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

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

The New York Times [12/26/2025 3:47 AM, Jazmine Ulloa and Charlotte Dulany, 330K] reports a quiet Baltimore suburb was shaken Wednesday morning after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot an undocumented driver trying to evade arrest, according to ICE and local officials, resulting in a crash that left the driver and a passenger hospitalized. Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary, said in a statement that federal officers had approached a van with two undocumented men in the unincorporated town of Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County. Officers asked the driver to turn off his engine, but the man, Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, of Portugal, refused and tried to flee, she said. “He then drove his van directly at ICE officers,” she said. The man was shot after he rammed his van into several ICE vehicles and crashed in between two buildings, injuring the passenger, Ms. McLaughlin said. Both Mr. Sousa-Martins and the passenger were in stable condition and expected to recover, Ms. McLaughlin said, adding that no officers were severely injured. Justin Mulcahy, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police, confirmed the shooting in a news conference. After ICE agents approached the van, he said, “that van attempted to run agents over.” He added that after the agents opened fire, the vehicle accelerated and eventually came to rest in a wooded area nearby. He also said no police officers were involved in the incident. Attempts to contact a representative for Mr. Sousa-Martins were unsuccessful. The encounter, first reported by The Baltimore Banner, occurred around 11 a.m. in the Parke West neighborhood. Lt. Josh Bramble, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, said his agency had dispatched two ambulances to the area and took two people to a trauma hospital. CNN [12/24/2025 7:44 PM, Taylor Romine, 606K] reports that the undocumented migrants were identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, a Portuguese man who was driving the van, and Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, a man from El Salvador who was a passenger, McLaughlin said. Officers approached the van and asked Sousa-Martins to turn off the engine, but he refused and attempted to leave the scene, she said. He started ramming ICE vehicles and "then drove his van directly at ICE officers" as "it appeared he was trying to run them over," McLaughlin said. "Fearing for their lives and public safety, (officers) defensively fired their service weapons, striking the driver," she said. Sousa-Martins then wrecked his car between two buildings, McLaughlin said, although photos shared by the agency on X show a white van crashed into a tree. The Washington Post [12/24/2025 4:44 PM, Michael Brice-Saddler, 24149K] reports police said a person outside of the vehicle was hurt. The federal agency described both injured individuals as “illegal aliens” and said the driver had been living in the United States after overstaying a visa that expired in 2009. ICE said both individuals were treated at a hospital and are expected to recover. ICE agents “were not severely injured,” officials said. Anne Arundel County police were not involved in the shooting, Mulcahy said. He said the local police department would investigate the apparent shooting while the FBI will investigate the alleged attempt to run over the federal agents. ICE will also conduct an internal investigation through its Office of Professional Responsibility. The AP [12/24/2025 5:31 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports that a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said neither person had life-threatening injuries, and both were taken to the hospital. Anne Arundel police responded to a report of a shooting involving federal agents at about 10:50 a.m. Anne Arundel police said they will investigate the shooting, while the FBI investigates the alleged assault on the agents and ICE conducts an internal investigation.

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FOX News [12/25/2025 9:23 AM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE
USA Today [12/24/2025 10:49 PM, N’dea Yancey-Bragg, 67103K]
Telemundo [12/24/2025 4:18 PM, Staff, 2218K]
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The New York Times [12/25/2025 7:45 PM, Helene Cooper, Saikou Jammeh and Eric Schmitt, 135475K] reports the United States launched a number of strikes against the Islamic State in northwestern Nigeria, President Trump announced on Thursday, the latest American military campaign against a nonstate adversary — in this case, Islamic jihadis who the president asserts have been slaughtering Christians. Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that “the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” The strike involved more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles fired off a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea, hitting insurgents in two ISIS camps in northwest Nigeria’s Sokoto State, according to a U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The operation was done in coordination with the Nigerian military, the official said. In a statement, U.S. Africa Command said its initial assessment concluded that “multiple” ISIS terrorists were killed in the strike. “U.S. Africa Command is working with our Nigerian and regional partners to increase counter terrorism cooperation efforts related to ongoing violence and threats against innocent lives,” Gen. Dagvin Anderson, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, said in a statement. “Our goal is to protect Americans and disrupt violent extremist organizations wherever they are.” The attack occurred in a region along the border with Niger, where a branch of ISIS called the Islamic State-Sahel has been attacking both government forces and civilians, according to Caleb Weiss, a counterterrorism analyst and editor with FDD’s Long War Journal. The U.S. operation inside Africa’s most populous nation followed months of growing allegations by Christian evangelical groups and senior Republicans that Christians were being targeted in widespread violence. An insurgency there has gone on for more than a decade, killing thousands of Christians and Muslims across sectarian lines. The Nigerian authorities have rejected allegations of a Christian genocide, noting that the web of violent armed groups, with different motives and spread across the country, kills as many Muslims as Christians. However, Nigerian officials have stepped up engagement with the U.S. in recent weeks, after Mr. Trump ordered the Defense Department in November to prepare to intervene militarily in Nigeria to protect Christians. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on social media, “The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end.” Bloomberg [12/26/2025 12:44 AM, Hadriana Lowenkron, 18207K] reports Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed the “precision hits on terrorist targets” and said it remains engaged with international partners including the US to address the “persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism.” Oil was steady, and market reaction was muted in thin holiday trading after the attack. Nigeria is a member of OPEC. Trump in November threatened possible US military action against Islamist militants in Nigeria if the country’s government didn’t halt the groups’ “killing of Christians.” At the time, Nigerian dollar bonds fell across the maturity curve, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump said in a social media post. “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.” US Africa Command said in a statement that the attack came “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and killed “multiple ISIS terrorists.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday threatened there would be “more to come” if the group does not stop going after “innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere).” Trump has already designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over so-called fears about the safety of Christians in the country. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, has also pushed Congress to designate Nigeria a violator of religious freedom. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rejected Trump’s characterization of the country as religiously intolerant. “Terrorist violence in any form whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in the statement posted on X on Friday. Tinubu has been under pressure from a rising Islamist presence in northeastern Nigeria, and the region has seen attacks on dozens of fortified army bases. Suspected Boko Haram insurgents detonated an explosive device late Wednesday at a mosque in Maiduguri, killing at least five people, according to police. Nigeria’s roughly 230 million people are split between Christians and Muslims, and attacks have targeted both communities. CNN [12/26/2025 3:30 AM, Kevin Liptak, 606K] reports Daniel Bwala, special adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told CNN: "The US and Nigeria are on the same page in the fight against terrorism.” "I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was," Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday evening. "The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.” "Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues," concluded the president, who is spending the Christmas holiday at his estate in Palm Beach.

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FOX News [12/24/2025 11:19 AM, Charles Creitz, 40621K] reports that more than 17,500 illegal immigrants in 2025 have been arrested for crimes requiring mandatory detention under the Laken Riley Act — the first law President Donald Trump signed in his second term. The act is named for Laken Riley, a Georgia college student murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who had been previously arrested and released before her death. The act mandates that illegal immigrants arrested — but not necessarily yet convicted — for several specific crimes must be held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and processing. Qualifying crimes include theft-related offenses, DUI or DWI, and violent crimes including murder, rape, sexual abuse, assault on police and firearms infractions. Secretary Kristi Noem also announced Monday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had concluded "Operation Angel’s Honor," a two-week nationwide endeavor launched in Riley’s honor to strictly target Laken Riley Act offenders. That operation alone netted an average of dozens of criminal illegal immigrants per day. "In honor of Laken Riley, ICE launched Operation Angel’s Honor — in the last 2 weeks alone arresting more than 1,000 criminal illegal aliens under the authority of the Laken Riley Act," Noem told Fox News Digital. Noem credited Trump for empowering her agency to go after millions of criminal illegal immigrants residing in the U.S., including those "unleashed" into the interior by previous administrations. "We can never bring Laken back, but we can do everything in our power to bring these heinous criminals to justice," Noem said.

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Washington Examiner [12/25/2025 4:05 PM, Samantha-Jo Roth, 1394K] reports the Pacific island nation of Palau has reached an agreement with the Trump administration under which it would accept as many as 75 migrants from other countries, in return for $7.5 million in U.S. assistance. Under the arrangement, the individuals, none of whom face criminal charges, would be permitted to reside and seek employment in Palau, a move officials say could help fill gaps in the country’s workforce, according to a statement issued by President Surangel Whipps Jr.’s office. Whipps said Palau would evaluate arrivals under the agreement individually, emphasizing that the country would "have to agree on a case-by-case basis as to individuals who will be arriving in Palau under the arrangement." He added that each person would be vetted through Palau’s national working group. The U.S. Embassy in Koror, the capital of Palau, echoed that position in a separate statement confirming the terms of the deal: "The United States deeply appreciates Palau’s cooperation in enforcing U.S. immigration laws, which remains a top priority for the Trump Administration. In this regard, the United States granted $7.5 million to address the needs of relevant Palau public services.". The Trump administration has sharply expanded the use of deportations to nations where migrants lack personal ties, according to a new review of publicly available immigration court records. In recent weeks, attorneys representing the Department of Homeland Security submitted nearly 5,000 requests to terminate pending asylum cases, effectively directing applicants to pursue refuge outside the U.S., a dramatic jump compared with filings earlier this year. At the same time, U.S. officials have been negotiating so-called "safe third country" arrangements with a limited number of governments, including Honduras and Uganda. Senior officials in Palau, along with the Council of Chiefs, a 16-member body of traditional leaders that advises Whipps, had previously pushed back against accepting relocated migrants. Their objections centered on the absence of a formal asylum framework, the lack of a resettlement system, and internal pressures that limit the country’s capacity to take on additional responsibilities. After months of hesitation, the deal moved forward on Wednesday when Palau Minister of State Gustav Aitaro and U.S. Ambassador to Palau Joel Ehrendreich signed the agreement at a ceremony. Officials on both sides described it as another step in a long-standing partnership between the countries. The State Department said Landau and Whipps spoke Tuesday about the new arrangement, describing the exchange as one that "highlighted U.S. commitments to partner with Palau on strengthening the country’s health care infrastructure, increasing Palau’s capacity to combat transnational crime and drug trafficking, and bolstering Palau’s civil service pension system.".

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Breitbart [12/25/2025 10:06 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports up to 350 Louisiana National Guard members began deploying this week in New Orleans and will stay through February to help maintain peace and safety during New Year’s and special events. The deployment also comes amid efforts to locate and deport those who illegally are in the United States. "These National Guard troops will support federal law enforcement partners, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, as they enforce federal law and counter high rates of violent crime in New Orleans and other metropolitan areas in Louisiana," Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry maintains his command and control of the state’s National Guard, whose mission is to enhance safety. He said the troops will be fully deployed ahead of New Year’s Eve and will stay in New Orleans at least through February. The deployment was announced after the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s effort to deploy the Illinois National Guard in Chicago over the protests of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. The troops will be tasked with ensuring safety in the French Quarter during New Year’s celebrations and during the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras. "We know how to make cities safe, and the National Guard complements cities that are experiencing high crime," Landry said during an appearance on The Will Cain Show. He cited President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., as an example of how the troops can make cities safer for residents and visitors. "When he wanted to send the National Guard into Washington, D.C., Louisiana was one of the first to raise its hand and say our troops will go there," Landry said. "And the city is so much better.”

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FOX News [12/24/2025 3:47 PM, Louis Casiano, 40621K]

CNN [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, John Fritze, 18595K] reports the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday blocking President Donald Trump from sending the National Guard into American cities is likely to raise a politically fraught debate about the president’s willingness to invoke a 19th-century law to deploy the regular military on American soil instead. Throughout his campaign and in the early months of his second term, Trump and his aides repeatedly teased the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the military for domestic purposes — a move that, while perhaps politically unpopular, would give him broad discretion to skirt the general prohibition on using the military domestically. In its order Tuesday, the Supreme Court focused on another federal law Trump tried to use to federalize hundreds of members of the Illinois National Guard. That law allows a president to call up the guard if he is unable to execute the nation’s laws with the "regular forces." Over dissent from three conservative justices, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had not met that law’s requirements. But the decision on the court’s emergency docket did not deal directly with other authorities Trump could attempt to use. "As I read it, the court’s opinion does not address the president’s authority under the Insurrection Act," Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative who sided with the majority, wrote in a footnote. "One apparent ramification of the court’s opinion is that it could cause the president to use the US military more than the National Guard to protect federal personnel and property in the United States.". That is a possibility that has lurked in the case at the Supreme Court for months as the administration has attempted to send National Guard troops into Democratic-run cities to help protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and facilities. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement after the court’s order Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that nothing in the Supreme Court’s decision detracts from the administration’s "core agenda" of ensuring that "rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property."

FOX News [12/24/2025 2:36 PM, Ashley Oliver, 40621K] reports that Justice Samuel Alito criticized the Supreme Court’s majority in a sharp dissent Tuesday after the high court decided 6–3 to temporarily block President Donald Trump from deploying the National Guard in Chicago. Alito said the high court’s majority made "unwise" and "imprudent" determinations to reach its decision. The majority also did not give enough deference to Trump after the president found that agitators were hindering immigration officers and other federal personnel from doing their jobs in Chicago and that the National Guard needed to step in to help. "Whatever one may think about the current administration’s enforcement of the immigration laws or the way ICE has conducted its operations, the protection of federal officers from potentially lethal attacks should not be thwarted," Alito wrote. The lawsuit stemmed from Trump invoking a rarely used federal law to federalize about 300 members of the National Guard and deploy them to protect federal personnel and buildings. The Trump administration argued that protesters were obstructing, assaulting and threatening ICE officers, and the National Guard was needed because Illinois’ resistant Democratic leaders and local law enforcement were not adequately addressing the matter, the administration said.

FOX Business [12/24/2025 8:04 AM, Staff, 10085K] reports Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss a Trump admin lawsuit against Gov. JB Pritzker’s restriction of immigration arrests and Texas’ efforts to monitor the border. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Wire [12/24/2025 11:00 PM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports Santa’s naughty list this year includes several sanctuary cities and states that allowed illegal immigrant criminals to roam their streets, many of whom went on to commit more egregious crimes. Sanctuary cities and states adopt policies that prevent local police from notifying federal immigration authorities about the looming release of illegal immigrants from local jails. They also bar federal authorities from entering jails to interview illegal immigrant suspects. The Trump administration has sued several sanctuary jurisdictions, including Minnesota, New York City, Boston, Illinois, and Los Angeles, over the policies. Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, local police in New York City released roughly 7,000 illegal immigrants from local jails without honoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainer requests to have them placed into federal custody, according to the Department of Homeland Security. They account for nine homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses, and 207 sexual predatory offenses. In October, local police were reportedly told to stand down from assisting Border Patrol agents, who "were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars" in Broadview, Illinois, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on X at the time. Agents determined that one of the alleged attackers was "armed with a semi-automatic weapon," forcing them to "fire defensive shots at an unarmed U.S. citizen," according to McLaughlin.

FOX News [12/24/2025 9:45 AM, Ashley J. DiMella, 40621K] reports that a viral post featuring a notice from a local McDonald’s restaurant is drawing new attention to concerns about rising crime in Uptown Minneapolis. Attached to a door, the sign reads: "Attention guests, effective Friday, December 5th, our dining room doors will be locked and attended [to] during our normal business hours of 5am-10pm to ensure a safe environment.". "We will deny access to any individual who we consider a risk to maintaining a safe environment for our guests," it continued. McDonald’s confirmed the notice to Fox News Digital. Mike Darula, local owner and operator of the franchise, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the venue has "proudly been part of the Uptown community for more than 30 years." "At our Uptown restaurant, we’ve made some updates to our security measures to help ensure a safe and welcoming environment for both our crew and customers," he added. The restaurant has faced ongoing issues with trespassing. It previously tried community-based solutions before ultimately deciding to lock its dining room doors. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been cracking down on crime in the Twin Cities metropolitan area as part of Operation Metro Surge. "ICE law enforcement are risking their lives to protect Minnesotans… No matter when and where, ICE will find, arrest and deport ALL criminal illegal aliens," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement in early December.

FOX News [12/25/2025 9:59 AM, Rachel Wolf Fox, 40621K] reports President Donald Trump used his Christmas Eve Truth Social post to tout his administration’s accomplishments and to bash those on the left whom he accused of trying to "destroy" the U.S. "Merry Christmas to all, including the radical left scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our country, but are failing badly," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We no longer have open borders, men in women’s sports, transgender for everyone, or weak law enforcement. What we do have is a record stock market and 401K’s, lowest crime numbers in decades, no inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected.". "Tariffs have given us trillions of dollars in growth and prosperity, and the strongest national security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!!," the president added. In the first year of Trump’s second term, the administration launched a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration, introduced controversial tariffs, worked to cut DEI from government programs and took steps toward fulfilling other campaign promises. The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it had arrested 17,500 criminal illegal immigrants since Trump signed the Laken Riley Act in January 2025. In a separate DHS announcement, the department unveiled the "2025 Worst of the Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens," saying that 70% of all ICE arrests are of illegal immigrants "convicted or charged with a crime in the U.S.". DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on the results of the Laken Riley Act that "President Trump has empowered us to arrest and remove the millions of violent criminal illegal aliens unleashed on the United States by the previous administration. Now, these criminals will face justice and be removed from our country.". Trump’s Christmas Truth Social post on his administration’s accomplishments was also backed up by recent economic data. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its initial estimate of the third-quarter GDP, which showed the economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.3% in the three-month period including July, August and September. "Compared to the second quarter, the acceleration in real GDP in the third quarter reflected a smaller decrease in investment, an acceleration in consumer spending, and upturns in exports and government spending. Imports decreased less in the third quarter," the BEA said.

The Hill [12/25/2025 6:06 AM, Rebecca Beitsch and Brett Samuels, 12595K] repots as President Trump’s first year back in office comes to a close, two officials in particular are under intense scrutiny, raising questions about how long they will remain in their jobs: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel. Trump has publicly expressed support for both officials, but Noem and Patel have each been the subject of speculation about whether they may step down or be pushed out in the new year. Patel has been dogged by criticism over his use of government resources; his handling of high profile investigations, like the manhunt for the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk; and his use of social media. Noem, meanwhile, has been at the forefront of Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts, but she has clashed with others in the administration, such as border czar Tom Homan, according to sources familiar with the matter. "Secretary Noem, FBI Director Patel, and the President’s entire law enforcement team have done an outstanding job implementing the President’s agenda and Making America Safe Again," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "In less than a year, the border has been secured, criminal illegal aliens are being deported, and all sorts of dangerous criminals are being removed from the streets," she added. "The President’s team will continue delivering in 2026.". Noem has been the public face of the administration’s aggressive efforts to rapidly deport those in the country illegally and to ramp up immigration enforcement, delivering on a cornerstone of Trump’s agenda and one of his key campaign pledges. While Noem has been at the forefront of the implementation and messaging around the deportation campaign, sources said deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and Homan have been the driving forces behind the policies being put in place. That has led to tensions at times, particularly between Noem and Homan. Sources close to the White House said the two officials do not get along particularly well, though it was unclear whether it would lead to the dismissal of either one.

New York Post [12/24/2025 11:53 AM, Josh Christenson, 42219K] reports that accused DC National Guard shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal could face the death penalty after he was hit with federal first-degree murder charges on Tuesday. Prosecutors also alleged that the Afghan refugee tried to buy even more guns before his attack on American troops on Nov. 26. The criminal complaint, filed in DC US District Court, brought the gun-related, assault and murder counts against the 29-year-old father of five for the shooting of West Virginia National Guard soldiers Sarah Beckstrom, who later died, and Andrew Wolfe, who is still recovering from his wounds. Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said the case is transferred from Superior Court to the District Court in an escalation of possible consequences for the alleged shooter. The action "ensures that we can undertake the serious, deliberate, and weighty analysis required to determine if the death penalty is appropriate here," Pirro said. "Sarah Beckstrom was just 20 years old when she was killed and her parents are now forced to endure the holiday season without their daughter. Andrew Wolfe, by the grace of God, survived but has a long road ahead in his recovery.". The FBI revealed that Lakanwal purchased a stolen .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver for the shooting about two weeks before he drove across the country from his home in Bellingham, Wash. US Customs and Border Protection was later able to track his vehicle passing through Washington state, Idaho and Illinois before arriving three days before the shooting in DC, the affidavit also alleged. Lakanwal’s next appearance in DC Superior Court is scheduled for Jan. 2.

AP [12/24/2025 11:35 AM, Joey Cappelletti, 31753K] reports a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memorandum to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington attorney Mark Zaid, ruling that the order — which also targeted 14 other individuals — could not be applied to him. The decision marked the administration’s second legal setback on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court declined to allow Trump to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area, capping a first year in office in which President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose a sweeping agenda and pursue retribution against political adversaries have been repeatedly slowed by the courts. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington granted Zaid’s request for a preliminary injunction, after he sued the Trump administration in May over the revocation of his security clearance. Zaid’s request called it an act of "improper political retribution" that jeopardized his ability to continue representing clients in sensitive national security cases. The March presidential memorandum singled out Zaid and 14 other individuals who the White House asserted were unsuitable to retain their clearances because it was "no longer in the national interest." The list included targets of Trump’s fury from both the political and legal spheres, including former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former President Joe Biden and members of his family. The action was part of a much broader retribution campaign that Trump has waged since returning to the White House, including directing specific Justice Department investigations against perceived adversaries and issuing sweeping executive orders targeting law firms over legal work he does not like.

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Wall Street Journal [12/25/2025 2:54 PM, Costas Paris and Shelby Holliday, 646K] reports a Coast Guard vessel was slicing through the Atlantic Ocean, with its target in sight just a half mile away, when a realization set in. The crew was going to need backup, U.S. officials said. The Bella 1, an oil tanker far larger than any Coast Guard ship, has been fleeing the U.S. blockade of sanctioned vessels heading in and out of Venezuela. Sanctioned for allegedly shipping oil to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, the Bella 1 made an unusual move last weekend, executing a U-turn, refusing to be boarded and racing away from Venezuela at full speed. Now, more than five days into the pursuit, the Coast Guard and U.S. military are assembling more manpower and weapons to forcibly board the vessel, the U.S. officials said. Among the units they are moving to the area is a Maritime Special Response Team, an elite force trained to board hostile ships, the officials said. The hunt for the Bella 1 marks potentially the most dangerous moment yet for the U.S. in its nascent quarantine of the Venezuelan oil industry, part of a campaign to squeeze the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, whom the Trump administration accuses of flooding the U.S. with drugs. Maduro denies the charges and accuses Washington of naval piracy and trying to steal his country’s natural resources. The U.S. military has built up considerable firepower in the Caribbean for the first time in decades, conducting deadly strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs and now targeting oil tankers. The U.S. has seized two tankers carrying Venezuelan oil since Dec. 10, aiming at Maduro’s most important source of revenue. Neither crew resisted.

Reuters [12/24/2025 11:20 AM, Idrees Ali, Jonathan Saul, Trevor Hunnicutt, 36480K] reports that the U.S. Coast Guard is waiting for additional forces to arrive before potentially attempting to board and seize a Venezuela-linked oil tanker it has been pursuing since Sunday, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The ship, which maritime groups have identified as the Bella 1, has refused to be boarded by the Coast Guard. That means that the task will likely fall to one of just two teams of specialists - known as Maritime Security Response Teams - who can board vessels under these circumstances, including by rappelling from helicopters. The days-long pursuit highlights the mismatch between the Trump administration’s desire to seize sanctioned oil tankers near Venezuela and the limited resources of the agency that is mainly carrying out operations, the Coast Guard. Unlike the U.S. Navy, the Coast Guard can carry out law enforcement actions, including boarding and seizing vessels that are under U.S. sanctions. Trump earlier this month ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington’s latest move to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The Coast Guard has in recent weeks seized two oil tankers near Venezuela. After the first seizure, on Dec. 10, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a 45-second video showing two helicopters approaching a vessel and armed individuals in camouflage rappelling onto it. A Saturday social media post by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, showed what appeared to be Coast Guard officers aboard the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier getting ready to depart and seize the Centuries tanker, the second of the ships boarded by the U.S. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Coast Guard officials on the Ford were from a Maritime Security Response Team and at the time too far from Bella 1 to carry out a boarding operation. "There are limited teams who are trained for these types of boardings," said Corey Ranslem, chief executive of maritime security group Dryad Global and previously with the U.S. Coast Guard.

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New York Post [12/24/2025 6:10 PM, Caitlin Doornbos and Caitlin McCormack, 42219K]
NewsNation [12/24/2025 10:55 AM, Idrees Ali, Jonathan Saul, Trevor Hunnicutt, 8017K]
Daily Caller [12/24/2025 12:00 PM, Wallace White, 835K]
NewsMax [12/24/2025 1:37 PM, Staff, 4109K]

NewsMax [12/25/2025 5:05 PM, Jim Mishler, 4109K] reports U.S. military forces are tracking an oil tanker linked to Iran and Venezuela after the vessel refused orders to stop and submit to boarding. The tanker, known as the Bella 1, was spotted in the Atlantic Ocean after making a series of abrupt course changes while traveling near Venezuela. The Wall Street Journal reported that American military commanders said the ship is significantly larger than any Coast Guard cutter and initially declined to comply when approached, prompting the Pentagon to assemble additional personnel and equipment. More than five days into the operation, preparations are underway for possible forced boarding, including the deployment of a Maritime Special Response Team, a Coast Guard unit trained to board noncompliant or hostile vessels. The pursuit is part of the U.S. effort to enforce sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry and disrupt revenue streams tied to President Nicolas Maduro. The Trump administration has accused Maduro’s government of narcotics trafficking and using oil exports to finance illicit activity. The Bella 1 is sanctioned for allegedly transporting Iranian oil on behalf of groups designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah and the Houthis. The Treasury Department has also linked the vessel to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

New York Times [12/24/2025 12:32 PM, Peter Eavis, 153395K] reports President Trump’s recent actions against tankers near Venezuela, the dramatic seizure of a vessel called Skipper and the detention of another called Centuries, appear to bend international maritime laws and customs, legal experts say. Countries have authority to seize vessels in their territorial waters. But policing international waters can be difficult, which is why large numbers of vessels transport illicit or dubious cargo often with impunity. The United Nations has established rules for shipping under its Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the United States has adopted many of the rules in practice, it has not ratified the convention. The Trump administration’s actions differ in crucial ways from the approach that other administrations, including Mr. Trump’s first one, took toward ships engaged in trade the government wanted to restrict. By moving so forcefully, legal experts say, the president may embolden other countries to use similar tactics when it suits them. If such seizures and detentions become more common, that could hurt the shipping industry and international trade. Previously, the United States typically put pressure on foreign shipping companies to direct their vessels to a place where they would give up oil and other products targeted by the U.S. government. In 2020, the Trump administration used this approach to remove Iranian fuel from four Greek-owned tankers destined for Venezuela. That method avoided the potentially provocative step of using the U.S. military to take over ships in international waters, which are supposed to be neutral. “That’s what I think is novel about this,” said Francisco Rodríguez, a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning research organization.

Reuters [12/25/2025 7:57 AM, Dmitry Antonov, 36480K] reports Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that the United States was reviving piracy and banditry in the Caribbean Sea by blockading Venezuela and said it hoped that U.S. President Donald Trump’s pragmatism would help avoid a disaster. "Today we are witnessing complete lawlessness in the Caribbean Sea, where long-forgotten theft of other people’s property, namely piracy, and banditry, are being revived," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of the situation. "We consistently advocate for a de-escalation," Zakharova said. "We hope that the pragmatism and rationality of US President Trump will allow solutions to be found that are mutually acceptable to the parties within the framework of international legal norms.". "We confirm our support for the efforts of the government of Nicolas Maduro aimed at protecting sovereignty and national interests, and maintaining the stable and secure development of his country," she said.

CNN [12/24/2025 5:11 AM, Simone McCarthy, 606K] reports China has ample reason to oppose the ramp-up of American military pressure on Venezuela and the recent US interceptions of tankers tied to its oil. The US manoeuvres, part of President Donald Trump’s "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned vessels around Venezuela, strike at the economic heart of one of Beijing’s closest Latin American partners – and target an industry that has long benefited China, which in recent months took in roughly 80% of Venezuela’s oil exports, analysts say. Beijing has slammed those interceptions as "seriously violating international law" and assured Caracas of its opposition to "all forms of unilateralism and bullying" in a call between the countries’ top diplomats last week. But it’s also clear that Beijing is primed to use the US aggression to its advantage: playing it as another reason on its list of why the US should not be the world’s leading superpower, and a window into how Trump is rolling out his revival of the Monroe Doctrine.

Washington Post [12/25/2025 5:00 AM, Ana Vanessa Herrero and Matthew Hay Brown, 24149K] reports as U.S. forces mass off Venezuela, launch attacks on alleged drug traffickers and seize oil tankers, authorities here are mobilizing the army, calling on allies for support and appealing to the United Nations. They’re also taking advantage of U.S. threats in order to crack down on internal dissent, local and international monitors say. The government of President Nicolás Maduro "has used U.S. pressure as an excuse to deploy the military, label critics as ‘traitors’ and arrest dozens of dissidents," said Martina Rapido Ragozzino, North Andes researcher for Human Rights Watch. The New York-based rights group said in September it had documented 19 cases in which prisoners were held incommunicado. Opposition politician Alfredo Díaz, a former governor of Nueva Esparta state, died this month in El Helicoide, the Caracas headquarters of the intelligence agency SEBIN, a year after he was arrested while trying to flee the country. His family says he was denied needed medical care. And the National Assembly on Tuesday passed legislation imposing up to 20 years in prison for anyone who "promotes, instigates, requests, invokes, favors, facilitates, supports, finances or participates" in the U.S. campaign to seize ships carrying Venezuelan oil, sponsor Giuseppe Alessandrello said. "The crackdown on civic space has intensified, suffocating people’s freedoms," Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the U.N. Human Rights Council this month. "Journalists, human rights defenders, opposition figures, and even humanitarian workers continue to face threats, harassment, and the risk of arbitrary detention — simply for doing their jobs.". The developments are unsurprising, Tulane University sociologist David Smilde said. "When you have this very real threat of military operation, of course it’s going to be used as an excuse.". The crackdown has intensified a campaign of repression launched by Maduro last year. The authoritarian socialist claimed victory in Venezuela’s July 2024 presidential election despite ballot audits by The Washington Post and other independent observers that showed he lost the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo González by a 2-1 margin. When Venezuelans took to the streets in protest, authorities arrested thousands. The independent prison monitor Foro Penal said this month that the government was holding 905 political prisoners. The United States has considered Maduro illegitimate going back to Venezuela’s previous presidential election, a 2018 vote that was also widely seen as fraudulent. The Trump administration has accused his government of trafficking drugs to the United States. Maduro and several senior Venezuelan officials have been indicted in U.S. federal court on charges of narco-terrorism; the Justice and State departments this year increased the reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction to $50 million.

New York Times [12/24/2025 9:43 AM, John Ismay and Eric Schmitt, 153395K] reports the men and women of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford are spending Christmas Eve at sea instead of at home, as the sixth month of their deployment comes to a close on Wednesday. What began for the roughly 4,500 sailors of the Ford as a European and Mediterranean cruise changed drastically on Oct. 24, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered them to leave Split, Croatia, and steam directly for the Caribbean to add weight to President Trump’s pressure campaign on President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. As their seventh month at sea begins, the sailors will get a rare treat of prime rib and lobster tails on Christmas Day. But neither the Navy nor the Pentagon has said when this deployment will end, nor whether there is another carrier being readied to take their place. At stake is whether Mr. Hegseth further extends the deployment to keep his military options open. If so, that decision will probably increase costs down the road by delaying crucial maintenance for the Ford and putting strain on the crew’s morale. Although the Navy regularly kept carriers deployed for nine months at a time or longer during the post-9/11 wars, peacetime deployments typically do not go past six. Mr. Trump maintains that the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels in the region and cites that as justification for the substantial military deployment in the Caribbean. When asked about the service’s plans for the Ford, how long the ship would be extended and when the crew could expect to go home, a Navy spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Kara Handley, said, “We don’t speak to future naval operations.

The Hill [12/24/2025 9:28 AM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday gave a lengthy sardonic reply to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she criticized the conditions in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, the notorious prison known as CECOT. The president was replying to Clinton’s post about CECOT on the social platform X, which included a “Frontline” episode on the prison called “Surviving CECOT.” “Curious to learn more about CECOT?” Clinton wrote in her post on Monday. The documentary focuses on three prisoners who “share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison,” the former secretary wrote. “Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton, If you are convinced that torture is taking place at CECOT, El Salvador is ready to cooperate fully,” Bukele replied in a post on X. “We are willing to release our entire prison population (including all gang leaders and all those described as ‘political prisoners’) to any country willing to receive them. The only condition is straightforward: it must be everyone.” Bukele suggested the release of all of CECOT’s prisoners would “greatly assist journalists and your favorite” nongovernmental organizations and make it “far easier to find additional voices critical of the Salvadoran government (or willing to confirm whatever conclusions are already expected).”

New York Post [12/25/2025 10:22 AM, Ariel Zilber and Alexandra Steigrad, 42219K] reports CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss defended her recent decision to spike a "60 Minutes" segment about a notorious Salvadoran prison — telling staffers in a Christmas Eve memo the move was part of her efforts to restore trust in the press. The Post obtained a copy of the holiday email, which was co-signed by CBS News president Tom Cibrowski and two of Weiss’s newly installed deputies — former Wall Street Journal deputy editor Charles Forelle and former New York Times opinion editor Adam Rubenstein. In the missive, Weiss told staff that ensuring stories are "comprehensive and fair" may feel "radical" in today’s media environment, but is essential to the network’s mission. "Right now, the majority of Americans say they do not trust the press. It isn’t because they’re crazy," Weiss wrote in the email sent Wednesday. Weiss argued the segment lacked sufficient context, failed to fully present the Trump administration’s legal rationale for the deportations and did not adequately pursue on-camera responses from senior officials. Weiss also raised concerns about how the piece characterized the criminal histories of the deportees, questioned its handling of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s March visit to the prison and urged producers to explain the legal debate surrounding the administration’s actions rather than reducing it to shorthand references. The controversy intensified further this week when the unaired segment appeared to stream on Canada’s Global TV app, allowing clips of the report to circulate online despite never airing in the US. CBS later said the Canadian release was the result of a distribution error and that efforts were underway to remove unauthorized copies.

FOX News [12/24/2025 4:19 PM, David Rutz, 40621K] reports CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss sent a memo to staffers Wednesday continuing to defend her decision to delay a CECOT "60 Minutes" segment that’s created a media firestorm, saying it was part of a broader mission to win back audience trust and suggesting the story wasn’t yet "comprehensive and fair." Weiss, who has irked some insiders by noting a lack of faith from the public in CBS and other mainstream media institutions, told staffers in a message obtained by Fox News Digital the majority of Americans who say they don’t trust the press aren’t "crazy." She wrote "no amount of outrage," whether from outside activists or the White House, would derail the mission.

FOX News [12/24/2025 10:04 AM, Taylor Penley, 40621K] reports that White House deputy chief of staff for Policy Stephen Miller called for everyone involved in a shelved "60 Minutes" segment on Trump deportations to an El Salvador prison to be fired on Tuesday, calling the story a "hatchet job" that was trying to gin up sympathy for illegal immigrant gang members. "Every one of those producers at ‘60 Minutes’ engaged in this revolt, fire them. Clean house," Miller told "Jesse Watters Primetime" guest host Charlie Hurt. "They’re trying to tell sob stories about Tren de Aragua gang members who drill holes in people’s hands, who rape and murder little girls. This is the gang that kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered Jocelyn Nungaray. Remember her? That precious 12-year-old girl from Texas who was taken from her mom and went through horrors none of us can even imagine. And you have these ‘60 Minutes’ producers… trying to make us feel sympathetic for these monsters?" Fox News Digital reached out to CBS regarding Miller’s remarks but did not receive an immediate response. Hours before "Inside CECOT" was set to air on Sunday, "60 Minutes" released a statement saying the segment was being delayed because it needed "additional reporting." Axios reported that the White House, Department of Homeland Security and State Department all provided statements to CBS, but none of them were included in the story. The White House statement called on "60 Minutes" to do more reporting on Angel Parents, whose children have been murdered by illegal immigrants. CBS did not return Fox News Digital’s prior requests for comment on the matter. Alfonsi also noted that the Department of Homeland Security declined an interview request and referred CECOT questions to the El Salvadoran government, which didn’t respond to its request. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [12/24/2025 5:26 PM, Jack Jenkins, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports religious leaders have rallied against the Trump administration’s detention and deportation of immigrants. Clergy are filing lawsuits, accompanying migrants to court hearings and leading protests.

Washington Post [12/24/2025 1:10 PM, Staff, 24149K] reports federal judges have been wrestling with whether President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployments in blue cities including Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago are necessary. The Supreme Court on Tuesday found a way to sidestep that question, dissolving guard deployments on a technicality. Now the White House has two options: Reconsider its strategy of militarizing law enforcement — or escalate. Federal law allows the president to deploy National Guard troops if he “is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” Trump said episodes of violent resistance to his administration’s deportation campaign met that standard. Litigation in lower courts focused on whether these episodes really rendered the federal government “unable” to enforce the law. The Supreme Court instead ruled that Trump’s National Guard deployment in Chicago was unlawful based on the definition of “regular forces.” The administration had assumed “regular forces” meant civilian law-enforcement agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Because those forces were unable to enforce the law, the administration said, Trump could deploy the Guard. But supplementary briefs showed that when Congress granted the president this power in the early 1900s, “regular forces” meant the military. That would mean Trump can only deploy the Guard if “the regular military” is insufficient to execute the laws, the court said. The opinion added that circumstances in which the military can be used for domestic law enforcement are “exceptional.” This textualist parsing allows the justices to sidestep a politically fraught inquiry about the degree of resistance to Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts. But the reasoning also has strange implications. It suggests that Trump would have to try sending the standing army to Chicago before he can resort to deploying state National Guard troops. In a November filing at the Supreme Court, the Trump administration suggested it had authority to do this under the Insurrection Act.

Wall Street Journal [12/24/2025 5:42 PM, Staff, 646K] reports a Christmas update with some good news on the case of Guan Heng, the Chinese immigrant to the U.S. who took great risks to document the Communist Party’s detention camps for the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province. Mr. Guan’s lawyer says his asylum case is proceeding, but he is no longer in imminent danger of being deported to a country where China could easily snatch him. We told readers this month that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had stumbled upon him while searching for other migrants near Albany, N.Y., in August. That’s where he had settled to live and work after escaping China via Ecuador, then to Bermuda, then sailing by himself on a small boat to Florida. Once in the U.S. he published on the internet his photos of the detention system that he had risked his own freedom to gather in Xinjiang. Mr. Guan has applied for U.S. asylum, but ICE arrested him because he had entered the country illegally. He has since been in detention. At a hearing this month, an immigration judge postponed an asylum decision and asked for more information from the Department of Homeland Security. Public attention to Mr. Guan’s case may have influenced the DHS decision to drop its Uganda deportation. Mr. Guan wouldn’t be free for long in that African nation. China would have sought his extradition, and the government or some corrupt officials no doubt would have obliged. Once back in China, Mr. Guan would be arrested, accused of being a spy, and perhaps spend the rest of his life in prison. He is a textbook example of the kind of person who deserves asylum. But he still isn’t in the clear. Mr. Guan’s lawyer, Chuangchuang Chen, says he still must be granted asylum or he could be deported. He has a hearing, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 31, to seek bail so he can be free while his asylum case proceeds. Credit to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.) for going public in support of Mr. Guan. He’s written to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, urging her to release Mr. Guan and approve his asylum request. If Mr. Guan is deported, it will be a tragedy for him—and for the freedom that America still claims to stand for.

New York Times [12/25/2025 1:16 AM, Filippo Grandi, 135475K] reports I became the United Nations high commissioner for refugees in January 2016, when violence in Syria was in full spate. That conflict, which began in 2011 and lasted until the ouster of Bashar al-Assad’s regime one year ago, killed hundreds of thousands and sent millions fleeing for their lives. This summer I stood on the border between Lebanon and Syria and heard trucks and buses sound their horns in celebration as they carried people back to villages, towns and cities. More than a million Syrians have returned from abroad since last December. If the fragile peace holds, more will follow. The lesson ought to be obvious: Syrian refugee numbers fell not because of draconian border policies, patrols on land or at sea, or xenophobic rhetoric. They fell because the fighting finally stopped. Yet to judge from the backlash in several countries against refugees, asylum-seekers, migrants — in some cases, simply foreigners — this lesson is not being absorbed. Instead, many governments are choosing tighter borders, higher fences, bigger deterrents and cuts to foreign aid. As I prepare to step down after a decade as high commissioner for refugees, I see not only conflicts and emergencies affecting every region of the world, but also a crisis of global leadership, a failure of imagination and ambition, and a proliferation of populist rhetoric that is numbing us to the plight of others. Ordinary people have genuine concerns about the abuse of asylum systems, the security of their borders and the capacity of their public services. One cannot dismiss or trivialize such worries. And compassion fatigue is hardly surprising: It is difficult to keep track of all the world’s crises when many go unresolved while new ones erupt.

Bloomberg [12/24/2025 5:30 AM, Patricia Lopez, 18207K] reports President Donald Trump spent much of 2025 squandering the public’s support on what was once his best issue: immigration. Yes, he quickly delivered on his campaign promise to secure the southern border. But as the year unfolded, his anti-immigrant agenda drove immigration policy far beyond where most Americans are willing to go. Trump has claimed the US is being "invaded" — on March 15 he invoked the Alien Enemies Act as a pretext to deport more than 200 Venezuelans to the CECOT prison in El Salvador — and that he’s only deporting violent criminals. But ICE’s own data show most have not been charged with crimes. His approval numbers on immigration have fallen from positive by 9 percentage points in March to negative by 11 points in December, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Houston Chronicle [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, Aaron Evans, 2983K] reports on the Texas border, the immigration debate is not theoretical. It is the difference between a community that can live safely and plan for the future and one that is constantly bracing for the next wave of chaos. Texas shows how bad it became under Joe Biden — and how necessary it is that Donald Trump is restoring the kind of enforcement both parties once treated as common sense. From El Paso to Brownsville, Texas has carried more than its share of a crisis it did not create. In recent years, roughly four out of five U.S. border encounters have occurred along the U.S./Mexico line, with Texas sectors responsible for nearly half of all encounters nationwide. That means almost half of the nation’s illegal border traffic has hit Texas first, straining law enforcement, hospitals, schools and nonprofits in places like the Houston metro area that are already absorbing tens of thousands of new arrivals. Since 2021, Customs and Border Protection has reported well over ten million encounters nationwide, most at the southwest border — numbers without precedent in modern history. Hundreds of individuals on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended between ports of entry at the southern border, highlighting the security risks of a system this overwhelmed by Biden’s failures. There was a time when Democrats openly embraced enforcement as proof they were serious about securing the border. Under President Barack Obama, removals reached record highs and southwest border apprehensions ran into the hundreds of thousands even as the administration touted major investments in border security. When a surge of Central American minors hit the border in 2014, officials surged resources, warned about the dangers of illegal crossings and insisted the law would be enforced. That was not considered extreme; it was bipartisan common sense that a sovereign nation has both the right and the responsibility to control who enters its territory. Trump’s current approach is not about inventing new doctrine — it is about returning to that common-sense understanding that border laws must be enforced consistently and credibly. By ending "catch-and-release," tightening asylum standards and restoring policies that require migrants to wait outside the United States while their claims are processed, his administration is working to bring encounters back toward historic norms after Biden’s failures. For Texas, that means fewer busloads overrunning shelters, fewer overwhelmed hospitals and less pressure on Houston’s schools and social services.

San Diego Union Tribune [12/25/2025 9:00 AM, Mary Waskowiak, 1538K] reports I have spent years working with migrants in Southern California: not criminals, just hardworking people trying to create a better life for their families. It is impossible to describe the anguish they experience when they are ripped away from their families when they appear in immigration court amid the current administration’s cruel crackdown. These are immigrants who are trying to do things the right way, following the rules to appear before a judge, because they have faith in our justice system. But that faith has been betrayed. The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas have long made immigrants a key focus of our work, one of our critical concerns, whether in California, where we have served for nearly 180 years, or Peru, Panama or Vermont. We take seriously the Gospel admonition to welcome the stranger. Never have I seen such fear among my immigrant friends as I do now. People are being snatched off the streets by ICE, taken from schools or out of naturalization ceremonies, often deprived of their right to due process, and deported without any notice or hearing. The cruel immigration policies of the Trump administration are about to get worse, if the tough talk by border czar Tom Homan and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott on the San Diego border are any indication. I urge San Diegans and all people of goodwill to stand up for our neighbors as we celebrate the holidays and after the observance of International Migrants Day this month. Being present to immigrants in their fear and need is a powerful way to be in solidarity with them.

Bloomberg [12/25/2025 12:22 PM, Hadriana Lowenkron, 14862K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement summoned Afghans residing in the U.S. to present their documents during the holiday season, marking the latest effort by the Trump administration to crack down on migrants from the Asian nation. ICE is seeking appointments for a "scheduled report check-in," with one requesting such a meeting on Christmas Day and another asking for one on New Year’s Day, according to copies of letters sent to different people seen by Bloomberg News. Other notices were for check-ins around the holidays on Dec. 27 and Dec. 30. The immigration agency has arrested migrants who appear at its offices in response to such formal requests, including those attending interviews for their green cards. Recipients of the letters had previously gained legal protection and were deemed "Afghan allies" as part of a program started by former President Biden in August 2021 to protect those who fled to the U.S. after the American military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s subsequent takeover of the war-torn country. "ICE is using federal and religious holidays to detain Afghans when access to legal counsel, courts, and advocates is at its lowest," Shawn VanDiver, founder of the nonprofit group AfghanEvac that supports Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort, said in a statement criticizing the call-ins and their timing. "This is not routine administrative scheduling.". A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called the check-ins "routine" and "long-standing" without elaborating on how many letters were sent out. The spokesperson added that ICE continues its standard operations during the holidays. Christmas and New Year’s Day are federal holidays when most government offices are closed. The call-ins follow substantial changes to the U.S. immigration policy under President Trump targeting Afghans in the wake of the November shooting of two National Guard troops by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked with U.S. forces and the CIA in Afghanistan before arriving in the U.S. in 2021. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that Lakanwal, who has been charged with murder, came to the U.S. through the Biden program known as Operation Allies Welcome.

The Washington Post [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, Douglas MacMillan and Jonathan O’Connell, 24149K] reports the Trump administration is seeking contractors to help it overhaul the United States’ immigrant detention system in a plan that includes renovating industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees at a time, according to a draft solicitation reviewed by Washington Post. Rather than shuttling detainees around the country to wherever detention space is available, as happens now, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to speed up deportations by establishing a deliberate feeder system, the document says. Newly arrested detainees would be booked into processing sites for a few weeks before being funneled into one of seven large-scale warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people each, where they would be staged for deportation. The large warehouses would be located close to major logistics hubs in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri. Sixteen smaller warehouses would hold up to 1,500 people each. The draft solicitation is not final and is subject to changes. ICE plans to share it with private detention companies this week to gauge interest and refine the plan, according to an internal email reviewed by The Post. A formal request for bids could follow soon after that. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said she “cannot confirm” The Post’s reporting and declined to answer questions about the warehouse plan. NBC and Bloomberg News previously reported on ICE’s internal discussions about using warehouses as detention centers. The full scope of the project, the locations of the facilities and other details contained in the solicitation have not been previously disclosed or reported. The warehouse plan would be the next step in President Donald Trump’s campaign to detain and deport millions of immigrants, which began with a scramble to expand the nation’s immigrant detention system, the largest in the world. Armed with $45 billion Congress set aside for locking up immigrants, his administration this year revived dormant prisons, repurposed sections of military bases and partnered with Republican governors to build immigrant tent encampments in remote regions. The administration has deported more than 579,000 people this year, border czar Tom Homan said earlier this month on the social media platform X. The new facilities will “maximize efficiency, minimize costs, shorten processing times, limit lengths of stay, accelerate the removal process and promote the safety, dignity and respect for all in ICE custody,” the solicitation said. “We need to get better at treating this like a business,” ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons said at a border security conference in April, according to the Arizona Mirror. The administration’s goal, he said, was to deport immigrants as efficiently as Amazon moves packages: “Like Prime, but with human beings.” Telemundo Amarillo [12/25/2025 9:30 AM, Staff, 4K] reports that in addition to the large industrial warehouses that would be located near major logistics centers in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia, and Missouri, 16 smaller ones would each have the capacity to house up to 1,500 people, the newspaper report reveals. The draft application for the renovation of the facilities is not final and is subject to change, according to the newspaper. However, according to an internal email accessed by The Post, ICE plans to share it with private detention companies this week to gauge their interest and refine the plan. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said she could not confirm the information published by The Post and declined to answer questions about the plan.

FOX News [12/24/2025 7:55 AM, Staff, 10085K] reports that Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to weigh in on the Supreme Court blocking President Donald Trump’s National Guard request and the surge in violent attacks against federal immigration agents. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [12/24/2025 5:42 PM, Halle Parker, Verite News, KFF Health News, 1538K] reports as immigrants in southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi braced for this month’s U.S. Homeland Security operation, Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo received a panicked phone call from a friend. The friend’s Guatemalan tenant, who didn’t know she was pregnant, had just delivered a premature baby in the New Orleans house. The parents lacked legal residency, and the mother refused to go to a hospital for fear of being detained by federal immigration officers. Nearly two weeks into the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Catahoula Crunch, which launched Dec. 3, health professionals and community advocates in Louisiana and Mississippi report that a significantly higher-than-usual number of immigrant patients have skipped health care appointments and experienced heightened stress levels. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, immigrant families nationwide have become more likely to skip or delay health care, due in part to concerns about their legal status, according to a recent survey by KFF and The New York Times.

Yahoo! News [12/24/2025 7:00 AM, Lorena Figueroa, 49624K] reports a Guatemalan man has become the first person to die in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Fort Bliss army base in Texas. His wife of 25 years was deported from the same camp without a chance to see her dying husband. Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, 48, died on 3 December at a hospital in El Paso, as Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates were ramping up demands that the camp be closed down amid allegations of inhumane conditions there. The DHS has said such allegations are “categorically false”. ICE suspected the cause of Gaspar-Andrés’s death to be “natural liver and kidney failure”, adding that: “From the moment they were notified of his health crisis, ICE medical staff ensured he had constant, high-quality care.” The agency issued a press release detailing a litany of escalating medical complaints over his 10 weeks in Texas and said he received care at the camp in November for “a variety of ailments” including flu-like symptoms, bleeding gums, fever, jaundice and hypertension. “On November 14, an immigration judge ordered Gaspar-Andrés removed to Guatemala,” according to the ICE release. He was hospitalized on 16 November as his condition worsened. He had an infection and ultimately deteriorated into organ failure, internal bleeding and death. On 28 November, his wife, now widow, Lucía Pedro Juan, was put on a deportation flight to Guatemala, after also being held at the ICE tent facility known as Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, according to an account she gave to the El Paso Times. The Trump administration ordered Camp East Montana constructed earlier this year to hold migrants on the army base. Pedro Juan was traced by the El Paso Times to the town of Santa Eulalia in Guatemala’s western highlands, where she told journalists visiting her that she and her husband had been taken separately to Fort Bliss after being arrested during a traffic stop in south Florida in September, where they had lived for years and have five children. “I never saw him again, I never spoke to him or heard his voice again. It’s something terrible they did to us,” she tearfully told the Texas outlet in an in-depth interview. Pedro Juan also said that she had eventually agreed to be deported to Guatemala because she feared she might die amid the US camp’s harsh conditions. ICE and DHS did not respond to queries and requests for comment from the Guardian about Pedro Juan. Gaspar-Andrés and Pedro Juan had separately crossed the US-Mexico border without authorization more than 18 years ago and lived near Homestead, Florida, where they raised their family and eventually ran a plant nursery as undocumented members of the community. But when police stopped them on Labor Day in September of this year while out shopping for groceries, they were immediately detained. ICE said after initial detention Gaspar-Andrés was admitted to a Miami hospital and treated for alcohol withdrawal and later transferred to Texas detention. An autopsy report from the El Paso county office of the medical examiner ruled Gaspar-Andres’s death as natural and attributed it to “complications of alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis”, an advanced stage of liver damage from long-term alcohol use. Texas congresswoman Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso and Fort Bliss, has repeatedly written to Kristi Noem, the secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE, and Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE to complain about the camp at Fort Bliss.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [12/24/2025 10:01 AM, Omar Ornelas, 67103K]

FOX Business [12/25/2025 2:36 PM, Rachel Wolf, 42219K] reports a $400,000 shipment of lobsters headed for Costco locations in Illinois and Minnesota was hijacked before arriving at its delivery points. Dylan Rexing, CEO of Indiana-based logistics business Rexing Companies, said the shipment was picked up in Taunton, Mass., but never reached its destination, WFLD reported. Rexing told the outlet that the heist appeared to be part of an organized ring of cargo thieves targeting high-value products. "This is a huge issue across the country," Rexing told WFLD. "It directly impacts businesses and contributes to higher prices for consumers.". The FBI is investigating the lobster shipment theft. No arrests have been announced. Earlier this year, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) launched Operation Boiling Point with the goal of tackling organized retail crime. In its announcement of the operation, HSI stated that estimates show cargo theft accounts for $15–35 billion in annual losses. HSI said that organized theft groups often target cargo at ports of entry, truck stops, freight trains, and in various places along the supply chain while goods are in transit. Additionally, HSI noted that while organized theft groups targeting cargo may not necessarily be involved in organized retail crime, "they can be linked to common fences/fencers that are purchasing the stolen goods.". In September, the Department of Transportation issued a request for information seeking input from law enforcement, transportation agencies, freight carriers, and other industry stakeholders, as well as the public, on how it can better protect the U.S. supply chain from cargo theft.

NPR [12/24/2025 5:00 AM, Ximena Bustillo, 28013K] reports in the span of less than 72 hours, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Victor Mojica went from being widely vilified and placed on administrative leave — to being returned right back to his old job. On a Friday in September, Mojica was caught on several cameras roughly pushing a woman into the hallway and then to the ground, as the woman screamed. The incident at an immigration court in New York rapidly circulated online and prompted the Homeland Security Department to place Mojica on administrative leave – a rare instance of such leave being publicly announced. By the following Monday, Mojica was back on the job, without any further explanation from the agency. NPR has now learned that he returned to work before the Homeland Security Department’s internal watchdog had concluded a review into his behavior. The DHS Office of Inspector General ultimately decided — nearly two months later — that the incident did not merit a criminal probe. The disclosure of the probe raises questions about the adequacy of DHS oversight mechanisms to investigate employee misconduct. It comes as the department has gutted some internal oversight agencies and faces consistent pressure from Trump officials to ramp up deportations. When Mojica was first suspended, DHS issued a statement that criticized his behavior. "The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of media affairs at DHS, said at the time. "Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards and this officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation." Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat, represents the district in New York that includes the immigration court where the incident took place. He had also been interested in getting answers about what happened with Mojica. He questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about it at a hearing this month, and Noem promised she would give the congressman "the investigation and the information that you would like."

FOX News [12/24/2025 11:20 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports that Rep. Monica McIver, D-N.J., returns to a New Jersey ICE facility where she was arrested with a call to shut down the detention center. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, Joe Heim, 24149K] reports a 22-year-old woman was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers this month and is facing deportation despite her lawyer’s insistence that she is a U.S. citizen born in Maryland. ICE says the woman is in the country illegally and is not a citizen. The case landed in federal court last week where a Maryland District Court judge barred the government from deporting Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales while the court considers a petition her lawyers submitted to determine whether her detention is lawful. According to her lawyer, Victoria Slatton, Diaz Morales lived in Mexico for about 13 years but has a birth certificate from a Prince George’s County hospital and immunization records from Anne Arundel County, all of which have been provided to ICE as evidence of her citizenship. Washington Post has viewed emailed photos of those documents, including a Maryland birth certificate with the name Diaz Morales on it, but cannot verify their authenticity. Affidavits of multiple people who were at the hospital following Diaz Morales’s birth were also sent to ICE, said Slatton, whose pleas for the woman’s release have gone viral on social media. “I also called the hospital myself,” Slatton said. “Because of HIPAA, we couldn’t get a full release of her records. We’re working on that right now. But they were able to confirm that they had a patient with that name in that general time period.” According to her lawyers at Sanabria and Associates, a firm specializing in immigration law, Diaz Morales was arrested Dec. 14 while leaving a Taco Bell in Baltimore with her younger sister. After being held in a detention center in Baltimore, Diaz Morales was transferred last week to Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana. The Department of Homeland Security, using a different last name for Diaz Morales, said she was in the United States illegally. “Dulce Consuelo Madrigal Diaz is NOT a U.S. citizen — she is an illegal alien from Mexico,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement emailed to The Post. “She did NOT provide a valid U.S. birth certificate or any evidence in support of her claim that she is a U.S. citizen. On Dec. 14, ICE arrested this illegal alien in Baltimore. On Oct. 20, 2023, when CBP encountered her near Lukeville, Arizona, Madrigal-Diaz claimed she was a citizen of Mexico and was born on Oct. 18, 2003.” McLaughlin did not answer questions about where Diaz Morales, who has a 5-year-old son, was being held or whether she had already been deported. DHS did not respond to specific questions sent Tuesday about why it had determined the birth certificate and other documents sent by Diaz Morales’s lawyers were not valid. The department also did not answer a question asking whether there was a mistake or misunderstanding about the documents that resulted in Diaz Morales’s arrest. Slatton rebutted McLaughlin’s statement about the validity of the birth certificate. She added the discrepancy over her client’s last name in official records “is fully explained by her parents having two different last names. … Discrepancies of this nature are incredibly common with non-English speakers and do not negate citizenship.” “We encourage investigations on this, including by ICE, because we believe the facts and law are in our favor,” she said.

Washington Post [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, Olivia George, 24149K] reports that, huddled on the cracked asphalt, their voices soon rose above the thrum of nearby traffic and the wheeze of icy winds. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, sang the crowd in the parking lot early one morning in mid-December, a few dozen people bundled in hats and scarves. The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. Wedged behind a squat stretch of shops, this lot in Takoma Park, Maryland, has become both a stage for immigration enforcement in the community — and resistance to it. After months of noticing a cluster of unfamiliar cars they determined belonged to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, residents launched a counterprogramming effort, gathering for two hours each morning in the run-up to Christmas. They were hula hooping one morning, knitting the next. They gathered donations for a holiday drive and decorated cookies. “A way to bring blessing back to a place that feels very cursed,” said Terry Sabonis-Helf, a 63-year-old professor among those gathered to sing. Away in a manger, she thought, seemed particularly fitting for the occasion — serving as a reminder that Jesus was born into poverty and his parents were traveling in a foreign land. The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. Beyond the parking lot stretched a country ensnared by what President Donald Trump promised would be the “largest mass deportation in history.” Arrests are up in every part of the country compared with the year before, with immigrants plucked from mopeds and vans, collected from construction sites and courthouses, factories and farms. The state of Maryland was catapulted to the center of the deportation debate in March when the administration wrongfully sent Kilmar Abrego García to a notorious megaprison in his native El Salvador. He was handcuffed by federal agents five miles from the Takoma Park lot, on his way home from work with his 5-year-old son in the back seat. While officials have pledged to target the “worst of the worst,” most immigrants arrested in city crackdowns do not have a criminal record. Here in Montgomery County, just north of Washington, where more than a third of residents are foreign born, the singers wanted to champion the diversity of their community at a time when it seemed to be under threat. The shops framing the lot exemplified as much — among them, a Guatemalan restaurant, an Ethiopian clothing shop, a jujitsu school. The parking lot gathering began with a Facebook post. “Does everyone know by now that ICE is staging right here in Takoma Park?” Ariel Woods, 47, wrote in a neighborhood group earlier this month. “We are taking back the space and allowing the employees and neighbors to return to their daily routines without harassment and fear,” she continued, encouraging others to join her. “ICE can find themselves a new clubhouse.”

New York Times [12/24/2025 11:30 AM, Billy Witz and Kevin Williams, 135475K] reports naturalized citizens in Ohio’s capital, Columbus, have taken to carrying passports with them. Businesses and nonprofits that serve immigrants around the city are delivering goods to customers who are afraid to venture outside their homes. Churches in immigrant neighborhoods are all but empty. A surge of enforcement in Columbus by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the past week has created turmoil there and angered local leaders, who find their city the latest target of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. A blue city in a red state, Columbus is home to the Ohio State University and a host of immigrant communities. The increased ICE action in the city comes weeks after federal agents carried out big sweeps in New Orleans and Charlotte, N.C., which, like Columbus, are Democrat-led cities in states where Republicans hold much of the political power. In a statement over the weekend ICE highlighted the arrests of 10 men in Ohio as part of “Operation Buckeye,” saying they had criminal records and were in the country illegally. Of the 10, three were arrested before the operation, according to the statement. The agency did not respond to an email sent Tuesday asking how many had been apprehended in the operation. “We figured if they were going to come, it was going to be to Columbus,” said Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, the first Latina elected to the City Council and the daughter of Cuban immigrants. Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, who has called ICE agents’ presence “unwelcome,” promised that city police officers would not assist ICE arrests based solely on immigration status. His stance has provoked attacks on social media by Stephen Miller, the architect of President Trump’s immigration policy, and by Elon Musk, a former adviser of the president. Somalis make up one of the largest immigrant communities in Columbus, and Somali immigrants nationwide have been a target of President Trump. Earlier this month, he called them “garbage” and said he wanted to send them back to their troubled homeland in East Africa. The Somali immigrant population in Columbus is the second largest in the country, after Minneapolis. ICE recently carried out a crackdown in the Twin Cities, spurred, the authorities said, by a fraud scandal in which almost all of the people charged are of Somali origin. The scrutiny has shaken the Somali community centered in northeast Columbus, where restaurants serve tastes of home, like stewed goat and rice with mint tea, and where stores sell traditional garments. “Never in a million years did I think I would have to prove I was a United States citizen when I was born here in Ohio,” said Ayub Abdi, 24, the son of Somali immigrants who is studying accounting at Ohio State. He recently began carrying his passport when he leaves home.

Chicago Tribune [12/24/2025 4:47 PM, Laura Turbay, 4829K] reports Chicago faith leaders were once again denied entry to pray inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview. This time, on Christmas Eve. Instead, the faith leaders led a prayer and sang hymns near the facility’s doorstep, and vowed to try again. The leaders said they sent requests to immigration authorities to enter the facility and lead a prayer on Christmas Eve but received no response. They were also on the phone with officials to try to negotiate access, they said. But as they walked up to the doors of the Broadview site at about 10 a.m., they were refused. The Rev. Brendan Curran said faith leaders had been granted access to the Broadview detention center for years until recently. More than 4,300 people have been arrested during the federal government’s immigration crackdown dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, which began in September, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Yet most detainees appear to have no significant criminal record, data gathered by the Tribune and a federal lawsuit show. Conditions inside the processing facility have reportedly been poor. A federal judge in November ordered government officials to provide immigration detainees enough food, water and bed space, among other remedies, finding that conditions in Broadview do not “pass constitutional muster.”

Los Angeles Times [12/25/2025 6:59 PM, Sonja Sharp, 14862K] reports a federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its Justice Department counterpart from "sweeping" civil arrests at immigration courthouses across Northern California, teeing up an appellate challenge to one of the Trump administration’s most controversial deportation tactics. "This circumstance presents noncitizens in removal proceedings with a Hobson’s choice between two irreparable harms," Judge P. Casey Pitts wrote in his Christmas Eve decision. "First, they may appear in immigration court and face likely arrest and detention," the judge wrote. "Alternatively, noncitizens may choose not to appear and instead to forego their opportunity to pursue their claims for asylum or other relief from removal.” Wednesday’s decision blocks ICE and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review from lying in wait for asylum seekers and other noncitizens at routine hearings throughout the region — a move that would effectively restore pre-Trump prohibition on such arrests. "Here, ICE and EOIR’s prior policies governing courthouse arrests and detention in holding facilities provide a standard," the judge said. Authorities have long curbed arrests at "sensitive locations"— such as hospitals, houses of worship and schools — putting them out of reach of most civil immigration enforcement. The designation was first established decades ago under ICE’s predecessor agency, Immigration and Naturalization Services. ICE absorbed the prohibitions when the agency was formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Courts were added to the list under President Obama. The policy prohibiting most courthouse arrests was suspended during the first Trump administration and reinstated by President Biden. Internal ICE guidance from the Biden era found "[e]xecuting civil immigration enforcement actions in or near a courthouse may chill individuals’ access to courthouses and, as a result, impair the fair administration of justice.” Nevertheless, the agency’s courthouse policy was reversed again earlier this year, leading to a surge in arrests, and a staggering drop in court appearances, court records show. Most who do not show up are ordered removed in absentia. Monthly removal in absentia orders more than doubled this year, to 4,177 from fewer than 1,600 in 2024, justice department data show. More than 50,000 asylum seekers have been ordered removed after failing to appear in court hearings since January — more than were ordered removed in absentia in the previous five years combined. "ICE cannot choose to ignore the ‘costs’ of its new policies—chilling the participation of noncitizens in their removal proceedings —and consider only the policies’ purported ‘benefits’ for immigration enforcement," Pitts wrote in his stay order.

Los Angeles Times [12/25/2025 6:00 AM, Itzel Luna, 14862K] reports the steady drizzle tested the limits of the string of tarps stretched across the backyard of a Maywood home. Beneath them, dozens of boxes, overflowing with clothes, shoes and toys, lay scattered across the pavement. Each gift was destined for one of more than 50 Southern California homes whose families have been caught in the growing immigration enforcement crackdown. This was not charity bestowed from afar, but mutual aid. The organizers are a group of immigrant women who have endured their own struggles and face similar risks as the people they are helping. Five of them asked to use only their second last names because of fears of being targeted by ICE. The same drive that has guided them through their own harrowing journeys is what motivated them to form Barrio Power. One of the leaders, Cruz, grew up working in the fields with her family in Oaxaca, Mexico, and spoke only their indigenous language, Chinanteco, as a child. Determined to learn Spanish, she would sneak out to the local school and eventually began teaching others in her town. When she got to the U.S. decades later, she would tape dollar bills to the wall to memorize the country’s currency, which landed her a cashier job. She brings that same ambition to Barrio Power. "My ancestors, my parents, all the hardship we’ve gone through as Indigenous people, and we still have to suffer? It’s enough," Cruz said. "We have to come out of the shadows because we’ve done nothing wrong. And if we have to leave, we are going to leave with pride.". Barrio Power, also known as Semillas de Poder (Seeds of Power), began as a small collective spearheaded by Rosa Vazquez and the five other women, all immigrants, who sought a space for the community to safely express themselves. Their goal is to build a large network of immigrants, who can be mobilized to advocate for themselves. They began hosting community forums over Zoom during the immigration raids in June and spent months speaking with hundreds of immigrant families to get a sense of their needs. One concern quickly rose above the rest: How would they afford Christmas? She suggested an angel tree program for families affected by ICE. They set up an Instagram account just days after Thanksgiving and initially adopted 10 families. "This is not charity for us," Vazquez said. "This is what mutual aid can look like when it’s organized by undocumented people for undocumented people.".

Los Angeles Times [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, Melissa Gomez, 14862K] reports a father who has become the sole caretaker for his two young children after his wife was deported. A school district seeing absenteeism similar to what it experienced during the pandemic. Businesses struggling because customers are scared to go outside. These are just a sampling of how this part of Ventura County is reckoning with the aftermath of federal immigration raids on Glass House cannabis farms six months ago, when hundreds of workers were detained and families split apart. In some instances, there is still uncertainty about what happened to minors left behind after one or both parents were deported. Now, while Latino households gather for the holidays, businesses and restaurants are largely quiet as anxiety about more Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids lingers. "There’s a lot of fear that the community is living," said Alicia Flores, executive director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Family Center. This time of year, clients usually ask her about her holiday plans, but now no one asks. Families are divided by the U.S. border or have loved ones in immigration detainment. "They were ready for Christmas, to make tamales, to make pozole, to make something and celebrate with the family. And now, nothing." At the time, the immigration raids on Glass House Farms in Camarillo and Carpinteria were some of the largest of their kind nationwide, resulting in chaotic scenes, confusion and violence. At least 361 undocumented immigrants were detained, many of them third-party contractors for Glass House. One of those contractors, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died after he fell from a greenhouse rooftop in the July 10 raid. The raids catalyzed mass protests along the Central Coast and sent a chill through Oxnard, a tight-knit community where many families work in the surrounding fields and live in multigenerational homes far more modest than many on the Ventura coast. It also reignited fears about how farmworker communities — often among the most low-paid and vulnerable parts of the labor pool — would be targeted during the Trump administration’s intense deportation campaign.

The Hill [12/24/2025 7:47 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K] reports a federal judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the Trump administration, upholding its $100,000 H-1B visa fee. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell rejected a challenge filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Association of American Universities, which alleged the move was unlawful. Earlier this month, 18 Democratic states also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the H-1B visa application fee. However, the groups have the right to appeal. The ruling comes after months of immigration reform under President Trump and is likely to impact technology companies, known for using H-1B visas to hire foreign skilled workers. The change coincides with other adjustments to the visa program, which include the replacement of the random lottery for H-1B visa applicants. Instead, officials plan to prioritize the allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign workers, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in a Tuesday statement. “The new weighted selection will better serve Congress’ intent for the H-1B program and strengthen America’s competitiveness by incentivizing American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers,” he added. Currently, the United States admits 65,000 people under the H-1B visa, with an additional 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree holders, per DHS.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [12/24/2025 10:49 AM, Bart Jansen, 67103K]
Univision [12/24/2025 6:10 AM, Staff, 5004K]
Washington Times [12/24/2025 10:45 AM, Stephen Dinan, 852K]
Daily Caller [12/24/2025 8:39 AM, Jason Hopkins, 835K]

Breitbart [12/24/2025 12:29 PM, Neil Munro, 2416K] reports that President Donald Trump’s revamp of the H-1B white-collar outsourcing program has prompted cautious approval from advocates for American professionals and college graduates. "It does not end H-1Bs, but it fundamentally reshapes who benefits from them," said Hany Girgis, a tech-training CEO. Employers and their lawyers are expected to file lawsuits against the new rules, which somewhat shift the distribution of new H-1B workers towards employers who offer higher wages. That shift will modestly pressure companies to hire young American graduates — but will not restrict the huge inflow of foreign workers via other programs, including the "cap-exempt" H-1B, J-1, L-1, L-2, OPT, and CPT work-permit programs. "The new rule replaces the random lottery for selecting visa recipients with a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills," says a press statement for the agency that awards the visas: The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers," said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser. "The new weighted selection will better serve Congress’ intent for the H-1B program and strengthen America’s competitiveness by incentivizing American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers. With these regulatory changes and others in the future, we will continue to update the H-1B program to help American businesses without allowing the abuse that was harming American workers."

Los Angeles Times [12/24/2025 9:54 AM, Madlin Mekelburg, 14862K] reports that a federal judge said the Trump administration can move ahead with a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, providing a setback for U.S. technology companies that rely on hiring skilled foreign workers. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said in a ruling Tuesday that President Trump’s move to radically increase the cost of the popular visa is lawful. The decision provides a boost to the administration’s campaign to restrict immigration and push demand for U.S. workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which sued to block the proposal, can appeal. Howell rejected the Chamber’s argument that the president doesn’t have the power to impose the fee, finding that his proclamation was issued under "an express statutory grant of authority to the President." "Here, Congress has granted the president broad statutory authority, which he has used to issue the proclamation addressing, in the manner he sees fit, a problem he perceives to be a matter of economic and national security," she wrote. Daryl Joseffer, the Chamber’s executive vice president, said in a statement that the $100,000 fee makes H-1B visas cost-prohibitive. "We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are considering further legal options to ensure that the H-1B visa program can operate as Congress intended: to enable American businesses of all sizes to access the global talent they need to grow their operations," Joseffer said.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [12/24/2025 9:30 AM, Staff, 18207K]

The Hill [12/24/2025 10:42 AM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports the United States placed visa bans Tuesday on five Europeans leading campaigns to combat misinformation and hate online, whom the Trump administration has accused of censoring social media platforms. The ban was placed on French former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed, Global Disinformation Index CEO Clare Melford, and HateAid leaders Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon. Of the five, Breton orchestrated the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which aims to make the internet safer by compelling online platforms to confront and disable hate speech and misinformation. The U.S. claims that the law unfairly targets American tech companies and citizens, Reuters reported. In announcing the visa bans, Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the five of leading "organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.". "The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship," Rubio said in a post on the social platform X. "Today, @StateDept will take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course.".

NPR [12/24/2025 4:51 AM, Steve Inskeep, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports NPR’s Steve Inskeep speaks with immigration attorney Marium Masumi Daud about the Trump administration’s efforts to take away citizenship from some naturalized Americans. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Reuters [12/24/2025 6:14 AM, Sudip Kar-Gupta, 36480K] reports French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday slammed a decision by the United States to impose visa bans on former European Union commissioner Thierry Breton and other anti-disinformation campaigners. "France condemns the visa restriction measures taken by the United States against Thierry Breton and four other European figures. These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty," Macron said on social media platform X. "Together with the European Commission and our European partners, we will continue to defend our digital sovereignty and our regulatory autonomy," he added.

Bloomberg [12/24/2025 6:39 AM, Menaka Doshi, 18207K] reports nations have long memories, and 2025 will be forever burned into India’s collective consciousness as the year of the American dream-turned-nightmare. A US judge just upheld the $100,000 application fee on H-1B visas by President Donald Trump’s administration. This seals a year of immigration chaos that is hurting Indian businesses and families — but will also cost the US. Indians have been the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program. Now, it isn’t just the extra costs that Indian IT companies will bear for thousands of employees on such visas — it’s also the rising unpredictability that has scarred many Indian professionals working in US tech, finance, health care and other industries, especially after the recent mass postponement of work-visa appointments. All around me are stories of Indian students losing job opportunities, professionals on work visas unable to visit home this Christmas holiday or stranded here without a visa renewal, weddings put on hold and ailing parents making do with video chats instead of in-person care. The rules keep changing too. This week, the US Department of Homeland Security said it will replace the lottery for selecting H-1B visa applicants with a weighted selection, to overcome wage arbitrage and incentivize American employers “to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers.” There are also proposals being considered to impose a wage floor.

NewsMax [12/24/2025 11:02 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4109K] reports that Border Patrol officers will continue to go anywhere in the U.S. to apprehend illegal migrants, the agency’s chief told the Washington Examiner. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said Americans should expect an unprecedented level of coordination between his agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as President Donald Trump’s second-term immigration crackdown expands beyond the border and deeper into the interior. "We are the United States Border Patrol, who will go anywhere in the United States of America, apprehend illegal aliens, prosecute them, and return them to their country or to a country that are amenable to be returned to," Banks told the Examiner. He added that the era of "get past the Border Patrol and you’re home free" is over. "Gone are the days where, if you got past the U.S. Border Patrol, you were free to go, you were free to live out your life, and not have to worry about deportation," Banks said. The Examiner reported Border Patrol agents have been deployed over the past six months to major cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Memphis, Charlotte, and New Orleans — operations that have at times sparked protests and unrest from left-wing activists opposing federal law enforcement. But Banks emphasized the agency has legal authority to enforce federal immigration law nationwide and has been called upon by the Department of Homeland Security to assist ICE. While critics portray the deployments as federal "raids," Banks said the reality is that Border Patrol is supporting ICE and responding to operational needs.

Federal News Network [12/24/2025 4:53 PM, Justin Doubleday, 986K] reports CBP is offering up to $60,000 in recruitment and retention incentives, as it looks to expand hiring with funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Customs and Border Protection is increasing its total recruitment and retention incentives, as the Department of Homeland Security touts a record year for job applications. CBP says new Border Patrol agents can now get up to $60,000 in incentives, including $10,000 after completing academy training and $10,000 for those assigned to a remote locations. Newly appointed Border Patrol agents can then qualify for up to $40,000 in retention incentives over the next four years. Current Border Patrol agents are eligible to receive up to $50,000 in retention incentives. Meanwhile, new officers assigned to "hard-to-fill and most difficult-to-fill locations" under CBP’s Office of Field Operations are eligible for up to $60,000 in retention incentives over a three year contract. CBP is also offering up to $60,000 in retention incentives for "experienced supervisors and officers eligible to retire in certain locations." New CBP Air and Marine Operations agents are also eligible for $10,000 signing bonuses, while new and current AMO agents can get up to 25% of their salary in retention incentives. The Department of Homeland Security, in an annual review, said CBP’s monthly hiring averages increased by 42.5% compared to the same time period last year. Meanwhile, hiring of Border Patrol agents increased by 84% over the same time last year, according to DHS. DHS also said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on track to hire 10,000 new officers by the end of 2025. ICE has also offered $10,000 recruitment incentives and changed its minimum officer age to 18 years old to facilitate the recruitment campaign. DHS said it has received a record number of job applications in 2025 at agencies including ICE, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Secret Service. But House Homeland Security Committee Democrats are now asking the Government Accountability Office to review ICE’s hiring practices.

Breitbart [12/25/2025 12:25 PM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports last Christmas, the U.S. southern border was the epicenter of a national crisis. One year later, it is the centerpiece of a political victory lap, as the Trump administration touts record‑low crossings, aggressive enforcement, and what officials call "the most secure border in American history.". "Just one year ago, our border faced unprecedented chaos," Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks stated in a post on social media. "Today, thanks in part to the relentless dedication of Border Patrol Agents, we have achieved historic border security milestones and record-low illegal crossings.". During the first ten full months of the Trump administration, Border Patrol agents encountered approximately 73,329 migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. between ports of entry, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Southwest Land Border Encounters Report. One year earlier, during the final year of the Biden-era Border Crisis, the number of encounters was 879,837. During these periods, the apprehensions in the Biden era averaged nearly 88,000 encounters per month. This fell precipitously during the Trump administration to approximately 7,300 per month — a decrease of almost 92 percent. Earlier this month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Krist Noem stated, "In record-time we have secured the border, taken the fight to cartels, and arrested thousands upon thousands of criminal illegal aliens.".

FOX News [12/25/2025 7:00 AM, Rachel del Guidice Fox, 40621K] reports Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who is running for Senate, said she is doubtful the border data coming from President Donald Trump’s administration is accurate and accused it of not being "the most honest" at reporting numbers. During an interview Tuesday on "Meet the Press NOW," NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez asked Crockett about immigration. "One of the key issues in Texas is, of course, immigration," he said. "You, of course, have been an outspoken critic of the president’s mass deportation policies and of ICE.” "But a lot of voters — a lot of Americans who voted for President Trump — think that he has done a strong job at the border. In fact, border encounter numbers are down, and the president is touting that as a success. You obviously have issues with the way he’s going about it, but has the president been successful — can you acknowledge that — on bringing border encounters down?" Gutierrez asked. Crockett responded that she is not convinced the border numbers are accurate. "I will acknowledge that what is being reported is that border encounters are lower," Crockett said. "I will also say that we know that this administration has not been the most honest when it comes to reporting numbers, as we know that there’s now reporting that they have not been honest about the jobs numbers.” Crockett described Trump’s immigration enforcement as "inhumane.” "What I can tell you is that he has invoked a very inhumane way of carrying out immigration," Crockett said. "What I also can tell you is that he has not worked through the Congress, and that’s what we need is comprehensive immigration reform. What I also can tell you is that we have a historic number of people that have died in ICE custody since he’s been in. "What I also can tell you is that we have a historic number of American citizens that have been rounded up, and what I can also tell you is that this Supreme Court, unfortunately, has basically given him carte blanche to go after people because of an accent or because of what they look like, and that is wrong.” In October, the Trump administration announced it closed out fiscal year 2025 with the lowest U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions since 1970, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reporting 237,565 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal year 2025 compared to 201,780 in fiscal year 1970. In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, "This is a bizarre conspiracy theory from a woman who couldn’t even properly read the FEC website before telling lies on the House floor. It’s a fact that the border is the most secure in history, and dangerous criminal illegal aliens are being deported thanks to President Trump’s policies." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [12/24/2025 5:50 AM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] Video: HERE reports during an interview aired on Tuesday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) responded to a question on whether their was chaos on the border under the Biden administration that has been reduced by the Trump administration by saying that “I can’t say that the border has ever been perfect, and I can’t say that I believe that the border is perfect right now, so let me acknowledge that. What I do believe, again, though, is that we need to focus on comprehensive immigration reform.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [12/24/2025 6:38 PM, Kathleen Wong, 67103K] reports a burner phone might be one way to avoid having your personal data scrutinized when crossing U.S. borders, even if you’re not hiding anything. Travelers are facing higher scrutiny when attempting to enter the country as U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents follow directives to bolster national security. Any traveler – whether a citizen or visitor – can be subject to an inspection, meant to verify their identity and assess any risk of crime or contraband, according to the agency. During these inspections, agents are legally allowed to search information stored directly on anyone’s electronic devices, including photos and deleted folders, without a warrant. CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham previously told USA TODAY, the agency "follows strict policies and directives when it comes to searching electronic media." However, foreign travelers or those applying for a visa could undergo more intensive screening of their digital footprint, such as the proposed new measures by the Department of Homeland Security that would include a five-year review of someone’s social media history. Some travelers, even U.S. citizens, are worried that the content on their phones could get them in trouble. To limit what can be looked at during border searches, they may be considering packing a burner phone with them instead of their regular one. "It may be helpful for travelers to know when they weigh the decision of what device to bring with them when traveling into the United States that searches of electronic personal devices are not new, the policy and procedures for searches have not changed, and that the likelihood of a search has not increased and remains exceedingly rare," CBP told USA TODAY in a Dec. 15th statement. Under this idea, travelers would leave their primary phone at home and bring a secondary phone with minimal personal information stored on it instead. This device would be exclusively "a travel phone, and has very limited functionality," said Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. She added, "We’ve heard anecdotally that some travelers may be wanting to do that more."

NPR [12/24/2025 5:21 PM, Adrian Florido, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports a North Carolina woman left her front yard Christmas tree half-decorated after immigration agents questioned men helping her. The unfinished tree stands as a symbol of the immigration crackdown.

[12/24/2025 3:09 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks told Newsmax that his agency’s personnel will remain in Chicago, and rejected Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s claims that agents have been harassing the city’s residents. "CBP is not leaving Chicago," Banks said Wednesday on "National Report." "We’re not leaving Illinois. We will not be run out of any city." Questions about CBP rose after the agency’s Chicago commander, Greg Bovino, had left the city in recent weeks to head up deportation exercises in New Orleans, Charlotte, and other locations. Bovino had been leading President Donald Trump’s aggressive Chicago crackdown since September, but some had said Operation Midway Blitz was over with him leaving until his return last week, while reports have stated he’ll be leaving to conduct other enforcement activities in other states. Banks declined to preview specific targets or identify future locations before operations begin, but he emphasized that Border Patrol has the authority to operate nationwide. "The United States Border Patrol is exactly that. We’re the United States Border Patrol, and we will go anywhere in the United States and arrest those in this country illegally," Banks said. "There’s no such thing as sanctuary from immigration laws." Banks credited enforcement posture under Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, saying they have enabled agents to do their jobs "without a single change in law."

Breitbart.com [12/25/2025 12:52 AM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] reports on Wednesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Finnerty,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) stated that there has been a nearly 100% improvement on the border, but there are “certain spots where there [are] no border security walls or fences or very little help from some of the local folks there.” And “Arizona still is the number one human trafficking and drug trafficking corridor.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [12/24/2025 12:43 PM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports that the Dec. 17 takedown — dubbed Operation Eastbound and Down: The Last Chapter — ended with one suspect in custody and marked the 30th deployment this year for K9 Quinn, the department’s top narcotics dog. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, deputies seized 214 pounds of methamphetamine, five pounds of heroin, and $89,780 in suspected drug proceeds. Investigators estimate the street value of the narcotics at roughly $2 million. One suspect was arrested and booked into the Snohomish County Jail. The department did not disclose the exact location of the seizure, citing the ongoing investigation. The bust is part of a long‑running effort to dismantle a cartel‑linked supply chain feeding meth, heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine into King, Snohomish, and Skagit counties. Earlier phases of the operation targeted a regional distributor based in Lynnwood, Washington, believed to be coordinating shipments tied to the Sinaloa Cartel’s western U.S. network. This latest takedown also marked the 30th deployment this year for K9 Quinn, the department’s top narcotics detection dog. Deputies credited the canine unit with playing a critical role in locating the concealed drug load. While KCSO has not released a formal press statement, local agencies have confirmed that Operation Eastbound and Down has now resulted in multiple arrests and hundreds of pounds of narcotics seized across several deployments. In total, the broader operation has netted nearly 300 pounds of meth, 22 pounds of fentanyl powder, 12 pounds of heroin, nearly $230,000 in cash, and one seized vehicle. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks reported the arrest of a Mexican national linked to the "ruthless Sinaloa Cartel."

San Diego Union Tribune [12/24/2025 8:00 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1538K] reports cross-border students in the San Diego-Tijuana region will soon have an option for a faster commute to school. Early next year, the pedestrian border crossings in San Ysidro and Otay Mesa will add dedicated lanes for students living in Mexico who cross daily to go to school in the United States, officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. “The program is currently in the planning and coordination phase, with implementation expected to begin in early 2026,” the federal agency said Tuesday in a statement. The plan was first announced by Nicholas Pierce, the assistant director of border security at CBP’s San Diego field office, during a Dec.12 event celebrating the launch of a binational higher education consortium. A designated lane for students will also open at the Calexico pedestrian crossing in Imperial County, officials said. The program will use advanced biometric technology to process northbound students, “to ensure a secure and expedited experience,” CBP said. Those interested will be able to register in advance by submitting their travel documents. This will allow customs officials to have their information ahead of time. The program will be available to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and certain non-immigrant visa classifications, such as student visas, officials said. CBP said that further details will be shared as they are finalized. Joaquín Luken, executive director of the nonprofit Smart Border Coalition, praised the program. “It’s a win-win,” he said, referring to the benefits for both the border community and CBP’s security mission. “You have information in advance about who is coming, and at the same time, crossings are faster without sacrificing security,” he added. Similar efforts have been made in the past in the binational region for cross-border students. In March 2024, the city of Tijuana expanded its Fast Lane program to include cross-border students. Registered students can access the San Ysidro or Otay Mesa vehicle border crossings through a designated access point operated by the city of Tijuana. However, the Tijuana Fast Lane program for students is only available for vehicle crossings at certain hours and costs about $340 per month. The program is not conducted by CBP, and it does not change the inspection process for entering the U.S. Previous estimates have put the number of cross-border students in the region around 7,000. Luken hopes this program will provide a better and updated picture of how many students are crossing the border daily.

CBS News [12/24/2025 5:25 PM, Zachary Bynum, 39474K] reports for millions of travelers, airport security can feel like the most stressful part of any trip — shoes off, laptops out, lines inching forward while flight boards flash warnings overhead. But new data obtained by CBS News suggests travelers flying through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport may be navigating that experience with less frustration than many expect. According to a decade-long analysis of TSA complaint data, Hartsfield-Jackson recorded one of the lowest complaint rates among major U.S. airports, especially notable given that it is the busiest airport in the world. Between 2015 and 2024, the airport logged 4.53 TSA complaints per 100,000 passengers, placing it tied for seventh-lowest nationwide among the country’s largest airports. The study analyzed TSA complaints submitted to the agency’s Contact Center and compared them against total passenger enplanements at 63 of the busiest U.S. airports. The goal is to measure how often travelers felt compelled to formally report issues, such as customer service problems, screening delays, or mishandled property. Over the 10-year period, Hartsfield-Jackson handled more than 461 million passengers — far more than most airports on the list — yet still maintained a relatively low complaint rate. By comparison, some smaller airports recorded complaint rates more than double Atlanta’s, suggesting that airport size alone doesn’t determine passenger frustration.

The Hill [12/24/2025 12:53 PM, Zach Schonfeld, 12595K] reports a federal magistrate judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from withholding disaster preparation grants to states if they don’t recalculate their population figures to reflect recent deportations. U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Potter also found the administration unlawfully shortened the period to spend the funds from it and another terrorism prevention grant program from three years to one. Potter ruled both changes were arbitrary and capricious. "Even giving Defendants the benefit of the doubt here, the Court finds the reasoning for each change to be lacking," she wrote. Last month, a group of Democratic-led states sued over the new conditions in federal court in Oregon. Their case concerned two grant programs managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The Hill [12/24/2025 12:07 PM, Sudiksha Kochi, 12595K] reports Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) returned to the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey on Tuesday to push for its closure months after she was involved in a scuffle at the immigration detention facility that resulted in criminal charges. McIver’s latest visit comes after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian immigrant who was detained at the facility, died "from suspected natural causes." He had entered ICE custody on Dec. 11, according to the agency, and died Dec. 12. "Today we demanded answers about the death of Mr. Brutus in ICE custody and spoke to people being mistreated. It was difficult to be back at Delaney Hall, but I have a responsibility to serve the people and protect the 10th," McIver wrote in a post on social platform X. McIver wrote in a statement prior to her visit that Delaney Hall "must be closed immediately" and that a "full, independent, investigation" needs to take place. She visited the facility with Reps. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). "This should not be open," McIver said in a press briefing after her visit, adding, "When we left out of there, a detainee told us, ‘This is not the America that we dreamed of.’"

Washington Post [12/26/2025 5:01 AM, Brady Dennis, 24149K] reports a dusting of December snow had turned the mountains around her white, but Elizabeth Clark barely had time to notice. It had been 438 days since Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters wrecked her home’s foundation, inundated the first floor, destroyed the septic system and swallowed their belongings. Her mortgage company agreed to pause her payments for a year, but now seemed to be losing patience over the $270,000 she still owed on a house no longer safe to live in. “I’ve never missed a payment in my whole life,” said Clark, a neonatal nurse at a nearby hospital. “Here now, at 42 years old, I’m having to consider foreclosing.” In November 2024, Clark was among the first storm victims in her county to apply for a voluntary program funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that would enable the government to buy out her property. After the storm, Clark and her husband, Calvin, spent weeks living in a hotel, before renting a home from friends for eight months. Finally, they moved nearly an hour away to a small house in Waynesville, North Carolina, that they had been leasing to tenants. It feels cramped with their three school-aged children, and each day brings hours on the road to return to the community where their kids go to school, play sports and visit grandparents. The loss of renters has been another financial hit. Meanwhile, more than 13 months after applying for a buyout, Clark has heard almost nothing definitive. She is hardly the only one enduring another winter of uncertainty. More than 800 storm victims around Helene-battered western North Carolina have applied under FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. State officials vetted applications and began sending them up the chain to FEMA as far back as February. As of Dec. 15, they had sent nearly 600 buyout requests to Washington, with more likely to follow. So far, they say, not a single approval has come through. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has called the paralysis “absolutely unacceptable,” and has pushed for answers. Earlier this month, he wrote to FEMA’s acting administrator, detailing the startling number of applications that “remain without a final decision.” “Further delay of these approvals,” he wrote, “keeps communities and families in limbo, in some cases paying expenses on homes they cannot live in while they await word from FEMA.” FEMA did not comment on questions about the program.

The Hill [12/24/2025 4:52 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Wednesday denied aid to Arizona counties after September flooding. Local officials estimate there was more than $30 million in damage to public infrastructure and homes. Hobbs said the state would appeal FEMA’s denial for disaster relief. The Department of Homeland Security, which houses FEMA, did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the matter. However, the Trump administration has sought to shrink federal disaster assistance to states and denied disaster relief to Colorado after a series of wildfires and floods earlier this year, with strong objections from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D). Arizona officials have echoed calls for aid as communities struggle to recover from flooding.

The AP [12/25/2025 8:05 PM, Ty Oneil, 31753K] reports California, soaked from days of relentless rain and recovering from mudslides in mountain towns, was hit with another powerful storm Christmas Day that led to evacuation warnings and high surf advisories. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California issued an evacuation warning for Wrightwood, a mountain town about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, a day after rescuing people trapped in cars during a mud slide. The National Weather Service said waves near the San Francisco Bay Area could reach up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) Friday. Statewide, more than 70,000 people were without power Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. A day ago, heavy rain and fierce winds were blamed for at least two deaths. A major storm system moving toward the Midwest and Northeast was expected to interfere with travel, according to the National Weather Service. A mix of freezing rain and sleet could create icy conditions in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland. Forecasters warned heavy ice could cause outages. Snow was expected to blanket the Northeast early Friday. The Los Angeles Times [12/25/2025 5:54 PM, Howard Blume and Sandra McDonald, 14862K] reports that the forecast and heavy rains prompted L.A. Mayor Karen Bass to issue a declaration of emergency. A flood watch remained in effect for major portions of L.A. County through 6 p.m. on Friday. The forecast for Thursday night was a 90% chance of showers and 70% during daylight hours on Friday. By Friday night, the rain is expected to peter out. L.A. appears headed for a sunny, cool postcard weekend — with temperatures as high as 64 degrees. "We will finally dry out once again Saturday afternoon," said Kyle Wheeler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. However, Wheeler also cautioned that the lighter rain on Friday poses risk because the ground is already saturated throughout much of the Southland. USA Today [12/25/2025 5:13 PM, Jeanine Santucci and Thao Nguyen, 67103K] reports "The fast-moving runoff can pick up rocks, mud, ash and debris, quickly turning into a debris flow that can race downhill with little warning, taking out homes, vehicles and roads along the way," AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. The weather service office in Los Angeles has urged the public to "stay safe and avoid travel" due to possible wind damage, flooding, mudslides and landslides in the region. A state of emergency was in place across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Shasta counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced. The storm system, which arrived late on Dec. 23, comes after an earlier atmospheric river brought heavy rain to parts of Central and Northern California. At least four deaths have been linked to the severe weather. Nearly 100,000 homes and businesses were without power on Christmas afternoon across the state of California, according to USA TODAY’s power outage tracker.

CBS News [12/25/2025 7:33 PM, Staff, 39474K] reports more severe holiday weather is forecast for an already soaked California, with parts of the state bracing for possible additional mudslides and debris flows. Rain from a powerful winter storm that swept across Southern California was tapering off, but another storm system was on the horizon for Christmas Day with showers and possible thunderstorms. Two deaths in the state may be related to the severe weather, authorities said. A flood watch is in effect through Friday along the California coast from the Oregon border to Los Angeles and in central California. CBS News weather producer Elie Morrison says "additional on-and-off heavy downpours moving onto the California coast through Friday" could result in an additional 2 to 5 inches of rain. Forecasters said Southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned of flash flooding and mudslides. Areas scorched by January wildfires got evacuation warnings as heavy rains and gusty winds brought mudslides and debris flows. Many flood areas were in burn scar zones, which were stripped of vegetation by fire and are less able to absorb water. A CBS News crew captured images of a mudslide they witnessed early Thursday in Altadena, a community that was hit hard by the fires.

San Francisco Chronicle [12/25/2025 3:40 PM, Anthony Edwards, 4722K] reports a tornado warning that was in effect for portions of Santa Cruz County was canceled at 12:50 p.m. "The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe limits, and no longer appears capable of producing a tornado," the weather service wrote. "Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. However, small hail and gusty winds are still possible with this thunderstorm." It was not immediately clear if a tornado touched down in the warned region. A low risk of tornadoes continues across the Bay Area through the evening. A rare alignment of atmospheric conditions set the stage for potential waterspouts and tornadoes along the California coast Thursday.

CBS Miami [12/24/2025 8:10 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports the families of Randall Spivey and Brandon Bill Maher say they are devastated but respectful of the Coast Guard’s decision. The two have been missing since Friday, Dec. 19. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [12/24/2025 2:33 PM, Kim Luciani, Tayeba Hussein, Charles Runnells, Ashley Ferrer, C. A. Bridges, 67103K] reports the search for two boaters missing off the coast of Naples, Florida, has been suspended after a massive four-day search operation. The U.S. Coast Guard halted its search for Fort Myers attorney Randall Spivey, 57, and his nephew Brandon Billmaier, 33, at sunset on Monday, Dec. 22. The relatives disappeared on Dec. 19, and the search spanned nearly 6,700 square miles of sea, officials reported. "After the utmost consideration and careful review of all factors involved in this case, the Coast Guard made the difficult decision to suspend its active search efforts," Capt. Corrie Sergent, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said. "There is no harder decision than suspending a search. I am incredibly grateful for the crews, partners, and volunteers across this community who executed this massive search with the utmost professionalism, persistence, and compassion. We offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of Mr. Spivey and Mr. Billmaier during this extremely difficult time.".

Breitbart [12/24/2025 5:00 AM, Simon Kent, 2416K] reports Brown University campus safety chief Rodney Chatman has been placed on leave more than a week after a deadly mass shooting that killed two and injured nine others. The BBC reports the decision was announced by the Ivy League school’s president Christina Paxson on Monday, who said it is part of a "standard" review into campus safety in light of the attack. Chatman, the vice president for public safety and emergency management for the school, is relieved of all duties "effective immediately", Paxson said. The former chief of police of the Providence Police Department, Hugh T. Clements, will serve as interim chief. Police have been criticised for their response to the shooting and their failure to quickly identify and apprehend a suspect.

Daily Caller [12/25/2025 12:09 PM, Hudson Crozier, 835K] reports federal and state officials are barreling ahead with the first terrorism case in American history that targets an "Antifa cell.". Seven pleaded guilty, nine are set for federal trial in January and at least two more face state charges over an Antifa-linked July 4 shooting attack at a Texas immigration facility, reports and court records show. The case shows what President Donald Trump’s labeling of Antifa as a domestic terrorist threat means in practice for investigating and prosecuting suspects. Federal officials charged alleged ringleader Benjamin Song, Cameron Arnold, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, Elizabeth Soto and Ines Soto with riot, terrorism, attempted murder, firearm, explosive and evidence tampering crimes, documents show. They face decades in prison if convicted. Texas officials also widened the net of arrestees after the shooting to include alleged accomplices. The FBI’s investigation is still open "until the judicial outcomes are complete for each defendant," the bureau’s Dallas field office told the Daily Caller News Foundation. A lawyer for Elizabeth Soto declined to comment to the DCNF. Attorneys and law offices representing the other non-convicted defendants did not respond to requests for comment. Morris, a lawyer for Evetts and members of Batten and Arnold’s households have denied that they planned violence, in comments to media outlets.

Washington Examiner [12/24/2025 4:42 PM, Mia Cathell, 1394K] reports a federal grand jury indicted four suspected members of an anti-government activist group on terrorism-related felonies for their alleged involvement in a thwarted bombing plot targeting various businesses across Los Angeles. Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante James Anthony-Gaffield, and Tina Cheng-Ting Lai are facing charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, plus possession of unregistered firearms, according to the six-count indictment returned on Tuesday. Carroll and Page, the alleged orchestrators of the operation, were also charged with one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. In addition to five identified targets, more "marks" could have been targeted "if enough comrades" assembled, according to an operational blueprint intercepted by the FBI. According to probable cause statements, the suspects conspired to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and vehicles, intending to "take some of them out and scare the rest of them."

Los Angeles Times [12/24/2025 6:00 AM, Grace Toohey and Noah Goldberg, 14862K] reports federal officials announced Tuesday that additional terrorism charges were brought against a far-left group accused of planning a terror plot to bomb Southern California locations on New Year’s Eve, a plan officials said was devised by a radical faction of the relatively unknown Turtle Island Liberation Front. The alleged bombing scheme immediately grabbed national headlines due to the charges of politically motivated violence. The "violent, homegrown, antigovernment group," according to the FBI, planned to bomb several Southern California businesses. If true, and successful, the plan could have been deadly and undoubtedly would have left residents and the region stunned on the cusp of a new year. But an FBI sting foiled the plot — four people with ties to the Turtle Island group were arrested as they were starting to construct improvised explosive devices in the Mojave Desert earlier this month, according to officials.

AP [12/25/2025 2:42 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports Istanbul police launched scores of simultaneous raids on Thursday, detaining over a hundred suspected members of the militant Islamic State group who were allegedly planning attacks against Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, authorities said. A statement from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said police were tipped off that the extremist group had called for action — particularly against non-Muslims — during the celebrations. The office had issued warrants for 137 suspects, of whom 115 were detained. Officers also seized many firearms, cartridges and documents during the raids. It said 124 locations were raided. The arrests come days after the Trump administration launched widespread military strikes in neighboring Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State fighters and weapons’ sites in retaliation for an ambush blamed on the group that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter. Syrian security forces have also launched operations against IS in recent days, including two raids on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian capital. In those raids, Syrian officials said Taha al-Zoubi, identified as the IS leader in the Damascus area, was captured and Mohammed Shahadeh, a senior IS commander in Syria, was killed.

Reported similarly:
CNN [12/25/2025 3:45 PM, Gul Tuysuz and Mohammed Tawfeeq, 18595K]

CBS News [12/25/2025 7:29 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that he had "a very good conversation" with President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Christmas Day. He said they discussed "certain substantive details of the ongoing work" on a potential peace deal with Russia, though he did not specify what issues they talked about. "I thank them for the constructive approach, the intensive work, and the kind words and Christmas greetings to the Ukrainian people," Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on X. "We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine." In a short video posted later, he said they spoke for nearly an hour. Zelenskyy said he was joined on the call by Ukraine’s national security adviser Rustem Umerov and other members of his diplomatic team. He said Umerov would be speaking with Witkoff and Kushner again later in the day. He added, "I also asked the guys to pass along our Christmas greetings to Donald Trump and the entire Trump family. Thank you!" U.S. envoys have been holding talks with the Russian side as well. Kirill Dmitriev, who heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, traveled to Miami for meetings last weekend.

CBS News [12/24/2025 8:54 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports Trump administration trade officials said China should be punished for employing unfair tactics to dominate the semiconductor industry, but will wait 18 months to impose tariffs. A U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigation concluded China’s targeting of semiconductors "for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts US commerce and thus is actionable," the agency said in a public notice posted Tuesday. The current tariff level of zero will be increased "in 18 months on June 23, 2027 to a rate to be announced not fewer than 30 days prior to that date," USTR said. The public notice comes after a year-long investigation into China’s approach to the chip industry, undertaken through Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Under that law, the U.S. president may impose country-based tariffs at a rate of his choosing if the U.S. Trade Representative finds that another country is engaging in unfair foreign trade practices. "For decades, China has targeted the semiconductor industry for dominance and has employed increasingly aggressive and sweeping non-market policies and practices in pursuing dominance of the sector," the public notice said. Beijing said Wednesday it "firmly opposes" the move and accused Washington of abusing tariffs to "unreasonably suppress Chinese industries". This "disrupts the stability of the global supply chain, hinders the development of all countries’ semiconductor industries and harms others while hurting itself," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian.

Wall Street Journal [12/24/2025 11:53 AM, Sabrina Siddiqui, 646K] reports the Trump administration accused China of employing unfair trade practices in the semiconductor industry but said it would hold off on imposing additional tariffs until 2027. In a public notice posted on Tuesday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said China’s “targeting of the semiconductor industry for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce and thus is actionable.” The notice said the initial tariff level will remain at zero for 18 months and then be increased in June 2027 to an undetermined rate. The findings were a result of a trade inquiry launched toward the end of the Biden administration that focused on China’s manufacturing of older-generation chips used across consumer electronics, vehicles, military systems and telecommunications. U.S. and European authorities have been increasingly wary of China’s outsize role in the production of these so-called legacy chips. The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately return a request for comment. The move to delay new tariffs underscores the Trump administration’s effort to steady relations with Beijing following a bruising trade fight between the U.S. and China earlier this year.

Breitbart [12/24/2025 11:07 AM, John Hayward, 2416K] reports that according to Reuters, the Pentagon believes China has quietly loaded over a hundred solid-fueled DF-31 ICBMs" into its new silos. Commercial satellite imagery revealed in June 2021 that China was building an immense field of missile silos near the northwestern city of Yumen, which is south of the Mongolian border. The field covered hundreds of square miles, and boasted 119 construction sites that were identical to China’s existing nuclear missile silos. Further satellite photos taken a month later captured a second silo field of comparable size under construction near the city of Hami, about 240 miles northwest of the Yumen field. The Hami field was in a much earlier state of development than Yumen but appeared to be large enough to hold 110 to 120 silos. The third silo field was spotted by satellites in August 2021, although construction had probably begun several months earlier. It is located near the township of Hanggin Banner, Inner Mongolia; while roughly comparable in land area to the Yumen and Hami fields, it appeared to have fewer silos under construction. Unlike the other two sites, Hanggin Banner did not have an existing local garrison from the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), so its silo field represented a significant geographical extension of China’s ICBM arsenal.

AP [12/24/2025 11:14 PM, Kim Tong-Hyung, 31753K] reports North Korea on Thursday displayed apparent progress in the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing a largely completed hull, as leader Kim Jong Un condemned rival South Korea’s push to acquire the technology. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a shipyard to inspect the construction of what the North describes as an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine, which the leader has called a crucial step in the modernization and nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy. The North has indicated it plans to arm the submarine with nuclear weapons, calling it a "strategic guided missile submarine" or a "strategic nuclear attack submarine.". During the visit, Kim described South Korea’s efforts to acquire its own nuclear-powered submarine, which have been backed by President Trump, as an "offensive act" that severely violates the North’s security and maritime sovereignty. He said that the South Korean plan further underscores the need to advance and nuclear-arm North Korea’s navy, and claimed that the completion of his nuclear-powered submarine would be an "epoch-making" change in strengthening its nuclear war deterrent against what he called enemy threats. The agency did not specify when Kim visited the shipyard but released photos showing him inspecting a huge, burgundy-colored vessel, coated with what appears to be anti-corrosion paint, under construction inside an assembly hall with senior officials and his daughter. It was the first time North Korean state media had released images of the submarine since March, when they mostly showed the lower sections of the vessel. It was not immediately clear how close North Korea is to completing the vessel. But because submarines are typically built from the inside out, the release of what appears to be a largely completed hull suggests that many core components, including the engine and possibly the reactor, are in place, said Moon Keun-sik, a submarine expert at Seoul’s Hanyang University. US Tells Afghan Migrants to Report on Christmas, New Year’s DayHe believes the North Korean submarine could possibly be tested at sea within months. A nuclear-powered submarine is Kim’s next major military goal.

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