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

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

The New York Times [2/6/2025 3:26 AM, Campbell Robertson and Mattathias Schwartz, 740K, Negative] reports a U.S. District Court judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday that indefinitely blocked President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally eliminate automatic U.S. citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants on U.S. soil. The nationwide injunction, issued by Judge Deborah L. Boardman, who was nominated by President Biden, is more permanent than the 14-day temporary restraining order issued on Jan. 23 by a federal judge in Seattle, in a different case concerning the same Trump administration executive order. In most instances, a preliminary injunction remains in force until a case is resolved or a higher court overturns it. “The executive order conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year-old binding Supreme Court precedent and runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth,” Judge Boardman ruled. “The United States Supreme Court has resoundingly rejected the president’s interpretation of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. In fact, no court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation. This court will not be the first.” The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on the Maryland injunction. However, the White House did. “President Trump was given a resounding mandate to end the disregard and abuse of our immigration laws and to secure our borders,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. “The Trump administration will continue to put Americans and America first.” Mr. Trump said last month that the administration would appeal the Seattle ruling as well. The case was brought by two nonprofit organizations that work with immigrants and refugees — the Maryland-based CASA and the New York-based Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project — as well as five pregnant women who are living in the country either unlawfully or on temporary visas. NBC News [2/5/2025 7:13 PM, Daniella Silva and Daniel Barnes, 50804K, Negative] reports that the order was set to go into effect on Feb. 19. Wednesday’s preliminary injunction is the second temporary hold against Trump’s executive order. It follows a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the immigrant services organization CASA and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law on behalf of five pregnant women and ASAP and CASA’s members. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the judge’s order. "Citizenship is a most precious right, expressly guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution," Boardman said Tuesday. Trump’s order, which he called "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," attempts to limit birthright citizenship to people who have at least one parent who is a United States citizen or permanent resident. It states that those born to parents who are in the country legally, but temporarily, will no longer be automatically guaranteed citizenship, including high-skill work visas and student visas. "This administration believes that birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, and that is why President Trump signed that executive order," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week. "Illegal immigrants who come to this country and have a child are not subject to the laws of this jurisdiction. That’s the opinion of this administration.” The plaintiffs in the case called the injunction a victory.

Reported similarly:
Roll Call [2/5/2025 1:02 PM, Michael Macagnone, 440K, Neutral]
Bloomberg [2/5/2025 11:17 AM, Zoe Tillman, 21617K, Negative]
The Hill [2/5/2025 11:26 AM, Zach Schonfeld, 16346K, Negative]
NPR [2/5/2025 5:02 PM, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, 35747K, Neutral]
Reuters [2/5/2025 11:14 AM, Blake Brittain and Nate Raymond, 30936K, Negative]
ABC News [2/5/2025 11:17 AM, Selina Wang, Laura Romero, Peter Charalambous, 33392K, Negative]
Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 12:42 PM, Kaelan Deese, 2365K, Neutral]

Newsweek [2/5/2025 4:18 PM, Natalie Venegas, 56005K, Neutral] reports that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reversed a recent order preventing legal aid groups from providing services to immigrants in federal detention centers and immigration courts. Newsweek reached out to the DOJ via an online email form for comment. The initial move, in which a DOJ memo told legal providers to "stop work immediately," appeared to be one of several made by the new administration to enact tough-on-immigration policies promised by the new president. Many undocumented migrants require court hearings to have their cases determined, but the system can be complicated and confusing, especially for those with little money or who speak little English. Under Trump’s executive order issued last week, "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," the secretary of Homeland Security was ordered to review funding provided to nongovernmental organizations "supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens." The order asked that funds should be paused while audits took place. In a January 22 memo, the DOJ instructed legal service providers to "stop work immediately" on four federally funded programs assisting detained immigrants, including the Legal Orientation Program, which has been backed by Congress since 2003. The other programs affected were the Immigration Court Helpdesk, Counsel for Children Initiative and the Family Group Legal Orientation Program.

Miami Herald [2/5/2025 5:44 PM, Nora Gámez Torres and Michael Wilner, 6595K, Negative] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is heading Friday to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the Trump administration plans to house thousands of undocumented migrants, including some with criminal records. On Tuesday, Homeland Security released images of "criminal aliens" preparing to board the first flight to the migrants’ detention center at the naval station. The agency said they were all members of the Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in Venezuela. The U.S. Southern Command, based in Doral, said Monday the Pentagon already had stationed 300 service members in Guantanamo to support the operation. The White House’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Immigration and Customs Protection will oversee the migrant facility. Private contractors usually manage such centers. In 2024, ICE granted Akima Infrastructure Protection a $163.4 million contract to run the migrant detention center at Guantanamo.

The Hill [2/5/2025 12:09 PM, Brett Samuels, 16346K, Neutral] reports that Pam Bondi was sworn in as attorney general on Wednesday in the Oval Office with President Trump looking on and telling reporters she would be "as impartial as a person can be." "I know I’m supposed to say, ‘She’s going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats.’ And I think she will be as impartial as a person can be," Trump said during Bondi’s swearing-in ceremony. Bondi, Florida’s former top prosecutor, was joined by family members as she was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The conservative justice also presided over the swearing in of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. "I am truly honored that you have asked to take on this role, and I will make you proud and I will make this country proud," Bondi told Trump. "I will restore integrity to the Justice Department, and I will fight violent crime throughout this country and throughout this world." The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Bondi as the top Justice Department official. The vote was 54-46, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joining all Republicans in voting in support of Bondi. FOX News [2/5/2025 11:35 AM, Breanne Deppisch, 49889K, Neutral] reports Bondi was sworn in at the Oval Office Wednesday by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in front of an audience packed with her friends and family. President Donald Trump, for his part, praised Bondi after the ceremony as "unbelievably fair and unbelievably good," and someone who he said will "restore fair and impartial justice" at the department. "I know I’m supposed to say, ‘She’s going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats,’" Trump told reporters, "and I think she will be as impartial as a person can be." Bondi’s nomination had earned praise both from Republicans and some Democrats for her composure and her ability to deftly navigate thorny and politically tricky topics and lines of questioning from some would-be detractors – putting her on a glide path to confirmation in the Republican-majority chamber.

CBS News [2/5/2025 6:08 PM, Jacob Rosen, 52225K, Negative] reports in her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department. The attorney general established a "weaponization working group" to review Biden administration law enforcement policies. Bondi also targeted sanctuary jurisdictions with an order to end funding to any that "unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations." She encouraged the department to pursue enforcement actions against sanctuary cities or states that do not comply with the federal government’s immigration efforts. In a separate memo targeting cartels and transnational criminal organizations, Bondi ordered "additional resources and thoughtful charging decisions" to fight illegal drug trafficking and pursue "total elimination" of these groups. The Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 6:26 PM, Ashley Oliver, 2365K, Negative] reports Bondi warned against "zealous advocacy," saying anyone who refused to comply with the president’s agenda would risk termination. Her orders come after a controversial string of firings at the DOJ and FBI, which acting department heads carried out ahead of Bondi taking over. More than two dozen prosecutors who were hired strictly to work on Jan. 6 cases were fired, the remainder of special counsel Jack Smith’s team of veteran prosecutors were fired, eight senior officials at the FBI were ousted, and the DOJ recently warned of possible "personnel action" for many more at the bureau who were involved with Jan. 6 cases. Bondi emphasized that those who acted with a "righteous spirit and just intentions" have no reason to worry about their jobs. In one memo, Bondi ordered the DOJ to withhold federal funds, such as law enforcement-related grant money, from "sanctuary cities," a term used to describe jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Unlawful border crossings and illegal migration into the United States have reached record levels, resulting in a substantial and unacceptable threat to our national security and public safety," Bondi wrote, saying blocking funds to noncompliant cities, as well as nongovernmental organizations that aid illegal aliens, would help combat this.

Wall Street Journal [2/5/2025 5:13 PM, Michelle Hackman and Liz Essley Whyte, Negative] reports the Trump administration is considering a move to repel asylum seekers at the southern border on the basis that they might bring measles or tuberculosis infections with them into the U.S., current and former officials said. President Trump’s advisers have been looking for evidence of disease threats that would merit reviving a policy they used during the pandemic in his first term to push back migrants who sought asylum at the border, the current and former officials said. The Trump administration sees the emergency health law, known as Title 42, as overriding laws that guarantee migrants a right to request humanitarian protection in the U.S. White House officials have identified TB and measles as disease threats most likely to warrant invoking Title 42. The Health and Human Services department is sending Public Health Service officers to the border, officials involved in the effort said. Kansas is experiencing a TB outbreak, and measles cases have been reported recently in states including Texas. It isn’t known whether those cases have any connection to the southern border, where crossings have plummeted in the past year. The general risk from both diseases remains low, public-health officials said. Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office last month banning migrants from requesting asylum because he said the southern border is under invasion. People close to Trump have said the administration is looking for overlapping immigration policies in case courts strike some down. Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued to halt Trump’s executive order. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for health secretary, would need to approve the health-emergency measure for measles or TB if he is confirmed by the Senate. Kennedy has questioned whether vaccines for measles are safe and whether the threat of measles is exaggerated. He told senators during his confirmation hearings last week that he supports the measles vaccine. Trump adviser Stephen Miller first suggested using Title 42 to essentially halt asylum at the border in 2018 when flu cases rose in Border Patrol detention facilities. It was a novel strategy for circumventing asylum’s broad protections. White House lawyers resisted the plan, but the administration enacted it two years later during the pandemic. Officials said then that holding migrants in crowded detention facilities long enough to consider their legal claims risked exacerbating the spread of Covid-19.

Newsweek [2/5/2025 6:56 AM, Giulia Carbonaro, 56005K, Neutral] reports the General Services Administration (GSA) reportedly sent out notice on Tuesday that it plans to sell half of the federal property it manages—a move that appears to contradict Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s plans to get federal employees to return to in-person work in the office. Trump is pushing to drastically shrink the size of the federal government, signing an executive order that imposed a 90-day hiring freeze on federal agencies—with the exception of military personnel of the armed forces or roles linked to immigration enforcement, national security and public safety—and offering incentives to federal workers to quit their jobs. In an email sent to federal workers late last month, the Trump administration asked almost all government employees to decide by February 6 whether they want to resign and receive payment for eight months. The move was strongly condemned by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), who said it created "chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government.” GSA regional managers last week received messages from the agency’s headquarters in Washington directing them to terminate the leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices across the country, the Associated Press reported. The ultimate goal of these moves is to save money for the federal government; senior Trump officials reportedly told the media that downsizing the federal workforce could save up to $100 billion. In a message shared on social media by journalist Lisa Desjardins, GSA’s Public Buildings Service (PBS) Commissioner Michael Peters informed the agency’s employees that a recent analysis revealed "a gross excess of space" in PBS’ portfolio "as well as substantial levels of deferred maintenance.” The combination of these two factors, Peters said, has resulted in "excess spending" and "suboptimal working conditions for the federal workforce at many locations.” The solution to these problems, the commissioner said, is to reduce non-DoD federal building space by "at least 50 percent." This reduction will come from "more efficient space utilization, as well as an overall downsizing of the federal workforce," Peters wrote. "In addition, by transitioning from an agency-centric model of space utilization to a ‘whole government’ approach that assesses requirements and availability across agencies, we expect to further consolidate and reduce space, as well as downsize the associated support staff and other PBS resources," he added. According to the GSA website, PBS currently owns or leases an inventory of more than 8,800 assets, maintains more than 370 million square feet of workspace for 1.1 million federal employees, and preserves more than 500 historic properties.

ABC News [2/5/2025 5:36 PM, Ivan Pereira and Jay O’Brien, 57114K, Negative] reports that as Elon Musk continues to dismantle government agencies, threaten workers with layoffs and gain access to government data, congressional Republicans on Wednesday blocked Democratic efforts to compel him to answer for his actions under oath. Musk, who has not made any public appearances since the inauguration, has publicly called for cutting down the federal government and through his non-government organization Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has frozen funding for several agencies including USAID the international aid agency. Designated a special government employee by the White House, Musk claims he has been in talks with President Donald Trump about his tactics. "I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down," Musk said Monday on his effort to curtail USAID. Rep. Gerald Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, tore into Musk during a committee hearing on Wednesday as he moved to subpoena the controversial billionaire. "It’s a puzzling role for many people, certainly on this side of the aisle, and I think for some on yours, who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence," he said.

Reported similarly:
Federal News Network [2/5/2025 1:34 PM, Michele Sandiford, 470K, Neutral]

The Hill [2/5/2025 1:44 PM, Zack Budryk and Rachel Frazin, 16346K, Neutral] reports that Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday accused Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of improperly inserting itself into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In a joint statement, Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said Musk’s cost-cutting group of accessing NOAA’s computer systems. NOAA is charged with forecasting weather, monitoring atmospheric conditions and mapping the seas, among other things. "Elon Musk and his DOGE hackers are ransacking their way through the federal government, unlawfully gaining unfettered access to Americans’ private information and gutting programs people depend on," said Huffman and Lofgren, the top Democrats on the House Natural Resources and Science, Space and Technology committees, respectively. "Now they have reached NOAA where they’re wreaking havoc on the scientific and regulatory systems that protect American families’ safety and jobs." Science Committee Democratic staff members told The Hill that they heard of the breach directly from people at NOAA and others in the community. An aide to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), said his office has confirmed DOGE staff entered NOAA’s Building 2 in Silver Spring, Md.

ABC News [2/5/2025 7:09 PM, Meredith Deliso, 33392K, Negative] reports protesters gathered nationwide Wednesday as part of a movement opposing the Trump administration’s policies and Project 2025, the controversial conservative presidential wish list. The protests, which took place largely in state capitals, were organized by an online movement dubbed 50501 -- meaning 50 protests, 50 states, one day. The grassroots effort has been organized across social media sites using hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, calling on Americans to "fight fascism.” Protesters marched and gathered in cities including Atlanta, Austin, Boston and Philadelphia, holding signs with messages like "Silence is violence," "Defend democracy," "Impeach Trump" and "Death to fascism.” Vermont college student Andy Cole was among those protesting outside the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday. "I came out here today because it’s important for people to be here," Cole told ABC Montpelier affiliate WVNY. "As a young person, it’s important for me to be here. As a human, it is important for me to be here.” "I would not be able to sleep at night if I didn’t become engaged and didn’t be active in my community, especially with everything that’s happening right now," Cole continued. In the first weeks of his new term, President Donald Trump has signed a slew of executive orders, some of which are already facing legal challenges. Protesters on Wednesday highlighted Trump’s immigration policies, carrying signs saying "No human is illegal," as the administration takes unprecedented action to remove as many undocumented migrants from the United States as possible. Ahead of Wednesday’s day of action, an Instagram account claiming to be the official account of the 50501 movement shared flyers for planned protests with phrases like "Reject fascism" and "We the people reject Project 2025.”

Reported similarly:
FOX News [2/5/2025 6:34 PM, Greg Wehner, 49889K, Negative]

FOX News [2/5/2025 9:16 AM, Emma Colton, 57114K, Neutral] reports that allies of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem are celebrating her as the "definition of South Dakota toughness" as critics lampoon the Trump administration official for wearing a cowboy hat or protective vest amid her hands-on efforts to secure the southern border and deport illegal immigrants. "Kristi Noem is the definition of South Dakota toughness and actually ran a working ranch for decades," Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "She talks straight, works hard, and gets the job done. Like any great leader, she’s not sitting behind a desk — she’s out there on the front lines, rolling up her sleeves and working alongside the people she leads." "You don’t see that much in Washington," he said. Noem, who was confirmed as DHS chief on Jan. 25, has been on an immigration and security blitz since then, joining immigration raids on the streets of New York City and taking a horseback tour of the southern border in Texas. As Noem works to help deliver on President Donald Trump’s campaign vow to lock down the border and clean house of illegal immigrants who flooded the nation under the Biden administration, critics have latched onto criticizing Noem’s wardrobe selection.

The Hill [2/5/2025 8:41 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 57114K, Neutral] reports New York City Mayor Eric Adams is set to testify next month at a House Oversight Committee hearing on sanctuary cities, his office confirmed Wednesday. Adams will appear alongside fellow Democratic mayors Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Michelle Wu of Boston and Mike Johnston of Denver, according to Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who announced March 5 as the date for the hearing. Comer said Wednesday that the four mayors have all confirmed their attendance. Johnson confirmed in a statement that he will appear before the committee. The Hill has reached out to Wu’s and Johnston’s offices for confirmation. “Sanctuary mayors have prioritized criminal illegal aliens over the American people. They owe Americans an explanation for their policies that jeopardize public safety and violate federal immigration law by releasing dangerous criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets,” Comer said in a social media post. “We will press these mayors for answers and examine measures to enforce compliance with federal immigration law,” Comer added. Adams, a centrist Democrat, has pledged to work with the Trump administration to enhance immigration enforcement. He has also criticized the city’s sanctuary city laws but has said he would enforce the laws in place. “Mayor Adams has been clear that New York City is committed to working with our federal partners to fix our broken immigration system and focus on the small number of people who are entering our localities and committing violent crimes,” the mayor’s press secretary, Kayla Mamelak Altus, said in an emailed statement. “We have been in communication with the Congressional Oversight Committee on their questions around immigration enforcement, and we look forward to speaking with them on March 5,” she continued. Adams has taken steps to make clear he is ready to work with the new administration. He met with Trump shortly before his inauguration and with his handpicked “border czar” in December. He said at a press conference afterward that the two men have the same immigration goals.

Reported similarly:
Politico [2/5/2025 3:53 PM, Emily Ngo, Neutral]

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 5:26 PM, Paola Belloso, 57114K, Negative] Video: HERE reports all 67 victims of the American Airlines and Black Hawk helicopter collision have been recovered and identified, the Unified Command confirmed Wednesday. Officials said now that they have recovered and identified all of the victims, they will continue to focus on removing the rest of the wreckage from the Potomac River. They will also keep searching shorelines and other areas near the Potomac for possible wreckage identification. The Unified Commands is expecting to finish removing all major components of the American Airlines regional jet from the water by Feb. 6. Once the jet’s wreckage is cleared, crews will shift toward recovering the U.S. Army Black Hawk before clearing large debris in the remaining debris field. A new notice from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued late Tuesday restricts helicopters from the airspace near DCA. The notice says the mixing of helicopters and planes will not be allowed in the airspace near the airport through at least the end of March.

Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 8:00 AM, Sarah Roderick-Fitch, 2365K, Neutral] reports the National Transportation Safety Administration says the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River last Wednesday was flying at about 300 feet at the time of the collision, above the permitted flight ceiling. The permitted flight ceiling for helicopters flying over the Potomac River in the vicinity of Reagan National Airport (DCA) is 200 feet, which is meant to keep military and law enforcement helicopters clear of commercial aircraft landing and taking off in the already tightly restricted airspace around the nation’s capital. The NTSB said information fused from "multiple radar sensors and ADS-B data," which provides the "best quality flight track data to air traffic control" fed by Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control Facilities (TRACON) based in Warrenton, Va., showed the helicopter "was at 300 feet on the air traffic control display at the time of the collision." They noted the data is rounded to the nearest 100 feet. The latest revelation comes on the heels of an announcement from the Unified Command that all 67 victims of the collision have been recovered, including 64 from the plane and three soldiers from the helicopter. All but one of the victims have been positively identified. "NTSB needs additional information to verify data points from the Black Hawk. In order to obtain this information, the Black Hawk needs to be recovered from the water, which is expected to take place later this week," according to the NTSB. An investigative team from the NTSB has also obtained "training and flight logs for both flight crews and maintenance logs for both aircraft.” "The human performance group is building several day histories for both flight crews to include their daily activities. The Air Traffic Control group has completed interviews of all five staffed positions in the tower," according to an NTSB update. The investigators will continue to "synchronize flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder data from both aircraft, ATC communications and radar scope data" in an effort to piece together a "detailed timeframe.”

The Texas Tribune [2/5/2025 5:13 PM, Matthew Choi, Neutral] reports Gov. Greg Abbott met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday where they discussed border security, aides said. Abbott has emerged as one of the president’s biggest allies in hardening the southern border. He used state resources to militarize the border and curb illegal crossings under Operation Lone Star and has since requested the federal government compensate Texas for the program. Texas covers more of the southern border than any other state and spent over $11 billion on Operation Lone Star. In his speech, Trump vowed to help Abbott build more walls on the border and send the military to help with border enforcement. He has since declared an emergency on the border and vowed to deploy military resources for border enforcement. Abbott also gave the Texas National Guard arrest authority at the border.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [2/5/2025 1:34 PM, Jack Fink, 52225K, Neutral]
FOX News [2/5/2025 12:46 PM, Paul Steinhauser, 49889K, Positive]

Axios [2/5/2025 4:13 PM, Alayna Alvarez, 16349K, Positive] reports Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Wednesday agreed to testify before Congress over Denver’s status as a sanctuary city. Johnson will be pressed to defend Denver’s policies protecting migrants from deportation at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice has threatened to prosecute officials who resist the president’s immigration crackdown. His highly anticipated decision — which he had been weighing for over a week — came the same day multiple federal immigration raids took place in Denver and its neighbor Aurora. The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing is now scheduled March 5 after being originally planned for Feb. 11. Johnston will join three other mayors from Democratic sanctuary cities, including Boston, Chicago and New York City.

Reported similarly:
Chicago Tribune [2/5/2025 6:11 PM, Alice Yin, 4917K, Neutral]

AZCentral [2/5/2025 7:07 PM, Staff, 6018K, Negative] reports members of the left-leaning Indivisible protest the Trump agenda and call on U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., to help "freeze the Senate" by rejecting his nominees and other actions during a rally outside Kelly’s Phoenix office on Feb. 5, 2025. [Editorial note: consult photos at source link]

FOX News [2/5/2025 7:38 PM, Alexandra Koch, 10861K, Negative] reports the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently confirmed the deadly bird flu genotype responsible for killing flocks nationwide was found in Nevada dairy cattle. The APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) on Friday found the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) genotype D1.1 in dairy cattle, according to a statement. The confirmation came a result of state tracing and investigation, following an initial detection on silo testing under the USDA’s National Milk Testing Strategy in Nevada, officials said. "USDA APHIS continues to work with the Nevada Department of Agriculture by conducting additional on-farm investigation, testing, and gathering additional epidemiological information to better understand this detection and limit further disease spread," the statement read. This is the first detection of the virus genotype in dairy cattle – all previous detections in dairy cattle have been a different genotype, B3.13. Genotype D1.1 represents the predominant genotype in the North American flyways over the fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, mammals and spillovers into domestic poultry, according to APHIS. Eggs are becoming increasingly difficult to find and more expensive nationwide due to the bird flu, Fox Business previously reported. The detection does not change USDA’s HPAI eradication strategy and "is a testament to the strength of our National Milk Testing Strategy," according to officials.

CBS Los Angeles [2/5/2025 7:32 PM, Marissa Wenzke, 52225K, Negative] reports demonstrators gathered outside Los Angeles City Hall Wednesday as protests against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration continued in LA for a fourth day. Since Sunday, protesters have been marching through LA streets carrying signs blasting ICE raids and advocating for immigrants, blocking the 101 Freeway on the first day of demonstrations. For the last three days, the Los Angeles Police Department has ended up declaring each of the gatherings "an unlawful assembly" and forcing them to disperse. Students from schools in East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles have walked out of their campuses in joining the protests. U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement, ICE, has been planning on ramping up raids in major cities such as Chicago as part of a sweeping crackdown. Within his first month in office, President Trump issued a series of executive orders moving to shut down admissions for asylum seekers and refugees, tasking the military with border enforcement and attempting to eliminate birthright citizenship — a right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment for more than 100 years. On Wednesday, as protests continued in LA, a federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked the executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide. Advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have filed lawsuits in challenges to some of the other immigration-related orders. In downtown Los Angeles, LAPD issued several traffic advisories Wednesday, announcing demonstrators had gathered on the steps of City Hall just before noon before marching back to the building about an hour later.

Univision [2/5/2025 3:50 PM, Staff, 7281K, Neutral] reports the Mexican government has described the tariff pause negotiated by President Claudia Sheinbaum with Donald Trump as an "achievement." However, the promise to reinforce border security with National Guard troops has been questioned by opposition groups, who believe the decision seeks to offer Mexico protection that Mexicans do not enjoy. At her press conference on Tuesday, Sheinbaum responded to questions from the press about whether the deployment of elements to the border would leave other regions of the country unsafe. The president said the deployment to the border would not have a negative effect on the security of other regions in Mexico. The troops began arriving in the border area on Tuesday, according to Sheinbaum.

Newsweek [2/5/2025 7:40 AM, Billal Rahman, 56005K, Neutral] reports Representative Brian Babin, a Republican from Texas, has suggested that the U.S. could use drones against Mexican cartels in an effort to protect American lives. Cartels and crime syndicates have been thrust into the forefront of the national conversation surrounding immigration enforcement operations as President Donald Trump begins large-scale mass deportations. Trump made immigration a core component of his successful presidential campaign, with Americans largely supporting immigration reform overall but disagreeing about how policies such as deportations should be carried out. A New York Times/Ipsos poll conducted between January 2 and 10 found that 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported deportations. Eighty-eight percent supported "deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agree that the immigration system is broken. On Tuesday, Babin, a co-chair of the Border Security Caucus, told NewsNation’s The Hill that the United States could deploy drones against cartels if it would help protect American lives. "It certainly could. I’m not saying it will," Babin said, adding, "It could come down to that.” According to the congressman, the U.S. knows where a lot of clandestine narcotics labs are and where "a lot of these bad guys live.” Babin expressed his gratitude that Trump had labeled cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which meant that "all is fair" and "everything’s on the table" when dealing with groups under the designation. According to a leaked memo seen by NewsNation, cartels have approved the deployment of weaponized drone explosives targeting Customs and Border Protection personnel and other U.S. law enforcement officers at the southern border. A CBP spokesperson previously told Newsweek, "We remain vigilant and stand ready to ensure the safety of our personnel, migrants, and local communities, and the security of our borders."

FOX News [2/5/2025 5:37 AM, Landon Mion, 49889K, Negative] reports Mexico will not allow the U.S. government to send Mexican migrants to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said Mexico would rather directly receive the migrants. The Mexican government sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. embassy in Mexico to explain its position. This comes after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that the Trump administration has begun flying detained illegal migrants from the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay, although she did not specify the nationalities of the people on those flights. "I can also confirm that today the first flights from the United States to Guantánamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway," Leavitt said. "And so President Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem are already delivering on this promise to utilize that capacity at Gitmo for illegal criminals who have broken our nation’s immigration laws and then have further committed heinous crimes against lawful American citizens here at home," she continued. U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to expand the detention camp to hold up to 30,000 "criminal illegal aliens." The U.S. military base has been criticized around the world for its inhumane abuse and torture of detainees, including in interrogation tactics. One flight from Fort Bliss to Guantánamo Bay has roughly a dozen migrants on board, according to the Pentagon. An additional flight left the U.S. on Monday. The migrants will be held in the detention camp that was set up for detainees in the aftermath of 9/11. The migrants will be separated from the 15 detainees who were already there, including planners in the 2001 terrorist attack. Last week, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called Trump’s effort to send 30,000 migrants to Guantánamo an "act of brutality.” "In an act of brutality, the new US government announces the imprisonment at the Guantánamo Naval Base, located in illegally occupied territory [of Cuba], of thousands of migrants that it forcibly expels, and will place them next to the well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention," he said in a translated post on X.

NBC News [2/5/2025 2:38 PM, Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee, Julia Ainsley, and Gabe Gutierrez, 50804K, Negative] reports that the Trump administration’s decision this week to detain some immigrants at the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay that was created after 9/11 for holding prisoners accused of terrorism is the beginning of a broader plan to hold more immigrants in the high-security prison, rather than the previously constructed low-level detention space for immigrants, six people familiar with the plans told NBC News. The plan is to expand the prison so that immigrants can be held not only inside the prison facility but also in tent camps surrounded by fencing that have not been completely built, according to three officials familiar with the planning. One person familiar with the planning said part of the tent camps has been built. Trump announced last Wednesday that he would direct the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to ready Guantanamo to detain 30,000 migrants. The first flight of immigrants arrived at Guantanamo on Tuesday. A senior White House official and the person familiar with the plans said that among the ten immigrants on that flight were suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang who are being held at the detention facility also used to detain suspected terrorists. It is not clear how long the administration intends to imprison immigrants who are moved into the detention facility, which has been used to hold detainees accused of terrorism since 2002, or under what specific legal authorities.

VOA News [2/5/2025 3:37 PM, Carla Babb, Jeff Seldin, 2717K, Negative] reports the first undocumented migrants — described by U.S. officials as the "the worst of the worst" — are being held in jail cells at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, waiting to be sent home. The Pentagon Wednesday confirmed 10 "high-threat illegal aliens" arrived Tuesday at the detention facility, where they are being held under the watch of officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. According to the Pentagon, the detention of the high-threat migrants at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is a temporary measure. ICE "is taking this measure to ensure the safe and secure detention of these individuals until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination" the Pentagon said in a statement. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday posted photos on X of some of the migrants as they prepared to board the military cargo plane, calling them "the worst of the worst," and warning the effort to deport them is just getting started. The Department of Homeland Security later said all of the migrants on the military flight were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang with transnational reach. Officials did not say when or how they were first taken into custody. The White House has announced plans to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Noem, posting on X on Wednesday, said her department has overseen the arrest of "convicted murderers, rapists, child abusers, drug traffickers, MS-13 gang members, cartel members," in just the past few days.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [2/5/2025 12:54 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 16346K, Negative]

USA Today [2/5/2025 5:33 PM, Jennifer Borresen, 89965K, Negative] reports the first U.S. military aircraft carrying detained migrants to Guantánamo Bay departed from Texas on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, as President Donald Trump’s administration prepares to potentially house tens of thousands of migrants at the naval base in Cuba. The U.S. has "30,000 beds in Guantánamo Bay to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people," Trump said on Jan. 29. The U.S. Southern Command said more than 150 U.S. Marines and U.S. Army members started arriving at the Naval base in the first weekend of February. They joined service members already at the base supporting migrant holding operations led by Department of Homeland Security. More than 300 military personnel are already stationed at the base. Dozens of tents were erected on Leeward Point between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4. The C-17 plane left El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday with a small number of migrants aboard headed for the high-security prison facility that has been used to hold al Qaeda detainees. U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the military flight to Guantánamo Bay carried nine to 10 immigrants. McLaughlin called them "highly dangerous criminal aliens" but declined to provide further details.

CBS Austin [2/5/2025 9:09 AM, David Ibave, 581K, Positive] reports that the first flights to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were out of the Biggs Army Airfield in Fort Bliss. According to a social media post by Democratic Congressional Representative Veronica Escobar, the congresswoman confirmed the first flight to Guantanamo Bay was Tuesday out of Fort Bliss. In a post on X, Escobar commented that the move is an unnecessary use of military resources, adding that El Paso can house migrants and apprehensions are down. "The use of Guantanamo Bay is predicted to cost hundreds of millions of dollars," Escobar wrote. "These measures are nothing more than unnecessary and cruel political theater and a gross misuse of federal funds and military personnel." Meanwhile, The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X: The city of El Paso provided the following statement: "The City of El Paso has no authority over immigration enforcement or deportation flights, as these matters fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. However, our community remains deeply committed to supporting solutions that prioritize public safety, respect the dignity of all individuals, and encourage strong collaboration between local, state, and federal entities. As always, El Paso will continue to work with partners at every level to address the challenges and opportunities posed by migration in a way that reflects our values and commitment to our community."

AP [2/5/2025 10:49 PM, Matthew Lee, 47097K, Neutral] reports Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said Wednesday his country will accept migrants from other countries who are being deported from the United States, the second deportation deal that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Under the agreement announced by Arévalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at U.S. expense. “We have agreed to increase by 40% the number of flights of deportees both of our nationality as well as deportees from other nationalities,” Arévalo said at a news conference with Rubio. Previously, including under the Biden administration, Guatemala had been accepting on average seven to eight flights of its citizens from the U.S. per week. Under President Donald Trump it’s also been one of the countries that have had migrants returned on U.S. military planes. El Salvador announced a similar but broader agreement on Monday. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his country would accept U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens and legal residents who are imprisoned for violent crimes. After the news conference with Guatemala’s president, Rubio headed directly to the U.S. Embassy, where staffers and their families who were unsure of their futures gathered to hear from their new boss. The meet-and-greet event was closed to the press, as was an earlier similar event in El Salvador. Both Guatemala and El Salvador have significant USAID missions. In Panama on Sunday before the shut down announcement, Rubio’s embassy event had been open to journalists. From there Rubio wrapped up his Guatemala stop by visiting a local migration facility near an air force base where deportees are processed for integration back into their home communities. Under the measures announced Wednesday by Guatemala’s president, the number of deportees is expected to rise by as much as 40%. The program has been supported by the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security.

Reported similarly:
CNN [2/5/2025 6:03 PM, Michael Rios, 238K, Neutral]

NPR [2/5/2025 4:55 PM, Michele Kelemen, 35747K, Neutral] Audio: HERE reports the U.S. secretary of state continues his travels around Central America, while at home and abroad, USAID workers try to absorb the news that their agency is in freefall.

NBC News [2/5/2025 2:49 PM, Kimmy Yam, 50804K, Neutral] reports a U.S. military aircraft carrying scores of undocumented Indian nationals landed in northern India on Wednesday morning, according to a Reuters video. An estimated 100 undocumented immigrants were onboard, a defense official with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News. Jaiswal said that the country is "firmly opposed" to illegal migration and will be cooperating with efforts to stem the flow. FOX News [2/5/2025 2:43 PM, Ronn Blitzer, Bonny Chu, 49889K, Neutral] reports a U.S. military plane carrying a group of Indian migrants landed in India early Wednesday morning as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, a U.S. Transportation Command official confirmed to Fox News Digital. According to the official, the C-17 aircraft flew from Miramar, near San Diego, yesterday and landed in Amritsar, in northern India, around 3:30 ET. The plane carried between 104 and 205 nationals and marked the first time Washington authorized a military aircraft for deportations to India, according to Reuters. According to the Pew Research center, there are about 725,000 Indians who have been illegally residing in the U.S. since 2022, marking India as the third top source of illegal U.S. immigration after Mexico and El Salvador.

AP [2/6/2025 3:45 AM, Staff, 14282K, Neutral] reports India’s Parliament was disrupted on Thursday as opposition lawmakers protested the alleged mistreatment of 104 Indian immigrants deported by the United States. A U.S. military plane on Wednesday carrying 104 deported Indian migrants arrived in a northern Indian city, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration. The lawmakers and media reports said the deportees’ arms and legs were shackled while on the aircraft. Parliament’s proceedings were adjourned Thursday as the lawmakers chanted slogans and called to discuss the deportation. Renuka Chowdhury, a lawmaker in the Congress party, said the deportees were “handcuffed, had their legs chained and even struggled to use the washroom.” Her colleague, Gaurav Gogoi, called it “degrading.” Parliament speaker Om Birla tried to calm the lawmakers, saying the transportation of the deportees was a matter of U.S. foreign policy. “The foreign country also has its own rules and regulations,” he said. The Press Trust of India news agency quoted one of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, saying deportees’ handcuffs and leg chains were taken off only at the Amritsar airport in India. Singh, 36, said they initially thought they were being taken to another camp in the U.S. “Then a police officer told us that we were being taken to India,” he said. The U.S. government usually carries out deportations on commercial and chartered flights. The use of the U.S. military to return people to their home country is a relatively new method that started under the Trump administration. Opposition lawmakers, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, also protested outside the Parliament building as they demanded a response from the government. Some wore handcuffs and carried placards that read: “Humans, not prisoners.” The deportation came ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, which is expected next week. U.S. President Donald Trump and Modi discussed immigration in a phone call last week and Trump stressed the importance of India buying more American-made security equipment and fair bilateral trade.

Yahoo! News [2/6/2025 5:22 AM, Cherylann Mollan, 57114K, Neutral] reports India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has told parliament the government is working with the US to ensure Indian citizens are not mistreated while being deported. His statement came a day after a US military flight brought back 104 Indians accused of entering the US illegally. One of the deportees told the BBC they had been handcuffed throughout the 40-hour flight, sparking criticism. But Jaishankar said he had been told by the US that women and children were not restrained. Deportation flights to India had been taking place for several years and US procedures allowed for the use of restraints, he added. Deportation in the US is organised and executed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "We have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained," Jaishankar said. He added that according to ICE, the needs of deportees during transit, including for food and medical attention, were attended to and deportees could be unrestrained during bathroom breaks. "There has been no change from past procedure," he added. However Jaspal Singh, one of the deportees on the flight that landed in Amritsar city in the state of Punjab on Wednesday, told BBC Punjabi that he was shackled throughout the flight. "We were tortured in many ways. My hands and feet were tied after we were put on the plane. The plane stopped at several places," he said, adding that he was unshackled only after the plane landed in Amritsar. The US has not given further details of how deportees were treated on the flight. Officials have said that enforcing immigration laws is "critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States" and it was US policy to "faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens".

New York Times [2/6/2025 3:26 AM, Keith Bradsher, Ana Swanson, Jordyn Holman and Peter Eavis, 740K, Neutral] reports the United States Postal Service made an about-turn on Wednesday and said it would continue to accept packages from mainland China and Hong Kong, reversing a decision to temporarily halt those deliveries after an order by President Trump that ended duty-free handling of many smaller parcels. The Postal Service’s halt and reversal just hours later show how crucial parts of global delivery systems are grappling with sudden changes in U.S. trade policy, sowing confusion among businesses and potentially delaying shipments. On Saturday, Mr. Trump ordered that all Chinese imports would be subject to tariffs starting Tuesday. Until the change, parcels worth up to $800 apiece were not required to include detailed information about their contents and were not subject to levies. That was because they were allowed to take advantage of a provision, known as the de minimis exception, that many e-commerce companies have used to send goods to the United States from China without having to pay taxes on them. As of Wednesday, the Postal Service “will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong posts,” a spokesman for the service said. “The U.S.P.S. and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.” The United States imports close to four million of these lower-value parcels a day, most of them from China, with little or no customs inspection and no duties collected.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [2/5/2025 9:00 AM, Cailley LaPara, 21617K, Positive]
The Hill [2/5/2025 10:31 AM, Filip Timotija, 16346K, Negative]
CNBC [2/5/2025 9:49 AM, Annie Palmer, 36472K, Neutral]

US News & World Report [2/5/2025 6:10 PM, Cody Wofsy, 30936K, Negative] reports for more than a century, all babies born in the United States have been American citizens from their first breath. This fundamental right is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868. It has shaped what America is today – a strong and dynamic nation made up of people whose parents come from all corners of the world. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship is a cruel repudiation of American values. For the first time in generations, immigrant families across the United States now face the prospect that their children will grow up unrecognized as citizens in the only country they have ever known. Facing such a fundamental attack on American values, immigrants’ rights advocates knew we needed to fight back. That is why the ACLU, our partner organizations and our clients immediately sued the new administration for violating the 14th Amendment, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” We are encouraged that today a federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked the president’s order while the case proceeds. That followed a Jan. 23 temporary restraining order from a federal judge in Seattle who called the order "blatantly unconstitutional." But this fight is far from over, as the issue makes its way to higher courts. Our clients include a pregnant New York woman in her third trimester who is part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which exempts some people who do not have permanent immigration status from deportation and allows them to be legally employed in the U.S. She fears for her soon-to-be-born son’s future educational and professional opportunities, and she recalls her own fears and anxiety about immigration enforcement as a child in the U.S. without immigration status. "I don’t want him to be scared," she says, especially not in the only country he will know. Trump is not just attacking immigrants; he is attacking the very fabric of America. The United States is a nation of people who trace their origins to every part of the globe. The ancestors of most Americans were immigrants whose children were born as full U.S. citizens and full-fledged members of American society. Blocking birthright citizenship is a shocking rejection of a bedrock American value. It is also an attempt to subvert citizenship rules and legal precedent to exclude and narrowly define who "counts" as American.

Wall Street Journal [2/5/2025 4:56 PM, Elliot Kaufman, Negative] reports President Trump shocked the world with his proposal to resettle Gazans in nearby countries, but not because the idea is cruel. Few critics dispute his point that it would benefit the displaced to escape the “demolition site” of Gaza and live in peace rather than as cannon fodder. The real disturbance, after decades to the contrary, is to think seriously about what it would mean to put Palestinian lives first rather than sacrificing them to the lost cause of Palestine as their leaders always do. On Oct. 19, 2023, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal suggested that to achieve the dream of Israel’s destruction, and with it an Arab Palestine from the river to the sea, millions of Palestinians might have to die. The prospect doesn’t trouble him. Years earlier the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas turned down Israeli offers of statehood—unprecedented for a national liberation movement—and the Palestinian leader from the 1920s through the ‘40s, Hitler ally Amin al Husseini, did much the same before and at Israel’s founding. Reimagining the failed Arab drive to wipe out the Jews, only a few years after the Holocaust, as a story of Palestinian victimization and valiant resistance to Zionist aggression is the essence of the lost cause. Each major Palestinian leader has preferred his own generation to suffer rather than consent to live alongside a Jewish state on any part of the Jewish homeland. This is the worst kind of nationalism, an eliminationist one that brings its people only misery. But Arab states have long indulged it. It relieved them of the burdens first of resettling Palestinians and then of starting and losing wars to annihilate Israel. Let Palestinians fight and die instead, Arab statesmen reasoned. The world plays along. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees was founded in 1949. It was supposed to resettle the displaced from the defeated Arab invasion and then disband. Instead, the Arab and Soviet blocs made Unrwa into a permanent international commitment to the lost cause. Mr. Trump’s Gaza idea flows naturally from his move Tuesday to end U.S. funding to Unrwa. He proposes to do the job Unrwa never would.

Newsweek [2/5/2025 1:15 PM, Billal Rahman, 56005K, Neutral] reports that a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) New York field office director has said he wants sanctuary cities to cooperate with the agency. Tom Decker told Newsweek, "I hope they look at the sanctuary city policies and get rid of them. It’s hurting the community that it’s supposed to protect." ICE has been thrust to the forefront of the national conversation surrounding Donald Trump’s administration and its immigration enforcement policies. Trump made immigration a core component of his successful presidential campaign, with Americans largely supporting reform overall, but disagreeing about how policies such as deportations should be carried out. A New York Times/Ipsos poll between January 2 and 10 found that 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported deportations. Eighty-eight percent supported "deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the immigration system is broken. New York City has had more than 225,000 asylum seekers arrive over the past two and a half years, while its wider 4.4 million immigrant population included an estimated 602,700 undocumented people at last count.

CBS News [2/5/2025 3:57 PM, Nicole Sganga and Kelsie Hoffman, 57114K, Neutral] reports that with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement facilities now over capacity nationwide, officials in President Trump’s administration are appealing to local law enforcement for help. As of Tuesday, the agency was holding nearly 42,000 migrant detainees, putting detention facilities at 109% capacity. The first group of migrant detainees arrived on Tuesday at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which Mr. Trump plans to make a large scale detention center. At the National Sheriff Association’s winter conference this month, Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, asked for local law enforcement’s assistance when it comes to detaining migrants. "So I hope all you sheriffs in the room, we need your bed space," Homan said. "We need that force multiplier.” But law enforcement officials from both political parties told CBS News they’re short-staffed, short of funds and short of space. "I’ve been overcrowded. I need a new jail," said Sheriff Gabe Morgan, of Newport News, Virginia, who added he doesn’t have any detention beds available for the Trump administration to utilize. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [2/6/2025 2:36 AM, Jake Chapman, 57114K, Neutral] reports that, in recent weeks, the Drug Enforcement Administration in Seattle has collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security on immigration enforcement. According to the DEA, their group is specifically arresting illegal immigrants who are directly involved in the drug trade or have a criminal record. “Everyone the DEA has been participating with like the Department of Homeland Security to this point has had a criminal record. Everyone,” Special Agent in Charge David Reames said. Special Agent in Charge Reames says the Trump administration has given the agency the ability to enforce Title 8, an immigration law that has been in place for decades that prosecutes those who unlawfully cross the border and are subject to potential deportation or face a 5-year bar on re-entry. Reames argues the drug trade and illegal immigration have some connections. “Illegal immigration and drug trafficking are worlds that sort of intersect. There is a lot of people illegally in the United States that are involved in the drug trade. Whether they are carriers or street dealers or mid-level traffickers or even the senior level people, a lot of people who are here illegally are participating in drug trafficking,” Reames said. “The DEA remains focused on fentanyl trafficking in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the world,” Reames continued. The DEA says they are not picking up migrants at random, but groups who help migrants with asylum like Thrive International say tensions are high. “Right now we have a bunch of families with little kids who are law-abiding residents in our community who are terrified because they are afraid they are going to be picked up by federal agents,” Mark Finney, Executive Director of Thrive International, said.

CBS Austin [2/5/2025 10:40 AM, Jackson Walker, 581K, Negative] reports that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials have apprehended nearly 200 members of the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua, according to a Wednesday statement from The White House shared with The National News Desk. From January 21 to February 3, ICE arrested 194 members of the gang who were in the country illegally. The arrests begin to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to Americans that his administration will root out dangerous illegal migrants living in the country. "President Donald Trump told the American people he’d arrest and deport members of the brutal Tren de Aragua gang, and he’s doing just that," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "Illegal immigrant criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua will no longer be able to terrorize American communities under President Trump’s leadership." Each of the gang members will be deported to Venezuela, Leavitt added. The country has already agreed to accept repatriation flights from the United States. The gang members are among the more than 7,000 criminal aliens ICE has apprehended since President Donald Trump took office. The agency has conducted raids in several major sanctuary cities.

The Hill [2/5/2025 4:28 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 16346K, Negative] reports individuals in three states have been arrested for impersonating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and threatening to deport immigrants. Police apprehended two Temple University students wearing shirts with “Police” and “ICE” in white lettering on Sunday after they attempted to enter the institution’s Johnson and Hardwick residence halls earlier in the day. Similar cases of harassment have been reported in states across the nation. Sean Michael-Emmrich Johnson was jailed by the Sullivan’s Island Police Department in South Carolina on Friday for felony kidnapping, impersonating a law enforcement officer and two other misdemeanors. An individual identified as Carl Thomas Bennett Jr. was also arrested for sexually propositioning a woman at a local motel in Raleigh, N.C., after flashing a fake business card with a picture of a badge, according to WBTV. These incidents follow the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on border security and illegal immigration. Univision [2/5/2025 2:45 PM, Staff, 7281K, Negative] reports that following the start of immigration authorities’ efforts to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants in compliance with executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, some individuals in several states have begun impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, harassing people using their racial bias. Three of these individuals were arrested by authorities in separate cases in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania, after allegedly impersonating ICE agents, generating fear and confusion in the communities where they carried out their actions. "Don’t speak that filthy Latino (Spanish) in my country!" One of the detainees was identified as Sean Michael Johnson, 33, of Huger, South Carolina, who turned himself in to local authorities after local Spanish-language news outlet Nuestro Estado posted a video on Facebook recorded by one of his victims, in which Johnson is seen telling the driver of a truck he had stopped that he was "going back to Mexico." At a court appearance Saturday, Johnson’s family alleged that the suspect suffers from mental health issues and "has tried to get help" in the past, "but needs to continue his therapy," according to a report from local CNN affiliate WCIV. Johnson was charged with three counts of kidnapping and one count of impersonating a law enforcement officer, petty theft, verbal assault and battery.

CBS News [2/5/2025 7:14 PM, Staff, 52225K, Negative] Video: HERE reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is releasing some migrant detainees because of a lack of space to hold them. ICE detention facilities are at 109% capacity, according to internal Department of Homeland Security data. CBS News immigration and politics reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez has the details. Telemundo [2/5/2025 3:13 PM, Staff, 2623K, Negative] reports White House Secretary of State Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that of the more than 8,000 people immigration authorities have arrested since Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, 461 (almost 6%) have been released. Among the reasons she cited during her press conference, Leavitt cited the lack of space in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) centers; the unlikely, she said, that these people could be deported in the future; and their health status. ICE facilities were at 109% capacity on Tuesday, NBC News reported. Nationwide, the agency has about 41,500 beds. The administration had said it planned to use the naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to house another 30,000 detainees. On Tuesday, it touted the first flight carrying migrants there. A senior White House official said the plane was carrying 10 Venezuelans, including members of the Tren de Aragua. ICE prioritizes migrants deemed a threat to public safety for arrest and allows officers to use their discretion to release those who do not have serious criminal convictions. There is no indication that the Trump administration has released anyone convicted of a felony, according to NBC News. The Hill [2/5/2025 3:12 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 16346K, Neutral] reports that the Trump administration has encouraged ICE officials to ramp up raids and arrests with "border czar" Tom Homan touting deportation flights on military aircraft within the president’s first week in office. Homan has said he would need at least 100,000 detention beds and a significant increase in ICE agents to successfully undertake President Trump’s immigration plans. ICE officials are also seeking to open 14 new detention sites that could hold as many as 1,000 detainees each, in addition to four larger facilities with 10,000 beds each, according to an internal memo obtained last month by CBS News.

Reuters [2/5/2025 6:15 PM, Ossian Shine, 48128K, Neutral] reports U.S. authorities have seized $39.5 million worth of counterfeit sports merchandise ahead of Super Bowl LIX, officials said on Wednesday, in a crackdown on fake goods being sold to fans. The operation, led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in collaboration with the National Football League (NFL) and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, resulted in the confiscation of more than 214,000 counterfeit items. The haul included jerseys, hats, and memorabilia. The operation was a year-long, collaborative initiative between Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and major sports leagues and is aimed at preventing counterfeit sports-related merchandise and apparel from reaching fans. Since its launch in 2013, Operation Team Player has seized more than $455 million in counterfeit sports merchandise and apparel, making it the largest anti-counterfeiting initiative within the federal government, Homeland Security Investigations said.

Reuters [2/5/2025 4:17 PM, Nate Raymond, 48128K, Neutral] reports Massachusetts’ new top federal prosecutor on Wednesday vowed to investigate local officials if they obstruct the ramped up immigration arrests being carried out by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, saying "no one gets a pass." U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, the Trump administration’s pick to lead the Massachusetts arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, told reporters during an event in Boston she hoped to find areas to work together with Democratic Governor Maura Healey’s office and local district attorneys. But Foley said she disagreed with Healey and Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on how to ensure the community’s safety and said her focus, like that of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would be to "find and remove illegal immigrants in this country who have committed crimes."

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 7:04 PM, Maria Papadopoulos, 57114K, Negative] reports Federal immigration officials have arrested a female fugitive in Massachusetts who is wanted in China for embezzlement, criminal conversion, fraud, and felony drug trafficking, officials said Wednesday. The unidentified fugitive was arrested by federal officers with the help of Needham Police on Jan. 23, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement. Authorities released a photograph of the woman’s at the time of her arrest. Her face is blurred in the photograph. "ERO Boston’s successful apprehension of this fugitive highlights our ongoing commitment to enforcing immigration laws and protecting U.S. communities," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Boston Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said in a statement. "We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing any criminal alien who attempts to remain in our New England neighborhoods in an effort to evade criminal prosecution," Hyde said. The fugitive lawfully entered the United States as a temporary visitor in May 2019. She did not leave the U.S. as required by August 2019, Hyde said. The unidentified woman remains in federal custody. "Arresting this foreign fugitive and criminal alien underscores the importance of our collaboration with local law enforcement to safeguard public safety and uphold the integrity of our immigration system," said Hyde.

FOX News [2/6/2025 2:13 AM, Elizabeth Pritchett, 49889K, Negative] reports an El Salvador man wanted for sex crimes involving a minor in his home country was detained in Philadelphia by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE removed Francisco Javier Melendez Torres, who was wanted by law enforcement in El Salvador for aggravated rape of a minor and sexual harassment, on Jan. 31. He entered the United States illegally and had a final order of removal issued in December 2024. "The removal of Francisco Javier Melendez Torres, a dangerous criminal alien wanted for aggravated rape of a minor in El Salvador, highlights the dangers individuals like him pose to our communities," said Brian McShane, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Philadelphia field office director. McShane said ICE is "committed to ensuring that dangerous individuals like Melendez Torres do not find safe harbor" in the U.S. or threaten American citizens. Melendez Torres was first arrested by U.S. Border Patrol on Feb. 5, 1986, near Rio Grande, Texas. He was served with an order to show cause and notice of hearing, charging inadmissibility, according to ICE Philadelphia. He was released the same day on an order of recognizance. He was granted voluntary departure on Nov. 17, 1986, by an immigration judge in Harlingen, Texas, and was required to return to El Salvador by Dec. 29, 1986. He was deported once he failed to leave by that date. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [2/5/2025 11:11 AM, Greg Norman, 49889K, Neutral] reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the arrest of a Guatemalan illegal immigrant in Maryland who is facing deadly weapons charges. ICE said 20-year-old Gener Pop-Cuz was arrested on Feb. 1 in Maryland’s Prince George’s County after corrections officials there declined to honor an immigration detainer. "The corrections department released Pop into the lobby, instead of safely handing him over to the ICE deportation officer who was waiting for the exchange, and he resisted arrest during the initial encounter. However, Pop was eventually subdued and placed in handcuffs as corrections officers failed to intervene," ICE said in a statement. Pop was first stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol near Texas’ Rio Grande Valley in November 2017 and was served a notice to appear in court, according to immigration officials. Five years later, an immigration judge ordered Pop to be removed to Guatemala after he failed to show up for the hearing, they added. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore acting Field Office Director Matthew Elliston said the incident shows that "Nobody wins when jurisdictions fail to transfer custody of violent offenders." "Cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE is critical to ensuring the safety of our officers, the public, and even the criminal aliens in custody," he added. "I strongly encourage our local jurisdictions to evaluate their policies and look forward to the day when we can put aside politics and do what’s best for the people of Maryland."

WKRG [2/5/2025 4:04 PM, Pat O’Donnell, Negative] reports a Niceville man who was previously convicted of child pornography possession is back in jail, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. According to an OCSO Facebook post, John Jirasak Schugmann Jr., 53, is in custody. The post said the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children notified OCSO’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit in December 2024 about a user uploading sexual images of children as young as 5 years old. Schugmann had been convicted of child pornography possession in 2009 and spent years in prison. He is accused of 30 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of failing to register an email address internet identifier. The search warrant included ICAC, OCSO’s Drug Task Force, the Crestview Police Department, the Niceville Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 6:06 PM, Drew Tasset, 57114K, Negative] reports a Springfield man was arrested and charged in federal court for calling and threatening Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers across the country, according to federal court documents. The defendant, 51-year-old Gabriel Ramsey of Springfield, is accused of interstate communication containing any threat to injure multiple people, which violates Title 18, Section 875(c) of the United States Code. A federal complaint submitted to the Missouri Western District Court states that from Jan 28-30, 2025, Ramsey sent threatening emails to ICE offices in San Diego, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and York, Pennsylvania. In the email, Ramsey said in part that Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan “needs to be shot in the head” and hopes every ICE agent gets “beaten to death with a tire iron.” He also calls ICE a threat that “needs to be eliminated,” accusing them of terrorizing vulnerable communities and removing people of color from the United States as cruelly as possible and comparing them to fascists and an authoritarian regime. On Jan. 30, 2025, the Fresno, California Office of Enforcement and Removal received a call from someone who identified himself as Ramsey. The complaint stated that he wanted Homan and all ICE agents “to be shot in the head” and claimed he wanted to harm himself and others, according to the complaint. Ramsey also claimed to have called the United States Secret Service (USSS) and asked their agents to assassinate the president, according to the complaint, saying he wasn’t actively trying to assassinate the president himself but stated he would shoot President Trump if he had the chance. On that same day, the Denver, Colorado Office of Enforcement and Removal received calls from Ramsey reiterating that everyone in ICE should be killed. On Jan. 30, 2025, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents in Springfield and Springfield police officers entered the home of Ramsey’s father on Jan. 30, who confirmed Ramsey was inside. Ramsey came out of his room and called the agents fascists and SS officers, stating that he had sent the threatening email to ICE offices, court documents state. Ramsey said he did not plan to act on his threats but wanted ICE employees to feel unsafe. When asked if he wanted to harm ICE agents, Ramsey told agents they would have to guess.

FOX News [2/5/2025 6:33 PM, Staff, 49889K, Negative] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently apprehended an illegal immigrant in Texas, who was wanted for murder in Guatemala. Dennis Alexander Valenzuela, 37, was arrested on Jan. 31 at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, according to a statement from ICE. "Our officers pursue criminal aliens who attempt to hide in the shadows of our communities daily," said acting ICE Dallas field office director Joshua Johnson. "The apprehension and pending removal of this individual underscores our dedication to upholding the laws of our country and safeguarding our communities.” Valenzuela, who is from Guatemala, entered the United States at or near Hidalgo, Texas on June 16, 2021, without an immigration inspection, admission, or parole by an immigration officer, according to ICE.

CBS Austin [2/5/2025 11:25 AM, David Ibave, 581K, Negative] reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested three undocumented immigrants from Venezuela, two of which they say are Tren de Aragua gang members. According to ICE, on Jan. 28, agents in El Paso apprehended: Javier Irazabal-Rodriguez, 27. Jhonatan Johan Romero-Pineda, 34. Uzcategui-Uzcategui,27. Out of the three arrested, ICE agents said they identified Romero-Pineda and Uzcategui-Uzcategui as "active associates" of the transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua. Meanwhile, Irazabal-Rodriguez was identified as a convicted criminal, previously convicted for the sexual assault of a child on May 13, 2024. ICE said Irazabal-Rodriguez was released on an order of supervision, while Romero-Pineda and Uzcategui-Uzcategui remain in ICE custody pending removal. These arrests come after Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that the state would create a database for suspected and confined members of Tren de Aragua. Last year, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said El Paso was ground zero for the gang.

CBS 7 [2/5/2025 3:40 PM, Staff, 11K, Negative] reports multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in an arrest in Andrews around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5. According to Andrews County Jail records, Albert Duran was arrested for Possession of Child Pornography. Texas DPS confirmed with First Alert 7 that Homeland Security Investigations is leading the investigation into any crimes. First Alert 7 has reached out to Andrews County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations but have not yet received any additional information about charges or other arrests on scene.

Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 3:21 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2365K, Negative] reports Oklahoma is moving to become the first state to turn over illegal immigrants in state prisons to federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in an effort to jump-start President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort and save state taxpayer money. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) on Wednesday announced a plan to expeditiously deport more than 500 convicted illegal immigrants in its prisons by transferring them over to ICE, where deportation proceedings before a judge can take place. Stitt launched Operation Guardian, an initiative by the Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety to transfer illegal immigrants to federal custody. Local and state law enforcement cannot decide whether to deport an illegal immigrant because immigration laws are enforced by only federal authorities. Stitt wants to turn them over to ICE before their sentences are up. However, the pilot program could upset crime victims who feel their perpetrators are not paying the price for their crimes with an early release. If successful, this state effort could be duplicated in other states.

Reported similarly:

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 5:15 PM, Adria Goins, 57114K, Negative]

NBC News [2/5/2025 6:32 PM, Deon J. Hampton, Daniella Silva and David Noriega, 50804K, Negative] reports that heavily armed federal agents raided apartment buildings across metro Denver early Wednesday in a search for Venezuelan gang members and other migrants under the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort targeting major cities. At least two dozen officers carrying high-powered weapons stormed several complexes before sunrise. In some cases, they were backed by large, military-style vehicles. The Department of Homeland Security said on social media that it was targeting 100 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua for arrest and detention. It did not say how many people were taken into custody. The operation included officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; and the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The administration has said that its main targets are convicted criminals but that noncriminals could also be detained during raids. Witnesses said that they were caught off-guard by the agents descending on their homes and that many hid in their apartments, afraid federal agents would barge in. Many refused to answer their doors when officers knocked. At an apartment complex in Denver, a 31-year-old Venezuelan man said that shortly after 5 a.m., ICE agents and other federal officers began yelling and loudly banging on every door. The man, who asked that his name be withheld because he was afraid of being deported, said residents discreetly peered out their windows as large trucks and unmarked vehicles entered the parking lot. Several residents said eight people were arrested at the complex. Border Report [2/5/2025 6:00 PM, Maddie Rhodes, 153K, Negative] reports that this operation, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Rocky Mountain Division is calling the "Return to Sender Operation," took at least 10 people into custody at the Cedar Run Apartments at 888 S. Oneida St. in Denver, according to a DEA spokesperson on scene. The DEA Rocky Mountain Division said this was part of the operation that was expected to start in Aurora on Jan. 30. This operation was reportedly delayed because information was leaked and posed security threats. Newsweek [2/5/2025 5:34 PM, Dan Gooding, 56005K, Negative] reports that on Wednesday, multiple agents from ICE, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) worked together to carry out the operation. It was not immediately clear how many people were detained, but images shared by ICE showed arrests being made. ICE Acting Director Caleb Vitello said in a video that officers had to go out into communities to reach those suspected of being illegal immigrants who were part of the gang. USA Today [2/5/2025 5:52 PM, Trevor Hughes and Rick Jervis, 89965K, Neutral] reports Trump months ago vowed to launch the deportation effort "Operation Aurora" upon taking office. "As long there bad guys in the streets, we’re going to be out here arresting them and making sure we’re keeping these communities safe," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Caleb Vitello said in a video press release from an apartment complex raided on Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear how many people were apprehended but an immigrant-rights group said they tracked five detentions. It was the second federal raid on Denver-area residents identified as Tren de Aragua gang members in a week, according to authorities.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [2/5/2025 6:59 PM, Brad Brooks, 48128K, Neutral]
FOX News [2/5/2025 12:44 PM, Pilar Arias, 49889K, Negative] Video: HERE
Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 4:36 PM, Emily Hallas, 2365K, Negative]

CBS Austin [2/5/2025 1:42 PM, Michelle L. Price, 581K, Neutral] reports that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid last week in Washington state nabbed the parent of a student, the district’s top leader confirmed. The raid reportedly happened last Wednesday at a Langley laundromat. In a letter to the district’s community, South Whidbey Island School District Superintendent Jo Moccia wrote, "It has come to our attention that one of our school parents has fallen victim to the immigration raids that have begun in our country. Our hearts go out to their spouse, children, and friends." Moccia offered district families a link to recent guidance from the Office of Public Instruction on Immigration Reform Assistance. The guidance outlines requirements concerning student privacy, access to educational services, and immigration enforcement on school campuses. Requirements include enrolling all students regardless of immigration or citizenship status, ensuring undocumented students have access to all aspects of the regular school program, and having a policy for responding to immigration enforcement actions using the awareness that schools have no legal authority to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

Miami Herald [2/5/2025 12:04 PM, Nina Shapiro, 6595K, Negative] reports that as President Donald Trump ramps up detention of unauthorized immigrants, an activist group said volunteers at Seattle’s Boeing Field on Sunday witnessed 110 handcuffed and shackled people come off a plane operated by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor. The GlobalX Air plane’s arrival Sunday coincides with a recent uptick in people held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma and may be a sign that the jail-like facility, which has been operating significantly under capacity since the pandemic, will soon fill up. One of the biggest questions surrounding Trump’s plan to round up millions of undocumented immigrants is where the government would put them all before deporting them. The Northwest detention center is one obvious location. The privately-run facility holds not only people arrested by ICE locally due to their allegedly unauthorized status, but also immigrants flown in by the agency from the southern border and elsewhere in the country. The website Flightradar24 confirms a GlobalX Air flight from Phoenix landed at 10:12 a.m. Sunday. Neither ICE nor GlobalX Air have confirmed the people on board were in the agency’s custody or were headed for the Tacoma detention center.

Newsweek [2/5/2025 9:46 AM, Martha McHardy, 56005K, Neutral] reports a flag reading "Support your local ICE raids" has been spotted in California, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to social media posts. California is grappling with how to counter some of President Trump’s policies, especially his immigration agenda, which he has said will involve ICE raids and mass deportations. Immigration and mass deportations were a key component of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Americans largely support the president’s mass deportation plans, but disagree about how policies should be carried out. A poll by New York Times and Ipsos conducted from January 2 to 10 found that 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported such plans. Eighty-eight percent supported "deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records.” As a state with sanctuary cities, California can limit its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents, typically by not allowing local law enforcement to assist ICE in detaining or reporting individuals based solely on their immigration status. However, Trump has pledged to deny federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions across the country in one of his first executive orders. This could significantly impact California, which has been devastated by wildfires. Two flags, reading, "F*** all your foreign flags" and "Support your local ICE raids" were spotted on the I-10 Eastbound in Yucaipa in San Bernadino County on the eastern fringe of Los Angeles, earlier this week. Multiple social media posts showing the flags, which are hanging from a bridge above the I-10, have been widely shared on X, formerly Twitter, and Reddit. The post appears to have originated from a video posted to TikTok. In the video, two figures can be seen standing next to the banners on the bridge, although it is not known if they are connected. Newsweek has been unable to immediately verify the veracity of the social media videos. The two banners are seen surrounded by American flags. It comes as the Trump administration is stepping up deportations across the country. Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, ICE has arrested more than 8,000 unauthorized immigrants across the U.S. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a media briefing last week that deportations had begun. Last week, Trump also ordered the expansion of a migrant detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, increasing its capacity to hold up to 30,000 people. That came after he issued a raft of executive orders related to immigration, one of which declared a national emergency at the border. He also signed a proclamation that gave officials the authority to "repel, repatriate, or remove" migrants until he was satisfied that "the invasion at the southern border has ceased.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [2/5/2025 7:06 PM, Ashraf Khalil, 47097K, Neutral] reports a federal judge is considering next steps in a slow-moving court case over whether to release documents that could spell legal trouble for Prince Harry, with an influential conservative think tank seeking to reveal if he lied on his immigration paperwork about past drug use or received special treatment to enter the country. The case before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols centers on the circumstances under which Harry — the Duke of Sussex and the son of King Charles III — entered the United States when he and his wife Meghan Markle moved to Southern California in 2020. The Heritage Foundation sued after the Department of Homeland Security largely rejected its Freedom of Information Act request to release Harry’s records. Harry is not a party in the lawsuit. “We believe the American people have a right to know whether Prince Harry was truthful on his application,” said Nile Gardiner, head of the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Heritage has argued there is “intense public interest” in whether Harry received special treatment during the application process, particularly after his 2023 memoir “Spare” revealed past drug use. Harry says in “Spare” that he took cocaine several times starting around age 17, in order “to feel. To be different.” He also acknowledged using cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms. The U.S. routinely asks about drug use on its visa applications, and it has been linked to travel headaches for celebrities, including chef Nigella Lawson, singer Amy Winehouse and model Kate Moss. Acknowledgment of past drug use doesn’t necessarily bar people from entering or staying in the country, but answering untruthfully can have serious consequences. “If he lied, that gets you deported,” Heritage’s attorney Samuel Dewey told reporters after the hearing. “People are routinely deported for lying on immigration forms.” Dewey said it’s also possible that Harry was truthful about his prior drug use on his application, and received either an internal DHS waiver or some sort of diplomatic visa from the State Department. Both options are legal but would leave the government and Harry open to accusations of special treatment.

CNN [2/6/2025 3:00 AM, Rachel Wilson, 987K, Neutral] reports President Donald Trump is seeking to end birthright citizenship in the US, a nearly 160-year-old practice guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which grants citizenship to anyone born on American soil. But realizing this controversial order will be challenging as it is already facing major legal hurdles. The US is among dozens of countries, mostly in the Americas, that grant unconditional birthright citizenship to anyone born in its territory under a legal principle known as jus soli, Latin for "right of the soil.” Some other countries grant birthright citizenship with conditions. Spain, for example, requires at least one of the parents to also be born in the country. And Chile does not give citizenship to children born to foreigners who are staying temporarily. The Trump administration’s argument for ending birthright citizenship relies on the clause "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" in the Constitution’s statement. The administration claims that children born to undocumented immigrants, or to foreigners who are in the US legally but on temporary visas, are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the US and therefore not citizens. So far, Trump’s order has been met with legal pushback. On Wednesday, a federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing its enforcement. This follows last month’s decision from another judge, who issued a temporary restraining order to block it, calling Trump’s order ‘blatantly unconstitutional’. More than 20 states, mostly led by Democrats, have filed lawsuits in two different federal courts arguing that the president has no authority to change or override a constitutional amendment. Civil rights groups and expectant parents have brought similar legal action. While Trump’s order — assuming it survives court challenges — would not strip citizenship from children already born in the US before it takes effect, its implementation would affect millions of migrants if they have children. The US had around 22.9 million immigrants who were not naturalized citizens as of 2023 – including green card holders, those on temporary student or work visas and unauthorized migrants, according to data from the US Census Bureau. They make up nearly 7% of the whole population, and more than half were born in Latin America.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 1:41 PM, Noi Mahoney, 57114K, Negative] reports that President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada centers around stopping illegal immigration and fentanyl from entering the United States from those countries. The Trump administration said fentanyl, in addition to illegal immigration, constitutes a national emergency, giving the president the power to authorize tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. "Today, I have implemented a 25% Tariff on Imports from Mexico and Canada (10% on Canadian Energy), and a 10% additional Tariff on China … because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our Citizens, including fentanyl," Trump posted Saturday on social media platform Truth Social. (The tariffs on Mexico and Canada were later postponed for a month after Trump reached border security agreements with those countries.). Americans spend about $150 billion annually on illicit opioids and narcotics, according to a 2019 study from researchers at Rand. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Friday news conference that fentanyl has "killed tens of millions of Americans." (Leavitt later said during the press conference that "the amount of fentanyl that has been seized at the Southern border in the last two years alone has the potential to kill tens of millions of Americans.").

FOX News [2/5/2025 2:59 PM, Peter Pinedo, Adam Shaw, 49889K, Neutral] reports after drone video footage surfaced of an apparent cartel-on-cartel gunfight just south of the U.S. border with Mexico, Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas is calling attention to the danger still present at the border. The footage, which Roy obtained from sources on the border, was taken by a cartel drone and shows two sets of vehicles exchanging gunfire near the U.S. border. Video taken by the drone shows the operator eventually drop some type of missile, seeming to eliminate shooters on one side. The congressman, who has introduced legislation to designate cartels "foreign terrorist organizations," said that Trump’s executive order to do the same is an important step to rooting out the cartel problem both in the U.S. and Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declined to comment on the drone footage.

NBC News [2/5/2025 2:23 PM, Aarne Heikkila Kimmy Yam, 50804K, Neutral] reports that during China’s Covid lockdowns, a woman who had lived in a busy metropolitan area for most of her life and her then-husband quickly grew critical of the country’s "zero-Covid" policy. They spoke out but faced retaliation from authorities, leading her to flee to the U.S. last month. The woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of further admonishment, didn’t take a typical route. Many migrants from China come to the U.S. through the Darien Gap, a stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama they cross on their way north. Instead, she took a boat from the Bahamas, she said. She said she traveled last month, flying from China to London to the Bahamas, then boarding a boat to Coral Gables, Florida, in a quest to enter the U.S. and apply for asylum. Her journey came to an end on Jan. 17, just days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration and increasing arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in cities across the country. The actions appeared to portend Trump’s promise to enact mass deportations when in office. The woman from China was among 30 people taken into custody in Coral Gables as part of an investigation into a possible human smuggling or trafficking operation, authorities said. Twenty-one of the individuals were from China.

Miami Herald [2/5/2025 3:38 PM, Mike Stunson, 6595K, Neutral] reports an invasive bug species found at a Michigan airport marks just the third time the species has been intercepted in the United States, officials say. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say the discovery was made last year at the Detroit Metro Airport, but it wasn’t until January when agriculture specialists identified the rare bug. Found among cypress cones brought from Jordan for medicinal purposes, the half-inch-long insects were discovered during a routine inspection of a traveler, according to a Feb. 5 news release.

Border Report [2/5/2025 1:00 PM, Julian Resendiz, 153K, Negative] reports that Mexican officials responding to a tip from U.S. authorities say they were unable to locate a purported second illegal tunnel leading from Juarez to El Paso. The Mexican National Guard and Chihuahua state police searched areas near the Juarez Chamizal Park on Tuesday afternoon. They found what appears to be an old drainage tunnel near sunken soccer fields along Avenida Heroico Colegio Militar, but they said it doesn’t lead to the U.S. "The tunnel (found) during this operation does not represent an illegal crossing into the United States," the Chihuahua state police said in a statement Tuesday night. "However, the (search) operation will continue intermittently in the next few days, given that CBP has said another tunnel could possibly exist in the area.” Chihuahua authorities said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials and representatives from the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration were invited to witness Tuesday’s tunnel search. On Jan. 9, the U.S. Border Patrol’s Confined Spaces Entry Team acting on a tip from Homeland Security Investigations located a tunnel near Gate 28 of the border wall in El Paso. The tunnel originated 300 meters south, in Juarez.

USA Today [2/5/2025 11:20 PM, John C. Moritz, 89965K, Neutral] reports Texas National Guard soldiers at the state’s southern border now have the authority to arrest people who enter the U.S. without authorization after a new agreement with the Trump administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Pete Flores, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, signed a memorandum of understanding that grants Guard troops the expanded authority to "exercise the duties and functions" of federal immigration officers. Under the agreement, released to the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, Guard troops are only allowed to carry out the actions under CBP’s supervision and Texas will bear any financial cost associated with the policy. "The National Guard will decide which officers may perform these functions and provide a written list of names and titles of such officers to CBP," the memo states. "The federal agency may withdraw permission for Guard soldiers to act as agent at its discretion." The agreement is Abbott’s latest effort to cooperate with the new Trump administration’s border security and immigration policies. The governor has recently deployed more Guard troops to the border and expanded the portfolios of the Texas Department of Public Safety officers assigned to Operation Lone Star, a multi-billion-dollar border initiative. Last week, Abbott issued five executive orders, directing state agencies to help "investigate, arrest, detain and deport" immigrants who are in the country without legal authority in several ways, including by sharing intelligence on groups like the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and transnational cartels and identifying new land and state facilities where arrested immigrants can be detained. It also includes deploying additional border barriers, which could have razor wire and buoys, both Texas previously defied the Biden administration to install on the Rio Grande. Abbott has also ordered the Texas Military Department to help the Department of Defense’s homeland security forces repel what he called an "invasion" at the U.S. southern border. In a social media post on Sunday, Abbott touted the state’s new agreement with CBP and said the policy is "effective immediately." "This boosts man power for border security," Abbott wrote.

The Texas Tribune [2/5/2025 6:00 AM, Alejandro Serrano and Jasper Scherer, 1609K, Neutral] reports that, days after President Donald Trump was elected back to the White House, Texas’ Republican leaders floated the idea that the state might trim its border security budget, which reached $11 billion over the last four years during the Biden administration. A couple weeks into Trump’s second term, away with all that. The Legislature’s lead budget writers have proposed spending another $6.5 billion on border security over the next two years, about what is currently budgeted. And GOP leaders are moving to support the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including mass deportation efforts, far more aggressively than before — even as illegal border crossings remain low. For the last four years, top Texas Republicans blamed then-President Joe Biden’s "open border policies" for forcing the state to spend billions of state taxpayers’ money to secure the border it shares with Mexico. With Trump back in office, some of the same leaders are ready to continue spending — now to bolster the Trump administration’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration. "After four years of failed policies, Texas finally has a partner in President Trump," Gov. Greg Abbott said last week as he directed state police to help federal immigration agents find and arrest immigrants who have arrest warrants. "Together, we will end this crisis and make America safe once again.” Since Trump took office last month, Abbott has also sent extra state troops to the border, ordered state agencies to work with federal officials on border enforcement and signed an agreement with the Trump administration authorizing Texas National Guard soldiers to make immigration arrests. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — who oversees the state Senate — announced last week that one of his top legislative priorities this session would be requiring local law enforcement to "assist the federal government’s deportation efforts." Abbott endorsed the idea during his State of the State speech on Sunday, the same day Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he had signed an agreement vowing to "assist with and facilitate" Trump’s mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

FOX News [2/6/2025 2:34 AM, Christina Shaw, 49889K, Neutral] reports a Texas school district sent parents a letter Wednesday warning that Border Patrol agents may be boarding school buses and their children may be detained or deported. The letter, which was also posted to Facebook but later deleted, warned that U.S. Border Patrol agents would possibly be boarding the school buses used for extracurricular activities at highway checkpoints and asking to see proof of legal citizenship. "We want to bring to your attention an important matter regarding student travel for extracurricular activities, including sports, band, and other co-curricular events," Alice Independent School District Superintendent Anysia Trevino wrote in the letter. "We have received information that U.S. Border Patrol agents may be boarding school buses at highway checkpoints in and out of the Valley to question students about their citizenship status.” The letter stated the ramifications if the student could not produce proper identification or documentation and went on to warn that if a student lies about their immigration status it could hinder them getting U.S. citizenship in the future. "We strongly encourage families to be aware of the potential implications of these encounters. If a student is found to be without proper documentation, they may be removed from the bus, detained, and possibly deported under current immigration policies. Additionally, if a student provides false information regarding their citizenship, and it is later discovered, this could result in a permanent bar to future U.S. citizenship.” Federal immigration law currently states that an individual that lies about being a U.S. citizen may be disqualified from receiving a green card or U.S. citizenship. The superintendent did advise she was looking at ways to add measures to lessen the impact and stated that any parent with concerns should reach out. "To ensure that families are fully informed, we are reviewing our student travel waivers and may include language advising parents of this possibility," the letter read. "Furthermore, we are considering additional measures, such as having a designated chaperone vehicle travel with school buses. In the event that a student is detained, a school administrator in the chaperone vehicle would be able to stay with the student while the rest of the group continues their journey.”

Border Report [2/5/2025 6:59 PM, Julian Resendiz, 153K, Negative] reports federal officials are placing metal barriers along one of the busiest migrant smuggling corridors on the U.S.-Mexico border. About a quarter-mile row of Normandy-style steel "Xs" were visible Wednesday on the western slope of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Landon Hutchens said the barriers are being placed to discourage or slow foot and any other types of traffic. In Sunland Park, they will become another tool for the Border Patrol to apprehend anyone trying to use the mountain as cover to enter the country and meet up with drivers below waiting to take them to stash houses in New Mexico and in nearby El Paso, Texas.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 6:21 PM, Staff, 57114K, Neutral] reports about 500 additional 10th Mountain Division soldiers will be deploying to the U.S. southern border to support a mission to secure the area and "protect the territorial integrity" of the border with Mexico as called for by President Donald J. Trump, the post announced Wednesday. The soldiers will join an unknown number of servicemembers with the 23rd Military Police Company who deployed from Fort Drum in January, according to a statement from U.S. Northern Command. The statement says that the 10th Mountain Division will serve as a Joint Task Force headquarters charged with overseeing units from across military services in support of the Southern Border Surge, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The unit will operate under the direction of U.S. Northern Command, which is working in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection. Units from multiple installations across the Joint Force will fall under the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters and report directly to them, while physically located in various parts of the southern United States, according to the statement.

CBS Los Angeles [2/5/2025 1:34 PM, Chelsea Hylton, 52225K, Neutral] reports that dozens of live beetles disguised as Japanese snacks were intercepted at the Los Angeles International Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials last month. Agriculture specialists assigned to LAX discovered 37 live beetles hidden inside packages of Japanese snacks, chocolate and potato chips, the CBP said. The contraband was seized during a physical examination of a shipment arriving from Japan through air cargo, officials noted in a statement. The items were valued at $1,480. "They may look harmless but in reality, smuggled beetles pose a significant threat to our vital agriculture resources," said Cheryl M. Davies, CBP Director of Field Operations in LA. "Beetles can become a serious pest by eating plants, leaves, and roots and by laying eggs on tree bark which damages our forests." The CBP said exotic insects are often sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. Illegally trading exotic insects online and on underground sources can be lucrative. "CBP agriculture specialists combine their scientific knowledge of harmful pests and plant diseases with their expertise in detecting and intercepting these threats before their enter our country," said Andrew H. Douglas, CBP LAX Port Director. "We are very proud of their contributions to our national security mission."

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [2/5/2025 5:20 PM, Mandy Taheri, 56005K, Neutral]
Miami Herald [2/5/2025 5:26 PM, Julia Marnin, 6595K, Neutral]

Border Report [2/5/2025 6:46 PM, Salvador Rivera, 153K, Neutral] reports the daily flow of semi trucks into the U.S. through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry seems to be nonstop with almost every rig carrying products grown or assembled south of the border. It’s $60 billion worth of merchandise every year, said Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce. "A lot of jobs are obviously tagged to those $60 billion in both countries," she said. Mier y Teran fears the 25% tariffs President Donald Trump wants to impose on products from Mexico and Canada would have a negative impact on jobs and the economy in the San Diego-Tijuana region. Trump is using the threat of tariffs to force Mexico and Canada to do more to curtail unlawful immigration and the flow of drugs, especially fentanyl, into the United States. Even though the tariffs have been put on hold until early next month, Mier y Teran remains concerned. "Eighty percent of our workforce are international trade related jobs," she said. "Certainly, reductions in the work force of existing international trade operations would be felt, we’ll have closures possibly — all of us as consumers will pay higher prices on really key products like vegetables, which are going to be more expensive.”

Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 11:34 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 2365K, Negative] reports that Mexico has begun to deploy 10,000 military troops to its border with the United States as part of the country’s effort to deter illegal immigration and drug smuggling northbound. Mexico has launched Operativo Frontera Norte, Spanish for "Operation Northern Border," as part of an effort to bolster security along its northern cities and towns. The move comes after weekend negotiations with the Trump administration. President Donald Trump demanded that Mexico crack down on the movement of fentanyl over the border or face 25% tariffs on goods sent to the U.S. from Mexico. Mexican army soldiers and National Guard troops were deployed to Mexican border states Baja California, Sonora, and Tamaulipas on Tuesday, according to Mexican military officials who spoke with Reuters. Within those regions, troops will be sent to Tijuana, across from San Diego, California; Mexicali, across from Calexico; Nogales, across from southeastern Arizona; Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas; and Reynosa and Matamoros, which are across the border from the Rio Grande Valley of southeastern Texas. Hundreds of soldiers were sent north, specifically to Ojinaga, across the border from Presidio in West Texas, and Puerto Palomas, near Columbus, New Mexico, reported Mexican news outlet La Verdad Juarez.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [2/5/2025 3:03 PM, Lauren Villagran, 89965K, Neutral]

AZCentral [2/5/2025 3:05 PM, Raphael Romero Ruiz, 6018K, Neutral] reports about 1,500 members of Mexico’s National Guard have been deployed to Sonora’s border with Arizona as part of Operativo Frontera Norte, which Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced would send 10,000 troops to the country’s northern border. Inspector General Ricardo Rodríguez Alexander, commander of the fourth battalion of the Mexican National Guard and coordinator of operations in Sonora, spoke with reporters on the tarmac at Hermosillo International Airport, where more than 100 Guardsmen arrived on Tuesday. The Mexican National Guard members are distributed to several municipalities across Sonora along the border, Rodríguez Alexander said. Nogales and San Luis Río Colorado host the two most significant shares of Guard members, with about 400 soldiers stationed in each. Sonoyta, Agua Prieta, and Naco each house 200 Guard members, and 100 are deployed to Sasabe. Mexico also sent troops to other border cities, including Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, and all border states.

AP [2/6/2025 12:13 AM, Megan Janetsky, 47097K, Negative] reports that, as soon as the sun glints over miles of border fence dividing the United States and Mexico, the engines of cargo trucks packed with auto and computer parts roar to life along border bridges and bleary-eyed workers file into factories to assemble a multitude of products geared toward the U.S. market. For more than half a century, this daily rhythm has helped fuel the heartbeat of a transnational machine that generated more than $800 billion in trade between the U.S. and Mexico in 2024 alone. Over the past year, however, President Donald Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada have plunged manufacturing hubs all along the northern Mexican border into limbo, a state that persists despite a one-month reprieve to which Trump agreed on Monday. Tariffs would cripple Mexican border economies that are reliant on factories churning out products for the U.S. — auto parts, medical supplies, computer components, myriad electronics — and likely thrust the country into a recession, economic forecasters have warned. Some workers wonder how much longer they’ll have jobs, while business leaders say the uncertainty has already led many investors to start tightening their purse strings. “It’s a conflict between governments and we’re the ones most affected,” said 58-year-old truck driver Carlos Ponce, leaning against his rig at the customs border crossing between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas. “Tomorrow, who knows what will happen?” Ponce, who was driving a truck full of car shock absorbers, said he’s spent the past 35 years moving goods across the border, just as his father did before him. Now, he’s unsure how much longer that will last. Manufacturing in export-oriented assembly plants known as maquiladoras are the heart of Ciudad Juárez’s economy, with 97% of its goods going to the U.S., according to figures from Mexico’s Economic Ministry.

WSOC [2/5/2025 5:57 PM, Dave Faherty, Neutral] reports farmers and business owners in North Carolina who rely on the land for their livelihood could soon get a hand from the state and federal government. Officials with FEMA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other state agencies held a walk-through event in Avery County on Wednesday to assess the damage. We’re told FEMA is visiting several other counties including Yancy County on Thursday and Ashe County on Friday.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 7:47 AM, Greg Jordan, 57114K, Neutral] reports more than $2.1 million in federal assistance has been approved for Mercer County residents impacted from the remnants of Hurricane Helene, FEMA officials said Tuesday. Friday is the deadline for area residents to apply to FEMA for disaster assistance. As the close of business Monday, FEMA has approved $2,199,328 for individual assistance, according to Tiana Suber, a media relations specialist with FEMA. "We are at $2.1 million dollars in dispersed monies to survivors in Mercer County and over a thousand registrations," Suber said Tuesday. "The deadline is this Friday, Feb. 7, 2025." People who have applied for FEMA assistance by Friday will be able to visit the disaster recovery center until Feb. 14 if they need help with their applications or need to ask questions, she said. Suber provided a breakdown of the disaster assistance approved in Mercer County. The $2,199,328 FEMA has approved for Individual Assistance includes: $1,347,727 for housing assistance. $851,600 for other needs assistance. There had been 1,041 cumulative registrations in Mercer County as of Tuesday. 749 home inspections had been issued; 728 inspections had been completed; and 21 were pending.

AP [2/5/2025 6:40 PM, Gary D. Robertson, Neutral] reports North Carolina Republican lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled their initial attempt this year to boost recovery funding for Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding, proposing new spending that totals less than half of what new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein requested this week. A House committee reviewed but did not vote on the $500 million spending proposal, which would include money for some of the programs Stein sought funding for in his request Monday for $1.07 billion in new recovery spending. The competing proposals both include $150 million to kickstart a home reconstruction and repair program in the mountains while they await federal funds for the same purpose to arrive. And they both contain money — albeit in different amounts — to help farmers and to rebuild private roads and bridges. North Carolina state officials reported over 100 deaths from Helene with 74,000 homes and thousands of miles in both state-maintained and private roads damaged. State officials projected the late September storm caused a record $59.6 billion in damages and recovery needs. Congressional legislation approved in December and other federal actions are projected to provide over $15 billion to North Carolina for rebuilding. Bell told reporters that the $500 million figure could rise as Senate counterparts get involved in negotiations later. But he said the House would act strategically to maximize federal matching funds and to ensure the state doesn’t repeat errors from previous hurricane recovery efforts.

SC Daily Gazette [2/5/2025 3:41 PM, Jessica Holdman, Neutral] reports it took multiple appeals and more than two months, but the federal disaster agency ultimately came through for the Stricklands. They were able to get the maximum amount FEMA provides for housing assistance — $42,500 — plus $15,000 for what FEMA calls "other needs," which can pay for new furniture and appliances, as well as rent and moving expenses while they wait for repairs. Still, the bureaucratic labyrinth was frustrating. It’s against the backdrop of western North Carolina towns ravaged and still reeling from Hurricane Helene that President Donald Trump suggested abolishing the agency. Trump said he may recommend that states fully run their own disaster response with direct payments from the federal government rather than coordinating with the federal disaster agency, reported States Newsroom affiliate NC Newsline. While South Carolina Republicans have voiced support for a FEMA overhaul, they’ve stopped short of doing away with the agency altogether.

CBS Los Angeles [2/5/2025 5:50 PM, Julie Sharp, 52225K, Neutral] reports three Los Angeles-area grocery stores will host mini resource stations this weekend, to provide critical resources for businesses, employees and residents impacted by the recent wildfires. Representatives with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Small Business Administration and the County of Los Angeles will be at resource stations set up at Ralphs and Food 4 Less stores in Malibu, Venice, and Pasadena on Saturday, Feb. 8. At these locations, FEMA will provide essential information and resources for individuals and families impacted by the fires, while the SBA will assist affected businesses, homeowners and renters with financial guidance and recovery support.

San Francisco Chronicle [2/5/2025 6:11 PM, Joe Garofoli, 4368K, Neutral] reports Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he is "reasonably confident" Californians will receive federal disaster aid without any strings attached after the first of his two days of meetings in Washington, which included a sitdown with President Donald Trump. Some Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have proposed taking the unusual step of tying disaster aid to California to conditions that would punish the state for its voters’ decisions. Trump said one of those conditions should be imposing a voter identification law. Trump also proposed tying aid to nonsensical changes to the state’s water policy. But the president seemed to soften after visiting fire-damaged Southern California neighborhoods last month. After a half-dozen meetings with lawmakers Wednesday, Newsom said he was "reasonably confident" that Californians seeking to rebuild their homes and communities would receive federal aid. But Trump’s commitment remains far from certain.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 11:52 PM, Staff, 57114K, Neutral] reports a project offering 167 temporary, modular homes for wildfire survivors on a Lahaina hillside has officially been completed, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The final home at the Kilohana group housing site off of Fleming Road was installed this week and is now ready for occupancy. “It couldn’t have been done without everyone working together, being creative and solving problems, “ said Forrest Lanning, FEMA’s joint housing task force leader, in a news release. “This was a completely new type of housing project for FEMA, and we all had to be flexible to learn new things and get it done.” It took just over a year to complete the ambitious project on 34 acres owned by the state, which was developed from the ground up. Last fall, FEMA brought in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a temporary group housing site at the vacant, rocky site. FEMA said blasting with explosives was required to enable the installation of streets and essential infrastructue at the site. FEMA hired three companies – Dynamic, Timberline and Acuity – to manufacture one-, two-and three-bedroom modular units in the continental United States to be shipped to Maui.

New York Times [2/5/2025 3:17 PM, Maggie Haberman and Eric Schmitt, 161405K, Neutral] reports that President Trump has revoked the security detail for Mark T. Esper, a former defense secretary who is among several officials who are facing threats from Iran because of actions they took on behalf of the president during his first term, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. It was not immediately clear when Mr. Esper’s security detail was called off. A White House spokesman and a Pentagon official did not immediately comment. Mr. Esper declined to comment. Mr. Esper is the latest former senior U.S. official to have his security detail pulled since Mr. Trump, who has also faced threats from Iran, took office. Pentagon officials last week removed Mr. Esper’s portrait as secretary of the Army. Mr. Esper was protected by federal officials because of ongoing threats from Iran. Four other officials from Mr. Trump’s first administration facing Iranian threats also had their details pulled. The others are: John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s third national security adviser; Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state; Brian Hook, one of Mr. Pompeo’s top aides and a specialist on Iran; and the retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, whom Mr. Trump picked to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Those security details were provided by the Biden administration based on assessments from the intelligence community that the threats from Iran were ongoing and credible.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [2/5/2025 1:30 PM, Eleanor Watson, Margaret Brennan, and James LaPorta, 52225K, Negative]

FOX News [2/5/2025 1:45 PM, Alex Nitzberg, 49889K, Neutral] reports that authorities apprehended an individual who climbed up, then back down, the White House fence on Monday. The incident was caught on camera — the individual slid back down on the outside of the fence after reaching the top. "On February 3rd at approximately 4:20 p.m., U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers responded to an individual climbing an outer fence along the South Grounds of the White House. The individual was subsequently taken into custody by our officers," a U.S. Secret Service statement notes. "The White House complex is secured by a combination of uniformed officers, special agents, mission support personnel, and advanced protective systems that ensure continuous vigilance across its 18 acres," the statement continues. "In line with standard Secret Service protocol, this incident—including security measures and response—will undergo a protective operations review by the agency." The incident occurred just two weeks after President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term in office.

Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 12:30 PM, Mike Brest, 2365K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump’s initial efforts to curb illegal immigration and smuggling through the southern border are getting all the publicity, but a lesser-discussed aspect of their broader effort is through the maritime routes along the coasts. The president signed a slew of executive orders focusing on securing the border, namely declaring a state of emergency, while the military deployed thousands of troops to assist Customs and Border Protection in carrying out those orders. The Coast Guard and a special branch of CBP known as Air and Marine Operations are responsible for patrolling the waterways off the U.S. coasts to prevent the smuggling of people and illegal substances. While the Texas-Mexico border is most thought of when it comes to illegal immigration with the concept, the waterways along the U.S. coastlines are a much more expansive area to surveil. In the early hours of the Trump administration, then-acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman relieved the Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, from her position. She was replaced by Adm. Kevin Lunday, who had been serving as the vice commandant, in an acting capacity. A senior Department of Homeland Security official told the Washington Examiner that one of the reasons Fagan was relieved of duty was due to "insufficient coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize operations along maritime borders."

NBC News [2/5/2025 6:32 PM, Jonathan Allen and Courtney Kube, 50804K, Neutral] reports President Donald Trump’s administration evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with three hours of notice on Tuesday — not even enough time to gather her personal effects — according to two people familiar with the incident. Fagan, a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military, was removed from her post as the Coast Guard’s top officer on Trump’s second day in office. Officials at the Homeland Security Department — which oversees the Coast Guard — cited border security issues and an "excessive focus" on diversity, equity and inclusion among the reasons for her dismissal. Fagan, who was named commandant in 2022, made a convenient target for a new president who wanted to flex his muscle. The process for firing her was less complex than for dismissing chiefs of the four main branches of the military. More than that, the move allowed him to send signals about his anti-DEI agenda and desire to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and goods into the United States. Throwing her out of her house on short notice went a step further. "It’s petty and it’s personal," one Fagan ally said. But a DHS official countered that it made sense for her to be moved out of the home at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling. "She was terminated with cause two weeks ago today and she was still living in those admiral quarters," the official said, confirming that Fagan had been told to leave. The official said they could not confirm or deny the three-hour timeline. Coast Guard leaders had given Fagan a 60-day waiver to find new housing, according to one of the sources. But on Tuesday, Homeland Security officials told the acting commandant, Kevin Lunday, that he had to kick her out because "the president wants her out of quarters," according to one of the people familiar with the incident. The DHS official was not able to immediately ascertain whether the directive had in fact come from Trump or whether his name had been invoked without his knowledge. Lunday then informed Fagan, at 2 p.m. Tuesday, that she had three hours to get out. Shortly after that, her team received a call from aides to Sean Plankey, a DHS senior adviser and retired Coast Guard officer, instructing her to leave the house unlocked so that the interior could be photographed, according to one of the sources. "She was given a different place to stay," the DHS official said. "We’re still providing her housing.”

FOX News [2/5/2025 4:44 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 49889K, Neutral] reports the U.S. Coast Guard apprehended a Chinese migrant floating on a paddleboard off the Bahamas, officials said. The man was spotted about 25 miles off Freeport, Bahamas by the Cutter Seahorse, officials said in a social media post Wednesday. Photos and video released by the U.S. Coast Guard showed the man paddling on what appeared to be two boards on top of each other, with a few pieces of luggage strapped to them. The unidentified Chinese national was transported back to the Bahamas, the agency said.

FOX News [2/5/2025 9:56 PM, Alexandra Koch, 57114K, Negative] reports the U.S. Coast Guard is actively searching for a Coast Guard member who was reported "unaccounted for" aboard the CGC Waesche while operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The CGC Waesche, attached helicopter and small unmanned aircraft systems are currently conducting search patterns in the area, according to LCDR Jeannie Shaye, public affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area. Additional Coast Guard and interagency search assets are being employed in the effort, according to Shaye. Coast Guard officials said the specific locations of the search efforts cannot be disclosed due to operational security considerations. It is unclear when the service member went missing. They have not been pubically identified by military officials. The Waesche, a legend-class national security cutter commissioned in 2010, is homeported in Alameda, California, according to the Coast Guard’s website. National security cutters are designed to support global operations and missions, and can hold a crew of up to 170, according to the branch. Posts on the vessel’s Facebook page show the crew partaking in a number of military and holiday-related activities. The ship is 418-feet long, 54-feet wide, has a top speed in excess of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 nautical miles, according to the Coast Guard.

Miami Herald [2/5/2025 2:14 PM, David Goodhue, 6595K, Negative] reports that a week after 26 people from China landed in Coral Gables in what authorities say was a migrant smuggling operation launched from the Bahamas, the Coast Guard reports that one of its crews stopped a man from China trying to migrate to the U.S. from the island nation on a paddleboard. The crew of the cutter Sea Horse spotted the man paddling about 25 miles off Freeport, Bahamas, on Tuesday, the agency said in a statement on the social media platform X. They picked him up and transported him back to the Bahamas, according to the statement. The interdiction comes as South Florida has seen several recent incidents of Chinese migrants arriving in the area, usually via smugglers. Last Tuesday, Jan. 28, there were two incidents, one in which the group of 26 Chinese nationals were loaded into two vans on Old Cutler Road in the Gables, which were pulled over by police and federal agents, and the other when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stopped a boat on the maritime border between Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

CyberScoop [2/5/2025 10:08 AM, Greg Otto, Negative] reports ransomware payments saw a dramatic 35% drop last year compared to 2023, even as the overall frequency of ransomware attacks increased, according to a new report released by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. The considerable decline in extortion payments is somewhat surprising, given that other cybersecurity firms have claimed that 2024 saw the most ransomware activity to date. Chainalysis itself warned in its mid-year report that 2024’s activity was on pace to reach new heights, but attacks in the second half of the year tailed off. The total amount in payments that Chainalysis tracked in 2024 was $812.55 million, down from 2023’s mark of $1.25 billion. “Despite its small half-over-half (HoH) increase, we expected 2024 to surpass 2023’s totals by the end of the year,” the company wrote on its website. “Fortunately, however, payment activity slowed after July 2024 by approximately 34.9%. This slowdown is similar to the HoH decline in ransom payments since 2021 and the overall decline during H2 2024 in some types of crypto-related crime, such as stolen funds. Notably, the decline this year is more pronounced than in the last three years.” The disruption of major ransomware groups, such as LockBit and ALPHV/BlackCat, were key to the reduction in ransomware payments. Operations spearheaded by agencies like the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) caused significant declines in LockBit activity, while ALPHV/BlackCat essentially rug-pulled its affiliates and disappeared after its attack on Change Healthcare. As the industry has seen in past years, ransomware groups often fill the market after the heads of the pack have been dismantled by law enforcement. However, when LockBit and BlackCat disappeared, a well-known ransomware group did not immediately take the mantle. Instead, smaller groups took advantage of the situation, focusing on small to medium-sized targets and asking for small ransoms, according to Chainalysis’ report.

CNN [2/5/2025 9:28 AM, Hanna Park and Lauren Mascarenhas, 987K, Negative] reports police are searching for a suspect who opened fire at a warehouse where he worked in New Albany, Ohio, killing one and injuring five, authorities said Wednesday. The suspect used a handgun in the attack before fleeing the building, police said. The shooting appears to have been targeted and there is no reason to believe there’s a further threat, Police Chief Greg Jones said, adding authorities are working to determine a motive. The gunfire, first reported to authorities shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday, happened at the KDC/One cosmetics facility, according to the City of New Albany. The gunman had already fled when officers arrived, Jones said. Authorities found one victim dead at the scene, and five injured people were sent to hospitals. Their conditions were unknown early Wednesday, said Jones. Officers evacuated the roughly 150 people from the warehouse to a nearby building, police said. The suspect has been identified as Bruce Reginald Foster III, whom authorities describe as 6 feet tall and 175 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Police have obtained a warrant for Foster’s arrest, said Jones. The incident was the 26th mass shooting in the US so far this year, according to a tally by the Gun Violence Archive and CNN. CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as one that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter. Hundreds of people are killed on the job every year in the United States. In the Ohio attack, the suspect and victims all worked at the warehouse, and the suspect had been on site for several hours before he started shooting, said Jones. There was no conflict or confrontation that appeared to prompt the violence, he added. Authorities recovered the handgun from the scene, where they say some of what happened was caught on camera. The suspect did not drive himself away, though police have “a general description of the ride that he got,” Jones said. At this point, authorities believe he acted alone. KDC/One manufactures beauty, personal care and home care products, its website states. The shooting is a “heartbreaking and tragic situation,” Jones said.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [2/5/2025 8:36 AM, Sophie Clark, 56005K, Neutral]
USA Today [2/5/2025 9:31 AM, Christopher Cann and Cheryl Vari, 89965K, Negative]

New York Times [2/5/2025 9:36 AM, Julian E. Barnes, 161405K, Neutral] reports that the C.I.A. is offering its employees what it is calling “deferred resignation,” an option to quit but continue to be paid through September, as part of the Elon Musk-led efforts to shrink the size of the federal work force, officials said. National security-related agencies had originally been exempted, at least partially, from the governmentwide “fork in the road” offer to leave their jobs that was extended last week. But John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, pushed to have a version of the offer extended to his work force. Under the C.I.A.’s version of the program, the agency will retain some say over the timing of any accepted offers to ensure that too many officers working in critical areas do not all leave at the same time. Otherwise, however, the offer is structured in much the same way as what Mr. Musk’s team pushed out across the federal government. In an email sent on Tuesday, agency officers were extended an offer to leave the agency effective Sept. 30 but continue to be paid without working until then. An aide to Mr. Ratcliffe said the offer was “effectively giving them a buyout and a runway to the private sector.” The aide to Mr. Ratcliffe, who spoke on condition of anonymity under agency protocol, said the effort was meant to encourage some of the large group of officers who joined in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to take an early retirement.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [2/5/2025 12:43 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 2365K, Neutral]

New York Times [2/5/2025 4:17 PM, David E. Sanger and Julian E. Barnes, 161405K, Neutral] reports that the C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the last two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal work force, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries. The list included first names and the first initial of the last name of the new hires, who are still on probation — and thus easy to dismiss. It included a large crop of young analysts and operatives who were hired specifically to focus on China, and whose identities are usually closely guarded because Chinese hackers are constantly seeking to identify them. The agency normally would prefer not to put these names in an unclassified system. Some former officials said they worried that the list could be passed on to a team of newly hired young software experts working with Elon Musk and his government efficiency team. If that happened, the names of the employees might be more easily targeted by China, Russia or other foreign intelligence services. One former agency officer called the reporting of the names in an unclassified email a “counterintelligence disaster.” Current officials confirmed that the C.I.A. had sent the names of employees to the White House’s Office of Personnel Management, complying with an executive order signed by President Trump. But the officials downplayed security concerns. By sending just the first names and initials of the probationary employees, one U.S. official said, they hoped the information would be protected.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 12:52 PM, Glenn Taylor, 57114K, Neutral] reports that Panama’s government is reportedly mulling over whether it should cancel its contract with the Hong Kong-based company that operates two ports adjacent to the Panama Canal as pressure from President Donald Trump mounts over alleged growing Chinese influence over the waterway. According to a report from Bloomberg, Panama would be canceling the deal with Hutchison Ports PPC, also known as Panama Ports Company. PPC is a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, which has been the target of the Trump administration over its potential ties to Mainland China. The report said that no decision has been made and that the government would proceed in a way intended to avoid lawsuits and follow due process. Hutchison has operated two of Panama’s ports at Balboa and Cristobal under a deal that was first signed in 1997. In 2021, the deal was further extended until 2047. The company says it oversees 53 ports in 24 countries. Two Panamanian attorneys also filed suit challenging Hutchison’s 25-year contract extension in the country’s Supreme Court on Monday, alleging it violates Panama’s constitution. The complaint also accuses the Hong Kong subsidiary of not paying taxes and benefits due to a series of advantages that allegedly break the law.

Wall Street Journal [2/6/2025 2:08 AM, Vera Bergengruen and Costas Paris, Negative] reports the U.S. and Panama issued dueling statements Wednesday over access to the Panama Canal, with the State Department saying all fees would be waived for American vessels and the waterway’s authority firing back that no deal had been reached. U.S. government ships will access the waterway “without charge fees, saving the U.S. government millions of dollars a year,” the State Department said in a post on X. President Trump has called the fees “ridiculous” and repeatedly threatened to “take back” the Panama Canal, criticizing the influence that he says China has over the waterway. The Panama Canal Authority said late Wednesday that no such adjustment had been made to tolls or transit rights for U.S. government ships. The announcement comes three days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the country to meet with President José Raúl Mulino and tour the canal. Behind closed doors, both countries agreed to discuss the possibility of granting U.S. Navy ships free passage. Panama still needs to find a way to allow free passage without breaching a neutrality clause banning preferential treatment for any country, people familiar with the discussions said. The canal’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, told The Wall Street Journal last month that breaching the neutrality treaty would lead to chaos. During Rubio’s visit, both governments agreed to study the possibility of giving free passage to U.S. Navy vessels, said people familiar with the discussions. Panamanian officials cautioned that such a measure would require legal analysis to ensure that it wouldn’t violate a treaty both countries signed in 1977. It includes a clause that requires Panama to provide equal treatment and payment terms to all canal users.

AP [2/5/2025 9:36 PM, Matthew Lee, 33392K, Neutral] reports the Trump administration plans to seize a second plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ‘s government that is currently in the Dominican Republic. Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to announce the seizure on Thursday during a visit to Santo Domingo, the last stop of his five nation tour of Central America, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter and a State Department document obtained by The Associated Press. Carrying out the seizure required that Rubio sign off on a foreign aid freeze waiver request to pay more than $230,000 in storage and maintenance fees. It also required approval by the Department of Justice. That waiver request, submitted early last week, has been approved and Rubio is expected to make the announcement at what the State Department has described publicly as only a “law enforcement engagement.” The plane is a Dassault Falcon 200 that has been used by Maduro and top aides, including his vice president and defense minister to travel the world, including Greece, Turkey, Russia and Cuba, in what the administration says are violations of U.S. sanctions, according to the document. The seizure of the plane comes just a week after President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, visited Caracas and met with Maduro to discuss the repatriation of Venezuelan nationals who illegally entered the United States. Grenell returned with six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela. The U.S. seized another of Maduro’s planes from the Dominican Republic in September 2024. At the time, the Justice Department said Maduro associates in late 2022 and early 2023 used a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the purchase of the plane — a Dassault Falcon 900EX valued at $13 million — from a company in Florida. In a development related to Rubio’s first stop on the Central American tour, Panama, the State Department announced Thursday that the Panamanians had agreed to allow US warships to transit the Panama Canal without charge.

AP [2/5/2025 4:16 PM, Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller, 47097K, Neutral] reports that President Donald Trump’s top diplomat and his main spokesperson on Wednesday walked back the idea that he wants the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, after American allies and even Republican lawmakers rebuffed his suggestion that the U.S. take “ownership” of the territory. Trump on Tuesday had called for “permanently” resettling Palestinians from war-torn Gaza and left open the door to deploying American troops there as part of a massive rebuilding operation. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he only sought to move the roughly 1.8 million Gazans temporarily to allow for reconstruction. Even that proposal has drawn criticism from Palestinians, who are worried they may never be allowed back in if they flee, and from the Arab nations that Trump has called on to take them in. Rubio, on his first foreign trip as secretary of state, described Trump’s proposal as a “very generous” offer to help with debris removal and reconstruction of the enclave following 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. “In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,” Rubio said in a news conference in Guatemala City.

CBS News [2/5/2025 1:26 PM, Kaia Hubbard, 52225K, Neutral] reports that Mike Waltz, President Trump’s national security adviser, on Wednesday defended the president’s suggestion that the U.S. would take over Gaza, saying it would "bring the entire region to come with their own solutions." "The fact that nobody has a realistic solution, and he puts some very bold, fresh, new ideas out on the table, I don’t think should be criticized in any way," Waltz said on "CBS Mornings." During a joint press conference Tuesday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Trump outlined a new vision for Gaza, saying the U.S. would "take over the Gaza Strip" and "own it," while suggesting he could make the region "the Riviera of the Middle East." Mr. Trump did not offer any details on whether this idea was something his administration had been working on and how it would be implemented. Waltz defended the plan, saying Mr. Trump is "not seeing any realistic solutions" about how to make conditions livable in Gaza. "That’s what we saw, and I think that is just living in the common sense, practical reality of this awful situation that’s going on in Gaza, and has been going on for quite some time," Waltz said. Waltz added that the U.S. has a "shared vision" with the Israeli government that "Hamas cannot stay there," saying "we would not allow ISIS to continue to attack us on our border." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [2/5/2025 6:05 PM, David E. Sanger, 161405K, Neutral] reports that two initiatives that unfolded on Tuesday evening seemed to capture, in the flash of a few hours, the outline of President Trump’s vision for shaping American power. Ten thousand people working around the world for U.S.A.I.D., the main American aid agency, were told to pack up and come home over the next month, eviscerating a Kennedy-era initiative to build alliances by making the United States the world’s most generous and benevolent superpower. Mr. Trump declared that their leaders were “radical left lunatics,” and the State Department ordered them to halt virtually all their projects, even if that meant cutting off programs that helped eradicate smallpox and prevented millions of H.I.V. cases. At the same time, in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Trump was describing a new American venture to seize, occupy and rebuild Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” The two million Palestinians there would be moved elsewhere — whether voluntarily or by force was never made clear. A 15-year clearing and rebuilding of a devastated land would commence, Mr. Trump said, one that experts imagine could easily cost multiples of the roughly $40 billion that the United States spends annually on U.S.A.I.D.

Wall Street Journal [2/5/2025 10:08 AM, Rory Jones and Omar Abdel-Baqui, Negative] reports major Middle East powers rejected President Trump’s surprise proposal for the U.S. to take control of Gaza, redevelop the enclave and move Palestinians out permanently, pointing to the challenges ahead for a notion that breaks with decades of U.S. and international policy toward the region. Saudi Arabia, which the U.S. hopes to lead into a deal to normalize ties with Israel, said Wednesday it rejected any efforts to displace Palestinians from their land and reaffirmed support for a Palestinian state. It called its position nonnegotiable and said it wouldn’t establish diplomatic relations with Israel unless that goal was met. The foreign minister of Turkey, a NATO member, called Trump’s idea “absurd” and said the country opposed displacement of Palestinians or any “initiatives that try to take the people of Gaza out of the equation.” Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Palestinian leaders in recent weeks have also rejected the idea of relocating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. In addition to raising moral objections, they have pointed to the security risks and instability that could come with moving a population with armed elements into countries already grappling with their own issues. A handful of Arab governments established diplomatic ties with Israel in the years leading up to the Israel-Hamas war, though the Palestinian cause remains a central issue for many Arab civilians across the region. The war has galvanized the cause’s supporters, leading to some demonstrations in the region and sparking fear of instability among Arab rulers. Trump’s idea for a U.S. takeover of the Gaza Strip comes at a highly sensitive moment and risks overshadowing other U.S. priorities in the Middle East. Israel and Hamas are in the middle of a fragile six-week cease-fire, in which mediators are set to begin talks toward a lasting peace. The U.S. and Israel are also weighing whether to use force to stop Iran’s advancing nuclear program, and both had hoped for a normalization deal to draw Saudi Arabia into a broader regional alliance against Iran, which has vowed Israel’s destruction and in recent years also threatened Riyadh.

AP [2/6/2025 5:29 AM, Samy Magdy, 30936K, Neutral] reports Israel said on Thursday it has begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in line with President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory. Officials meanwhile said Egypt has launched an diplomatic blitz behind the scenes to try and head off the plan. The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. U.S. officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be carried out. The Palestinians have vehemently rejected Trump’s proposal, fearing Israel will never allow the refugees to return and that it would destabilize the region. Egypt has warned that such a plan could undermine its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and American influence in the Middle East for decades. Saudi Arabia, another key U.S. ally, has also rejected any mass transfer of Palestinians and says it will not normalize relations with Israel — a key goal of the Trump administration — without the creation of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza. Palestinians say they don’t want to leave. The New York-based Human Rights Watch and other groups say Trump’s proposal, if implemented, would amount to “ethnic cleansing,” the forcible relocation of the civilian population of an ethnic group from a geographic area. Israeli leaders have welcomed Trump’s proposal and portrayed the possible mass departure of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory as voluntary. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he has ordered the military to make preparations to facilitate the emigration of large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza through land crossings as well as “special arrangements for exit by sea and air.” There were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has not publicly responded to Trump’s stunning proposal that most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians be relocated and the United States take charge of rebuilding the territory. Israel’s 15-month campaign against the militant Hamas group had reduced large parts of Gaza to rubble before a fragile ceasefire took hold last month. But Egyptian officials, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, said Cairo has made clear to the Trump administration and Israel that it will resist any such proposal, and that the peace deal with Israel — which has stood for nearly half a century — is at risk.

FOX News [2/5/2025 9:44 AM, Benjamin Weinthal, 57114K, Negative] reports that President Donald Trump’s decision to restore his maximum pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic of Iran jolted the clerical regime in Tehran and established a clean break with the Biden administration’s concessionary policy toward the rogue nation, according to Mideast experts. Trump also warned the regime on Tuesday that if it carries out his assassination, advisers will ensure that the country is "obliterated." Trump’s message to the Iranians seemingly got their attention. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that "If the main issue is ensuring that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons, this is achievable and not a difficult matter." He also added that "maximum pressure is a failed experiment, and trying it again will only lead to another failure." He did not respond Trump’s sanction order targeting Iranian oil exports and Tehran’s support for jihadi terrorist organizations. Yossi Mansharof, an Iran analyst at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy in Israel, told Fox News Digital, "Despite oil sanctions on Iran, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that Iran’s oil revenue surged to $144 billion in the first three years of Biden’s presidency (January 2021–January 2024), $100 billion more than during the last two years of the Trump administration. "

CNN [2/6/2025 4:04 AM, Sophia Saifi and Azaz Syed, 22417K, Negative] reports Shakoofa Khalili was waiting for her husband to return home with bread from the market when she heard their eight-year-old daughter scream from the balcony. The girl had seen police approach her father in the street outside their safe house in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and ran to confront them. "(She) cried and grabbed the policeman’s hand begging him to let her father go," Khalili told CNN, as she recounted what she thought was her worst fears coming true. The family fled Afghanistan in 2022 to escape the Taliban – militant fighters who filled a leadership vacuum left by the withdrawal of the US and its allies after a 20-year war. Now the family fears they’ll be deported to Afghanistan, following US President Donald Trump’s order to suspend the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), effectively locking out refugees worldwide who had been on a pathway to US resettlement. Soon after the executive order was signed, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office drafted a three-stage repatriation plan for "Afghan nationals bound for 3rd country resettlement.” The document, seen by CNN, calls for foreign missions to coordinate the relocation of Afghan nationals out of the capital Islamabad and its twin garrison city of Rawalpindi by March 31, 2025. If they’re not removed by that date, they will be "repatriated to Afghanistan.” The plan will impact Afghan nationals who fled to Pakistan fearing possible reprisals from the Taliban for their affiliations with the United States and NATO forces. For some Afghans, deportation is ‘a death sentence’. While living in Afghanistan, Khalili worked on a child abuse protection program funded by the US Embassy. She hoped to gain a US visa but ended up trapped in Pakistan, with few options to leave. "For us, who worked alongside the United States, returning to Afghanistan is not just a risk – it is a death sentence," Khalili told CNN.

Reuters [2/6/2025 2:58 AM, Ryan Woo and Jing Xu, 48128K, Negative] reports the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday U.S. tariffs were "vile", "unilateralist" and exacerbated global trade tensions, after President Donald Trump threatened to heap import duties on major U.S. trading partners. China is ready to work with other countries to jointly respond to the challenges of unilateralism and trade protectionism, He Yongqian, a ministry spokesperson, said at a regular news conference, when asked to comment on planned U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 30 days after the two neighbouring countries said they would bolster border enforcement efforts. But the 10% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods went ahead on Tuesday, with Trump warning he might increase them. The United States says China is the chief source of the precursor chemicals synthesised into fentanyl in Mexico. But China says it has taken significant steps to crack down on the chemicals and illicit drug trade, and that it would challenge the tariffs at the World Trade Organization. China is willing to resolve the issue through dialogue but will take necessary measures to defend its own rights and interests against unilateralist "bullying", the Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said.

AP [2/5/2025 7:00 AM, Byron Tau, 4368K, Neutral] reports the website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security researchers say. The web login page of DeepSeek’s chatbot contains heavily obfuscated computer script that when deciphered shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company. The code appears to be part of the account creation and user login process for DeepSeek. In its privacy policy, DeepSeek acknowledged storing data on servers inside the People’s Republic of China. But its chatbot appears more directly tied to the Chinese state than previously known through the link revealed by researchers to China Mobile. The U.S. has claimed there are close ties between China Mobile and the Chinese military as justification for placing limited sanctions on the company. DeepSeek and China Mobile did not respond to emails seeking comment. The growth of Chinese-controlled digital services has become a major topic of concern for U.S. national security officials. Lawmakers in Congress last year on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis voted to force the Chinese parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok to divest or face a nationwide ban though the app has since received a 75-day reprieve from President Donald Trump, who is hoping to work out a sale. The code linking DeepSeek to one of China’s leading mobile phone providers was first discovered by Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, which shared its findings with The Associated Press. The AP took Feroot’s findings to a second set of computer experts, who independently confirmed that China Mobile code is present. Neither Feroot nor the other researchers observed data transferred to China Mobile when testing logins in North America, but they could not rule out that data for some users was being transferred to the Chinese telecom. The analysis only applies to the web version of DeepSeek. They did not analyze the mobile version, which remains one of the most downloaded pieces of software on both the Apple and the Google app stores.

ABC News [2/5/2025 8:15 AM, Aaron Katersky, Kaitlyn Morris, Kate Holland, and Alexandra Myers, 33392K, Negative] reports DeepSeek, the explosive new artificial intelligence, tool that took the world by storm, has code hidden in its programming which has the built-in capability to send user data directly to the Chinese government, experts told ABC News. DeepSeek caught Wall Street off guard last week when it announced it had developed its AI model for far less money than its American competitors, like OpenAI, which have invested billions. But the potential risk DeepSeek poses to national security may be more acute than previously feared because of a potential open door between DeepSeek and the Chinese government, according to cybersecurity experts. Of late, Americans have been concerned about Byte Dance, the China-based company behind TikTok, which is required under Chinese law to share the data it collects with the Chinese government. With DeepSeek, there’s actually the possibility of a direct path to the PRC hidden in its code, Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot Security, an Ontario-based cybersecurity firm focused on customer data protection, told ABC News. "We see direct links to servers and to companies in China that are under control of the Chinese government. And this is something that we have never seen in the past," Tsarynny said. Users who register or log in to DeepSeek may unknowingly be creating accounts in China, making their identities, search queries, and online behavior visible to Chinese state systems. Tsarynny says he used AI software to decrypt portions of DeepSeek’s code and found what appeared to be intentionally hidden programming that has the capability to send user data to one website: CMPassport.com, the online registry for China Mobile, a telecommunications company owned and operated by the Chinese government. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [2/6/2025 5:05 AM, Aaron Katersky, Kaitlyn Morris, Kate Holland, and Alexandra Myers, 33392K, Neutral] reports Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is demanding swift action after ABC News’ exclusive reporting about hidden links in DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence tool that could potentially send data to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company. "I think we should ban DeepSeek from all government devices immediately. No one should be allowed to download it onto their device," Gottheimer, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News. A new bill Gottheimer proposed on Thursday is called the "No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act" and it would require the Office of Management and Budget to develop guidelines within 60 days for the removal of DeepSeek from federal technologies, with exceptions for law enforcement and national security-related activity. The bill would ban DeepSeek from federal devices as well as any future product developed by High-Flyer, the artificial intelligent tool’s hedge fund backers. This comes after the U.S. House of Representatives chief administrative officer issued a memo urging staffers against using DeepSeek last week. Gottheimer is one of the lawmakers behind the TikTok bill, which passed in April 2024 and led to a 24-hour blackout for the app’s American users the day before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. There are fears DeepSeek could pose a risk to national security after Ivan Tsarynny, CEO and founder of cybersecurity research firm Feroot, told ABC News he found hidden code with the capability to send data to servers under the control of the Chinese government. "Even though we all know DeepSeek is a Chinese organization, what is really, really standing out is now we see direct links to servers and to companies in China that are under control of the Chinese government. And this is something that we have never seen in the past.” "There are technologies that are embedded into the DeepSeek website that are tracking us. They have the capability to track across any other website… your interests outside of DeepSeek," Tsarynny told ABC News. "The type of queries, type of questions, types of topics that you ask and analyze in DeepSeek makes a very, very sensitive, very personal profile.” DeepSake and High-Flyer have not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Newsweek [2/6/2025 3:45 AM, Ryan Chan, 56005K, Neutral] reports Taiwan wants to purchase radar aircraft from its security partner, the United States, to track its powerful neighbor China’s stealth fighter jets, local media reported on Tuesday. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry told Newsweek that it had no additional comments on the matter. The U.S. State Department said it would not comment on or confirm potential or pending arms transfers before they are notified to Congress. Communist China has long claimed that the self-ruled Taiwan is part of its own territory despite never having governed the island. The Chinese military, which has one type of stealth combat aircraft in service, officially unveiled two new radar-evading jets last year. While the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Washington is required by the Taiwan Relations Act, which is part of its One China policy, to provide the island with defensive arms. China has called the Taiwan-related U.S. law "illegal and invalid.” Citing a source with knowledge of the matter, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Taipei has asked Washington for six E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft to replace its older E-2K Hawkeyes. The Hawkeye and the Advanced Hawkeye aircraft have a radar rotodome attached to their upper fuselage, providing airborne early warning and airborne battle management, as well as command and control functions, according to their main operator, the U.S. Navy. Northrop Grumman, the manufacturer of the Advanced Hawkeye aircraft, says that it can track over 3,000 air and ground targets simultaneously. It is equipped with Lockheed Martin’s AN/APY-9 radar, which has a detection range of at least 300 nautical miles. Stealth technology makes an aircraft less visible on radar but the AN/APY-9 radar has the ability to detect smaller targets at a greater range, making it a countermeasure to radar-evading aircraft such as the Chinese J-20, as well as the country’s newly announced J-20S and J-35A jets. "China urges the U.S. to immediately stop arming Taiwan and stop the dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," China’s embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek, warning that Beijing is justified in taking "resolute countermeasures.” A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek: "Consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, the United States will continue to enable Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities.”

AP [2/6/2025 3:37 AM, Christopher Bodeen, 30936K, Neutral] reports a flurry of naval drills surrounding the Philippines involving the United States and its partners has prompted complaints from Beijing, which claims the entire South China Sea and accuses Manila of colluding with others to destabilize the region. The U.S. 7th Fleet based in Japan said forces from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the U.S. conducted a “multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity” within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone on Wednesday. Such drills “strengthen the interoperability of our defense/armed forces doctrines, tactics, techniques, and procedures,” the fleet said in a news release. The maneuvers were taking place within the Philippines’ zone, but the fleet gave no details on the exact location. More exercises involving the U.S., Japan and France were planned for later this week in the Philippines Sea, which China does not claim. That exercise “is designed to advance coordination and cooperation between French, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces while simultaneously demonstrating capabilities in multi-domain operations,” the fleet said. The U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, French carrier Charles De Gaulle and Japan’s Izumo-class multi-functional destroyer Kaga will take part in the drill starting Saturday, along with their escorts and air wings, the fleet said. France’s participation is especially significant because of the distance from its home base, 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) away in Toulouse, commander of the Carrier Strike Group Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Tian Junli, spokesperson for China’s Southern Theater Command, accused the Philippines of “colluding with outside countries to organize ‘so-called joint patrols’, " which he said “destabilize the region,” Chinese state media said on Thursday. Tian said the Philippines actions were “an attempt to endorse its ‘illegal claims’ in the South China Sea and “undermine China’s maritime rights and interests.” He specifically pointed to U.S.-Philippines joint patrols on Tuesday and said China had carried out its own patrols in the region on Wednesday.

Yahoo! News [2/5/2025 2:00 PM, Noah Robertson, 57114K, Neutral] reports that Australia’s defense minister will visit the Pentagon on Friday, marking the first time U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will meet with a foreign counterpart, according to multiple people familiar with the planning. Richard Marles, the deputy prime minister and defense minister of Australia, will arrive at a moment of uncertainty for U.S. allies. Over the last four years, America has deepened its military ties to partners across the Indo-Pacific in an effort to better compete with China. Nowhere has that been clearer than in Australia, where the United States has opened new basing agreements, expanded military drills and signed AUKUS, a deal to share nuclear-powered submarines. Allies in the region are now wondering whether these commitments will last. Hegseth has made enforcing immigration his top priority in his first two weeks in office, sending around 2,000 more active-duty troops to America’s border with Mexico and using military aircraft to deport migrants as far as India. Some officials nominated to fill top policy positions in the Pentagon argue the U.S. needs a much more powerful military presence around Asia to contend with China’s own military buildup. But others in leadership would prefer America reduce its commitments abroad.

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