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.

VOA News [2/8/2025 4:49 PM, Jeff Seldin, 2717K] reports the top U.S. homeland security official got a firsthand look at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, visiting the U.S. naval base in Cuba on Friday, posting video of what appears to be a third flight of "high-threat illegal aliens" to arrive at the facility. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared details of her visit on her official account on the X social media platform, promising, "Vicious gang members will no longer have safe haven in our country." Noem did not share details about how many detainees were offloaded from what appeared to be a military cargo jet or about the crimes with which they are charged or of which they are suspected of having committed. The Homeland Security Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have yet to respond to requests for details. U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations at Guantanamo Bay, did not comment on the number of flights but told VOA Saturday that the detention facility is now housing "over three dozen individuals." SOUTHCOM also said it "is prepared to support operations for holding illegal aliens as directed by the Department of Defense" and that any new arrivals "will be treated safely and humanely in accordance with international humanitarian standards." Immigrants’ rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, on Friday sent DHS, the State Department and the Pentagon a letter demanding information and immediate access to the individuals sent to the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. "The Constitution, and federal and international law prohibit the government from using Guantánamo as a legal black hole," the groups stated. "We therefore request that the government provide our organizations access to the noncitizens detained at Guantánamo so that those individuals will have access to legal counsel, and so advocates and the public can understand the conditions under which the government is detaining them." Noem, in another post on X late Friday, said she was at Guantanamo Bay "checking out some of the operations we’re standing up to house the worst of the worst and illegal criminals that are in the United States of America." "They won’t be there for long," she added, while also thanking U.S. President Donald Trump for his hard work to "make America safe again." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [2/8/2025 5:45 PM, Carol Rosenberg, 161405K] reports the Trump administration has moved more than 30 people described as Venezuelan gang members to the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, as U.S. forces and homeland security staff prepare a tent city for potentially thousands of migrants. About a dozen of the men were brought in from El Paso, Texas, on Friday, as Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, arrived at Guantánamo. She is the first senior member of the Trump administration to visit the migrant mission on the base in southeastern Cuba. Ms. Noem was taken to the rooftop of the base’s aircraft hangar and observed as U.S. security forces led the deportees down the ramp of a C-130 military cargo plane to an awaiting minibus. Maj. Gen. Philip J. Ryan, the army commander overseeing the migrant mission, stood beside her in combat uniform, and a Chinook transport chopper could be seen in the distance. “Vicious gang members will no longer have safe haven in our country,” Ms. Noem said on social media, calling the men “criminal aliens.” The White House has characterized this week’s arrivals as members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that the United States has designated a “transnational criminal organization” for human trafficking and other crimes. A fourth group was inbound Saturday evening in what has become an emerging U.S. military air bridge from an immigration site in El Paso. But the Trump administration has not released any of their identities, though they are believed to all be men, nor has it said how long they might be held at the island outpost. For Friday’s arrival, some security forces wore combat uniforms and had scarves over their faces, apparently to shield their identity. The migrants were all dressed in gray sweatpants and sweatshirts, similar to the 13 men who had been brought in a much larger C-17 cargo plane on Thursday. At least two of the men were wearing lace-less sneakers, one pair yellow and green, the other black and white, and both with the distinctive Nike logo. One image showed two guards leading a man to a minibus. He was shackled at the ankles and at the wrists, and was clutching a plastic water bottle. That man was not blindfolded or wearing a noise-inhibiting device on his head, unlike the way the military processed what it called “the worst of the worst” of the detainees who were transported to Guantánamo from Afghanistan in January 2002, amid the war on terrorism.

Washington Post [2/8/2025 5:55 PM, Silvia Foster-Frau, 40736K] reports their names have not been released. Their exact crimes are unknown. The more than three dozen immigrants being held at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba have entered what lawyers are calling a “legal black hole.” Four days ago the Trump administration flew the first migrants from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Guantánamo Bay. The officials said the detainees were “dangerous criminals,” “the worst of the worst” and alleged members of a violent Venezuelan gang, holding them in a prison on the U.S. naval base created for suspected terrorists after Sept. 11, 2001. But administration officials have released almost no other information. The American Civil Liberties Union, along with more than a dozen immigrant advocacy groups, sent a letter Friday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio requesting immediate access to the migrants, as well as information on their immigration status, which agency has custody of them, their anticipated length of stay there and what authority the government has to transfer them from the U.S. to Guantánamo. The unusual and hasty movement of detainees to the military prison with a history of accusations of human rights violations comes as President Donald Trump attempts to fulfill a campaign promise to aggressively increase the number of immigration arrests and deportations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in the United States have quickly filled, officials say, and Trump has ordered the construction of detention space for as many as 30,000 migrants at Guantánamo. Most of those migrants are expected to live in tents pitched on a different part of the base. But the early arrivals are more than three dozen “high-threat criminal illegal aliens” who are in ICE custody and are being housed in a vacant military facility, a Defense Department spokesperson said on Saturday. “Any new arrivals of illegal aliens will be temporarily housed in designated migration holding areas at Naval Station Guantánamo and will be treated safely and humanely in accordance with international humanitarian standards,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This will be a temporary solution until the illegal immigrants are return[ed] to their countries of origin.”

FOX News [2/8/2025 12:40 PM, Rachel Wolf and Bill Melugin, 49889K] reports President Donald Trump’s promised border crackdown appears to be influencing groups of migrants looking to enter the United States illegally. Internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) memos obtained by Fox News indicate that two groups of migrants recently ended their journeys to the U.S. and turned around to return to their home countries. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Honduran officers encountered a group of 23 migrants previously headed for the United States. The individuals hailed from Honduras, Venezuela, Panama and El Salvador. According to the CBP memo, upon interviewing the migrants, officials learned that they had entered Mexico through the country’s border with Guatemala. However, they decided to turn around after "learning about the multi-agency force security on the Southwest Border in social media and through family members in the United States." In its memo, CBP also noted that the migrants surrendered to Mexican authorities before being sent back to Guatemala where they boarded buses headed to Honduras. CBP detailed a Feb. 3 incident in another internal memo obtained by Fox News in which the Honduran authorities encountered a group of 26 migrants. These migrants were also headed for the U.S., but turned around when they learned about the increased security and opted instead to return to their countries of origin.

Washington Post [2/8/2025 11:49 AM, Colby Itkowitz, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Sarah Ellison and Patrick Marley, 40736K] reports the Trump administration this week eliminated much of the federal government’s front line of defense against foreign interference in U.S. elections. The move, which follows years of Trump and his allies disputing the role that Russian influence campaigns played in his first successful bid for president, alarmed state election officials and election security experts, who warned that safeguarding Americans from foreign disinformation campaigns will be difficult if no one at the federal level is doing that work. On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolved an FBI task force formed in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections that worked to uncover covert efforts by Russia, China, Iran and other foreign adversaries to manipulate U.S. voters. Separately, the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter Wednesday placing at least seven federal employees who work on teams combating foreign disinformation within the election security arm of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, on administrative leave, according to a recipient who shared a copy of the letter with The Washington Post. The CISA employees were not given a reason for being put on leave, but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem suggested at her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing that she wanted CISA to stop doing this work. Instead, election security will vary by state based on resources and which ones prioritize this work, said Emerson Brooking, who does forensic research identifying foreign misinformation at the Atlantic Council.

FOX News [2/9/2025 4:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 49889K] reports a cult expert lifted the veil on the "Zizian" fringe group that is linked to the Vermont U.S. Border Patrol agent shooting. The "Zizians" are named for a 34-year-old computer engineer, Jack Amadeus LaSota, who goes by the nickname "Ziz," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. LaSota, who is transgender, goes by female pronouns and created the group of vegan activists, the outlet reported. The group, which began on the West Coast, was launched into the national spotlight after the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David "Chris" Maland in Vermont on Jan. 20. Maland was involved in a shootout with German national Felix "Ophelia" Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa "Milo" Consuelo Youngblut near the U.S. border with Canada. "The registered owner of the vehicle, Felix Bauckholt, a citizen of Germany, appeared to have an expired visa in a Department of Homeland Security database. Youngblut was driving the Prius, and Bauckholt was the lone passenger in the Prius," court documents previously obtained by Fox News said. "He spoke with two of the Border Patrol Agents involved in the incident. They described that both Bauckholt and Youngblut possessed firearms and that Youngblut drew and fired a handgun toward at least one of the uniformed Border Patrol Agents without warning when outside the driver’s side of the Prius," documents said. Bauckholt and Maland were killed in the exchange of gunfire. Youngblut was injured and charged with using a deadly weapon while assaulting a United States Border Patrol agent, and using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to that assault. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [2/8/2025 11:12 AM, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, 40736K] reports five weeks after a deadly terrorist attack shattered the first hours of the new year, Bourbon Street is ready to celebrate the Super Bowl. But throughout much of the French Quarter and downtown, revelers are being greeted with some of the strictest security ever seen here: steel barricades, fortified bollards, traffic gates and perimeter checkpoints; 200 state police, 300 National Guard troops and officers from two dozen federal agencies; plus police dogs, drones and military vehicles. Even without the horror of Jan. 1, when a driver raced down several crowded blocks of Bourbon, intentionally ramming dozens of pedestrians and killing 14, New Orleans would be taking no chances. President Donald Trump is set to attend the game. Some 200,000 visitors are expected, and about 75,000 will pack the Superdome to see the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face off. Officials have very publicly tried to reassure everyone. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem visited this week with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. The NFL’s chief security officer, Cathy L. Lanier, held a briefing with the mayor and police chief. The message was clear: The Quarter will be safe. So will the stadium and the rest of the city where festivities are planned.

Telemundo [2/8/2025 12:42 PM, Staff, 2623K] reports San Francisco County, California, and other U.S. cities announced Friday that they will file a lawsuit in the Northern District of California asking the court to declare illegal the actions taken by the Donald Trump administration to punish sanctuary city jurisdictions. The complaint comes after the Trump administration ordered U.S. attorneys general to investigate and consider prosecuting any official who challenges federal immigration enforcement efforts. The plaintiffs called the federal government’s actions unconstitutional. Santa Clara County, California; Portland County, Oregon; New Haven County, Connecticut; and King County, Washington, are also part of the lawsuit.

Univision [2/8/2025 4:31 PM, Staff, 7281K] reports authorities in the state of Chihuahua reported that after the discovery of multiple clandestine graves since the end of January, 76 bodies were found in the municipality of Casas Grandes. The human remains belonging to 76 bodies were found in a property called ‘El Willy’, in a rural area known as Ignacio Zaragoza, about 3 hours south of the border with New Mexico. A total of 76 bodies have been recovered, whose identities have not yet been fully established. State forensic medicine services are working to determine the identities, according to a statement from the state prosecutor’s office. Mexican media have referred to the property where the human remains have been found as a ‘killing field’ allegedly operated by the criminal group ‘La Linea’, the armed wing of the Juarez Cartel. Chihuahua’s Director General of Forensic Services, Javier Sanchez Herrera, told the media that authorities presume the criminal group ‘La Linea’ could be behind the murders because of the way the victims were killed. "All the bodies and remains that were found were dismembered, it is the way the group operates in that area," Sanchez Herrera told the press, according to Mexican newspaper Milenio. According to Diario de Chihuahua, ‘La Linea’ is in a confrontation with another local criminal gang for control of criminal activities in the region. Last May, after former La Linea leader Carlos Arturo Quintana, alias "El 80," was released from a US prison, Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said that security agencies were on alert over rumors that Quintana had resumed his criminal activities in the state. The bloody dispute reveals how criminal gangs are seeking to control the routes leading to the U.S. border. Just Wednesday, federal and state authorities reported the discovery of a ‘narco-tunnel’ connecting Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas. That ‘narco-tunnel’ follows a similar passageway that was detected by Mexican and U.S. officials connecting Juarez to El Paso. We are looking for tunnels along the entire border strip following the discovery of the last tunnel," Sugey Aguilar, of the Chihuahua Public Security Secretariat, told the press.

NBC News [2/8/2025 4:46 PM, Didi Martinez and Julia Ainsley, 50804K] reports that, in an exclusive interview with NBC News on Thursday, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said his country and the United States “don’t have a timeline” on when Guatemala will begin receiving third-country nationals who are deported by the Trump administration. Arevalo met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week as Rubio visited five countries across Latin America for his first trip since taking office. In a press conference in Guatemala City on Wednesday, the pair announced that Guatemala had not only offered to ramp up deportation flights from the U.S. by 40% but also agreed to receive third-country nationals as they make their way back to their home countries. “It’s very important for us in terms of the migratory situation that we’re facing,” Rubio said of the agreement. Arevalo told NBC News that the U.S. had also agreed to aid Guatemala’s effort to repatriate third-country nationals who land in Guatemala. But the Guatemalan president added that he did not expect “big numbers of people” from other countries and noted that countries like Panama have also agreed to take third-country nationals. “In our case, there was no discussion of specific amounts of nationalities, because it is not expected to be about that,” Arevalo said. “The repatriation process is expected to be about Guatemalans and other Central Americans, and there might be other nationalities, in which case we’re going to be apply[ing] the rules that we are developing.” A delegation of Guatemalan officials is slated to visit Washington in the next few weeks to discuss details of the agreement, he said. Arevalo insisted that the new agreement was not the same as the “Safe Third Country” agreement, a measure agreed to by the Trump administration and Guatemalan officials in 2019 that allowed third-country nationals to be deported to Guatemala and to apply for asylum there. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [2/9/2025 4:02 AM, Ingrid Jacques, 89965K] reports Pam Bondi isn’t wasting any time getting started on her job. Kudos to her. The newly confirmed U.S. attorney general is playing hardball on illegal immigration, as her boss President Donald Trump wants. That includes going after the dozens of “sanctuary” jurisdictions (states, cities and counties) that have decided to defy federal immigration law and provide haven to immigrants here illegally. Many of these Democrat-led enclaves – think California, Oregon, Denver, Chicago, Washington, D.C., etc. – are blatantly flaunting the law, and saying they’ll refuse to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on deportations. So Trump and Bondi are punching back, threatening to cut off Justice Department funding to these sanctuary districts. Bondi’s memo states: “To protect the American people from the effects of unlawful immigration, President Trump has prioritized securing our Nation’s borders and enforcing federal immigration laws. In furtherance of that objective, the Department of Justice will ensure that consistent with law, ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ do not receive access to Federal funds from the Department.” How refreshing, after four years of former President Joe Biden’s de facto open border policies that allowed for unprecedented illegal immigration in defiance of federal law. The Trump administration must now clean up Biden’s mess. And it’s disheartening to see Democratic mayors and governors stand in the way.

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 8:19 PM, Mike Heuer, 57114K] reports professional athletes and others are among high-profile U.S. citizens who have been targeted by what the FBI is calling South American Theft Groups. FBI field offices across the nation and in South America are targeting SATGs whose members are foreign nationals of South American descent and enter the United States illegally or overstay their visas to commit crimes, the FBI says in an online video titled, "Intercepting South American Theft Groups." Those crimes include a "recent trend of break-ins at the homes of professional athletes while they are away at games" and are targeted by the theft groups, the FBI says. "These informal but sophisticated organizations have burglarized jewelry stores and robbed salespeople," according to the FBI video. "These groups aim to illegally sell their ill-gotten property or send it overseas with their profits - and the resulting black-market demand for stolen goods - fueling the cycle of violent crime."

Miami Herald [2/8/2025 3:22 PM, Lautaro Grinspan, 6595K] reports a network of Baptist churches headquartered in Georgia is suing the Department of Homeland Security over its decision to scrap a Biden-era policy that limited federal immigration arrests near so-called "sensitive locations," such as churches, schools and hospitals. The Decatur-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s lawsuit against the Trump administration was originally filed late last month in Maryland federal court by a group of Quaker congregations. The CBF joined the suit earlier this week. The rollback of the "sensitive locations" policy took place immediately following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, as part of a wide-scale revision of immigration policy designed to crack down on legal and illegal immigration alike. "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest," DHS said in a statement at the time. Making schools and churches fair game for Immigration and Customs Enforcement sparked wide-scale concern among advocates - across the nation and in metro Atlanta, where an immigrant from Honduras was arrested outside of his church in Tucker. The lawsuit from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Quaker group appears to be the first from faith-based organizations challenging the policy reversal in court. According to the Rev. Paul Baxley, executive coordinator at the CBF, the decision to allow ICE arrests in churches created an immediate chilling effect. "Pastors were hearing from immigrants and refugees from different parts of the world that they were now frightened to come to church," he said. The lawsuit argues that deterring congregants from attending services undermines the guarantee of religious liberty. "We see the revocation of the sensitive locations provisions as a deep infringement on the religious liberty of our congregations," Baxley said. Fear has also been keeping immigrant congregants from availing themselves of social services ranging from food distributions to English classes. For many vulnerable newcomers to the U.S., churches are an essential part of the social safety net. "Participation in ESL classes declined dramatically in some places," Baxley said, referring to English as a Second Language classes. "The Tucker arrest focused concerns that were already being expressed, not just among Cooperative Baptists in metro Atlanta but all around our Fellowship," he added. "We were no longer just involved in speculation."

CBS News [2/8/2025 8:13 PM, Kati Weis, 52225K] Video HERE reports it’s 5:30 a.m. just outside New Orleans, and a group of agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration just pulled over and arrested a man as part of what have become daily targeted operations in the New Orleans metro area. During this particular operation which ICE invited CBS News to view, the goal is to detain and deport three different immigrants they say are undocumented and were recently charged with a variety of crimes. "We’re working a lot more on our caseload now," Brian Acuna, an ICE deputy field officer involved with the operation, told CBS News. "We’re looking to take the worst of the worst off the streets." ICE says these operations are a top priority, and they come as the new Trump administration has immediately intensified efforts to target illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations. This week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said its immigration crackdown has resulted in more than 8,000 arrests since President Trump’s inauguration. Steven Holfer, special agent in charge of the DEA’s New Orleans Field Division, is happy to help, even if it means putting other tasks on hold. He says during the last two weeks, the DEA has been assisting ICE with its detention and deportation operations "every day." The early-morning traffic stop in Metairie, Lousiana, just 20 minutes outside New Orleans, had been planned after careful surveillance, according to ICE agents on the operation. ICE agents detained one man charged with rape, as well as another man they say is undocumented who just happened to be in the car. ICE describes this type of arrest as "collateral." "If we encounter other folks as we do this, our supervisors are going to make case-by-case decisions," Acuna said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [2/8/2025 7:00 AM, Madison Colombo, 57114K] reports as tensions rise between the federal government and Chicago leadership over the deportation of criminal migrants, some city residents are voicing support for stricter immigration enforcement, aligning themselves with policies championed by President Donald Trump. Vashon Tuncle, a Chicago resident, expressed his frustrations on "The Ingraham Angle," stating that many in his community feel abandoned by local and state officials. "The people of Chicago, we love Trump," Tuncle said. "The numbers spoke for themselves during the election … we actually wanted Trump to come here." Tuncle claims he represents a growing group of Chicagoans who feel disenfranchised by leaders like Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson. While both politicians oppose federal deportation efforts on human rights grounds, Tuncle argues they are neglecting their duty to protect the city’s residents. "Brandon Johnson has sworn an oath to the people of Chicago that he must protect them. J.B. Pritzker has sworn an oath to the people of Illinois that he will protect us," he said. "They failed to do that because they’re continuously telling us that they will protect the illegal immigrants here, knowing that they’re bringing all the drugs and crime here in our city." Immigration has become a flashpoint in Chicago, with federal "border czar" Tom Homan vowing to make the city "ground zero" for deportation efforts. His recent visit led to the removal of a man with a criminal history dating back to the Obama administration. "He basically had a rap sheet of doing horrendous acts to children," Tuncle said. "Why is this guy leaving now in 2025?" Mayor Brandon Johnson has taken a firm stance against federal intervention, reiterating Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city. "I’m standing with the full force of government today to demonstrate that Chicago is a welcoming city. Regardless of who is in the White House," Johnson said during a press conference last month. "Being a welcoming city just simply states that our local police department will not behave as federal agents. There’s a clear separation of powers there." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 3:12 PM, Josh Marcus, 57114K] reports after video showed federal agents covering a doorbell security camera during a sweeping Trump immigration raid across Colorado cities this week, civil rights advocates are now sounding the alarm. In the footage, captured as a multi-agency task force moved through a Denver-area apartment and shared with Denver 9News, an officer with his face covered and a vest reading “police” can be seen walking up to the security camera and putting pink tape over it, then knocking on the door, as agents question a resident across the hallway. It’s unclear why the officer felt the need to cover the camera. "Both the United States Constitution and the Colorado Constitution protect everybody from unlawful and unreasonable searches and seizures," civil rights attorney Jason Kosloski told 9News, which obtained the footage. "That’s seizing that camera, and that’s seizing that person’s property rights...If there isn’t a warrant, that’s the default, that’s not lawful." ICE agents have been conducting raids across the nation as they work to fulfill the promises of President Donald Trump to deport millions of migrants. Officials have said they are targeting people who have committed high-level crimes, but hundreds are being arrested across the nation every day. Democrats have voiced concerns about the program, and some governors are promising to fight Trump’s efforts. In response to the report, immigration officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which led the operation, said, “ICE does not comment on specific tactics, capabilities, or operational details.”

FOX News [2/9/2025 4:30 AM, Alexandra Koch, 49889K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Texas recently arrested an illegal migrant they accuse of breaking into the country a half dozen times. Jorge Carvajal Castrejon, 36, was arrested in Houston on Jan. 28, during an enhanced immigration enforcement operation with partners from the FBI and other agencies, according to a statement from ICE. Castrejon is accused of illegally entering the U.S. six times, according to ICE. "ICE Houston remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to apprehend and remove criminal aliens like Carvajal from the local community who violate our nation’s immigration laws and present a threat to public safety, national security, and border security," ICE’s Houston Field Office told FOX 26. ICE is partaking in an effort to arrest "criminal illegal aliens with no legal basis to remain in the U.S.," authorities said. Immigration enforcement operations include federal law enforcement partners from FBI, DEA, ATF, CBP, and the U.S. Marshals Service in a whole-of-government approach.

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 6:07 PM, Anthony Torres, 57114K] reports protesters against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations gathered at the Texas Capitol on Saturday afternoon, according to a social media post from the organizers. “It is our duty, now more than ever, to stand up to Trump and his administration as they unfurl ICE and other federal police agencies against members of our families and communities,” the social media post said. This comes just two weeks after a similar protest was held at the Texas Capitol after ICE operations took place in Austin. According to the Trump administration, ICE has increased its daily arrests since.

The Hill [2/9/2025 5:57 AM, Brett Samuels, 16346K] reports Trump administration officials are rapidly moving forward with President Trump’s directive to turn Guantánamo Bay into a facility that could hold up to 30,000 migrants who are being deported from the United States. Since announcing the move Jan. 29, the Pentagon flew 10 migrants described as “high-threat individuals” to the facility in Cuba less than a week later, while Defense Department and Homeland Security officials work to put the infrastructure in place to meet the demands of Trump’s order. Officials have been less clear about the long-term prospects of using Guantánamo Bay as a migrant facility.

Newsweek [2/8/2025 3:07 PM, Natalie Venegas, 56005K] reports a federal lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that mandates U.S. government documents, including passports, recognize only a person’s sex assigned at birth, was filed on Friday by seven plaintiffs who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Newsweek has reached out to the State Department and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) via email as well as the U.S. Department of Justice via online email form for comment. Since beginning his second term, Trump has taken steps to unravel protections for transgender people as transgender rights have been under scrutiny since his 2024 campaign. On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order titled "Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government." The order mandated that his administration would use "clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male." The federal government will also use the word "sex" instead of "gender" with all official documents, including passports, visas and Global Entry cards, "accurately reflecting the holder’s sex." "Agencies are no longer going to promote gender ideology through communication forms and other messages," a Trump administration official told reporters at the time, adding that "federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology." This order has already caused the State Department to stop issuing passports with an "X" gender marker, compelling transgender individuals to apply for travel documents that do not align with their gender identity. Seven individuals filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, accusing the State Department of denying passport applications from transgender citizens or issuing documents that fail to reflect their gender identity. According to the court documents, filed with support from the ACLU, the administration’s policy is "unlawful and unconstitutional," adding that it "discriminates against individuals based on their sex and, as to some, their transgender status." The plaintiffs, who identify as transgender or nonbinary, stated they "fear that having incorrect sex designations on their passports will cause them further mistreatment."

CBS Miami [2/8/2025 10:41 AM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 52225K] reports President Trump on Friday directed government officials to prioritize the resettlement of South Africans of European descent through the U.S. refugee program, which he suspended during his first day in office. In an executive order, Mr. Trump accused the South African government of discriminating against Afrikaners, an ethnic group in South Africa made up of descendants of European colonists, mostly from the Netherlands, who first arrived there in the 1600s. Until the 1990s, White South Africans of European descent ruled South Africa, enforcing the brutal system of apartheid against the country’s Black majority. But Mr. Trump alleged in his order that White South Africans are now the targets of oppression by the country’s government, citing a law that U.S. conservatives like Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk have said allow racially motivated seizures of land owned by White South Africans. Musk was born in South Africa. South Africa’s government has strongly denied any land confiscations or racially motivated discrimination, saying the law being scrutinized targets land not being used or not serving the public interest. In his order, Mr. Trump instructed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to "prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination." It’s unclear how and when that plan would be enacted, since refugee arrivals were brought to a halt by Mr. Trump.

FOX News [2/8/2025 12:40 PM, Rachel Wolf, Bill Melugin, 49889K] reports President Donald Trump’s promised border crackdown appears to be influencing groups of migrants looking to enter the United States illegally. Internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) memos obtained by Fox News indicate that two groups of migrants recently ended their journeys to the U.S. and turned around to return to their home countries. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Honduran officers encountered a group of 23 migrants previously headed for the United States. According to the CBP memo, upon interviewing the migrants, officials learned that they had entered Mexico through the country’s border with Guatemala. However, they decided to turn around after "learning about the multi-agency force security on the Southwest Border in social media and through family members in the United States." In its memo, CBP also noted that the migrants surrendered to Mexican authorities before being sent back to Guatemala where they boarded buses headed to Honduras. CBP detailed a Feb. 3 incident in another internal memo obtained by Fox News in which the Honduran authorities encountered a group of 26 migrants. These migrants were also headed for the U.S., but turned around when they learned about the increased security and opted instead to return to their countries of origin.

CBS News [2/9/2025 6:00 AM, Jack Fink and Nathalie Palacios, 52225K] reports Governor Greg Abbott met with President Trump in the Oval Office last week to discuss various strategies on how they can work together to further reduce illegal immigration. After their meeting, the Governor told reporters that he offered the President help in a variety of ways, and they also discussed the border wall the state has built. Abbott said, "Texas has completed more than 50 miles of border wall. We’re going to be adding another 20 miles of border wall in the coming days. It’s under construction right now, and we’ve acquired more than 100 miles of easement. I let the President know that all that is available." In addition, the Governor said he offered other facilities to the administration. "Texas built two military bases that can house 2,000 soldiers in one base, 400 soldiers in another base. I made sure the President knew that was available to him. I let the President know that we have identified 4,000 jail cells in the State of Texas that can be used as detention facilities." Eye on Politics reporter Jack Fink spoke with Governor Abbott at the Governor’s mansion on Monday. He spoke about the new agreement with the Trump administration that grants Texas National Guard members arrest powers at the border. The Governor said, "The Trump administration reached out to see if we’d be interested in doing that and I immediately said yes. For me, the National Guard has been down on the border for years under the Biden administration. But they did not have the full authority of the federal government immigration officers had. Now, they do because of this agreement."

Univision [2/8/2025 10:34 AM, Marcos Martínez Chacón, 7281K] reports Mexico’s northern border has been plagued by violence for decades. But in recent years, levels of insecurity have worsened amid drug cartels’ struggle to control routes for the lucrative drug trafficking business to the United States. That criminal war and drug trafficking to U.S. soil is now in the spotlight due to the recent announcement of a deployment of 10,000 National Guard troops to the border area ordered by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to appease President Donald Trump’s tariff threat. Sheinbaum thus promises to work to stop the trafficking of fentanyl and migrants to the United States. But experts point out that the measure could actually do little to resolve the situation of extreme insecurity at the border, where in recent days there has been an upsurge in violence.

New York Times [2/8/2025 5:04 PM, Neil Vigdor, 161405K] reports chaos erupted aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Houston this week when a man started bashing a window and several seats around him, prompting other passengers to subdue him with shoelaces and zip ties until the plane landed. The struggle, captured on videos and photos taken by passengers, began about 40 minutes into Flight 4856 on Tuesday night. The plane had reached its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet when the man broke the window’s inner pane and its plastic frame, a case of air rage that an F.B.I. spokesman confirmed on Saturday was being investigated by the bureau. So far, the man, whose name was not released by the authorities, has not been charged with a crime. It was not clear what led to his outburst. The flight did not have an air marshal, prompting the crew to ask if anyone aboard had experience in law enforcement or the military, according to passengers on the flight. Tanner Phillips, 34, an Army veteran who is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, said on Saturday that he was sitting about 20 rows away from the man. “The first thing I heard was other people yelling for security,” Mr. Phillips said. He said his instincts kicked in quickly after the flight attendants asked for passengers for help over the plane’s intercom. “I don’t know if it’s a terrorist attack,” he said. “You could hear them kind of panicky. If he breaks that outer pane, then we’re all in trouble.” He said that another passenger gave him laces from his boots, and that he tied the man’s wrists. “Everyone on the plane came together so quickly and so efficiently,” said Mr. Phillips, who lives in San Diego and is originally from Texas. After he learned that the man was not initially charged, Mr. Phillips said that he sent Frontier Airlines an email to express his frustration and received a response that he described as apologetic but “blasé.” “Sorry, about your feelings, bud,” he said, describing the airline’s response. “I was like, are you kidding me right now?” Eric Starcevic, a heating and air-conditioning technician from Katy, Texas, said on Saturday that he did not have any special training but could not just sit by and watch. He was returning with his wife and their 13-year-old daughter from a ski trip in Colorado. The family was sitting about 10 to 15 rows away from the man. “I heard the commotion going on, him kicking stuff,” Mr. Starcevic said. “Then, the next thing you know, he tries to punch out the window.” Mr. Starcevic said the unruly passenger appeared to have cut his hands punching the window, which appeared to have a crack on an inner pane. In a photo taken by Mr. Starcevic, blood can be seen on the window shade and the wall next to the man’s seat.

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 5:39 PM, Angel Green, 57114K] reports Transportation Security Administration officers in Florida discovered 817 firearms in travelers’ carry-on luggage in 2024. This number is down, nearly twenty less than the total that was discovered last year. In Florida, the rate was lower, with one firearm found for every 140,061 passengers screened. Firearms can be transported on a commercial flight only if they are unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided case and placed in checked baggage. Despite the overall statewide decrease in firearms, several airports across Florida saw significant increases. Airports like Miami International, Gainesville Regional and Melbourne Orlando International were among those few.

New York Times [2/8/2025 8:02 PM, Andrés R. Martínez, 153395K] reports a major, 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The temblor happened at 7:23 p.m. Atlantic time about 130 miles southwest of George Town, Cayman Islands, data from the agency shows. U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 8. As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

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CNN [2/8/2025 7:34 PM, Andrew Raine, 987K]
Newsweek [2/8/2025 7:39 PM, Adeola Adeosun, 56005K]

FOX News [2/8/2025 9:45 PM, Brie Stimson, 49889K] reports President Donald Trump said he has directed the Secret Service to give him "every bit of information" known about his two attempted assassins last summer during the presidential campaign, according to a report. "I want to find out about the two assassins," the president told the New York Post Friday. "Why did the one guy have six cellphones, and why did the other guy have [foreign] apps?" Trump told the Post the Secret Service had been holding back information because of President Biden. "I’m entitled to know. And they held it back long enough," he added. "No more excuses." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 8:13 PM, Adam Rosen, 57114K] reports a Wisconsin man was arrested on Saturday following a multi-city police pursuit, with officers recovering drugs, a gun and counterfeit cash. According to the Monona Police Department, officers attempted a traffic stop around 12:50 p.m. on Saturday of a vehicle on West Broadway near River Place in Monona. The suspect driver, identified as 23-year-old Jalin Jones of Madison, refused to stop, causing a high-speed chase. Multiple agencies assisted with tire deflation devices; however, Jones continued into Fitchburg, then back into Monona and Madison. Jones’ tire was successfully deflated, but continued, losing rubber from the tires while tossing multiple drug items from the window. Officers located a firearm, marijuana and numerous counterfeit $100 bills. Jones was taken to a local emergency room for treatment before being booked into the Dane County Jail.

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 2:47 PM, Alex Ortiz, 57114K] reports a Chicago man was sentenced to over seven years in federal prison for manufacturing about $92,000 in counterfeit money. Marquise Shores, 28, pleaded guilty last year to a federal counterfeiting charge. Prosecutors said he used chemicals and a printer in his Chicago home to create the fake money in counterfeit $100 bills. Shores then used Facebook Messenger to recruit young women, including girls as young as 16 years old, to use the counterfeit money to buy merchandise at retail stores while he waited outside. He later told the women to return the merchandise for genuine currency while he retained most of the illicit proceeds. Prosecutors said the scheme was meant to enrich Shores. "Marquise Shores manufactured counterfeit currency and used it to defraud local businesses and enrich himself," said Acting U.S. Attorney Pasqual in a statement. "Our office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute counterfeiters and ensure the integrity of our economy."

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 7:08 PM, Shira Moolten, 57114K] reports south Floridians enjoying a pleasant Saturday at the beach found themselves stepping in dark, greasy balls of oil, possibly because of a spill offshore, officials say. The Coast Guard is now investigating the source. Reports of the tar balls extended from Port Everglades to Palm Beach, the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast said on X. The agency is working with the Department of Environmental Protection and state officials in the investigation, a spokesperson said in an email. The Coast Guard sent an Air Station Miami plane and a boat from Station Fort Lauderdale out to "assess the scene and identify the source.” Swaths of Fort Lauderdale’s beach were shut down to swimmers during one of the busiest days of the week because of pieces of oil washing ashore and oil slicks in the water, city officials confirmed. The beach itself is still open, but no one was allowed into the water from lifeguard stations 1 to 16 until early Saturday afternoon, later reduced to stations 1 to 10, or from Port Everglades Inlet to Rio Mar Street, according to Frank Guzman, a spokesperson to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue. Fort Lauderdale has 20 lifeguard stations. Hollywood’s beach is also seeing the tar balls, though the beach remains fully open, according to city spokeswoman Joann Hussey. So is Deerfield Beach, the city said on Facebook. Pompano Beach is monitoring them as well, though they’re "pretty sporadic," spokeswoman Sandra King said. A Boca Raton beach-goer also reported seeing tar balls on South Inlet Beach in a post on Reddit. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue initially received the call from a beach-goer around sunrise, reporting the tar balls and an oily substance in the water, according to Guzman. As lifeguards with Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue got on duty, they too discovered the balls of oil on the sand, some of them stepping in the black, greasy substance. Ocean Rescue notified the U.S. Coast Guard, which investigates oil slicks. Seth Platt, a Fort Lauderdale resident, said he had gone on a sunrise walk on the beach Saturday when he felt something on the bottom of his foot, thinking it was dog poop. It wasn’t until he got back to his car that he discovered it was oil. There were "little blops of it" everywhere, Platt said, though when he returned to the beach in the afternoon, some of the tar appeared to have been cleaned up. His kids had also participated in a beach clean-up with their elementary school that morning. "I warned them as soon as they got to the beach," Platt said. "I said ‘hey guys, there’s tar everywhere, don’t touch it. But they all came back with tar all over their feet.” The tar balls are "more like litter than a health hazard," said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. He said the water will likely remain closed for the better part of the day, or "however long it takes for an oil slick to dissipate or to float somewhere else.” It remains unclear what is causing the tar balls. Trantalis thought the oil could be from a nearby freighter or cruise ship. The Coast Guard Miami Sector did not immediately return emails or calls Saturday afternoon. The situation is still unfolding, said Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Steve Glassman: "We’re waiting to see what they determine.” Otherwise, Fort Lauderdale’s beach remained "beautiful" Saturday afternoon, Guzman said, with no sheen on the water or smell in the air. "There’s no visible signs of anything unless you step in it," he said.

Houston Chronicle [2/8/2025 11:25 AM, John Lomax V, 2315K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted four lanchas in the Gulf of Mexico Friday, detaining 11 Mexican fisherman and seizing nearly 1,600 pounds of red snapper and nine sharks, according to a news release. The Coast Guard claimed in the release that the men were conducting an illegal fishing operation north of the maritime boundary line near South Padre Island. The men were detained and transferred into the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection for further processing, according to the release. The Coast Guard also seized their fishing gear. The Coast Guard recently announced that it was "surging" assets, including personnel and watercraft, to the southern border in response to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump. In an news release published in late January, Coast Guard acting commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday, who took over as the top officer of the Coast Guard after Trump fired Adm. Linda Fagan Jan. 21, said the Gulf of Mexico was among six key areas where the Coast Guard would be increasing its operational presence.

Newsweek [2/8/2025 4:28 PM, Natalie Venegas, 56005K] reports that, after going missing on Thursday, the Bering Air flight that had 10 people onboard, was found crashed in Alaska on Friday, leaving no survivors, according to the Alaska Coast Guard as recovery efforts continue. Newsweek has reached out to the Alaska Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) via email for comment on Saturday afternoon. This crash marks the third major aviation accident in the United States in just over a week, raising fresh concerns about flight safety as investigators work to determine what caused the crash. This crash also comes as air travel is crucial for many rural Alaskan communities, as roads are often not an option for transportation, particularly during the winter months. The single-engine Cessna Caravan aircraft, operated by Bering Air, initially vanished from radar Thursday afternoon while en route from Unalakleet to Nome, Alaska. The wreckage was found on Friday in the Bering Sea after an extensive search effort involving local, state, and federal agencies. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Alaska Coast Guard wrote that it ended its search for the plane after locating it, adding that it identified three people dead, later noting the seven other people were believed to be inside the plane with no survivors. "#USCG has ended its search for the missing plane after the aircraft was located approx. 34 miles southeast of Nome. 3 individuals were found inside and reported to be deceased," the U.S. Coast Guard Alaska wrote. It added: "The remaining 7 people are believed to be inside the aircraft but are currently inaccessible due to the condition of the plane. Our heartfelt condolences are with those affected by this tragic incident.” Authorities have since confirmed that all nine passengers and the pilot died in the crash and were all adults. Among the victims were Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson, who had been in Unalakleet servicing a critical heat recovery system for the community’s water plant, according to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. The identities of the remaining victims have not yet been released. The Hill [2/8/2025 4:12 PM, Ailia Zehra, 16346K] reports rescue teams used helicopters to search for the plane’s last known position when they discovered the wreckage on Friday, according to Mike Salerno, a representative from the U.S. Coast Guard. Two rescue swimmers were deployed to assess the situation. The Coast Guard reported that the aircraft vanished approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome. According to radar forensic data from the U.S. Civil Air Patrol, at around 3:18 p.m., the plane experienced some sort of incident that led to a rapid decrease in altitude and speed. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said he could not "speculate on what that incident was.” McIntyre-Coble also mentioned that there were no distress signals received from the aircraft, which is equipped with an emergency locating transmitter. This device, when submerged in seawater, sends a signal to a satellite that subsequently alerts the Coast Guard if an aircraft is in trouble. He claimed the Coast Guard had not received any such messages. According to Lt. Ben Endres from the Alaska State Troopers, there were ten adults on board, and the flight was a standard commuter service. Reuters [2/8/2025 7:14 PM, Rich McKay, 48128K] reports NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the Cessna carrying nine passengers and one pilot was lost from radar contact about 3:30 p.m. local time on Thursday over the Bering Sea as it headed from Unalakleet, Alaska, to an airfield in Nome, about 100 miles (161 km) south of the Arctic Circle. The U.S. Coast Guard found the wreckage late on Friday on an ice floe about 34 miles (54 km) out to sea and drifting about 5 miles (8 km) a day, officials said. "Recovery efforts are still under way," Homendy said at a press conference on Saturday. "The priority is victim recovery. Then we will recover the wreckage.” Homendy said time is a factor because "we do have a short window, bad weather is coming in" and they are operating in difficult conditions. She also expressed her "deepest condolences" to the victims’ families and friends. "Please know that we will work diligently to determine how this happened," she said, adding, "It must be extremely heartbreaking for the families.”

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FOX News [2/8/2025 5:55 PM, Staff, 49889K]
CBS News [2/8/2025 9:25 PM, Kiki Intarasuwan, 52225K]
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NBC News [2/8/2025 8:57 PM, Rebecca Cohen, 50804K]

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 8:40 PM, Anna Ashcraft, 57114K] reports a U.S. Coast Guard crew detected two boats offshore of San Diego Friday evening, and took three illegal migrants from one boat into custody while the other boat fled south across the maritime boundary line. According to the Coast Guard, two boats were seen heading toward Point Loma at 11:30 p.m. Friday by the Coast Guard’s Joint Harbor Operations Center. The Coast Guard then deployed small boat teams from Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) San Francisco and Station San Diego. Those teams were able to make contact with one of the boats about 11 miles offshore from Mission Bay, and took three people into custody — one adult male who claimed Mexican nationality, and one adult male and one female who both claimed Vietnamese nationality. The Coast Guard reports the other boat fled south of the maritime boundary line into Mexican waters.

FOX News [2/8/2025 10:00 AM, Kurt Knutsson] reports the healthcare industry has recently been a major target for hackers. Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC), a Connecticut-based federally qualified health center, has disclosed a data breach following a criminal cyberattack on its systems. The attack has affected over a million people in the U.S. Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) detected a data breach on Jan. 2 after identifying unusual activity within its computer systems. An investigation confirmed that a skilled hacker had accessed and extracted data but did not delete or lock any information. The type of information compromised varies depending on an individual’s relationship with CHC. Patient data that may have been accessed includes names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, diagnoses, treatment details, test results, Social Security numbers and health insurance information. For individuals who are not regular CHC patients but received COVID-19 services at a CHC clinic, the breached data may include names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, addresses, gender, race, ethnicity and insurance details if provided. Additional information, such as test dates, results and vaccine details, including type, dose and administration date, may also have been affected. In rare cases, Social Security numbers were also included in the breach. The organization did not disclose how the hackers gained access to the data or whether proper cybersecurity measures were in place at the time of the breach. While CHC has assured that its systems are no longer at risk, the same cannot be said for its patients, who may now be targets of various cyberattacks.

Washington Post [2/8/2025 7:56 PM, Angie Orellana Hernandez, 40736K] reports the city of Springfield, Ohio, local officials and residents are suing a neo-Nazi group for allegedly leading an intimidation campaign against people who defended the area’s Haitian community from racist attacks last year, according to court documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, accuses the white supremacist organization Blood Tribe, its leaders Christopher Pohlhaus and Drake Berentz, and seven unnamed men of conspiring to interfere with the civil rights of Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, Assistant Mayor David Estrop, two city commissioners and four residents. The group is seeking a judicial order to prevent Blood Tribe and its members from making further threats, as well as punitive damages. Assisted by the Anti-Defamation League and attorneys with experience in litigating against white supremacists, the plaintiffs requested a jury trial.

FOX News [2/8/2025 7:26 PM, Brie Stimson, 49889K] reports President Donald Trump decided Saturday to remove security clearances for several Democrats, including former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom are vocal Trump critics, Fox News has learned. "Bad guy. Take away his passes," Trump told the New York Post of Blinken, Biden’s Secretary of State. James and Bragg were involved in prosecuting Trump in New York last year and James’ office filed a lawsuit on Friday on behalf of 18 other Democratic state attorneys general over the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and attorneys Andrew Weissmann, Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen, also had their clearances revoked. Eisen, an anti-Trump lawyer, also represents anonymous FBI agents suing the Department of Justice to block the public identification of agents who investigated the Jan. 6 riot. He also worked with House Democrats on Trump’s first impeachment. The move comes a day after Trump stripped his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, of his security clearance and his access to presidential daily briefs. "There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Friday night. He added the precedent was set by Biden himself. "He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents," Trump wrote. At the time, Biden claimed Trump was exhibiting "erratic behavior." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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Newsweek [2/8/2025 6:54 PM, Peter Aitken, 56005K]
Washington Examiner [2/8/2025 5:51 PM, Zach LaChance, 2365K]
Reuters [2/8/2025 8:33 PM, Jeff Mason and Timothy Gardner, 48128K]
USA Today [2/8/2025 7:43 PM, Bart Jansen, 89965K]

FOX News [2/8/2025 9:28 AM, Morgan Phillips, 57114K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped up his first overseas trip across Latin America with several wins on immigration, a top priority for President Donald Trump. America’s new top diplomat returns home with a binder full of agreements from foreign governments on day-one priorities to interdict human and drug trafficking – a testament to how the Trump administration wields America’s economic might. Next, Rubio will head to the Middle East, with plans to visit Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in mid-February after attending the Munich Security Conference.

Telemundo [2/9/2025 1:53 AM, Staff, 2623K] reports for years, the Agency for International Development has been working in the South American country on dozens of plans, including addressing migration from Venezuela, combating child exploitation and curbing human trafficking. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [2/9/2025 4:39 AM, Staff, 37270K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and a U.S president since early 2022. Trump, who has promised to end the war in Ukraine but not yet set out in public how he would do so, said last week that the war was a bloodbath and that his team had had "some very good talks". In an interview aboard Air Force One on Friday Trump told the New York Post that he had "better not say," when asked how many times he and Putin had spoken. "He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying," Trump told the New York Post. The White House did not respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS state news agency that "many different communications are emerging". "These communications are conducted through different channels," Peskov said when asked by TASS to comment directly on the New York Post report. "I personally may not know something, be unaware of something. Therefore, in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny it."

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CNN [2/9/2025 4:22 AM, Betsy Klein and Samantha Waldenberg, 24052K]
Washington Examiner [2/8/2025 11:53 PM, Zach LaChance, 2365K]

Yahoo! News [2/8/2025 3:00 PM, Staff, 57114K] reports Iran’s supreme leader must revoke a fatwa banning the development of nuclear weapons if the regime is to survive, his top military commanders have said. In an extraordinary intervention by leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was told that Iran must have nuclear weapons to face down "existential threats" from the West. The Telegraph can reveal that several senior commanders have U-turned in recent months, since the election of Donald Trump, and are now pressing for the development of an atomic bomb. "We have never been this vulnerable, and it may be our last chance to obtain one before it’s too late," one official told The Telegraph. The fatwa – a religious ruling – was first mentioned at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in 2005. In it, Khamenei insisted that such weapons were "absolutely haram", or forbidden by Islam. It is the only constraint preventing the development of nuclear weapons, according to several Iranian officials – although exiles recently claimed that work was underway in the Islamic Republic to create nuclear missiles despite it. An Iranian official told The Telegraph from Tehran, the capital: "The leader has forbidden negotiations with the Americans and the development of nuclear weapons, which seem to be the only ways for survival [of the regime], and he’s driving the regime toward collapse.” "We have been just a few button presses away from building a nuclear weapon for some time now, but the pressures and justifications for having one are greater than ever. "The existential threat we now face has led several senior commanders – who previously insisted on following the supreme leader’s guidance – to push for making an atomic weapon.” The pressure on Khamenei from hardline politicians has been intensifying publicly in recent months. Dozens of Iranian MPs last year urged their Supreme National Security Council to revise its nuclear policy.

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