. And on Wednesday, Border Protection officials proposed requiring visitors from U.S. allies to provide up to five years of their social media history, a move that could discourage tourists. The actions come on the heels of a 33-page National Security Strategy stressing the administration’s opposition to multilateralism and immigration, while scolding European allies that they risk "civilizational erasure" for taking a different approach. "Who a country admits into its borders — in what numbers and from where — will inevitably define the future of that nation," the paper says. These moves — accompanied by a bolstering of tariffs and President Donald Trump’s often racially tinged anti-outsider rhetoric — suggest a goal of sealing off the United States from many foreign people, products and cultures. They also signal that the U.S. is refocusing its attention on its immediate neighborhood in the Western Hemisphere, rather than the broader global landscape that has long been its horizon.

Blaze [12/13/2025 12:30 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1442K] reports the Trump administration’s National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent exposed a terrifying reality about the fallout from former President Joe Biden’s open border crisis. During a Thursday Committee on Homeland Security hearing, Kent testified that, under the Biden administration, thousands of foreign nationals with known or suspected terrorist ties were allowed into the country. He explained that the country is facing “a persistent threat from the individuals that were allowed into this country by the previous administration.” Kent noted that the most significant threat “is the fact that we don’t know who came into our country in the last four years of Biden’s open borders.” He accused the prior administration of having “facilitated” the entry of individuals with ties to jihadi groups, including the Afghan suspected of attacking National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., on November 26. The attack resulted in the death of 20-year-old National Guard member Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, while Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was wounded. He stated that the NCTC is working with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to track down individuals with ties to terrorist organizations. However, he noted that the 18,000 figure does not include foreign nationals who came into the U.S. illegally through the open border.

FOX News [12/13/2025 9:30 AM, Leo Briceno, 40621K] reports almost a year after record heights of illegal border crossings, Republican lawmakers unveiled plans to construct a memorial honoring Americans who had lost loved ones to violence caused by illegal immigrants at a press event on Friday afternoon. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., the lawmaker spearheading the effort, said it would serve as a reminder of the costs of bad policy. Hamadeh was joined Friday by several angel families who had experienced personal loss and by members of The American Border Story (TABS), an organization dedicated to documenting the U.S. southern border crisis. According to data collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, encounters at the U.S. Southern Border peaked last year with over 300,000 encounters in December 2024. Almost a year later, encounters have dropped precipitously with just 11,600 encounters this past September.

Washington Examiner [12/13/2025 3:24 PM, David Zimmermann, 1394K] reports an Obama-appointed judge in Michigan has come under fire from the Trump administration and conservatives on social media for sparing an illegal immigrant who raped a disabled woman another two years in prison and openly praising him. Edys Renan Membreno Diaz, a Honduran national who entered the United States at least seven separate times, was convicted for raping and sodomizing a disabled woman suffering from cerebral palsy and cognitive delays in the laundry room of her apartment building. He was sentenced in 2022. The illegal immigrant is set to be released by July 2028 after a federal judge declined to impose an additional two-year sentence related to his illegal entry into the U.S., not the sex crime. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the ruling reflected "unspeakable depravity" on the judge’s part. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan is appealing Diaz’s lenient sentence, so that he can receive a stronger punishment. Prosecutors argued the judge made several mistakes and found her reasoning odd for rejecting the enhanced sentence.

Breitbart [12/13/2025 11:13 AM, Heather Hollingsworth, Joshua Goodman and John Hanna] reports the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, whose ancestors were uprooted by the U.S. from the Great Lakes region in the 1830s, are facing outrage from fellow Native Americans over plans to profit from another forced removal: President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. A newly established tribal business entity quietly signed a nearly $30 million federal contract in October to come up with an early design for immigrant detention centers across the U.S. Amid the backlash, the tribe says it’s trying to get out of it. The criticism has been so intense that the 4,500-member tribe said it fired the economic development leaders who brokered the deal. Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick promised “full transparency” about what he described as an “evolving situation.” In a video message to tribal members Friday, he said the tribe is talking with legal counsel about ways to end the contract. It’s unclear what the Tribal Council knew about the contract.

Breitbart [12/13/2025 11:57 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports California has been caught red‑handed, leading the nation in unlawfully issuing commercial driver’s licenses to foreign nationals, with federal regulators blasting Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration for putting politics above public safety and fueling deadly crashes on America’s highways. California has become ground zero in America’s trucking scandal, with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration accused of rubber‑stamping thousands of illegal commercial driver’s licenses for foreign nationals in defiance of federal law. A blistering Department of Transportation audit revealed that one in four of the state’s non‑domiciled CDLs were issued improperly, with some valid until 2030 despite immigration documents expiring years earlier. Federal regulators say reckless licensing practices have already contributed to deadly crashes, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is now threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in highway funds from California unless Newsom reverses course. Reports indicate that California leads the nation in non-domiciled CDL licensees, with approximately 60,000 being issued. Overdrive reports that 25 percent of these are improperly licensed. Many of these licenses expire well past the expiration of the driver’s immigration status. Under the emergency rule, non-citizens are not eligible for a non-domiciled CDL unless they meet a much stricter set of rules, including possessing an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system. Specifically, the new rule prevents all asylum seekers from obtaining non-domiciled CDLs. States are now required to apply the stricter standards to all issuances, renewals, transfers, or upgrades of a non-domiciled CDL.

NPR [12/13/2025 7:42 AM, Eric Westervelt, Adrian Florido, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports a North Carolina woman left her front yard Christmas tree half-decorated after immigration agents questioned men helping her. The unfinished tree stands as a symbol of the immigration crackdown.

The Hill [12/13/2025 2:25 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K] reports Louisiana’s GOP leaders are at odds over federal immigration enforcement efforts in the Bayou State, as Border Patrol agents seek to arrest 5,000 people. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser (R) said local residents, who are living legally in the state, have raised concerns. However, Gov. Jeff Landry’s (R-La.) office said undocumented immigrants should be swiftly removed.

Houston Chronicle [12/13/2025 5:30 PM, Maliya Ellis, 2983K] reports the U.S. government has not informed the Port of Galveston that the oil tanker seized this week near Venezuela will end up in the Houston area. "Officials have not notified the Port of Galveston that the ship is to be docked there," Kathy Thomas, the port’s communications director, told the Houston Chronicle. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that the seized ship would be taken to a U.S. port, without specifying which. Multiple law enforcement agencies seized the supertanker Skipper on Wednesday, alleging that it was transporting Venezuelan oil to Iran in violation of U.S. trade sanctions. Reuters reported this week that Skipper would be heading to Houston but would need to anchor nearby and offload its cargo into smaller ships in order to enter the port. The outlet cited unnamed sources. Port Houston does not handle tankers at the eight public facilities it owns and operates, according to Director of Media Relations Lisa Ashley-Daniels. The seized tanker could likely dock at some of the private terminals along the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel, of which there are more than 200, she said. Ashley-Daniels referred the Chronicle to the Greater Houston Port Bureau, a trade organization made up of about 240 member companies from the maritime industry. A spokesperson there did not immediately respond to a request for more information. The Houston-Galveston division of the U.S. Coast Guard did not immediately respond to questions about where and when the tanker would be docked. A Pentagon press operations duty officer referred the Chronicle to spokespeople for the White House and the Department of Justice, who did not immediately respond to requests for more information.

Breitbart [12/13/2025 5:56 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports U.S. officials unsealed the warrant issued for the seizure of the shadow fleet oil tanker The Skipper, which the U.S. military seized in international waters earlier this week. A federal magistrate judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signed the seizure warrant on Nov. 26, which U.S. forces presented upon its seizure on Wednesday in the operation led by the Coast Guard. "As the premier United States Attorney’s office leading efforts to intercept ghost vessels as well as sanctioned products, we remain committed to legally supporting President [Donald] Trump’s efforts to make the world a safer place," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a news release on Friday. Pirro called the tanker’s seizure an "enforcement action."

Breitbart [12/13/2025 5:33 PM, Jasmyn Jordan, 2416K] reports a Democrat congresswoman from Illinois has formally called for an investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, citing allegations of unlawful conduct, misuse of federal funds, and violations of ethical and legal obligations in her role overseeing the Department of Homeland Security. On Thursday, December 11, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee requesting an investigation into Secretary Kristi Noem, calling her actions at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "potentially impeachable." Ramirez charges that Noem has repeatedly broken the law, misused taxpayer funds, and misled both Congress and the public. In her letter to the Judiciary Committee, she further states that Noem has "disregard[ed] the rule of law" and engaged in conduct that "violate[s] her oath of office." The letter cites multiple allegations, including a $200 million taxpayer-funded DHS public relations campaign, which reportedly involved vendors with personal ties to Noem and senior officials at the agency. Ramirez also points to Noem’s authorization of a partisan video that was displayed in airports during the government shutdown beginning October 1, calling it a violation of the Hatch Act. In addition, Ramirez criticizes the purchase of two Gulfstream jets for $172 million under Noem’s leadership. Ramirez also asserts that Noem has made numerous misleading or false public statements, including downplaying the detention of U.S. citizens by ICE and misrepresenting the outcome of deportation efforts involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia. She contends DHS under Noem has used excessive force, including the deployment of chemical weapons in violation of court orders. In one cited example, Ramirez says DHS agents used such tactics in Chicago despite a federal judge’s ruling barring their use. During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Ramirez addressed Noem directly: "Your options are limited. Either you’re going to resign, Trump’s going to fire you, or you will be impeached." She accused Noem of lying "with impunity," rejecting the system of checks and balances, and ignoring oversight from both Congress and the courts. "You have misused resources appropriated by Congress. You’ve engaged in unethical behavior," Ramirez remarked during the hearing, adding, "I’ve already called for your resignation. You may remember, I hand delivered my request to you back in May.".

Washington Post [12/14/2025 5:00 AM, Olivia George and Jenny Gathright, 32099K] reports a months-long congressional investigation accuses the chief of the D.C. police department of incentivizing her subordinates to downplay crimes to maintain an illusion of a safer city, according to a report summarizing the findings obtained by The Washington Post. Based on interviews with all seven current D.C. police district commanders plus one who’s on leave, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee said Pamela A. Smith “propagated an ecosystem of fear, retaliation, and toxicity” — another salvo in the power struggle between federal and local authorities over public safety in the nation’s capital. The report arrives days after a leaked draft from a Justice Department investigation into the police department found Smith created a “coercive culture of fear” that may have encouraged the manipulation of crime statistics. It bookends a week that began with Smith issuing an abrupt announcement that she’d be stepping down at the end of the year to spend more time with family. Smith, who was named chief in 2023, did not respond to a phone call or text message seeking comment Saturday. During a news conference where she discussed her resignation, she said she would never support the manipulation of crime data. Neither report accuses the chief of unlawful behavior. A spokesperson for the police department declined to comment. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) did not directly address questions about the report’s conclusions but said in a statement to The Post: “The men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department run towards danger every day to reduce homicides, carjackings, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and more. The precipitous decline in crime in our city is attributable to their hard work and dedication and Chief Smith’s leadership. I thank Chief Smith for her commitment to the safety of DC residents and for holding the Metropolitan Police Department to an exacting standard, and I expect no less from our next Chief of Police.”

FOX News [12/14/2025 6:00 AM, Howard Husock, 40621K] reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, usually quick to denounce anything he views as a scandal (including most of what the Trump administration does), has been uncharacteristically silent about the billion-dollar Minnesota social services fraud indictments. Understandable perhaps, because of the embarrassment it’s causing for Minnesota Governor and former vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz and Minnesota’s progressive darling Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose Somali constituents are among the ringleaders — but whom left-wary Schumer is loath to alienate as he faces reelection. But were Schumer to look back at his own legislative record, he could find a relevant and constructive response — one that might even help Democrats still lost on immigration-related issues in the wake of the Biden-era de facto open border. In 2013, Schumer was one of a so-called Gang of Eight senators — including then-Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio — to sponsor a sprawling immigration law reform bill, the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act." The so-called "comprehensive" bill included everything from a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants to an increase in visas for foreign student in STEM fields — proposals even more likely to spark Republican opposition today than they did in 2013 when the bill died in the House after actually passing the Senate. Schumer insisted that "piecemeal reforms" should not be considered — but one aspect of the bill that he endorsed could serve him — and centrist Democrats — well today, were he willing to revive it. The proposed Office of Citizenship and New Americans put the Senate leader squarely behind what was once called Americanization or assimilation, and more lately immigrant ‘integration.’ It took as a given that immigrants from countries that don’t share American legal and cultural norms should be exposed to them — in the process of their being taught English. An "Office of Citizenship and New Americans" would be responsible "for training on citizenship responsibilities for new immigrants," including "information about English and citizenship education programs," according to the American Immigration Council. Passing a citizenship test, keep in mind, requires a knowledge of the Constitution and the U.S. legal system. Aiming, too, for "upward economic mobility," it’s the sort of initiative that would have been ideal for Minneapolis Somalis, some 90,000 of whom count Somali as the first language and come from a country ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world. Transparency International, in fact, gives it a score of just 9/100, making it the 179th of 180 countries, or the second-most-corrupt government in the world. It’s actually gotten even worse since 2023, when it ranked 177th. Only war-torn South Sudan ranks lower. In other words, immigration to a historic clean government state like Minnesota would be a cultural adjustment for Somalis, putting them in a position to take advantage of overly trusting locals.

Daily Caller [12/13/2025 9:52 AM, Adam Pack, 835K] reports as Democrats plot to retake power during next year’s midterm elections, some are embracing a strategy considered politically toxic by many in the party. Democrats squaring off in primaries across the country are calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or for major changes that would strip the agency of its core functions. The resurgence of the "Abolish ICE" movement comes as some Democrats argue President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown has gone too far, though leading Democrats have still not coalesced around an alternative immigration policy platform. "Let me be clear, fuck ICE," Democratic Illinois House candidate Patty Garcia said during a campaign announcement in November. "It’s time to abolish ICE and hold Trump and his entire clan accountable." Garcia, who controversially became the presumptive Democratic nominee for a deep blue seat by default following a retirement gambit by her boss, is likely to take her anti-ICE advocacy with her to Congress next year. Other high-profile Democratic House candidates such as outgoing New York City comptroller Brad Lander and Illinois House candidate Kat Abughazaleh have also forcefully called for the agency’s dismantlement. Lander and Abughazaleh are both running in contested primaries. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) countered that anti-ICE messaging is dangerous for the men and women serving in law enforcement. "Attacks and demonization of ICE is wrong," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF in a statement. "President Trump campaigned on immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and Secretary [Kristi] Noem is delivering." McLaughlin also stated ICE officers are facing a 1,150% increase in assaults as compared with the same period in 2024 under the Biden administration. Some Democrats are actively trying to distance themselves from the "abolish ICE" movement, which has proven unpopular over consecutive electoral cycles.

Washington Times [12/13/2025 4:01 PM, Mallory Wilson, 852K] reports the mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew addressed the White House press secretary in her first TV interview since being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “You’re a mother,” Bruna Caroline Ferreira said Friday on CNN. “You are a mother now. And you should know. How would you feel if you were in my shoes? How would you feel if somebody did this to you?” Ms. Ferreira, 33, was detained last month in Massachusetts for overstaying a tourist visa. She is the mother of Ms. Leavitt’s nephew by way of her brother, Michael Leavitt. The two women have not spoken in years. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said last month that Ms. Ferreira is a “criminal illegal alien” from Brazil who entered the U.S. on a B-2 Tourist Visa and didn’t leave when it expired in June 1999. After her detainment, her sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, set up a GoFundMe page to aid with legal costs and fight the charges. Ms. Rodrigues wrote that Ms. Ferreira has been maintaining her status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program from the Obama administration. Ms. Ferreira said Friday she was detained while on her way to pick up her son. She said the situation “doesn’t make sense.” “I’m trying to understand and have faith that there’s some logical explanation behind any of this, but there isn’t. I’m not the first. I’m surely not going to be the last,” she told CNN. “There’s thousands of women and families and children being separated daily. Where does it end? When does it stop?” DHS has said Ms. Ferreira has a criminal history aside from being in the country illegally, but she and her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, have maintained that’s not true.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [12/13/2025 2:16 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K]

FOX News [12/13/2025 9:50 AM, Joshua Q. Nelson, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Friday a church’s interpretation of a Nativity scene that reportedly intended to "disturb passersby" this Christmas is an example of what’s contributing to a rise in assaults on ICE. An art display of the Nativity scene at the Missiongathering Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, reportedly depicted Jesus, Mary and Joseph with "masked immigration agents wearing bulletproof vests and carrying handcuffs." "The goal is to translate the Christmas story into a modern context," Rev. Andrew Shipley told The Charlotte Observer. "If the Holy Family had been in Charlotte two weeks ago, they would have been putting the baby Jesus in handcuffs because he wouldn’t have his papers." Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not zip-tying infants or children. "Not only is this ‘Nativity’ scene offensive to Christians, but it is also depicting something that — despite what Rev. Shipley says — NEVER happens," McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. According to The Charlotte Observer, Missiongathering Church criticized immigration enforcement, and the church pastor’s goal was to "force viewers to confront the fear many immigrant families in Charlotte felt following recent immigration arrests in the city.".

Univision [12/13/2025 3:18 PM, Mariana Rambaldi, 5004K] reports a recently published Amnesty International (AI) report documented abusive treatment of detained immigrants and possible human rights violations amounting to torture at immigrant detention centers in Florida, the Krome North Processing and Service Center and the controversial ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, a facility in the middle of the swamps in the south of the state. The document, titled Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State, compiled testimonies of these abuses, including accounts of migrants being confined in a caged "box" and left exposed to the blazing sun for hours, without protection and with minimal access to water. It also documented treatment of migrants that it described as "torture." AI’s investigation into immigrant detention centers in Florida was conducted in September 2025. Kapron confirmed that the organization requested access to three centers: Krome, Glades, and ‘Alligator Alcatraz’. However, the mission encountered obstacles related to transparency and access: ICE only granted them entry to Krome and denied them access to Glades, citing a lack of capacity. In the case of ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ an unusual facility because it does not operate under federal ICE authority, Florida state authorities "never responded" to the request, Kapron explains. Krome also had the highest number of deaths of any detention center in the US in fiscal year 2025, with four fatalities. Kapron noted that many of these tragedies are attributable to the "lack of medical access within detention centers." Detainees report significant challenges in accessing medical services at Krome. The detentions are part of an expansion of immigration crackdown, with the number of detainees in Florida increasing by more than 47% in just eight months during fiscal year 2025, according to the investigation. Because the facility is not integrated into ICE’s federal systems, there is no public database where families or lawyers can track detainees.

FOX News [12/13/2025 11:13 AM, Greg Norman, 40621K] reports a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Louisiana was bitten in the hand by an illegal immigrant who was resisting arrest, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS said the "gross attack" involving Maximiliano Perez-Perez happened in Tullos, a town in the central part of Louisiana. Officials released an image purportedly showing the ICE officer’s bloodied hand following the alleged attack. DHS said Perez-Perez entered the United States at an unknown date and time and was not inspected or paroled by an immigration officer.

Chicago Tribune [12/14/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Johnson, 4829K] reports it’s pitch-black and frigid in the parking lot of an Italian restaurant in Michigan City, Indiana, by the time a small group of volunteers and immigrants gather in a circle, arms resting on each other’s shoulders and heads bent in prayer. A pastor tells three Chicago-area men, who just hours ago had been released from an ICE detention center in Michigan, that God loves them. That any mistreatment they may have experienced didn’t escape his attention. That God will walk with them on the rest of their journey. It’s a message that Rebecca De La Luz, one of the intrepid volunteers who wears a blue T-shirt that says “madre all day every day,” feels deeply as she nodded along that early December day. She’ll soon drive the men hours back to the city and suburbs for emotional reunions with their families, the next conductor in what the group wryly referred to as the “above-ground railroad.” “Everything that’s happening, I want to be proactive and do something because I know in my heart that it’s not right, and these people aren’t criminals and they’re not bad people,” said the 36-year-old Machesney Park resident and mom of three. “They deserve to know somebody cares about them.” De La Luz’s actions, along with the others she works with across Illinois and Michigan, in many ways represent the next step in community resistance after President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign swept the Chicago region this fall. The Department of Homeland Security has said it arrested more than 4,300 during the two-month Operation Midway Blitz but has not offered more detailed figures on the backgrounds of detainess. More detailed data of many of the arrests, both obtained by the Tribune and as part of a federal lawsuit, indicate that most detainees do not have significant criminal records. Thousands of people rallied against the raids, participating in protests, small and large, and many more handed out whistles so bystanders could alert immigrants of the presence of federal immigration agents. These days, De La Luz fields around 50 calls a day from concerned family members and people detained at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, a small village about a four-hour drive from Chicago. She writes letters and puts together backpacks filled with clothes and toiletries. She even makes in-person visits at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. De La Luz wants to let immigrants know they haven’t been forgotten.

Univision Austin [12/13/2025 9:19 AM, Staff, 5004K] reports an Austin family has been living in anguish for several days after the father was detained by state police for an alleged traffic violation, handed over to immigration authorities, and then found seriously injured in a hospital. Francisco Cerda, an immigrant man and father of 3 children, was on his way to work last Tuesday, December 2, when he was approached by a state police officer at a gas station. Francisco was handed over to ICE by the state police officer, then transferred to an immigrant center in Pflugerville and later moved to Pearsall. Days later, without knowing anything about Francisco, Evelin received a call informing her that her husband was in a hospital and that they would perform a biopsy on him. Evelin doesn’t know what happened to her husband during his arrest and won’t know until Francisco can recover.

Telemundo20 [12/13/2025 1:13 PM, Eduardo Orbea, 57K] reports the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) changed its policy on the use and presentation of photos associated with immigration documents. USCIS issued new guidelines “limiting the age of photos of foreign nationals that can be used to create immigration documents to no more than three years. This update enhances national security and prevents identity fraud,” according to USCIS on its website. Effective immediately, the USCIS Policy Manual guidelines limit the reuse of photos to those taken within three years prior to the date the person files a USCIS form. Certain forms will require a new photo, regardless of when the applicant’s or petitioner’s last photograph was taken. The change took effect immediately.

San Diego Union Tribune [12/13/2025 8:00 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1538K] reports sitting next to her husband in their Rancho Peñasquitos home, Ukrainian mother Viktoriia Bulavina recalled Friday the tense moments she experienced being taken into immigration custody during a green card interview last week. On Dec. 4, she was handcuffed in front of her husband, who is a U.S. citizen, and taken away by federal immigration agents at the end of her marriage-based green card interview at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in downtown San Diego. She initially thought she would be released within hours while they verified her status. But she ended up spending five days in custody. Bulavina was released from the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Tuesday. Her attorney, Caroline Matthews, with Pathway to Citizenship San Diego — a local nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrant families — said that the fight is not over, as Bulavina is still facing removal. She has a notice to appear in court later this month. Matthews said that she filed a motion to terminate the proceedings and will seek to resume Bulavina’s green card case. Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Friday in a statement that Bulavina has been placed in immigration proceedings. "All of her claims will be heard by a judge," she said. "She will receive full due process."

San Francisco Chronicle [12/13/2025 7:00 AM, Ko Lyn Cheang, 4722K] reports eight days before he was scheduled to swear his oath of allegiance as a new U.S. citizen, a Bay Area immigrant from Myanmar received a letter saying it was canceled "due to unforeseen circumstances." The green card holder, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing his immigration case, left behind his family and career as a humanitarian worker in Myanmar to reunite with his then-fiancé, an American, in San Francisco in 2021. The man is one of many people from 19 countries on the Trump administration’s June travel ban list whose citizenship oath ceremonies have been cancelled at the eleventh hour. Even immigrants who’ve followed all legal processes to apply for benefits like green cards and work visas have been left in legal purgatory, unable to work or travel to visit dying relatives, in some cases, due to the indefinite pause. Federal immigration officials have justified the ban as necessary to protect national security, but those impacted and their advocates have said the measures amount to scapegoating.

Wall Street Journal [12/13/2025 9:00 PM, Katherine Long, Ben Foldy, and Lingling Wei, 646K] reports inside a closed Los Angeles courtroom, something wasn’t right. Clerks working for family court Judge Amy Pellman were reviewing routine surrogacy petitions when they spotted an unusual pattern: the same name, again and again. A Chinese billionaire was seeking parental rights to at least four unborn children, and the court’s additional research showed that he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more—all through surrogates. When Pellman called Xu Bo in for a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023, he never entered the courtroom, according to people who attended the hearing. The maker of fantasy videogames lived in China and appeared via video, speaking through an interpreter. He said he hoped to have 20 or so U.S.-born children through surrogacy—boys, because they’re superior to girls—to one day take over his business. Several of his kids were being raised by nannies in nearby Irvine as they awaited paperwork to travel to China. He hadn’t yet met them, he told the judge, because work had been busy. Pellman was alarmed, according to the people who attended the hearing. Surrogacy was a tool to help people build families, but what Xu was describing didn’t seem like parenting, the people said. The judge denied his request for parentage—normally quickly approved for the intended parents of a baby born through surrogacy, experts say. The decision left the children he’d paid for to be born in legal limbo. The court declined to comment on Xu’s case. Pellman’s decision in the confidential case, which has never been reported, was a rare rebuke to a little-known trend in the largely unregulated U.S. surrogacy industry: Chinese elites and billionaires who are going outside of China, where domestic surrogacy is illegal, to quietly have large numbers of U.S.-born babies.

FOX News [12/13/2025 5:50 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports National Border Patrol Council president Paul Perez praises the Trump administration for its work securing the border and halting ‘catch-and-release’ policies on ‘Fox Report.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Diego Union-Tribune [12/13/2025 8:51 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1611K] reports days after the Trump administration announced it was expanding the militarized border zone into California, the country’s top border security chiefs, who toured the San Diego border Saturday, revealed few insights about what that might actually look like. White House “border czar” Tom Homan and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott used the visit to San Diego to outline the security operations implemented at the U.S.-Mexico border nearly one year after President Donald Trump took office — from increased immigration enforcement to the militarized zones that now stretch across parts of every state along the southwestern border. The latest was announced Wednesday by the Department of the Interior, which is transferring the jurisdiction of about 740 acres of public land in San Diego and Imperial counties to the Department of the Navy to establish a restricted military zone known as a National Defense Area, or NDA. The zone extends from the western boundary of the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area in San Diego County to roughly 1 mile west of the California-Arizona border, officials said. The zone includes areas near backcountry border towns, such as Tecate and Jacumba Hot Springs. The Department of the Interior referred to the area as “one of the highest traffic regions for unlawful crossings along the southern border.” The designation allows military personnel to detain migrants and others for trespassing and turn them over to border agencies if necessary, signaling the potential for troops to take a more hands-on approach to immigration enforcement. “We’ve always had the Department of Defense on the border, but when they’re on their own property, they have increased authorities and responsibilities to actually arrest for trespass just like they would on any other military base,” Scott said in a news conference. “We’ve been doing this in Texas for a while. We’re bringing it over here now.” When asked about what operations will look like in the area and about the volume of troops that might be deployed, Scott said that it could fluctuate. “The numbers will change depending on what we believe the threat and the requirement is to make sure that we have that section of the border sealed,” he said.

ABC 10 San Diego [12/13/2025 10:19 PM, Yasmeen Ludy, 30493K] reports top border officials gathered in San Diego Saturday to provide a year-end update on enforcement operations, claiming the country is experiencing the most secure border in U.S. history with record deportation numbers. Border Czar Tom Homan and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott spoke near the Tijuana River Valley, echoing President Trump’s message of unapologetically enforcing the country’s immigration laws. "The last 4 years in the Biden administration, it was an open border. Not because of mismanagement, not because of incompetence, by design," Homan said. Homan stated that illegal border crossings have dramatically declined under the current administration. "President Trump and this administration is saving thousands of lives every month, and that’s just a stone cold fact," Homan said. Homan oversees what he calls the "historic deportation operation," which focuses on three main goals: border security, deportations, and finding children who entered the country during the last administration. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, former San Diego Border Patrol chief, said illegal entries have dropped to historic lows. "We’re at 92%. Identifying illegal entries 92% lower than the peaks during the Biden administration," Scott said. Scott credits the decline to the president’s policies, ending catch and release, and increasing prosecutions. He says they’re prosecuting people at an "unprecedented level."

FOX News [12/13/2025 12:24 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin joins ‘Saturday in America’ to discuss claims that deported U.S. veterans have been deported, how they are partnering with the TSA to identify illegal immigrants and threats against her life. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo [12/13/2025 7:56 PM, Staff, 2218K] reports that, as part of the deportation campaign, the TSA is providing immigration authorities with passenger lists from all domestic and international flights. This new strategy affects not only those who already have a deportation order. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [12/13/2025 2:16 PM, Martha Bellisle] reports a blast of arctic air is sweeping south from Canada and spreading into parts of the northern U.S., while residents of the Pacific Northwest brace for possible mudslides and levee failures from floodwaters that are expected to be slow to recede. In Snohomish County, Washington, north of Seattle, emergency officials on Saturday led federal, state and local officials on a tour of the devastation. As the Pacific Northwest begins to recover from the deluge, a separate weather system is already bringing dangerous wind-chill values — the combination of cold air temperatures and wind — to parts of the Upper Midwest. The Arctic air mass was expected to continue pushing south and east over the weekend, expanding into Southern states by Sunday. The record floodwaters were expected to continue to slowly recede Saturday, but authorities warn that waters will remain high for days, and that there is still danger from potential levee failures or mudslides. There is also the threat of more rain forecast for Sunday. Officials have conducted dozens of water rescues as debris and mudslides have closed highways and raging torrents have washed out roads and bridges.

NPR [12/13/2025 7:43 AM, Scott Greenstone, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports people in Washington state who have evacuated from floods may have to wait for weeks before returning home.

Lincoln Chronicle [12/13/2025 1:40 PM, Quinton Smith] reports Oregon’s two senators and the congresswomen representing Lincoln County got a letter of reassurance Friday from the U.S. Coast Guard’s commandant that he intends to permanently keep its rescue helicopter in Newport. But the attorney representing the two organizations suing the Coast Guard in federal court says “show us” by asking that the government drop opposition to its lawsuit. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Rep. Val Hoyle on Friday released a two-page letter they received just hours before from Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, and issued a joint news release touting the commandant’s statement. In it, Lunday said his “intent is to permanently maintain” a helicopter operating from the Guard Guard’s air facility in Newport “except when maintenance, crew readiness, or emergent mission needs require short-term, temporary movement of the helicopter and crew until their presence is restored.” Not so fast, the attorney for Newport Fishermen’s Wives and Lincoln County said just hours later. Eric Brickenstein, the Portland-based attorney for the two organizations, said despite what Lunday’s letter says what matters is what happens in U.S. District Court in Eugene. “…it is important to be clear that notwithstanding these statements, the Coast Guard and and (U.S. Homeland Security) Secretary Noem continue to oppose the county and Newport Fishermen’s Wives in federal court.” In his letter Friday, Lunday said the Coast Guard will “do better to communicate and be transparent” with regards to helicopter operations, that it would comply with congressional requirements should it consider closing the Newport air facility, and that he accepted the senators’ invitation to visit Newport in 2026. On Friday, Aiken agreed to an emergency request by the Coast Guard to allow the Newport-based helicopter to move to northwest Washington to help with flood rescue and relief efforts there.

ABC News [12/13/2025 4:51 PM, Staff, 30493K] reports the gunman was killed by "partner forces" during a skirmish, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [12/13/2025 4:02 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Ret. Lt. Col. Darin Gaub explains the mission of the reported 900 U.S. soldiers still stationed in Syria after two soldiers and one civilian interpreter were killed by a ‘lone ISIS gunman’ on ‘Fox Report.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [12/14/2025 12:13 AM, Sophia Compton, Jennifer Griffin, 40621K] reports the U.S. troops who were killed and injured in Saturday’s ambush attack in Syria were members of the Iowa National Guard, a senior U.S. official told Fox News. An ISIS gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon in the central Syrian town of Palmyra, killing two Iowa National Guard soldiers and an American civilian translator, the official said. Three additional U.S. soldiers were wounded in the attack. Preliminary information suggests the attacker was once affiliated with the Syrian government forces and had been a low-level member of the Syrian Security Forces, before later becoming connected to ISIS, the official said. "He was not a part of the official delegation that was being escorted by the US and Syrian troops," the official said. "… This would not be considered a ‘green on blue’ incident because the Syrian gunman was not part of the US/Syrian partnered delegation.” Earlier Saturday, U.S. Central Command confirmed the deaths and injuries were a "result of an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman in Syria.” President Donald Trump warned that there will be "very serious retaliation" following the ambush. "We mourn the loss of three Great American Patriots in Syria, two soldiers, and one Civilian Interpreter. Likewise, we pray for the three injured soldiers who, it has just been confirmed, are doing well," Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump added, "This was an ISIS attack against the U.S. and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them.” Last month, two West Virginia National Guard members were ambushed and shot near the White House in Washington, D.C., in a targeted attack that left one soldier dead. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [12/13/2025 3:42 PM, Victoria Beaule and Tanya Stukalova, 30493K] reports the Belarusian government announced Saturday that it has released 123 people, including foreigners, a Nobel Prize winner and several political opposition leaders, who were being held in prison on "espionage, terrorism, and extremism" charges. Belarusian government officials said in a statement that the release is part of "agreements reached with U.S. President Donald Trump" and involves the United States lifting sanctions on the Belarusian potash industry. U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale told reporters in Minsk Saturday that the U.S. was lifting sanctions against Belarusian potash producer Belaruskali, one of the European country’s largest state-owned companies. Coale said the goal is to normalize relations between the U.S. and Belarus and that "more sanctions will be lifted" in the future. Among the prisoners released were two prominent Belarusian activists, Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava. Of the detainees, 114 were transferred to Ukraine while the remaining nine, including Bialiatski, were transferred to Lithuania, according to the Ukrainian government.

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