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

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

CBS Austin [1/31/2025 12:15 PM, Jackson Walker, 581K, Negative] reports that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday joined Fox News to announce United States military prison Guantanamo Bay would soon be prepared to house illegal migrants who had been deported form the country. President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested as many as 30,000 criminal migrants may be sent to the complex. He said the decision is due to a lack of confidence in other countries’ ability to detain these individuals. "Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re gonna send them out to Guantanamo," Trump said. "This will double our capacity immediately, right? And tough. That’s a tough, that’s a tough place to get out of." Noem explained the facility will not take long to prepare for the migrants’ arrivals. "It wont take very long at all," she said. "We already have some dangerous criminals there that are illegal aliens and the facilities can be set up fairly quickly." "We have the space, we just have to get to work," she added. The secretary also joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in New York City this week as they carried out deportation efforts. Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, said in a video shared via X she went along to get "the dirtbags off these streets.". The secretary noted in another post a "criminal alien with kidnapping, assault & burglary charges is now in custody."

FOX News [1/31/2025 12:00 PM, Marc Tamasco, 49889K, Neutral] reports that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that the "worst of the worst" criminal migrants will be temporarily housed at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and that "all options will be on the table" for military action against the cartels, in an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Friday. This confirmation comes on the heels of an announcement made by President Donald Trump on Wednesday that he will be instructing the Pentagon to prepare Guantanamo Bay to detain 30,000 "criminal illegal aliens." "Today I’m also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay," Trump said. "Most people don’t even know about it." It was later learned that Trump signed a presidential memorandum, not an executive order, on the matter. "Guantanamo Bay is a perfect transit point to temporarily house the worst of the worst until we move them back to their home countries, who, as President Trump has made it very clear, better be prepared to take them robustly and soon," Hegseth told "Fox and Friends," adding, "Because they sent them here, sent criminals, opened their jails. It affected our people. The president is reversing that. Guantanamo Bay will be a part of that." The Washington Examiner [1/31/2025 11:32 AM, Luke Gentile, 2365K, Negative] reports that "As we identify criminal illegals in our country, the military is leaning forward to help with moving them out to their home countries or someone else in the interim." If illegal immigrants cannot go to a different country immediately, they can go to Guantanamo Bay, according to Hegseth. "Going back to the ‘90s, there were tens of thousands of Haitians and Cuban migrants who were housed there because it was a transit point in the Caribbean, and I knew of those places when I was there, and those we’re gonna stand up fairly quickly," he said. "You can get thousands of individuals in tents, secured, in places at Guantanamo Bay.". "There’s also the eventuality that we could have hardened criminals, hardened gang members with violent criminal pasts in transit," he added. "If that is the case, we’re preparing options for the actual detention facilities."

Politico [1/31/2025 6:50 PM, Paul McLeary, Negative] reports the Pentagon expects to send two flights of migrants to Guantanamo Bay this weekend, the first step in President Donald Trump’s plan to use the military base as a detainment facility. The final details are still getting worked out, according to two defense officials, but the planes likely will join another one headed to Peru as the military seeks to enact Trump’s orders to deport thousands of people in the country illegally. The military has flown eight flights so far — including four to Guatemala, three to Honduras and one to Ecuador — all using military aircraft. But this is the first time migrants would head to the base in Cuba, which presents a unique set of legal and logistical challenges. Defense officials have been scrambling since to come up with a plan to house up to 30,000 people, far more than the 780 detainees who stayed in a base detention camp during the peak of the war on terror. This gives the military another costly, short-notice mission as officials also seek to meet a separate Trump order for more troops at the southern border. Politico [1/31/2025 10:00 AM, Paul McLeary, Jack Detsch, and Myah Ward, 57114K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump’s plan to use Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants thrusts the Pentagon into a challenging, costly new effort just as officials vow to refocus the military on its core mission. Defense Department officials are discussing using tents, although they face the challenge of tropical weather, limited staff and access to medical treatments for migrants. And they’re attempting to balance resources and finances with another Trump order that troops head to the southern border to enhance security. "Things are moving as we speak," said one defense official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a rapidly evolving issue. The official, like others, was caught flatfooted on Wednesday by Trump’s announcement. The person had no details about what the precise orders would be, when the detainees would arrive or what their housing might look like. Reuters [1/31/2025 5:50 PM, Jasper Ward, 48128K, Negative] reports the United States will "hopefully" start moving migrants to a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within 30 days. Tod Homan said he planned to travel to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in the coming weeks to oversee the fast-tracked construction of the facility.

AP [1/31/2025 6:19 PM, Lolita C. Baldor, Negative] reports the Pentagon is readying orders for the deployment of at least 1,000 additional active duty troops to bolster President Donald Trump’s expanding crackdown on immigration, U.S. officials said Friday. They said roughly 500 more soldiers — largely a headquarters unit from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in New York — will be sent to the southwest border. And about 500 Marines will go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some of the detained migrants will be held. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because announcements have not been made, said there have been ongoing discussions about the deployments and the numbers could increase if additional details are worked out. The Pentagon has been scrambling to put in motion Trump’s executive orders signed shortly after he took office on Jan. 20. The first group of 1,600 active duty troops deployed to the border last week. The deployments reflect Trump’s determination to expand the military’s role in his campaign to shut down the border and send detained migrants back to their home countries.

The AP [2/1/2025 12:02 AM, Matthew Lee, 33392K, Neutral] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks this weekend on his first foreign trip in office, heading to Central America to press President Donald Trump’s top priority — curbing illegal immigration — and bring the message that the U.S. wants to reclaim control over the Panama Canal despite intense resistance from regional leaders. It’s an unusual destination for the maiden voyage of America’s top diplomat, whose predecessors have generally favored Europe or Asia for their initial outings. It reflects not only the personal interest that Rubio — the first Hispanic to hold the nation’s most senior Cabinet post — has in the region but also the Trump administration’s intent to focus much of its foreign policy energy close to home. “It’s no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state will keep me in the hemisphere,” Rubio wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Limiting immigration and fighting narcotics smuggling are major elements of that effort, but another key priority will be curbing China’s growing influence in the Western Hemisphere, topped by reasserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal. The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trump’s demand to hand it back. Mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have wreaked havoc, Rubio said in the Journal opinion piece. “All the while, the Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economic leverage — such as at the Panama Canal — to oppose the U.S. and turn sovereign nations into vassal states.” Indeed, Rubio’s first stop on the five-nation tour Saturday will be Panama, whose president, José Raúl Mulino, says there will be no negotiation with the United States over ownership of the canal. He said he hoped Rubio’s visit would instead focus on shared interests like migration and combating drug trafficking. CNN [2/1/2025 5:00 AM, Jennifer Hansler and Priscilla Alvarez, 987K, Neutral] reports that discussion about the Panama Canal - which Trump has repeatedly said should be back under US control - is also "a priority" while the top US diplomat is in Panama City. Rubio is also expected to emphasize efforts to counter China in the region. However, aid officials and some US officials say this effort - and priorities like countering illegal migration and drug trafficking - have been undermined by his sweeping foreign assistance freeze. On migration, Trump officials have been mapping out a Latin America strategy, keenly aware that the region is integral to their aggressive deportation agenda. For years, the US has been sending back migrants from Central American countries. However, the Covid-19 pandemic in part spurred record migration across the Western Hemisphere, meaning that more people were journeying to the United States’ southern border from multiple countries. The less-than-day-long public showdown between the Trump and Petro has been a key talking point among Trump officials and offers a window into how the administration plans to approach its dealings with regional allies. "We need to work with countries of origin to halt and deter further migrant flows, and to accept the return of their citizens present in the U.S. illegally," Rubio wrote in the Wall Street Journal Friday. "Some countries are cooperating with us enthusiastically-others, less so. The former will be rewarded," he said. "For the latter, Mr. Trump has already shown that he is more than willing to use America’s considerable leverage to protect our interests. Just ask Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro." Still, how the administration plans to specifically work with its partners in the Western Hemisphere is still unclear. One test will be how the Trump administration leverages its close relationship with El Salvador. US officials are in talks with the country to strike an asylum agreement that would allow the US to send asylum seekers who are not Salvadoran to El Salvador to seek protections. The matter is expected to be discussed during Rubio’s meetings with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and other officials.

CNN [1/31/2025 2:05 PM, Stefano Pozzebon, 987K, Negative] reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will discuss the possibility of deporting suspected Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador in an upcoming meeting with Salvadorean president Nayib Bukele, according to State Department Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone. "We’re looking to do a new agreement that might include the members of the Tren de Aragua, who will want to go back to Venezuela rather than having to share the prison with the Salvadorean gangs like MS-13. It’s part of what we want to discuss and how President Bukele can help us…" Claver-Carone told reporters on Friday, praising Bukele’s security efforts in recent years. Since taking office in 2019, Bukele has launched a security crackdown in El Salvador, detaining tens of thousands of people on suspicion of gang membership. Once suffering from the highest murder-rate of any country outside a war zone, El Salvador has now fewer murders than the United States according to government figures. But human rights activists say the Bukele administration’s approach is overbroad – new legislation introduced as part of the crackdown allows police to detain citizens without proof. The AP [1/31/2025 12:47 PM, Eric Bazail-Eimil, 57114K, Neutral] reports that special envoy to Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone told reporters that the U.S. wants to restore a deal from Trump’s first term that designated it as a "safe third country" for such deportees. The Biden administration canceled that accord before it could be implemented and deportees could be sent there. Such an agreement could give the administration an avenue to deport some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants inside the U.S. from countries like Venezuela or Nicaragua which do not accept, or restrict the number of U.S. deportation flights. Claver-Carone said Rubio plans to discuss the issue during his visit to El Salvador in the coming days, part of a multi-country trip in Latin America. "During the first Trump administration, El Salvador was one of three countries that had a ‘safe third’ agreement with the United States, which will also be a topic of discussion," Claver-Carone said. Under the terms of that agreement, foreign nationals would be sent to El Salvador and directed to seek asylum there. They would be barred from seeking U.S. asylum. A political crisis in Venezuela has fueled a massive migration crisis throughout the Western Hemisphere, and Trump has stated he wants to address the large influx of Venezuelans into the United States.

Reported similarly:
VOA News [1/31/2025 9:46 AM, Nike Ching, 2717K, Neutral]
FOX News [1/31/2025 10:35 AM, Gabriel Hays, 49889K, Neutral]

Reuters [1/31/2025 6:56 PM, Staff, 48128K, Neutral] reports U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. would once again restrict financial transactions with many Cuban military- and government-linked entities, just weeks after the Biden administration had sought to roll those sanctions back. Rubio said the Trump administration would re-create the "Cuba Restricted List," which prohibits certain transactions with companies under the control of, or acting for or on behalf of, the "repressive" Cuban military, intelligence, or security services or personnel, he said. Biden had eliminated the restricted list, while at the same time taking Cuba off a U.S. terrorism blacklist and making it more difficult for individuals to file lawsuits in U.S. courts over property seized following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Trump has since reversed all of the Biden measures, signaling a tough new stance on the communist-run island and long-time foe of the United States. Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the Rubio announcements, calling them "unjustifiable." "Toughening criminal measures against the Cuban people will lead to greater shortages, separation and increased emigration," Rodriguez.

USA Today [1/31/2025 10:27 AM, Eve Chen, 89965K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump appointed a U.S. Air Force and FAA career veteran to head up the Federal Aviation Administration as it investigates this week’s deadly plane and helicopter crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, among other matters. New acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau fills the vacancy left by Mike Whitaker, who stepped down early when Trump took office on Jan. 20. Whitaker was unanimously confirmed as FAA administrator in October 2023. Prior to that, the FAA had gone without a permanent administrator for more than a year. FAA administrators typically serve five-year terms. Rocheleau has more than 20 years of experience at the FAA, including roles like deputy associate administrator for Aviation Safety and director of National Security Programs, Emergency Operations and Investigations. He also previously served as chief operating officer of the National Business Aviation Association and was an early leader in the Transportation Security Administration, according to his FAA bio. Disability rights advocates and civil rights leaders have blasted the president for linking the crash to DEI.

AP [1/31/2025 11:28 AM, Megan Janetsky, Maria Verza, and Joshua Goodman, 30936K, Negative] reports that a busy shelter for migrants in southern Mexico has been left without a doctor. A program to provide mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth fleeing Venezuela was disbanded. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, so-called “Safe Mobility Offices” where migrants can apply to enter the U.S. legally have shuttered. Barely a week into Donald Trump’s new administration, his order to halt U.S. foreign assistance is having a profound effect on an issue that propelled him to the White House: migration. Across Latin America, grassroots organizations that assist migrants have been gutted, the already perilous trek northward has become more confusing and the future of programs to root out the violence, poverty and human rights abuses that has driven historic levels of migration in recent years are hanging by a thread. Trump, within hours of taking office Jan. 20, ordered a sweeping 90-day freeze on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department. The decision immediately halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide, forcing U.S. aid organizations and partners in the field to slash hundreds of aid workers. The United States is the world’s largest source of foreign assistance by far, although several European countries allocate a much bigger share of their budgets. While aid to Africa dwarfs the roughly $2 billion that Latin America receives annually, the Western Hemisphere has long been a spending priority of both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Reuters [2/1/2025 12:09 AM, David Lawder, Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw, 48128K, Neutral] reports U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an order on Saturday imposing hefty new tariffs of 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% on imports from China, potentially disrupting more than $2.1 trillion worth of annual trade. Trump, who is working from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this weekend, said on Friday that there was little that the top three U.S. trading partners could do to forestall the tariffs. He set the Feb. 1 deadline to push them to take strong action to halt the flow of fentanyl and precursor chemicals into the U.S. from China via Mexico and Canada, as well as to stop illegal immigrants from crossing southern and northern U.S. borders. But during a lengthy White House exchange with reporters, Trump brushed aside the notion that his tariff threats were merely bargaining tools. "No, it’s not ... we have big (trade) deficits with, as you know, with all three of them." He also said that revenue was a factor and the tariffs may be increased, adding: "But it’s a lot of money coming to the United States." Trump did, however, reference a potential carve out for oil from Canada, saying that tariff rate would be 10% versus the 25% planned for other Canadian imports. But he indicated wider tariffs on oil and natural gas would be coming in mid-February, remarks that sent oil prices higher. Crude oil is the top U.S. import from Canada, reaching nearly $100 billion in 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Trump acknowledged that the steep duties could result in higher costs being passed on to consumers and that his actions may cause disruptions in the short term, but said he was not concerned about their impact on financial markets. Jake Colvin, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, which represents major U.S. companies on trade matters, said imposing tariffs on key U.S. trading partners "could impact the cost and availability of everything from avocados to air conditioners to cars and risks shifting the focus of our relationships away from constructive dialogue." The Wall Street Journal [1/31/2025 7:39 PM, Gavin Bade Natalie Andrews, Vipal Monga and Santiago Pérez, Neutral] reports the U.S. will impose tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, copper, oil and gas imports as soon as mid-February, President Trump said Friday, opening a new front in his looming second-term trade wars. “That’ll happen fairly soon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he also wants to hike tariffs on the European Union, which has “treated us so horribly,” though he didn’t specify when or how high the duties would be. Trump had said the Mexico and Canada tariffs will take effect if the countries don’t take steps to stop migration and drug trafficking over U.S. borders. He had promised to take a combative position with China over its role in the fentanyl crisis.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [2/1/2025 4:24 AM, Ana Swanson, Alan Rappeport and Colby Smith, 740K, Negative]
Washington Post [1/31/2025 6:38 PM, David J. Lynch, Mary Beth Sheridan and Amanda Coletta, 40736K, Neutral]

The New York Times [1/31/2025 9:04 PM, Glenn Thrush, Devlin Barrett, Alan Feuer and Eileen Sullivan, 161405K, Negative] reports the Justice Department’s campaign of retribution against officials who investigated President Trump and his supporters accelerated late Friday with the firing of more than a dozen federal prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, according to a department memo. Emil Bove, the acting No. 2 official at the department, offered no evidence those targeted had done anything improper, illegal or unethical. Instead he cited a legal technicality. Those informed of their dismissals had been hired to investigate the Jan. 6 riot as the office struggled to manage what became the largest prosecution in the department’s history. The move came on a day when the F.B.I. indicated it would scrutinize thousands of rank-and-file agents involved in Trump and Jan. 6 investigations. It amounted to a powerful indication that Mr. Trump has few qualms deploying the colossal might of federal law enforcement to punish perceived political enemies, even as his cabinet nominees offered sober assurances they would abide by the rule of law. Mr. Bove, who has overseen an opening volley of threats, firings and forced transfers since the inauguration, accused the Biden administration of illegally hiring prosecutors in recent months to permanent posts after being assigned to the Jan. 6 cases through the department’s probationary hiring program. The hirings, he wrote, “improperly hindered” acting U.S. attorney Ed Martin from fulfilling his “obligation to faithfully implement the agenda that the American people elected President Trump to execute.” Mr. Bove said he would not “tolerate subversive personnel actions” and suggested the now-empty slots would be used to make “merit-based” hires. FOX News [1/31/2025 8:57 PM, Brooke Singman, David Spunt, Jake Gibson, Louis Casiano, 57114K, Negative] reports "This memorandum sets forth a series of directives, authorized by the Acting Attorney General, regarding personnel matters to be addressed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Bove wrote. Bove, a former Trump defense attorney, directed Driscoll to fire eight specific FBI employees by Monday, Feb. 3, at 5:30 p.m. "I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully," Bove wrote in the memo. Bove cited comments made by President Trump on his first day back in office, in which Trump accused the Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies of going after Biden’s political adversaries. "The American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systemic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions," Bove’s memo noted. "This includes the FBI."

New York Times [1/31/2025 5:03 AM, Amanda Taub, 161405K, Neutral] reports President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda has revealed a crucial but little recognized truth. Deportation is not unilateral. It requires an agreement between two countries — one that’s expelling people, and one that’s receiving them. President Trump made mass deportations a signature campaign issue. In the days since he was sworn in, ICE agents have conducted high-profile raids and sent military and charter planes carrying undocumented immigrants back to their countries of origin. That has led to diplomatic friction: A flight of shackled deportees to Brazil drew protests from its government, and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia refused to allow two U.S. military planes carrying deportees to land, sparking a diplomatic face-off that led to the threat of U.S. tariffs before Colombia eventually backed down. The disputes showed that it’s one thing for the Trump administration to detain undocumented immigrants, and quite another to actually deport them. Sending people to another country requires bilateral negotiations — and, in the last week, quite a bit of diplomatic strong arming. The Trump administration also seems to be working to strengthen its diplomatic leverage. On Wednesday, the president announced plans to set up a detention camp at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. “We have 30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” President Trump said. “Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re going to send them out to Guantánamo.” Under international law, countries are obligated to receive their own citizens who are deported by another country. But in practice, there are often ways to push back. Countries can block deportation flights from landing, decline to issue travel documents to their citizens and refuse to acknowledge that the deportees are their citizens. “The legal situation is very clear,” said Gerald Knaus, the chairman of the European Stability Initiative, who helped to broker a high-profile deportation agreement between the European Union and Turkey in 2016. “But the legal situation doesn’t help if the countries to which you want to take the people don’t recognize that they are their citizens.”

New York Times [1/31/2025 5:03 AM, Annie Correal, 161405K, Negative] reports that, when President Gustavo Petro of Colombia announced on social media on Sunday that he had turned back U.S. military planes carrying deportees, President Trump came down hard. He threatened tariffs and penalties so extreme Mr. Petro was forced to back down. “They pushed until he had to bend,” Jorge Enrique Robledo, a former longtime Colombian senator, said in an interview. Later that day, the White House and Mr. Petro’s government announced that Colombia would welcome all Colombian deportees, including those on military jets, and Mr. Trump declared victory. The crisis riveted attention to the Trump administration’s deportation efforts; it also raised questions about the military planes deporting migrants, and why they angered Mr. Petro and other Latin American leaders. No. Rarely, in recent times, if ever, defense officials say. As part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migration, Mr. Trump signed an executive order last week authorizing the U.S. military to assist in securing the border. The acting secretary of defense at the time, Robert Salesses, said in a statement last Wednesday that the Department of Defense would “provide military airlift” to support the Department of Homeland Security in the deportation of more than 5,000 “illegal aliens.” Mr. Salesses said these were people being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the southern border. He noted that the flights would take place after the State Department obtained “the requisite diplomatic clearances” and notified each country. Symbolically, however, the military planes are emerging as crucial to the administration’s messaging around its efforts to crack down on migration. On Friday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, posted images of migrants filing onto a hulking, slate-gray C-17 Air Force plane, while shackled together. The caption read, “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.”

New York Times [1/31/2025 6:26 PM, Emily Badger, 161405K, Neutral] reports the new U.S. Department of Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, issued an order this week that threatened to shift federal transportation funding away from local governments that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The order revives an unsettled legal fight from the first Trump term over whether the federal government can withhold funds from “sanctuary cities.” The full intent of the transportation memo was unclear, but the practical effect of withholding even some money would probably be to harm transit systems in big cities, given that the largest transit networks in the country tend to be in places that also have sanctuary policies. But were the federal government to try to block funding to entire states with sanctuary policies, like California, it could also affect the roads, highways and transit used by millions of rural Americans. The transportation department declined to clarify if it intends to block funds to sanctuary cities and states, referring questions about the order back to the text itself. That document — described as covering all grants, loans and contracts — said the agency should “prioritize” projects under a range of conditions, including that they “require” local compliance or cooperation with immigration enforcement.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 5:52 PM, Jenna Sundel, 56005K, Neutral] reports a district judge appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017 will preside over a lawsuit filed Thursday challenging the president’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. The OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, a nonprofit organization that goes to bat for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, filed a lawsuit against Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Trump administration officials, and multiple government agencies. The nonprofit argues that Trump’s executive order would cause "irreparable harm" to its members and families across the U.S.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 5:34 PM, Dan Gooding, 56005K, Neutral] reports while the focus of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies has been on enforcement raids across the country and his executive orders, House Republicans have introduced at least six bills aimed at immigration reform. Among the issues covered by the legislation are creating funds to finish the wall at the United States-Mexico border, detaining rather than releasing asylum seekers, and ensuring all immigrants accused of sexual offenses are deported. The bills introduced tap into different areas of concern when it comes to immigration, including securing the southwest border and tackling violent, illegal immigrant criminals, while not necessarily seeking overall reform to a complex system that has not seen major changes in at least 30 years.

Washington Examiner [1/31/2025 6:24 PM, Christian Datoc, 2365K, Neutral] reports the Trump administration’s offer to federal employees to accept a deferred resignation does not include employees from either U.S. Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Trump administration sent an email to nearly every federal employee on Wednesday informing them that, in lieu of returning to the office in February as ordered by a Trump executive order, they may elect to resign by Feb. 6 but continue to work remotely, be paid, and receive benefits for eight months.". However, emails sent to all CBP and ICE staff on Friday informed employees of the two Department of Homeland Security agencies they are not eligible for the program, known as the Deferred Resignation Program, even if they responded affirmatively to the initial offer. "It has been determined ICE is not allowed to participate in the DRP. All ICE positions are excluded, and Deferred Resignation is not available to any ICE employees," Tyshawn Thomas, ICE’s chief human capital officer, wrote in his email to staff. "If you responded in the affirmative to OPM’s email, ICE will not be able to proceed with your participation. Thank you for your understanding and continued dedication.". Neither DHS nor the White House said if all DHS employees are ineligible for the DRP. Members of the military, U.S. postal workers, and other national security-focused agencies are also ineligible for the program.

FOX News [1/31/2025 2:47 PM, Haley Chi-Sing, 49889K, Neutral] reports that since taking office, President Donald Trump and his administration have become the target of multiple lawsuits over the president’s agenda and policies. The Trump White House has faced numerous legal challenges, including deportation policies, an executive order to end birthright citizenship and a directive to freeze federal funding. On the day of his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, with many legal experts arguing that the right is enshrined in the Constitution under the 14th Amendment. "The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift," Trump says in the order, titled, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship." The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration that same day "on behalf of organizations with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order." The ACLU also claimed the order is unconstitutional and against congressional intent and Supreme Court precedent. Eighteen Democrat-led states then launched their own lawsuit, also claiming the order is unconstitutional and "unprecedented." Attorneys general from New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and others signed on to the suit, along with the city and county of San Francisco, Calif., and Washington, D.C. A U.S. district judge also temporarily blocked Trump’s order in a separate lawsuit filed by the states of Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington, describing the action as "blatantly unconstitutional."

ABC News [1/31/2025 5:45 PM, Laura Romero, Negative] reports a group of immigrant advocacy centers and nonprofits has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security for shutting down legal orientation programs for immigrants, including people detained at ICE detention facilities. The lawsuit was filed a week after the Department of Justice told legal service providers who receive federal funding to stop providing legal orientation and other work intended to support immigrants at immigration court and detention facilities. The groups argue that legal orientation programs were stopped without advanced notice and that many of the nonprofits lost access to detention facilities across the country.

The AP [1/31/2025 5:02 PM, Staff, 47097K, Negative] reports a top U.S. Justice Department official said a county sheriff’s office in upstate New York would be investigated "for potential prosecution" because it released a Mexican citizen from jail even though a judge had signed a warrant for the man’s arrest. But Tompkins County officials quickly shot back, saying that the sheriff’s office had, in fact, contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the man’s pending release, and that federal agents simply hadn’t come by to pick him up. The back-and-forth between federal prosecutors and the county began Thursday, when Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a news release that the office of Sheriff Derek Osborne, a Democrat, had failed to detain a 27-year-old Mexican man after he finished serving a sentence for assault on Jan. 28. ABC News [1/31/2025 3:39 PM, Aaron Katersky, Alexander Mallin, and Katherine Faulders, 33392K, Negative] reports that the US Attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York "is looking into the circumstances" surrounding the release by Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne of Jesus Romero-Hernandez, a 27-year-old Mexican citizen. Romero-Hernandez pleaded guilty to a state assault charge and was sentenced to time served, necessitating his release. He left local custody in Ithaca before Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived to pick him up on a federal complaint charging him with illegally re-entering the United States after a prior removal. ICE, the U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations later apprehended Romero-Hernandez.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [1/31/2025 3:28 PM, Jeremy Roebuck, 40736K, Negative]

FOX News [1/31/2025 6:52 PM, Alexandra Koch, 49889K, Negative] reports a female New York doctor will be prosecuted for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine in Louisiana. Dr. Margaret Carpenter was indicted in Louisiana Friday after allegedly using telemedicine to prescribe abortion medication to a patient. Carpenter, her company and an associate were charged with felony criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, according to The Associated Press. It is not the first time Carpenter faced accusations of unlawful abortions. Texas filed a lawsuit against her in December, claiming she sent abortion pills to the state, the AP reported. She was not charged. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement after a grand jury at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge in Louisiana made the decision, showing support for the doctor and calling the act "providing basic health care.". "We always knew that overturning Roe v. Wade wasn’t the end of the road for anti-abortion politicians," Hochul wrote. "That’s why I worked with the Legislature to pass nation-leading laws to protect providers and patients. It’s more critical than ever for states to step up and protect reproductive freedom — and I’ll never back down from this fight.". New York Attorney General Letitia James also released a statement after the indictment, echoing the idea that abortion care should be considered healthcare. James called the criminalization of abortion care a "direct and brazen attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy and their right to reproductive freedom.". "This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American," James wrote in the statement. "We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care. Medication abortion is safe, effective, and necessary, and New York will ensure that it remains available to all Americans who need it.". Kristi Noem, recently sworn in as Department of Homeland Security secretary, has historically warned against telemedicine abortions, citing concerns over informed decisions. "For years and years, we’ve heard liberals talk about this decision on abortion being between a woman and her doctor," Noem said in 2021, while serving as governor of South Dakota. "Now they’re changing their complete argument to now this can be a decision between a woman and virtually any stranger over the phone – that she doesn’t even have to prove it’s a doctor … or an informed decision.".

AP [2/1/2025 1:38 AM, Michael R. Sisak and Matt Rourke, 30936K, Negative] reports a medical transport jet transporting a child who had just completed treatment for a life-threatening condition, her mother and four others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which operated the Learjet 55, said in a statement: “We cannot confirm any survivors.” There was no immediate word whether anyone on the ground was killed, but at least six people were treated for injuries at a hospital. Everyone aboard the flight was from Mexico. The child was being transported home, according to Jet Rescue spokesperson Shai Gold. The flight’s final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri. The patient and her mother were on board along with four crew members. Gold said this was a seasoned crew and everyone involved in these flights goes through rigorous training. “When an incident like this happens, it’s shocking and surprising,” Gold told The Associated Press. “All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference late Friday that officials expected fatalities in the “awful aviation disaster.” “We know that there will be loss,” he said. A spokesperson for Temple University Hospital-Jeanes, Jennifer Reardon, said they had treated six people with injuries from the crash. Three of those people had since been released and the others were in fair condition. She wasn’t able to provide information about their injuries or where the people were when they sustained them.

The plane was registered in Mexico. Jet Rescue is based in Mexico and has operations both there and in the U.S.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [1/31/2025 10:27 PM, Ginger Adams Otis, Neutral]

New York Times [2/1/2025 4:24 AM, Kate KellyJohn Ismay and Mark Walker, 740K, Neutral] reports the flight path that an Army Black Hawk helicopter took before its fatal collision with an American Airlines regional jet, long a concern to aviation officials, was closed to most helicopters after the deadliest aviation accident in the United States in nearly a quarter of a century. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted two commonly used helicopter routes that run north and south along Washington’s Potomac River, both of which were traveled by the Black Hawk that smashed into the jet on Wednesday night, to all but the most essential flights. On Friday, Sean Duffy, the new U.S. transportation secretary, who oversees the F.A.A., touted the closures as a critical new safety measure. “The American people deserve full confidence in our aviation system, and today’s action is a significant step towards restoring that trust,” he said in a statement. Mr. Duffy is not the first federal official to view the heavily traveled helicopter routes around Ronald Reagan National Airport as a problem. F.A.A. air-traffic overseers have for years viewed the clogged airways around Reagan, which attracts a high number of military and official government flights because of its location as well as a busy flow of commercial ones, as a point of concern — so much so that they issued a warning in a 2023 memo assessing the impact of adding new flight routes to the airport. Some legislators have worried, too. Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, warned last year about the prospect of people asking lawmakers to comment after a tragedy and saying, “You were warned and you voted for it anyway.” Mr. Kaine’s prognostication, which was made just before Congress voted to add five new round-trip routes to Reagan, proved painfully true this week, after 67 people perished in a fiery collision above the Potomac. Divers on Friday were still searching for bodies in the water. The new helicopter route closures, which were told to the airspace’s approved users on Thursday but not announced more broadly until Friday, effectively block off helicopter access to the north and south of the airport, said a helicopter pilot who was briefed on the decision by an F.A.A. email alert and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential message.

AP [1/31/2025 7:40 PM, Lindsay Whitehurst, Zeke Miller, Adriana Gomez Licon, and Claudia Lauer, 2212K, Neutral] reports that Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River on Friday, slowly scanning the shoreline in the rain as investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 people and raised questions about air traffic safety around the nation’s capital. The black box from the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a commercial jetliner and crashed into the Potomac River has been recovered, investigators announced. They are reviewing that flight data recorder along with two recovered earlier from the jet. No one survived the Wednesday night collision. The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river as of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. said at a news conference. He said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and he expects all the remains to be recovered. The wreckage of the plane’s fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, he said. “This is heartbreaking work,” Donnelly said, noting that more than 300 responders were taking part in the effort at any one time, including teams of divers and two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, at least one of which carries a crane. “It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people.” It was unclear how long the recovery operation would take.

PBS [1/31/2025 6:55 PM, John Yang, 12036K, Neutral] reports helicopter flights are restricted near Washington’s Reagan National Airport as investigators search for clues into what might have caused Wednesday night’s deadly midair collision between a commercial jet and an Army helicopter. John Yang reports on the latest and Geoff Bennett speaks with Les Abend, a retired American Airlines captain and contributing editor to Flying Magazine. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Newsweek [1/31/2025 8:37 AM, Marni Rose McFall, 56005K, Neutral] reports the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the deadly D.C. plane crash on Wednesday night was being flown by a female pilot with over 500 hours of flight time, who was training with an instructor pilot. The identities of the three service members on the Army UH-60 Black Hawk have not been released. In response to a request for comment for this article, a Pentagon spokesperson directed Newsweek to remarks made by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday and said that more information will be provided once it becomes available. The crash claimed the lives of 67 people who were on board both aircraft, and has highlighted concerns about air traffic control, aviation safety procedures and challenges that come with navigating shared airspaces near major metropolitan hubs. An American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four members of crew crashed into a U.S. Army helicopter while descending toward Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was on a training flight and the army has confirmed that the three soldiers on it were from Bravo Company, 12th Combat Aviation Battalion, which is based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, around 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. The unit mainly transports senior U.S. military officials around the Washington area. In a briefing with reporters on Thursday, Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, said that the pilot commanding the flight was female with more than 500 hours of flight time. The male instructor pilot had over 1,000 hours of flight time, and the crew chief also had hundreds of hours of flight time. He highlighted that given the short duration of most helicopter flights the number of hours flown by these pilots reflects how experienced they were. "Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them," Koziol said. "Even the crew chief in the back has been in the unit for a very long time, very familiar with the area, very familiar with the routing structure." The bodies of the three soldiers have now been recovered.

CBS Austin [1/31/2025 12:15 PM, Vania Castillo, 581K, Neutral] reports that a military plane loaded with deportees bound for Guatemala departed from Biggs Army Airfield on Thursday morning, marking a new approach in the federal government’s intensified efforts to enforce immigration policies. U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Supervisor Hamid Nikseresht described the strategy as a "whole-of-government approach, utilizing every resource possible to secure America’s borders." The use of military planes to expedite deportations follows executive orders that limit asylum claims and fast-track removal proceedings. Nikseresht emphasized the consequences of illegal border crossings, stating, "These flights underscore the consequences of illegally crossing the border in violation of eight USC 1325. If you come to the United States and illegally cross the border, you will be removed.". While deportation flights are not new, the use of military aircraft represents a significant shift. These planes, typically used for transporting troops and heavy equipment, are now being repurposed to expedite deportations. "For some individuals, it can take months and considerable resources to travel to the southern border. We can now return them to their home country in seven hours on a flight like this," Nikseresht explained. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [1/31/2025 4:57 PM, Ana Campbell, 35747K, Negative] Audio: HERE reports ever since Trump took office promising "mass deportations," Texas has deployed state troopers and military to help the federal government. The state has offered land to build detention facilities.

FOX News [1/31/2025 1:01 PM, Jamie Joseph, 49889K, Neutral] reports that while legislators in the Democratic trifecta are trying to pass bills to "Trump-proof" the state, California Republican Kate Sanchez plans to introduce a bill that would crack down on what may be a "sanctuary state" loophole protecting criminal illegal immigrants involved in sex-trafficking minors. "It would eliminate all of the unnecessary restrictions for local law enforcement to cooperate with federal law enforcement in order to go after those that have been accused or convicted of sex trafficking of minors, and currently there is a clause that they cannot communicate as openly as possible," Sanchez told Fox News Digital in an interview. These restrictions are part of California’s "sanctuary state" policies, which are designed to limit state and local law enforcement’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement. For her part, the specific provisions that Sanchez wants to amend are found in the California Values Act (SB 54), which was enacted in 2017, that restricts local law enforcement agencies from using resources to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect or arrest individuals for immigration enforcement purposes.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 1:21 PM, Richard Winton and Hannah Fry, 57114K, Negative] reports that a man who was piloting a drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft working on the Palisades fire has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, pay a fine and complete community service, federal prosecutors said Friday. Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, of Culver City was charged with unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft. He could still face up to a year in federal prison, prosecutors said. The drone, which authorities say was flying in restricted airspace on Jan. 9, put a fist-sized hole in the left wing of a Super Scooper — a massive fixed-wing plane that can drop large amounts of water onto a fire. The collision knocked the plane out of commission for about five days and destroyed the drone. "Like a lot of individuals, he was curious about what was happening in that area," acting U.S. Atty. Joseph T. McNally said on Friday. "The problem with that... is with the amount of firefighting planes you have in that area dropping so they can get water in the Pacific Ocean it interferes with those operations. It’s not the time to fly drones anytime that we have these emergencies in Southern California." As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the government of Quebec, Canada, which supplied the plane, and the company that repaired the plane. It cost at least $65,169 to fix the aircraft, prosecutors said.

BNN Bloomberg [1/31/2025 8:01 PM, Rachel Aiello and Luca Caruso-Moro, 1450K, Negative] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said there is "nothing" Canada can do to prevent the punishing tariffs expected to be unleashed tomorrow. During a press conference in the Oval Office Friday afternoon, Trump was asked if there’s "anything" Canada, China or Mexico could do to forestall the tariffs. The president left little up for interpretation. He was later asked if he was looking for a "concession" from the three countries. Trump responded that he was not. "We’ll just see what happens.". Prior to Trump’s comments, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated the president’s reasons for the tariffs, saying "massive amounts of fentanyl" are crossing into the U.S. from Canada. "The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25 per cent tariff on Mexico, 25 per cent tariffs on Canada, and a 10 per cent tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans," she said. Trump also reiterated his view that a "$200 billion" USD trade deficit between Canada and the U.S. is a reason for implementing tariffs.

CBS News [1/31/2025 6:08 PM, Staff, Negative] reports Mexico’s government, under mounting pressure from President Trump to curb drug trafficking, announced Friday that it had seized 18 kilos of fentanyl hidden in a bus. Mr. Trump has cited illegal flows of the deadly opioid and migrants as the main reasons for a planned 25% tariff on Mexican goods that the White House said would take effect on Saturday. The Latin American nation has announced a series of major fentanyl seizures in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to highlight increased efforts to combat drug smuggling. The latest haul was discovered in the spare wheel compartment of a passenger bus during a search on a highway in the northwestern border state of Sonora, authorities said. Two kilos of heroin were found along with the fentanyl pills, according to a joint statement from the defense, navy and security ministries as well as the public prosecutor’s office and the National Guard. Two men were arrested and the vehicle was seized, they said.

New York Times [2/1/2025 6:00 AM, Ana Swanson and Simon Romero, 161405K, Negative] reports that, when Dennis Nixon started working at a regional bank in Laredo, Texas, in 1975, there was just a trickle of trade across the border with Mexico. Now, nearly a billion dollars of commerce and more than 15,000 trucks roll over the line every day just a quarter mile from his office, binding the economies of the United States and Mexico together. Laredo is America’s busiest port, and a conduit for car parts, gasoline, avocados and computers. “You cannot pick it apart anymore,” Mr. Nixon said of the U.S. and Mexican economies. Thirty years of economic integration under a free trade deal has created “interdependencies and relationships that you don’t always understand and measure, until something goes wrong,” he said. Now that something is looming: 25 percent tariffs on Mexican products, which President Trump plans to impose on Saturday as he looks to pressure the Mexican government to do more to curb illegal immigration. Mr. Trump is also expected to hit Canada with 25 percent levies and impose a 10 percent tax on Chinese imports. A longtime proponent of tariffs and a critic of free trade deals, Mr. Trump seems unafraid to upend America’s closest economic relationships. He is focusing on strengthening the border against illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl, two areas that he spoke about often during his 2024 campaign. But the president has other beefs with Mexico, including the economic competition it poses for U.S. workers. The president and his supporters believe that imports of cars and steel from Mexico are weakening U.S. manufacturers. And they say the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade deal Mr. Trump signed in 2020 to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, needs to be updated — or perhaps, in some minds, scrapped. Many businesses say ties between the countries run deeper than most Americans realize, and policies like tariffs that seek to sever them would be painful. Of all the world’s major economic partners, the United States and Mexico are among the most integrated — linked by business, trade, tourism, familial ties, remittances and culture. It’s a closeness that at times generates discontent and efforts to distance the relationship, but also brings many benefits. “Our countries have a symbiotic relationship,” said Juan Carlos Rodríguez, managing director in Tijuana for Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s biggest commercial real estate companies. “Our economies are so intertwined that it would take decades to decouple,” Mr. Rodríguez said. “Such a scenario would have a catastrophic impact on Mexico.”

ABC News [1/31/2025 12:29 PM, Staff, 33392K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare the naval base at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 immigrants awaiting deportation from the U.S. ABC News’ Phil Lipof on Wednesday spoke with Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law, to discuss the plan for the military base in Cuba. ABC NEWS: The director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School, Karen Greenberg. Karen, thanks for being with us. We are talking about an American military base on foreign soil. What does that mean for immigrants’ access to due process? KAREN GREENBERG: OK, so first, it’s not really foreign soil in the United States’ terms -- it’s an outpost of the United States. And that’s always been one of the confusing things about Guantanamo. What it is, is a place where, repeatedly, the United States has sought to place individuals without the kinds of protections by law that they have in the United States on the homeland, as we’ve seen with the detention of war on terror detainees. And also, you know, we can talk about the migration center as well, but it is not correct to call it on foreign soil. It is on a U.S. base located in Guantanamo Bay.

FOX News [1/31/2025 1:18 PM, Staff, 49889K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump vowed to send the ‘worst criminal’ migrants to Guantanamo Bay as his administration continues to curb the surge of illegal immigration. The ‘Outnumbered’ panel weighs in. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [1/31/2025 8:49 PM, Annie Correal, 161405K, Negative] reports Honduras received deportees on U.S. military flights on Friday, part of President Trump’s push to show that his administration is cracking down on migration at the southern border. After Mr. Trump authorized the military to assist in securing the border, through an executive order, the Defense Department said it would airlift more than 5,000 people in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody. The use of military flights to transport deportees has raised alarm among some Latin American leaders, who have questioned the imagery of deportees boarding the flights in shackles. Some have also objected to how Mr. Trump has described deportees as hardened criminals. Honduras was among the first countries in the region to speak out about Mr. Trump’s threats to carry out mass deportations, and on New Year’s Day, President Xiomara Castro warned that she could even expel the U.S. military from the country depending on the new administration’s actions. But on Friday, a U.S. Air Force plane carrying more than 70 deportees arrived around midday in the city of San Pedro Sula, about 100 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa, the capital. It was the first of two U.S. military flights carrying deportees scheduled to land in Honduras on Friday. The country’s foreign minister, Enrique Reina, was there to receive the first deportees and said the migrants were neither shackled nor wearing handcuffs when they came off the plane. The deportees were served hot meals and coffee upon arrival. In a phone interview confirming remarks he made to the news media this week, Mr. Reina said that Honduras had renewed a longstanding agreement with the United States that allowed the U.S. military to operate out of Honduran bases, most notably Soto Cano Air Case, which is also known as La Palmerola.

AP [1/31/2025 8:52 PM, Regina Garcia Cano and Joshua Goodman, 2212K, Neutral] reports six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela in recent months were freed by the government of President Nicolá Maduro after he met Friday with a Trump administration official tasked with urging the authoritarian leader to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, announced the release of the six men on social media. The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the "maximum pressure" campaign he pursued against Maduro during his first term. Grenell’s hours long trip to Venezuela, according to the White House, was focused on Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelans back to their home country, which currently does not accept them, and on the release of the detained Americans. "We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens," Grenell posted on X along with a photo showing him and the men aboard an aircraft. "They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him." The meeting in Venezuela’s capital took place less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost last year’s election. The U.S. government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize Maduro’s claim to victory and instead points to tally sheets collected by the opposition coalition showing that its candidate, Edmundo González, won by a more than a two-to-one margin. Venezuelan state television aired footage of Grenell and Maduro speaking in the Miraflores Palace and said the meeting had been requested by the U.S. government. Signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was asked if Grenell being filmed meeting with Maduro lent legitimacy to an administration that the Trump White House hasn’t official recognized. "No. We want to do something with Venezuela. I’ve been a very big opponent of Venezuela and Maduro," Trump responded. "They’ve treated us not so good, but they’ve treated, more importantly, the Venezuelan people, very badly." Trump added that Grenell is "meeting with a lot of different people, but we’re for the people of Venezuela."

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [1/31/2025 8:39 PM, Kejal Vyas, Vera Bergengruen and Patricia Garip, Neutral]

Newsweek [1/31/2025 11:30 AM, Jesus Mesa, 56005K, Neutral] reports that Colombia President Gustavo Petro has called on undocumented Colombians living in the United States to return home, promising government support for those who do so. The initiative, announced on Petro’s X account last Friday, comes as Colombia navigates a diplomatic standoff with the U.S. over deportation flights and trade tariffs. Newsweek reached out to the Office of the Presidency of Colombia and the Colombian Department of Social Prosperity via email and WhatsApp for comment on Friday. Two Colombian Air Force planes carrying deportees from the U.S. landed at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on Tuesday, following a weekend standoff between U.S. President Donald Trump and Petro. On Sunday, Petro refused to accept two U.S. military planes carrying migrants, prompting Trump to threaten 25 percent tariffs on Colombian exports. The standoff ended when Colombia agreed to accept the migrants on the condition that they were not flown back on military aircraft—a move Petro argued was necessary to preserve the deportees’ dignity.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [1/31/2025 4:42 PM, Filip Timotija, 16346K, Neutral]
FOX News [1/31/2025 6:06 PM, Adam Shaw, 49889K, Negative]

VOA News [1/31/2025 5:06 PM, Aline Barros, 2717K, Neutral] reports the Trump administration has confirmed that the deportation of Chinese nationals is still underway as part of a broader effort to enforce U.S. immigration laws. In an emailed response to VOA this week, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official wrote that the agency is removing from the United States any immigrant who is here unlawfully. VOA requested the most recent removal numbers for China and an update on deportation flights, but as of Friday, ICE had yet to respond. Deportations have increased as China signals a greater willingness to repatriate its citizens, a departure from its historically restrictive stance. Large repatriation flights resumed last June, the first since 2018. On Jan. 6, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through ICE, conducted the Biden administration’s fifth removal flight to China in less than seven months. Under the Trump administration, the approach is shifting toward making deportations faster and bypassing judicial review.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 6:00 AM, Josh Hammer, 56005K, Neutral] reports that, less than two weeks into this second Trump presidency, the fearmongering has already reached fever pitch. "He can’t do it!" the critics have invariably howled in decrying President Donald Trump’s landmark day-one executive order upending the status quo on birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship." The usual suspects in the punditocracy say Trump’s order is "blatantly unconstitutional" and that it "violates settled law." Perhaps it’s even "nativist" or "racist," to boot! Like the Bourbons of old, pearl-clutching American elites have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Because when it comes to birthright citizenship, the virtue signaling and armchair excoriation is not just silly—it’s dead wrong on the law. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order on birthright citizenship is legally sound and fundamentally just. The maestro of Mar-a-Lago deserves credit, not condemnation, for implementing such a bold order as one of his very first second-term acts. The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The clause’s purpose was to overturn the infamous 1857 Supreme Court case, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and thereby ensure that blacks were, and would forever be, full-fledged citizens. But blacks were here from America’s beginning. The ruinous slavery debate aside, in 1868 blacks were thus universally viewed—unlike, for example, American Indians—as "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. (Congress did not pass the Indian Citizenship Act, which finally granted birthright citizenship to American Indians, until 1924.) Our debate today thus depends on whether, in 1868, aliens—legal or illegal—were considered "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. In the post-Civil War Republican-dominated Congress, the 14th Amendment was intended to constitutionalize the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which had passed two years prior. Rep. James Wilson (R-Iowa), who was then House Judiciary Committee chairman and a leading 14th Amendment drafter, emphasized that the amendment was "establishing no new right, declaring no new principle." Similarly, Sen. Jacob Howard (R-Mich.), the principal author of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, described it as "simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already.”

The Hill [1/31/2025 11:30 AM, Nicholas Sargen, 16346K, Neutral] reports that President Trump’s win in the 2024 election is closely linked to voter unhappiness with the spike in U.S. inflation and the influx of immigrants across the southern border during the Biden administration. Trump’s actions on the first day of his second term included a series of orders to seal the border and to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the U.S., as well as a bid to end the birthright citizenship for children of noncitizens. Trump’s motive in making a broad crackdown on illegal immigration his top priority is that it is popular with the electorate. A recent Axios-Ipsos poll found that nine in 10 Republicans and nearly half of Democrats say they support mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants. However, the enthusiasm wanes considerably when respondents consider various options to carry out the deportations, such as separating families or deporting those who came to the U.S. as children.

Houston Chronicle [1/31/2025 7:00 AM, Regina Lankenau, 2315K, Neutral] reports Aidin’s husband was the first to break the news. It was 5 a.m. — muggy and still dark out — when he woke her in a panic at their Richmond home. After weeks of President Donald Trump’s bellicose immigration promises, their fears, it seemed, had been realized. On Wednesday evening, the Trump administration announced it would revoke a Biden-era extension for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. The 18-month extension, announced just days before Joe Biden left office, had been a last-ditch effort to give 600,000 vulnerable Venezuelans more time to be protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States. Without it, TPS holders could lose their legal status as early as this April and as late as September. That includes Aidin and her husband, who have had TPS since 2021. I’m only using her first name to protect their privacy. "Fue bien heavy la mañana," Aidin said in Spanish when I called her on Thursday. The morning was "heavy" — difficult. Like the weight of the world hung on her and her husband’s shoulders. "We knew something drastic was coming with the new administration, but we didn’t think it would be this fast," she said. Now, her family — like hundreds of thousands across the U.S. — is frantically preparing for the worst. The uncertainty of their future, she told me, is overwhelming. But Aidin is sure of one thing: She can’t return to Venezuela. In 2014, when she left her hometown of Maracaibo, a large port city in northwestern Venezuela, Aidin left behind her siblings, parents and family home. It wasn’t easy to make a new home in Miami, Fla., or for her husband, an industrial engineer, to retrain in the U.S. to fix and install air-conditioning units. But incessant blackouts, empty grocery shelves, a gutted medical system, a tumbling economy and the constant fear of being targeted for marching on the streets to protest Nicolás Maduro’s repressive rule — all of it had been unsustainable. After they reached the U.S., they applied for asylum. A decade later, their case is still pending. In that time, they had two, American-born kids — an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old. Aidin and her husband knew that, as asylum-seekers whose case could be adjudicated at any moment, their status in the U.S. was perilous. But in 2021, when the Biden administration designated TPS for Venezuelans, they were able to apply and get that extra layer of legal protection. They felt safe. Last summer, they moved to Richmond, Texas, for the affordability and better quality of life. Aidin’s husband found work as an A/C contractor for Katy Independent School District, and Aidin as a secretary for a local immigration lawyer. The kids settled in at their new school. That it would prove to be a false sense of security, critics might say, shouldn’t be surprising. In 2019, roughly 300,000 people from 10 countries had TPS. By 2024, that number had nearly tripled as 16 countries were now eligible for TPS. Venezuelans, the beneficiaries of two different designations (one in 2021 and one in 2023), are currently the largest group of TPS holders. It is undeniable that Biden stretched the limits of a program that — by name — should have always been temporary.

The Hill [1/31/2025 10:30 AM, Benjamin D. Giltner, 16346K, Neutral] reports that a top priority of U.S. defense officials is to protect Americans from nuclear attacks. In an attempt to accomplish this goal, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the creation of an "Iron Dome for America," a reference to Israel’s much-vaunted missile defense system. Secretary of Defense Hegseth hinted his desire to begin plans for this missile defense system. Some members of Congress, such as Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) are also on board with this plan. A missile defense system to protect America from nuclear weapons sounds like a good idea. It is not. A U.S. Iron Dome would be a waste of taxpayer money and would bring the world closer to nuclear Armageddon. If anyone should take anything away from this piece, it is that missile defenses against nuclear weapons increase the chances of them being used. This seems counterintuitive. But U.S. senior officials and policymakers must understand how the other side would perceive such a move. If the U.S. creates a missile defense system capable of shooting down incoming nuclear missiles, the Russians and Chinese would be compelled to make more nuclear weapons to counter this missile defense.

FOX News [1/31/2025 7:00 AM, Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (ret.), 49889K, Neutral] reports President Donald Trump’s executive order, titled "The Iron Dome for America," calls for revamping our missile defense capabilities, which the president labels "the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.” However, there are significant challenges to overcome if we are to deploy something similar to Israel’s acclaimed air defense network because the threat to America is quite different. Today, we face real threats such as nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) launched from countries like China and Russia, which could put at risk the entire United States. During the Cold War (1948-1991) with the Soviet Union, we addressed that threat with our doctrine of "Mutual Assured Destruction." If Moscow attacked us with long-range nuclear missiles, we would retaliate with an overwhelming number of similar weapons that would result in the annihilation of both nations. That doctrine worked because it ratcheted up fear on both sides. Our challenge today is more complicated than during the Cold War because we face multiple enemies which present a wide variety of airborne threats. Specifically, nation state adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran all have or are developing long-range nuclear systems that put the U.S. at risk. Also, there are a host of terrorist groups with access to sophisticated technologies such as drones and rockets that threaten our overseas interests and perhaps our homeland. Further, many of these weapons are guided by space-based systems, which make them more precise and come in a variety of hard-to-defend-against packages – hypersonic missiles that are difficult to track, ballistic missiles with multiple warheads, drones of many sizes and capabilities, sea-launched cruise missiles, and more. Unfortunately, America’s ability to defend the homeland from such a range of aerial threats is frankly limited, which explains Trump’s order to immediately address the issue. Let’s put that task into perspective by considering the Israeli aerial defense model. Trump calls for us to build something akin to Israel’s "Iron Dome" to defend America against a plethora of threats. Understandably, his desire is to protect America from attacks such as those Iran launched at Israel in 2024, whereby virtually all the projectiles were downed before they hit the Jewish state.

Washington Post [1/31/2025 7:22 PM, Staff, 40736K, Neutral] reports it is important not to rush to conclusions about what caused this tragedy, but it would be a disservice to the 67 who perished in the worst domestic air tragedy since 9/11 to assume it was a freak accident. The odds of a preventable disaster like this had been rising steadily in recent years as the skies around Reagan National Airport grew more and more overcrowded. The American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, was among the new routes added at National last year, despite warnings that the airport was running dangerously over capacity. The commercial plane appears to have had the right-of-way when it collided with the helicopter, which was on a training mission. An air traffic controller can be heard on recordings telling the chopper to look out for a plane, but the message is ambiguous enough that it’s possible the pilot saw a different aircraft approaching the area. This seems plausible, given how many planes and helicopters constantly move through the tight airspace. National Airport, built on a small stretch of land that is hemmed in by development on one side and the river on the other, was designed to handle 15 million passengers a year. Today, about 25 million come and go through the airport. And more than 100 helicopters a day fly around and under arriving and departing passenger jets, ferrying VIPs and military officers. Even before the new flights were added, National had the busiest runway in the United States, with 819 takeoffs and landings each day, on average, in 2023. The country’s second busiest runway, in Los Angeles, had nearly as many (781), but its runway is 13,000 feet long, while National’s main runway is 7,000 feet — providing much less margin for error. Pilots have long told one another stories about how difficult it is to fly in and out of National. There’s the short runway and also traffic backups in the sky, extraordinary security requirements (since 9/11) and the city lights. Unsurprisingly, in recent years, a growing number of close calls have occurred in the airspace around National. Just one night before Wednesday’s crash, during the same 8 p.m. hour, a passenger jet from Connecticut had to abort its landing on final approach to avoid the risk of colliding with a helicopter. That plane took a sharp turn, made a loop and landed safely 11 minutes later. A similar scrapped landing happened a week earlier with a flight from Charlotte.

Newsweek [2/1/2025 5:00 AM, Douglas Nicholls, 56005K, Neutral] reports that, being the Mayor of a city can be difficult. Actually, being Mayor is difficult. Being the Mayor of a border city when officials in Washington D.C. don’t recognize the glaring border security failure is extremely difficult. That is the position I have been in for the last four years. I became Mayor of Yuma in 2014. Yuma is located at the intersection of the Arizona, California and Mexico borders. International realities are a part of life in Yuma. The border was relatively quiet—with occasional issues of large groups arriving at the Port of Entry in San Luis—during my first term. The events were brief and would go away as fast as they arose. Then it all changed in 2019. Caravans of hundreds of migrants began crossing the border illegally. U.S. Border Patrol quickly exceeded capacity and were forced by the Flores Settlement Agreement to release these migrants with children within 72 hours into the streets of Yuma. Upon receiving the first notice of these releases, I proclaimed a local State of Emergency. When the Trump Administration heard, their Intergovernmental Affairs Department called to invite me to speak with President Trump in the Oval Office. I met with the President and the new Secretary of Homeland Security McAleenan. I left that meeting with more DHS buses to transport migrants out of Yuma and a promise of more policy changes to come. In a few weeks, the Remain in Mexico policy was implemented, and in a couple of months the numbers were back to pre-surge levels. Relevant federal action addressed the federal issue that was impacting Yuma. The Biden Administration did not have this impact. Once again, Yuma was on the front line of federal issues. The effective provisions securing the border were removed on the first day of the new Biden Administration. Within months, I proclaimed another local State of Emergency. I again had discussions with the Intergovernmental Affairs Department, but this time no access to communication with the POTUS. I had meetings with DHS officials including Secretary Mayorkas, yet no change in policies. I was simply told that the border was secure. We had a peak of 1,500 migrants crossing the border illegally in one day, and there was still no effective federal response. Three and a half years into the Biden Administration, there was finally a new policy shift that had some minor impact—too little, too late.

NBC News [1/31/2025 5:31 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, Julia Ainsley, Gabe Gutierrez and Laura Strickler, 50804K, Negative] reports as arrests of immigrants increase, the administration is scrambling to make sure it has the room to house its detainees and keep President Donald Trump’s promise to deport them. Trump’s "border czar," Tom Homan, told NBC News that Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs 100,000 beds total, more than double what it has currently. Trump alluded to the need for more room when he ordered the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday to prepare 30,000 beds at Guantánamo Bay for who he said would be detainees posing the greatest threat to Americans’ safety. So far, using seven days of data, the Trump administration’s daily average is 791. Homan said his instructions to officers and agents were "arrest as many as you can." DHS is using facilities at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, for processing immigrants with criminal charges or convictions who were arrested in ICE operations in the state.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 3:00 PM, Jesus Mesa, 56005K, Neutral] reports new figures show that the recent deportation flights from the U.S. to Colombia and Guatemala have far exceeded the price of a chartered or even first-class seat on a commercial flight, making the Trump administration’s approach to returning illegal immigrants more than eight times more expensive than previous administrations’ efforts. The first flights, which used large military aircraft, started taking off last Friday. In the first week of Trump’s second term, the Department of Homeland Security reported deporting about 7,300 people of various nationalities. To carry out some of these deportations, the U.S. has deployed C-17 Globemaster III transport planes, which cost an estimated $28,500 per flight hour, a senior U.S. defense official told Newsweek. Accounting for the per-hour operating cost, those expenses reached around $4,675 per person—far exceeding the roughly $850 price of a first-class commercial ticket from El Paso to Guatemala City. In contrast, deportation flights operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which use Boeing 737 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, cost about $630 per deportee. So far, only Guatemala and Brazil have accepted U.S. military aircraft for deportation flights, while Colombia and Mexico have refused to receive them unless they are chartered civilian planes.

The Washington Post [1/31/2025 6:29 PM, Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti, 40736K, Negative] reports the Trump administration is seeking to grant U.S. immigration officers access to databases that contain the information on hundreds of thousands of immigrant teens and children who crossed into the United States without their parents, White House border czar Tom Homan told The Washington Post in an interview Friday. Homan said he would not rule out the use of the data for enforcement purposes in the future, but said the main focus of the information sharing is to verify that the children, who had been released from ORR custody in the past few years, were safe. The Trump administration has installed Mellissa Harper, a career ICE official, to run ORR, according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the appointment, which was first reported by the site ProPublica on Friday. Reuters [1/31/2025 6:50 PM, Staff, 48128K, Positive] reports that while noting that the information would mainly be used to ensure the children were safe, Homan said he would not rule out the use of the data for enforcement purposes in the future. "This is about finding the kids. The data won’t be used for enforcement work," Homan said in an interview with the newspaper. During U.S. President Donald Trump’s first administration, the Office of Refugee Resettlement began to share identifying information about unaccompanied migrant minors and their potential sponsors with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for use for arrest and deportation. The policy was later stopped by Congress. The ORR at the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for unaccompanied migrant children who enter the U.S. The ORR identifies and screens potential sponsors for children, according to the agency, which said most sponsors are a parent or close family members living in the U.S. Approximately 64% of the unaccompanied migrant children referred to ORR in fiscal year 2024 were over 14 years old, according to the agency’s website.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 5:57 AM, Billal Rahman, 56005K, Neutral] reports the nation’s top immigration enforcement agency reportedly detained several legal immigrants as it conducted sweeping raids under President Donald Trump’s hard-line mass deportation policy. Reports have emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained an 18-year-old girl, a military veteran and a man who has worked in the U.S. for 30 years. Newsweek contacted ICE for comment via email outside normal office hours. Mass deportations were a central focus of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Since his return to office on January 20, his administration has arrested thousands of undocumented immigrants as part of a widespread crackdown, which critics say is spreading fear in vulnerable communities. The president has expanded ICE’s authority, allowing immigration raids in schools, hospitals and places of worship. Opponents argue that these actions may violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and could lead to legal challenges. Americans largely support immigration reform overall but disagree about how policies such as deportations should be carried out. A poll conducted by New York Times and Ipsos from January 2 to 10 found that 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported Trump’s immigration plans. Eighty-eight percent supported "deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agree that the immigration system is broken. Eighteen-year-old Zeneyda Barrera Hernandez, an asylum applicant from Massachusetts, has been detained and is being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Maine at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, her former attorney told the Portland Press Herald. Barrera Hernandez, a resident of Lynn, Massachusetts, was being held by federal authorities without bail, according to the jail’s booking records. Patrick Callahan, who briefly served as the teen’s attorney, said she was taken into custody by immigration officers in Massachusetts on Monday and transferred out of state, despite her legal status in the U.S. "She’s a young girl who’s a student, who works, never been in any trouble before," Callahan told the Press Herald. "Her mother and her brother are really just torn to pieces over this."

FOX News [1/31/2025 6:00 AM, Charles Creitz, 49889K, Neutral] reports a top government accountability group will send a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Selective Service System (SSS) for data on illegal immigrants who did not register for the draft and therefore committed a felony. Oversight Project executive director Mike Howell – whose group is filing the action – underlined the move is not an illustration of any support for illegal immigrants serving in the military. By law, all U.S. males aged 18-26 must register with the SSS under penalty of felony conviction and $250,000 fine under the Military Selective Service Act of 1917, Howell’s group noted in their filing. Additionally, the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 makes failure to register with the SSS a deportable offense, and the SSS website clearly states undocumented aliens are required to sign up for the draft, Howell noted. However, the Oversight Project’s filing also cites a passage on the SSS website saying the agency does not share or collect information on a man’s immigration status and has "no authority to collect such information, has no use for it, and it is irrelevant to the registration requirement." Given that discrepancy, the letter goes on to cite a 2023 SSS report to Congress cataloging 23,249 registrations from USCIS – the federal agency responsible for overseeing legal immigration – but no data from ICE, the Office of Refugee Resettlement or other agencies engaged in handling illegal immigration and asylees.

FOX News [1/31/2025 11:42 AM, Michael Dorgan, 49889K, Negative] reports that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has arrested two illegal migrants who the agency says were running a drugs and narcotics operation in Maryland and Georgia. Officials say they busted the two migrants on Thursday, just one day after prosecutors in Queens indicted 10 Tren de Aragua gang members and their associates for similar operations in New York City. HSI Baltimore posted an image to X of one of the migrants -- with a chain wrapped around his waist -- being led into a law enforcement vehicle by two HSI agents. The agency also posted images of the arsenal of guns and ammunition they seized as part of their operation. They said they seized more than 30 weapons. HSI Baltimore said the operation to apprehend the duo was part of a joint operation with HSI Atlanta. ATF’s Baltimore field division, the Baltimore Police Department and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency also coordinated with the agencies in their take-down. The two illegal immigrants were not named. Fox News Digital has reached out to HSI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more details on the migrants and the scope of their operations.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 10:10 AM, Nicholas Liu, 57114K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to punish protesters who supported Palestine and called for an end to Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, including the potential deportation of non-citizen students and university staff. The escalation comes with the assistance of Betar, a right-wing group whose stated mission is to "defend Zionism with clarity and courage," which told Salon it has compiled a list of foreign students and teachers that it believes should be expelled from the country — and shared it with the Trump administration. According to Trump’s executive order, federal authorities are now charged with identifying all civil and criminal actions within their respective jurisdictions "that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism." This includes working with university administrators to monitor activities "by alien students and staff" and, "if warranted," taking action "to remove such aliens." "To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," Trump said in a "fact sheet" distributed by the White House.

FOX News [1/31/2025 10:10 AM, Staff, 49889K, Positive] reports that Chicago resident Cata Truss joined ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss her reaction to the targeted ICE raids in the Windy City and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pushback against the Trump administration’s crackdown. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 1:17 PM, Patrick Anderson, 57114K, Negative] reports that State Rep. Karen Alzate isn’t waiting for federal immigration raids in Rhode Island to try to protect unauthorized immigrants living here. In response to President Donald Trump’s call for mass deportations, Alzate has proposed legislation, H5225, that would create "protected spaces" in Rhode Island where immigration enforcement and border patrol agents couldn’t enter without a warrant signed by a judge. "Immigration is super complicated, and these particular places are places where people are asking for help or places where they feel the most safe," the Pawtucket Democrat said Thursday at the State House. "And so we want to make sure that schools, hospitals, churches are places where people can go when they are seeking refuge.". The protected places in Alzate’s bill include all schools, public or private; any rented or owned place of worship where religious ceremonies take place; public libraries; and any health care facility, including hospitals, clinics, urgent care centers, doctors’ offices or sites for substance abuse treatment. The legislation says these places "shall not grant access to their premises, for any federal immigration authority to investigate, detain, apprehend, or arrest any individuals for potential violations of federal immigration laws," unless those federal agents present "a judicial warrant that clearly identifies the individual whom the federal authority seeks to locate, serve, or apprehend."

Yahoo! News [2/1/2025 1:04 AM, Claudia S. Hilario, 57114K, Positive] reports the Connecticut State Department of Education issued a guidance document for every K-12 public school district in Connecticut in response to immigration enforcement activities carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. “Our schools are primarily places for learning and growth. It is important for our students and families to feel welcome and protected by their schools so educators can focus on teaching and students can focus on learning,” Governor Ned Lamont said. “To achieve this, we are supporting our school leaders in developing procedures that prioritize the protection of students and their information to the fullest extent permitted by the law.” Over 40 years ago, the United States Supreme Court recognized the U.S. Constitution protects students’ right to attend public school. The Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) also protects students’ identifiable information, such as student and family names and addresses. Consequently, if a school district receives any requests for student information, they should consult guidance provided by the district’s legal counsel and adhere to the scope of these protections. Connecticut and federal law protect a student’s right to attend public school, regardless of their immigration status. The two-page document available at portal.ct.gov/governor intends to provide school districts and their governing bodies with an overview of state and federal laws, student rights, and school district responsibilities while assuring districts, students and families that Connecticut is welcoming to all students.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 5:54 PM, Cameron Smith, 57114K, Negative] reports Management at Fernando’s restaurant in Madison said they were shocked when they heard an employee was accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Officers arrested Jose Rigoberta Meija-Cubias, 37, of El Salvador, Thursday, January 30 in connection to the case. They said he was located at the restaurant and taken into custody while a search warrant was being conducted at the establishment. During the course of the search warrant, police said they discovered that several people, who entered the country illegally, were employed at the restaurant. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) responded to the scene and arrested seven people. Fernando Gomez, who started the family business, said he was shocked when he heard what happened. He said the business will be more careful about who they hire. "I guess the next time somebody does that, we probably have to make sure they legal already other than the ID’s that they provide to us. Let’s make sure that they really are not fake," said Gomez.

Washington Examiner [1/31/2025 12:38 PM, Luke Gentile, 2365K, Negative] reports that Acting ICE Deputy Director Ken Genalo dispelled a rumor Friday that agents are arresting American citizens and opened up about the damage caused by New York City’s sanctuary policies. "Obviously, there’s some misinformation and false narratives that are getting played in the media, which, unfortunately, always seems to accompany our agency," Genalo told Fox News’s Fox & Friends. "ICE does not arrest U.S. citizens unless they have a specific criminal warrant for a U.S. citizen." "On a immigration enforcement, for the civil immigration cases, we do not arrest U.S. citizens. We focus on criminal aliens and those that present a danger to national security." When a criminal illegal immigrant is in custody, an ICE detainer should allow agents the ability to come and retrieve them, but sanctuary policies like those in New York City prevent the cooperation between local and federal officials necessary to achieve deportation, according to Genalo. "They just release the criminals right back into the community to reoffend, and there’s a lot of recidivism with these individuals," he said.

Reuters [1/31/2025 7:06 AM, Jonathan Allen, 48128K, Negative] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s new homeland security secretary made sure cameras were rolling when she joined federal agents to arrest migrants in New York City, including a Venezuelan man wanted by Colorado police that Trump had made part of his anti-immigration campaign narrative. Secretary Kristi Noem said the publicity created around the arrests was to show that the new administration was taking a different, tougher approach. Trump’s promises of mass deportations have stoked uncertainty and fear, but at least some of the arrests in New York were not a departure from how past administrations have pursued people charged with crimes, be they citizens or immigrants. The primary target of the New York operation was Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, a Venezuelan man named in a criminal arrest warrant for armed burglary from police in Aurora, Colorado. In interviews with journalists invited along, Noem referred to Zambrano with disparaging terms like "dirtbag.” "We are completely changing the game when it comes to removing illegal alien criminals from the United States of America," Noem wrote on a social media post, sharing dramatic photographs and videos of the well-staffed pre-dawn action in the Bronx. Noem did not mention that two other Venezuelan men wanted in the same Aurora incident were arrested in the same Bronx neighborhood by the same federal agencies in November, before Joe Biden handed over the presidency to Trump on Jan. 20. In November, journalists were not invited to film, and Colorado authorities are seeking custody of all three men to face justice in Aurora before any U.S. deportation efforts can begin. Zambrano and the two other Venezuelans reportedly appeared in a video showing a group of heavily armed men in an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, which Trump referred to in campaign speeches denigrating immigrants. In his first term, which ran from 2017 to 2021, Trump deported fewer migrants than his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. While Biden’s deportations initially lagged behind Trump, he had more ICE removals in fiscal year 2024 than any Trump year. Trump’s new government picked two of the country’s largest cities, Chicago and New York City, for highly publicized arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 6:30 PM, Andrew Donovan, 57114K, Negative] reports an undocumented immigrant arrested in Ithaca this week had been deported to Mexico at least seven times prior to being arrested for assault in Tompkins County, federal court records show. Jesus Romero-Hernandez is now being held at the Oneida County Jail, accused of "reentry after deportation or removal.". From the jail in Oriskany, Romero-Hernandez appeared by video before federal Magistrate Judge Therese Wiley Danks, who ordered him to remain in custody until, at least, a detention hearing scheduled for next week. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Jesus Romero-Hernandez is 27 years old and a citizen of Mexico. The prosecution lists previous deportations in court paperwork, many of which happened within days of each other. Back in the United States since an unknown date, Jesus Romero-Hernandez was arrested by the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office on November 27, 2023. At the time, ICE was contacted and the federal government again charged him with illegal reentry within weeks. But, the federal case waited until the assault case was satisfied, which happened this week, on January 28, 2025. That’s when he was set free by the Tompkins County Sheriff. Knowing he was let out of local custody, he was arrested by ICE on Thursday on the latest immigration charge. The U.S. Justice Department is "looking into the circumstances surrounding his release," alleging that "the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office refused to honor the federal arrest warrant and released Romero-Hernandez before ICE-ERO arrived to pick him up.".

Washington Post [1/31/2025 1:55 PM, Silvia Foster-Frau and Marianne LeVine, 40736K, Neutral] reports that David Salinas’s day started out like any other. He was doing inventory of shellfish on the computer in an office at the Ocean Seafood Depot, where he has worked for nearly two years, when he heard loud shouting coming from the warehouse. He stood up. A co-worker whispered: “I hope that’s not what I’m thinking.” They opened the door to the warehouse, he said, and heard a voice asking: “Who speaks Spanish?” Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers appeared beside her. They told workers to drop everything they were doing. The agents started separating the Spanish-speaking workers from the rest, Salinas and another employee recalled. They demanded to see identification.

Agents loaded Salinas into a nondescript vehicle. He and his two colleagues were driven five miles to the Elizabeth Detention Center, an ICE facility operated by a private prison company. Three days earlier in Washington, Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office and told the country he would “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.” He cast these migrants as dangerous criminals, “many from prisons and mental institutions,” even as there is little evidence that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at higher rates than U.S. citizens.

CBS Pittsburgh [1/31/2025 6:52 PM, Chris Hoffman, 52225K, Negative] Video: HERE reports with President Trump calling for the largest mass deportation in the country’s history; it has some concerned about sending their children to school. What are schools required to do and how are they planning to deal with this situation? According to school districts, it’s their own policies they have to create on handling these situations if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is to come to a school. While there is some ambiguity with the districts, there are some standards they are required to follow. According to information from the U.S. Department of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services, districts can’t ask students about their immigration status. "Our focus is protecting the students, protecting their records, and making sure they are safe in school," Pittsburgh Public Schools solicitor Ira Weiss said. He said school leaders have sent out memos to staff addressing if ICE comes to a school. It would include building administrators handling it. Any visit from ICE would need to be with a warrant. To this point, there’s been no raids at schools. "We’ve had anecdotal reports of ICE vehicles being in certain neighborhoods," Weiss said. Other districts echo this. Belle Vernon sent out a memo telling staff that building administrators are to be contacted immediately. It adds that no one should interfere with any ICE activities, but they are not to share any student information.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 1:54 AM, Will Greenlee, 57114K, Neutral] reports that as part of an ongoing initiative, Indian River County Sheriff’s and federal officials Thursday took into custody a number of people during efforts focusing on identifying criminal illegal immigration, the sheriff’s office stated. Eight adults were arrested on state charges, and at least two dozen were detained and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials "for further investigation." Sheriff’s office, ICE and Border Patrol officials were involved in the efforts as part of what was referred to as "Operation Stonegarden," which the sheriff’s office has participated in since 2016. "One of the criminal detainees in ICE custody has been deported four times," the sheriff’s office stated. "Another had previous charges for sex offenses, one was out of jail on bond, and yet another had charges for the criminal use of personal identification information." Indian River County Sheriff’s Office working closely in ‘strong partnership’ with ICE. The sheriff’s office reported it expects to continue working with federal and other law enforcement agencies. "We remain committed to safeguarding our community and today’s operation is a testament of our strong partnership with federal law enforcement agencies," Sheriff Eric Flowers said in a statement. "Our goal remains clear – to keep Indian River County safe by identifying and detaining those engaged in criminal activity. Our operations only target those that are engaged in criminal activity."

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 2:05 PM, Staff, 57114K, Negative] reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is disputing a viral report that a Puerto Rican family was detained by immigration officers in Milwaukee while shopping. "It’s completely false," an ICE spokesperson told the Journal Sentinel Friday. Earlier this week, Telemundo Puerto Rico reported a Puerto Rican family of three — including a 3-year-old child — was detained by ICE after being overheard speaking Spanish at a store in Milwaukee. The report featured an anonymous interview with a person described as a relative of the family. According to the ICE spokesperson, Telemundo did not reach out to the agency to confirm if this incident occurred. The report has garnered millions of views and was shared across several social media platforms by members of Congress and others. Immigration advocates in Wisconsin and across the U.S. have been dealing with a barrage of rumors about ICE operations since President Donald Trump took office. They have asked community members to refrain from sharing unverified information to avoid causing unnecessary panic. Local advocates say that false rumors detract from real instances of raids and U.S. citizens being detained in other states.

Border Report [1/31/2025 1:04 PM, Julian Resendiz, 153K, Neutral] reports that the FBI and agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration are assisting federal partners who are conducting immigration enforcement operations in the El Paso area. The FBI on Thursday released a video of one of its agents standing side-by-side with law enforcement personnel wearing "Police" and "ICE" on the back of their jackets as officers approach a house. ICE is the acronym for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And on Friday morning, the DEA shared photographs of its agents assisting ICE in an operation in a residential neighborhood somewhere in El Paso. "The DEA, along with our Department of Justice partners, is assisting DHS and other federal law enforcement partners with their immigration enforcement efforts," the DEA in El Paso said in a statement Friday. Late last week, airplanes carrying soldiers coming to support border security operations arrived in Fort Bliss. On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state law enforcement agencies to assist federal law enforcement in their border security efforts.

Univision [1/31/2025 2:10 PM, Staff, 7281K, Negative] reports the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) reported that on January 29 it detained two Central American immigrants accused of various crimes, as well as of entering the country illegally. David López Javier, a 45-year-old Honduran who was deported twice, and Efraín Gómez Cac, a 30-year-old Guatemalan who was deported previously, were arrested in Conroe and Cleveland, Texas, respectively. Lopez has illegally entered the United States at least three times and was previously removed from the country on Nov. 14, 2013, and April 28, 2016. He has been convicted of lewd and lascivious battery on a child, cocaine trafficking, cocaine possession, illegal reentry, and twice for grand theft, according to authorities. Gomez was previously removed from the United States by ICE on September 7, 2018, and has prior criminal convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing bodily harm and driving while intoxicated.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 10:32 AM, Billal Rahman, 56005K, Neutral] reports that the Mayor of Douglas City Council in Arizona has told Newsweek why he declared a state of emergency in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Mayor Jose Grijalva, a Democrat, said his economy depends on the cross-border relationship with the Mexican town of Agua Prieta, two miles away. He said he simply wants to let Trump know that his city may need funds to sustain its economy if it loses out as a result of the president’s policies. "This isn’t political in nature," he said. Immigration and mass deportations were a key component of President Trump’s successful 2024 campaign. Americans largely support the president’s mass deportation plans but disagree about how policies should be carried out. A poll by The New York Times and Ipsos from January 2 to 10 found that 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported such plans. Eighty-eight percent supported "deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." While most Americans support immigration reform, border communities are more divided. Towns like Douglas face worker shortages and high compliance costs under Trump’s policies, straining key industries like construction and agriculture.

CBS Austin [1/31/2025 12:46 PM, Jackson Walker, 581K, Neutral] reports that two Arizona political groups engaged in a fiery exchange via X this week regarding deportation efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The spat began when Arizona State University’s College Republicans United chapter shared that it would be setting up a campus display encouraging students to report illegal residents to ICE. Included was an image of a T-shirt with the chapter’s logo on one side and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security emblem on the other. "At a rate of 7,000 deportations per day, it would take four years to remove just the ten million who entered under Biden," the group wrote. "So far, Trump’s administration is averaging only about 1,000 per day—far below what’s needed." Reacting to the post was Young Democrats of Arizona, which issued a statement calling on ASU President Michael Crow to intervene. "It is despicable to see a student organization host (another) event fueled solely by hatred for immigrants on the main Arizona State University campus," it wrote. "The Young Democrats of Arizona unequivocally condemn these actions. We believe schools are a place of learning. All students should be able to exist on campus without fear of deportations."

AZCentral [1/31/2025 8:01 AM, Daniel Gonzalez, 6018K, Neutral] reports that, at "know your rights" workshops popping up in Phoenix and cities across the country, immigrants are being trained how to respond if stopped by ICE officers or if immigration authorities show up at homes or places of work. The civil rights trainings have been offered by immigrant advocacy groups for years. They were started years ago by groups in Phoenix in response to the immigration sweeps carried out under former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the late 2000s, and later during the record deportations that took place from 2018 to 2012 during the first term of the Obama administration, advocates say. "The whole nation is following the models started in Arizona, said Erika Ovalle, a co-founder of Puente Arizona, a Phoenix grassroots immigrant advocacy group that pioneered know your rights workshops. But the trainings have exploded in number since Donald Trump won the presidential election in November promising to carry out the largest mass deportations in U.S. history. On day one of Trump’s presidency, he signed a flurry of executive orders aimed at ramping up deportations. Trump also rescinded a long standing policy, clearing the way for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to make arrests at churches, schools and other "sensitive" areas ICE officers were previously directed to avoid. On Monday, Jan. 27, a know your rights training held at the headquarters of Puente Arizona, drew a standing room only crowd of more than 150 people, many of them undocumented immigrants. Puente held a a second meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 29 to train legal immigrants and U.S. citizens how to identify and record ICE arresting people to ensure their rights are not violated, and to warn immigrants to stay away from the area. "If we really want to be a safe community we need to watch out for each other," Ovalle told the audience. The group moved that training, called "Migra Watch" — immigration watch — outside because the more than 250 people who showed up did not fit inside Puente’s building. "If we really want to be a safe community we need to watch out for each other," Ovalle told the audience.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 7:06 PM, Julia Dallas, 57114K, Negative] reports the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported Friday, via a news release, it arrested four people across the state of Washington. The four people, according to immigration enforcement, are criminal aliens with convictions or charges related to sexual assault. Pedro Garcia-Lopez, 47, is a citizen of Mexico and was arrested on Thursday in Yakima, according to law enforcement. Garcia-Lopez has been charged with theft, lewd acts with a child under 14 and sexual battery. Officials reported Rubi Jeronimo Cruz, a 22-year-old citizen of Guatemala was arrested on Thursday in Lynden. Cruz was convicted of DUI with reckless driving and charged with rape of a child. Law enforcement also arrested Jaspal Singh, a 29-year-old citizen of India, on Wednesday in Tukwila. Singh was charged with assault with sexual motivation. Manuel De Jesus Zavala-Martinez was also arrested. According to ICE, Zavala-Martinez is a 40-year-old citizen of El Salvador and was arrested on Wednesday in Centralia. He carries several criminal convictions including assault with sexual motivation and assault with a deadly weapon. Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston stated, via a Facebook post, that she confirmed the arrest with Centralia Interim Chief of Police Andy Caldwell. "Chief Caldwell just informed us that Federal ICE agents did arrest (likely for deportation) someone here in Centralia," the mayor wrote. Caldwell said the Centralia Police Department was not involved in the arrest but was informed by immigration enforcement officials. "Protecting our communities, and preventing further victimization is of paramount importance to ICE throughout the Pacific Northwest," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle Field Office Director Drew H. Bostock stated via the news release. "These arrests reinforce the message that the presence of illegal criminal threats will not be tolerated.".

Newsweek [1/31/2025 1:05 PM, Billal Rahman, 56005K, Neutral] reports that a parent from the South Whidbey School District in Washington state has reportedly been detained in an immigration raid. Superintendent Dr. Jo Moccia said that the parent detained was a member of the school district community. In an email posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Discovery Institute senior journalism fellow Jonathan Choe, Moccia expressed her concern for the family, noting that the parent "has fallen victim to the immigration raids." "We have little direct information about the parent’s situation, as the district was not directly involved with his detention. The detention occurred off-campus, in a public location, earlier this week," Moccia told Newsweek. Newsweek has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) via email for comment. Mass deportations were a central focus of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Since his return to office on January 20, his administration has arrested thousands of undocumented immigrants as part of a widespread crackdown, which critics say is spreading fear in vulnerable communities. The president has expanded ICE’s authority, allowing immigration raids in schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Opponents argue that these actions may violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures and could lead to legal challenges.

CBS News [1/31/2025 8:08 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 52225K, Neutral] reports the Trump administration is preparing to revoke the legal status of many of the migrants who were allowed to come to the U.S. legally from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under former President Joe Biden, according to internal government documents reviewed by CBS News. The proposal by the Department of Homeland Security, spelled out in an unpublished notice, would fully terminate a Biden administration program that allowed more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly to the U.S. if American sponsors agreed to help them financially. The Biden administration argued the policy, known as CHNV, discouraged illegal immigration by people from these four Latin American countries by offering them legal means to come to the U.S., but President Trump froze the initiative hours after being inaugurated. Trump officials have specifically argued the program was a misuse of immigration parole, the legal authority which the Biden administration used to admit those under the sponsorship initiative, and to allow them to apply for work permits. Under the new move, the Trump administration would revoke the parole status of those allowed into the U.S. under the CHNV policy and place them in deportation proceedings if they have failed to apply for, or obtain, another immigration benefit, like asylum, a green card, or Temporary Protected Status, the internal proposal shows. It’s unclear how many of the over half-million people allowed into the U.S. under this initiative have applied for other immigration programs. When the Trump administration’s plan will be finalized also remains unclear. Those whose parole classification is revoked, and who lack another immigration status, would become ineligible to work in the U.S. lawfully. They would also receive notices to appear in immigration court, the first step in the deportation process, according to the internal documents.

New York Times [1/31/2025 4:52 PM, Christina Morales and Emily Cochrane, Christina Morales is a reporter covering food for The Times., 161405K, Neutral] reports that Josselin Corea Escalante was 9 when she and her mother and younger brother left Guatemala to seek asylum in the United States, believing it would offer them safety. They ended up in Tennessee, where Josselin — whose family calls her Dallana, her middle name — celebrated turning 15 in 2023 with a spring quinceañera in a Nashville ballroom. But last week, another student shot and killed Josselin, 16, in her high school cafeteria. Now her family, still waiting for an asylum decision, is questioning whether it is worth staying. The main reason they made the harrowing trip to the United States — on foot, nearly two months — was fear that Josselin and her brother would be kidnapped or killed by gangs in Guatemala. He and his wife have already made one wrenching decision: to send Josselin’s body back to Guatemala for burial, a way to guarantee that they will be reunited if they decide — or are forced — to leave the United States. Mr. Corea came to the country before his wife and children and is not part of the asylum case, so he is at more risk of being deported.

New York Times [2/1/2025 4:24 AM, Jean Guerrero, 740K, Neutral] reports that, when I was a teenager, my Puerto Rican mother forbade me to cross the border into Mexico, my father’s country. “Mexico is nothing but trouble,” she said. The border city Tijuana, a short drive from our house in San Diego, was seeing a surge in cartel violence fueled by U.S. drug demand and U.S. firearms flowing illegally into Mexico despite that country’s strict gun laws. It was the early 2000s, and American newscasters framed it as a Mexican problem. After my parents split up, my mother sometimes did, too. It was her way of grieving my father, who had started binge drinking and doing drugs, depressed and angry that she was outearning him as a National Health Service Corps physician after he lost his job at a meatpacker. She wanted to draw a hard boundary severing me from everything he represented. But I didn’t want to be ruptured. I wanted to be whole. For years, our family had driven south across the port of entry to eat seafood and explore. I missed those trips, which had ended when I was 6. So on weekends, I rode the trolley to the port of entry and walked through the rotating metal gates. There were no border guards for southbound travelers, so I crossed undetected. In Tijuana, I drank tequila, rode mechanical bulls and danced with strangers. I was 17, but nobody asked for my ID. At a house party, I met a cute local boy who offered me his bedroom because I was too intoxicated to find my way back to the border. We slept fully clothed and made chocolate chip pancakes in the morning. A part of me was seeking trouble, but I never found it. During these clandestine trips, I was trying to form a fuller understanding of who I was. I don’t think I strongly identified as a Latina. I sometimes said I was Hispanic, the more common term then. But even that felt ill fitting, like a very small coat. More often I called myself Mexican and Puerto Rican.

CBS Miami [1/31/2025 5:59 PM, Steve Maugeri, 52225K, Negative] reports the Coral Gables Police Department is ramping up its enforcement after two groups of migrants arrived through a local canal. Now, the city’s vice mayor and police chief are asking the state for help. These patrols are targeting this area after two different cases of migrant crossings happened in their city. Police said they broke up what they believe were two smuggling operations. Police Chief Edward Hudak said state grants could help fund a larger police presence by that canal. Governor Ron DeSantis cited the situation in the Gables as an example of why he wants to crack down on migrant crossings in Florida.

CBS News [1/31/2025 7:40 PM, Jack Fink, 52225K, Negative] reports the State of Texas took a number of steps this week to help the Trump administration secure the southern border. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, R-Texas, told CBS News Texas that the state is focused on tracking down violent criminals who are here illegally. He said the crackdown at the border is all about public safety. "Whatever it takes day to day, week to week, month-to-month basis," Patrick said. "We’re determined to secure the border with President Trump. We’re determined to stop terrorists from coming into this country and apprehend those on the terrorist watch list that the Biden administration didn’t do.". This week, Gov. Greg Abbott deployed an additional 400 Texas National Guard troops to the border in the Rio Grande Valley to coordinate with the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent illegal immigration. Abbott also issued executive orders including directing state agencies to deploy additional border barriers. In an interview with CBS News Texas, Congressman Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth criticized President Trump’s actions. "He’s trying to play a game and scare people," Veasey said. "So, what I’m urging people to do is know your rights. But then asking the President instead of playing these stupid, ignorant games, bring Democrats and Republicans together and let’s come up with a real solution for this and not this made-for-tv crap.".

Dallas Morning News [1/31/2025 6:00 AM, Staff, 3419K, Positive] reports how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott might spend $2.9 billion in proposed state border security funds depends largely on how President Donald Trump plans to address challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border, Abbott’s office told Senate budget writers Thursday. The Republican governor said he hopes to have more information in the coming weeks about Trump’s plans, including whether the state can turn some expenses over to the federal government or be reimbursed for about $11 billion the state has spent on Operation Lone Star, the governor’s 4-year-old border security mission. "I don’t have any clear-cut answers or timelines for you today," Abbott’s chief of staff, Robert Black, told members of the Senate Finance Committee in a budget hearing at the Texas Capitol. "We are less than three weeks into a new administration in Washington, D.C., and I think, if you just turn on your TV or social media channels, you can see there’s a lot of activity by the administration regarding security in this country.” Next week, Black said, Abbott will travel to Washington to speak with congressional leaders about his reimbursement request. He has already spoken on the request with the Trump administration several times, as well as U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Texas Republicans in Congress, Black said. Those talks have been "very positive," he said. "I would probably have better luck predicting the weather next month than predicting what Congress is actually going to do," Black said to chuckles from committee members. "But I can assure you that the governor is putting forth every effort possible to get those funds back to Texas regarding the border security efforts.” Abbott has become a national figure in the political fight over border security, blaming Democratic President Joe Biden for record-breaking numbers of illegal border crossings. Abbott instituted programs busing migrants to Democratic-run cities and ordered razor wire barriers erected along the Rio Grande, among other actions. Since taking office Jan. 20, Trump has declared a state of emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border, suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and sent soldiers to border cities in Texas. Trump has also been a vocal supporter of Abbott’s border initiatives, and state leaders expressed hope in this week’s budget hearings that having an ally in the White House could mean more federal help for Texas. It’s time for Texas and Washington to cooperate over securing the border, Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said during a Tuesday hearing on the budget for the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is seeking $1.2 billion for border-related expenses, including replacing 500 troopers who have been sent to the border.

FOX News [1/31/2025 3:25 PM, Brooke Taylor, 49889K, Positive] reports Fox News took an exclusive late-night helicopter ride over the El Paso, Texas, sector, offering a glimpse into U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations to capture migrants trying to evade, and the challenges agents face each night. The helicopter was equipped with a high-tech camera designed for nighttime surveillance. The agents monitored a live feed, enhanced by a mapping software, allowing them to pinpoint the exact locations of the migrants.

AZCentral.com [1/31/2025 8:03 AM, Staff, 6018K, Neutral] reports both of Tucson’s respite centers have shuttered after sweeping changes to federal border enforcement policy, drastically altering the landscape for asylum-seekers in southern Arizona. The closures came after President Trump signed 26 executive orders on his first day, including one titled "Securing Our Borders," which reinstated the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols, otherwise known as the "Remain in Mexico" program. In response, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped releasing migrants after processing them. Pima County officials said this sudden halt has cut off the flow of asylum-seekers into the Ajo Road and Drexel Road shelters. "Whether there are people under shelter or not, the county still incurs operational costs from its contractors for staffing readiness, shelter amenity rentals (such as the portable showers), heating and cooling costs, and more," Jan Lesher, Pima County administrator, wrote in a Jan. 23 memo to the county’s Board of Supervisors. The program’s funding, which comes through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Shelter Services Program, reimburses the county only for occupancy costs. "This puts the County in a very precarious financial position," Lesher wrote. Lesher also noted she was concerned about “ambiguous language” in the administration’s announcements, suggesting there may be a retroactive freeze on funds meant for programs that incurred expenses before the orders took effect. Officials set Jan. 26 as the shutdown date to avoid incurring costs without any reimbursement prospects. Before Pima County stepped in to coordinate shelter efforts in 2019, faith-based groups, community volunteers and nonprofits scrambled to aid migrants but lacked a stable funding source or facilities. Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, which ran the Casa Alitas program, confirmed it vacated its facilities last week.

Telemundo 20 [1/31/2025 2:20 PM, Guillermo Méndez, 34K, Negative] reports that Regardless of the weather conditions and despite the new, stricter administration of President Donald Trump, dozens of migrants continue to cross and surrender to Border Patrol daily between the San Diego-Tijuana border walls, according to human rights advocates. Adriana Jasso, along with other community leaders, have been providing humanitarian aid through the fence to asylum seekers near the Tijuana River Valley for more than a year. "It’s painful, sad, especially when you see parents with their children," said Jasso, of the American Friends Committee of San Diego. Jasso says that on average they see between 25 to 30 migrants per day, adding that it is a similar number to what has been seen during the last few months, but the difference, since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, is the origin of the people. "The presence of nationalities from South and Central America has been reduced, but the same number has arrived from nationalities from further away. For example: China, India; a very pronounced group from India in the last two weeks," Jasso explained. Under the new mandate, the Border Patrol assured Telemundo 20 that the practice of releasing migrants in American communities has already ended.

AP [1/31/2025 8:44 PM, Staff, 47097K, Negative] reports U.S. officials say the Pentagon is readying deployment of nearly 1,000 additional active duty troops to bolster President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, including dozens of Marines working to bolster the border wall separating San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [2/1/2025 1:54 AM, Jesus Jiménez, 161405K, Negative] reports that, more than three weeks after the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires broke out in Southern California, state officials on Friday evening said that firefighters had fully contained both fires, meaning that the perimeters of the fires were completely under control. Evacuation orders had already been lifted, and for more than a week the fires have not posed a major threat. But their full containment closed a chapter on two fires that raged for days, killed at least 29 people, displaced thousands of residents and ravaged many neighborhoods. Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, updated the data for both fires on Friday night to show 100 percent containment. The Palisades fire destroyed more than 6,800 structures, mostly in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and Malibu, and burned 23,448 acres, according to the agency. The Eaton fire destroyed more than 9,400 structures, mostly in the Altadena community in Los Angeles County, and burned 14,021 acres. While the threat from those fires is effectively over, their impact will last for months and years. In the short term, at least 14 people are still missing because of the fires — two from the Palisades fire and 12 from the Eaton fire. Beyond that is a lengthy road ahead to rebuilding, at a cost that could be in the hundreds of billions. Concerns linger about the potential long-term health effects from days of dangerous air quality, and the psyche of an entire region is damaged. Firefighters began to gain ground on the fires only after several bouts of Santa Ana winds threatened to whip up flames and burn homes. Light rain arrived last weekend, causing minor mudslides but helping calm the fires.

CBS Los Angeles [1/31/2025 7:50 PM, Marissa Wenzke, 52225K, Neutral] reports Southern California Edison ratepayers will cover $1.6 billion in settlement costs to pay victims of the 2017 Thomas Fire, more than half of the $2.4 billion being paid out for the massive wildfire and deadly mudslides that followed weeks later. With a 4-0 vote, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved SoCal Edison’s request to have customers cover the expenses related to the devastating blaze, which authorities determined was caused by the company’s power lines. At the time, the Thomas Fire was the largest recorded in California state history, burning more than 280,000 acres — an area spanning over 430 miles — across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in the winter of 2017. Officials say it led to mudslides in Montecito weeks later which killed 23 people in the town of just 8,600. In August, SoCal Edison announced it had reached an agreement with the California Public Advocates Office to have costs for claims related to the fire and mudslides recovered from ratepayers. A statement from the utility giant said approval of the settlement would allow it to "continue doing necessary work to mitigate the effects of climate change.". The company also said the $1.6 billion being recovered from customers is just 60% of its initial request. Meanwhile, Edison International shareholders will cover about $1 billion and fund $50 million for "system enhancements" to reduce the risk of wildfires and "make SCE’s system safer for customers and communities," the SoCal Edison statement said.

New York Times [1/31/2025 3:59 PM, Christine Hauser, 161405K, Negative] reports torrential rains unleashed flooding and high winds and generated warnings of landslides to Hawaii and Maui, the two largest Hawaiian islands, on Friday, all part of a storm system that has been sweeping southeast through the chain of islands this week. Up to three inches of rain was expected to fall along the island’s west side by the end of the day, the National Weather Service said. Flash flood warnings went into effect as streams rose rapidly, forecasters said.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 6:27 PM, Lisa Hagen, 57114K, Neutral] reports President Donald Trump’s executive orders to halt all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and enact other workforce policies are reshaping institutions across the government and military, including programs — some of which have been in place for years — within the U.S. Coast Guard and its service academy in New London. Over the past week, the Coast Guard started shuttering a number of DEI-related programs and offices and removing information about them from its websites. At the Coast Guard Academy, the Office of Culture and Climate has been disbanded, and staff are on paid administrative leave, according to a local union representing some of the workers. Those actions are in compliance with Trump’s Day 1 executive order, taking aim at DEI policies the White House calls "illegal and immoral discrimination programs." Initial guidance wanted agencies to submit written plans by Jan. 31 about reduction-in-force plans, while urging them to start immediately issuing RIF notices to DEI employees. A memo from last week provided more guidance on terminating such offices and staff. "In accordance with that order, each agency, department, or commission head shall take action to terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions within sixty days," according to a Friday memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The shakeup comes in the wake of the abrupt firing of Admiral Linda Fagan, who served as the first female commandant. A senior official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, cited an "excessive focus" on DEI policies as well as the response to Operation Fouled Anchor, an investigation into sexual misconduct claims at the Coast Guard Academy that was hidden for years. The Coast Guard had prioritized DEI, particularly as a way to boost recruitment and retention among cadets as well as within the force. In a Coast Guard Academy diversity report submitted to Congress in 2024, Fagan wrote to lawmakers that such initiatives show progress was made "in attracting a workforce that is representative of the nation and preparing culturally competent leaders for the future.". It is unclear how recent changes and directives from the Trump administration could affect such recruitment efforts, particularly as the White House moves closer to reinstating a ban on transgender service members in the armed forces.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 7:29 PM, Hannah Leyva, 57114K, Neutral] reports United States Coast Guard crews rescued two men from a sinking boat off the coast of North Carolina Tuesday. According to the USCG, two men were in a 32-foot sailboat named “Walrus” about 103 miles east of Wilmington. It began sinking and “they were unable to keep up with flooding”, leading them to activate their emergency equipment to call the Coast Guard for help. The military branch’s District Five Command Center directed a C-130 Hercules plane and MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City to respond to the sailors. First on scene was the C-130 crew, who assessed the situation then sent down a dewatering pump to try to help mitigate the flooding onboard the boat. When that didn’t help, they determined the two men needed to be extracted from the vessel immediately. Shortly after, the Jayhawk arrived. The helicopter crew hoisted the sailors from the sinking boat and brought them to shore. The Walrus was abandoned at sea, the USCG said. “The rescue highlights the critical importance of properly registered communication equipment,” said Lt. Sheena Bannon, a search and rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard District Five. “The mariners’ VHF radio with Digital Selective Calling, their Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, and SENDs device allowed us to respond quickly. By ensuring their equipment was registered, we had precise distress information, enabling a timely and successful rescue. I cannot stress enough how essential it is for all mariners to register their communications gear to improve safety on the water.” Once back on shore, the rescued men were provided clothing by the Salvation Army in Wilmington, according to the Coast Guard, while Modern Aviation arranged transportation to Wilmington International Airport to help the mariners get back home.

CyberScoop [1/31/2025 6:50 PM, Tim Starks, Neutral] reports WhatsApp said Friday that it had disrupted a spyware campaign that targeted 90 people, including journalists and activists. The company tied to the campaign, according to WhatsApp, is Israeli firm Paragon, which last fall signed a $2 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and recently was purchased by U.S. private equity giant AE International. “We’ve reached out directly to people who we believe were affected,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson. “This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions. WhatsApp will continue to protect peoples’ ability to communicate privately.” WhatsApp has been at the legal forefront of the battle against spyware abuses, most recently winning a decision against NSO Group. It has sent a cease and desist letter to Paragon. Paragon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The campaign involved using groups and sending a malicious PDF file, according to WhatsApp, which said it was confident that it had disrupted the infection vector. WhatsApp said the targets were in over two dozen countries, particularly in Europe. One outlet that said it was targeted was the Italian publication fanpage.it. WhatsApp swapped information with the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab on the campaign. It shows that the narrative that the spyware industry just has “some bad apples” isn’t true, said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at Citizen Lab. “It is a feature of the commercial spyware marketplace,” he said. “Targeting of journalists and civil society is a matter of when, not if.” Furthermore, “as ever in a situation like this, if I’m a government I should be very concerned that my own personnel were targeted using this vector,” Scott-Railton said.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 7:14 PM, Jasmine Laws, 56005K, Neutral] reports that a Connecticut-based healthcare provider has confirmed that a hacker was able to access the sensitive data of more than a million patients. Newsweek has contacted Community Health Center (CHC) and Joseph V. DeMarco, Partner at DeMarco Law PLLC who filed the data breach notification, via email for comment. Cyberattacks on healthcare providers have increased in the U.S. in recent years. According to a report released on January 21 by Netwrix, a vendor specializing in cybersecurity solutions, 84 percent of organizations in the healthcare sector spotted a cyberattack on their infrastructure in the last 12 months. Due to the sensitivity of health information, the hacking of healthcare provider data can cause severe concerns among the general public and various stakeholders. Connecticut healthcare provider CHC, which provides services to more than 145,000 Connecticut residents, confirmed in a letter to patients that on January 2 they noticed "unusual activity in our computer systems." A filing of the data breach shared with the office of Maine’s Attorney General revealed that the attack was believed to have happened months before on October 14, 2024. The filling also specifies that 1,060,936 people have been affected by the data breach.

NBC News [1/31/2025 3:30 PM, Kevin Collier, 50804K, Negative] reports the New York Blood Center, one of the country’s largest nonprofit blood donation and distribution centers, has canceled appointments and blood drives after a cyberattack. In a statement posted to its website Wednesday, the blood center said hackers attacked it with ransomware Sunday, significantly reducing its operations. The group is still accepting blood donations, but is cautioning donors to expect longer wait times. It has no estimated timetable for fully restoring its operations.

Yahoo! News [1/30/2025 1:22 PM, Brooke Kato, 57114K, Positive] reports sophisticated scams fueled by artificial intelligence are threatening the security of billions of Gmail users. security warning issued. As AI-powered phone calls mimicking human voices have become incredibly realistic, a new report from Forbes warned that the email service’s 2.5 billion users could be targeted by "malicious" actors that are employing AI to dupe customers into handing over credentials. The outlet reported that the cybercriminals deploy phone calls posing as Google support — complete with a caller ID that looks convincingly legitimate. The technician might say the person’s account has been compromised in some way, or that they are attempting an account recovery. The so-called support agent will then send an email to the user’s Gmail account from what appears to be a legitimate Google email address to confirm the account was compromised and receive a code to recover the account. For Zach Latta, the founder of the Hack Club, this is where he stopped the elaborate scam. "She sounded like a real engineer, the connection was super clear, and she had an American accent," Latta told Forbes. Despite how real the voice on the other end of the line sounds, however, it is a scheme to trick customers into handing over precious login information to gain access to their accounts. Garry Tan, the founder of venture capital firm Y Combinator, issued a "public service announcement" on X after receiving convincing phishing emails and phone calls. "They claim to be checking that you are alive and that they should disregard a death certificate filed that claims a family member is recovering your account," he wrote. "It’s a pretty elaborate ploy to get you to allow password recovery.” "It’s a pretty elaborate ploy to get you to allow password recovery," said Tan. Diego – stock.adobe.com. Simiarly, Sam Mitrovic, a Microsoft solutions consultant, experienced the same phenomenon months ago, according to a blog post written at the time. He recalled receiving a Google account recovery attempt notification, followed less than an hour later by a phone call that looked like it was from the tech company, but he ignored it. A week later, it happened again. This time, he picked up. "It’s an American voice, very polite and professional. The number is Australian," he recounted, adding that he verified the phone number on an official Google support page. "He introduces himself and says that there is suspicious activity on my account. He asks if I’m traveling, when I said no, he asks if I logged in from Germany to which I reply no.” Then, the agent informs Mitrovic that "someone has had access to my account for a week" and was offering to help him secure it, but, luckily, he noticed that the follow-up email sent by the caller was a spoofed email address and stopped answering.

AP [1/31/2025 2:01 PM, Ed White, 33392K, Negative] reports that the first U.S. parent to be held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child asked a Michigan judge to throw out her conviction Friday, arguing that her trial was spoiled by the prosecutor’s failure to disclose key details about two major witnesses. Nick Ejak and Shawn Hopkins, employees at Oxford High School, were not given immunity in the fatal shooting of four students in 2021. But they had agreed to speak to prosecutors when promised that their words would not be used against them. The four-page deal was not shared with Jennifer Crumbley’s lawyer before her 2024 trial. Crumbley’s appellate attorney argued Friday that the failure to produce the agreement was a fundamental violation of rules that prosecutors must follow. If the defense had known about the agreement, Crumbley’s trial lawyer could have questioned Ejak and Hopkins about it during cross-examination and tried to cast doubt on their credibility, Michael Dezsi said. "They dangled that carrot over those witnesses to get them to cooperate," Dezsi said of prosecutors. Crumbley, 46, is serving a 10-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said she had a duty to protect Oxford students from her 15-year-old son, who was given a gun as a gift just a few days before he committed the mass shooting.

NBC News [1/31/2025 2:53 PM, Michael Kosnar, Ken Dilanian, and Ryan J. Reilly, 50804K, Neutral] reports that David Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, was notified Thursday that he was going to lose his job and is preparing to leave the bureau, according to two senior law enforcement sources — the latest step in an unprecedented purge of top executives at FBI headquarters as well as leadership in FBI field offices across the country. Sundberg is the highest-ranking field agent so far to be fired from the FBI. Sundberg, who joined the FBI in 2002, was put in charge of the Washington Field Office by then-FBI Director Christopher Wray in December 2022. It is one of the highest-profile positions an agent can achieve in the field at the FBI. Special agents from the Washington Field Office were heavily involved in former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of now-President Donald Trump, as well as the sprawling investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in criminal charges against hundreds. News of Sundberg’s departure comes amid a broader slate of firings hitting leadership at the bureau. NBC News reported that as many as eight senior executives at FBI headquarters have been told to resign or be fired. New faces are coming in, too, with a Republican Capitol Hill staffer as well as an affiliate of Elon Musk have taken on leadership roles within bureau headquarters.

Yahoo! News [1/31/2025 8:02 PM, Staff, 57114K, Negative] reports Governor Greg Abbott on Friday issued a ban prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media apps affiliated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on government-issued devices. "Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps," said Abbott. "To achieve that mission, I ordered Texas state agencies to ban Chinese government-based AI and social media apps from all state-issued devices. State agencies and employees responsible for handling critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.". Governor Abbott also ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Department of Information Resources to add the following technologies to the state’s prohibited technologies list, which prohibits state employees and contractors from downloading and using these apps on state-owned or personal devices used for work: RedNote, DeepSeek, Webull, Tiger Brokers, Moomoo and Lemon8.

Reuters [1/31/2025 8:41 PM, Trevor Hunnicutt and Julia Symmes Cobb, 50804K, Neutral] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell said on Friday he was headed back to the United States with six American citizens, a surprise development after he met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. Officials from the Trump administration had said earlier on Friday that one of Grenell’s top aims for the visit was to secure the release of Americans detained in the country, at a time when the Trump administration has been driving a deportation and anti-gang push in the United States. Grenell did not name the six men, shown with him aboard an airplane in a photo he posted online. They were dressed in light blue outfits used by the Venezuelan prison system. "We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens," Grenell posted on X. "They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him." Trump cheered the move in his own post, saying Grenell was bringing "six hostages home from Venezuela." It is unclear exactly how many Americans were being held by Venezuela, but Venezuelan officials have spoken publicly of at least nine. Maduro’s officials have accused most of them of terrorism and said some were high-level "mercenaries". The Venezuelan government regularly accuses members of the opposition and foreign detainees of conspiring with the U.S. to commit terrorism. U.S. officials have always denied any plots. "American hostages that are being held in Venezuela ... must be released immediately," Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America, said earlier on Friday, adding the Grenell-Maduro meeting was "not a negotiation in exchange for anything." In late 2023, Venezuela’s government released dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, after months of negotiations, while the U.S. released a close ally of Maduro.

Reported similarly:
AP [1/31/2025 12:37 PM, Regina Garcia Cano and Joshua Goodman, 12036K, Neutral]

Reuters [2/1/2025 4:40 AM, Nerijus Adomaitis, 48128K, Negative] reports a Norwegian cargo ship with an all-Russian crew suspected of damaging a Baltic Sea telecoms cable has been released by authorities in Norway after no link to the incident was found, the police said late on Friday. The Silver Dania was seized at the request of Latvian authorities and with the help of Norway’s coast guard, police in the northern Norwegian city of Tromsoe said previously. "The investigation will continue, but we see no reason for the ship to remain in Tromsoe any longer. No findings have been made linking the ship to the act (of damaging the subsea cable)," the police said in a statement. The Silver Dania’s owner, the Silver Sea shipping group, denied that the vessel was involved in the incident, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported. Sweden and Latvia are investigating the suspected sabotage on Sunday of the cable linking the two countries. Swedish police seized and boarded the Maltese-flagged cargo ship Vezhen on suspicion it caused the damage. The head of the Vezhen’s operator, a Bulgarian company, said on Monday it might have struck the cable with its anchor but denied any malicious intent. Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor handling the investigation in Sweden, said on Friday that they had looked at the Norwegian ship, but dismissed its involvement. The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link, and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The NATO military alliance recently boosted its presence with frigates, aircraft, and naval drones.

New York Times [2/1/2025 4:24 AM, Aaron Boxerman and Johnatan Reiss, 740K, Negative] reports Gaza’s border with Egypt is reopening to allow sick and wounded Palestinians to leave, officials said Friday, after more than eight months during which many who have needed medical care were trapped. Reopening the crossing at Rafah, which has long been Gaza’s lifeline to the outside world, is a key stipulation of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Mediators hope that the agreement, which has begun with a 42-day cease-fire and hostage-for-prisoner swaps, will ultimately end the devastating 15-month-long war in Gaza. As part of the truce, Israel agreed to reopen the Rafah crossing after the release of the remaining living female hostages held by Hamas, which took place on Thursday. Israel committed to allowing up to 50 sick and wounded Palestinian fighters to leave through Rafah per day, in addition to Palestinian women and children who need medical care. The first group of Gazans was expected to leave on Saturday, now that European and Palestinian officials have conducted a trial run of the new arrangements at the crossing, according to two European diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate preparations. The World Health Organization said it hoped to bring around 50 critically injured and sick patients through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, but it did not identify them. Over 12,000 Gazans still need medical evacuation, the organization said. “If we continue like this, at the pace we have, we will be busy for the next 15 years,” Rik Peeperkorn, the top W.H.O. official for the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters by videoconference.

NPR [2/1/2025 4:10 AM, Kat Lonsdorf, Daniel Estrin, 9K, Neutral] reports a U.S. dual citizen is among the three Israeli hostages released by Hamas Saturday, after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza. The release includes U.S. and Israeli dual citizen Keith Siegel, 65, Yarden Bibas, 35, and Ofer Kalderon, 54. Kalderon also holds French citizenship. The three men were handed over Saturday morning to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, who transferred them to Israeli troops for the drive across the border into Israel. Bibas and Kalderon were handed over in Khan Younis, in Gaza’s south; Seigel in Gaza City in the enclave’s north. In exchange, dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees are expected to be released from Israeli jails later in the day, including some serving life sentences. Among those to be released are Mohammad El Halabi, the former manager of operations for charity group World Vision in Gaza, who was convicted by Israel in 2022 for funneling funds to Hamas. Halabi pleaded not guilty, and World Vision strongly denied his involvement. Also expected to be released is Shadi Amouri, who’s serving a life sentence for a bombing that killed 17 Israelis in 2002. Amouri is set to be deported to a neighboring country. The exchange is part of a multiphase deal between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, that began Jan. 19, with a six-week ceasefire. During that time, a total of 33 of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza — some of whom are believed to be dead — are supposed to be returned to Israel in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The deal has held for nearly two weeks, allowing aid to flow into the enclave. On Saturday, a key border crossing at Rafah opened for the first time since Israel took control of the crossing in May, allowing 50 Palestinians to cross into Egypt for medical treatment. The two sides are set to begin the next phase of the negotiations which could see the ceasefire extended and the remaining hostages freed.

Reuters [1/31/2025 5:46 AM, Dmitry Antonov, 48128K, Negative] reports Russia on Friday condemned an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to build a new missile defence shield, accusing the United States of trying to upset the global nuclear balance and pave the wave for military confrontation in space. Trump on Monday signed an order that "mandated a process to develop an ‘American Iron Dome,’" a next-generation U.S. missile defence shield against ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missile and other forms of aerial attack. The White House said the intention was to modernise an outdated system and address a "catastrophic threat" that had become more complex as U.S. adversaries developed new delivery systems. But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the plan was aimed at undermining the ability of both Russia and China to exercise nuclear deterrence. In the sharpest Russian criticism so far of a policy announced by Trump’s new administration, she said that the planned U.S. move would hinder the prospects for talks on nuclear arms control - something that both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have said they favour. "It (the plan) directly envisages a significant strengthening of the American nuclear arsenal and means for conducting combat operations in space, including the development and deployment of space-based interception systems," Zakharova told reporters at a news briefing in Moscow. "We consider this as another confirmation of the U.S. focus on turning space into an arena of armed confrontation... and the deployment of weapons there. "The indicated U.S. approaches will not contribute to reducing tensions or improving the situation in the strategic sphere, including creating a basis for a fruitful dialogue on strategic offensive arms," she said. The White House’s Iron Dome statement did not refer to strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but said: "The Iron Dome will further the goals of peace through strength. By empowering the United States with a second-strike capability, the Iron Dome will deter adversaries from attacks on the homeland.” Trump and Putin have both said they would like to meet face-to-face to discuss a range of issues, including the Ukraine war, but Moscow says it has yet to receive any signals from the U.S. on when and where such an encounter could take place.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [1/31/2025 12:21 PM, Jon Jackson, 56005K, Neutral]

Wall Street Journal [1/31/2025 6:50 PM, Nick Timiraos, Neutral] reports a former Federal Reserve economist was arrested Friday and accused of conspiring to pass sensitive information to individuals working for the Chinese government, the Justice Department said. An indictment unsealed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday accused the economist, John Rogers, of lying to investigators at the Fed when they investigated his relationship with Chinese individuals who had posed as graduate students at a Chinese university. Rogers worked as a senior adviser in the international finance division of the Fed in Washington from 2010 until 2021. Rogers joined the staff of Fed economists in 1994, according to a biography on his personal website. He taught at Fudan University in Shanghai after leaving the Fed. A Fed spokeswoman declined to comment. Rogers couldn’t be reached on Friday afternoon. Federal prosecutors said Rogers solicited information from his colleagues related to monetary policy decisions, proprietary economic data sets, deliberations about tariffs targeting China, and briefing books for rate-setters and, in turn, passed that information along to Chinese operatives in violation of central-bank protocol. Fed records show Rogers didn’t attend meetings of the Fed’s rate-setting committee. His research focused on exchange rates and interest-rate policy. Friday’s indictment alleges a long-running effort to cultivate Rogers as a potential source on the Fed’s thinking about the economy and interest rates. It said the Chinese agents paid for Rogers to make visits to China under the pretense of teaching classes there. In 2022, an investigation by Republican staff members on a Senate committee concluded that China was trying to build a network of informants inside the central bank system to better understand the central bank’s thinking on key economic developments. Rogers wasn’t identified in that report.

Reuters [1/31/2025 8:52 PM, Luc Cohen, 48128K, Neutral] reports that two executives of a Chinese chemical company have been found not guilty by a Manhattan jury on charges they conspired to ship precursor chemicals to the United States to manufacture fentanyl, but were convicted on related charges. In a verdict returned on Wednesday and made available electronically on Thursday, jurors found Hubei Amarvel Biotech’s principal executive Qingzhao Wang and marketing manager Yiyi Chen not guilty of the top charge, conspiracy to distribute fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance. However, Wang and Chen were found guilty of conspiracy to import a fentanyl precursor chemical. The jury found they had cause to believe it would be used to make fentanyl, but not that they had intent to make it. Both defendants were also convicted of conspiracy to launder money. The U.S. Department of Justice touted the 2023 indictment of Wang and Chen as a significant step in the fight against fentanyl, a highly addictive painkiller. It was the first time U.S. authorities sought to prosecute Chinese company executives over the distribution of fentanyl and related products.

Newsweek [1/31/2025 5:52 AM, Ryan Chan, 56005K, Neutral] reports Russia has sent two pairs of bombers, which are capable of using nuclear weapons, near the coast of Japan on Thursday, prompting the United States ally to scramble fighter jets. Newsweek has emailed the Japanese and Russian defense ministries for further comment. Japan, a security treaty ally of the United States, is involved in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Northern Territories, also known as the Southern Kuril Islands, that are currently under Moscow’s control after being taken at the conclusion of World War II. The Russian military flights came after Russia and its quasi-ally, China, sent their nuclear-capable bombers for a joint patrol over the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea in South Korea, as well as over the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea last November. According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, a pair of Russian bombers, escorted by two fighter aircraft, flew over the La Perouse Strait, also known as the Soya Strait in Japan, which is located off the northern coast of Hokkaido, one of four of Japan’s main islands. A second pair of Russian bombers was spotted flying over the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, off the southwestern coast of Hokkaido, as well as the northwestern coast of Honshu, a Japanese main island located south of Hokkaido. It was also escorted by two fighter jets. Meanwhile, a Russian Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft conducted flight operations over the waters between the Russian mainland in the Far East region and West Hokkaido and Northwest Honshu, according to a map provided by the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed only two bombers, the Tu-95MS, took part in an eight-hour flight training on Thursday, where they flew over the Sea of Okhotsk, located north of Hokkaido, and the Sea of Japan, situated between Japan and the Russian Far East. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, each turboprop-powered Tu-95MS bomber, which is old and slow, can carry six to 14 air-launched nuclear cruise missiles. The bombers, which were escorted by Su-35S and Su-30SM fighter aircraft, encountered "foreign fighters" during certain segments of their flights, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that the Russian aircraft adhered strictly to international airspace regulations.

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