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.

NBC News [12/1/2025 11:28 PM, Zoë Richards, 34509K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday she is recommending a "full travel ban" from countries that are "flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.” "I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies," Noem wrote on X. . "Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom—not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS. WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE," she added. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about which countries Noem was referring to Monday night. President Donald Trump shared her X post on Truth Social but did not comment on it. Trump has intensified his administration’s crackdown on immigration in the wake of last week’s shooting of two National Guard members on patrol in Washington, which left one guard member dead and the other in critical condition. The Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect as an Afghan national who entered the United States legally in September 2021 after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. "We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country," Trump said in remarks hours after the shooting. The following day, Trump said on social media that he planned to "permanently pause" all immigration from what he described as "third world countries.” The proposed travel ban is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict immigration to the United States. Trump signed a proclamation in June banning nationals from 12 countries — including Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — from entering the United States. In October, the administration drastically reduced the annual refugee admissions cap to 7,500 — the lowest on record. The admissions numbers would "primarily be allocated" to white South Africans, according to a Federal Register memo. Breitbart [12/2/2025 2:45 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports that on Thursday, a day after the shooting, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said that at Trump’s direction, a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card holder from "every country of concern" would be launched. The 19 countries affected are listed in a June presidential proclamation that restricts entry to foreign nationals, citing national security and public safety threats. Of those countries, 12 are fully barred from entry under the proclamation while seven are partially restricted. USCIS has also paused all asylum decisions until "we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible," Edlow said. Axios [12/1/2025 11:54 PM, Rebecca Falconer, 12972K] reports that these countries featured in a June proclamation, titled: "Restricting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public security threats." Trump said last week he "will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover," but his administration did not immediately clarify which countries would be targeted by this. The White House referred Axios to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on which countries would be targeted in Noem’s travel ban plan, and the DHS said it would be "announcing the list soon." The State Department, which typically processes visas, did not immediately respond to Axios’ Monday night request for comment. The New York Post [12/1/2025 9:43 PM, Victor Nava, 42219K] reports that the State Department has also paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports in response to the horrific attack. Lakanwal, a former member of a CIA-backed Afghan military unit that fought the Taliban, entered the US legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which evacuated and resettled refugees after the botched US withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country. The alleged gunman was granted asylum in April, which made him eligible for a green card after 12 months. "The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration," Noem said last week. "I will not utter this depraved individual’s name. He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants.”

Reported similarly:
New York Times [12/1/2025 10:11 PM, Chris Cameron, 153395K]
The Hill [12/1/2025 9:43 PM, Max Rego, 12595K]
FOX News [12/1/2025 8:06 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K]
Daily Wire [12/1/2025 1:58 PM, Tim Pearce, 2494K]
NewsMax [12/1/2025 9:48 PM, Michael Katz, 4109K]
Telemundo [12/1/2025 11:06 PM, Staff, 2218K]

NewsMax [12/1/2025 6:37 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports the United States must overhaul its vetting system for immigrants and asylum seekers, as the current process implemented under the Biden administration has left the country vulnerable to security threats, says Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "We think up to 100,000 people came in under Operation Allies that may be here that we don’t know necessarily who they are or why they came to this country — if they came here maybe for asylum or if they were someone who had nefarious ideas on how to attack Americans or to undermine our way of life," Noem said Monday during an appearance on Newsmax’s "The Record With Greta Van Susteren.” The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members last week, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, entered the U.S. as part of Operation Allies Welcome after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He was granted asylum earlier this year by the Trump administration. Noem argued that the federal government must shift its focus to pre-entry screening rather than scrambling to assess individuals once they are already inside the country. "What I would say on the vetting process is that it has to happen before they ever come here," she said. "They have to be vetted before we allow them to get on a plane and come to the United States of America so that we know what their intentions are and who they are," she added. According to Noem, effective vetting requires cooperation from foreign governments willing to share records, biometric data, and service histories — cooperation she says was lacking during the Biden administration’s handling of Afghan arrivals.

Breitbart [12/2/2025 12:00 AM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] reports that, on Monday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Finnerty,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said that she expects that the number of countries on the immigration pause list will increase “especially as there’s more and more analysis.” Host Rob Finnerty asked, “Do you expect the list of 19 countries to grow, and do you expect these 19 countries to be on this list — this pause, this stop in legal and illegal immigration from these countries — do you expect that to last the next three years of Donald Trump’s second term?” McLaughlin responded, “I do. I expect that this list will expand, especially as there’s more and more analysis. And I expect President Trump is going to announce that shortly.” Finnerty followed up, “Okay, so, and do you expect this to last the entirety of his presidency, his second term?” McLaughlin answered, “I think he’s going to really follow the data on this one. His number one concern is making sure the American people are safe. I really don’t think, Rob, it can be overstated what Joe Biden and his administration did to this country and the danger he put the American people in, and really continues to today.”

FOX News [12/1/2025 9:56 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K] Video: HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) kicked off the holiday season on Monday with what it called a "holiday deal of a lifetime," offering illegal immigrants a tempting incentive to self-deport. In a retro, 1990s-inspired "Cyber Monday" advertisement, DHS announced that all illegal aliens residing in the United States could snag a free flight home and a $1,000 bonus for just voluntarily leaving the country. Participants may also qualify for forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties incurred for failing to depart, keeping the door open for a potential legal return to the U.S. The festive offer can be redeemed through the CBP Home App, the department said. "The CBP Home App offers those in this country illegally a fantastic gift this holiday season: a free flight home, a $1,000 bonus, and the potential opportunity to return to the United States legally," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement Monday that the Cyber Monday promotion was made possible through the "generosity" and "Christmas spirit" of the American taxpayer. DHS added that 2 million illegal immigrants have already self-deported under the Trump administration, calling the new program the "best gift that an illegal immigrant can give themselves and their family.” "Your choice is simple: Choose self-deportation and reap the rewards, or stay here and continue breaking our laws, which will lead to you being arrested and deported," McLaughlin added. "Make the right choice for you and your family this Christmas and join the 2 million illegal aliens who have already left the country: Download the CBP Home App today.” The CBP Home App is a fast, free, and easy process, DHS said. Illegal immigrants can simply download the app, enter their information and DHS will handle the rest — including arranging and covering the cost of their travel back home. Once the immigrant has confirmed their return home, they will receive the $1,000 bonus, DHS said. The department emphasized that using the app also preserves the opportunity for immigrants to potentially return to the United States legally. McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that when the process runs efficiently, an immigrant could secure a free flight home in just over a week. She urged deportees to provide accurate information to receive their stipend as quickly as possible. "An individual can depart within 10 days if all of their information is accurate in the CBP Home app, they respond to outreach attempts, and agree to have their ticket booked as soon as possible," McLaughlin said in a statement. "However, their travel and stipend may be delayed due to various factors including incomplete or inaccurate data, ineligibility, or not having a valid travel document to return home. The exit bonus will be provided upon confirmation through the app that return has been completed.” "Those who don’t take advantage of this special offer today have only one alternative: They will be arrested, deported, and they will never be able to return to the United States," DHS said. "Don’t delay and don’t miss out on this opportunity. Download the CBP Home App today.” McLaughlin emphasized that the deal is part of the "historic work to reverse the illegal alien invasion facilitated by the Biden administration.” "President Trump established the visionary Project Homecoming in May to create a smooth, efficient process for illegal aliens to return home," McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement. "So far, tens of thousands of illegal aliens have utilized the CBP Home app.”

CBS News [12/1/2025 9:21 AM, Camilo Montoya Galvez, 39474K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is commenting on Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national suspected of ambushing two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Wire [12/1/2025 2:26 PM, Zach Jewell, 2494K] reports the Afghan national suspected of killing one National Guardsman and wounding another in Washington, D.C., last week was "radicalized" after coming into the United States, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem told NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the federal government believes 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal maintained "connections" to people in Afghanistan who may have helped radicalize him. Lakanwal was allowed to enter the United States under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome following the former president’s disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. "I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country," Noem said. "We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members, who talk to them.” Lakanwal is accused of shooting National Guardsmen Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe on the day before Thanksgiving, killing Beckstrom and seriously wounding Wolfe. The suspected shooter was injured by return fire, but he is expected to survive and stand trial. Lakanwal was charged with first-degree murder, with more charges expected to be handed down as the investigation continues. President Donald Trump called the shooting a "terrorist attack," saying that the suspect "went nuts." The suspected shooter was granted asylum in the United States after serving alongside U.S. troops in a special Afghan Army unit that was backed by the CIA, the Associated Press reported. Noem blamed the Biden administration for failing to properly vet Afghan refugees who were granted asylum in the United States. Lakanwal’s asylum claim was approved in April under the Trump administration, but Noem said "the vetting process all happened under Joe Biden’s administration." "Vetting is happening when they come into the country, and that was completely abandoned under Joe Biden’s administration," Noem added.

FOX News [12/1/2025 11:02 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports Fox News correspondents Madeleine Rivera and Brooke Taylor report on the National Guard shooting in Washington, D.C. and the arrest of an Afghan national in Texas; Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin gives analysis on ‘America’s Newsroom.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

DailySignal [12/1/2025 10:24 AM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 549K] reports President Donald Trump has invited to the White House the families of the National Guard members who were shot Wednesday evening near the White House, allegedly by an Afghan national. "I said when you’re ready—because that’s a tough thing—come to the White House. We’re going to honor Sarah, and likewise, honor Andrew," he told reporters Sunday. "Recover or not, we’re going to." Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries. The second National Guard member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, is "fighting for his life," according to Trump. The president said he has spoken to both families. "The one is no longer with us, and Andrew is fighting for his life," he said. "And his parents are unbelievably great people, highly religious people, and they’re praying, and they want everybody to pray for Andrew, and he has a chance to make it, but his mother and father, they were so unbelievable. They were so positive. From West Virginia, great state." Trump said he would "permanently pause" migration from "third-world countries" after the suspect, who was evacuated from Afghanistan as part of Operation Allies Welcome in 2021, was identified. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the administration believes the alleged shooter was "radicalized since he’s been here in this country."

Reported similarly:
FOX News [12/1/2025 8:31 AM, Stephen Sorace, 40621K]

Daily Caller [12/1/2025 1:35 PM, Nicole Silverio, 835K] reports that Republican West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Monday that West Virginia National Guard member Andrew Wolfe responded to a nurse’s request to give a thumbs up as he remained in serious condition. Wolfe, who was shot Wednesday in Washington, D.C., gave a thumbs up and wiggled his toes in response to a nurse, Morrisey said during a press conference. The guardsman, an Air Force staff sergeant with the National Guard, remained in serious condition following the attack that killed fellow West Virginia Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom. "What I will say is that Andrew remains in serious condition," Morrisey said. "We did have some positive news that we were told that Andrew was asked if he could hear the nurse who asked the question to give a thumbs up, and he did respond. And we were told that he also wiggled his toes. So we take that as a positive sign." An Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is alleged to have shot Wolfe and Beckstrom, who later died from her gunshot wound on Thursday. U.S. District Attorney of Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro said on Friday that Lakanwal was charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Beckstrom. The Biden administration brought in around 76,000 Afghan refugees into the U.S. in 2021, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Lakanwal was likely among the 3,300 that year to be granted with a "special immigrant visa," which would have expedited his entry because of his former affiliation with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to ABC News.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [12/1/2025 8:06 PM, Staff, 2416K]
NPR [12/2/2025 5:00 AM, Juliana Kim, 34837K]
NBC News [12/1/2025 9:42 PM, Dennis Romero, 43603K]

Breitbart [12/1/2025 4:51 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports he federal government’s Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program for Afghan nationals "relies on Taliban cooperation," the State Department Inspector General (IG) warned in 2023 after the Biden administration blew the doors open to mass migration from Afghanistan. Last week, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal of Afghanistan allegedly opened fire on 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe — both of the West Virginia National Guard, and who were sworn in just 24 hours before the shooting. Beckstrom has since died from her injuries, while Wolfe remains fighting for his life in the hospital. Lakanwal was resettled in the United States as part of former President Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome program, where tens of thousands of Afghan nationals were brought to American communities — many thousands of whom were not screened or interviewed in person. In August 2023, two years after Biden’s mass Afghan resettlement began, the State Department IG issued a report detailing alarming issues with the federal government’s SIV program for Afghan nationals, which was routinely funded by Democrats and Republicans. Among the findings, the IG report revealed that the SIV program to bring Afghans to the U.S. relied on cooperation from the Taliban. Since the attack on the National Guardsmen, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the agency would halt all visa issuances to Afghans seeking U.S. entry to protect national security. Likewise, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joe Edlow announced that the agency is stopping asylum decisions "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."

Breitbart [12/1/2025 4:19 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 2416K] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that former President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan continues to have terrible consequences for the United States, following the killing of one National Guard member and the severe wounding of another in the shootings on Wednesday. During a White House press briefing, Leavitt was highly critical of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal and the release of Afghan nationals into the United States in its aftermath. Leavitt stated that under Biden’s "horrific leadership," close to 100,000 Afghan nationals "were recklessly released into the United States with little to no vetting," and cited reports that thousands were flagged to the last administration over "national security, public safety, and fraud concerns."

Roll Call [12/1/2025 1:07 PM, Chris Johnson, 511K] reports the Trump administration moved to restrict immigration after an Afghan national shot two members of the National Guard deployed in the District of Columbia last week, killing one and critically injuring the other. The government put an immediate pause on all asylum decisions, halted visas for individuals traveling from Afghanistan and said it would reexamine green card holders from 19 “high-risk countries of concern.” The shooting also prompted President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security to float broader but less specific actions to restrict immigration and remove immigrants from the United States, including a stop to migration from “third-world countries,” the denaturalization of immigrants and a vision for “remigration.” Trump administration officials announced the policy changes on social media after the Nov. 26 shooting. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, has been in critical condition with no updates as of Monday morning. The shooter was among the 76,000 individuals from Afghanistan the Biden administration admitted in 2021 after the U.S withdrawal from the country, according to multiple media reports. Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, posted on Nov. 28 that all asylum decisions would be put on hold, with no time given for when those processes would resume. “USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” Edlow said. “The safety of the American people always comes first.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a similar message on protecting Americans in his announcement Nov. 28 that he would halt visas for people seeking to travel into the country from Afghanistan. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem echoed the announcement asylum decisions would be put on hold, and announced DHS would engage in “a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from all 19 high-risk countries of concern.”

AP [12/1/2025 9:05 PM, Rebecca Santana, 30493K] reports that, since last week’s shooting of two National Guard members in the nation’s capital by a suspect who is an Afghan national, the Trump administration announced a flurry of policies aimed at making it harder for some foreigners to enter or stay in the country. The administration said it was pausing asylum decisions, reexamining green card applications for people from countries "of concern" and halting visas for Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort. Days before the shooting, a memo obtained by The Associated Press said the administration would review the cases of all refugees who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration. The stepped up effort to restrict immigration has been harshly criticized by refugee advocates and those who work with Afghans, saying it amounts to collective punishment. Critics are also saying it is a waste of government resources to reopen cases that have already been processed. The Trump administration says the new policies are necessary to ensure that those entering the country — or are already here — do not pose a security threat. Here’s a look at the major changes announced over roughly a week: The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said on the social platform X last week that asylum decisions will be paused "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” Besides the post, no formal guidance has been put forward, so details remain scarce about the planned pause. People seeking asylum must show to U.S. officials a threat of persecution if they were sent back to their home country, whether because of race, nationality or other grounds. If they’re granted asylum, they’re allowed to stay in the U.S. and eventually apply for a green card and then citizenship. The Afghan suspect in the National Guard shooting was granted asylum earlier this year, according to advocate group #AfghanEvac. The right to apply for asylum was already restricted by the Trump administration. In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order essentially halting asylum for people who have come into the country through the southern border. Those cases generally go through immigration courts which are overseen by the Justice Department. USCIS oversees the asylum process for foreigners the government isn’t trying to remove via immigration courts. While Trump’s January order didn’t affect those cases, Edlow’s social media post suggests they will now come under additional scrutiny. Edlow did not say how long the agency’s pause on asylum decisions would last or what happens to people while those decisions are paused.

FOX News [12/1/2025 2:22 PM, Ashley Carnahan, 40621K] reports that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the Trump administration is "actively re-examining" all the Afghan nationals who entered the United States during former President Joe Biden’s administration. "Any individual who threatens our national security or our citizenry will be subject to removal," Leavitt told reporters during a White House press briefing. "President Trump has already permanently paused the migration of foreign nationals from third world countries that pose a very high risk to the United States. For too long, past American presidents supported self-destruction, self-destructive immigration policies that allowed foreigners who outright hate our country and have no interest in assimilating into our culture." The announcement comes after the death of 20-year-old National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom, who was allegedly shot in the nation’s capital last week by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. A second National Guardsman, 24-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, is still in the hospital and fighting for his life. President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday that the Wolfe family are "unbelievably great people" who want the public to pray for their son. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also announced Friday that the federal agency would conduct a reexamination of all green card holders from so-called countries of concern. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [12/1/2025 5:50 PM, Diaa Hadid, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports Afghans who were in the process of seeking asylum in the United States have had their hopes repeatedly dashed under this Trump administration. In the U.S., they live in fear of ICE detention.

Federalist [12/1/2025 2:19 PM, Brianna Lyman, 785K] reports that on Friday President Donald Trump announced his administration would pause asylum processes and stop issuing visas to Afghans in response to the shooting of two National Guardsmen, one of whom later died. It was an Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, admitted into the United States through a Biden-era program, who allegedly shot and killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically injured Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe. Of course, the propaganda press insisted this was an isolated tragedy and certainly not evidence of a failed system. The New York Times’ Julian E. Barnes and Hamed Aleaziz wrote on Saturday that "Afghans Who Assisted U.S. During the War Underwent Rigorous Vetting." ABC News’ Anna Flaherty called FBI Director Kash Patel’s recent comments that the Biden Administration did "absolutely zero vetting" of the refugees not "accurate." It’s the same insistence CNN’s Tara Subramaniam and Holmes Lybrand made in a "fact-check" in 2021. "Fact check: Afghans coming to US are not ‘unvetted refugees,’" the duo assured readers. But federal investigations tell a very different story: The Biden administration did not conduct rigorous vetting, officials often lacked basic identification training, and the government was admitting persons who simply were not properly screened. Far from instilling confidence, these reports show the vetting process was so deeply flawed that it shouldn’t have even qualified as a process at all.

CBS News [12/1/2025 4:12 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 39474K] reports the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., last week has sparked a national debate about U.S. immigration policy and whether the federal government missed any red flags about the alleged attacker, identified by authorities as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal. The Trump administration has cited the attack, which killed one of the soldiers, to further expand its government-wide immigration crackdown. The administration has halted all visa and immigration processing for Afghan nationals, ordered a review of green card cases for immigrants from 19 countries and frozen all asylum case decisions. Lakanwal’s exact motives remain unclear. Over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested he could have "radicalized" after coming to the U.S. Emails obtained by CBS News also indicate that Lakanwal’s mental health deteriorated in recent years, and that he became isolated and detached from his family. Trump administration officials have blamed the Biden administration for allowing Lakanwal to enter the U.S. in 2021, while critics of President Trump have faulted his government for approving his asylum case earlier this year. But a review of Lakanwal’s immigration case, based on conversations with U.S. officials and other official sources, shows there were several opportunities for federal authorities, under both administrations, to vet Lakanwal and identify any potentially concerning information.

Reported similarly:
NPR [12/1/2025 3:32 PM, Brian Mann, 28013K]
(B) NewsChannel 9 at Noon [12/1/2025 12:02 PM, Staff]

CBS News [12/1/2025 9:24 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports the Trump administration has paused asylum decisions following the attack on two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week. Sam Vinograd, a CBS News contributor and former DHS assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention under President Biden, explains the vetting process. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [12/1/2025 11:22 AM, Derek VanBuskirk, 835K] reports the Afghan national who allegedly shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., Wednesday previously showed signs of mental illness and isolation, according to a report. Rahmanullah Lakanwal had struggled to adapt to his new life in the United States, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press (AP). A community advocate shared emails with the AP that had been sent to the nonprofit U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). The community member, who reportedly works with Afghan families in Washington state, said the asylum-seeker’s erratic conduct had raised alarms before the attack, suggesting Lawanwal had struggled to assimilate, find a steady job or commit to his English classes. "Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly," the community member, who chose to stay anonymous, wrote in a January 2024 email obtained by the AP. The email said that despite resettling with his wife and their five sons, Lakanwal would alternate between "periods of dark isolation and reckless travel," often spending weeks in a "darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids."

ABC News [12/1/2025 5:22 AM, Pierre Thomas, Aleem Agha, and Luke Barr, 30493K] reports as investigators continue to delve into what may have motivated the suspect in the deadly National Guardsmen shooting last week, a portrait of a life of increasing financial stress and a potential mental health crisis has emerged, sources familiar told ABC News. Additionally, multiple sources said that investigators are looking into the impact of the recent death of an Afghan commander, who allegedly worked with the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal. The death of the commander -- whom Lakanwal is said to have revered -- had deeply saddened the suspect, sources said. This may have compounded on Lakanwal’s financial burdens, including not being employed, having an expired work permit and allegedly struggling to pay rent and feed his children, sources said. Officials said the suspect has a wife and five children. He drove from his residence in Washington state to the nation’s capital prior to the shooting and targeted the Guardsmen, officials said. A senior law enforcement source told ABC News on Sunday that investigators are looking at everything and are closely examining the role of an apparently deteriorating situation at home. The FBI, Homeland Security and intelligence officials are also investigating the possibility that the attack was directed by or inspired by international terrorists. But thus far, authorities have not publicly released any specific evidence tying Lakanwal to a terrorist organization and no terror charges have been filed. The investigation into the deadly shooting is still in its early phases.

FOX News [12/1/2025 8:35 PM, Morgan Phillips Fox, 40621K] reports recent U.S. military escalations involving Venezuela have halted flights carrying unlawful migrants from the United States back to the South American country, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said, prompting criticism from anti-intervention voices. President Donald Trump warned pilots Saturday that the airspace "above and surrounding" Venezuela should be "closed in its entirety" as his administration weighs potential strikes on targets in and around Caracas. "Through this action, the United States government has unilaterally suspended the Venezuelan migrant flights that were being carried out regularly and weekly as part of the repatriation of Venezuelans through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland Plan)," the ministry said in a statement. The deportation flights had been one of the only areas of cooperation between Washington and the government of Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan officials say nearly 14,000 nationals have been returned on twice-weekly charter flights in recent months. At the same time, the Trump administration has continued moving forward with plans to end temporary protected status for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States. "Genius. Enough with this immigration enforcement nonsense. Let’s get back to True MAGA — neocon wars that exacerbate and cause migration crises. About darn time," said Curt Mills, executive editor of The American Conservative, criticizing the shift toward military action. So far, U.S. strikes have targeted alleged narco-traffickers operating in the Caribbean near Venezuela. But officials have signaled that operations could expand to land-based targets as Washington increases pressure on Maduro to relinquish power. Dozens of U.S. bombers have deployed to the region alongside the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, underscoring the scale of the buildup. With U.S. bombers and the Ford already positioned in the region, much of the world is waiting to see whether Trump will green-light the next phase of strikes against Venezuelan targets. Trump confirmed he spoke with Maduro by phone recently. "I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call," he told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday. Trump presented Maduro with an ultimatum — step down or face potential U.S. military action. Maduro, the Miami Herald reported, sought global amnesty for himself, demanded to retain control of the military and resisted an immediate exit from power. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [12/1/2025 6:36 PM, Rebecca Shabad and Gabe Gutierrez, 34509K] reports the White House confirmed Monday that the U.S. did launch a second strike on an alleged drug boat from Venezuela in early September and that it was ordered by Adm. Frank M. Bradley, who at the time headed the Joint Special Operations Command. The follow-up strike killed the survivors of an initial U.S. strike on the vessel, which the Trump administration has said originated from Venezuela. Some lawmakers and legal experts say that second attack could constitute a war crime. The Washington Post reported that Bradley had ordered the second strike, and that he was complying with an order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "kill everybody." One U.S. official and a source familiar with the Pentagon’s actions on Sept. 2 told NBC News recently that the first of the two strikes conducted that day left at least two survivors, with the subsequent strike killing them. On Sunday, President Donald Trump told reporters that Hegseth didn’t order the second strike. The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee — chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I. — said in a statement Friday that they will be "conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances." Similarly, the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee — chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash. — said they were taking "seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question." Hegseth spoke Monday morning with Wicker about the second strike, according to two people familiar with matter. He is also expected to have spoken or is soon speaking with other lawmakers, the sources said.

New York Post [12/1/2025 6:32 PM, Caitlin Doornbos, 42219K] reports the White House said the Pentagon authorized a second lethal military strike against an alleged Venezuelan drug boat — and insisted the double attack in September was legal. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to order the follow-up strike on the suspected drug trafficking boat after two people survived the first attack. "President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narcoterrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war," Leavitt told reporters on Monday. "With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.” Bradley, head of the US Special Operations Command, "worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the vote was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated," she added. The comments comes after Washington Post reported Friday that a Joint Special Operations Command commander ordered a second airstrike on a speedboat carrying 11 suspected Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists Sept. 2, after the first strike left two people clinging to the wreckage. The double strike happened because of a verbal directive from Hegseth: "The order was to kill everybody," the paper reported. A second strike to finish off the pair in lieu of aid and arrests could be considered a war crime under international law — but the Trump administration is standing by claims that the second strike was warranted for "self defense.” "The strike conducted on Sept. 2 was conducted in self defense to protect Americans and vital United States interests," Leavitt said in a prepared statement. "The strike was conducted in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict.” Leavitt later added "one more point to remind the American public why these lethal strikes are taking place" — noting that Trump has designated Nicolás Maduro’s narcoterrorists such as Tren de Aragua as foreign terror organizations, giving the US military the legal authority to blast the drug boats out of the water. "The President has a right to take them out if they are threatening the United States of America and if they are bringing illegal narcotics that are killing our citizens at a record rate, which is what they are doing," she said.

Reported similarly:
Politico [12/1/2025 7:57 PM, Paul McLeary, 2100K]

Breitbart [12/1/2025 8:43 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports a US admiral acting under the authority of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a "double-tap" military operation that targeted survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat, the White House said Monday. The legality of the Trump administration’s deadly strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific has already been questioned, and reports of the follow-up attack on survivors have triggered further accusations of a possible war crime. A total of 11 people were killed in the two strikes in early September, the first in a months-long military campaign that has so far left more than 80 dead. President Donald Trump’s administration insists it is effectively at war with alleged "narco-terrorists," and the White House said Admiral Frank Bradley, who currently leads US Special Operations Command, had acted legally and properly in ordering the second strike on the survivors. Bradley "worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists. Hegseth "authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes," she said. With pressure mounting on the Pentagon chief, Hegseth appeared to stress the decision was Bradley’s. "I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since," he posted Monday evening on X, calling Bradley "an American hero.” Democrats pounced, with Senator Chris Murphy accusing Hegseth of "passing the buck.” "Both Republicans and Democrats are coming to the conclusion that this was an illegal, wildly immoral act, and he is shifting the blame," Murphy told broadcaster CNN. Congressman Mike Turner, a Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said lawmakers have yet to be briefed on the "double-tap" strike. "People have been very concerned about how these strikes have been operated," Turner said on the same news broadcast. US media reported last week that an initial September 2 strike left two people alive who were killed in a subsequent attack to fulfill Hegseth’s orders, but Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell insisted that "this entire narrative was false.”

New York Post [12/1/2025 9:38 AM, Samuel Chamberlain, 42219K] reports that President Trump said Sunday he did not believe a report that War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered that no survivors be left from a US military strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea this past September. "Pete said he did not order the death of those two men," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The Washington Post reported Friday that a Joint Special Operations Command commander ordered a second airstrike on a speedboat carrying 11 suspected Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists Sept. 2, after the first strike left two people clinging to the wreckage. The second strike order reportedly was in response to Hegseth’s verbal command to "kill everybody" on board. On Sunday, Trump insisted that "I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike" and said the administration would "look into" the issue while defending Hegseth. "He said he did not say that," the president reiterated, "and I believe him, 100%.” Hegseth himself denied the report hours after its Friday publication, writing on X: "As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland. "As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’" he continued. "The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. "Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization."

AP [12/1/2025 9:06 PM, Aamer Madhani and Regina Garcia Cano, 30493K] reports the White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted "within his authority and the law" when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification for the Sept. 2 strike as lawmakers announced there will be congressional review of the U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The lawmakers cited a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat. Navy Vice Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who Leavitt said ordered the second strike, is expected to provide a classified briefing Thursday to lawmakers overseeing the military. Leavitt in her comments to reporters did not dispute a Washington Post report that there were survivors after the initial strike. Her explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said he "wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike" when asked about the incident. "Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes," said Leavitt. "Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.” Late Monday, Hegseth posted: "Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.” A month after the strike, Bradley was promoted from commander of Joint Special Operations Command to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. Concern over the Trump administration’s military strikes against the alleged drug-smuggling boats has been building in Congress, but details of this follow-on strike stunned many lawmakers from both parties and generated stark questions about the legality of the attacks and the overall strategy in the region, and particularly toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Post report was true, and some Republicans were skeptical. Still, they said the reported attacking of survivors of an initial missile strike posed serious concerns and merited further scrutiny. The White House weighed in after Trump on Sunday vigorously defended Hegseth. "Pete said he did not order the death of those two men," Trump said. He added, "And I believe him.” Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke over the weekend with the two Republican and two Democratic lawmakers leading the Senate and House Armed Services committees. He reiterated "his trust and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon," Caine’s office said in a statement. The statement added that the call focused on "addressing the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.”

USA Today [12/1/2025 4:52 PM, Francesca Chambers, 67103K] reports the Trump administration is facing increased scrutiny from lawmakers over its assault on suspected drug boats following a report that the U.S. military carried out a second, lethal strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, killing two survivors as they clung to the wreckage. Lawmakers in charge of the House and Senate Armed Services committees said in a pair of bipartisan statements over the weekend that they would be reviewing the administration’s conduct to determine the circumstances surrounding the Sept. 2 attack on a boat allegedly smuggling drugs and a reported follow-on strike by the U.S. military that some experts have said would violate the law. The follow-on strike came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a verbal directive to "kill them all," according to the Washington Post. Hegseth said the report was "fabricated," and President Donald Trump told reporters that the Pentagon chief denied giving the order. The White House acknowledged on Dec. 1 that a second strike had occurred. Several Democratic senators said on Nov. 30 that the reported follow-on strike could constitute a war crime.

ABC News [12/1/2025 9:28 PM, Megan Forrester, 30493K] reports the White House’s account of who gave the order to hit an alleged drug-smuggling boat a second time conflicted with what President Donald Trump told reporters a day earlier. When asked about reports that the U.S. military killed two survivors of an earlier strike on a boat suspect of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea in September, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump ordered "everyone be killed" aboard the boat. "The initial order, from [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, said, ‘everyone be killed,’ and that came from President Donald Trump," Leavitt said on Monday. However, when asked about the reports while on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said he would not have wanted a second strike to kill survivors and was adamant that Hegseth denied ordering it. "I don’t know anything about it," Trump said when asked about the report. "[Hegseth] said, he said, he did not say that. And I believe him," Trump said. "But no, I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine, and if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence.” According to Washington Post, Hegseth allegedly gave a spoken order ahead of the Sept. 2 operation to kill everybody aboard the suspected drug boat. After an initial strike left two survivors, Adm. Mitch Bradley, who was in charge of the operation, complied with Hegseth’s alleged order by ordering a second strike, according to the report. The Post reported that the Sept. 2 boat strike initially left two survivors clinging to the boat and that Bradley, who became commander of Special Operations Command in October, then ordered a second strike in order to comply with Hegseth’s order and to ensure the survivors couldn’t call on other traffickers to retrieve them and their cargo. One person familiar with details of the Sept. 2 incident confirmed to ABC News that there were survivors from the initial strike on the boat and that those survivors were killed in subsequent strikes. ABC News has not confirmed, though, the specifics of orders from Hegseth or Bradley. In a post on X on Friday, Hegseth said the report was "more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.” "Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict -- and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command," Hegseth said. A slew of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voiced their outrage over the report and called for an investigation into the incident, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who demanded Hegseth release the "full, unedited tapes of the strikes so the American people can see for themselves.” "Your recklessness demands full transparency and strict congressional oversight," Schumer said in a statement on Sunday. "We will hold you accountable.”

USA Today [12/1/2025 11:27 AM, Francesca Chambers, 67103K] reports President Donald Trump says he will look into whether the U.S. carried out a second strike against a boat in the Caribbean that the administration says was smuggling drugs, as he defended his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from an accusation that he ordered military officials to "kill them all" prior to the lethal strike. A Washington Post report on Nov. 28 that cited anonymous sources said that Hegseth gave a directive to leave no survivors, which prompted the U.S. military to conduct follow-on strike that killed two individuals to comply with the order. Hegseth called the report "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory," and Trump allies have responded by questioning the story’s accuracy. "I don’t know anything about it," Trump told reporters on Nov. 30. "He said he did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent," Trump added. "He says he didn’t do it." The Trump administration’s lethal strikes on alleged drug boats that the U.S. says were aimed at deterring Venezuelan traffickers was already facing congressional scrutiny, and after the latest reporting, lawmakers on the Armed Services committees in the House and Senate pledged to provide rigorous oversight of the operation.

Reuters [12/1/2025 6:25 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports U.S. President Donald Trumpheld talks on Monday with top advisers to discuss the pressure campaign on Venezuela, among other topics, a senior U.S. official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Oval Office meeting included senior members of Trump’s national security team. No details of the talks were immediately available. The session came as Trump ratchets up pressure on Venezuela over what the U.S. says are drug shipments emanating from that country. On Saturday, Trump said the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered "closed in its entirety," but gave no further details, stirring anxiety and confusion in Caracas. Trump confirmed on Sunday that he had spoken to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. considers an illegitimate leader, but Trump declined to provide details of the conversation. The Trump administration has been weighing Venezuela-related options to combat what it has portrayed as Maduro’s role in supplying illegal drugs that have killed Americans. Maduro has denied having any links to the illegal drug trade.

CNN [12/2/2025 12:00 AM, Stephen Collinson, 606K] reports President Donald Trump’s Venezuela regime change adventure is in danger of degenerating into a strategic, political and legal morass. Trump gathered top national security officials and aides at an Oval Office meeting Monday evening seeking to define next steps in a showdown now slipping out of his control, both inside the impoverished oil-rich nation and in Washington. Before the talks, President Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator, defiantly danced before a huge crowd of supporters in Caracas in a Trump-style open air rally, shattering previous rumors he’d bowed to US calls to leave the country. "We do not want peace of slaves, nor do we want peace of colonies," Maduro said. The thin domestic political underpinnings of Trump’s campaign are growing more fragile as the White House fails to quell a growing controversy over a follow-up US strike that reportedly killed surviving crew members of an alleged drugs trafficking boat in the Caribbean. Trump’s Democratic critics on Capitol Hill are warning of a potential war crime. And several powerful Republicans are shaken and are signaling a rare willingness to rigorously investigate the administration. The US standoff with Venezuela is now beginning to consume Washington after more than four months of escalating political, economic and military pressure epitomized by the hulking presence of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald. R. Ford and an armada of US ships in the waters off Venezuela. There is increasing scrutiny of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s role in the boat strikes. The former Fox News anchor was a controversial pick to run the Pentagon, and his lack of experience, abrasive manner and rejection of some the military’s ethical and legal safeguards is threatening to make him a political burden for the president as Democrats demand his resignation. But more broadly, Maduro’s defiance is presenting Trump, Hegseth, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials expected at the Oval Office meeting with a deepening strategic dilemma.

FOX News [12/1/2025 6:18 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin breaks down the legal debate over the second strike on a suspected Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessel and more on ‘Special Report.’

Roll Call [12/1/2025 6:44 PM, Rebecca Kheel, 548K] reports bipartisan scrutiny of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reported order to "kill everybody" aboard an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean grew Monday as the Trump administration worked to contain the fallout. Lawmakers in both parties, including the Republican chairmen and the Democratic ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, have vowed to investigate following a Washington Post article about Hegseth’s alleged order — marking a rare instance of GOP unease with the Trump administration. The calls for accountability intensified Monday as lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., from a one-week Thanksgiving break. "There needs to be an investigation," Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday at a news conference intended to show resolve in the face of the Trump administration’s investigation into the senator. "We need to pull some of these members of DOD and the military into the Armed Services committees in the House and the Senate.”

Reuters [12/1/2025 4:48 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports that Venezuela’s National Assembly on Monday suspended an extraordinary session to debate forming a commission to investigate deadly attacks ordered by the U.S. administration against vessels suspected of drug trafficking off Venezuela’s coast and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Assembly’s press office said the session was rescheduled for Tuesday, its regular debate day, without specifying the reason for the postponement. U.S. troops have carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September, killing at least 83 people as Washington escalates a military buildup. On Monday, two sources familiar with the matter said President Donald Trump would meet with top advisers to discuss Venezuela, following his confirmation on Sunday that he spoke with the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. On Sunday, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, Maduro’s chief negotiator with Washington, announced Monday’s session after meeting relatives of the deceased. He said the move aimed to protect the families. Rodriguez added that the investigation would be based on a Washington Post article alleging U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the killing of everyone aboard a vessel during a September attack.

Reuters [12/1/2025 6:44 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is running out of options to step down and leave his country under U.S.-guaranteed safe passage, following a short call with U.S. President Donald Trump last month where Trump refused a series of requests from the Venezuelan leader, according to four sources briefed on the call. The call, on November 21, came after months of increasing U.S. pressure on Venezuela, including strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, repeated threats by Trump to extend military operations to land and the designation of Cartel de los Soles, a group the Trump administration says includes Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization. Maduro and his government have always denied all criminal accusations and say the U.S. is seeking regime change to take control of Venezuela’s vast natural resources, including oil. Maduro told Trump during the call he was willing to leave Venezuela provided he and his family members had full legal amnesty, including the removal of all U.S. sanctions and the end of a flagship case he faces before the International Criminal Court, three of the sources said. He also requested removal of sanctions for over 100 Venezuelan government officials, many accused by the U.S. of human rights abuses, drug trafficking or corruption, according to the three people.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [12/1/2025 11:04 AM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2416K]

DailySignal [12/1/2025 10:55 AM, Virginia Allen, 549K] reports that President Donald Trump has reportedly guaranteed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his family safety, but only if they flee the country right away. Trump and Maduro spoke on the phone in November, and according to a report, the White House told Maduro to leave the country and allow for democratic leaders to assume rule of the nation. Sources told the Miami Harald that Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, and his son Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, 35, would be given safe passage out of the country, but only if Maduro resigns. On Sunday, Trump confirmed the call with Maduro had taken place, telling reporters aboard Air Force One the call was neither good nor bad. "It was a phone call," the president said, declining to comment further. On Saturday, Trump said the airspace over Venezuela should be considered "closed.” "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY," Trump wrote on Truth Social. When asked if the comment should mean an airstrike on Venezuela is eminent, Trump told reporters to not read "anything" into the remarks. The tension between Trump and Maduro is growing as the U.S. continues to carry out strikes on reported narco-terrorists’ vessels off the coast of Venezuela. On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered a strike on a vessel on Sept. 2 that was, according to the administration, carrying members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. When two survivors were seen in the water after the first strike, a second strike was reportedly conducted.

CNN [12/1/2025 7:00 PM, Natasha Bertrand and Alayna Treene, 18595K] reports President Donald Trump and top national security officials huddled at the White House Monday to discuss next steps on Venezuela, as the administration faces renewed called from lawmakers to release more information – particularly about a controversial decision in September to strike a boat in the Caribbean twice, killing remaining survivors in the second blow. Key members of Trump’s Cabinet and national security team, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been expected to attend, sources familiar with the matter said, as well as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. The Oval Office meeting, which attendees began arriving for just before 5 p.m., comes as the United States has increased pressure on Venezuela with strikes on drug vessels and a military asset buildup in the Caribbean. The US military has amassed more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops in the region as part of what the Pentagon has branded “Operation Southern Spear.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump was “meeting with his national security team on this subject and on many matters,” adding, “It’s part of his responsibility to ensure that peace is ongoing throughout the world.” The meeting also comes as Trump and his top military officials are facing growing questions about the legality of the US strikes on alleged drug boats in the region killing more than 80 people. The US is not officially in a war with Venezuela, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have said they plan to examine reports that the US carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board. “The law is clear,” Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent, told CNN on Monday morning. “If the facts are, as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water — that’s a stone-cold war crime. It’s also murder.” On Monday, Leavitt identified the official who ordered the follow-up strike – Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, commander of the US Special Operations Command – and said he was acting “well within his authority.” “On September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Adm. Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” Leavitt said. Pressed on the legal justification for the strike, Leavitt said it was “conducted in self-defense to protect Americans” and was carried out “in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict.” Hegseth similarly defended Bradley, writing on X, “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.”

FOX News [12/1/2025 1:24 PM, Morgan Phillips, 40621K] reports that top Armed Services lawmakers are launching inquiries into the Trump administration’s lethal strikes in the Caribbean following a Washington Post report alleging that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. forces to kill anyone who survived a Sept. 2 strike on an alleged narcotics vessel. "We will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a joint statement. House Armed Services Committee leaders announced a parallel review, saying they are seeking "a full accounting" of the operation. "We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region," said Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and ranking Democrat Adam Smith, D-Wash. They said the committee is pursuing bipartisan oversight. The Washington Post report, published Friday, cites unnamed individuals who claim Hegseth "gave a spoken directive" to "kill everybody" aboard a vessel U.S. intelligence believed was carrying narcotics in the Caribbean Sea. A Joint Special Operations commander overseeing that Sept. 2 mission "ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions" once two survivors were seen in the water after the initial blast, according to the report.

AP [12/1/2025 3:49 PM, Christine Fernando, 31753K] reports a son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” pleaded guilty Monday to U.S. drug trafficking charges, months after his brother entered a plea deal. Known locally in Mexico as the “Chapitos,” or “little Chapos,” Joaquin Guzman Lopez and his brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, are accused of running a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. Federal authorities in 2023 described the operation as a massive effort to send “staggering” quantities of fentanyl into the U.S. Joaquin Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise. He and another longtime Sinaloa leader, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, were arrested in July 2024 in Texas after they landed in the U.S. on a private plane. Both men have previously pleaded not guilty to various drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges. Their dramatic capture prompted a surge in violence in Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa as two factions of the Sinaloa cartel clashed. As part of the plea deal, Joaquin Guzman Lopez admitted to helping oversee the production and smuggling of large quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and fentanyl into the United States, fueling a crisis that has contributed to tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo52 [12/1/2025 3:05 PM, Iris Berríos, 76K]

Chicago Tribune [12/1/2025 3:47 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking charges in Chicago on Monday, nearly a year and a half after his stunning flight across the Mexico border to deliver elusive Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada into the hands of U.S. authorities. In pleading guilty, Joaquín Guzmán López admitted for the first time that he lured Zambada to his own kidnapping in July 2024 by saying he needed help settling a dispute. When Zambada arrived, Guzmán López brought him to a private room where he’d secretly removed a floor-to-ceiling window, where men entered and zip-tied him and put a bag over his head, according to the plea agreement. Zambada was then loaded into a pickup truck and driven to a nearby airstrip, where he was forced onto a private plane with Guzmán López, according to the plea agreement. Guzmán López gave him a drink laced with a sedative before the flight took off for New Mexico, where they both were taken into custody by U.S. authorities. Guzmán López admitted in the plea that he orchestrated the kidnapping of Zamabda, who at the time was one of the most wanted men in the world, “in the hopes” of leniency from the U.S. government in cases against himself and his brothers. The agreement stated that the U.S. had not authorized the kidnapping or condone it, and has not agreed to given any leniency to Guzmán López for that specific crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Erskine did say, however, that in exchange for Guzmán López’s ongoing cooperation in his case, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of less than mandatory life behind bars. Guzmán López, 39, was charged in Chicago’s federal court with helping his father and brothers run the notoriously violent Sinaloa cartel, importing thousands of tons of narcotics into the U.S., bribing public officials and using murder and kidnapping to amass and maintain power.

New York Times [12/1/2025 6:40 PM, Alan Feuer and Robert Chiarito, 135475K] reports even in the operatic annals of Mexican organized crime, it was a shock last year when one of the country’s biggest drug lords was abducted by a son of his former business partner and flown across the border into the hands of American federal agents. The story sounded so improbable that many in Mexico, including some government officials, were skeptical that it was true. Had the once-untouchable kingpin, Ismael Zambada García, really been kidnapped by a younger man he had known for years, Joaquín Guzmán López, who was also a son of the infamous drug lord known as El Chapo? But on Monday, Mr. Guzmán López pleaded guilty to a sweeping set of charges that included the abduction of Mr. Zambada García, who helped his father establish the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the world’s most profitable trafficking organizations. At a hearing in Federal District Court in Chicago, he acknowledged luring Mr. Zambada García out of hiding in Mexico and having his associates place a bag over his head and zip ties on his hands as he was flown into American custody at an airport outside El Paso. The guilty plea by Mr. Guzmán López was the most recent blow suffered by the Sinaloa cartel, which has been under such pressure from the Mexican government and its adversaries in the underworld that it formed a strategic alliance last summer with one of its most reviled competitors. The plea also came at a confusingly contradictory moment in the Trump administration’s handling of the international war against drugs. While the White House has ramped up pressure on Venezuela in a purported effort to stem the flow of narcotics to the United States, President Trump on Friday announced that he would pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras. Mr. Hernández was convicted last year by an American jury of taking bribes from El Chapo as part of a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle cocaine across the U.S. border. Most of the charges to which Mr. Guzmán López pleaded guilty were in an indictment unsealed in Chicago in April 2023, accusing him of joining his brothers in taking control of their father’s faction of the Sinaloa cartel after a federal judge in Brooklyn sent El Chapo — whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera — to prison for life in 2019.

ABC News [12/1/2025 4:05 PM, Laura Romero, 30493K] reports an immigration judge who was fired by the Trump administration is suing the Department of Justice, alleging she is a victim of unlawful discrimination. Tania Nemer, a former immigration judge in Ohio, filed a lawsuit Monday claiming she was dismissed based on her gender, her dual citizenship with the country of Lebanon, and her previous run for local office as a Democrat, in violation of civil rights law. Nemer was "abruptly fired" in the middle of her probationary period despite receiving "the highest possible performance," the lawsuit alleges. The former Cleveland judge is among the more than 100 immigration judges who have been fired, resigned through the Department of Government Efficiency’s "Fork in the Road" offer, or transferred out of immigration adjudication, according to the union representing immigration judges. Nemer’s attorneys said in the filing that she was escorted out of court at the time of her dismissal, and that Nemer’s supervisor and the acting chief immigration judge both said they did not know why she was being fired. Shortly after she was fired, Nemer filed a formal discrimination complaint with an Equal Employment Opportunity office, which dismissed the case. The former immigration judge is asking a court in D.C. for a "declaration that the government violated her rights; reinstatement; and compensatory damages."

Reported similarly:
NPR [12/1/2025 12:05 PM, Carrie Johnson, 28013K]
Washington Examiner [12/1/2025 5:54 PM, Pedro Rodriguez, 1394K]

New York Times [12/1/2025 8:58 PM, Ana Ley, 153395K] reports the Trump administration fired eight immigration judges in New York City on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The firings followed an earlier round of job cuts in New York immigration courts and are part of a broader disruption across the country, which is taking place as the president seeks to accelerate deportations. They were confirmed by an official at the National Association of Immigration Judges, a union representing immigration judges, and a Justice Department official who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. The immigration courts are under the control of the Justice Department. All the judges were dismissed from the immigration court’s offices at 26 Federal Plaza, a building that houses the New York City headquarters for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and has become the epicenter of migrant arrests in the city. The eight judges included Amiena A. Khan, the assistant chief immigration judge at 26 Federal Plaza, who supervises other judges there.

ABC News [12/1/2025 5:41 PM, Laura Romero, 30493K] reports the attorney representing a 19-year-old college student who was removed to Honduras, despite a court order, while on her way home for Thanksgiving break, said his client was "deported in shackles like she’s a murder suspect." Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, who entered the U.S. from Honduras when she was a young child, was about to board her flight from Massachusetts to Texas last Friday to visit her parents and siblings when airport authorities arrested her. Court documents obtained by ABC News show that within hours of her detainment, a federal judge ordered the government not to remove Lopez Belloza from the U.S. and not to transfer her outside of Massachusetts. But according to Pomerleau, Lopez Belloza was transferred that evening to Texas and deported to Honduras the next day. Pomerleau said that immigration authorities informed Lopez Belloza that she was issued a removal order in 2015, but that he hasn’t seen a record of her original deportation order even though such orders are usually available in the Executive Office for Immigration Review database. Regardless, Pomerleau said, she should not have been deported because a federal judge blocked her removal. Pomerleau said he will be seeking Lopez Belloza’s return.

Federalist [12/1/2025 5:47 PM, Shawn Fleetwood, 785K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court appeared favorable to the Trump administration’s position in a high-profile asylum-related case before the bench on Monday. During the roughly hour-long hearing, the justices heard arguments in Urias-Orellana v. Bondi. The case centers around Salvadoran national Humberto Urias-Orellana, who fled his home country and illegally entered the United States with his family in 2021 after reportedly enduring targeted violence in El Salvador. As summarized by Oyez, upon entering America, the illegal alien and his family were charged by the Department of Homeland Security "with removability for illegal entry," which prompted them to apply for asylum "based on persecution of their family group." Urias-Orellana also sought "protection" under the United Nations’ "Convention Against Torture" (CAT) doctrine. His applications were rejected by an immigration judge, who concluded that his claims did not meet the standard of what constitutes as persecution, and his "CAT claim failed because he did not report his harassment to the police and did not demonstrate that doing so would be futile," Justia summarized. The ruling was later upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which prompted plaintiffs to appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals for review. The appellate court’s rejection of the petition led Urias-Orellana to appeal to SCOTUS, in which he asked the high court to address the question of "whether a federal court of appeals must defer to the BIA’s judgment that a given set of undisputed facts does not demonstrate mistreatment severe enough to constitute ‘persecution’" under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In his opening remarks, plaintiffs’ attorney Nicholas Rosellini contended that "deciding whether undisputed facts qualify as persecution under the law involves legal interpretation, not fact finding," — "Even the BIA agrees," he added — and therefore, cases such as Urias-Orellana’s are eligible for review by federal appellate courts.

Daily Wire [12/1/2025 10:41 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports a man who has referred to himself as "Osama bin Laden" and "Timothy McVeigh" is now facing criminal charges after allegedly threatening to kill federal immigration officers and sexually assault their wives. John Paul Cupp, of Portland, is a "prolific producer" of content involving "aggressive rhetoric, calls for war against the United States, antisemitic threats, and threats of violence" who has zeroed in on Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and their families, according to the FBI. His latest alleged calls for violence come as federal immigration agents face an 8,000% increase in death threats, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Cupp also told authorities "that he was Osama bin Laden and Timothy McVeigh," according to the FBI affidavit. "Our ICE law enforcement officers face an 8,000% increase in death threats against them while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire. "From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families. Secretary Noem has been clear: if you threaten or lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she said.

FOX News [12/1/2025 8:13 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40621K] reports an illegal alien allegedly responsible for a fatal crash that killed two in Oregon was given a commercial driver’s license by California under Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In a Monday statement, the agency also said that the illegal, Indian national Rajinder Kumar, who is accused of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, was let into the country and given work authorization by the Biden administration. Kumar, 32, jackknifed his semi-truck and trailer, blocking both lanes of U.S. Highway 20 around 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 24 in Deschutes County, Oregon, according to Fox 12 Oregon. A Subaru Outback collided with Kumar’s semi-truck, killing both the driver, William Micah Carter, and the passenger, Jennifer Lynn Lower, according to DHS. DHS said that ICE has lodged a detainer for Kumar’s arrest. He is currently being held at the Deschutes County jail pending. The agency said that "since Oregon is a sanctuary state, ICE will make all necessary efforts to bring Kumar into custody should he be released from custody.” According to DHS, Kumar entered the U.S. illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in November 2022. The agency said he was released into the country by the Biden administration, after which he was also issued a work authorization by the administration in 2023 and issued a commercial driver’s license from California. This continues a spate of several high-profile auto accidents involving illegal aliens issued driver’s licenses by sanctuary states. In August, another illegal immigrant driving a semi-truck, named Harjinder Singh, also from India, made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike. The maneuver resulted in a minivan crashing into the truck, killing the driver and two passengers. ICE also lodged an arrest detainer against Singh, following his arrest for three counts of vehicular homicide. DHS said that in August, ICE arrested another criminal illegal alien, Partap Singh, who it said caused a multi-car pileup while driving a commercial semi-truck in California, which left 5-year-old Dalilah Coleman with critical, life-altering injuries. In October, ICE lodged a detainer for Jashanpreet Singh, who DHS said killed three people in California while driving a semitruck under the influence. Regarding the November crash involving Kumar, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Our prayers are with William and Jennifer’s families.” "Rajinder Kumar, a criminal illegal alien from India, was released into our country under the Biden administration and issued a commercial driver’s license by Gavin Newsom’s Department of Motor Vehicles. How many more senseless tragedies must take place before sanctuary politicians stop allowing illegal aliens to dangerously operate semi-trucks on America’s roads?" said McLaughlin. "Under Secretary Noem, ICE will continue its efforts to get illegal alien truck drivers off America’s highways." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [12/1/2025 8:29 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 153395K] reports the Trump administration has revoked the accreditation of thousands of training centers that helped people obtain commercial driver’s licenses and threatened thousands more, senior administration officials announced on Monday, amid a widening campaign against noncitizen truck drivers. According to an announcement from the Department of Transportation, nearly 3,000 of the estimated 16,000 training providers listed in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Training Provider Registry have been removed “for failing to equip trainees with the Trump Administration’s standards of readiness.” The announcement said that another 4,000 had been warned that they would be removed for “noncompliance” with the standards within 30 days, unless they could prove otherwise. That could mean that more than 40 percent of U.S. training facilities would no longer be able to credential drivers. “Under President Trump, we are reigning in illegal and reckless practices that let poorly trained drivers get behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement accompanying the announcement. For months, Mr. Duffy has been threatening consequences for centers that enable drivers without proper qualifications and authorization to get commercial licenses. To date, his warnings have focused largely on immigrant drivers and states that allow those without authorization to be in the United States to legally get behind the wheel of a truck. The Trump administration began to raise alarms about illegal immigration in trucking after an August crash in Florida, in which an immigrant accused of being in the country without authorization made an illegal U-turn, causing a crash that killed three people. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has highlighted the arrests of dozens of cases of undocumented immigrants working as truck drivers. The Transportation Department in September issued emergency orders to make it more difficult for many noncitizens to obtain commercial driver’s licenses and threatened to withhold federal funding from states that failed to enforce new English-language proficiency standards for truckers or failed to revoke the licenses of drivers working in the United States without authorization.

AP [12/1/2025 10:47 PM, Josh Funk, 30493K] reports nearly 44% of the 16,000 truck driving programs listed nationwide by the government may be forced to close if they lose their students after a review by the federal Transportation Department found they may not be complying with minimum requirements. The Transportation Department said Monday that it plans to revoke the certification of nearly 3,000 schools unless they can comply with training requirements in the next 30 days. The targeted schools must notify students that their certification is in jeopardy. Another 4,500 schools are being warned they may face similar action. Schools that lose certification will no longer be able to issue the certificates showing a driver completed training that’s required to get a license, so students are likely to abandon those schools. It’s not clear how many of those schools have been actively teaching students. Separately, the Department of Homeland Security is auditing trucking firms in California owned by immigrants to verify the status of their drivers and whether they are qualified to hold a commercial driver’s license. This crackdown on trucking schools and companies is the latest step in the government’s effort to ensure that truck drivers are qualified and eligible to hold a commercial license. This began after a truck driver that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. The action reins in "illegal and reckless practices that let poorly trained drivers get behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses," Duffy said. Duffy has threatened to pull federal funding from California and Pennsylvania over the issue, and he proposed significant new restrictions on which immigrants can get a commercial driver’s license but a court put those new rules on hold. On Monday, he threatened to withhold $30.4 million from Minnesota if that state doesn’t address shortcomings in its commercial driver’s license program and revoke any licenses that never should have been issued either because they were valid beyond a driver’s work permit or because the state never verified a driver’s immigration status. So far, every state Duffy has threatened has been a Democratic state, but he has said the department is auditing a number of other states, including Texas and South Dakota. Claire Lancaster, a spokesperson for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said: "We take safety on our roads seriously and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety has already worked to ensure we are in compliance with federal law.”

New York Times [12/2/2025 3:20 AM, Jill Cowan, 153395K] reports from the passenger seat of a sky blue Prius, Amy Oba craned her neck to get a look at the federal detention center, a hulking tower surrounded by a black chain-link fence and laced with barbed wire. On a recent evening, she was on patrol, part of a group of Japanese Americans who are keeping a watchful eye on the actions of immigration agents in Los Angeles. “I definitely think about my family when we organize, when we go out on patrols, because that could have been my family in prison,” said Ms. Oba, 33. “It’s just a difference of what, like, 80 years?” During World War II, Ms. Oba’s grandparents were among the more than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who were forced by the federal government to live for years in remote, hastily constructed internment camps across the West. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, backed by the Supreme Court, treated the Japanese Americans as national security threats because of their ethnicity. Families left behind communities, businesses, homes and even pets. Some of them never returned. It wasn’t until the Reagan administration that the government apologized and said it would pay compensation to families who were affected. Now, as the Trump administration carries out its immigration crackdown, Japanese Americans see chilling similarities to what their families experienced.

New York Times [12/1/2025 8:58 PM, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz, 153395K] reports during the early days of President Trump’s second term, he suggested there could be exceptions to his crackdown on immigration, specifically for those who had been brought to the United States as children and those who were stuck in limbo after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. His intentions spoke to a common bipartisan belief that those groups should be treated with some degree of leniency. But the past couple of weeks have shown just how far even Mr. Trump has moved to block immigration and to demonize immigrants in his second term, erasing the lines around people who traditionally have been seen as special cases. First, a 19-year-old college student who tried to fly home to surprise her family on Thanksgiving was shackled by immigration agents and deported, despite a court order saying she should not be removed from the United States. And on Friday, the Trump administration announced it would stop issuing visas to people from Afghanistan and review all Afghans allowed into the United States during the Biden administration. The decision came after a gunman, identified by the authorities as an Afghan national, shot two members of the National Guard last week in Washington, D.C. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States through a temporary program set up to manage the immigration of Afghan nationals fleeing Taliban rule, which requires significant vetting. For Mr. Trump, the actions show the lengths he is willing to go to make good on his anti-immigration agenda, after voters across party lines shifted to the right on immigration in recent years. And they come as hard-liners like Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, gain power and influence in his administration.

NPR [12/2/2025 4:44 AM, Frank Morris, 34837K] reports U.S. farms increasingly depend on foreign workers, but ICE raids have exacerbated the agriculture labor crisis. But some farmers want to make it easier to hire people from abroad using a visa program. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

NBC News [12/1/2025 5:15 PM, Steve Kopack and Gary Grumbach, 34509K] reports Costco Wholesale has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking the Court of International Trade to consider all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act unlawful. The company said in a Nov. 28 filing that it is seeking a "full refund" of all IEEPA duties paid as a result of President Donald Trump’s executive order which imposed what he called "reciprocal" tariffs. The legality of Trump’s sweeping tariff agenda is currently under review by the Supreme Court. In early November oral arguments, justices appeared skeptical about the government’s case to let them continue. Costco does not say in the filing how much the duties imposed by Trump have cost the company, but a total of nearly $90 billion has been paid by importers under the IEEPA law according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data through late September.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [12/2/2025 2:30 AM, Andrew Jeong, 24149K]

AP [12/1/2025 4:59 PM, Hannah Fingerhut, 19051K] reports four Republican-led states agreed to settle lawsuits against the federal government over access to voters’ citizenship data, ending a dispute that began with the Biden administration in advance of the 2024 presidential election. Officials in Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio entered the settlement with the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem roughly a year after the states individually sued the agency under President Joe Biden. They had alleged the previous administration was withholding information about citizenship status that they needed to determine whether thousands of registered voters were actually eligible to cast a ballot. Each of the states could soon run searches for thousands of voters using names, birthdays and Social Security numbers through the federal government’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program. It has been significantly upgraded under the Trump administration. In turn, the settlement reached Friday says the states may share driver’s license records with the Department of Homeland Security "to assist in improving and modernizing" its database. The information sharing is likely to be a focal point of the 2026 midterm elections. Voting rights groups have already sued the administration over the expanded program, known as SAVE, arguing that the recent updates could result in eligible voters being unlawfully purged from voter lists. Separately, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has asked at least half the states for their complete voter rolls, a request that Democratic elections officials have questioned out of concern that the data would be provided to DHS. Voting by noncitizens is illegal in federal elections and can lead to felony charges and deportation. State reviews show it is rare for noncitizen s to register to vote and even rarer that they actually cast a ballot. The SAVE program, which has been around for decades, is operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of DHS. It has been widely used by local and state officials to check the citizenship status of people applying for public benefits by running them through a variety of federal databases. DHS and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency updated the SAVE program earlier this year, according to public announcements. It is now free for election officials, allows searches for voters by the thousands instead of one at a time and no longer requires agencies to search using DHS-issued identification numbers. When a name, date of birth and government-issued number is entered, the database will return initial verification of citizenship status within 48 hours, according to the settlement.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [12/1/2025 2:38 PM, Eric Heisig, 91K]

Univision [12/1/2025 11:18 AM, Jorge Cancino, 5004K] reports Donald Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy continues unabated. Following last week’s shooting (November 26) in Washington, D.C., in which one National Guard member was killed and another seriously wounded, the administration adopted a series of severe immigration measures to further restrict the entry and stay of foreigners in the country. The shooting attack against two members of the National Guard in the US capital was perpetrated by a man whom authorities have identified as a citizen of Afghan origin, who entered the United States in 2021 after the withdrawal of troops from that Asian country. One of the soldiers attacked, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died from her severe injuries. In response, Trump said he would permanently pause immigration from what he called “third world” countries, which includes Afghanistan. Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy in this second term goes beyond travel restrictions. The border is closed, asylum policy has been severely restricted, the number of refugees admitted has been capped at 7,500, a new immigration guideline for determining good moral character has been implemented, discretion has been expanded for both agents and prosecutors to dismiss cases, arrests and expedited deportations have increased, there is greater scrutiny for approving benefits, and new prohibitions have been added, among other measures. In another section, it recommends that ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) should be identified as primarily responsible for enforcing civil immigration regulations, including the arrest, detention, and deportation of immigration violators anywhere in the United States, without a warrant where appropriate, subject only to the INA requirements for civil warrants, where appropriate.

Daily Caller [12/1/2025 2:04 PM, Harold Hutchison, 835K] reports that Democratic Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot’s office will not seek the death penalty against an illegal immigrant charged with beheading a motel manager with a machete in front of his family in Dallas, prosecutors told a court in November. Yordanas Cobos-Maritnez was indicted on a capital murder charge after allegedly beheading Chandra Nagamallaiah on Sept. 10, Fox 4 reported. The DA’s office claimed that Cobos-Martinez’s status as an illegal immigrant could complicate efforts to secure the prosecution, according to the Times Of India, but said a final decision would not be made until Jan. 8, 2026. "Based on our investigation and my conversations, the state of Texas is not seeking the death penalty," prosecutor Julie Johnson told the court during a Nov. 20 hearing. "But we reserve the right to change our mind should anything come up.” ICE issued a detainer for Cobos-Martinez on Sept. 14, according to CNN. "This vile monster beheaded this man in front of his wife and child and proceeded to kick the victim’s head on the ground," Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in the DHS release. "This gruesome, savage slaying of a victim at a motel by Yordanis Cobos-Martinez was completely preventable if this criminal illegal alien was not released into our country by the Biden Administration."

Washington Examiner [12/1/2025 3:19 PM, Mabinty Quarshie, 1394K] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned against a growing threat of legal and illegal immigrants who have not assimilated into the United States and are subsequently draining the nation’s resources in the aftermath of the shooting of two National Guard members one day before Thanksgiving. The State Department has also stepped up its scrutiny and vetting in the wake of the shooting, Leavitt added. Leavitt also echoed the president’s attacks against former President Joe Biden’s administration for allowing the suspect accused of shooting two National Guard members on Wednesday in Washington into the nation and his leadership during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is alleged to have killed Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Andrew Wolfe, 24, of the West Virginia National Guard in the ambush last week. Although Trump’s effort to clamp down on immigration through the southern border has been vastly successful, Leavitt warned that "the threat in our interior remains real and urgent."

Chicago Tribune [12/1/2025 8:19 PM, Joe Mahr and Laura Rodríguez Presa, 4829K] reports newly released federal data shows that immigration agents booked in roughly 1,900 immigrants in the first half of Operation Midway Blitz – two-thirds of whom had no known criminal convictions or pending charges. The latest data offers the first comprehensive look at the effects of the operation, and a Tribune analysis underscores the divide between the Trump administration’s stated goal – to target "the worst of the worst" – with the reality of controversial round-ups that typically snagged undocumented immigrants with no known rap sheets. Of the 1,895 people detained by ICE, 1,271 lacked any criminal record. Another 343 people arrested had a pending criminal charge, while 281 had a criminal conviction. Of those with a criminal conviction, the vast majority of offenses were misdemeanors, traffic citations or non-violent felonies. Only 28 arrestees —1.5% — had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime. The Department of Homeland Security, which ran the operation, did not immediately respond to questions. It previously has argued that the Trump administration, while targeting dangerous "illegal aliens," welcomed the arrest of anyone in the United States without legal status, no matter how otherwise-law-abiding they were. The agency argued in a past news release that its efforts collectively helped lower crime as part of what it called "a historic win in the fight against violent criminal illegal alien crime." The boast, however, ignored several consecutive years of decreases in Chicago’s violent crime. The findings come from a Tribune analysis of updated U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained and shared Monday by the research group Deportation Data Project. Unlike typical law enforcement agencies, ICE does not release complete lists of those arrested but the agency periodically has been forced to release raw data of its activities under an open records lawsuit. That data has helped document the dramatic escalation of enforcement efforts in Chicago and across the country, although it doesn’t list enough details to make precise measurements of specific enforcement actions. The best window into local impacts of Operation Midway Blitz appears to come from tallying those undocumented immigrants booked into either of two Chicago area ICE facilities – a main temporary holding jail in west suburban Broadview, and an office in the South Loop. And those figures show 1,895 people booked into either facility between Sept. 8, the announced start of Operation Midway Blitz, and Oct. 15, the most recent data available. Because some detainees were booked in multiple times, ICE recorded a total of 1,912 bookings in that period – a significant boost in the pace of detentions that steadily climbed to an average of nearly 70 a day by mid-October. That’s roughly double the arrest rate in early June, the most intense immigration enforcement period prior to Operation Midway Blitz.

Washington Post [12/1/2025 6:00 AM, Kim Bellware, 24149K] reports when customers walk in to Taquerias Atotonilco, a fixture in the Little Village neighborhood that has been in Raul Muñoz Jr.’s family since the 1970s, he hears a common refrain: “It’s dead out there.” The observation has echoed in Little Village and Chicago’s other predominantly Latino neighborhoods since September when the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has led to more than 3,000 arrests throughout the Chicago area and northwest Indiana, according to the Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump has said immigration sweeps would target the “worst of the worst,” while court documents show that few of those apprehended in raids here had criminal histories. The business district generates more than $900 million in annual sales, according to the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. Fear of arrest has chilled activity in the neighborhood, where businesses report their sales have dropped anywhere from 20 to 70 percent. Some owners still see strong weekend sales, but there’s less foot traffic on weekdays as customers weigh the risks of going to school, work or a store. And while many of the decades-old businesses along 26th Street have been bolstered by a loyal customer base, newer stores and restaurants are more vulnerable, said Jennifer Aguilar, executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. The effects of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaigns are being felt among Latino-owned businesses across the country — a sector of primarily small businesses that contributes more than $800 billion to the economy annually, according to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Enforcement actions have disrupted operations, caused staff to fear coming to work, and created ripple effects through local economies,” Ramiro Cavazos, the chamber’s president and CEO, said in a statement. Businesses are responding by cutting staffing and operating hours, she said.

Politico [12/1/2025 4:03 PM, Faith Wardwell, 2100K] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday defended President Donald Trump’s pardon of former Honduran president and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, arguing his conviction was instead the result of a politicized trial last year. During a White House press briefing, Leavitt justified the administration’s lifeline to Hernández, arguing the two-term president’s charges had been mired by a corrupt “over-prosecution” under former President Joe Biden’s administration. “He was opposed to the values of the previous administration and they charged him because he was president of Honduras,” Leavitt said. Hernández was sentenced last year to 45 years in a U.S. prison for conspiring to transport hundreds of tons of cocaine through his country and into the U.S. The former Honduran president had also been accused of taking bribes during his campaign from Joaquín Guzmán, the infamous Mexican cartel leader known as “El Chapo” and raking in millions of dollars in drug money from drug-trafficking organizations. The judge presiding over the case, P. Kevin Castel, had called Hernández “a two-faced politician hungry for power,” as Hernández’s defense lawyer maintained they were impeded by corruption in the case. Hernández has been appealing his conviction. In a stunning move Friday, Trump announced he’d grant a “Full and Complete Pardon” to the two-term president — saying he was treated “very harshly and unfairly” in his conviction while also praising Nasry Asfura, a candidate for the Honduran presidency and the leader of the right-wing National Party, who’s earned Trump’s backing in the race. “This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Washington Post [12/1/2025 6:23 PM, Staff, 24149K] reports the U.S. military’s summary killing of more than 80 people suspected of transporting drugs in the waters around South America rests on a shaky legal foundation. Transporting drugs is a crime, not an act of war. Suspected criminals — even the guilty — ought to be apprehended when possible, not shot on sight. The Post reported Friday that the military is not just bombing the small boats, but in at least one instance intentionally killed shipwrecked survivors. After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly gave a spoken order to kill everyone on board a boat in September, the Special Operations commander overseeing the mission ordered a second strike that killed two men clinging to the wreckage. The revelation ought to prompt a recognition that these killings were rotten from the start. It seems to at least be puncturing the complacency of several congressional Republicans who have previously bit their tongues about the attacks. The leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees are promising inquiries. Hegseth has responded with his trademark bluster, including making light of the situation with a children’s book meme and insisting he’s done nothing wrong. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Hegseth told him he did not give the order. “I believe him, 100 percent,” the president said. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the strikes were “conducted in self-defense.” What danger did the shipwrecked men pose? Without a second strike, they probably would have drowned. They plainly posed no immediate threat. Such flagrantly immoral behavior helps explain why the United Kingdom, America’s closet ally, suspended intelligence sharing for the boat strikes. Congress has oversight powers to get to the bottom of this. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine called senior lawmakers over the weekend to discuss the mission’s “intent and legality," his office said Monday. Private calls are insufficient. There should be public hearings to probe the entire bombing campaign, not just the September strike. Congress hasn’t authorized the use of military force against drug traffickers, but the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel prepared a classified memo saying the killings are legal under the president’s inherent authority. If the reasoning is strong, why not make it public? Beyond legality, Congress deserves to hear more about the strategic implications of this campaign. The U.S. has limited resources and faces threats in many theaters. How many missiles is the Pentagon using for target practice on speedboats that could be easily stopped by the Coast Guard?

New York Post [12/1/2025 8:27 PM, Staff, 42219K] reports that, if the feds and the Mamdani City Hall can’t come to some reliable understanding, Saturday’s chaos in Lower Manhattan will be just a taste of rising disorder that New York City really doesn’t need. The metro area is full of "professional protesters" eager to wreak havoc in the name of the lefty cause of the week, and also full of politicians eager to egg on the goons; can Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and the top local Homeland Security officials conspire to keep the peace anyway? If Mamdani & the feds don’t cooperate on ICE arrests, it will: Activists somehow got word of a planned ICE action Saturday, and gathered to block the feds from carrying out a lawful enforcement operation (presumably the arrest of potentially dangerous illegal immigrants). Hundreds of rabid demonstrators erected blockades to trap of dozens of immigration officials inside a garage, offering further threats (scaling grated windows and tossing debris) as they shouted, "ICE out of New York!". Cops had to intervene, scuffling with the hooligans — and arresting at least 18 — as they cleared a path for the feds’ retreat to Newark. No one was hurt, thank goodness, but the agents apparently had to abort their mission, and the turmoil marred "Small Business Saturday" for several hours. Worse, local pols — Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, city Comptroller Brad Lander and City Councilwomen Sandy Nurse and Crystal Hudson — praised the protesters and demanded charges against them be dropped. Protesters shouldn’t be charged for "standing up for our constitutional rights . . . [and] for vulnerable New Yorkers," huffed Nurse, as if that (supposed) cause somehow justifies blocking traffic, defying police orders and pelting cops and federal agents with debris. These rabble-rousers were breaking the law — and should pay for it. Plus: "Vulnerable New Yorkers" is a dubious description of ICE’s presumed targets: illegal-immigrant criminals, possibly violent. Yet Williams even promised repeat performances "every single time" the feds try to do their job. Maybe these pols should face incitement charges; they certainly shouldn’t be anywhere near public office. How will Mamdani come down? He, too, has vowed to fight President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, and also called for the elimination of the Strategic Response Group, the NYPD unit on the scene Saturday and generally responds to such chaos. Push hard enough, and you give Trump reason to send in the National Guard — which Mamdani also opposes. Yet the feds should also step carefully: How did they let word of the operation leak to the activists, and why didn’t the give the NYPD a heads-up about it? Tisch was reportedly furious that her cops got caught in the middle; she believes large showings of federal force are generally unnecessary and too often inflammatory. Tellingly, Homeland Security Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel reportedly called her to apologize after Saturday’s mess. Above all else, though, it’s the protesters most at fault, along with the pols who encourage them. If Mamdani can’t work out a responsible plan to let federal agents to do their job, the ugliness will get a lot worse than Saturday’s turmoil.

The Hill [12/1/2025 7:30 AM, Stephen Moore, 12595K] reports can you name a federal program responsible for creating or supporting 7 million high-paying jobs, attracting $75 billion in private investment, and generating $14.5 billion in tax revenue in the last four years? Here’s one other key detail: The program didn’t cost taxpayers a dime in that period. All of these benefits are byproducts of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, an unheralded federal initiative that has been delivering big benefits to the U.S. economy and to American workers in the 35 years it has existed. And the gains are going to continue piling up. From October 2024 through June 2025, more than 5,000 EB-5 investor petitions were filed — and they represent more than $4.1 billion in new EB-5 investment. A current EB-5 investment that is delivering opportunity can be seen in Justin, Texas, just outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. A master-planned residential development, known as Treeline, is under development on 800 acres. The two-phase project includes 2,500 single family homes, with Phase 1 encompassing 705 single family home lots. The master plan also includes land allotments for a future elementary school, multi-family units, and commercial development. And it’s all because of EB-5 investments.

Washington Post [12/1/2025 2:18 PM, Max Boot, 24149K] reports that if you’re a law-abiding citizen and someone admonishes you that robbing banks is a crime, you would be inclined to laugh off the advice as obvious and unnecessary. If, however, you’re planning on carrying out a bank job — or have already done a few — you might react with feigned indignation that anyone could possibly imagine that you would ever commit such a terrible offense. Hence President Donald Trump’s over-the-top rage after six Democratic members of Congress, all of them military or intelligence veterans, posted a video on Nov. 18 advising service members that they “can refuse illegal orders.” This is not exactly news; it is a bedrock principle that American troops “support and defend the Constitution” and follow the law. Yet Trump reacted as if the lawmakers were urging troops to stage a military coup. In his typically understated fashion, the president accused the Democrats of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” and wrote, “Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” Trump added, for good measure, that their behavior was “punishable by DEATH!” Trump’s obsequious secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, who prefers to style himself as “secretary of war” in contravention of an act of Congress, immediately jumped into the social media scrum. He labeled the Democrats the “Seditious Six” and, while expressing regret that five of them were not subject to court-martial, he announced that the Defense Department was reviewing whether Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), a retired Navy captain and astronaut, could be recalled to active duty to be tried in a military court.

FOX News [12/1/2025 6:18 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports federal immigration officers arrested two illegal immigrants convicted of crimes against children in back-to-back operations in New Jersey and Texas – in a move authorities say reflects a renewed drive to push violent offenders out of the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a press release that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested both Gladys Leticia Bustamente-Rios of Honduras and Maria Alejandra Gamarro-Quinonez of Guatemala, adding that both women remain in custody. Bustamente-Rios had previously been removed from the country and barred from reentering, while Gamarro-Quinonez was issued a final order of removal. "These criminal illegal aliens victimized innocent children, the most vulnerable members of our society," ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said. "ICE is ensuring that these criminals will never do this again. Our mission is about public safety and removing dangerous threats from this country, and we will not rest until our communities are safe from these vicious criminals.”

Los Angeles Times [12/1/2025 6:00 AM, Andrea Castillo, 14862K] reports R.V. had already spent six months detained at a facility in California when he won his case in immigration court in June. He testified that he had fled his native Cuba in 2024 after protesting against the government, for which he was jailed, surveilled and persecuted. So, after being kidnapped in Mexico, he entered the U.S. illegally and told border agents he was afraid for his life. An immigration court judge granted him protection against deportation to Cuba, and R.V., 21, was looking forward to reuniting with family in Florida. But R.V., who asked that his full name not be used for fear of retaliation from the government, hasn’t been released. At the detention center, he said, agents have told him they’ll still find a way to deport him — if not to Cuba, then maybe Panama or Costa Rica. "The wait is so hard," he said in an interview. "It’s as if they don’t want to accept that I won.” R.V. is among what immigration attorneys describe as an escalating trend: some immigrants who win protection from deportation to their home countries are being detained indefinitely.

Los Angeles Times [12/1/2025 6:00 AM, James Queally and Brittny Mejia, 14862K] reports the federal prosecutor faced the jury, brandishing the item he said had been "used as a sword" to assault a federal officer during a July protest in downtown Los Angeles. The object that Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Kibbe said was wielded as a weapon: An umbrella that an investigator needed a special scale to weigh because it was less than one pound. For months, Trump administration officials have cited violence against federal law enforcement officers carrying out the president’s deportation campaign as justification for aggressive tactics, including threats to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines. The Department of Homeland Security has touted a staggering figure, claiming a 1,000% increase in assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. But a Times analysis of court records related to assaults on federal law enforcement in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Ore., Chicago and Washington, D.C., shows the majority of the alleged attacks resulted in no injury to an agent. In roughly 42% of the cases The Times reviewed, federal law enforcement officers were either shoved, spat on or flailed at, or had water bottles thrown at them, according to court affidavits. During the umbrella assault trial in October, prosecutors provided no evidence of any injuries. In L.A. and across the country, defendants accused of assaulting federal officers have won acquittals or had charges dropped. More than a third of the cases The Times analyzed ended in dismissals or acquittals, in some instances because the defendants were deported. No cases have ended in a conviction at trial. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, responded to questions from The Times about the assault numbers with a statement that said "our officers are facing terrorist attacks, being shot at, having cars being used as weapons against them, bomb threats, assaults, doxxing.”

FOX News [12/1/2025 6:55 PM, Peter Pinedo Fox, 40621K] reports the Women’s March is facing backlash online for releasing an "insane" ad attacking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including critics suggesting the group has turned its back on its feminist mission. An ad, released by Women’s March last week, shows a fictional ICE agent returning home and being asked by his daughter, "How was your day?" Scenes of masked agents smashing windows and women and a little girl crying flash across the screen while screams can be heard. A narrator says, "A mask can’t hide you from your neighbors, your children, from God. They’ll know." "You can walk away, before the shame follows you home," the narrator continues, while text fills the screen, reading, "What will you say?" In the video’s caption, Women’s March wrote, "A mask can’t hide your shame forever. ICE agents are being recruited everywhere online and in person. Immigrants are being kidnapped, families are being ripped apart, communities are living in fear. Before you accept the sign-on bonus to terrorize families, ask yourself: When your kids ask what you did at work today, what will you say? When your neighbor is dragged away in handcuffs, what will you say? When you’re asked what you did to protect your community from fascism, what will you say? Because history never forgets. And neither will we." The caption also includes a hashtag calling to end ICE. Conservative commentator Matt Swol ripped into the Women’s March for airing the ad in Charlotte, North Carolina, while ignoring the recent killings of two women, Logan Federico and Iryna Zarutska, in North Carolina. "This ad is BEYOND evil," wrote Swol. "The Women’s March org NEVER ran a single ad after Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on the light rail by a repeat offender. Nor did they run a single ad on Logan Federico who was murdered by a man with 39 previous charges," said Swol. "What happened to the feminists? What happened to actually caring about women? I don’t understand," he added. GOP operative Sarah Fields pointed to large numbers of arrests of non-citizen sexual predators and the trafficking of women and girls by cartels, saying, "Ironically, this was paid for by Women’s March, a feminist group against s*xual oppression." "The Women’s March is running an INSANE ad that demonizes ICE with fictional scenes and emotional manipulation," wrote California conservative commentator Elizabeth Barcohana. "Defund the Police and police abolitionism never went away. It just took a new form," added Barcohana. "Feminists against those who protect women. Great call, ladies," commented Los Angeles GOP leader Lisa Cusack. Founded during the first Trump administration, the Women’s March rose to prominence due to its heavily covered marches in Washington, D.C. On its website, the group says it is working to build a "base of feminists to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression." It has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump during his second term, as well as ICE. Fox News Digital reached out to the Women’s March for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [12/1/2025 8:50 AM, Matthew Vann, 18595K] reports as ICE raids continue at houses of worship, Rev. Paul Erickson, of the Greater Milwaukee Synod, explains that religious institutions need to be "the conscience of government calling them back to accountability." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [12/1/2025 4:58 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2416K] reports Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that sanctuary New York City is harboring 7,169 known criminal illegal aliens, purposefully shielding them from immigration officials. McLaughlin revealed the cost to a city’s safety and security with sanctuary policies that hide vicious criminals from deportation while leaving citizens in danger. McLaughlin also singled out one New York Democrat congressman for their obstruction. Meanwhile, DHS noted last week that assaults and violence committed against ICE have increased more than 1,150 percent. Blaze [12/1/2025 1:30 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1442K] reports that sanctuary city policies continue to shield criminal illegal aliens amid the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to ramp up deportations. The Department of Homeland Security revealed Monday that there are thousands of known criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in New York City that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to remove from the country. "We’re seeing that these criminal illegal aliens are exiting the jails and going back on to New York, or Chicago, or these other sanctuary streets to re-perpetuate their crimes," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. "Today, in New York City’s jails are 7,169 criminal illegal aliens," McLaughlin continued. "We’re talking about hundreds of murderers, hundreds of sexual predators, drug traffickers, the worst of the worst." McLaughlin encouraged sanctuary city politicians to cooperate with immigration officials to remove these known threats from the country. "Honor those detainers, and then we won’t have to flood the zone with our ICE law enforcement. We won’t have to put those men and women on the ground because we will get these vicious criminals out of New York City’s jails," McLaughlin added. New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, has vowed to resist the immigration raids and criticized current Mayor Eric Adams (D) for cooperating with the Trump administration.

New York Post [12/1/2025 3:02 PM, Chris Nesi, 42219K] reports New York state has released nearly 7,000 known illegal migrant criminals without notifying ICE since President Trump took over, and has more than 7,000 others locked up in jails and prisons, the Department of Homeland Security revealed. All of them are being protected by sanctuary laws, DHS says, and the feds are now demanding that New York Attorney General Letitia James hand them over so they can be deported, according to a letter DHS sent to the state’s embattled top lawyer Monday. The feds laid out how many of the migrants have been involved in thousands of crimes — including violent offenses — but have been released back into the community or on bail or parole — all without notifying ICE. The letter obtained by The Post points to a staggering 6,947 illegal aliens with active ICE detainers who were released back onto New York streets since Jan. 20. Their rap sheets cumulatively include attempted murder, thousands of assaults, and hundreds of burglaries, robberies, drug offenses, weapons offenses and sexual predatory offenses. Currently, ICE says, another 7,113 aliens are locked up in New York with active detainers, who are responsible for a combined 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drug offenses, 152 weapons offenses and 260 sexual predatory offenses.

Just the News [12/1/2025 3:52 PM, Misty Severi, 844K] reports the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter Monday to New York Attorney General Letitia James, demanding that she turn over the more than 7,000 illegal migrants that are allegedly locked up in jails and prisons in the state. Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons claimed that nearly 7,000 illegal migrants, who had active detainers because they allegedly committed thousands of crimes, were released back into the state since January and 7,113 illegal migrants with active ICE detainers are currently locked up in New York, according to the New York Post. “These are people who are not only in the country illegally, but who have committed additional crimes, including heinous crimes like murder, rape, possession of child pornography, armed robbery, and many others," Lyons wrote. The DHS said that the migrants are being protected by New York’s sanctuary laws, which limit local law enforcement cooperation with immigration agents. The department also said the 7,113 illegal migrants are allegedly responsible for a combined 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drug offenses, 152 weapons offenses and 260 sexual predatory offenses. “Virtually all Americans agree that people like this should be swiftly removed from the United States when they leave New York’s custody and not be returned to our streets to wreak havoc on law abiding citizens,” Lyons said.

USA Today [12/1/2025 8:16 AM, Victoria Moorwood, 67103K] reports a group that’s grown almost 70-strong shows up weekly to commissioner meetings in this conservative Ohio county to protest officials’ agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They’re mostly grandmas. "I’m here because I’m outraged. I’m here because I’m angry," Cassie Stevens, who lives in Hamilton, said at a Butler County Commissioners meeting on Nov. 18. "I’m here because I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent." For 17 weeks, this group of Butler County residents has spoken at the commissioners’ meetings in Hamilton. They want commissioners to cancel Sheriff Richard Jones’ March agreement with ICE, which allows the Butler County Jail to detain people facing deportation. Commissioners authorized the agreement, which brings millions of federal dollars to the county. At the latest commissioners’ meeting, more than 70 people sat, stood and spilled through the doors. Most were White women who sported silver and white cropped hair. After the meeting, they took their protest outside, braving the November rain with fleece jackets and handmade signs. Sharon Meyer, who lives in Hamilton, criticized the county’s agreement with ICE and said it sends one message: "If you don’t look like us, bring a passport to Butler County." Some people cried as speakers shared their neighbors’, friends’ and grandchildren’s classmates’ fears about ICE arrests and detentions. Toward the end of the meeting’s public comment portion, and after one commissioner told them not to, critics of the contract broke into song: "America the Beautiful."

Blaze [12/1/2025 5:10 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1442K] reports a school district in a Democratic-led sanctuary city has reportedly implemented an attendance policy that allows illegal immigrant students to skip school due to fears of federal immigration enforcement. Chicago Public Schools students can be marked as "excused" from class if their parents or guardians express fears about immigration operations, according to a document obtained by Defending Education and reviewed by Fox News Digital. The document, titled "Chicago Public Schools’ Attendance Coding for Safety Concerns Related to Federal Representative Activity," states that the district is "fully committed" to providing children a safe learning environment, adding that it "has strong protections and protocols in place to protect our students and staff." CPS highlighted a November 2024 resolution from the Chicago Board of Education, stating that "while these protections and procedures are related to immigration enforcement, they apply to interactions with all federal agents and representatives, including the National Guard." Under a section labeled "Attendance Guidance," the CPS document reads, "If a parent/guardian reports an absence and attributes it to fear of federal representative-related procedures, schools CAN excuse the absence under ‘concern for student health and safety.’" The district states that it does not set a time limit for how long this reason for absence may be used.

New York Times [12/2/2025 3:20 AM, By Amanda Holpuch and Annie Correal, 153395K] reports a 19-year-old college student was about to board a flight to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when she was detained at Boston Logan International Airport and deported to Honduras two days later, her father and lawyer said on Sunday. The student, Any Lucía López Belloza, was brought by her parents from Honduras to the United States when she was 7. Her father, Francis López, said in a telephone interview on Sunday that neither Ms. López nor her parents knew there was an order for her deportation. “When they arrested Any, that’s when they told her,” said Mr. López, a tailor. He said his employer had arranged and paid for his daughter’s travel to Austin, Texas, to surprise him at work. Ms. López’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, described an opaque process for obtaining information about her case, including the grounds for her deportation. He said she had been deported in violation of a court order that a federal judge signed on Nov. 21 that said Ms. López could not be removed from the United States while her case was pending. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in an emailed statement that an immigration judge had ordered Ms. López to be deported in 2015, when she was a child. “She received full due process and was removed to Honduras,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

CNN [12/1/2025 1:48 PM, Hanna Park, 18595K] reports Any Lucia Lopez Belloza arrived at the airport in Boston excited to embark on a surprise trip home to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Texas. The 19‑year‑old freshman at Babson College was nearing the end of her first semester studying business – a major she hoped would help her father open his own tailor shop one day. But instead of getting to hug her parents and two little sisters and tell them how college was going, Lopez Belloza was arrested by federal immigration officials moments before getting on her flight on November 20. She was told there was a problem with her boarding pass, and on her way to customer service she was "surrounded, (placed) in handcuffs, and dragged out of the airport," her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, told CNN. In the roughly 48 hours after, Lopez Belloza was sent to Texas and then Honduras, the country where she was born but had not seen since she was 7 years old, when her parents brought her to the US to seek asylum. Lopez Belloza was deported despite a federal judge’s order prohibiting the government from removing her from the US while a lawsuit over her arrest played out in court, according to her attorney. In an email to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said an immigration judge ordered Lopez Belloza’s removal in 2015, and that she "illegally stayed in the country since." Pomerleau told CNN Lopez Belloza was never shown a warrant, a removal order or given any explanation for why she had been detained. "I still am not convinced that she ever had an order removal … she wasn’t shown any proof," he said. Pomerleau said the only records he’s found in government databases indicate her case was closed in 2017. The student’s father, Francis, told the Austin American-Statesman that his family was denied asylum, but that they had been assured by the judge that they did not have deportation orders. The outlet only identified him by his first name due to his immigration status, it said.

AP [12/1/2025 7:37 PM, Holly Ramer, 31753K] reports that Babson College has instructed faculty and staff to provide “academic and community support” to a student who was deported to Honduras when she tried to fly home to visit family for Thanksgiving. Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 when she tried to board a flight to surprise her family in Texas. She was sent to Honduras two days later despite a court order prohibiting the government from moving her out of Massachusetts or the United States, according to her attorney. Lopez Belloza, whose family emigrated from Honduras when she was 7, is now staying with her grandparents. The college’s dean of campus life, Caitlin Capozzi, informed faculty and staff of Lopez Belloza’s detention Tuesday. “Our ability to share specifics is limited by law, but please know that our focus remains on supporting the student and their family, as well as the wellbeing of our community,” the dean wrote in a message made public Monday. “Relevant faculty and staff have been informed so they can provide appropriate academic and community support in the student’s absence.” According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an immigration judge ordered Lopez Belloza deported in 2015. Asked about the emergency order prohibiting her removal, the Department of Homeland Security provided an earlier statement that confirmed Lopez Belloza’s detainment but did not address the court order.

Bloomberg [12/1/2025 1:50 PM, Bernie Pazanowski, 803K] reports that a deaf immigrant with a green card, who says he was detained, denied a sign language interpreter, and roughed up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, is suing the government for violating his rights. The bus stop raid was part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. In May, the Department of Homeland Security implemented a quota of 3,000 immigration arrests per day, the complaint filed Nov. 28 in the US District Court for the District of Utah says. To fulfill the quota, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told ICE agents to "‘just go out there and arrest’". [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

Daily Caller [12/1/2025 4:16 PM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports an Indian man accused of killing two individuals in a horrific highway crash entered the United States unlawfully under the Biden administration. Rajinder Kumar, who was arrested in late November for allegedly causing a fatal accident along an Oregon highway, is an Indian national who entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2022 before obtaining a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The highway accident in Oregon was just the latest fatal crash allegedly caused by an illegal migrant truck driver released into the country by the Biden administration and given a CDL by California officials. "Rajinder Kumar, a criminal illegal alien from India, was released into our country under the Biden administration and issued a commercial driver’s license by Gavin Newsom’s Department of Motor Vehicles," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with the DCNF. "How many more senseless tragedies must take place before sanctuary politicians stop allowing illegal aliens to dangerously operate 18-wheelers on America’s roads?" McLaughlin continued. "Our prayers are with William and Jennifer’s family. Kumar has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, according to the Oregon State Police. He was reportedly left uninjured from the accident. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer for Kumar, according to DHS. He is currently being detained at the Deschutes County jail.

NBC News [12/1/2025 4:11 PM, Shelby Bremer, 43603K] reports as ICE continues to arrest people in San Diego during their green card interviews, the final step in a legal pathway, some of the people taken into custody have been spouses of military members and veterans, including one who said he felt “betrayed” after serving for decades in the U.S. Marine Corps. ICE has repeatedly said these arrests, which began Nov. 12, are for overstaying visas. But multiple immigration attorneys contend that’s never been an issue before, with an exception in federal law for direct relatives of U.S. citizens, including spouses, who are going through the green card process. “I kind of feel betrayed, to be honest,” said Samuel Shasteen, a retired staff sergeant who said he spent 20 years with the Marines, including two deployments to Afghanistan. “We do everything that we can to protect and serve our country. And then they betray us by treating us like we’ve never done anything.” Shasteen lost his wife to cancer in 2022. Months later, on a break from work, he says he walked into a coffee shop in downtown San Diego and saw Chanidaphon Sopimpa, who stitched his broken heart back together again. “It kind of felt like there wasn’t a hole there no more. She just filled a spot, the void that was there,” Shasteen said. His kids were wary at first, but Shasteen said that quickly changed and two years later, they were married. Originally from Thailand, Sopimpa did overstay her visa, but they’ve been trying to get her green card since the wedding, Shasteen said.

Los Angeles Times [12/1/2025 6:00 AM, Melissa Gomez, 14862K] reports Los Angeles County supervisors plan to vote soon on an ordinance that would prohibit law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, from wearing masks or disguising their identities while conducting operations in unincorporated L.A. County, probably setting up a legal battle with the Trump administration. On Tuesday, L.A. County supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey P. Horvath will introduce the ordinance for a vote. The ordinance would also require law enforcement officers, including local, state and federal, to wear identification and make clear their agency affiliation. Since immigration agents began raiding Los Angeles neighborhoods and worksites in June, many local leaders have pushed for action on the issue. Residents are concerned about the masked agents, often disguised with face coverings and masks. The masks and lack of identification have sowed fears the armed men could be people posing as law enforcement officers. Residents have called on sheriff’s deputies and police for help, only to be told that local agencies do not interfere with federal operations. If the ordinance is approved, it will — per county policy — go again before supervisors for a second vote, scheduled for Dec. 9. It would then go into effect 30 days later. But legal experts have cast doubt that federal agents would be required to follow the ordinance, and federal officials have already issued a legal challenge to similar state-level legislation. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has defended the tactic of agents wearing masks in order to protect their identities and keep them safe amid reported increased violence against federal officers. Previously, she stated that officers do verbally identify themselves, wear vests identifying their agency and use vehicles that include the name of the department, although agents are also often seen detaining people while wearing street clothing, without visible badges and driving unmarked cars. McLaughlin said the administration will not abide by any attempt to ban masks.

Breitbart [12/1/2025 11:33 PM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] reports that, on Monday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow said that “we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the individuals over in Afghanistan who were actually helping us to secure the country and to secure that mission before this disastrous removal from the country. However, the number of people that were involved in Operation Allies Welcome, it does not comport with the number of people that were actually helping the U.S. mission there.” And everyone has to be vetted now. Host Rob Schmitt asked, “[I]t’s such a debacle, because there were a lot of good people in Afghanistan that helped our troops try and secure that country for 20 years. But the problem is, is that you’re bringing in a huge group of people from a country that also has a radical Islamic issue as well, which is a religion that teaches people to blow themselves up in order to kill the infidel. So, when you have those, those two things don’t mix, and when you bring in upwards of 100,000 people, and you don’t vet them properly, think of how many sleeper cells like this D.C. National Guard shooter we could have sitting in this country right now. It’s terrifying.” Edlow responded, “Which is why we have paused as much of this as we have, because, you’re absolutely right, we don’t know who we’ve got here. We’ve got to figure this out. But, at the end of the day, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the individuals over in Afghanistan who were actually helping us to secure the country and to secure that mission before this disastrous removal from the country. However, the number of people that were involved in Operation Allies Welcome, it does not comport with the number of people that were actually helping the U.S. mission there. I think that’s really the key. And we have to take the reins here from the Department of Homeland Security to vet them all.” Edlow added that USCIS looks at if people will improve the economy and “the American way of life.”

Breitbart [12/1/2025 11:33 PM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] reports that, on Monday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow stated that checks by the agency have been updated “quite a bit” since the alleged shooter of two members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. “was granted asylum and was interviewed back in March.” Host Rob Schmitt asked, “What’s happening at USCIS, is it a full moratorium on immigration?” Edlow answered, “Not a full moratorium on immigration. At this point, we are looking at what we have in our holdings, what checks we’ve been doing. And, frankly, I have to tell you, Rob, we’ve updated our checks quite a bit since this individual was granted asylum and was interviewed back in March. But we are taking every precaution possible to prevent this from ever happening again. So, I agree with the President. things are going to be paused in a lot of ways, for as long as necessary, to make sure that we never see an action, an atrocity like this occur on our homeland again.”

Breitbart [12/2/2025 1:41 AM, Jasmyn Jordan, 2416K] reports Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) on Monday introduced the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025, legislation aimed at ending the practice of U.S. citizens holding dual citizenship. The proposal would prohibit any U.S. citizen from maintaining citizenship or nationality in another country, citing concerns over divided loyalties and national allegiance. The bill establishes that U.S. citizenship may not be held concurrently with any legal status that imposes an obligation to a foreign nation. Individuals who voluntarily acquire foreign citizenship after the law takes effect would be treated as having relinquished their U.S. citizenship. Those who currently hold dual citizenship would have one year to choose: formally renounce their foreign nationality or forfeit their American citizenship. Those who fail to comply would, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, be deemed to have voluntarily relinquished U.S. citizenship. The legislation defines "foreign citizenship" as any status recognized by a foreign government that grants an individual nationality or citizenship, or imposes an obligation of loyalty to that country. It directs the Secretary of State to issue regulations for declaration, verification, and recordkeeping of exclusive citizenship, and to coordinate with the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to update federal systems accordingly. It also requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to publish a notification of compliance requirements in the Federal Register. Moreno emphasized the symbolic and civic importance of exclusive national fidelity, drawing on his own experience of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. "One of the greatest honors of my life was when I became an American citizen at 18, the first opportunity I could do so," said Sen. Moreno. "It was an honor to pledge an Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and ONLY to the United States of America! Being an American citizen is an honor and a privilege—and if you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing. It’s time to end dual citizenship for good.” The measure follows his earlier proposals, such as the HIRE Act, which sought to discourage the outsourcing of American jobs, and the SAFE HIRE Act, aimed at penalizing the hiring of illegal aliens by corporate executives. Moreno’s legislative efforts come amid a broader Republican push to tighten standards around U.S. citizenship in federal service. In October, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) introduced the Disqualifying Dual Loyalty Act, which would prohibit individuals with foreign citizenship from serving in Congress. Fine argued that elected officials should demonstrate undivided loyalty to the United States and described the measure as a rebuttal to accusations of dual loyalty, particularly against pro-Israel politicians. His bill would apply to both future candidates and to incumbents seeking reelection. At a recent Breitbart News policy event, Moreno reinforced the message, drawing a line between legal citizenship and unlawful presence in the country. "Like, I wasn’t born in this country. I’m Hispanic. I don’t view myself as being targeted. I became an American citizen the first opportunity I could," Moreno stated. "This is not about being anti-Hispanic. This is saying you are not — you weren’t invited into the country. You broke in, and it’s not, ‘Oh, we’re gonna forgive you.’ It’s like, ‘No, you have to leave.’".

Reported similarly:
FOX News [12/1/2025 3:22 PM, Alex Miller, 40621K]

Axios [12/1/2025 4:42 PM, Jason Lalljee, 12972K] reports President Trump on Sunday said that he would "absolutely" denaturalize certain Americans if he could. The Trump administration has intensified its immigration crackdown following last week’s deadly attack on National Guard members, with the president placing naturalized Americans in his crosshairs as well. Trump also repeated previous anti-immigrant comments, criticizing people from Somalia who have been living in the U.S. and threatening to pause new asylum claims for "a long time." Trump’s comments following the shooting have involved renewed threats to naturalized U.S. citizens. From 1990 to 2017, the DOJ filed 305 denaturalization cases, about 11 per year, according to The Miami Herald. Irina Manta, a Hofstra University law professor who compiles denaturalization cases, found 168 denaturalization cases filed in federal courts during Trump’s first term in office and 64 during Biden’s.

New York Times [12/1/2025 6:30 AM, Tracy Mumford, Will Jarvis, Ian Stewart, Kate LoPresti, and Hamed Aleaziz, 135475K] reports [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [12/1/2025 4:08 PM, Arriana McLymore, 19051K] reports U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday calling for the U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate online retailers Shein and Temu, which ship most of their merchandise from China, for wide-scale intellectual property theft and counterfeiting. The letter, which was seen by Reuters, adds to the increased scrutiny of Shein and Temu, which both sell $20 shirts and $10 accessories, following the end of a U.S. trade exemption that helped both companies gain popularity in the region. Shein is privately held and Temu is owned by PDD Holdings. Shein did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Temu spokesperson said a comment was not immediately available outside of normal business hours. Shein has previously said that it requires its suppliers to certify that their products do not infringe on a brand’s intellectual property and that they are not counterfeit. The company has a team that ensures its sellers comply with the policy and takes swift action if they are not in compliance, a spokesperson previously said. The ending of the de minimis exemption, which allowed packages shipped directly to shoppers valued at under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free, has "forced Shein and Temu to change their business model," Cotton said in the letter.

Axios [12/1/2025 7:20 AM, Carlie Kollath Wells and Chelsea Brasted, 12972K] reports Border Patrol agents are expected to start immigration enforcement efforts Monday in New Orleans, with the goal of arresting 5,000 people in south Louisiana and Mississippi, according to reports. Communities are rushing to prepare amid uncertainty and mounting fear. Greg Bovino, the commander of Customs and Border Protection, is reportedly leading the mission after wrapping up enforcement in Charlotte and Chicago. His agency and the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment to Axios, saying they don’t discuss operational details. It’s unclear where they will focus. Social media reports showed arrests already in Algiers and Metairie, and protests began over the weekend. Friction point: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to The Times-Picayune that four people were arrested in Gretna last Wednesday. During the arrests, according to videos posted to social media, law enforcement agents called for people filming to step 25 feet away, apparently referencing a 2024 Louisiana buffer zone law. But that law was ruled unconstitutional earlier this year, the Louisiana Illuminator reports. Gretna Police Chief Jason DiMarco, whose officers were involved in the arrests, tells WWL he has informed his staff that the 25-foot law is not enforceable.

(B) NBC News Daily [12/1/2025 2:09 PM, Staff] reports Border Patrol agents are expected to begin enforcement operations in the City of New Orleans this week, according to a senior homeland security official. That operation is expected to resemble the recent immigration crackdowns in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago. Border Patrol agents are expected to go to surrounding areas in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Chicago Tribune [12/1/2025 6:25 PM, Richard Requena, 4829K] reports a federal grand jury is investigating the chaos that ensued in Evanston after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents detained three citizens after an Oct. 31 collision between the agents’ SUV and a woman driving a red sedan, documents obtained in a records request show. The City of Evanston received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice on Nov. 4, ordering its police department to release vehicle accident reports, body-worn camera video and any other recordings involving federal law enforcement officers and the public on Oct. 31. The subpoena also demanded that Evanston’s police record keeper testify before a grand jury on Nov. 19 at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. No charges have been filed. The subpoena, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn McCarthy, was addressed to the "Custodian of Records, Evanston Police Department," and ordered this person to appear in federal court. It also gave the person the option to submit the documents and video before that date, which Evanston police chose to do. Just before 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 6, Evanston Police Sgt. Tom Giese emailed FBI Special Agent Chris Ryan to say that Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart, Corporation Counsel Alexandra Ruggie and himself would be driving down that day to FBI headquarters on Roosevelt Road in Chicago to turn over the documents in person, per the documents obtained through an open records request. Grand juries operate in secrecy for the most part. In the Nov. 4 letter, McCarthy asked that the city not publicly disclose the subpoena because it could interfere with the investigation, but noted that they are not required to comply with his request.

Breitbart [12/1/2025 11:24 AM, Randy Clark, 2416K] reports a Honduran national has been charged in federal court on charges he knowingly attempted to smuggle 51 illegal aliens in a refrigerated semi-tractor trailer near the Mexican border near Freer, Texas. The suspect is now facing up to ten years in federal prison. Nicholas J. Ganjei, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, provided details of the case in a Friday press release that also highlighted some of the more than 230 criminal cases filed in Laredo, Texas, during the last week of November. According to court records, Alexis Pinot-Duarte made his appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Quiroga shortly after his arrest by Border Patrol agents in Freer, Texas, on November 22. Pinot-Duarte allegedly drove the semi-tractor trailer into the Border Patrol checkpoint and was directed to a secondary inspection area where a Border Patrol Canine alerted to the presence of humans or narcotics in the refrigerated trailer being pulled by the tractor. According to court records, Pinot-Duarte was referred to the secondary inspection area after Border Patrol agents noticed suspicious behavior, including providing unprompted information and repeatedly stating he was hauling bananas as he attempted to hand paperwork to the inspecting agents. During an inspection of the trailer carrying produce, Border Patrol agents found 51 illegal aliens hidden under boxes of produce in the 55-degree refrigerated compartment. Among the 51 illegal aliens were two juveniles. Border Patrol agents discovered the illegal aliens after spotting the silhouette of a person through a plywood compartment under the boxes, according to the United States Attorney’s office. The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit with the assistance of the U.S. Border Patrol. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas is one of the busiest border-prosecution districts in the United States, representing 43 counties in an area with more than 9 million residents.

Breitbart [12/1/2025 9:28 AM, Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby, 2416K] reports two migrant women fell while climbing the border wall into California. A trucker who was waiting in line to cross through a port of entry captured the incident on a cell phone, which has since been widely shared on social media. The case took place last Friday near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in California, where a group of migrants was trying to climb over the border wall. A trucker who recorded the incident on video can be heard screaming in surprise as the first woman can be seen falling. Seconds later, a second woman also falls off the border fence as the man yells that she appears to have broken her leg. Local news outlets in Mexico reported that U.S Border Patrol agents rushed to the scene to provide emergency medical care to the women.

The Hill [12/1/2025 6:01 PM, Max Rego, 12595K] reports the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened over 3.13 million individuals at U.S. airports on Sunday, a new single-day record. TSA announced the milestone Monday on the social platform X. The mark surpassed the previous high of over 3.09 million, set on June 22. Each of the top 10 busiest days occurred in the last two years, with the third-place mark of over 3.08 million individuals screened also occurring on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. The new record also comes less than three weeks after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to a close. The 43-day funding lapse resulted in TSA employees and air traffic controllers missing multiple paychecks, with some taking second jobs — leading to mass disruptions nationwide, including a forced reduction from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA lifted the flight restrictions on Nov. 17. Once the government reopened, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that certain TSA employees will receive $10,000 bonuses for their "exemplary" work during the stalemate. ABC News [12/1/2025 1:27 PM, Ayesha Ali, 30493K] reports that the Thanksgiving weekend record comes amid weather-related travel disruptions that resulted in over 1,000 flight cancellations and more than 13,000 delays across the country on Sunday, according to FlightAware. Over 300 flights have been cancelled in the U.S. as of early Monday afternoon and more than 3,300 delayed as a new winter storm moves across the country from Kansas to Maine through Tuesday. The storm is expected to bring between two to four inches of snow Monday afternoon from Kansas to Indiana as it makes its way to Michigan and Ohio later in the evening. Over half a foot of snow is expected from northern Pennsylvania to central Maine as the storm makes its way to the Northeast overnight and into Tuesday. For those driving back home from the holiday weekend Monday, the best time to hit the roads is after 8 p.m. to avoid traffic, according to Inrix, a provider of transportation data and insights.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [12/1/2025 10:31 AM, David Shepardson, 36480K]

Breitbart [12/1/2025 1:22 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 2416K] reports that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) broke a record in screening the highest number of individuals ever on Sunday, November 30, the federal agency revealed on Monday. "BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday, TSA screened about 3,133,924 individuals, the highest number ever in TSA’s history, bringing our Top 10 busiest days all above 3M," TSA revealed, sharing a chart showing the highest screening days ever documented. The second highest screening day was June 22, 2025, with 3,096,797 individuals being screened, followed by 3,088,836 screened December 1, 2024, 3,043,973 screened July 20, 2025, and 3,041,954 screened July 6, 2025. Notably, eight of the ten busiest screening days recorded in TSA history occurred this year alone. The two remaining were last year, in 2024. The new record came just ahead of Democrats finally caving and agreeing to reopen the government after triggering the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Many worried that they would not come to an agreement before the busy Thanksgiving holiday, but President Donald Trump signed legislation to reopen the government on Wednesday, November 12, ending the 43-day Democrat shutdown.

The AP [12/1/2025 8:39 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports air travelers in the U.S. without a REAL ID will be charged a $45 fee beginning in February, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday. The updated ID has been required since May, but passengers without it have so far been allowed to clear security with additional screening and a warning. The Department of Homeland Security says 94% of passengers are already compliant and that the new fee is intended to encourage travelers to obtain the ID. REAL ID is a federally compliant state-issued license or identification card that meets enhanced requirements mandated in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Obtaining the ID — indicated by a white star in a yellow circle in most states — means taking more documents to the motor vehicle agency than most states require for regular IDs. It was supposed to be rolled out in 2008 but the implementation had been repeatedly delayed. Beginning Feb. 1, travelers 18 and older flying domestically without a REAL ID and who don’t have another accepted form of ID on them, such as a passport, will pay the non-refundable fee to verify their identity through TSA’s alternative "Confirm.ID" system. TSA officials said that paying the fee does not guarantee verification, and travelers whose identities cannot be verified may be turned away. If approved, however, the verification covers a 10-day travel period. The fee can be paid online before arriving at the airport. Travelers can also pay online at the airport before entering the security line, but officials said the process may take up to 30 minutes. ABC News [12/1/2025 8:04 AM, Ayesha Ali, 30493K] reports that the announcement follows a proposed rule published in the Federal Register last month, but the agency increased the fee from its previously proposed amount of $18. "The fee was necessary because we needed to modernize the system. We needed to make sure that the system is safe," Steve Lorincz, TSA’s deputy executive assistant administrator for security operations, told ABC News. TSA says the fee will cover the administrative and IT costs associated with the ID verification program and ensure the expense is covered by the travelers and not the taxpayers. Individuals traveling without a REAL ID can go online at TSA.gov and follow the instructions listed to verify their identity and pay the fees once it goes into effect next year. After completing the steps, they will receive an email confirmation to show the TSA officer before they can pass through the checkpoint. The whole process should typically take between 10 to 15 minutes, but could also take as much as 30 minutes or even longer. The agency warns that even then, there is no guarantee that individuals will be cleared to cross through the security checkpoint. The Washington Examiner [12/1/2025 4:14 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 1394K] reports TSA reported that 94% of travelers already use a Real ID, which includes passports, certain driver’s licenses, Veteran Health Identification cards, enhanced tribal cards, and U.S. Department of Defense IDs, among other forms of identification. Even before TSA implemented Real ID requirements in May, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reported 81% were already using qualifying documents while traveling.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [12/1/2025 6:23 PM, Christine Chung, 135475K]
Los Angeles Times [12/1/2025 6:02 PM, Karen Garcia, 14862K]
Bloomberg [12/1/2025 12:24 PM, Allyson Versprille and Myles Miller, 18207K]
Reuters [12/1/2025 1:09 PM, David Shepardson, 36480K]
AP [12/1/2025 3:37 PM, Staff, 31753K]
CBS News [12/1/2025 5:09 PM, Megan Cerullo, 39474K]
FOX News [12/1/2025 3:42 PM, Ashley J. DiMella, 40621K]
USA Today [12/1/2025 12:44 PM, Zach Wichter and Eve Chen, 67103K]
USA Today [12/1/2025 3:39 PM, Kate Perez, 67103K]
NewsMax [12/1/2025 2:17 PM, Jim Mishler, 4109K]

DailySignal [12/1/2025 1:55 PM, Virginia Allen, 549K] reports that the Transportation Security Administration is preparing to roll out a new method for travelers to confirm their identity if they do not have a Real ID or a passport. For a $45 fee, domestic air travelers can prove their identity ahead of scheduled travel through the TSA Confirm ID process. Providing travelers who do not have a passport or a Real ID with another option to confirm their identity is part of the Transportation Security Administration’s "multilayered security approach," a senior TSA official told press during a phone call Monday. The new option maintains TSA’s standards, the official said, and ensures the agency will keep "bad actors off the airplanes" and that TSA knows the true identity of all passengers. Beginning on Feb. 1, travelers who have yet to obtain a Real ID or another acceptable form of identification can visit pay.gov or TSA.gov to use the new identification process. The Confirm ID application, according to TSA officials, will typically take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete, but could take up to 30 minutes. TSA is encouraging travelers to complete the process ahead of time, but it can be done at the airport. TSA warns this could lead to travel delays for the individual. The $45 fee is nonrefundable even if the application is denied or the traveler misses their flight. TSA officials stressed that taxpayers will not be saddled with the cost of the new program, but expenses for operating and processing the new identification travel option will be covered by the $45 fee.

CNN [12/1/2025 7:00 PM, Gabe Cohen, 18595K] reports in a dramatic about-face, the Trump administration on Monday re-suspended more than a dozen FEMA employees mere hours after CNN broke the news that they’d been reinstated to the agency following a three-month exile and a probe into alleged misconduct. The staffers were put on administrative leave in August for signing a blistering open letter to Congress – dubbed the "Katrina Declaration" – warning that the administration’s overhaul of the disaster relief agency was putting American lives at risk. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, confirmed the reversal Monday afternoon. "CNN reporting revealed that 14 FEMA employees previously placed on leave for misconduct were wrongly and without authorization reinstated by bureaucrats acting outside of their authority," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. "Once alerted, the unauthorized reinstatement was swiftly corrected by senior leadership. The 14 employees who signed the Katrina declaration have been returned to administrative leave.” "This Administration will not tolerate rogue conduct, unauthorized actions, or entrenched bureaucrats resisting change. Federal employees are expected to follow lawful direction, uphold agency standards, and serve the American people," the statement continued. Just last week, the workers received reinstatement notices from FEMA. "The misconduct investigation has been closed, and as a result you are being removed from Administrative Leave," said one email reviewed by CNN. The New York Times [12/2/2025 3:20 AM, Maxine Joselow, 135475K] reports that the Trump administration said on Monday that it was revoking the reinstatement of 14 employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who have been on administrative leave since August, when they wrote a letter to Congress warning that President Trump was gutting disaster response in the United States. The move was an abrupt reversal from last week, when FEMA sent notices to the employees stating that “you are being removed from administrative leave,” according to copies of the notices reviewed by The New York Times. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of FEMA, said in an email on Monday that rogue “bureaucrats” had sent those notices without the approval of senior department leaders. After those leaders, who are political appointees, read news articles about the reinstatements, they reversed course, she said. “Reporting revealed that 14 FEMA employees previously placed on leave for misconduct were wrongly and without authorization reinstated by bureaucrats acting outside of their authority,” Ms. McLaughlin said, adding that “this administration will not tolerate rogue conduct, unauthorized actions or entrenched bureaucrats resisting change.” David Z. Seide, a lawyer with the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group that helped the FEMA employees file complaints challenging their suspensions with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, criticized the administration for subjecting the workers to whiplash. “They’ve done the wrong thing again and this is appalling,” he said. Mr. Seide said that senior career officials at FEMA had been informed of the reinstatements. “Their concept of rogue bureaucrat is anyone who’s not a political appointee,” he said. Of the 14 employees, one was initially fired in mid-November, according to Mr. Seide. That worker successfully challenged her firing after her lawyers argued that it violated federal laws protecting whistle-blowers, he said. The letter to Congress, titled the “Katrina Declaration,” rebuked Mr. Trump’s plan to drastically scale down FEMA and shift more responsibility for disaster response to state officials. It came days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest storms to ever strike the United States. The letter accused the Trump administration of violating the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which Congress passed after the storm shook national confidence in the government’s ability to handle disasters. The landmark law required FEMA administrators to have a “demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management.”

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [12/1/2025 4:33 PM, Lauren Rosenthal and Zahra Hirji, 18207K]

Axios [12/1/2025 3:31 PM, Emily Peck, 12972K] reports the 14 FEMA employees who signed the so-called Katrina declaration went back to work for a little while Monday — but the Department of Homeland Security now says that should never have happened. A spokesperson for DHS told Axios in an email that their employees’ reinstatement was unauthorized. "CNN reporting revealed that 14 FEMA employees previously placed on leave for misconduct were wrongly and without authorization reinstated by bureaucrats acting outside of their authority," the department said in an email. "Once alerted, the unauthorized reinstatement was swiftly corrected by senior leadership. The 14 employees who signed the Katrina declaration have been returned to administrative leave."

CBS Miami [12/1/2025 10:05 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports a suspicious package found Monday morning outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Downtown Miami prompted a swift response from law enforcement, temporarily disrupting access to nearby streets, according to police. This Monday, jurors were expected to continue deliberations in a high-profile porn deepfake defamation case involving rapper Megan Thee Stallion. Miami Police issued a traffic advisory on X at 8:18 a.m. urging drivers to avoid NW 1st Avenue between 3rd and 5th Street during the investigation, but officials later confirmed the scene has since been cleared. No building evacuations were ordered, according to authorities. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [12/1/2025 9:25 AM, Emily Mae Czachor, 39474K] reports U.S. military jets on Saturday intercepted a civilian aircraft that flew through temporarily restricted airspace over Palm Beach, Florida, where President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is located, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The civilian plane entered the airspace at around 4:20 p.m. EST that afternoon, NORAD said. It dispatched F-16 fighter jets to the site, which initially sent out flares to get the pilot’s attention before escorting the plane out of the restricted zone. "The flares, which may have been visible to the public, are used with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground," said NORAD. The command is a joint U.S. and Canadian organization that handles aerospace and maritime warnings for North America. NORAD reminded general aviation pilots to check "Notices to Airmen," or NOTAMS, which are timely advisories that notify pilots of any changes to the national airspace, including temporary flight restrictions, ahead of each flight. Temporary flight restrictions prohibit aircraft from entering certain airspaces for designated periods of time. The command said military jets "will respond to aircraft violating the [Temporary Flight Restriction and take the necessary action to gain compliance, a scenario we encourage all pilots to avoid." The interception on Saturday followed "multiple general aviation aircraft violations of restricted airspace" over Palm Beach earlier in the week, according to NORAD, which said the command has responded to more than 40 "tracks of interest" that violated temporary flight restrictions in the West Palm Beach area since President Trump took office in January. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [12/1/2025 11:36 AM, Christine Sellers, 835K] reports a female flight instructor and a father-to-be are presumed dead after a small plane crashed into Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana on Nov. 24. The plane, a Cessna Skyhawk, disappeared from radar at around 6:30 p.m. Monday approximately four miles to the New Orleans Lakefront Airport’s north, the U.S. Coast Guard said, according to WWLTV. The plane had taken off at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport earlier in the evening. No distress call was made using either the approach or tower radio frequencies and it’s unclear who was controlling the aircraft at the time, Michael Carastro, owner of Apollo Flight Training, said during a Nov. 25 press conference. Reports identified the flight instructor as 30-year-old Taylor Dickey. Carastro said Dickey was "highly qualified" and her student was training for his commercial pilot’s license. A U.S. Navy spokesperson confirmed Lt. David Jahn was aboard the aircraft to the Daily Caller. The 30-year-old was the student as well as an expectant father, NOLA.com reported. The U.S. Navy confirmed Jahn’s identity with his family’s consent. Search teams performed recovery efforts an hour after the crash, discovering a seat cushion and other debris believed to be from the aircraft, the Coast Guard said. Search efforts continued for almost two days before being suspended Nov. 26. The New Orleans Police Department said Nov. 28 it had identified additional items it believed to be debris from the plane, according to WWLTV.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [12/1/2025 4:35 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K]

CyberScoop [12/1/2025 5:20 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports Google disclosed two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities Monday, which it addressed among a total of 107 defects in the company’s monthly security update for Android devices. The zero-days — CVE-2025-48633 and CVE-2025-48572 — are both high-severity defects affecting the Android framework, which attackers can exploit to access information and escalate privileges, respectively. Google said both vulnerabilities, which had not been added to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s known exploited vulnerabilities catalog as of Monday afternoon, may be under limited, targeted exploitation. Google’s public vulnerability disclosure and reporting program for Android has been uneven this year. While the company typically issues dozens of security patches each month, Google reported no vulnerabilities in July and October, just six in August and two vulnerabilities in November. Google did not respond to questions about the occasional lulls in vulnerability disclosure and hasn’t described any changes to its process that might explain the lower numbers in some months this year.

EdScoop [12/1/2025 5:22 PM, Staff, 8K] reports the Federal Trade Commission on Monday announced that it will require the educational technology firm Illuminate Education to implement a data security program and delete “unnecessary” data. The requirement is a consequence of the firm’s involvement in a data breach in which the personal data of 10 million students was compromised. According to an FTC complaint, the company failed to deploy “reasonable” cloud security measures. “Illuminate pledged to secure and protect personal information about children and failed to do so,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release. “Today’s action is an important reminder to companies that the FTC will hold them accountable if they fail to keep their privacy promises to consumers, particularly when it involves children’s medical diagnoses and other personal data.” The incident occurred in 2021, when a “hacker” used the credentials of a former employee who’d left the company more than three years prior. to gain access to the company’s data systems, according to the FTC. Information accessed included email addresses, mailing addresses, dates of birth, student records and health information.

FOX News [12/1/2025 8:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten Fox, 40621K] reports extremist groups in America are exploiting social media’s chaos and cashing in on it, as violent rhetoric spreads faster than platforms can contain it, according to a new report and security experts who warn the problem is no longer limited to foreign terrorist networks. A study from New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, titled "Digital Aftershocks: Online Mobilization and Violence in the United States," found that violent Islamist groups’ shrinking online presence shows how terrorist designations, when paired with platform enforcement, can push extremists into smaller corners of the internet, successfully limiting their recruitment and propaganda. But that same legal framework doesn’t apply to domestic extremist movements, creating what the report calls an "enforcement asymmetry" that allows far-right, far-left, nihilistic groups and antisemitic networks to thrive on mainstream platforms. Dr. Casey Babb, terrorism professor and director of the Promised Land Project with Canada’s Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told Fox News Digital that policymakers already have the authority to curb homegrown extremism.

Washington Times [12/1/2025 5:01 PM, Mike Glenn, 852K] reports U.S. troops and Syrian security personnel destroyed more than a dozen ISIS weapons sites last week in their first major joint military operation since the Nov. 10 White House visit by Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. From Nov. 24-27, the U.S. and Syrian forces launched a series of airstrikes and ground attacks on more than 15 weapons caches throughout the Rif Damashq province in southern Syria. The combined operation destroyed more than 130 mortars and rockets, machine guns, anti-tank mines, and several assault rifles. They also uncovered material used for constructing improvised explosive devices, U.S. Central Command officials said. “This successful operation ensures gains made against ISIS are lasting, and the group is not able to regenerate or export terrorist attacks to the U.S. homeland and around the world,” Adm. Brad Cooper, U.S. Central Command commander, said in a statement. “We will remain vigilant and continue to aggressively pursue ISIS remnants in Syria,” Adm. Cooper said. Following last month’s meeting between Mr. al-Sharaa and President Trump, a Syrian government official announced that Damascus signed a “political cooperation declaration” with the U.S.-led coalition to combat ISIS.

FOX News [12/1/2025 6:12 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] reports the House unanimously passed a bill on Monday barring anyone linked to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel from moving to the United States. It’s a rare moment of bipartisanship on the topic of Israel, an issue that’s otherwise exacerbated deep fractures within both parties in the House of Representatives — particularly for Democrats. The Republican-led legislation is called the "No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act of 2025" and was introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. It passed the House by voice vote on Monday afternoon, meaning it advanced with unanimous approval without lawmakers taking individual votes on the bill. "There are still some things we can come together on in this body, and one of them is opposition to Hamas and the terrorism they unleashed on civilians in Israel more than two years ago," McClintock told Fox News Digital. "What this does is place them in the same category as Nazi collaborators in the Holocaust, which are also referenced in the Immigration Nationality Act.” The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate, where a parallel effort was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. McClintock told Fox News Digital he was hopeful the Senate would take up the bill — while noting it passed the House last term as well without the upper chamber taking action.

Breitbart [12/1/2025 10:59 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports multiple bomb threats were made Monday morning against the offices of New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader said, as threats of violence targeting U.S. lawmakers increase. "This morning, I was informed by New York law enforcement of multiple bomb threats made against my offices in Rochester, Binghamton and Long Island," Schumer said in a Senate floor speech. The threats against his offices were made by email. The subject line read "MAGA," the acronym for the Make America Great Again movement, founded by President Donald Trump. According to Schumer, the threats included the unfounded claim that the 2020 election, which Trump lost to former President Joe Biden, was rigged. Local and federal law enforcement responded "immediately," Schumer said, and his offices were being swept as he spoke. The investigation is ongoing, he said. "Everyone, thank God, is safe," he said, while expressing gratitude to federal and local law enforcement. "As I have said many times, these kinds of violent threats have absolutely no place in our political system. No one — no public servant, no staffer, no constituent, no citizen — should ever be targeted for simply doing their job.” The threats were made amid heightened political tensions in the United States, where there have been several attacks on high-profile leaders in recent years. In 2022, David DePape broke into the home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and bludgeoned her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Trump, a Republican, survived two assassination attempts, including one that resulted in a bullet wound to his ear, in 2024. This year, the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was damaged in an arson attack in April; two Democratic state representatives for Minnesota were shot in June, one fatally; and in September, well-known conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated. "The bomb threats directed at Sen. Schumer’s offices are reprehensible," Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "Disagreement is part of democracy. Violence and intimidation are not. This is not a Republican or Democratic problem. It is everyone’s problem and both parties must stop it.”

CBS News [12/1/2025 3:42 PM, Renee Anderson, Aziza Shuler, and Alice Gainer, 39474K] reports Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is in court Monday for pretrial hearings about which evidence will be allowed in his upcoming trial in New York City. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to nine state charges, including murder, as well as other federal charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty. Back in September, a judge dropped two other state terrorism charges against him. The 27-year-old’s defense attorneys are arguing that certain evidence should be excluded from trial because of how they say it was obtained. Prosecutors with the Manhattan’s district attorney’s office have denied the defense’s accusations, but the judge called for a series of suppression hearings to go over the concerns. The hearings are expected to last several days, and possibly all week. His trial date has not yet been set. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [12/1/2025 3:39 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 40621K] reports a 20-year-old man from Santa Rosa Beach, a wealthy beachside community along Florida’s 30A corridor, was arrested over the weekend after authorities say he posted threatening comments about a school shooting on TikTok, prompting a rapid joint investigation involving the FBI and local deputies. The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said it was notified by the FBI on Saturday of a possible online threat referencing a planned school shooting. According to the agency, an individual operating a TikTok account had livestreamed statements that were "immediately flagged and pulled down" due to their violent nature. Deputies, working with federal agents, identified the user as Ethan Charles Ladner, 20, of Santa Rosa Beach. Investigators contacted Ladner, who confirmed the TikTok account belonged to him, they said. The sheriff’s office said Ladner admitted to posting the threatening comments and told deputies he had been attempting to provoke reactions online. Ladner was arrested and charged with making electronic threats of a mass shooting, a felony under Florida law. Booking records from the Walton County Jail show he was taken into custody Sunday and processed on the single felony count.

CBS News [12/1/2025 8:03 PM, Joe Walsh, 39474K] reports the Trump administration is looking into whether Minnesota tax money found its way to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday. Bessent wrote on X that the Treasury is "investigating allegations that under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.” The Treasury secretary shared a Nov. 19 report in the conservative publication City Journal that alleged millions of dollars from Minnesota state welfare programs had "ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab," citing law enforcement sources. Several Minnesota Republicans, including Rep. Tom Emmer, pushed federal prosecutors to look into the allegations. Walz’s office pointed CBS News to remarks last week in which the governor said he welcomes an investigation into where defrauded welfare money went and would work with investigators. Minnesota has been racked by allegations of large-scale fraud in the state’s public assistance programs. Dozens of people have been charged in a $250 million scheme involving the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future and its partners, which federal prosecutors say stole federal nutrition aid by falsely claiming to help distribute meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials have also brought fraud charges involving housing aid and autism programs in the state. Many of the defendants in these alleged fraud schemes are members of Minnesota’s large Somali community, a Somali American former investigator in the Minnesota attorney general’s office wrote in an opinion piece last year. The former investigator, Kayseh Magan, added that community members are also frequently victims of the schemes. President Trump has repeatedly lashed out against Somali immigrants in Minnesota, claiming in a post last month that the state has become a "hub of fraudulent money laundering activity," and announcing an end to temporary deportation protections for Somali people in the midwestern state. Last week, the president alleged, without evidence, that "hundreds of thousands of Somalians are ripping off our country and ripping apart that once great state.” Walz and other Minnesota Democrats have defended the state’s Somali community. The governor told reporters last month, in response to the claims about al Shabaab: "Do not paint an entire group of people with that same brush, demonizing them, putting them at risk, when there is no proof of that.” Claims that state money could be flowing to al Shabaab and other terror groups have circulated for years in Minnesota. A 2019 report by the state’s Office of the Legislative Auditor said it was "unable to substantiate" allegations that Child Care Assistance Program funding is going to terrorist groups, though the organization didn’t rule it out, saying it’s "possible" that state funds may have been sent overseas and eventually found its way to terrorists.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [12/1/2025 7:03 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2416K]
FOX News [12/1/2025 7:29 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K]

Washington Examiner [12/1/2025 9:14 PM, Mia Cathell, 1394K] reports the Council on American-Islamic Relations is claiming that President Donald Trump’s impending repeal of deportation protections for Somali immigrants in Minnesota, following reporting about state welfare funds being used to sponsor Islamic terrorism, is part of an "Israel First" conspiracy against Muslims in America. CAIR’s strategy of spinning an anti-Israel narrative about the Somali fraudsters scandal comes as the Muslim rights group faces increasing scrutiny for its alleged funding ties to foreign terrorists and as GOP leadership takes further aim at those allegedly complicit in the Minnesota welfare fraud schemes. "We believe this is an Israeli First public campaign targeting a very vulnerable community, the Somali-American community, and a very vulnerable congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, as an effort to try to win back the many young Americans who believe that America should not be getting into wars for other countries," Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR’s Minnesota chapter, alleged at a Nov. 24 press conference. Hussein then tied the so-called "coordinated campaign" to conservative podcasters Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, claiming that the "Israel First" agenda is similarly going after right-wing voices critical of America’s support for Israel. "I know for sure that this campaign mirrors the same campaign targeting Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, major influencers on the conservative side, who have gained tremendous support in the younger generation of Republicans who are refusing to accept that America will continue to take [on] the wars of Israel, destabilize the Middle East, lose American soldiers, lose their own tax dollars while committing carnage and lossage in the lives of Muslims," said Hussein.

Breitbart [12/1/2025 2:10 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 2416K] reports that organizations and leaders are raging over Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) deeming the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a terrorist organization and are pushing him to rescind the designation. Abbott took action in November to designate both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. In a statement released alongside his proclamation, Abbott stated that both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR "have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’" "The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable," the governor said before formally making his declaration. "Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations," he said. "These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas." CAIR is attempting to fight back, filing a federal lawsuit against Abbott, as Breitbart News reported: According to a press release issued by CAIR on Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was named as a party in the lawsuit along with Gov. Abbott. In the statement released by CAIR, General Counsel Lena Masri described the group’s previous legal actions against the state, saying, "CAIR Legal Defense Fund has successfully sued and defeated Texas Governor Greg Abbott the last three times he tried to violate the First Amendment by punishing critics of the Israeli government."

NBC News [12/1/2025 6:46 PM, Steve Patterson, 34509K] Video: HERE reports authorities in Stockton, California continue to search for the suspect in Saturday’s deadly mass shooting at a birthday party. The San Joaquin Sheriff says authorities have found a pair of weapons collected from the roof of the scene, but adds it’s unclear yet if the guns are related to the shooting.

USA Today [12/1/2025 2:10 PM, Christopher Cann, 67103K] reports investigators in California were working Monday, Dec. 1, to identify one or more suspects who opened fire at a child’s birthday party over the weekend, killing four people and injuring 11 others. The shooting erupted at a banquet hall in Stockton at least 100 people gathered for the celebration, according to San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow. He said the incident may have involved more than one shooter and appeared to be targeted, but he did not elaborate. Three children and one adult were killed in the shooting, the sheriff’s office said. The shooting left 11 others injured, and several of them, including multiple children, were taken to local hospitals. Withrow said at least one person remained in critical condition. Officials have not publicly identified the victims. After the shooting, the Stockton Police Department said it arrested five people, including one juvenile, on conspiracy, weapons and gang-related charges. It’s unclear if the arrests had any connection with the shooting. Since the deadly attack, which Gov. Gavin Newsom called "horrific," law enforcement officials have asked for the public’s help in identifying possible suspects, requesting cell phone video and eye witness accounts.

New York Post [12/1/2025 3:25 PM, Ronny Reyes, 42219K] reports a 14-year-old boy was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was gunned down at a child’s birthday party in a California shooting that left three others dead, including two children, according to his grieving mother. Amari Peterson was attending a party at a banquet hall in Stockton on Nov. 29 when gunfire rang out in the evening, killing him, along with an 8- and a 9 -year-old, as well as a 21-year-old victim. The 21-year-old victim was also identified as Susano Archuleta, who was there to celebrate the birthday of a friend’s daughter, his aunt told CBS Sacramento. The 8-year-old victim has only been identified as a student at a local school, with a parent who worked for the Stockton Unified School District. Along with the four dead victims, 11 others were wounded in the Saturday shooting. No suspects have been arrested as of Monday, according to police. Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi said the shooting was an act of "domestic terrorism," blaming gang violence in the city of nearly 320,000 people, which is. Police had previously described the shooting as a "targeted attack," but officials have yet to elaborate on the details.

Reported similarly:
CBS San Francisco [12/1/2025 8:23PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE

NBC News [12/1/2025 11:00 AM, Rebecca Cohen, 34509K] reports a shooter still on the loose claimed at least four lives when authorities say they opened fire on a banquet hall in Stockton, California, Saturday night during a birthday party. Eleven more people were injured in what the local sheriff called a particularly callous and brutal crime. "These animals walked in and shot children at a children’s birthday party, and none of us should stand for that," Patrick Withrow, the sheriff of San Joaquin County, California, said at a news conference Sunday. At least 100 people were gathered at the birthday party, which was at a banquet hall on the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue in Stockton, when gunfire broke out shortly before 6 p.m. The attack started inside the banquet hall and spilled out into the street. Multiple vehicles that appeared to have been hit by gunfire were towed as possible evidence. There are 15 total victims of the shooting, four of them killed, including three minors. Identities of the deceased have not yet been released, but they are aged 8, 9, 14 and 21. Eleven more people were hospitalized following the shooting. At least one was in critical condition Sunday, and the conditions for the 10 others were not available, Withrow said.

CBS News [12/1/2025 6:53 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports a man wanted by the U.S. on accusations of trafficking large amounts of fentanyl and cocaine was killed Sunday by Mexican military personnel during an anti-drug operation, officials said. Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias "Pichon," died during the operation in the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico’s security secretary, confirmed Coronel’s death on social media. "In an operation led by the Secretariat of the Navy... two operators of this criminal cell were detained and upon attacking the naval personnel, Pedro ‘N’ Pichon lost his life," Harfuch said. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Coronel, as well as his father, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering as leaders from a faction of a now-defunct cartel known as the Beltran Leyva Organization, a violent faction of the Sinaloa cartel. The father and son trafficked tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the U.S., the federal government alleged, and more than 1.65 tons of fentanyl was seized from their holdings by the Mexican government — the largest seizure of fentanyl in the world. The DOJ released multiple images of fentanyl and cocaine seizures connected to the duo. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
New York Post [12/1/2025 6:04 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 42219K]

DailySignal [12/1/2025 1:30 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 549K] reports that the Department of Education on Monday notified universities that it’s launching a new portal holding them accountable for failures to disclose foreign funding, as is mandated by law. Higher education institutions will be required to use a new foreign funding reporting portal, set to launch on Jan. 2, to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more, The Daily Signal first reported. "The Trump administration is launching a new state-of-the-art system for colleges and universities to more efficiently and securely report their foreign gifts and contracts as required under the law," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told The Daily Signal. "After years of neglect by the Biden administration, the new portal will assist our institutions of higher education in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities and enable us to protect our national security by facilitating improved compliance." The move is in line with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which requires colleges and universities to biannually disclose foreign source gifts and contracts to the Department of Education. Institutions that don’t comply could face Department of Justice enforcement, including civil actions compelling compliance and recouping the full cost of enforcement.

Reuters [12/1/2025 3:21 PM PM, Olena Harmash and Dominique Vidalon, 36480K] reports European leaders rallied to show support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday after U.S.-Ukrainian talks to revise a peace proposal that initially favoured Russia, while the U.S. envoy headed to Moscow to brief the Kremlin. Zelenskiy was warmly received by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and the two joined a call with about a dozen other European leaders including those of Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland and the European Union. Zelenskiy told a joint press conference with Macron after their meeting that Kyiv’s priorities in peace talks were to maintain sovereignty and ensure strong security guarantees, and that territorial disputes remained the most complicated. He called on Ukraine’s Western allies to ensure Russia was not rewarded for the war it started, and said he hoped to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump after Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has visited Russia this week. Macron told reporters that only Ukraine could decide on its territories in peace negotiations with Russia. Macron later discussed Ukraine in a call with Trump, the Elysee said, adding that they "discussed the conditions for a robust and lasting peace in Ukraine".

CBS News [12/1/2025 8:00 PM, Kathryn Watson, Callie Teitelbaum, 39474K] reports President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff are meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, a White House source confirmed, as Mr. Trump presses for an end to the fighting in Ukraine. The meeting comes after U.S. and Ukrainian officials held talks in Florida over the weekend. Witkoff has met with Putin before, as he has turned his focus toward Ukraine after he and Kushner helped broker the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Mr. Trump told reporters after Sunday’s talks, "I think that there’s a good chance we can make a deal.” The U.S. backed a peace proposal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine last month, although much more work remains to be done. Putin has called U.S. proposals a "set of issues put forward for discussion" rather than a draft agreement. Last week, Mr. Trump said there were "only a few remaining points of disagreement," after a U.S. official and Ukraine’s national security adviser Rustem Umerov said a common understanding on a proposal had been reached, with details still to be worked out. Mr. Trump told reporters over the weekend that the U.S.-backed plan, which was originally 28 points, has evolved, after some alleged it was heavily slanted toward Russia’s priorities, with one provision calling for Ukraine to cede territory it currently controls to Russia. "They’re making concessions," Mr. Trump told reporters of the Russians. "They’re big concessions. They stop fighting, and they don’t take any more land.” Those two things aren’t going to be seen as concessions to European leaders, who believe Russia should give back Ukrainian territory it has occupied. Ukraine has also pushed for security guarantees as part of any deal to end the war, though Russia has rejected the idea of Ukraine joining NATO, which would obligate the U.S. and other member states to come to its defense. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Florida for the talks with the Ukrainians over the weekend, called the conversations with the Ukrainians "another very productive session" but "there are a lot of moving parts.” "We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever," he said. "So never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity. It’s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity.” Asked by CBS News’ chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes whether he still has concerns about the plan being too pro-Russia, Turner, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and formerly chaired the House Intelligence Committee, said "I think we all have those concerns." But he added, "one thing that I think everybody understands is that you can’t have, you can’t be America First and pro-Russia, because Russia is a self-declared adversary of the United States." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
Reuters [12/1/2025 11:27 PM, Guy Faulconbridge and Steve Holland, 36480K]

FOX News [12/1/2025 12:06 PM, Efrat Lachter, 40621K] reports tensions between NATO and Russia sharpened Monday after the alliance’s top military commander said member states are considering whether they must become "more aggressive" in confronting Moscow’s hybrid threat campaign. Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chairman of NATO’s military committee, told the Financial Times the alliance is evaluating if it should be "proactive instead of reactive," including the possibility of "preemptive" cyber or sabotage operations. Dragone said such actions could still fall under defensive doctrine, saying, "It is further away from our normal way of thinking or behavior." Dragone pointed to the Baltic Sentry mission, launched this year to counter Russian-linked sabotage at sea, saying that "from the beginning of Baltic Sentry, nothing has happened. So this means that this deterrence is working." He added: "Being more aggressive compared with the aggressivity of our counterpart could be an option, but Dragone also admitted that NATO and its members had much more limits than our counterpart because of ethics, because of law, because of jurisdiction. It is an issue. I don’t want to say it’s a loser position, but it is a harder position than our counterpart’s." Moscow immediately pushed back. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Dragone’s comments "an extremely irresponsible step" and accused NATO of signaling it is willing "to move toward escalation," according to Russian state media.

{End of Report} RETURN TO TOP