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

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

The Washington Times [2/24/2025 9:49 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports the Border Patrol saw its best single day in more than 15 years with just 200 illegal immigrants nabbed at the southern border, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday. That daily figure topped 10,000 at some points during the Biden administration. Homeland Security said the drop is a result of the stiff policies of President Trump and Ms. Noem. “President Trump and Secretary Noem have sent a clear message to illegal aliens: do not come to our country. You will not be allowed in. And if you get in, we will hunt you down and deport you,” the department said. “That message has been received.” Mr. Trump declared a border emergency, deployed the military to assist with detection and deportation of unauthorized crossers and shut down mass “parole” programs that had allowed migrants to enter as long as they scheduled ahead of time. The result has been migrants who’d been waiting in Mexico deciding to give up and return home. The 200 figure Ms. Noem touted on Monday is the number of arrests made by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico boundary. That doesn’t include so-called “gotaways,” whom agents detected entering but were unable to reel in. There, too, the Trump administration has made major strides. White House border czar Tom Homan said this weekend that gotaways, which hit a high of 1,800 in a day under the Biden administration, totaled just 48 on Friday. The stiff Trump changes don’t come without a cost, according to immigrant rights groups, who say candidates for asylum are being turned away without getting a chance to earn protections here. The Washington Examiner [2/24/2025 3:59 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports the number of illegal immigrants caught entering the country has continued to drop since President Donald Trump took office one month ago, plummeting over the weekend to the lowest figure seen in a single day in 15 years. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday afternoon that the number of apprehensions made at the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday dropped lower than the several hundred arrests made per day to just a couple of hundred people. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has attributed the decline to its "no longer catching and releasing illegal aliens into the U.S." In total, federal Border Patrol agents stationed at the southern border intercepted 29,116 illegal immigrants in January, down from more than 47,000 in December 2024 and upward of 124,000 a year ago in January 2024. FOX News [2/24/2025 10:39 PM, Staff, 46189K] reports DHS Secretary Kristi Noem weighs in on the falling number of border crossings on ‘Hannity.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [2/24/2025 5:54 PM, Adam Shaw, 46189K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is ending the use of the controversial CBP One app to allow migrants to board domestic flights – unless it is being used for their self-deportation. "Secretary Noem is reversing the horrendous Biden-Era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country and do so without identification," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Under President Trump, TSA and DHS will no longer tolerate this. Aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport," they said. The new policy change ends the use of CBP One at screening checkpoints and TSA’s National Transportation Vetting Center, and also bars air travel for migrants who were paroled or released into the U.S. pending their immigration processing, who do not present a TSA-accepted form of ID, and who are not self-deporting.

The Washington Post [2/24/2025 9:27 PM, Anumita Kaur, 31735K] reports a judge on Monday temporarily barred the federal government from conducting immigration enforcement in certain places of worship after faith groups argued that the threat of raids infringed on their religious liberty. Six Quaker congregations, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple sued in the U.S. District Court of Maryland last month, challenging the Trump administration’s order overturning a long-standing policy that restricted immigration authorities from making arrests at churches and other “sensitive locations.” The houses of worship argue that the policy change discourages worshipers from attending services because they fear being arrested. The Department of Homeland Security in January said the move would help officials “enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens.” U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang on Monday levied a temporary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s order from taking effect as the lawsuit proceeds because he said the order could violate religious freedom. “Plaintiffs have provided evidence that the willingness of their congregants to attend worship and participate in ministry services is presently being chilled,” Chang wrote. Chang denied the plaintiffs’ request for a nationwide halt to immigration enforcement in houses of worship. His order applies only to the Quaker groups, the Georgia-based Baptist denomination and the Sacramento-based Sikh temple that sued. The Department of Homeland Security had restricted immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” for years. With some exceptions, agents had to obtain special approval for enforcement actions in certain places, including schools, hospitals, churches and other places of worship; funerals, weddings and other religious ceremonies. In 2021, that list expanded to include other health-care facilities, playgrounds, social service facilities and emergency response sites. The AP [2/24/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Kunzelman and Linsay Whitehurst, 47097K] reports U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out. The preliminary injunction from the Maryland-based judge only applies to the plaintiffs, which also include a Georgia-based network of Baptist churches and a Sikh temple in California. They sued after the Trump administration threw out Department of Homeland Security policies limiting where migrant arrests could happen as President Donald Trump seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations. The policy change said field agents using "common sense" and "discretion" can conduct immigration enforcement operations at houses of worship without a supervisor’s approval. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the new DHS directive departs from the government’s 30-year-old policy against staging immigration enforcement operations in "protected areas," or "sensitive locations.". Five Quaker congregations from Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia sued DHS and its secretary, Kristi Noem, on Jan. 27, less than a week after the new policy was announced. Politico [2/24/2025 1:47 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 57114K] reports that the Trump administration removed limits the Biden administration had imposed on enforcement at "sensitive" sites such as churches, schools and hospitals. Chuang, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said in a 59-page opinion that the removal of those limits threatened the religious freedom of the groups seeking relief from the court. "The substantial burden that the [Trump administration] policy is far from speculative and is already occurring," wrote Chuang, who noted reports that congregations with large immigrant populations have drawn fewer attendees since the Trump directive was issued last month. The groups that sued over the policy include Quaker congregations in Philadelphia; Richmond, Va.; Maryland and New England, as well as a Sikh temple in Sacramento and a coalition of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches headquartered in Georgia. The New York Times [2/24/2025 2:59 PM, Eileen Sullivan, 145325K] reports that the lawsuit was brought against the Homeland Security Department by a group of mostly Quaker organizations. However, a Baptist church in Atlanta and a Sikh temple in Sacramento also joined, and officials in those organizations said they had already seen a decline in attendance because of the new policy. A similar case, brought by a coalition of denominational entities, was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Reported similarly:
Los Angeles Times [2/24/2025 2:05 PM, Michael Kunzelman and Lindsay Whitehurst, 13342K]
The Hill [2/24/2025 1:00 PM, Zach Schonfeld, 16346K]
CBS News [2/24/2025 4:08 PM, Melissa Quinn, 52225K]
USA Today [2/24/2025 6:42 PM, Bart Jansen, 75858K]
Washington Examiner [2/24/2025 4:05 PM, Elaine Mallon, 2296K]

NPR [2/24/2025 2:28 PM, Joel Rose and Tom Bowman, 29983K] reports that the Trump administration is developing plans to build immigration detention facilities on U.S. military bases around the country, according to an internal memo obtained by NPR. The Department of Homeland Security is asking the Department of Defense for help detaining immigrants without legal status, according to the DHS memo, a step that could significantly expand the military’s role in immigration enforcement. The memo sent earlier this month from Juliana Blackwell, the acting executive secretary at DHS, lays out a plan to use Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas, to "stage detainees for removal from the United States." The request is still in the planning stages, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. But if activated, the plan could dramatically expand detention capacity to support President Trump’s push for mass deportations. Fort Bliss would initially detain up to 1,000 immigrants during a 60-day evaluation period, the memo states, and could eventually hold as many as 10,000 immigrants while serving as a "central hub for deportation operations." Fort Bliss could then serve as the model for as many as 10 other holding facilities on military bases nationwide, including Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey; Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station near Buffalo, N.Y.; Hill Air Force Base in Utah; and Homestead Air Reserve Base near Miami.

CNN [2/24/2025 12:53 PM, Haley Britzky and Priscilla Alvarez, 987K] reports that the Trump administration has halted efforts to place migrants in tent structures built at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid concerns that the emerging facilities don’t meet detention standards because they lack air conditioning or electricity, a US official and a source familiar with the matter told CNN. It comes weeks after officials scrambled to set up additional housing for migrants at the controversial US base on the island — and only days after those on location were deported. While the tent structures are currently not being used, migrants are still being placed in the detention facility on the base, and at the Migrant Operations Center, or MOC. The Trump administration said it would be building out tent structures at Guantanamo Bay to house an anticipated 30,000 people transferred there from the southern border. But the sources said Monday that the tents don’t currently meet detention standards set by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The two sources, and a third US official, also said there haven’t been enough people transferred to the base to justify building more. The situation is indicative of the harried efforts undertaken by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to house migrants at the naval base, after President Donald Trump ordered the move in January. Sources previously told CNN the mission has been embroiled in confusion and conflicting internal messaging over who is in charge and what will happen to migrants once they arrive. The Pentagon referred questions to US Southern Command.

The Hill [2/24/2025 6:04 PM, Alexander Bolton, 12829K] reports a group of five Senate Democrats led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter to President Trump Monday challenging his transfer of migrants to detention centers at the U.S. Naval station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The senators noted the U.S. government has never before sent anyone directly from within the country’s borders to be detained at Guantanamo, though the naval facilities were temporarily used more than 30 years ago to house migrants from Haiti and Cuba interdicted at sea. They argued that noncitizens within the United States are "entitled to numerous protections" such as the opportunity under U.S. immigration law to seek protection from removal to countries where they face persecution. It was shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The senators asked Trump to provide his administration’s "claimed legal authority" for transporting noncitizens to Guantanamo and the criteria for determining which noncitizens would be sent to the detention camps. They asked the president to "definitively state" that families and children will not be sent to the prison camp. And they asked him to say whether any individuals sent so far have been convicted of crimes and whether they were provided with legal representation during criminal proceedings.

NBC News [2/24/2025 10:20 PM, Staff, 44742K] reports a Venezuelan migrant, Kevin Rodriguez, speaks on the conditions inside the military base Guantanamo Bay. NBC News’ Marissa Parra shares the details as the Trump administration halts the temporary protected status for Venezuelans in the United States. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [2/24/2025 8:53 PM, John Harney, 16228K] reports Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth plans to visit the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where some undocumented migrants have been held as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Hegseth, according to a Defense Department statement, will travel to the base on Tuesday and tour the “Migrant Operations Center and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility.” He will also receive “briefings on all mission operations” at Guantanamo Bay, where suspected terrorists and enemy combatants were held after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 180 Venezuelans have been shipped to the base since the Trump administration decided to use it as a migrant detention center. They were then flown to Venezuela last week. In January, Trump vowed to send “the worst criminal aliens” to the island base. His administration has previously declined to provide any details of who was jailed at Guantanamo, including what, if any, criminal history they had. The Pentagon said in the statement on Monday night that the Defense Secretary’s trip “also facilitates temporary detention of illegal aliens who are pending return to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.” Hegseth served at Guantanamo, which has been in American hands since 1903, after joining the Army National Guard.

Roll Call [2/24/2025 1:58 PM, Chris Johnson, 503K] reports the Trump administration has paired a public relations blitz with its policy actions on immigration, with key officials appearing on television news and social media, in an advertising campaign and at a high-profile press conference announcing a lawsuit. Some parts of the push go above and beyond the more traditional tone of promotion of government policy. They reflect a typical style of projecting strength and accomplishment, and the primary audience consuming and sharing the content are supporters of Trump’s tough-on-immigration policies. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has appeared in ads that urge migrants illegally in the United States to self-deport, and she told an audience Friday that Trump told her the push would be important because "we’re not going to let the media tell this story, because the media will never tell the truth.". During an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Noem said Trump himself instructed her to take part in the ad after seeing other videos she did in her former role as South Dakota governor - but gave her explicit instructions on giving him credit. "He said, ‘I want you in the ads, and I want your face in the ads … but I want the first ad, I want you to thank me, so I want you to thank me for closing the border,’" Noem said. "And I said, ‘Yes, sir, I will thank you for closing the border.’". The approach is consistent with Trump’s reputation for seeking to grab attention with social media posts, highly visible initiatives and policy actions that favor moving with decisiveness opposed to circumspection - such as the use of a military flourish in deportation efforts and the designation of Guantanamo Bay as a new detention facility for migrants with criminal records. The ads are set to run "in various dialects" across different media markets aimed to "reach illegal immigrants in the interior of the United States, as well as internationally," a statement from the Homeland Security Department says.

CBS News [2/24/2025 11:33 AM, Staff, 52225K] reports that President Trump’s administration is preparing plans to bring back the Title 42 policy used in 2020 to authorize summary expulsions of migrants, government documents show. CBS News’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports on tuberculosis concerns being the basis for the immigration move. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [2/24/2025 6:00 AM, David Nakamura, 40736K] reports Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, the son of Chinese immigrants, laid down a marker when asked in December about Donald Trump’s pledge to end birthright citizenship: “I would be the first to sue.” Three weeks later, he was the first — but he was not standing alone. Behind the scenes, Tong and fellow Democratic attorneys general from 21 states and D.C. had signed a confidential “common interest agreement” to share information, collaborate on legal briefs and join forces on litigation to fight Trump on a potential U.S. citizenship ban. Their arrangement took effect Nov. 14, just nine days after the presidential election, according to a copy of the document obtained by Washington Post. That early partnership and planning has paid off. At a time when congressional Democrats have appeared politically flat-footed in response to the shock-and-awe tactics of Trump’s first month in the White House, this group of attorneys general has responded with a legal fire wall on a case that has become one of the first clear examples of a coordinated resistance to the administration’s extraordinary efforts to expand presidential power and challenge constitutional limits. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit recently upheld a Seattle judge’s nationwide injunction on Trump’s birthright citizenship order in one of the two cases brought by the Democratic states. Judges in both of those cases, and two others brought by civil rights groups, have issued injunctions. Legal experts said the issue could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. “We did not wake up the day after the election and say, ‘Oh, no, what are we going to do now?’” Tong said in a recent interview. “Nobody was taking any chances, so, sure, we were talking about the possibility that Trump would win, and he telegraphed all the things he wanted to do during the campaign. What I said to people after he was elected is that, as a minimum response, we should take him at his word that he will do everything that he said he was going to do. And so he has.”

New York Times [2/24/2025 5:01 AM, Annie Correal, 161405K] reports Central American countries have long taken back their own citizens deported from the United States. But now the Trump administration has called on them to take in people from other countries around the world as well. The extraordinary measures involved in these deportations — hundreds of migrants whisked away by plane without knowing their destinations and bused to isolated shelters — have shifted attention to Panama and Costa Rica and to how Trump’s immigration crackdown is playing out far beyond U.S. borders. So far, the number of migrants from elsewhere deported to Central America is still small, and it remains unclear if it will grow. Regional leaders largely say they are actively cooperating with the United States or have downplayed the significance of the deportations. However, analysts warn that these leaders have been backed into a corner with the threat of tariffs and that any increase in deportation flights could eventually push Central America to its limits. “They’re powerless to do anything,” said Christopher Sabatini, a senior research fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, a research institute in London. “And we saw with President Petro of Colombia the consequences if you resist: sanctions against diplomatic personnel, loss of visa rights, as well as tariffs.” This month, the Trump administration sent three military planes carrying roughly 300 migrants — mostly from Asia and the Middle East — to Panama. Days later, a flight carrying 135 people, nearly half of them children and including dozens of people from China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, landed in Costa Rica. The migrants, who the American authorities say illegally crossed the southern border, are to remain in the custody of the local authorities until they can be returned to their countries or secure asylum somewhere else. Sending them to other countries removes many of the hurdles that Mr. Trump faced during his first term in trying to curb illegal immigration, according to analysts. It helps alleviate overcrowding in U.S. detention facilities by removing people from countries like China, Afghanistan and Iran, where a lack of diplomatic relations with the United States makes deportations particularly challenging.

Reuters [2/24/2025 6:28 PM, David Lawder and Andrea Shalal, 2913K] reports President Donald Trump said on Monday that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports are "on time and on schedule" despite efforts by the countries to beef up border security and halt the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. ahead of a March 4 deadline. "The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule," Trump told a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. He had been asked whether Canada and Mexico had done enough to avoid the punishing 25% U.S. duties. Many had hoped the top two U.S. trading partners could persuade Trump’s administration to further delay tariffs that would apply to over $918 billion worth of U.S. imports from the two countries, from autos to energy. This could wreak havoc on the integrated North American economy, with the automotive sector hit particularly hard. Trump did not specifically mention the March 4 deadline. He later referred to his desire for "reciprocal" tariffs to match the duty rates and offset the trade barriers of all countries, including France. Trump and Macron did not publicly discuss another sticking point -- digital services taxes imposed by France, Canada and other countries aimed at dominant U.S. tech giants including Google, Facebook and Amazon. On Friday, Trump ordered his administration to revive tariff investigations into countries that levy digital service taxes on U.S. firms. Canada and Mexico have taken steps to beef up border security, which bought them about a month’s reprieve from Trump’s earlier Feb. 1 deadline to impose the tariffs, based on a national emergency declaration. Any further delay negotiated ahead of the deadline will keep the tariff threat in place at least until clear evidence emerges that Canadian and Mexican measures are working, said Dan Ujczo, a lawyer specializing in U.S.-Canada trade matters. "There’s progress being made on the security front," said Ujczo, senior counsel with Thompson Hine in Columbus, Ohio. "But it’s overly optimistic to think that those tariffs would be fully rescinded.".

CNN [2/24/2025 6:16 AM, Alejandra Jaramillo, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Brian Stelter, 987K] reports that, Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned right-wing podcaster, has been named the next deputy director of the FBI, President Donald Trump announced Sunday, the latest outsider media personality the president has chosen to be in a significant position of power overseeing large branches of complex government organizations. The FBI deputy director traditionally is a position held by a career FBI agent. The choice of Bongino is a sign of the blowback toward the interim FBI leadership over its weeklong standoff with Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, over his demand for names of FBI agents involved in the January 6, 2021, and Trump-related investigations. Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel had told allies initially that Robert Kissane, the acting deputy director, was the likely pick to keep the job until Kissane and Brian Driscoll, the then-FBI acting director before Patel was sworn in, resisted Bove’s demands, according to people briefed on the matter. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday night, Trump touted Bongino as a patriot with "incredible love and passion for our Country" and highlighted his extensive background in law enforcement. He also noted that Bongino "is willing and prepared to give up" his popular daily radio show and podcast, "The Dan Bongino Show," "in order to serve.” "Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!" Trump added. On Friday’s episode of his show, titled "The Golden Age Of Republican Politics, Bongino celebrated the confirmation of his new boss, Patel, saying, "We got Kash through, so now you are going to see what real change is like.” At nearly the same time Trump posted on social media Sunday, the FBI Agents Association — an organization representing thousands of current and former federal agents — sent a mass email to members welcoming Patel as the new director and outlining the planned collaborative path ahead.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [2/24/2025 1:36 PM, Julia Gomez and Maria Francis, 89965K]

The Hill [2/24/2025 2:34 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports that President Trump’s selection of Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director adds another conservative firebrand to the top of the agency, fueling concerns from Democrats the bureau will be politicized. A former Secret Service agent and New York City police officer turned right-wing pundit, Bongino has bragged of "owning the libs," recently suggested Trump should defy a court order and has called the agency he will soon help lead "irredeemably corrupt." In hiring Bongino, Trump tapped a second figure, after FBI Director Kash Patel, who has a lengthy history of controversial statements and little experience with the FBI. The Trump administration also broke with the tradition of choosing among the department’s career ranks for the deputy director — the practice for more than 100 years and one Patel had recently committed to maintaining. "I am proud to welcome Dan Bongino as the next Deputy Director of the FBI—a warrior and lifelong public servant. Dan has dedicated his career to protecting this country," Patel wrote on the social platform X. "His leadership, integrity, and deep commitment to justice make him the ideal choice to help lead the FBI at this critical time. He’s a cops cop.". The role does not require Senate confirmation, but several Democrats nonetheless voiced their alarm.

The Hill [2/24/2025 2:06 PM, Alex Gangitano, 12829K] reports that President Trump on Monday defended tech billionaire Elon Musk after pushback over his email demanding federal workers list five accomplishments from the past week and in doing so, raising the of risk losing their jobs. "There was a lot of genius in sending it. We’re trying to find out if people are working and so we’re sending a letter to people, please tell us what you did last week. If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The email instructed federal workers to respond to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by 11:59 p.m. EST Monday with five bullet points of accomplishments. When asked if the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could benefit from streamlined communication, Trump blamed the Biden administration and then suggested that some people listed as federal government workers don’t exist, without providing any proof of that actually being the case. A growing list of agencies, including the Pentagon, FBI, State Department and intelligence community, have told their employees to hold off and not respond to the email, with some citing national security concerns. Trump said he’s not concerned about the disconnect between Musk and the agency heads, saying they’re request was not doing in a combative manner.

New York Times [2/25/2025 3:26 AM, Michael D. Shear and Kate Conger, 330K] reports Elon Musk’s monthlong rampage through the federal bureaucracy appears to have met its first real test, as some of President Trump’s top loyalists flatly reject the billionaire’s demand that their employees justify their jobs or be summarily fired. By Monday, just 48 hours after an email from Mr. Musk with the subject line “What did you do last week?” landed in the email boxes of millions of federal workers, personnel officials proclaimed the “request” to be voluntary even as Mr. Musk renewed his demand. For the first time since the beginning of Mr. Trump’s return to power, government employees appeared to be fending off, at least for now, an ambush in their war with the world’s richest man. Even if the head-spinning series of events — contradictory tweets from Mr. Musk, comments from the president and emails from agency heads — left many of them confused. After Mr. Musk’s email, several agencies quickly sent out emails telling their employees they did not need to provide the five bullet points about their activity that he wanted. “There is no H.H.S. expectation that H.H.S. employees respond to O.P.M., and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond,” said an email sent to employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, referring to the agency that sent Mr. Musk’s request, the Office of Personnel Management. The Department of Health and Human Services added that anyone who wanted to respond should “assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly.” At virtually the same time that employees were told a response was no longer necessary, Mr. Trump weighed in during a visit with President Emmanuel Macron of France, praising Mr. Musk’s demand as “genius” and saying that employees who did not respond would be “semi-fired” or “fired.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [2/24/2025 1:03 PM, Emily Davies, Hannah Natanson, Jeff Stein, and Lisa Rein, 40736K]

MeriTalk [2/24/2025 11:07 AM, John Curran, 31K] reports that Elon Musk’s social media notice on Saturday that Federal government employees need to state five things they "got done" during the previous week or face the loss of their jobs drew swift push-back over the weekend from several Federal agencies including departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State, along with fierce criticism from a Democratic leader in the House. The three agencies employ over one million Federal civilian employees, or about 41 percent of the 2.4 million civilian worker total. It was followed up by an email late Saturday afternoon from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) stating: "What did you do last week? Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 1159pmEST." Notably, the OPM email did not threaten job loss for Federal employees who did not respond. Likewise, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told employees in an email on Sunday that "DHS management will respond on behalf of the Department and all of its component offices," according to reputable media reports. "No reporting action from you is needed at this time," DHS said, adding, "For now, please pause any responses outside of your DHS chain of command." DHS employs upwards of 250,000 Federal workers.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [2/24/2025 5:53 AM, Chris Cameron and Maggie Haberman, 740K]
The Hill [2/24/2025 12:19 PM, Lauren Irwin, 16346K]

NBC News [2/24/2025 12:32 PM, Courtney Kube, Julie Tsirkin, Yamiche Alcindor, Laura Strickler, and Dareh Gregorian, 50804K] reports that Responses to the Elon Musk-directed email to government employees about what work they had accomplished in the last week are expected to be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether those jobs are necessary, according to three sources with knowledge of the system. The information will go into an LLM (Large Language Model), an advanced AI system that looks at huge amounts of text data to understand, generate and process human language, the sources said. The AI system will determine whether someone’s work is mission-critical or not. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management emails were sent to federal workers on Saturday, shortly after Musk wrote in a post on X that “all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” The OPM email did not mention the resignation threat, but said: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pm EST.”

FOX News [2/24/2025 10:39 AM, Elizabeth Elkind and Julia Johnson, 49889K] reports that a massive piece of legislation that House Republicans hope will advance a broad swath of President Donald Trump’s agenda is facing its final hurdle on Monday before a chamber-wide vote. The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeepers for most bills before a House floor vote, is meeting to debate a measure that GOP leaders want to have on Trump’s desk by sometime in May. The bill aims to increase spending on border security, the judiciary and defense by roughly $300 billion, while seeking at least $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts elsewhere. As written, the bill also provides $4.5 trillion to extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions, which expire at the end of this year. It comes after the Senate held an all-night session to advance its own version of the Trump plan last week. In the Senate Republicans’ budget plan, the first reconciliation bill includes Trump’s priorities for border security, energy and national defense, while the second bill, to be drawn up later in the year, would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from TCJA.

CBS Austin [2/24/2025 4:50 PM, Kristine Frazao, 602K] reports surveillance video of a shooting at a college party last year was just one of dozens of acts of violence in the Boston area, which federal authorities said were committed by the Trinitarios, a violent transnational gang they say they have now dismantled. Court documents detail the 22 members under federal indictment, a group led by Naturalized citizen Emmanuel Paula Cabral. Some members of the gang are believed to be undocumented migrants living in and around a city that’s voted to provide sanctuary to them, which includes a policy that prevents state and local officials from enforcing federal ICE detainers. On Monday, the cities of Chelsea and Somerville —filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to coerce them into participating in mass deportation efforts.

CBS Boston [2/24/2025 5:15 PM, Louisa Moller, 51661K] reports the cities of Chelsea and Somerville filed suit on Monday, asking a federal judge to block the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold funding from so-called "sanctuary jurisdictions." The cities stand to lose tens of millions of dollars if the Trump administration follows through on threats to withhold funding from sanctuary cities. Regardless of rhetoric, Massachusetts law prevents local police officers from arresting or detaining people based solely on their immigration status. Former Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations for ICE Boston, Bruce Foucart, says that law has undoubtedly made arrests more difficult and less safe for federal immigration officers.

The New York Times [2/24/2025 6:13 PM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, 161405K] reports that the Roosevelt Hotel, a century-old building in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, became the improbable symbol of New York City’s migrant crisis, nicknamed “the new Ellis Island” for its role as an arrival center for migrants seeking shelter in the city. Images of immigrants languishing on the surrounding sidewalks as they waited for beds two summers ago emerged as a cultural and political flashpoint. But in a sign of how the crisis has subsided, the hotel will cease operating as a shelter by June, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday. The decision was a watershed moment as the number of migrants arriving in the city continues to slow and officials dismantle the emergency shelter system they established nearly three years ago. The storied hotel, which closed to guests in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic but got a second life as a migrant shelter, drew national attention at the height of the crisis. As thousands of migrants cycled through its faded lobby, the Roosevelt turned into a lightning rod in the country’s immigration debate: both as a reminder of the depth of the crisis and as shorthand for critics opposed to the expenditure of taxpayer money on migrants. Bloomberg [2/24/2025 11:53 AM, Max Rivera, 21617K] reports that the hotel sits in a prime midtown Manhattan location, steps from Grand Central Terminal and some of the highest-priced office buildings on Park Avenue. “While we are not done caring for those who came into our care, today marks another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have achieved in turning the corner on the unprecedented international humanitarian effort,” Adams said in a video release. The number of arrivals in New York has fallen to 350 a week, down from a peak of about 4,000, with the midtown intake center processing the bulk of the city’s migrants. CBS Austin [2/24/2025 12:27 PM, Jessica A. Botelho, 581K] reports "Thanks to the successful strategies we implemented in our city and policies we advocated for nationally, we’ll be closing this site that served new arrivals since the height of this crisis in 2023," he wrote on X. "Our city was receiving 4,000 migrants each week during the height of the crisis, and now we’re down to approximately 350 new arrivals each week," he added. "Our administration has skillfully managed this crisis, with over 232,000 migrants coming to our city seeking shelter in the last three years. The Roosevelt Hotel was where we processed 75% of those who came into our care, and it was critical to our effective operation." In recent weeks, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by billionaire Elon Musk, discovered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) gave more than $59 million to house illegal immigrants in NYC hotels. Newsweek [2/24/2025 11:50 AM, Dan Gooding, 56005K] reports Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the $80 million, distributed by FEMA, were illegally sent to the city and clawed the cash back. The city announced it was suing the Trump administration over the move on Friday.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [2/25/2025 3:26 AM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, 330K]
Wall Street Journal [2/24/2025 3:26 PM, Joseph De Avila and Alyssa Lukpat]
NBC News [2/24/2025 11:13 AM, Kyla Guilfoil, 50804K]
FOX News [2/24/2025 7:17 AM, Greg Norman, 57114K]
Washington Examiner [2/24/2025 12:12 PM, Elaine Mallon, 2365K]

Border Report [2/24/2025 11:29 AM, Staff, 153K] reports that the Department of Justice recently announced it is suing New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other top state officials over alleged resistance to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Many Republican lawmakers say the president is delivering on his promise to secure the border. "We will not be intimidated. At all. Ever!" said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Jeffries condemned the Justice Department’s lawsuit against New York and Hochul. "I expect that there will be a forceful response to this overreach by the Department of Justice," he said. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the lawsuit on Feb. 12, arguing that Hochul and other officials actively resisted the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. "New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens," Bondi said. The 16-page lawsuit challenges New York’s Green Light law, which allows undocumented immigrants to obtain drive-only licenses. A provision in the law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to notify undocumented immigrants if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests their information. Bondi called that provision unconstitutional. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NorthJersey.com [2/24/2025 4:55 PM, Lucas Frau] reports police made two arrests relating to involvement in running an alleged illicit massage business in Denville, officials said. Soon Y. Bang, 63, of Fairview, is the owner of Oasis Spa, located at 3108 Route 10 West. He is accused of promoting prostitution at his business, according to the press release sent by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Yushun Li, 67, of Flushing, New York, is accused of engaging in sexual activity for money at the establishment, officials said. On Feb. 15, the Denville Police Department executed a search warrant at the Oasis Spa and at Bang’s Fairview residence. A large quantity of U.S. currency was found and police say it is "indicative of prostitution." Agencies such as U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Human Trafficking Task Force, United States Secret Service, Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Edison Police Department, Morris County Sheriff’s Office, and Morris County Prosecutor’s Office also participated in the investigation. The investigation into the alleged illegal business is still active and ongoing.

NBC News [2/24/2025 3:57 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44742K] reports Texas state police and local law enforcement converged on a predominantly Latino community near Houston on Monday for what Gov. Gregg Abbott said was an immigration enforcement operation. The operation was focused on Colony Ridge, a group of unincorporated subdivisions northeast of Houston that has been targeted by GOP media and right-wing activists who have pushed unsubstantiated claims that the overwhelmingly Republican area has become a magnet for immigrants and that it is under the control of cartels. NBC News’ request to Texas DPS for information on how many people were detained or arrested and whether the apprehensions were immigration related was referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 4:57 PM, Dave Burge, 52868K] reports two alleged members of Barrio Azteca, a transnational criminal organization allied with the Juarez Cartel, were extradited from Mexico to the United States to face charges related to the 2010 murders of U.S. Consulate employees in Juarez. That’s according to the U.S. Justice Department, which sent out a news release on Monday, Feb. 24 about the extraditions. Eduardo Ravelo, also known as Tablas, Tablero, and T-Blas, and Enrique Guajardo Lopez, also known as Kiki, arrived in the United States on Thursday, Feb. 20, and made their initial appearances Monday in the Western District of Texas. Ravelo, a former FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive, and Guajardo were charged in a 12-count third superseding indictment unsealed in March 2011, the Justice Department said. "The defendants allegedly participated in the murder of three U.S. Consulate employees in Mexico in March 2010, along with many other acts of senseless violence," Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. "No U.S. citizen, on either side of our border with Mexico, should have to live in fear of Barrio Azteca, any other violent border gang, or any drug cartel. The defendants’ extradition to the United States is an example of the Department’s unwavering commitment to eliminating transnational criminal organizations and the pursuit of justice for the victims of those tragic murders in Juarez, Mexico.". Acting U.S. Attorney for West Texas Margaret Leachman said: "The extradition and U.S. custody of these two defendants, who are both alleged to be members of Barrio Azteca operating along the border, is essential to our mission of disrupting and dismantling these dangerous criminal organizations. With the help of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, this U.S. Attorney’s Office will aggressively prosecute Ravelo and Guajardo throughout this case for their alleged participation in the 2010 Consulate murders and other gang related activity.". A total of 35 Barrio Azteca members and associates based in the United States and Mexico were charged in the third superseding indictment for allegedly committing various criminal acts, including racketeering, narcotics distribution and importation, retaliation against persons providing information to U.S. law enforcement, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice and murder, the U.S. Justice Department said.

FOX News [2/24/2025 12:00 PM, Staff, 49889K] reports that Fox News’ Brooke Taylor reports the latest after speaking with Eduardo Chavez, the DEA special agent in charge in Dallas, Texas, about the cartel-linked crisis. Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell also joins ‘The Faulkner Focus’ to discuss. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [2/24/2025 2:20 PM, Catrina Barker, 2296K] reports that from July 2024 to February 2025, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has received over $63 million in Illinois taxpayer funds, according to the Illinois Comptroller vendor payment system. ICIRR received nearly $4 million of taxpayer money this month for Illinois Welcoming Centers. According to the Illinois Department of Human Services, the centers "eliminate systemic barriers that immigrants may have in approaching state services.". State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, suggested the federal Department of Government Efficiency come to the state of Illinois and uncover this "ridiculousness" and see how tax dollars are really being spent. "The governor is going to do the Springfield two-step. He’s going to do this parlor trick today to say, ‘hey, I came up with some revenues to try to balance his budget,’ but we have … COVID monies [that] are gone, he spent over $3-6 billion on illegal immigration, has a $3.2 billion deficit, and I guarantee you, at 3 a.m. the last night of session, they’re going to be raising your taxes," said Niemerg.

CNN [2/24/2025 9:00 AM, Eric Levenson, 987K] reports Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt rejected a controversial state Board of Education proposal to ask students’ families about their immigration status and criticized the board’s "needless political drama" in a challenge to the state’s increasingly Trumpian educational direction. The proposal, which requires parents to report their immigration or citizenship status when enrolling their children in school, came as President Donald Trump and Republican leaders pledged to crack down on undocumented immigrants and carry out a mass deportation plan. In just over a month in power, the Trump administration has sent troops to the US-Mexico border, deported migrants to Guantanamo Bay and moved to strip temporary protections for certain migrants. Education and immigration advocates questioned whether the proposal was constitutional and said they believed it will make immigrant families feel afraid and unwelcome at public schools. "After months of headlines followed by disappointing (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores this month, it’s clear that our education infrastructure has fallen prey to needless political drama," Stitt, a Republican who endorsed Trump’s presidential bid, said in a statement earlier this month. The results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national exam known as the "Nation’s Report Card," showed Oklahoma students scored below average on math and reading assessments. "If we want to be the best state for business, we need to make sure our kids have a path to success. It’s time for some fresh eyes and a renewed focus on our top ten goals," Stitt said. Stitt, who is term limited, also announced the replacement of three members of the five-member Board of Education. These new members must be approved by the state Senate. The announcement came a few weeks after the Oklahoma Board of Education under Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters approved the proposal, which needed to be approved by the legislature and governor to take effect, per state administrative rules. "When I see our NAEP scores not improving, when I see things that are messed up or wrong, or kids being used as political pawns for some political stunt, it’s just frustrating," Stitt said at a February 12 news conference.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 7:51 PM, Heather Willard, 52868K] reports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told a judge Friday that there was no legal basis for a temporary restraining order to be granted to Denver Public Schools against the federal agency. The district sought such an order to prevent immigration enforcement actions from impacting its school community, with officials saying that the request was filed after “several ICE arrests took place in neighborhoods surrounding some DPS schools earlier this morning, negatively impacting families and students,” according to the district’s motion. The request for a temporary restraining order was filed on Feb. 12. After President Donald Trump was inaugurated, policies limiting federal immigration officers from sensitive areas, which included schools and churches, were reversed. DPS said this decision created “uncertainty” in its district. Superintendent Alex Marrero told FOX31 earlier this month that students, parents and teachers have been living in fear after recent community raids. He argued that children and families in the district deserve the peace of mind that comes from legal protections so that they can focus on learning. “By all accounts, the new DHS policy gives federal agents virtually unchecked authority to enforce immigration laws in formerly protected areas, including schools,” the school district said in its filing against DHS. “As reported to the public, the sole restraint on agents is that they use their own subjective ‘common sense’ to determine whether to carry out enforcement activities at formally safeguarded locations such as schools.” In the response filed on Friday, DHS said that the Denver district has not shown any “legally cognizable” injury inflicted by a change in internal immigration enforcement. It also said DPS had a misunderstanding of the internal policy. “But the declarations from school officials appear to reflect an understanding — an incorrect one— that the 2021 Guidance had categorically prohibited immigration enforcement at schools, and the 2025 Guidance thus now permits enforcement that was previously prohibited,” DHS argued in its response to the temporary restraining order.

Reuters [2/24/2025 8:03 PM, Andrew Hay, 41523K] reports Arizona’s legislature is set to vote on legislation to pay police $2,500 for every illegal immigrant they help deport, marking it the latest U.S. state to consider bounties to support President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Arizona’s so-called bounty bill, would be paid for by taxing international money transfers and has a good chance of passing the state’s Republican-controlled house and senate. Civil rights and migrant advocates warned that bounties would drive racial profiling and draw police away from law enforcement duties that generally fall to local jurisdictions, unlike federally enforced immigration laws. Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vowed to veto the bill should it pass. "This is a critical mission that Arizona voters overwhelmingly support, and we want to reward the efforts of our hardworking officers," the bill’s Republican sponsor Senator Jake Hoffman said in a statement. Trump’s state-level allies are looking for ways to mobilize local law enforcement and civilians in the president’s push to deport illegal immigrants. Missouri and Mississippi recently considered bills to pay civilian bounty hunters $1,000 for each illegal immigrant they caught. The legislation was shot down in Mississippi and looks set to fail in Missouri, with state Republicans reluctant to pay for immigration enforcement. Arizona has a history of using local police for immigration roles, notably under former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who enforced a strict "show me your papers" law. State voters in November approved a proposition to make it a state crime to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The measure is on hold pending an appeals court ruling. Arizona Senate Democrats said the bounty bill was a throwback to the Wild West. "But it’s Wild West with a twist, it’s a racist bill," said Senator Lauren Kuby before the legislation passed at committee level last week. It now goes for house and senate votes.

Reuters [2/24/2025 6:04 AM, Stephen Eisenhammer and Laura Gottesdiener, 48128K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping foreign aid freeze has stalled a United Nations program in Mexico aimed at stopping imported fentanyl chemicals from reaching the country’s drug cartels, according to eight people familiar with the situation. It’s one of several U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Mexico derailed in recent weeks by the stop-work order. The initiative provided Mexico’s Navy with training and equipment to improve screening of cargo entering and exiting the Port of Manzanillo, the nation’s busiest container port. Two additional Mexican seaports — Lázaro Cárdenas and Veracruz — were to be added this month, a rollout that’s now on hold due to the funding cutoff, six of the people said. The effort was part of the Container Control Programme, a joint initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Customs Organization, which helps local authorities better screen cargo in efforts to stop cross-border contraband smuggling. The U.S. provided some $800,000 in funding to launch the project at the Port of Manzanillo in 2023, two of the people said. The Port of Manzanillo has long been a magnet for narcos looking to sneak Chinese chemical precursors into Mexico to supply illicit labs that manufacture synthetic opioids and methamphetamine. Traffickers have likewise stashed finished street drugs aboard outbound cargo ships, particularly meth headed for Europe. The U.S. funding freeze has also shelved, for now, future training and equipment donations at Manzanillo, four of the sources said. The port was slated to receive additional cargo scanners and drug-testing equipment, two sources said. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly did not answer emailed questions from Reuters about the administration’s decision to halt funding for the Mexican port program. She did say that Trump is acting to secure the border and cut federal spending. The stalling of the U.N. cargo program in Mexico is part of a broader pause on U.S.-funded anti-narcotics efforts in Mexico as a result of the global freeze of foreign aid that Trump ordered on January 20. Other activities halted by the stop-work order include U.S. training of Mexican authorities to find and dismantle clandestine fentanyl labs and U.S. donations of drug-sniffing canines to Mexico, Reuters previously reported . The Trump administration has since issued waivers to resume funding for some security programs worldwide. In Mexico, that includes $7.8 million in projects funded by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) that aim "to counter production and trafficking of fentanyl and to dismantle terrorist criminal organizations," according to a State Department official.

Bloomberg [2/24/2025 2:00 PM, Valentine Hilaire and Andrea Navarro, 16228K] reports that a temporary slowdown in travelers visiting the US due to uncertainty surrounding US immigration policies is expected to weigh on Mexican airline Volaris’ first-quarter financial results, the company said on Monday. “While our passengers are legal travelers between Mexico and the US, heightened concerns and noise surrounding border policies and enforcement have made them more cautious in their travel decisions,” Volaris Chief Executive Officer Enrique Beltranena said during a conference with analysts. “We have navigated similar challenges in the past and we believe that this is an adjustment period that will likely stabilize in the near-term,” he said. The comments highlight how President Donald Trump’s immigration policies are creating ripple effects beyond the US. Trump has promised to carry out the largest mas deportation effort in US history, enlisting the military to help at the border by declaring a national emergency shortly after taking office. Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles are among the US cities serviced by low-cost airline Controladora Vuela Cia de Aviacion, known as Volaris. The carrier also connects to other locations in Central and South America. A reduction of traffic and willingness to travel has been seen both in Mexico and the US, Holger Blankenstein, the company’s executive vice president of operations said on the call to discuss fourth-quarter results.

New York Times [2/24/2025 6:17 AM, Rachel Abrams, 161405K] reports that, since President Trump took office, his plan to deport millions of undocumented people has kept running into barriers. That has forced the White House to come up with ever more creative, and controversial, tactics. The Times journalists Julie Turkewitz and Hamed Aleaziz explain why some migrants are being held in a hotel in Panama. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Reuters [2/24/2025 4:23 PM, Enea Lebrun, 41523K] reports dozens of Venezuelan migrants boarded small boats on an island off the Caribbean coast of Panama on Monday, setting off towards Colombia by sea as part of a reverse migration of families who have given up trying to reach the United States. At least six boats, each with more than a dozen people aboard, departed the island of Gardi Sugdub in the San Blas Archipelago off the coast of Panama, aiming to reach Playa Miel near the Colombian border. From there, the migrants explained that they planned to continue their southbound journey until arriving home in their native Venezuela. The reverse migration follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on unlawful migration, including a broad ban on asylum in addition to the elimination of his predecessor’s humanitarian parole programs, which had offered some migrants legal pathways to enter the United States.

Los Angeles Times [2/24/2025 6:00 AM, Sophia Balakian, 57114K] reports one of Donald Trump’s first actions after assuming office in January was to halt the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, declaring it "detrimental to the interests of the United States." This misguided sentiment contrasts dramatically with the bipartisan support for U.S. refugee admissions that ushered in the program under the 1980 Refugee Act. Co-sponsored by Democratic and Republican senators, the measure was advanced by a Senate committee with Strom Thurmond (of segregationist fame) as its ranking Republican member. It passed the Senate 85-0 and transformed U.S. refugee policy. In the five years that preceded the law, 400,000 Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian refugees came to the U.S. through ad hoc programs under both Republican and Democratic presidents, Ford and Carter. The 1980 law systematized refugee resettlement, requiring an annual presidential determination, in consultation with Congress, on how many refugees to admit and from where. It regularized assessment of humanitarian priorities and created the Office of Refugee Resettlement under Health and Human Services to administer the program. Over the following decades, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program opened the door to some of the most persecuted people across the planet. It has been pointed out many times since the first Trump administration deemed the program a security threat that refugees accepted by the United States may be the most well-vetted immigrants to enter the United States. Those seeking resettlement to the U.S. undergo years, sometimes decades, of interviews and background checks. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees interviews them multiple times to assess their fit with humanitarian priorities and admissibility under U.S. law. Then they are interviewed by a Resettlement Support Center operated under the State Department, and finally by Homeland Security officers. Over years, their narratives and biographies are cross-checked with detailed information about their home countries, and with everything they’ve reported in previous statements. Their names are run through the databases of numerous U.S. government agencies. Many who start the process do not finish it. After all, less than 1% of refugees ultimately resettle through humanitarian programs. Another claim is that refugees who come to the U.S. are a drain on the economy. Those who make it through the admissions gauntlet take loans from the U.S. government to pay for their flights. Upon arrival, they receive less than a year of financial support before they are expected to be financially independent. They work in warehouses, factories and meatpacking plants. They clean hotel rooms, drive trucks and work as home health aids. A study by the Wilson Center found that between 2005 and 2019 refugees and asylees contributed almost $124 billion more to the U.S. economy than they received.

The Hill [2/24/2025 11:30 AM, Steven Lubet, 16346K] reports that in well over a century, nobody has seriously challenged the Supreme Court’s 1898 ruling that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens under the 14th Amendment, without regard to their parents’ immigration status. Then came President Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants. Two prominent law professors have taken Trump’s side, contending in a New York Times opinion essay that the president actually has a good case. They are wrong. Trump’s executive order grievously misconstrues the 14th Amendment, and the professors’ support for it is badly misguided. Trump’s effort has fared poorly in court. Four federal judges have issued preliminary orders against its implementation; none has upheld it. One Republican-appointed judge called Trump’s executive order "blatantly unconstitutional" under the 14th Amendment, which provides that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." Grandly titled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," Trump’s order declares that an individual born in the United States is not "subject" to American jurisdiction, and thus not a citizen, "when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth." This interpretation contradicts settled constitutional law, which makes no distinctions based on the immigration status of a child’s parents.

Washington Post [2/24/2025 6:45 AM, Thaddeus L. Johnson and Natasha N. Johnson, 40736K] reports imagine strolling down a crowded sidewalk when police officers stop a man. In seconds, their body cameras, connected to facial recognition software, scan his face. A match appears: He’s wanted for robbery, and officers promptly arrest him. For understaffed police departments, this scenario showcases the promise of facial recognition technology (FRT). But critics worry it could turn cities into surveillance zones, invading privacy and unfairly targeting communities of color. The real problem, though, isn’t the technology, but how it’s used. Our research shows that when applied responsibly, facial recognition saves lives. Facing staff shortages and low clearance rates, many law enforcement agencies are turning to FRT to help solve crimes faster. Cities such as New York and Los Angeles pair it with street cameras and license plate readers. In Chicago, police use smart-video analytics to link body cameras with the technology for real-time monitoring. Police credit this high-tech system with helping to catch dangerous criminals, including violent gang members in Maryland and rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. FRT is a tool powered by artificial intelligence that matches faces to images stored in a database, using machine-learning algorithms to recognize patterns. By 2016, one in four local state or local police departments had access to the technology. Today, that number is probably much higher. Clearview AI, a major facial recognition provider, reported in June that police searches on its system had doubled from 1 million to 2 million in the previous year. Clearview’s database now contains 50 billion images. Does it work? As criminal justice scholars — one of us a former cop — we wanted to find out. We examined 268 U.S. cities from 1997 to 2020. Only about 9 percent used the technology. But after adopting it, violent crime decreased over time in those cities, even after accounting for factors such as local economic and population changes. The biggest impact was on homicide rates, which fell by an average of 14 percent across all cities from their initial adoption of facial recognition to 2020. The longer cities used the technology, the more crime fell. Police application of facial recognition curbs crime in several ways. First, the technology speeds up arrests, getting offenders off the streets sooner. It also discourages crime by making lawbreakers think twice before acting. Even if criminals aren’t aware the technology is being used, it quietly makes it harder for them to hide. And when facial recognition lands big arrests, it sends a clear message that escaping justice has gotten tougher. Visible cameras in high-crime areas add to that fear. Additionally, by quickly finding witnesses, victims and accomplices, FRT helps police intervene before violence escalates.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 4:11 PM, Ali Bradley, 52868K] reports federal immigration agents are being tasked by the White House to track down and remove about 600,000 children who entered the United States illegally and without their parents or other adults since 2019. But the targets of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement search are, in many cases, teenagers who now may be scattered across several states. Roughly 61% of those being sought by federal agents are young men between the ages of 14 and 17, data shows, the majority of whom are from Guatemala (32%), Honduras (20%), Mexico (20%) and El Salvador (8%). "Now, the pressure is on to identify these individuals and not to take it for granted that just because of their age, they’re good to go," Victor Avila, a former special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, told NewsNation. In many cases, Avila said that some of the unaccompanied minors who entered the U.S. lied about their age because assistant U.S. attorneys would decline to prosecute them because of their age in the past. The White House directive to ICE is part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation mission. A memo sent to ICE agents outlines an unprecedented push to target migrant children, which will be carried out in four phases, the memo said.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 6:50 PM, Paul Feely, 52868K] reports the ACLU of New Hampshire is asking for information on possible plans to house hundreds of immigrants facing deportation at the federal prison in Berlin. A recent report by the Los Angeles Times suggested that the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Berlin, a medium-security prison for men, may soon house immigrants in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE. The possible plans sparked outrage and concern from the New Hampshire Immigrants’ Rights Network. The ACLU of New Hampshire filed a Freedom of Information Act request Monday seeking information on the use of the facility to hold people in ICE custody, including asking for policy memoranda, detention standards, contracts and other documents. "This proposal means that immigrants facing civil — not criminal — charges would be sent to a medium-security federal prison in one of the northernmost cities in the entire state, isolated from their family, advocates, and potential legal services," Amanda Azad, policy director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a statement. "We have strong concerns about the conditions that would exist for hundreds of these immigrants, how they would be treated in this prison, and we refuse to stand by and allow this cruelty in our state.". According to the LA Times, more than 500 detainees could be held at the prison. In addition to it being just one of five facilities in the country being considered, immigration advocates say FCI Berlin’s remote location — 119 miles north of Concord and 187 miles north of Boston — would create "clear logistical concerns," including housing immigrants who face civil charges with inmates accused of crimes and the difficulty of families to visit their loved ones. According to a memo included in the Times story, the Bureau of Prisons states FCI Berlin would take a "substantial amount of preparation and resources ... including but not limited to additional funding for staffing, food, utilities, clothing, training and other necessary items.".

Reported similarly:
Vermont Public [2/24/2025 8:36 AM, Lau Guzmán, 148K]

FOX News [2/24/2025 7:02 PM, Greg Wehner and Bill Melugin, 46189K] reports in a rare case, a Massachusetts police department honored a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer request for a Brazilian illegal alien accused of rape. ICE Boston apprehended 21-year-old Willian Robert Vasconcelos-Dos Santos in Falmouth, Massachusetts, after he was charged with raping a Massachusetts resident last month. "Willian Robert Vasconcelos-Dos Santos is charged with horrifically victimizing a Massachusetts resident and represents a significant threat to the residents of our communities," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde said. "In this case, we appreciate the Falmouth District Court honoring the ICE immigration detainer and allowing our officers to take custody of Vasconcelos in the safety of a jail cell rather than having to arrest him at large. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien offenders from our New England communities.". Vasconcelos-Dos Santos was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol on April 10, 2024, after he illegally entered the U.S. near San Diego.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 8:59 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports a Mexican national was reportedly arrested by ICE and the Newnan Police Department for alleged sex crimes involving children, according to Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta. HSI says the suspect, who was not publicly named, entered the U.S. illegally and had 10 warrants out for his arrest for child cruelty, molestation and other crimes. The office says this arrest was part of the ICE Atlanta and Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce’s Operation Innocent Shield. It’s not clear where the suspect is currently being held. No further information has been released yet. FOX 5 Atlanta is working to learn more information. The preliminary information in this article was released by Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta via X.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 4:33 PM, Isaac Goffin, 52868K] reports a man who was found to be in the U.S. illegally was sentenced for illegal possession of a firearm, according to U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona on Monday. Joel Armando Martin-Martin, a 24-year-old from Guatemala, was sentenced to two years in prison. Martin-Martin pled guilty to being an "illegal alien in possession of a firearm" in November, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Court documents state a Homewood police officer conducted a traffic stop on Martin-Martin on Aug. 5. According to court documents, the officer smelled marijuana and told Martin-Martin to exit the vehicle he was in. A vehicle search found a located DTI AR-style rife, 11 magazines fitted for the rifle, ammunition, a loaded Springfield 9mm magazine and three spent shell casings, per court documents. Homeland Security Investigations and the Homewood Police Department investigated the case.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 5:13 PM, Nicole Sanders, 52868K] reports almost a dozen people were arrested in connection to a child exploitation operation on Thursday and Friday, according to the Opelika Police Department. A total of 11 individuals were taken into custody in an operation conducted by OPD along with the Lee County District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Covenant Rescue Group – a non-profit aiming to bring hope to trafficking victims.

CBS Miami [2/24/2025 5:53 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports all of the state’s 67 counties have entered agreements with federal immigration authorities to detain undocumented immigrant criminals in jails, the Florida Sheriffs Association announced on Monday as the state rushes to assist mass deportation efforts. The agreements bring counties into compliance with part of a state law (SB 2-C) passed during a special legislative session this month aimed at boosting enforcement of illegal immigration. Under the agreements, sheriffs’ deputies with special training can process immigration "detainers" issued by federal authorities to keep inmates in jail. The inmates can be kept up to 48 hours before being picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The "warrant service officer" program is a key part of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and focuses on undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes or been ordered to be deported by judges, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. As state and local efforts accelerate, sheriffs warned that the administration needs to quickly increase the number of beds available for undocumented immigrants waiting to be processed and deported. Federal immigration authorities have about 2,000 beds in Florida "and they’re full," Gualtieri said. The new Florida immigration law also created a State Board of Immigration Enforcement, which is made up of officials. Decisions made by the board must be unanimous. Lawmakers during the special session also approved a measure (SB 4-C) that makes it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to enter or attempt to enter Florida. People who violate the law face a mandatory nine-month jail sentence.

Miami Herald [2/24/2025 8:30 PM, David Goodhue, 3973K] reports federal agents have arrested a Key West man who they say had dozens of child pornography images and videos on his cell phone. The material on the device was extremely graphic, showing horrific scenes of men raping girls who appeared to be less than 8 years old, and children around the same age being restrained in bondage gear, according to the Homeland Security Investigations complaint filed Friday in U.S. Southern District Court. The iPhone was confiscated during a raid on 24-year-old Joel Ramirez Campos’ home at 1220 2nd Street in Key West last month, according to the complaint. Agents were acting on a tip they received that Campos was uploading child pornography from that residence. While executing the search warrant, agents and other law enforcement officers found the iPhone in a case that also contained Campos’ driver’s license, which was sitting on a table next to his bed, according to the complaint. A forensic extraction of the phone turned up about 100 videos and images containing "child sexual abuse material," agents wrote in the complaint. One of the videos showing the abuse was more than 38 minutes long, according to the complaint.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 10:48 PM, Nick Papantonis, 52868K] reports undocumented immigrants with deportation orders who encounter Florida police, deputies and troopers will find themselves on the fast track to being deported under a renewed partnership between ICE and the state’s 67 county jails. The partnership existed during the first Trump administration in some Florida counties, but sheriffs on Monday announced the final sign-ons. The partnership became a requirement under Florida’s recent special immigration session. “It just makes sense,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a press conference Monday, announcing ICE had uploaded half of Florida’s 1.4 million deportation orders to the statewide crime-fighting database. Gualtieri said the program withered under the Biden administration, which required a conviction before ICE would swoop in. That gave accused criminals the ability to walk free from jails – and potentially disappear. He said he went from 400 deportation agreements per year under the Trump administration to just 14 under the first year of Biden’s presidency. Now, the agency will take custody of a detainee within 48 hours after their criminal case wraps up, whether their sentence is finished or if the charges are dropped. Gualtieri and other sheriffs emphasized the program would only target criminals, but he admitted something as minor as a traffic stop could trigger the process. He and other sheriffs said they had little time to go after law-abiding people, even if they are here illegally. “If you’re here with your kids… paying your taxes, you’re not our priority,” he said. Under Florida law, people who are victims or witnesses to crimes are exempt from being reported to ICE. The sheriffs on Monday called on crime victims to come forward without fear of being deported. “The concern I have for many of my law-abiding clients are those who sometimes have a bad day, perhaps they were in a fight with their spouse, and the police were called,” Orlando immigration attorney Nayef Mubarak said. “Once you’re in ICE custody in the Florida State criminal charges are dismissed, it’s it doesn’t matter you’re now in the deportation process.” Mubarak agreed with the general premise of the program and said there was little debate over deporting people with criminal records, but it was those grey area situations that made him pause.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 11:10 PM, Carissa Codel, 52868K] reports Greene County is holding true to its word on aiding Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There are nearly 200 people in the Greene County Jail currently being held for ICE. Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott signed a contract with ICE saying the county would house immigration detainees. Now those plans have materialized. “We have been working with ICE knowing that this would be coming,” Arnott said. “So we are fully prepared to work whatever direction they want to go.” Greene County has made it known they will be helping with ICE operations since President Donald Trump signed the executive order authorizing mass deportations. “We’re ready to apprehend detainees under the president’s direction,” Arnott said. “And we will move forward swiftly. We will house them and we will make it happen.” A total of 173 people are being held in the Greene County Jail for ICE as of Feb. 24. Greene County has 300 beds specifically set aside for immigration detainees. Cpt. Jason Johnson with the sheriff’s office says those detainees are being held in a pod in the exact same conditions as other inmates in the jail. “We’re just following the executive orders of the president and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also acting upon that executive order,” Johnson said. “And we’re housing the immigration detainees.” The people being held are from local areas, as well as overflow detainees from Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis. “At this point, we don’t know exactly for how long they’ll be here,” Johnson said.

Univision [2/24/2025 5:57 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports on the morning of February 24, Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers and Special Agents collaborated with multiple agencies on an operation in Colony Ridge, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced. The subdivision in unincorporated Liberty County has about 40,000 residents, most of whom are immigrants. According to Abbott, Texas Department of Public Safety Troops and Special Agents assisted Homeland Security Investigations with an operation that, he says, "targeted criminals and undocumented immigrants." Univision 45 was in the Cleveland, Texas area and was able to verify how elements of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), one of the main federal law enforcement agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), were on different streets and areas. No official details have yet been released regarding the arrests or other measures resulting from the operation.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 12:03 PM, Alejandro Serrano, 57114K] reports that federal immigration authorities on Monday planned to conduct a targeted operation on "criminals & illegal immigrants" in a housing development outside of Houston that’s been under scrutiny from conservative lawmakers and media for selling land to undocumented people, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Abbott said in a social media post that he had worked with President Donald Trump’s immigration adviser, Tom Homan, "for months" to target Colony Ridge, a 33,000-acre development some 30 miles outside of the nation’s fourth-largest city. Conservative influencers, outlets, think tanks and Texas lawmakers had dubbed it as a safe haven for undocumented people, often painting it as a cartel-run crime hub. The extent of any enforcement was not immediately clear. Spokespersons for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Texas Department of Public Safety and Abbott did not respond Monday morning to requests for more information. Abbott said that DPS troopers and special agents are assisting federal agents with the operation.

Univision [2/24/2025 2:07 PM, Patricia Clarembaux, 5325K] reports that For Daniel and Lidia*, fear of deportation kept them at home the week of January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump assumed his second presidency. Just like their godmother, who preferred to send her five children to school in an Uber those days to avoid an encounter with immigration agents. Not only do they live undocumented in Texas, but they are in a neighborhood populated mostly by immigrants who, they say, have been "targeted" by the state’s Republican politicians: Colony Ridge. The fear in this community is not accidental. In recent years, conservative media and politicians have labeled Colony Ridge — in a county with a 42% Hispanic population, according to Census figures for July 2024 — as a "magnet for illegal immigrants" and an area "plagued by crime." The state’s own governor, Greg Abbott, criticizes it for acting as a "sanctuary" and has asked legislators for years to work on a text that would prevent the permanence and replication of spaces like this. They had also tried to stop watching the news: "Sometimes they are more sensationalist than normal," she said last week. And they were less likely to check social media or community Facebook groups, where reports of everything from lot sales to the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents roaming the area are reported: "The same race is scary," he added.

CBS Austin [2/25/2025 11:00 PM, Andrew Freeman, 602K] reports President Trump has long promised the mass deportations the country has been seeing over the last several weeks, with the stated goal of going after those with dangerous criminal records first. That hasn’t always been the case, as many people without criminal records are being detained too. Austin Immigration attorney Iris Albizu says it’s been a busy year so far. "We’re seeing that there is, kind of like, no compassion," Albizu said. "We have seen more clients that are trying to stay on top of their cases, that they want more information on what’s going on." But it’s not just because of fear and uncertainty of deportation by the Trump Administration. She’s currently representing a man who is being detained after being pulled over for speeding. "The state troopers are in combination, also working with ICE officers," Albizu said. " We have these cases that we have seen like, for example, in my case, someone that is not a threat to the security, not a threat to the public, was apparently speeding, but got no ticket and no warning, and still was detained by immigration after that." She couldn’t share too many details for confidentiality reasons but says he’s been in the country for seven years with no criminal record. As the father of two children who are both U.S. citizens, she calls the outcome "heartbreaking." "They need to pay the rent, they need to still pay the utilities, they need to buy groceries, and you have the father, who is the breadwinner, detained, so it is causing a lot of damage," Albizu said. At the Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend or C.P.A.C., President Trump said these were the exact situations he wanted to stop by trying to end birthright citizenship. "It wasn’t meant for these children," President Trump said. "It wasn’t meant for people who escaped or invaded, came into our country illegally. It was meant for the children of slaves." At the same conference, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan says they’re coming for sanctuary cities next. "You said you’d double down on not helping the law enforcement office of I.C.E.," Homan said of Boston’s mayor Michelle Wu. "I’m coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me."

Houston Chronicle [2/24/2025 11:45 AM, Benjamin Wermund, 2315K] reports that Gov. Greg Abbott said Colony Ridge, a sprawling development northeast of Houston that has long been the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories, is being targeted Monday morning in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push. Abbott said the operation is going after "criminals & illegal immigrants" in the sprawling development that is home to many low-income and immigrant families. The Texas Republican wrote he had worked with Trump’s "border czar," Tom Homan, on the operation "for months." "Colony Ridge is being targeted today," Abbott, a third-term Republican, wrote in a post on the social media site X. "Texas DPS Troopers & Special Agents are assisting Homeland Security Investigations, with an operation in Colony Ridge this morning." Colony Ridge is being targeted today. Texas DPS Troopers & Special Agents are assisting Homeland Security Investigations, with an operation in Colony Ridge this morning. Abbott’s office declined to answer questions about the operation and directed them to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Officials with DHS, Texas DPS leadership and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership have not responded to a request for comment. Tim Oberle, a spokesman for Houston-area Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, referred questions about the operation to his email address. But didn’t immediately respond to a list of emailed questions.

FOX News [2/24/2025 10:39 PM, Stepheny Price, Bill Melugin, 46189K] reports flyers showing the names, pictures, and phone numbers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have surfaced in a Southern California neighborhood. Multiple federal law enforcement sources confirmed to Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin that anti-ICE activists, who have been interfering with ICE operations in the Los Angeles area in recent days, have now started putting up posters featuring the personal information of ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers working in the Los Angeles and Southern California area. The posters, which were written in Spanish, translate roughly to read "CAREFUL WITH THESE FACES." "These armed agents work in Southern California. ICE and HSI racially terrorize and criminalize entire communities with their policies. They kidnap people from their homes and from the streets, separating families and fracturing communities. Many people have died while locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers," the posters continued. It is unclear which activist group is putting up these posters, but ICE officials said they are aware and are investigating. "These pathetic activists are putting targets on the backs of our law enforcement as they shield MS-13, Tren De Aragua and other vicious gangs that traffic women and children, kidnap for ransom and poison Americans with lethal drugs," a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Fox News in a statement. "These individuals will be held accountable for obstructing the law and justice. This shouldn’t be controversial."

CBS Los Angeles [2/24/2025 8:52 PM, Jeff Nguyen, 51661K] reports that, with fear and frustration teeming in Los Angeles, local activists are tracking apparent ICE operations and reminding residents of their rights. Among the activists is a group called the Community Self-Defense Coalition LA, which consists of about 150 volunteers who patrol throughout the county. They’ve followed agents and recorded a pair of operations in Alhambra and San Fernando. "In both of those places, we’re happy to report, the agents decided to abort the mission for whatever reason," said activist Ron Gochez. ICE said it can’t respond to rumors or specifics of routine daily operations. The images shared by Community Self-Defense Coalition LA come after recent operations by the Trump administration to catch people unlawfully living in Chicago and New York. Activists got on loudspeakers, telling members of the community that they do not have to answer the door if agents do not have a warrant. The chair of LA County’s Republican party said these operations are targeting criminals. "The people with the loudspeakers and megaphones, trying to disrupt the lawful activities of law enforcement, don’t understand one thing," Chairwoman Roxanne Hoge said. "To live with the consequence that ICE is going to have to find these people in ever-increasing dangerous situations.". Gochez disputed Hoge’s claim. "The data from ICE itself shows that more than half of the people who have been detained are people with absolute zero criminal records. The FBI, which has been assisting with immigration operations since late January, said anyone impeding law enforcement operations can be prosecuted. "We will not physically interfere," Gochez said. "We will not attack. We won’t do anything illegal. We’ll do anything in our legal means to defend the community.". Activists said they arrived late to an apparent ICE operation in LA’s Eastside. They aren’t sure if anyone was taken away.

Univision [2/24/2025 10:14 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports several pro-immigrant organizations in Southern California organized to act against immigration raids that have been carried out in recent weeks in the state and last Sunday, they claim, managed to prevent at least two arrests. Activists from the Union del Barrio coalition alerted the community about two alleged immigration raids involving DEA and FBI agents in Alhambra and in the city of San Fernando. The events allegedly occurred on the morning of Sunday, February 23. "We found two migra operatives. Our comrades arrived there and with megaphones were able to alert the people to defend themselves and also remove the agents," said Ron Gochez, an activist. But their work would not be limited to just alerting, they reported that they were ready to intervene if necessary. They also said they saw five vehicles they attribute to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "For me it’s not fair, people are trying to make a living, they work hard for their money, to protect their family," said Sandra Ibarra, a resident of the area. Univision Los Angeles contacted the immigration services to find out about the operations, however, no response was provided due to the argument that they cannot respond or give specific details of their daily operations. However, for the members of the Union del Barrio their work was satisfactory. "We are very happy that today no one was taken by the migra in these operations. It was thanks to the companions who were there," Gochez shared. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Francisco Chronicle [2/24/2025 7:04 PM, Ko Lyn Cheang, 5046K] reports a Sacramento Sikh temple and three Bay Area Baptist churches were part of a religious coalition that won a preliminary injunction Monday against the Trump administration’s plan to send federal immigration authorities into houses of worship. On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump’s acting Department of Homeland Security secretary, Benjamine Huffman, rescinded Biden-era protections for religious spaces, schools and hospitals from immigration raids. Following that rescission, on Jan. 31, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Caleb Vitello issued a memo stating there were no "bright line rules" regarding where immigration laws could be enforced, allowing enforcement officials to make "case-by-case determinations" on whether to enter those protected areas. Even before Vitello’s memo, on Jan. 27, a coalition of Quaker meetings sued the Trump administration on free speech and religious freedom grounds. They were later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which consists of 1,400 churches serving an estimated 750,000 Baptists nationwide, and the Sikh Temple of Sacramento, which represents about 30,000 Sikhs. On Monday, a federal judge in Maryland, Theodore Chuang, granted plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from conducting immigration enforcement activities in places of worship owned, operated or used by plaintiffs. The judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to revert to the Biden-era policy, but only with regard to the plaintiffs.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 9:36 PM, Nancy Loo, 52868K] reports President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is focusing on Boston for upcoming deportations. Homan said the city had doubled down on not allowing law enforcement to help with deportations and warned he would be “bringing hell” with him to Boston. His words prompted applause at the Conservative Political Action Conference but harsh criticism from Boston officials and leaders in other sanctuary cities, including Los Angeles. In LA, the weekend was full of rumors and fears among the immigrant population, with people expecting Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. That led to emptier spots where day laborers usually gather to look for work. Activists in LA mobilized, including a group called the Community Self-Defense Coalition, working to advise people without documents of their rights, including that they do not have to answer the door unless there is a signed warrant. California is the biggest sanctuary state, with an estimate of nearly two million people who do not have documents, more than half of them in Los Angeles County. Activists have been keeping tabs on what is happening and sending warnings on social media, stopping to patrol neighborhoods when suspected ICE or Homeland Security vehicles are spotted. They also alert communities with megaphones, adding to heightened tensions in the community.

NBC News [2/24/2025 6:43 PM, Nicole Acevedo and Johana Suárez, 44742K] reports a young Venezuelan who was deported back to his country said he was "traumatized" by his time in a U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Kevin Rodríguez, 22, is one of the 178 Venezuelan immigrants sent to Guantánamo this month, after President Donald Trump’s order to use the detention camp to speed up his administration’s goal of mass deportations. In an exclusive interview with Noticias Telemundo, NBC’s Spanish-language sister network, Rodríguez detailed the conditions he said he experienced at the military prison during the two weeks he was detained before returning to Venezuela on Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to emails seeking comment about Rodríguez’s case and his allegations about the conditions in Guantánamo. Rodríguez said the cobwebs and ants inside the approximately 6 by 9 feet cell gave the sense that the place had long been unoccupied. "Those cells were in very bad condition," he said in one of the first personal accounts from a migrant detained there. "You could really see that no one had been there in a long time. They didn’t even clean them.". He said a thin mattress separated him from the concrete bed top he slept on for 14 days, "enduring the cold.". According to Rodríguez, detainees were taken out, in handcuffs, to shower every three days. "They searched us before we went into the shower," he said. "When we came out, they searched us again.". "The food was really bad and there was very little food," Rodríguez said, adding he lost 9 pounds while he was there. "The last meal of the day was at 4 p.m. And then by 7, 8, 9 p.m., we were very hungry.".

Dallas Morning News [2/25/2025 2:30 AM, Staff, 2778K] reports we should all be appalled by the treatment of a group of deportees sent to Panama earlier this month. They were shackled, deprived of cellphones and passports, and not told where they were going. Understandably, some of the passengers were terrified, including young children who had to watch their parents being restrained. Removal proceedings should follow an orderly process, and people should be treated humanely. The Trump administration has repeatedly said it is cracking down on dangerous migrants, but reporting about recent deportation flights to Central America suggests the administration is treating all migrants harshly. Some of these migrants, many from Asian countries, might actually meet the criteria for asylum in the United States. According to New York Times, one of the deportees sent to Panama is an Iranian woman who said she was accompanied by nine other Iranian Christians, including three children. In Iran, converting from Islam to Christianity is a crime punishable by death. President Donald Trump alleged during his campaign that Christians were being persecuted in the U.S. and said he would protect them. Aren’t Christians fleeing other nations under the threat of death because of their religion also worth protecting? According to local authorities, the deportees sent to Panama had no criminal records. Once under Panama’s jurisdiction, they were locked in a hotel and barred from seeking attorneys, according to The Times. A Homeland Security spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, denied that the migrants sent to Panama "asserted fear of returning to their home country at any point during processing or custody." But The Times’ interviews with deportees indicated they were distraught about being sent home and about being held at the hotel. Most undocumented migrants don’t meet the legal criteria for asylum, and in a better system, their cases would be adjudicated quickly. Last year, then-President Joe Biden stepped up enforcement, with more than 270,000 migrants sent back to their countries. The Trump administration has been keen to ramp up deportations by using military planes and striking deals with third countries to send migrants the U.S. has difficulty deporting.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 6:00 AM, Lindsey Toomer, 57114K] reports attendees watch live music at the World Refugee Day celebration, put on by Colorado Refugee Connect, at Aurora City Center Park in Aurora on June 20, 2021. (Eli Imadali for Colorado Newsline). Resettlement service agencies in Colorado are left to search for their own funding to continue helping newly arrived refugees after an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office stopped their funding. Trump issued an executive order halting the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which allows people unable to return to their home country for fear of violence or persecution to legally reside in the U.S. after an extensive vetting process. He will decide based on a report from the secretary of state and the secretary of Homeland Security whether resuming the program "would be in the interests of the United States" after 90 days. Jewish Family Services of Colorado has offered refugee resettlement services over the last four years. Jessica Zeidman, chief advancement officer at JFS, said last year, her organization helped 190 refugees resettle in Colorado, and they had signed a contract with the federal government to help 175 more people this year. After the November election, Zeidman said the organization anticipated changes to the refugee program and looked to the thresholds Trump imposed in his first term to help them prepare, but "were not expecting him to close it completely." The president proposes annual thresholds that limit how many refugees will be permitted in the country, which need to be approved by Congress. The organization quickly mobilized to "bring in as many refugees as we could" ahead of Jan. 20. Between Oct. 15 and Jan. 15, Jewish Family Services resettled 137 people in Colorado, more than double the typical number of 60 people they would help during that time. Zeidman said her team was at the airport on New Year’s Day picking up families. That included people from Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Venezuela, Burma, Syria, Columbia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The stop work order included in Trump’s executive order has been "the most detrimental," Zeidman said. That action voided the contract HIAS, the parent organization overseeing refugee resettlement at Jewish Family Services, had with the Department of State to provide money to refugees during their first 90 days in the U.S. Zeidman said federal funding made up about 60% of the JFS budget for refugee resettlement.

PBS [2/24/2025 9:16 AM, Staff, 12036K] reports the main coalition of advocacy groups that have helped resettle Afghans who aided American forces during the war is ramping up its pressure campaign on President Donald Trump to reverse course after he closed the door on an estimated 200,000 people. The coalition of more than 250 groups, known as #AfghanEvac, is calling on veterans of the global war on terror to rally against the Trump administration for blocking the relocation of Afghans in danger of retaliation from the Taliban for working with the U.S. government. "This is worse than the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021. Because now, we know better. Because this time, it is not an accident," Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and founder of #AfghanEvac, wrote in an open letter to veterans Monday. "It is not an oversight. It is a choice. It is an intentional betrayal of those we swore to stand with and an insult to the veterans who led this fight.” Within hours of taking office, Trump issued an executive action that indefinitely halted all refugee admissions and foreign aid, including cancelling flights for Afghans who were already vetted and who had booked flights to come to the U.S. Trump’s actions effectively denied nearly all pathways forward for Afghans who helped the U.S. military over the course of the 20-year war. The letter, provided first to PBS News, calls on veterans to speak up and call their representatives in a push to convince the Trump administration to reverse course. VanDiver also placed blame on some of Trump’s top advisers. "We believe this decision comes directly from the White House, specifically from Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. We don’t know if Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio, or even President Trump himself, are aware of the implications of this shut down," VanDiver writes. "We are certain that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, does not support this action, because he has vocally and publicly worked for the last several years to ensure an immigration pathway is available for the Afghans he served alongside.”

Border Report [2/24/2025 5:52 PM, Fernie Ortiz, 117K] reports a federal grand jury has indicted 14 individuals from Texas, New Mexico and Mexico for their alleged role in a "prolific alien smuggling organization," prosecutors announced Monday. According to a news release from the Justice Department, a grand jury in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Wednesday returned an indictment against the 14 defendants for conspiracy to transport, harbor, and bring aliens into the United States from South and Central America. Eight of those individuals were subsequently arrested on Thursday and Friday. The release says they transported migrants within the United States and held them in "stash houses" along the way. Additionally, some of the smuggling suspects led authorities on high-speed chases or instructed migrants on how to flee U.S. Border Patrol agents and evade checkpoints. The indictment also alleges that the defendants abandoned a person in the desert and they ended up dying of heat exposure. Antoinette T. Bacon, a supervisory official with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said the smuggling organization is based in Mexico and allegedly smuggled hundreds of migrants, including unaccompanied children, through New Mexico and South Texas. "We are committed to eliminating transnational alien smuggling organizations that exploit migrants purely for profit and undermine our national security," she said.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 10:19 AM, Jeronimo Gonzalez, 57114K] reports that thousands of US troops are patrolling the Mexico border after US President Donald Trump declared illegal migration a national emergency, but they have little to do. Last month, Trump sent an additional 1,600 troops to the US border, joining the 2,500 National Guard and Army Reserve troops who were already stationed there. "Whatever is needed at the border will be provided," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the time. Illegal crossings into the US have been dropping for over a year: In January, there were 29,000 arrests at the border, down from almost 250,000 in September 2023. Some asylum shelters have shut for lack of demand, The New York Times reported, while one soldier told The Wall Street Journal that his unit is doing "A whole lot of nothing.". The White House and some Trump supporters argue that the decline is a result of the tough border stance, but critics argue that the huge troop deployment is a waste of money.

The AP [2/24/2025 5:25 PM, Staff, 48304K] reports thieves have targeted freight trains running through the deserts of California and Arizona in a string of audacious heists resulting in the theft of more than $2 million worth of new Nike sneakers, including many that haven’t hit the retail market yet, according to officials and court documents. Eleven people were charged in the Jan. 13 burglary with possessing or receiving goods stolen from interstate shipment. All 11 have pleaded not guilty and were all ordered detained until trial. Ten are Mexicans who were in the United States illegally. Another defendant is a Mexican citizen who was in asylum proceedings in the United States, authorities said in court records. The suspects in the Jan. 13 heist were caught with the help of tracking devices that were inside some of the boxes, the complaint says. Thefts from cargo trains cost the nation’s six largest freight railroads more than $100 million last year because of a combination of the value of the stolen goods and the cost of repairs to railcars the thieves damaged, and the problem is getting worse in recent years as the thefts have become more organized and sophisticated. The Association of American Railroads trade group estimates that the number of thefts jumped roughly 40% last year to 65,000 nationwide. CBS Los Angeles [2/24/2025 8:38 PM, Matthew Rodriguez, 51661K] reports DOJ officials said that this is one of the latest cases involving train thefts in Northern Arizona and California. Prosecutors said that criminal organizations, normally consisting of Mexican citizens, typically with connections to Sinaloa, have used the technique of cutting air hoses on trains to force emergency stops. Once at the location of their choosing, the crews will break into particular containers and unload the contents into trucks. With the cargo, the suspects’ will drive to California to sell the goods online. California law enforcement has arrested suspects in similar cases. Two cases originated in the remote Mojave Desert of Amboy, Calif., which is roughly 70 miles away from the Arizona border. In November, the California Highway Patrol tracked a crew from the border to Anaheim after the seven suspects allegedly stole 1,279 Air Jordan 11 Retro Shoes that had an estimated value of $311,832.

Washington Post [2/25/2025 5:00 AM, Samantha Schmidt, 31735K] reports growing numbers of migrants — many of them Venezuelan — have made this journey in recent days, a reverse wave of migration in response to Trump’s hard-line anti-immigration policies. Many have hired smugglers to take them around the jungle, by boat. But last week, dozens appeared to have been assisted by Panamanian authorities, several of the migrants told Washington Post, recounting an unusual journey through dangerous waters to Colombia — and away from Trump’s America. In recent days, hundreds of migrants arrived to a Lajas Blancas camp, controlled by Panamanian authorities, in the Darien Gap. The migrants pleaded with authorities to allow them to return home. But flying them back would not be easy: Most of the Venezuelans have no valid passport, and Panama has no diplomatic relations with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Panamanian authorities instead opted for an "experiment," several migrants recounted. They granted an initial group of about 50 migrants access to a route — by bus and then, by boat — that would take them through the daunting waters bypassing the Darien Gap and into Colombia. Late last week, an officer in Lajas Blancas, which is secured by Panama’s National Border Service, Senafront, told the migrants in the camp about a plan, approved by superiors, to help move an initial group of people south, according to a video of the officer’s explanation. The officer’s comments were captured by a migrant who recorded them and provided them to The Post. A private company charged a package fee for the entire trip to Colombia, costing about $175, the officer told the migrants. The migrants agreed, and the next day, boarded a bus to begin a multiday, three-boat journey through the rough ocean waters surrounding this remote jungle. "Our coyotes were the Panamanian officers," Alfredo Valbuena, a 30-year-old Venezuelan migrant said, using a term referring to illegal smugglers, after he stepped off a boat in the Colombian coastal town of Turbo on Sunday afternoon, completing the final leg of the trip. Anelio Merry, a spokesman for the Guna Yala indigenous territory where the boat trips were taking place, confirmed that the trips were coordinated by the Panamanian border service and the country’s ombudsman’s office. A spokesman for the Panamanian security ministry and Senafront, the border service, declined to comment. "It would have been easier to take things into our own hands — safer, cheaper, faster," said Franyelis Izarza, 25, a Venezuelan mother who made the trip with her 4-year-old daughter.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 12:56 PM, Taylor Ardrey, 57114K] reports that a JetBlue pilot was arrested last week on child exploitation charges, authorities said. The pilot, identified as 33-year-old Ohio resident Jeremy Gudorf, was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on Friday as he arrived for work at Boston’s Logan Airport, according to authorities and the airline. "The pilot has been placed on indefinite leave as law enforcement proceeds with the matter," JetBlue said in a statement to USA TODAY. His flight was headed to Paris, Boston media outlet WCVB reported. Police in North Carolina launched an investigation after 2024 tip. The Huntersville Police Department in North Carolina said it launched an "extensive" probe after getting a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in October 2024. Tech company Google helped officers obtain records and trace down images that led to an arrest warrant. Gudorf was charged with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, police said. WCVB reported that Gudorf had an arraignment hearing on Friday and was given $10,000 bail with orders to be in North Carolina by Tuesday.

Miami Herald [2/24/2025 1:56 PM, Natalie Demaree, 6595K] reports that thousands of counterfeit forever stamps were blocked from entering postal circulation by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Alabama, officials said. A total of 200,000 postage stamps worth $146,000 from Hong Kong were seized after an inspection determined the stamps were fake, according to a Feb. 21 CBP news release. The batch included rolls of the Flag Stamp, which according to the United States Postal Inspection Service is the most frequently seen counterfeit stamp. About a week earlier, Customs and Border Protections officers stopped eight shipments of 161,860 fraudulent U.S. forever stamps, worth more than $118,000, officials said in a Feb. 13 news release. "CBP has seen a real uptick in counterfeit U.S. Postal Service postage stamps especially around the holidays to include high volume card holidays like Valentine’s Day," officials said in the release. In fiscal year 2024, 90% of items violating Intellectual Property Right laws seized by CBP came from China and Hong Kong, CBP officials said.

Muncie Star Press [2/24/2025 4:01 PM, Douglas Walker] reports a Muncie man arrested Sunday for driving while intoxicated reportedly admitted to helping smuggle undocumented immigrants from Mexico into Muncie. Sergio Velasco, 50, was preliminarily charged with promotion of human trafficking, along with driving while intoxicated, forgery, and driving without ever receiving a license. Velasco said he usually received from each immigrant the $13,500 he had paid to a coyote — a person who smuggled the immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border — along with 5% to 8% interest. Velasco said the "coyotes" routinely deliver undocumented immigrants to Muncie, Anderson and Indianapolis. He also said two more immigrants were coming to Muncie "as soon as they can get here." The Muncie man also allegedly said "he himself had come to the United States approximately 30 years ago by means of a coyote and had never obtained citizenship here." His immigration status is reportedly being investigated.

Washington Examiner [2/24/2025 6:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 2365K] reports the southern border state of Texas has authorized “several hundred” of its National Guard soldiers to carry out immigration enforcement, a job that has long been reserved for law enforcement. The federal U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deputized a wide array of state soldiers to do the job of Border Patrol agents as the Trump administration simultaneously expands its pool of federal police who can apprehend and remove illegal immigrants, the Texas Military Department told the Washington Examiner this week. The state disclosed that 300 members of the Texas National Guard were deputized in a "historic ceremony" in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas as of Feb. 18. The following day, another 290 members of the Guard were sworn in to carry out the immigration duties of federal agents. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks led at least one of the deputization ceremonies. The state also promised more deputizations in the coming days and weeks. The newly deputized soldiers are now training with CBP and conducting security patrols with Texas law enforcement and federal CBP units across wide areas, according to TMD. "The Texas Military Department will continue focusing on multi-agency operations to leverage joint capabilities and refine tactics, techniques, and procedures to secure the Texas-Mexico border," the department said in a statement. The decision to deputize the state military came straight from the top of the Department of Homeland Security, whose secretary, Kristi Noem, announced on Feb. 3 that she had approved deputizing Texas soldiers as a way "to help secure the border" by creating "a force multiplier to arrest the bad guys and keep our nation safe.”

USA Today [2/24/2025 3:03 PM, Saleen Martin, 89965K] reports that since January, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Texas have stopped at least 90 people from smuggling eggs into the country from Mexico, the agency said in a news release Friday. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, specialists in the El Paso, Texas area have issued 16 civil penalties totaling almost $4,000 linked to the attempted smuggling of prohibited products such as raw eggs. It is illegal to bring fresh eggs, raw chicken, unprocessed avian products and live birds into the U.S., the agency said, adding that travelers should declare all agriculture products to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and agriculture specialists. "Failure to declare may lead to potential fines and penalties," the agency said. U.S. Customs and the agency Border Protection issued a reminder that raw egg imports from Mexico are prohibited due to health concerns regarding Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or bird flu. Some consumers who previously bought a dozen eggs at a time are now buying four dozen, Saloni Vastani, an associate professor of marketing at Emory University, previously told USA TODAY. "Egg prices are going up because of the avian flu, but that’s driving people to buy more eggs than they usually do because they’re anticipating higher prices and reduced grocery store supply," Vastani said.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [2/24/2025 5:00 PM, Staff, 11K] reports Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) condemned the events that occurred on February 21, 2025, where Border Patrol agents stopped and searched a bus carrying students and coaches from Las Cruces High School at a checkpoint on Interstate 25. According to reports received by Vasquez’s office, the interaction escalated after officers questioned the driver, who was unable to respond in English. Instead of defusing the situation, an officer proceeded to board the bus, ignored attempts by coaches to explain the situation, and demanded information from the students, leaving them shaken. Vasquez is demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and calling for transparency regarding enforcement actions involving children, particularly on school buses and in other sensitive locations.

Newsweek [2/24/2025 11:47 AM, Billal Rahman, 56005K] reports that a group of New Mexico high school students traveling to Albuquerque for a swim meet were "harassed" by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint, according to Democratic Representative Gabe Vasquez. "Harassing and frightening children does not make New Mexico safer," the congressman said. "No student should have to fear law enforcement while traveling to a school event." Newsweek has contacted the Las Cruces Independent School District for comment. Under the current administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been granted expanded enforcement powers, including the authority to conduct raids in places of worship, schools, and hospitals. Critics argue that these raids instill fear in vulnerable communities and violate protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Although this incident was not a raid, ICE’s conduct faces scrutiny in the way it treats children. There are concerns that inspections like this one, along with warrantless arrests, unauthorized data collection, and detentions without probable cause, may raise constitutional challenges, potentially leading to legal disputes over the balance between immigration enforcement and individual rights.

Telemundo [2/24/2025 6:54 PM, Staff, 11K] reports Las Cruces, NM The administration of the Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) reported that it is obtaining more information about an incident involving a group of students travelling to a state competition on February 21. According to the district, the students, who were travelling on a rented bus that was not visibly marked as belonging to LCPS, complied with the instructions of U.S. Border Patrol agents. They were quickly allowed to continue their journey. The students were members of a swimming team at Centennial High School, Las Cruces High School and Mayfield High School. They also reported that on Monday morning, the administration of LCPS, including Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz, maintained an open and productive communication with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office. U.S. They said the conversation included implementing proactive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. The district endorsed its commitment to the safety and emotional well-being of all students, regardless of their immigration status. "I understand the fear and uncertainty that our students and staff must have felt in that situation," Superintendent Ruiz acknowledged. Do we believe this was an isolated event and we will continue to work with local and federal authorities to ensure that students’ educational experiences are not interrupted. Our community is diverse and all students, regardless of their origin, deserve to feel safe and supported while participating in school activities.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 4:51 PM, Melissa Luna, 52868K] reports Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz, along with the district’s administration, met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday, Feb. 24, after agents boarded a bus of Las Cruces High School students on Friday, Feb. 21 when they were on their way to a swim meet in Albuquerque. The district says they spoke with CBP about the "implementation of proactive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future" and "remains committed to the safety, security, and emotional well-being of all students, regardless of immigration status.". "I understand the fear and uncertainty our students and staff must have felt in that situation," Ruiz said. "We believe this was an isolated event, and we will continue to work with local and federal authorities to ensure students’ educational experiences are not disrupted. Our community is diverse, and every student, regardless of background, deserves to feel safe and supported while participating in school activities.". The district says it upholds the principles established by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe (1982) stating that all students have a right to free public education. As we have previously reported, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, says the students were "harassed" after the charter bus was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint that Friday. "The situation escalated after agents questioned the driver, who was unable to respond in English. Rather than de-escalating, an agent proceeded to board the bus, ignored attempts by coaches to explain the situation, and demanded information from the students, leaving them rattled and shaken," Vasquez’s office said.

AZCentral [2/24/2025 8:01 AM, Ray Stern, 6018K] reports Arizona politicians on both sides of the aisle agree law enforcement officers should be able to shoot down or disable drones near the border without worrying about the liability. The push for a new law in Arizona that immunizes authorities from claims of property damage has put anti-drone sentiment front and center in a state known for its permissive gun laws. It also follows last year’s drone anxiety as thousands of reports were made across the country of suspicious drones, including those flying near military bases, as well as reports of cartel drones used to ferry drugs over the border. A Mexican state police official reported earlier this month how the cartel used bombs dropped by drones to attack authorities. Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said at a Feb. 17 news conference she wants officers to disable them with electronic devices "or frankly blow them out of the sky with guns." State Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, chair of the House Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee, talked almost gleefully during a hearing on Thursday on the proposed law how an officer or sheriff’s deputy could use a shotgun loaded with birdshot to take a drone out. "I’ve done it and it works well," Marshall said, without explaining where or when he shot down a drone. If a pellet from the birdshot "hits you in the head — too bad, go home, put a Band-Aid on it. God bless you." Most Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the committee approved House Bill 2733 during the hearing, and it will now move to the full House for a vote. Of the 13 committee members attending the hearing, 10 voted for the bill while the remaining three, one Republican and two Democrats, voted "present" instead of directly opposing it with a "no" vote.

CBS 7 [2/25/2025 4:34 AM, Staff, 4K] reports the FBI’s Las Vegas branch announced on Friday criminal charges against a woman who is accused of "deliberately and methodically" targeting older men to rob them of everything. Aurora Phelps is currently incarcerated in Mexico and awaiting extradition after the Department of Justice filed a motion to unseal an indictment against her. In one instance, Phelps allegedly drugged a Nevada man and then pushed him in a wheelchair across the border while he was in an "inebriated state.". "Phelps then took him to a hotel room in Mexico City, where the victim was found dead a few hours later," FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans explained. Evans says all of the victims in the indictment are U.S. citizens. Three of the men are from Nevada. "Two of Phelps’ other alleged victims were found dead shortly after their encounters with her, and the one living victim mentioned in the indictment survived and emerged from a coma after Phelps administered large amounts of prescription sedatives to him over the course of a week." Evans added. The FBI says it’s "one of the most egregious and reprehensible" romance schemes in recent history. The crimes spanned from July 2021 and December 2022. "We believe Phelps connected with each of them through an online dating application so she could lure them into her confidence under false pretenses and then drug them with dangerous doses of prescription sedatives and other controlled substances," Evans said during Friday’s press conference. Phelps is also alleged to have stolen millions of dollars in stock from one of the victims. "Once she incapacitated her victims, Phelps stole their cars, accessed their bank and brokerage accounts to withdraw cash, used their credit cards to make a variety of purchases including luxury retail goods and gold, and even attempted to access their social security and retirement accounts," Evans added. Phelps’ charges include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of ID theft, one count of kidnapping and one count of kidnapping resulting in death. Investigators asked any individuals who believe they had been targeted by Phelps to contact the FBI. The FBI fears there could be more victims. Phelps faces life in prison if convicted.

San Diego Union Tribune [2/24/2025 6:05 PM, Teri Figueroa, 1682K] reports Border Patrol agents found about $1.1 million worth of cocaine in an SUV during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 in far North County, agency officials said Monday. Just after 2:35 p.m. Feb. 18, agents pulled over a "suspicious vehicle" on I-5 near the San Clemente Border Patrol Checkpoint, the agency said in a news release. They did not say what it was about the SUV that caught the agents’ attention. A trained drug-sniffing dog was brought to the scene, and the dog got a hit on the vehicle. A search turned up 55 cellophane-wrapped packages tucked into an aftermarket compartment in the floorboard, authorities said. The find weighed in at nearly 143 pounds. The Drug Enforcement Administration took custody of the cocaine and the driver. It was the first of two big finds during traffic stops by Border Patrol agents with the San Diego Sector last week. The following day, just before 9:30 a.m. Feb. 19, agents stopped a sedan at the Interstate 15 Temecula Border Patrol Checkpoint, just across the San Diego-Riverside County line. A drug-sniffing dog got a hit on the sedan, and agents found a backpack on the floor of the front passenger’s side. Inside the backpack, the agency said, were eight bundles of fentanyl. It weighed about 18.5 pounds. Border Patrol officials said it was worth about $143,000. The driver, the drugs and the sedan were turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 9:24 PM, Domenick Candelieri, 52868K] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents seized over 160 pounds of narcotics last week during two traffic stops. The first traffic stop occurred Tuesday on Interstate 5 north near the San Clemente Border Patrol Checkpoint, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release Monday. Authorities pulled over the suspicious vehicle and found packages consistent with smuggled narcotics in an aftermarket compartment in the floorboard, according to border officials. Those bundles contained 55 cellophane-packages of cocaine, weighing 142.96 pounds and worth an estimated $1.1 million. Another traffic stop happened Wednesday at the Interstate 15 Temecula Border Patrol Checkpoint. During the inspection, authorities found a backpack containing eight bundles of fentanyl on the front passenger floorboard. The drugs weighed 18.51 pounds, with a street value worth of approximately $143,000. Both drivers and drugs in both incidents were taken into custody. The first driver faces narcotics-related charges, while the second driver faces charges for transportation and possession of a controlled substance for sale.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 7:04 AM, Alfredo Corchado, Anglea Kocherga, Gaige Davila and Aline Corpus Simerman, 57114K] reports mega shelters for deportees set up by the Mexican government along the border sit mostly empty, one month after President Donald Trump threatened "mass deportations" on Day 1. The scenes here and in other border cities west in Tijuana and east in Reynosa underscore the setbacks, thus far, of Trump’s promise to launch the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Trump campaigned to target an estimated 11 million undocumented persons. Mexican officials along the border, including here in Ciudad Juárez, appear relieved they haven’t seen a swell of deportees, yet. "We hope there won’t be a large repatriation," said Mexico’s Secretary of Welfare Ariadna Montiel Reyes, after a tour of a sprawling, empty tent camp that can potentially hold 2,500 deportees. The federal agency is in charge of providing services for Mexicans returned to their home country in a process often called repatriation. So far, about 2,000 Mexican migrants have set foot in government-operated shelters, said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Overall, more than 13,455 migrants have been deported to Mexico, according to Sheinbaum. Among them in a noteworthy negotiation: more than 2,970 migrants from countries other than Mexico, including Cuba and Venezuela, Mexican officials say. People unload mattresses at a shelter for Mexican deportees in Ciudad Juárez. But Mexican officials along the border say they haven’t seen a big influx of deportees from the United States. The numbers of deportees in the last month sent to Mexico were higher than the last four weeks under the administration of President Joe Biden, said Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Deportations have since stabilized, if not actually fallen in pace, from the first 10 days of the Trump administration, said Ruiz Soto, who has examined data from both the U.S. and Mexico. "That has a lot to do with the real challenges that ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is facing with limited capacity in the interior," he said, referring to detention space.

MeriTalk [2/24/2025 3:54 PM, Weslan Hansen, 45K] reports former top Federal officials and travel leaders are calling on Congress and the White House to create an interagency task force to oversee national travel policy and increase the rollout of biometric security screening and other technology-driven capabilities across U.S. airports. A new report released on Feb. 19 by the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) and a group of former officials of Federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security is asking legislators and top Trump administration executives to implement a new U.S. travel strategy which those officials said would bolster security and efficiency. The report aims to address recent and projected record-breaking air travel levels, with 2024 marking the highest-ever recorded levels of domestic air travelers. In 2025, domestic travel is expected to increase by nearly four percent and exceed $1 trillion in value – equaling pre-pandemic levels – with even more growth expected beyond that, according to the USTA. To keep up with increased travel, another recommendation asks policy makers to increase funding by $300 million over the next five years for biometric identity verification which would enable the Transportation Security Agency’s (TSA) to use improved facial screening technology at national airports.

Federal News Network [2/24/2025 4:08 PM, Michele Sandiford, 1089K] reports a new advisory board that will consider reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency is starting to take shape. DHS put out the official charter for FEMA Review Council late last week. The council is slated to hold its first meeting by April 24 and deliver an initial report to the White House by late July. President Donald Trump has called for potentially eliminating FEMA and sending emergency management funds directly to states. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has a seat on the new council, has said the administration should “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today.”

USA Today [2/24/2025 10:29 PM, Marina Johnson and Thao Nguyen, 75858K] Video: HERE reports the death toll from widespread flooding and extreme weather that battered Kentucky earlier this month has increased to 22, officials announced Monday. The latest confirmed death is a man who died of hypothermia in Marshall County, located in southwestern Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said during a Monday morning update. The announcement follows six additional deaths that were reported over the weekend, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. "This has been a painful, difficult disaster," Beshear said Monday. "There aren’t many natural disasters where we lose 22 people. After the widespread flooding in 2022 and the tornadoes in 2021, this is one of the most deadly disasters certainly since I’ve been governor.". The state was hit hard by flooding from a powerful storm that brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Southeast during the weekend of Feb. 14. Much of the central and east U.S. was also under cold weather advisories last week when an arctic blast plunged temperatures to record lows. The severe weather caused widespread power outages, evacuations, water rescues, and left more than two dozen people dead across several states, including Kentucky, West Virginia, and Georgia. Beshear previously described the storm as "one of most serious weather events" the state has seen in a decade. In 2022, communities in central and eastern Kentucky saw historic flooding after heavy rains swelled rivers and creeks. More than 40 people died as a result of the storms and "health conditions directly arising from flooding," The Courier-Journal reported at the time. ‘Every one of them counts’:Florida sea turtles return to ocean after suffering from ‘cold stunning’. Kentucky death toll rises to 22 after major flooding. In separate announcements Friday and Saturday, Beshear said six adults from Warren, Pike, Caldwell, Ohio, Morgan, and Logan counties were killed due to the recent severe weather.

Reported similarly:
Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 1:12 PM, Marina Johnson, 57114K]

The Hill [2/24/2025 1:18 PM, Sharon Udasin, 16346K] reports that
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has requested that Congress appropriate nearly $40 billion to support communities affected by the wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles region last month. Recognizing that "the total impact on California’s economy will take years to fully quantify," the governor asked for about $39.68 billion, in a letter sent late Friday to congressional leadership and to the chairs of each chamber’s appropriations committee. Noting that "hurricane-force wind drive fires" destroyed 16,251 structures as more than 16,000 personnel battled the blazes, Newsom said that the requested funds would bolster "the immediate and long-term recovery work needed to rebuild lives and properties from this catastrophic event." "As the state continues to evaluate and assess the damage while conductive active response and recovery efforts, we expect to identify additional funding needs to help these communities recover," the governor wrote in the letter, obtained by The Hill on Monday. The governor’s request, which was first reported by The Washington Post, occurred amid an ongoing debate as to whether the Golden State should receive aid without meeting certain conditions.

The AP [2/24/2025 8:18 PM, Jack Dura, 52868K] reports Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who leaped onto the back of President John F. Kennedy’s limousine after the president was shot, then was forced to retire early because he remained haunted by memories of the assassination, has died. He was 93. Hill died Friday at his home in Belvedere, California, according to his publisher, Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A cause of death was not given. Although few may recognize his name, the footage of Hill, captured on Abraham Zapruder’s chilling home movie of the assassination, provided some of the most indelible images of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Hill received Secret Service awards and was promoted for his actions that day, but for decades blamed himself for Kennedy’s death, saying he didn’t react quickly enough and would gladly have given his life to save the president. “If I had reacted just a little bit quicker. And I could have, I guess,” a weeping Hill told Mike Wallace on CBS’ 60 Minutes in 1975, shortly after he retired at age 43 at the urging of his doctors. “And I’ll live with that to my grave.” It was only in recent years that Hill said he was able to finally start putting the assassination behind him and accept what happened. On the day of the assassination, Hill was assigned to protect first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and was riding on the left running board of the follow-up car directly behind the presidential limousine as it made its way through Dealey Plaza. Hill told the Warren Commission that he reacted after hearing a shot and seeing the president slump in his seat. The president was struck by a fatal headshot before Hill was able to make it to the limousine. Zapruder’s film captured Hill as he leaped from the Secret Service car, grabbed a handle on the limousine’s trunk and pulled himself onto it as the driver accelerated. He forced Mrs. Kennedy, who had crawled onto the trunk, back into her seat as the limousine sped off. Hill later became the agent in charge of the White House protective detail and eventually an assistant director of the Secret Service, retiring because of what he characterized as deep depression and recurring memories of the assassination. CBS News [2/24/2025 11:19 PM, J.D. Miles, 51661K] reports that those who knew him tell CBS News Texas that Hill never really overcame the guilt he felt on that tragic day. In one of the most watched and analyzed films ever recorded, it’s a young Secret Service agent’s actions that seem to capture the most attention. "His entire career was defined by roughly 5/10 of a second," said Farris Rookstool, a former FBI Analyst and JFK Assassination Historian.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [2/24/2025 2:32 PM, Richard Goldstein, 145325K]
Washington Post [2/24/2025 2:14 PM, Michael S. Rosenwald, 31735K]
AP [2/24/2025 4:18 PM, Jack Dura]
CBS News [2/24/2025 6:44 PM, Staff, 51661K]
NBC News [2/24/2025 3:58 PM, Tim Stelloh, 44742K]
FOX News [2/24/2025 3:41 PM, Emma Colton, 46189K]
CNN [2/24/2025 3:21 PM, Hannah Rabinowitz, 908K]

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 7:35 AM, Melanie DaSilva, 57114K] reports that two undocumented immigrants were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard off of Massachusetts last week. During a routine boat inspection on Thursday, the boarding team learned two of the six crew members were not U.S. citizens. That violates a law requiring at least 75% of a crew to be citizens. "The Coast Guard stands firm in its mission to safeguard our waters and enforce the law," Lt. Samantha Corcoran said in a release. "This detention highlights our vital role in upholding maritime regulations and protecting national security at sea.". The two men were detained and handed over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from the Boston Field Office.

New York Times [2/24/2025 8:26 PM, Shayla Colon and Ellen Yan, 145325K] reports Cecilio Adames met up with five friends Sunday morning at a dock in Howard Beach, Queens. The group planned to go fishing on a boat one of them owned. It was not fishing season, and the air was a frigid 36 degrees, but Mr. Adames was “excited” to be going out in good company, his daughter Alisha Adames, 16, said. Hours later, detectives knocked on the family’s door. The boat had capsized and Mr. Adames was at a Staten Island hospital, they said. When the family got there, the police said he was dead. The 30-foot-long Grady-White boat Mr. Adames and his friends were on had taken on water around noon on Sunday in the Ambrose Channel, the main shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey, the authorities said. The boat capsized about five miles southeast of Breezy Point, a private beach community in Queens. The U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement that five people had been recovered from the boat and that four were unresponsive. The New York Police Department confirmed that at least three of those four had died. As of Monday morning two were still hospitalized, one in critical condition and the other listed as stable, a police spokeswoman said. The sixth passenger was still missing Monday, and divers, boat crews and aircrews were searching the area, the Coast Guard said. The authorities identified the missing man as Vernon Glasford, 52. Jenel Bobb, Mr. Glasford’s sister, said that she had spoken to her brother on the phone Saturday evening and that he had been looking forward to relaxing with his friends on the boat. He asked if she wanted to come along, but she declined because of how cold it would be. Ms. Bobb said Mr. Glasford had left for the marina early in the morning and his family had not heard from him again. “It does not feel real,” she said. “If I see a body, then it is for real, but for now I don’t know.” The Coast Guard was working with New York City’s fire and police departments to understand what caused the boat to capsize. The investigation was continuing Monday night.

Reported similarly:
CBS New York [2/24/2025 12:06 PM, Staff, 52225K]
CBS New York [2/24/2025 7:10 AM, Christina Fan, 52225K]
Miami Herald [2/24/2025 5:42 PM, Natalie Demaree, 3973K]
Newsweek [2/24/2025 9:20 AM, Daniel Orton and Chloe Mayer, 56005K]
USA Today [2/24/2025 8:59 AM, Christopher Cann, 89965K]

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 9:11 AM, Chris Oberholtz, 57114K] reports that the search for a man who went missing after a boat capsized in the chilly waters near Staten Island, New York, killing three people and leaving two others injured, has concluded. Four of the five rescued were found unresponsive Sunday afternoon about 5 miles off the coast of Breezy Point, Queens, prompting a massive multi-agency rescue operation, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. In a Monday evening update, the Coast Guard announced the search for the man was suspended after more than 30 hours of searching over 842 square miles. "The decision to suspend a search is always difficult. Though our active search has ended, our support and sympathy remain with all those impacted by this tragic incident," said Capt. Jonathan Andrechik, the Coast Guard Sector New York commander. The Coast Guard said waters were roughly 38 degrees on Monday afternoon. The Coast Guard said it is coordinating with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation regarding next steps in the investigation. Within minutes, a coordinated response was launched, deploying three rescue boats from Coast Guard Stations New York and Sandy Hook, along with an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City. Two of the rescued individuals were airlifted to Staten Island University Hospital, and the remaining three were transported to Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook.

The AP [2/24/2025 6:37 PM, Stephany Matat, 33392K] reports that Coast Guard crews rescued three boaters in Captiva Island, Florida, after their boat flipped over and they were stuck at sea for nine hours. A family member reported concerns at 1 a.m. Sunday after not hearing from the three boaters since 8 p.m. Saturday. The Coast Guard Clearwater helicopter aircrew found the three boaters sitting on the top of the capsized boat at about 6 a.m., and a boat crew with the Coast Guard in Fort Myers Beach rescued the boaters and sent them for emergency medical evaluation at HealthPark Medical Center in Fort Myers. The three boaters reported no health issues from being stuck at sea, according to a Coast Guard press release. It’s unknown why the boat flipped over. Dennise Werre, chief warrant officer of the Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said in a press release that it’s important to have a "float plan" with loved ones before going out to sea. Float plans are meant to be told to someone not going on the boat, outlining information about the intended route, how many people are aboard and what safety equipment is available on the boat. "We were able to locate and rescue the three boaters thanks to the quick coordination of the Coast Guard and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, along with the use of critical search tools," Werre said. The Miami Herald [2/24/2025 11:49 AM, Mark Price, 6595K] reports that the boaters were clinging to the hull, the USCG said in a news release. The rescue happened Sunday, Feb. 23, off Captiva, a barrier island about a 165-mile-drive south from Tampa. "A family member called Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders at approximately 1 a.m., reporting their last contact with the three boaters was at 8 p.m., Saturday," officials said. "A Coast Guard... MH-60 helicopter aircrew found the three boaters sitting on top of their capsized vessel in reportedly good health.". Video shows the three frantically waving their arms in hope of getting the helicopter crew’s attention. A USCG rescue boat based out of Fort Myers Beach was sent to pull the boaters from the water, officials said. They were examined by emergency medical personnel at the Coast Guard station, officials said. Details of any injuries were not released. The three were wearing life jackets when found, video shows. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
AZ Central [2/24/2025 11:11 AM, Saman Shafiq, 6018K]

FOX News [2/24/2025 6:07 PM, Fox News] reports the U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people after a fishing boat capsized off the coast of Louisiana. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [2/24/2025 3:18 PM, Natalie Neysa Alund, 75858K] reports in a dramatic showdown captured on video, members of the U.S. Coast Guard chased down a yacht that was allegedly stolen in Hawaii. Coast Guard officers received a report of a 43-foot yacht "driving erratically, potentially endangering other mariners, and violating the permanent security zone" near piers in Honolulu Harbor, the main seaport of the state, military officials announced. But the boat isn’t fast enough as the Coast Guard vessel catches up and cuts it off, then steers it back to shore, where other law enforcement agencies are waiting. Officials said they arrested a man suspected of stealing the yacht on charges including first-degree theft. The man’s identity was not released.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 12:06 PM, Kevin Knodell, 57114K] reports that Hawaii Coast Guard crews remain busy across the Pacific as President Donald Trump’s administration shakes up U.S. government policy at home and abroad. The Honolulu-based Coast Guard Cutter Midgett is sailing across the South Pacific conducting operations with island nations. The U.S. has been competing with China for influence in Pacific island nations under Trump’s first administration and under former President Joe Biden. However, Trump’s freeze on foreign aid—as well as vows to roll back environmental efforts at a time most Pacific island nations consider climate change their No. 1 threat—has many leaders in the region scrambling to make sense of what they can expect from the U.S. under Trump’s second presidency. As the Midgett makes its way across the South Pacific, its crew has sought to reassure communities in the region of U.S. commitments. During a port call in New Zealand earlier this month, the cutter’s commanding officer, Capt. Matthew Rooney, told reporters during a Feb. 9 media conference that since Trump took office his crew has been undertaking “the same mission that it always is with us. We provide a partnership, and if there’s any sort of technical support, assistance (needed ), we’ll provide that, as requested by our friends and partners.”

Reuters [2/24/2025 11:00 PM, Kirsty Needham, 41523K] reports a U.S. Coast Guard cutter crossing the Tasman Sea as part of maritime security cooperation with Australia and New Zealand knew Chinese naval ships were in the area but had no interaction with them, its commanding officer said on Tuesday. China’s navy held live-fire exercises on Friday and Saturday in international waters between Australia and New Zealand that Australian officials have described as unprecedented. The drills forced airlines to change the paths of 49 commercial flights for safety reasons. The movements of the People’s Liberation Army Navy frigate, cruiser and refueling vessel involved are being monitored by Australian and New Zealand defence forces. The U.S. Coast Guard national security cutter Midgett arrived in port in Sydney on Saturday from New Zealand. "We were aware of their presence," Captain Matthew Rooney, commanding officer of the Midgett, told reporters in Sydney of the Chinese ships on Tuesday. "It did not affect our operations. We follow international norms, regulations for preventing collisions at sea and we had no encounters and we would expect the Chinese navy to do the same," he added. Euan Graham, senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said it was the furthest south the Chinese navy had held exercises, and showed China did not need a naval base in the South Pacific to project power. China was likely testing the diplomatic resolve of Australia, New Zealand and Australia’s security ally the United States, he said. "This is a clear signal that China doesn’t feel deterred from operating close by (the U.S.’s) closest Pacific ally," he said. A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Friday the People’s Liberation Army Navy had been conducting exercises and training in distant waters and upheld safety standards in accordance with international laws and practices. The U.S. Coast Guard has increased operations in the South Pacific since 2024, patrolling for illegal fishing by distant fleets including from China, at the invitation of Pacific Island countries. China registered dozens of coast guard vessels for fisheries patrols in the Pacific Islands for the first time in 2025, although none have deployed yet.

StateScoop [2/24/2025 12:00 PM, Colin Wood] reports the National Association of Secretaries of State on Friday sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, noting a preference that she retain certain services used by state and local election officials to protect the nation’s critical elections infrastructure. The request arrives as the former South Dakota governor — who prides herself in being the only state leader not to have accepted federal cybersecurity funding via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — evaluates further cuts to her department and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The association, which includes members from secretaries of state and other top election officials in 40 states and territories, strikes a cooperative tone, first congratulating Noem on her appointment last month, and also requesting “official, ongoing, timely communications.” Officials throughout state government, including several secretaries of state, have told StateScoop in recent weeks that they receive few updates from federal agencies, including DHS, about upcoming programmatic changes, and that they’re unclear on what will happen to the funding and technical support they receive. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver last week told StateScoop that she’s in a “difficult place” as she searches for a way to fund critical protections of her state’s election systems. “Most of us are starting our legislative sessions,” she said. “Ours is very short in New Mexico and we didn’t even have the foreknowledge to be able to relay to our legislature that we were going to be losing out on a lot of these tools and resources.” Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt called it “foolish and inefficient” to remove federal support from state election efforts. Acting CISA Acting Director Bridget Bean circulated an internal memo this month announcing a “review and assessment” of the agency’s misinformation efforts, before DHS eliminated about 400 positions, including more than 130 CISA staff. The Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, meanwhile, lost a critical part of its cooperative agreement with DHS, which could mean the organization’s closure. The EI-ISAC, which is operated by the New York nonprofit Center for Internet Security, has distributed more than 1,000 Albert sensors, devices that help elections officials detect anomalous network activity, to state and local governments over the last several years. NASS’s letter — signed by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, the group’s president, and Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, its president-elect — notes that the nation’s elections systems were designated by DHS as critical infrastructure in 2017. They write that the services provided by DHS and CISA have for years helped election offices defend against “sophisticated cyber threat actors including nation-state and cybercriminal groups.”

Newsweek [2/24/2025 3:04 PM, Alexis Kayser, 52220K] reports hospitals may be concentrating their cybersecurity efforts in the wrong place, according to Mike Hamilton, field chief information security officer at Lumifi Cyber. Hamilton spoke on Newsweek’s virtual panel, titled "Crisis Management: A Crash Course for Health Care Leaders," on February 13. When asked to expand on health systems’ cybersecurity blind spots, Hamilton explained that attackers have three common methods for obtaining "initial access" to an organization. The first is social engineering, using impersonation and deep fakes to trick an employee into giving up sensitive information. Second is credential abuse: testing every password in a massive database against a person’s account. Finally, many hackers gain access through vulnerability exploit, finding weak spots in firewalls and entering before they are patched. He recommends a strict credential policy that aligns with guidelines set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

CNN [2/24/2025 4:54 PM, Sean Lyngaas, 22131K] reports North Korean hackers have stolen $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in a single heist, making it the largest crypto hack on record, security experts told CNN. The hack hit Bybit, which describes itself as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, with over 40 million users. In a matter of minutes on Friday, the hackers stole a significant portion of North Korea’s reported annual gross domestic product. And over the weekend, the hackers were already laundering about $160 million of the stolen loot through a series of accounts connected to North Korean operatives, according to crypto-tracing firm TRM Labs. In a single hack, the North Koreans have nearly doubled what they stole in crypto last year, the firm said. It’s an early test for how the Trump administration will address the steep challenge of trying to prevent North Korea from funding its nuclear and missile programs through hacking.

Border Report [2/24/2025 3:53 PM, Julian Resendiz, 117K] reports the White House on Feb. 20 designated eight Latin American transnational criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. They include Mexican drug cartels flooding American communities with fentanyl and other drugs, and Central and South American street gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua linked to violent acts in the United States. It might even back them into a corner – which could pose risks for American officials and visitors to Mexico. Fines are already in the books to prosecute Americans inadvertently engaging in international money laundering. The terror designation now could mean jail time, he said. Also, the subsidiaries of American companies in Mexico occasionally have been targeted for extortion by local criminals threatening to disrupt their operations or harm their employees. From now on, giving in to those threats could be interpreted as funding a terrorist organization, Ballard said. Further, if the U.S. and Mexico begin to inflict serious damage on cartel finances or jailing many of its leaders, there’s always the risk that these groups will lash back.

Yahoo! News [2/24/2025 9:38 PM, Darryl Coote, 52868K] reports local and federal authorities are saying they thwarted a mass casualty attack Monday morning with the arrest of a 21-year-old Texas man accused of making terrorist threats against police officers. Seth "Andrea" Gregori was arrested shortly after 9 a.m. CST Monday, the Corpus Christi Police Department said in a statement. Little is publicly known about the alleged plot, but the FBI’s Houston field office said Gregori had planned "an attack on police similar to the 2016 Dallas ambush" when Micah Xavier Johnson killed five police officers and injured nine others, as well as two civilians, in a mass shooting. "FBI Corpus Christi and local partners have thwarted another mass casualty attack!" FBI Houston said on X. According to the Corpus Christi Police Department, the FBI was notified of "terroristic threats" Gregori had made, investigated the alleged crime and secured a warrant for his arrest. "The Corpus Christi Police Department greatly appreciates the assistance of our local, state and federal partners in helping to keep our community safe," the police department said. "Their support is vital to helping us accomplish our mission to reduce crime, the fear of crime and enhance public safety." According to the FBI, Gregori was arrested on state charges filed by the Nueces County District Attorney’s Office.

Chicago Tribune [2/24/2025 2:02 PM, Clifford Ward, 5269K] reports that jury selection began Monday in Lake County Court in the case of Robert Crimo III, who is charged in the mass shooting that killed seven people at the 2022 Independence Day parade in Highland Park. At the conclusion of the morning session, attorneys had agreed on three people who will eventually decide whether Crimo is guilty of first-degree murder and numerous counts of attempted murder in the attack that injured more than 40 parade spectators. The first day of the trial began at about 10:30 a.m. when Judge Victoria Rossetti brought in the first group of potential jurors, a dozen people who were then questioned individually by the judge, prosecutors led by State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart and Crimo’s legal team from the Public Defender’s Office. The first juror chosen was a middle-aged woman who said she works as a business analyst. A man who operates a truck repair business and a woman who works as a nurse in hospice care were also chosen before the lunch break. While jury selection was scheduled to continue Monday afternoon, the jurors selected during the morning session were dismissed until March 3, when opening statements and the presentation of evidence are expected to begin. The judge told jurors that the trial will likely last three to five weeks.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [2/24/2025 2:14 PM, Susan Berger, 31735K]

AZCentral [2/24/2025 4:27 PM, Miguel Torres, 4457K] reports a 17-year-old accused of plotting a terrorist attack on a Phoenix Pride event is requesting a bond reduction from $1 million. The teen’s lawyer argues that common household products were misconstrued as bomb-making materials and that his client has no ties to terrorist organizations. Prosecutors, however, said the teen searched online as recently as September for information on explosives and firearms, raising concerns about public safety. Jalo, 17, faces one count of providing assistance or direction to an act of terrorism and one count of organizing an act of terrorism.

DefenseScoop [2/24/2025 12:00 PM, Mikayla Easley] reports the Space Force has established a cross-functional “technical integrated planning team” dedicated to evaluating space-based capabilities that can contribute to President Donald Trump’s vision for a next-generation homeland missile defense system, according to a senior Space Force official. Under the “Iron Dome for America” executive order published in January, Trump has tasked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to create a plan to field a multi-layered missile defense architecture for the U.S. homeland. Given how heavily the directive leans on space-based systems, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said the Space Force will likely have a “central role” in the architecture’s development. “We are leaning forward establishing this technical IPT to start thinking about it from an overarching perspective,” Saltzman told reporters Monday. With only a few weeks to develop a strategy and deliver it to the president, the Space Force’s new technical integrated planning team (IPT) is currently analyzing technological maturity, cost estimates and capability gaps of space systems that could be part of the architecture. “What they’re going to do is pull it together and make sure everybody has got eyes wide open before they start saying, ‘Initiate a program here,’” a senior Space Force official said Monday during a background briefing with reporters. “It’s more of a data collection [of] what do we know, and identify what we know we don’t know.” The directive calls attention to several ongoing space-based missile defense programs — such as sensors onboard the Missile Defense Agency’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Layer (HBTSS) satellites and the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) tracking layer. Both the MDA and SDA have released respective requests for information that ask for industry feedback on possible space-based capabilities for the Iron Dome for America architecture. The Space Force official noted that the specificity of the Iron Dome for America directive has been helpful for the IPT as they conduct their analysis.

CBS News [2/24/2025 6:48 AM, Staff, 52225K] reports gunmen shot dead eight people in Mexico’s most violent state, authorities said Sunday. The five women and three men, who have not been identified, were killed in the street on Saturday night in Guanajuato, the prosecutor’s office said. The gunmen have not been caught, authorties said. Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also considered Mexico’s most violent state, according to official homicide statistics. The shootings took place in the municipality of Cortazar, where in 2023 gunmen stormed a water park and killed seven people, including a child. The National Guard arrested on Sunday a man in Guanajuato identified by local media as the leader of hitmen for the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel. Violence in Guanajuato is linked to ongoing conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. Last week, the Trump administration formally labeled eight cartels as terrorist groups, including the Jalisco cartel. The U.S. State Department urges Americans to reconsider traveling to Guanajuato. "Of particular concern is the high number of murders in the southern region of the state associated with cartel-related violence," the department says in a travel advisory. Last month, security forces clashed with gunmen in Guanajuato, leaving 10 suspected criminals dead and three police officers injured. In December, eight people were killed and two others wounded after gunmen pulled up to a roadside stand in Guanajuato and opened fire on customers and bystanders. On October 4, the bodies of 12 slain police officers — all bearing signs of torture and left with messages by cartels — were found in different areas of Salamanca, a town in Guanajuato. The state prosecutor’s office also said the perpetrators left messages in which a cartel claimed responsibility. Messages are often left on victims’ bodies by cartels seeking to threaten their rivals or punish behavior they claim violates their rules. The bodies were found less than 24 hours after gunmen attacked a residential center for people suffering from addictions in the same municipality, killing four. In June, a baby and a toddler were among six members of the same family murdered in Guanajuato. In April, a mayoral candidate was shot dead in the street in Guanajuato just as she began campaigning. Drug-related violence has seen more than 480,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.

FOX News [2/24/2025 1:50 PM, Brooke Singman and Emma Colton, 49889K] reports that President Donald Trump teased a possible meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday, amid what he called his "serious discussions" with Russian President Vladimir Putin — which could involve European peacekeeping troops — about ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. The president, from the Oval Office Monday, hinted at a potential meeting with Zelenskyy to finalize an agreement for rights to access its natural resources in exchange for the United States’ billions of dollars in support for the country’s war against Russia. "In fact, he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement, which would be nice, I’d love to meet him. Would meet at the Oval Office," Trump said. "The agreement is being worked on now." "They are very close to a final deal," the president said. The Trump administration is seeking to recoup the cost of aid sent to the war-torn country by gaining access to rare earth minerals like titanium, iron and uranium. "It’ll be a deal with rare earths and various other things. And, he would like to come. As I understand it, here, to sign it. And that would be great with me," Trump said. "I think they then have to get it approved by their council or whoever might approve it, but I’m sure that will happen." Trump said the deal is "very beneficial to their economy," while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added it is "very close."

FOX News [2/24/2025 1:44 PM, Morgan Phillips, 46189K] reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would step down as president of Ukraine if it meant his nation would be accepted into NATO. Zelenskyy told reporters Sunday he was willing to give up the presidency "if it is for the peace of Ukraine," or if Ukraine is offered NATO membership – after President Donald Trump called him a "dictator" for failing to hold wartime elections. He also said he did not agree with Trump that Ukraine should pay the U.S. retroactively for the over $100 billion in aid offered since war broke out three years ago on Monday. "We agreed with Biden that this was a grant. A grant is not a debt," Zelenskyy said. U.S. officials have said NATO membership is off the table for Ukraine at any point in the near future, as Russia would never agree to such terms. Despite Zelenskyy’s complaints, Trump insisted a new draft mineral deal is "very close," and the deal will be worth $350 billion. "It looks like we’re getting very close, the deal’s being worked on we’re getting very close to getting an agreement where we get our money back over a period of time. But it also gives us something that is very beneficial to their economy, to them as a country," Trump told reporters while meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the U.S. and Ukraine are at the "one-yard line" of a deal.

The Hill [2/24/2025 1:41 PM, Brett Samuels, 16346K] reports that President Trump on Monday signaled he could meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in the coming weeks to finalize a deal on critical minerals. Trump’s comments, which came during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, happened days after he suggested Zelensky did not need to be part of negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine. "I will be meeting with President Zelensky. In fact he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "They’re very close to a final deal. It’ll be a deal with rare Earths and various other things. And he would like to come, as I understand it, here to sign it," Trump added. "And that would be great with me. I think they then have to get it approved by their council or whoever might approve it. But I’m sure that will happen." The Trump administration has been involved in talks with Ukraine about gaining access to the country’s critical minerals amid talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war. U.S. officials have suggested the deal would benefit Ukraine because it would create a greater incentive for the U.S. to provide security guarantees for Kyiv. Trump suggested Monday the agreement would be a way for the U.S. to recoup the money it has spent on military assistance for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

New York Times [2/24/2025 6:06 PM, Matthew Cullen, 145325K] reports President Trump and France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, repeatedly exchanged compliments and friendly gestures during a White House meeting this afternoon. But on the topic of Ukraine, the divergence between the two leaders was evident. Trump refused to call Vladimir Putin a dictator, as he has described Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and falsely claimed that the U.S. had spent three times as much as Europe on the war. He demanded that Ukraine sign over hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from natural resources to the U.S., without mentioning Russian concessions. Macron corrected Trump’s assertions about European aid, made clear that Russia — not Ukraine — was to blame for the war, and insisted that any truce “must not mean a surrender of Ukraine.” The meeting came on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several European leaders acknowledged the day by visiting Kyiv and pledging their support. Meanwhile, Trump suggested that his negotiations with Putin could end the fighting “within weeks,” and said that he might visit Moscow if a peace deal were reached. The U.S. also angered its European allies by voting against a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly that condemned Russian aggression and called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. The Americans were joined by Russia, Belarus and North Korea.

USA Today [2/24/2025 12:14 PM, Taylor Wilson, 89965K] reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he would step down if Ukraine can join NATO, while blasting President Donald Trump’s mineral pitch. USA TODAY National Correspondent Dinah Voyles Pulver takes a look at some of the impact from USAID domestically. Pope Francis attended Mass Sunday but remains in critical condition. USA TODAY Money Reporter Bailey Schulz examines why we’re seeing more generations living together under one roof. ‘Conclave’ wins big at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Newsweek [2/24/2025 10:49 AM, Micah McCartney, 56005K] reports that Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, told reporters on Sunday that Moscow is sourcing half of its ammunition from North Korea amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Newsweek has reached out to the North Korean embassy in China and the Ukrainian foreign ministry via email for comment. South Korea says North Korea has supplied Russia with thousands of containers’ worth of munitions since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As Russia and North Korea continue to deepen their military partnership, Ukrainian and South Korean officials estimate that more than 10,000 North Korean troops have joined Russian forces, marking Pyongyang’s first involvement in a foreign conflict since 1953. Many were deployed to Russia’s Kursk region where Ukraine has been conducting a counteroffensive. Kyiv estimates around 4,000 North Koreans have been killed or seriously injured. However, Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have publicly acknowledged North Korean boots on the ground in the war.

Newsweek [2/24/2025 10:29 AM, Isabel van Brugen, 6595K] reports that Russia could go to war with NATO in the next decade, a Russian military expert warned. Igor Korotchenko, who often makes highly contentious statements on Russian state-owned TV, predicted a future conflict between Russia and the West in an op-ed published in the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment by email. Tensions between Moscow and the West have risen exponentially since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As the U.S. and Russia engage in back-channel talks to potentially bring an end to the war, NATO member states are raising concerns over Europe’s collective security, warning of the urgent need to bolster defenses against the risk of Russian aggression extending beyond Ukraine’s borders. In an op-ed in Moskovsky Komsomolets published on the eve of the third anniversary of the war, Korotchenko, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade, said Russia must be prepared for war with NATO in the near future. "The Russian Army must be prepared for any development of the situation in the medium term, including a possible military conflict with NATO in Europe in the next decade," he wrote. He said that even if the Kremlin establishes a stable relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, in four years, a new leader will take office.

New York Times [2/24/2025 5:53 AM, Isabel Kershner, 740K] reports Israel and Hamas on Sunday accused each other of violating the already fragile Gaza cease-fire deal after Israel delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be exchanged for hostages. The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the prisoners would not be freed until the release of further hostages “has been assured,” and Hamas committed to letting them go without “humiliating ceremonies.” The growing tensions come after a week of mutual recriminations and strained nerves on both sides. The delay raised more questions about the future of the cease-fire for Gaza, with a temporary, six-week truce set to expire on March 1. There is no clarity yet about a possible extension, or even whether serious negotiations have begun. Some members of Israel’s right-wing government are pressing for a resumption of the fighting after the initial phase of the cease-fire, which has provided a brief lull in the devastating war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. On Saturday, Hamas released six Israeli hostages, the last living captives set to be freed in the first phase of the cease-fire. Earlier it had handed over the remains of four hostages, including those of Shiri Bibas and her two young children, who were all taken alive during the 2023 assault. Israel was supposed to release 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in return, the largest group of detainees to be let go since the cease-fire in Gaza began last month, but it delayed the move, citing what Mr. Netanyahu’s office described as Hamas’s “cynical exploitation” of the hostages for propaganda purposes. Late Saturday, dozens of Palestinian families, their faces somber, left a venue in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where some prisoners were supposed to appear, after waiting there for hours in the hope of reuniting with their loved ones. Many families said they had received no official communication regarding the delayed release, relying instead on media reports and word of mouth. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [2/25/2025 3:45 AM, Staff, 52868K] reports Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Chinese-crewed ship suspected of severing an undersea communications cable in the latest such incident adding to tensions between Taipei and Beijing. Taiwan’s coast guard intercepted the Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai in waters between its main island’s west coast and the outlying Penghu Islands early Tuesday, according to a statement by the coast guard. The coast guard had earlier been notified by telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom that one of its undersea cables had been severed 6 nautical miles (11 kilometers) northwest of Jiangjun Fishing Harbor. The Hongtai had been anchored in that same area since Saturday evening, the coast guard said. From Saturday until early Tuesday, authorities in the nearby Anping Port in Tainan had sent signals to the vessel seven times but had received no response. After the Chunghwa Telecom cable damage report, the coast guard approached the ship, which had begun to sail northwestward, and escorted it to Anping Port. Taiwanese authorities said the ship’s entire eight-person crew were Chinese nationals and the case was being handled “in accordance with national security-level principles.” “The cause of the underwater cable break, whether it was due to intentional sabotage or simply an accident, is still pending further investigation for clarification,” the coast guard said. “The possibility of this being part of a gray-zone incursion by China cannot be ruled out,” it added. Communications on the Penghu Islands were not disrupted because Chunghwa Telecom had successfully activated a backup cable, the coast guard said. This is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years in which undersea Taiwanese cables have been damaged — with Taipei in some instances blaming China. Earlier this year, a Chinese cargo ship was suspected of severing a link northeast of the island. In February 2023, two undersea cables serving Taiwan’s Matsu Islands were severed, disrupting communications for weeks. Taipei fears China might damage its underwater communications cables as part of attempts to blockade or seize the island, which Beijing claims as its own. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press briefing on Tuesday that he was not aware of the issue and it did not pertain to diplomacy.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [2/25/2025 3:50 AM, Yimou Lee, 41523K]

Newsweek [2/24/2025 5:55 AM, Micah McCartney, 56005K] reports North Korea on Friday doubled down on expanding its nuclear forces, warning it will use "strategic means" to counter military cooperation between the U.S. and its South Korean ally. Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in China with a written request for comment. Kim Jong Un’s frequent missile tests and expanding nuclear capabilities have further aggravated North-South relations, now at their lowest point in decades. Pyongyang now possesses a limited number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) believed capable of striking targets across North America, though one senior U.S. Air Force official recently warned any such attack would backfire. Last week, the U.S. test-fired an ICBM over the Pacific and deployed strategic bombers for joint drills with South Korea’s Air Force. According to a statement by North Korea’s defense ministry information office, the second Trump administration has already stepped up U.S. "provocations threatening the security environment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).” Wednesday’s launch of the Minuteman III ICBM, joint live-fire drills with South Korean troops near the border earlier this month, and the recent five-day port call of the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Alexandria in Busan, South Korea, were listed as provocative U.S. moves, by the DPRK. It also condemned the upcoming Freedom Shield exercise, the annual U.S.-South Korea joint military drill aimed at bolstering deterrence and readiness against North Korean threats. "This reality clearly proves why the DPRK armed forces’ build up of war-fighting capability, with nuclear deterrence at its core, is a just and inevitable option," it added, vowing to "counter the strategic threat of the U.S. and other enemies with strategic means.”

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