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 Hill [1/11/2025 8:54 AM, Filip Timotija, Neutral] reports Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Chief Kristin Crowley said during an interview Friday that the city failed the department amid the ongoing wildfires in Southern California that have taken at least 11 lives and burned more than 37,000 acres. Crowley was interviewed by Fox11 on Friday and asked if the city of Los Angeles failed her department, referring to the Santa Ynez Reservoir being shut down and empty. When asked about the Santa Ynez Reservoir, Crowley said that when firefighters operate in the field, they expect to have water, but if there isn’t any available, "they’re going to go find water." The AP [1/11/2025 5:02 PM, Staff, 47097K, Neutral] reports Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, shared updates on fire containment as firefighters raced to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds return. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] ABC News [1/11/2025 10:40 AM, Nadine El-Bawab and Daniel Amarante, 33392K, Negative] reports there has been a reprieve from the strongest winds in Southern California over the past 24 hours, but winds are expected to pick up later Saturday into the night, raising the fire danger yet again. The fire outlook for Saturday is back at the "Critical" level for much of southern California as dry, gusty winds fan the flames. Wind alerts, including a High Wind Warning, are in effect for much of the Los Angeles area as this next round of Santa Ana winds arrive. Another major wind event is expected between Monday night and Wednesday, which may lead to rapid fire spread yet again. At least 11 people have been killed by the devastating wildfires. The two biggest are the Palisades Fire, which has decimated the coastal community of the Pacific Palisades, and the Eaton Fire, which has scorched home after home in Altadena. As of Saturday morning, the Palisades fire, at 21,596 acres, was 11% contained and the Eaton fire, at 14,117 acres, was 15% contained, according to Cal Fire. FOX News [1/11/2025 7:34 AM, Michael Dorgan, 49889K, Neutral] reports a company that monitors electrical activity says faults along the Los Angeles power grid skyrocketed in the same areas where three of this week’s major wildfires are currently raging. Bob Marshall, the chief executive of Whisker Labs, told Fox News Digital that the company recorded sharp increases in faults in the hours prior to the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst Fires. In the Palisades area, the largest of the fires currently raging, there were 63 faults in the two to three hours prior to the ignition of the fire, Marshall said. There were 18 faults registered in the hour it began on Tuesday. The blaze has so far torched 12,300 homes and buildings across the area. Across the county, the death toll has risen to 11 people, and authorities anticipate that number rising. Investigators have yet to determine what sparked the raging wildfires that have decimated large areas of Los Angeles, but a jump in faults on the power grid may serve as vital clues. He said the data shows that the power was not shut off immediately when the faults were rising. Newsweek [1/11/2025 12:28 PM, Peter Aitken, 56005K, Negative] reports California fire authorities have confirmed to Newsweek on Saturday morning that the Lidia fire has been fully contained just days after it started. Strong Santa Ana winds that hit Southern California earlier this week may have helped spread already strong fires. Six wildfires have spread as of Friday, with the biggest ones having very slight containment as authorities focus on evacuating people. However, by Saturday morning, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire) authorities have reported that much of the smaller fires are largely contained, with at least one fully contained while two others are near full containment. The Lidia fire was the second-smallest fire among the half-dozen wildfires that have been burning around Los Angeles, consuming around 395 acres over the past three days. Only the Archer fire, which started on Friday afternoon, is smaller, having burned up around 19 acres with none of it contained. By comparison, the next biggest fire, the Hurst fire, has burned nearly 800 acres and is 76 percent contained as of Saturday morning local time. The Kenneth fire, which has burned up 1,052 acres as of Saturday morning, stands at around 80 percent contained. The Palisades fire, which is the largest of the fires currently burning, has consumed 22,660 acres and is only 11 percent contained as of Saturday morning. The Eaton fire, the second largest fire burning in California right now, has consumed 14,117 acres and is only 15 percent contained. The AP [1/12/2025 3:02 AM, Staff, 47097K, Negative] reports firefighters and emergency personnel tackling the Eaton fires in California had contained 15% of the blaze, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said on Saturday. Marrone said that the Santa Ana winds were still a threat while crews continued to combat the wildfires and warned that the winds would persist until Wednesday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Wall Street Journal [1/11/2025 11:29 PM, Sean McLain, Ginger Adams Otis, and Gareth Vipers, 646K, Negative] reports firefighters battled California’s destructive blazes for a fifth day on Saturday, with flames from the Palisades fire spreading as the death toll from the disaster rose to 16. An aggressive bid for control wasn’t enough to knock down the Palisades fire to the west and the Eaton fire to the east, which have displaced thousands and destroyed many homes. The Eaton fire has claimed 11 lives and five people died in the Palisades fire, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. Flames from the Palisades fire threatened homes in the affluent Brentwood neighborhood of west Los Angeles and singed backyards Saturday at the base of Mandeville Canyon, though Captain Ray Richardson from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said firefighters had saved houses. Flames moved closer to communities near the Getty Center, which said its art galleries were safe as of Saturday. Several significant flare-ups led to additional evacuation orders in the hills around Encino. The evacuation zone also widened to the east Friday night, bordering Interstate 405, one of the country’s busiest highways. The fire, first reported Tuesday morning, has destroyed 426 homes, officials said. Crews encountered “very favorable” conditions on Saturday in battling the Eaton fire, officials said, but warned that they are not out of the woods yet.

Reported similarly:
AP [1/11/2025 9:34 AM, Melina Walling, 47097K, Negative]
AP [1/12/2025 12:26 AM, Staff, 47097K, Neutral]
AP [1/12/2025 2:45 AM, Jae Hong, Holly Ramer and Michael R. Blood, 2600K, Negative]
AP [1/12/2025 3:39 AM, Staff, 47097K, Negative]
CBS Los Angeles [1/11/2025 8:15 PM, Dean Fioresi and Matthew Rodriguez, 52225K, Negative]
CBS Los Angeles [1/12/2025 12:32 AM, Dean Fioresi, 52225K, Negative]
CBS Los Angeles [1/12/2025 1:25 AM, Brandon Downs, 52225K, Negative]
MSNBC [1/11/2025 9:57 AM, Clarissa-Jan Lim, Negative]
The Hill [1/11/2025 9:21 AM, Filip Timotija, Neutral]
FOX News [1/11/2025 9:36 AM, Michael Dorgan, Negative]
FOX Weather [1/11/2025 10:08 PM, Andrew Wulfeck, 57114K, Neutral]
Bloomberg [1/11/2025 6:24 PM, Michelle Ma and John Gittelsohn, 6595K, Negative]
Newsweek [1/11/2025 2:09 PM, Rachel Dobkin, 56005K, Neutral]
SFGate [1/11/2025 4:09 PM, Sam Mauhay-Moore, 14282K, Negative]
San Francisco Chronicle [1/11/2025 6:36 PM, Elena Kadvany, 4368K, Neutral]
Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 4:02 PM, Samuel Montgomery, 57114K, Neutral]
Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 4:35 AM, Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, 57114K, Negative]

NBC News [1/11/2025 1:15 PM, Adiel Kaplan, Andrew Blankstein and Rich Schapiro, 50804K, Neutral] reports the key to identifying the cause of the still-raging Palisades Fire lies on a brush-covered hilltop where the blaze broke out just after 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the inferno, but experts say it’s easy to rule out one common cause of wildfires: lightning. The region was free of stormy weather this week. The area near the Temescal Ridge Trail also appears to be free of power lines or transformers, which rules out another potential cause. That leaves the source of most wildfires: people. But was it a result of arson? Four experts interviewed by NBC News said it was a possibility, but they thought the fires were more likely not set on purpose. “This is what we call inaccessible, rugged terrain,” said Rick Crawford, former battalion chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department. “Arsonists usually aren’t going to go 500 feet off a trailhead through trees and brush, set a fire and then run away.” Fires break out in the wooded areas on the edges of Los Angeles all the time — many of them caused unintentionally by homeless people. The fires almost never grow into a destructive blaze due to the lack of high winds. The combination of ferocious winds and a parched landscape created ideal conditions for the fast-moving fires that have consumed large swaths of Los Angeles this week. “You don’t need a gang of arsonists to go out there and be starting fires because nature is taking care of that for you,” said Scott Fischer, a retired federal law enforcement arson investigator. “There are arsonists out there,” he added, “but are there a band of arsonists running around Los Angeles right now? Not likely.”

Reported similarly:
Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 3:59 PM, Glenn Garner, 57114K, Negative]
Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 6:07 PM, Will Conybeare, 57114K, Neutral]

Reuters [1/11/2025 1:52 PM, Raquel Cunha and Laura Gottesdiener, 48128K, Neutral] reports Mexico sent a team of firefighters to California on Saturday to help teams battling the raging wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles. "The humanitarian aid group is leaving for Los Angeles, California," Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X on Saturday morning, posting photos of firefighters holding the flags of Mexico and California and standing on the runway in front of two planes. "We are a country of generosity and solidarity," she added. Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. The toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches. California Governor Gavin Newsom thanked Mexico in a message on X posted on Friday after the deployment was announced. "California is deeply grateful for President Sheinbaum’s support as we work to suppress the Los Angeles wildfires," he wrote.

Los Angeles Times [1/11/2025 2:52 PM, Jenny Jarvie and Grace Toohey, 6595K, Neutral] reports Los Angeles County’s top emergency manager said Saturday the county’s overhaul of its emergency notification system is nearly complete after it sent out a succession of faulty emergency alerts urging millions of residents across Los Angeles to prepare to evacuate amid the ongoing firestorm. Kevin McGowan, director of L.A. County’s Office of Emergency Management, said in a morning news conference that the problem was caused by a software system glitch. County officials, he said, are working with federal and state officials and cellphone providers to make sure that outdated alerts are flushed from the system, so people don’t continue to receive alerts not intended for them. To ensure the issue doesn’t continue, the county on Friday began transitioning from a county-run platform to a state system, operated by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, for any future emergency alerts that ping cellphones in a designated geographic area. "We believe this process is largely complete and we are working with federal partners and providers to ensure there is not a recurrence of the alerts going out in error," McGowan said. The faulty messages that bombarded residents’ phones multiple times Thursday and Friday - including in the middle of the night - stoked confusion and panic across the vast county of 10 million. Residents across the city were already on edge as fires broke out from the Pacific Palisades to Altadena, killing at least 13 and damaging and destroying more than 12,000 structures. "This is an emergency message from the Los Angeles County Fire Department," the alerts said. "An EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area." McGowan blamed a software glitch for the first erroneous alert that went out at around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, accidentally blasting a countywide evacuation alert rather than a targeted alert, to affected residents. According to a preliminary assessment, the false echo alerts that continued to go out on Friday occurred as cell towers came back online after they were initially knocked down because of the fires, McGowan said. The outdated alerts were stored in the system and, after the towers came back online, started being released to the public. "This has been frustrating, unacceptable and the public is in the most need of accurate information and we are moving forward rapidly to reestablish that," McGowan said Saturday.

Newsweek [1/11/2025 12:00 PM, James Bickerton, 56005K, Negative] reports firefighting aircraft attempting to battle the Palisades wildfire on the outskirts of Los Angeles were forced to leave the area for a time on Friday after unauthorized drones were spotted in the air. On Thursday, a Super Scooper fixed-winged aircraft, designed to carry large quantities of water to drop on fires, was damaged after it collided with a small drone whilst flying over the Palisades fire, leaving a hole in its wing, Los Angeles Times reported. In response, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the plane was grounded, though he expressed hope it would be fixed by Monday. Unauthorized drones hamper firefighting efforts by forcing aircraft to leave the area and potentially damaging them, which authorities say is putting lives at risk both in the air and on the ground. Thomas said the sighting took place above the southeastern section of the fire, close to Santa Monica, and was being investigated by law enforcement and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As of 9:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, the Palisades fire had consumed over 21,000 acres according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), making it the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history. On Friday, the Palisades fire moved closer to the heavily populated San Fernando Valley, sparking fresh fears from authorities. In total, the wildfires that have raged across the northern and western outskirts of Los Angeles have left 11 people dead, though on Friday President Joe Biden warned this figure is likely to rise as there are "still a lot of people who are unaccounted for." More powerful winds are expected overnight on Saturday, with speeds of between 20 and 40 miles per hour, potentially further inflaming the wildfires though forecasters expect these to dissipate on Sunday. President Biden has approved a disaster declaration for the Los Angeles wildfires, unlocking federal funding to help deal with the emergency and reconstruction.

Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 3:42 PM, Hollie Lewis, 57114K, Negative] reports a man-made cross-border tunnel coming from Mexico was discovered on Thursday, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The discovery was made after U.S. Border Patrol Agents conducted an inspection on the storm drain of a tunnel crossing from Ciudad Juarez to the El Paso storm drain system. At approximately 1:15 a.m., agents discovered the completed man-made tunnel coming from Mexico that breaches into the public storm drain after removing a metal plate covering a 36-by-36-in. entry hole. The tunnel is about 6 ft. tall and 4 ft. wide and is equipped with lighting, a ventilation system, and is braced with wood beams throughout. "We are proud of the Agents who discovered this smuggling infrastructure used by transnational criminal organizations," said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Scott Good. "Our Agents are relentless in searching and surveying every square mile of the El Paso Sector. With our partners, we are committed to investigating these illicit activities and bringing all perpetrators to justice —those who endanger lives in these hazardous environments and circumvent the legal pathways to entering the United States." El Paso Sector will be working closely other officials, including the Mexican government, and the U.S. Consulate General Ciudad Juarez for the remediation of the tunnel. "The FBI remains steadfast in its commitment to working with our partners along the border to combat illegal criminal activity and address national security threats and will continue to support the ongoing investigation into this tunnel." said FBI Special Agent in Charge John Morales.

Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 9:00 AM, Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, 57114K, Negative] reports the number of displaced people worldwide has reached 122 million — the largest on record. Of this group, 38 million are categorized as refugees — another tragic record. Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and Venezuela each recently lost over 6 million people as refugees. South Sudan is in the grip of ethnic violence, and Sudan is facing starvation amid a civil war, with refugees fleeing both countries. Twenty percent more refugees will need resettlement in 2025 than in 2024, yet pathways to safety in the West are narrowing rapidly. President-elect Donald Trump’s second term might usher in an era of cruelty. Trump has vowed to start mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and scale back humanitarian protections for many individuals legally residing here. Many of these migrants are refugees who have the right to apply for asylum. The contrast between the world’s dire humanitarian moment and the president-elect’s rhetoric could not be sharper. Refugee fatigue and anti-immigrant sentiments sweep across the Global North. At the time of greatest need, the world’s wealthiest societies are turning their back on refugees. They are restricting the right to asylum by violating domestic and international laws. Anti-refugee sentiments have been fueling the rise of far-right parties, and Trump’s second term will see these movements in full bloom. Refugee resettlement is likely on the chopping block for the incoming administration. Trump has insisted there is "no price tag" on carrying out the deportations. The incoming administration is likely to further restrict humanitarian protections and resettlement efforts.

WFLA [1/11/2025 8:19 AM, Sara Filips, Negative] reports a man is facing a murder charge after he beat a hotel resident to death with a fire extinguisher, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. On Wednesday afternoon, deputies responded to the Quality Inn hotel at 2945 Entry Point Boulevard in Kissimmee after receiving a 911 call about a man kicking, stomping, and using a fire extinguisher to beat a victim. Castillo was arrested and charged with murder. He is being held in the Osceola County Jail without bond and is currently on immigration hold. The Sheriff said Castillo entered the United States in 2019 as a non-immigrant student. He left for unknown reasons, before returning to Florida on Jan 1., 2025, on a 90-day tourist visa. The sheriff’s office said they are working with the Chilean government to get additional information on Castillo.

CBS Detroit [1/11/2025 8:29 PM, Nick Lentz, 52225K, Negative] reports Michigan State Police motor carrier officers are teaming with law enforcement agencies across the nation and two nonprofit organizations to fight human trafficking. From Jan. 13 to Jan. 17, the agency will work with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Truckers Against Trafficking and other groups to educate people about the signs of human trafficking. "The goal of the week-long, nationwide initiative is to educate individuals in positions to observe human trafficking taking place, such as commercial motor vehicle drivers, public transportation companies, rest area attendants and truck stop employees, so they can alert law enforcement," Michigan State Police said in a release. The agency says many people have misconceptions about what trafficking looks like. "People are afraid they are going to go shopping, they’re shopping by themselves, they come out, their doors are going to be zip tied together and they’re going to get snatched up and wind up in another country and forced into sex slavery," police Sergeant Les Rochefort said. "That is not what I have seen ever, and the likelihood of that is very small."

Chicago Tribune [1/12/2025 6:00 AM, Nell Salzman and Armando L. Sanchez, 4917K, Negative] reports Kelvis Sanchez has lived in fear for so long that he no longer reacts to the sounds of gunshots, screams or windows breaking that ordinarily would have terrified him. A recent morning, the 30-year-old Venezuelan stood in his kitchen and propped his toddler daughter up over his shoulder. He and his wife had run several extension cords outside for electricity. Bare bulbs and wires hung down from the ceiling, several feet above the head of their 4-year-old — who is named Milagro, Spanish for “miracle.” “We left (Venezuela) because of the violence and the chaos. And now, we’ve found ourselves again in the middle of chaos,” Sanchez said. “We really didn’t expect this to happen when we entered the United States.” After migrants started coming to Chicago in 2022, state agencies launched a program that helped those staying in shelters resettle into rental housing. Migrants generally moved to the South and West sides, where some have encountered patterns of violence and chaos similar to what they risked everything to leave behind. Sanchez said his kids can’t go out alone because of frequent shootings near the building where they live in Washington Park. Other migrant families with no other affordable options have settled there, too. They cram multiple beds into sparse rooms and pool resources for meals. It’s been hard, they say. And now that President-elect Donald Trump is promising the largest deportations in United States history, the Sanchez family and other migrants are bracing themselves for what could be worse — potential expulsion from the country by armed federal agents, and the accompanying terror, confusion and threat of being separated from loved ones.

Telemundo [1/11/2025 11:20 AM, Staff, 155K, Neutral] reports asylum requests in Mexico fell by almost half in 2024 after the previous year’s record, according to data from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar), but irregular migration is at historic levels that keep the southern border saturated. Comar reported 78,975 asylum or refugee applicants in 2024, a reduction of about 44% compared to 140,720 in 2023, when there was an all-time high and Mexico was the third country with more requests in the world, only behind the United States and Germany, according to the Mexican Government. Honduras displaced Haiti as the main country of origin of the petitioners in Mexico, with 27,888. The list is completed by Cuba (17,884), Haiti (10,853), El Salvador (5,479), Venezuela (5,419), Guatemala (3,725), Colombia (2,315), Ecuador (1,048), Nicaragua (940) and Chile (817), while the rest are from other nations not detailed. Even so, Comar only resolved less than half of the cases, 33,844, of which 74% were approved, according to the annual report. The decrease in petitions occurred despite a year-on-year rise of nearly 132% in irregular migration in Mexico, where the Migration Policy Unit detected more than 925,000 people in this condition from January to August, higher than any full year. Migratory saturation persists in Tapachula, the largest city on Mexico’s border with Central America, where almost two thirds of the cases in the whole country are concentrated, with 50,742 in the whole year.

CBS New York [1/11/2025 5:19 PM, Derick Waller, 52225K, Negative] reports more migrant shelters in New York City are slated to close this summer. Mayor Eric Adams said the city will shut down 13 shelters by June. Those 13 shelters have a combined total of about 10,000 beds. The following shelters are on the closure list: Hall Street Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Brooklyn; 99 Washington Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Manhattan; The Stewart Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Manhattan; and The Watson Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Manhattan. The city says they are still finalizing the closure of three additional facilities. In addition to the newly announced closures, 25 other migrant shelters will be shuttered by March, which the mayor announced in December. The Floyd Bennett Field complex and Randall’s Island shelter are both part of that wave of closures. Adams was at Floyd Bennett Field on Saturday, thanking staff who managed more than 2,000 people at the site. "There are those who are looking to work ... Over 78 percent of those who came here have cycled out of the system. You don’t come to America to live in a shelter. You don’t come to America to raise your children in a shelter," he said. According to the city, by June, over 20% of the emergency sites opened in response to the city’s asylum seeker crisis will be closed. The mayor says the number of migrants housed by New York has gone down for 27 straight weeks, and 78% of asylum seekers that have stayed at city shelters have left. The city says a "smaller brick-and-mortar congregate facility" will open on Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx for single adult men. Migrants who are still living at the Randall’s Island shelter at the time of its closure will be transferred to this new facility.

Telemundo [1/12/2025 12:53 AM, Staff, 2623K, Positive] reports a few days before the end of his term, President Joe Biden extended TPS for Venezuelan and Salvadoran immigrants in the United States; these are the requirements to access the benefit. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [1/11/2025 7:56 PM, Staff, 7281K, Neutral] reports ICE statistics reveal that during fiscal year 2024, 271,484 non-citizens were removed to 192 countries, an increase of 90% and 276% compared to 2023 and 2022, respectively. Attorney Luis Victoria, an immigration expert, explains why this increase in deportations during the Biden administration. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo [1/12/2025 12:55 AM, Staff, 2623K, Negative] reports according to Mexico’s refugee aid commission, there was a considerable reduction in asylum applications in the country in 2024 compared to the previous year, despite the increase in irregular immigration. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 5:12 AM, Staff, 57114K, Negative] reports the US Department of Homeland Security has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ukrainian refugees by 18 months. The statement emphasised that the extension of TPS is prompted by the ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary, temporary conditions in Ukraine that hinder the safe return of Ukrainian citizens. The statement emphasised that "Russia’s expanded military invasion has led to high numbers of civilian casualties and reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian military forces and officials". The extension of TPS for Ukraine allows approximately 103,700 refugees to re-register if they continue to meet the eligibility criteria.

Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 6:18 PM, Ariana Baio, 57114K, Neutral] reports that, with a little more than a week until his inauguration, Donald Trump and his team are trying to plan the executive orders that will fulfill his campaign promise of closing the U.S.–Mexico border and implementing mass deportation "on day one" — a task that comes with complications. For months, Trump and his team have been looking for ways to bypass the traditional immigration legislative process to close the border and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Trump is reportedly considering invoking Title 42 — the public health order that allows authorities to block people from entering the United States to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Reinstating Title 42 would effectively shut down the border by preventing migrants from certain countries from entering the U.S. — but it would also require Trump to identify a communicable disease that poses a threat to U.S. citizens. The team has spent the past few months trying to identify a disease that they can use, according to New York Times. Should they fail to find one, they could make a broad claim about possible unfamiliar diseases, though it’s unclear if that would hold up in a court. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has reportedly begun trying to manage expectations with Republican members of Congress. Homan told lawmakers that deporting millions of people will require extensive funding and resources which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) currently does not have. To carry out a mass deportation of its kind, the American Immigration Council estimates it would cost $88 billion. Trump has insisted there is "no price tag" on carrying out the deportations. The president-elect could declare a national emergency to continue building the border wall and carry out immigration policies.

CBS Austin [1/11/2025 1:47 PM, Staff, 581K, Negative] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents have announced the arrest of six unique migrants caught crossing the southern U.S. border. On Monday, Jan. 6, Unites States Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced the apprehension of four Iranian and two Egyptian nationals attempting to illegally enter the United States near El Paso, Texas. Upon the apprehension of these "special interest" migrants, record checks revealed prior attempted illegal entries into the United States. The circumstances of their prior entries into the United States, as well as personal or potential criminal histories, are unclear at this time. We’re working to learn more about this situation.

Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 8:58 PM, Erik Galicia, 57114K, Negative] reports the head of Customs and Border Patrol told Fresno’s democratic congressman that the immigration enforcement operation it carried out in the Central Valley this week has concluded and was confined to Kern County, the U.S. representative said Saturday during a news conference. “It’s not clear to me that that’s the case,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, at the news conference in Fresno on Saturday morning. Costa added that he has heard reports that conflict with the Border Patrol’s statements to him. The information that Costa relayed from Border Patrol Commissioner Pete Flores further confirms that “Operation Return to Sender” is over. But the agency said in a social media post earlier this week that it is also planning operations in Fresno and Sacramento. Elected officials on Saturday spoke with uncertainty about what comes next and also denounced enforcement tactics that spread fear among working immigrants.

Univision19 [1/11/2025 11:44 AM, Staff, 7281K, Negative] reports just this Thursday, Victor Villanueva, a Mexican immigrant, was working harvesting the fields of the Central Valley. Today, he is in Mexico after having been arrested by the Border Patrol and deported, along with his cousin. Victor and his cousin were detained by Border Patrol agents from the El Centro Sector. Victor and his cousin are among the undocumented immigrants that the agency arrested during operations in Kern County, which it confirmed in a statement. It details an operation focused on interdicting violators of U.S. federal law, trafficking in dangerous substances, non-citizen criminals, and disrupting transportation routes used by transnational criminal organizations. On social media, a profile claiming to be that of Agent Gregory Bovino, head of the Border Patrol for the El Centro Sector, posted a photograph of Victor in which he accused him of being a rapist and drug trafficker. Victor and his cousin were processed in Bakersfield before being taken by bus to Calexico. They were then sent to Mexico as deportees, where they traveled to Monterrey. They are now waiting in Mexico City to reach their homeland in Guerrero. According to Customs and Border Protection, at least 78 arrests were made during operations in Kern County.

Univision [1/11/2025 8:46 AM, Staff, 7281K, Negative] reports in Northern California, uncertainty among the immigrant community grows by the minute following the operations carried out by the Border Patrol in the south of the state. On Tuesday alone, in Bakersfield, surprise raids were carried out at businesses frequented specifically by day laborers and farmworkers. According to videos that have gone viral on social media, hundreds of farm workers decided not to go to work out of fear. Local organizations are beginning to prepare to educate the community and remind them of their rights in the face of these operations.

Miami Herald [1/11/2025 5:32 PM, Kelly Yamanouchi, 6595K, Neutral] reports Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines canceled more than 370 flights Saturday, and long lines of travelers waiting to go through security stretched through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’s domestic terminal and baggage claim areas. The disruptions were the fallout of Delta’s struggles during a Friday winter storm at its Atlanta hub that continued into a second day, and TSA warns that Sunday may be congested as well. Travelers in line around noon Saturday told the AJC they had waited more than three hours for the main security checkpoint and many missed their flights in the process. Confusion reigned as the security lines snaking through the terminal mixed with lines of those waiting to check bags. "I already did" miss my flight, while waiting in line for hours at the Atlanta airport, said Cynthia Marques, who was trying to fly home to Denver. She was able to get booked on another for the afternoon. In some areas of Terminal South, where Delta has its check-in counters, lines extended outside the doors Saturday morning. The long lines at the domestic terminal were in part because some security checkpoints remained closed Saturday morning, including the Terminal North checkpoint. One north checkpoint did ultimately open Saturday afternoon, according to the airport’s website. Roughly a third of workers scheduled to staff security checkpoints Saturday morning didn’t come to work, according to Transportation Security Administration spokesman Mark Howell. Delta warned travelers to get to Hartsfield-Jackson three hours before their flights for "longer-than-usual security wait times," but some in line Saturday told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they only received those notices after they had been waiting for hours. Even wait times for members of the TSA PreCheck trusted traveler program at the domestic terminal - and security lines at the international terminal - reached an hour long or more Saturday around midday. Compounding the chaos has been unreliable data service and Wi-Fi in both domestic and international terminals, apparently overloaded by the crowds. Long lines and heavy congestion are also expected Sunday at Hartsfield-Jackson, according to TSA.

FOX News [1/11/2025 4:34 PM, Alexandra Koch, 57114K, Neutral] reports North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said he will continue to use every resource at his disposal to ensure that residents impacted by Hurricane Helene stay warm, as winter storms sweep across the state – potentially affecting power grids and other critical infrastructure impacted by the prior storm. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) temporary housing assistance will end Saturday for thousands of North Carolina residents, some of whom are facing frigid temperatures this weekend in the Appalachian Mountain region. "At our request, FEMA has extended temporary shelter assistance through Tuesday in light of the winter storm impacting western North Carolina," Stein’s office confirmed to FOX News. The Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program, which cannot be requested and was only granted to survivors identified by FEMA beginning in October, was set to end on Friday and later pushed back to Saturday. FEMA’s local disaster recovery centers will be closed through Monday, "due to winter weather." "I will continue to use every resource at my disposal to get folks into safe and warm shelter," said Gov. Josh Stein. North Carolinians started receiving letters on Jan. 3 informing them their hotel or motel rooms would no longer be covered, Fox News Digital reported. When eligibility ends, they are given a week’s notice to check out. Thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors continue to be supported by the program in western North Carolina, following the September storm. There are currently 5,600 households currently checked into hotels, according to FEMA.

Reported similarly:
Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 6:15 PM, Jacob Biba, 57114K, Positive]

Kansas Reflector [1/11/2025 11:10 AM, AJ Dome, Neutral] reports preliminary results indicate 2024 was a more active year for severe weather in Kansas. Scientists at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, are tallying last year’s severe weather reports. Across Kansas, 89 tornadoes were reported, more than double the 39 tornadoes counted in 2023. The most powerful tornado to strike the Sunflower State for the year was the April 30 storm that hit Westmoreland. It was rated EF-3, with estimated winds of 140 mph. Ann Miller, a 58-year-old lifelong Pottawatomie County resident and a county health department employee for 28 years, died when her home was destroyed by the storm. Miller was the only storm-related fatality recorded in Kansas in 2024. A group of meteorologists and severe weather researchers are working to implement changes to the system used to measure the intensity of tornadoes. Marshall said the refreshed scale will include new damage indicators, such as irrigation pivots and grain bins, and more photographs, as well as commentaries from the surveyors, to better describe the damage observed.

CBS Los Angeles [1/12/2025 3:05 AM, Dean Fioresi, 52225K, Negative] reports seven Los Angeles County libraries will host staff members from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to help the thousands of residents impacted by a series of devastating wildfires in recent days.

Washington Post [1/11/2025 9:50 AM, Anna Phillips, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Evan Halper and Joshua Partlow, 40736K, Negative] reports in Los Angeles’s chaparral-covered ecosystem, wildfires in the mountains are an annual ritual. But when those fires leaped into residential neighborhoods earlier this week, killing 11 people and destroying thousands of homes, the city suddenly found itself in survival mode. A critical question became why the largest city in California, a state that has spent years fortifying itself against wildfires, couldn’t stop the fires this time. State regulations required residents in high-risk neighborhoods to create vegetation-free buffers around their homes. California had invested billions of dollars to reduce the amount of woody fuel for fires to burn. It boasted the largest firefighting force in the nation. Experts said several key factors — including urban sprawl, a resistance to clearing vegetation around homes, and a water system that’s not designed to combat multiple major blazes at once — left L.A. exposed to disaster. As climate change fuels record heat, leaving the hillsides primed for wildfires to grow swiftly into massive conflagrations, these factors led to catastrophe.

Duluth News Tribune [1/11/2025 8:00 AM, Trent Abrego, 308K, Neutral] reports St. Cloud Mayor-elect Jake Anderson said there is not much more the city can do to compel the Donald Trump presidential campaign to pay a $209,000 bill from his summer rally in St. Cloud. The bill remains unpaid after two invoices were sent to the campaign. According to an invoice, the rally cost the city nearly $209,000 in services, including police, public services, a road construction change order, the fire department and information technology systems. The Trump campaign told St. Cloud LIVE in October that the city fees associated with the rally are the responsibility of the Secret Service. In response, Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring told St. Cloud LIVE that the agency lacks a mechanism, to reimburse state and local governments for support during protective events.

Greater Milwaukee Today [1/11/2025 7:10 AM, Staff, 143K, Negative] reports the Slinger Police Department is making area residents aware of people using credit card skimmers to collect someone’s credit card information, as one was recently found at the Piggly Wiggly in Cedarburg. According to a Facebook post from the SPD, on Thursday, an employee of Olsen’s Piggly Wiggly, W61-N286 Washington Ave., Cedarburg, found a card skimmer that had been placed on the credit/debit card reader keypad for one of the store’s registers. The device was placed on the credit/debit card reader around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Cedarburg police are still looking for the suspects, according to the post.

Cape Cod Times [1/11/2025 12:09 PM, Mary Ann Bragg, Neutral] reports a passenger door of a small private plane came off Friday evening after the plane left Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis. The plane returned safely to the hangar at the airport, and the two people in the plane were not injured, according to the Hyannis Fire Department. The door was reported lost off the Cape’s southern coastline between West Bay and Craigville Beach, according to Hyannis Fire Captain Ryan Clough. The fire department was called to the airport at 6:55 p.m. Friday, Clough said. When the fire department arrived, the passenger door was missing from the plane, he said. The passengers were outside the plane and declined evaluation. Assistant Airport Manager Matthew Elia confirmed Saturday that a private aircraft with two people on board returned to the airport Friday evening after a door came off in flight. The incident was reported to the U.S. Coast Guard as well as Massachusetts Department of Transportation Aeronautics and the Federal Aviation Administration, Elia said.

Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 9:28 PM, Melissa Pérez-Carrillo, 57114K, Neutral] reports a woman died in a Venice crash on Saturday after her car plunged the Intercoastal Waterway, officials said. Her car went into the water near the Circus Bridge at around 3:15 p.m. One southbound lane of Business 42 was closed late Saturday as Venice Police officers continued to investigate. The Venice Police Marine Unit, Venice Fire Rescue, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, U.S. Coast Guard, Sea Tow Venice and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission all responded to the crash.

Yahoo! News [1/11/2025 12:29 PM, Staff, 57114K, Neutral] reports a cyberattack on a program that parents use to track their kids’ grades could have exposed the personal information of local families. The student information system impacted by the attack is called PowerSchool, and it stores some sensitive information for 60 million students across roughly 18,000 organizations around the world. In a statement sent to Channel 11, a PowerSchool spokesperson says the company learned of a "potential cybersecurity incident" on Dec. 28. That incident involved unauthorized access to PowerSchool information through a community-focused customer portal. Three local districts use the program: Fox Chapel, Mount Lebanon, and Canon-McMillan. Canon-McMillan, in a letter to parents, further explains that a PowerSchool employee’s credential was compromised and used to access data through a backend support system. Canon-McMillan does not store teacher, student, or parent social security numbers on PowerSchool, so that information is still protected. Contact information, health alerts, and grades for current and former students may have been accessed. Parent/guardian names and addresses may also be compromised. The Fox Chapel Area School District also sent a letter to families about this incident, saying that some of the district’s data was accessed. Either the district or PowerSchool will contact families when more information is available. PowerSchool’s spokesperson says it’s committed to providing affected customers, families, and educators with the resources and support they need.

CBS Austin [1/11/2025 1:47 PM, Kristen McPeek, 581K, Neutral] reports a cyber security breach affected some of the biggest school districts in Utah. The nationwide breach took student information such as names, addresses, date of birth and email addresses. Districts affected were Salt Lake City, Cache, Iron, Washington and Weber School Districts. Cache County School District shared an advisory detailing the data breach, which can be found here. "These things are just part of life on the internet," said Pete Ashdown, who founded internet service provider X-Mission. He is well versed in cybersecurity. After the recent cybersecurity breach in software used by multiple school districts across the state, he said it’s important to take note. "It’s certainly important to look at what was stolen," Ashdown said. "What was breached.” According to emails obtained by KUTV, it’s been stated that "affected data may include sensitive personal information such as names, addresses, date of birth and email addresses. Social security numbers were not involved.” For this to be avoided in the future, Ashdown said, "Stay up on security practices, good firewalls.” He said to be careful with where information is shared. "Be very skeptical about contact with your child, try to restrict contact with your child," he said, referring to sharing personal information over online platforms. But sometimes, these incidents are unavoidable. "We want to put our trust in the school district, but as I like to say, out on the internet nothing is 100%, you put something on the internet, there is something to be compromised," Ashdown said. PowerSchool representatives have told districts that data obtained during this breach is now contained and that there is no ongoing threat.

Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 6:04 AM, Maria Ramirez Uribe, 57114K, Negative] reports although the person suspected of ramming a pickup into a New Orleans crowd on New Year’s Day, killing 14 people, was born and raised in the U.S., Republican politicians have sought to tie the attack to U.S. border security. Talking with anchor Jake Tapper on Jan. 5 on CNN’s "State of the Union," Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said there are still a lot of unknowns about the New Orleans attack. Banks: "What we do know, at least in the New Orleans attack, I mean, this was a terrorist attack. An ISIS sympathizer carried out a plan that was premeditated and killed American people. A terrorist attack on American soil, we have to take it seriously. We don’t know all the facts yet. "But we have got to get down to the reality of the matter that we have had 400 ISIS-smuggled people coming into our country that the Department of Homeland Security told us about last summer. And 50 of them, we don’t know where they are. We don’t know who they are or where they are. And we have to take that more seriously. I know President Trump will do that."

AP [1/11/2025 8:53 AM, Jack Brook, Jim Mustian and Sara Cline, Neutral] reports the second-guessing began before the bodies had been cleared from the debris of the deadly Bourbon Street truck attack. But as the city seeks to recover and beefs up security ahead of next month’s Super Bowl and Carnival season, law enforcement and community leaders are confronting an existential question as old as the entertainment district: Can Bourbon Street be protected in a way that preserves its unique, round-the-clock revelry? Shock and grief have given way to finger-pointing over whether additional security could have stopped — or mitigated — the Islamic State group-inspired attack, which killed 14 people when Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pickup through a New Year’s crowd. In the difficult days since, proposals for new safety measures have ranged from banning vehicular traffic in the French Quarter to turning the historic neighborhood into a state park. Much of the immediate focus has centered on the absence of the bollards, which had stopped working reliably and were being replaced ahead of the Super Bowl. But a half dozen current and former law enforcement officials in Louisiana described the bollard issue as a red herring, saying that even if they had been functioning they may not have prevented the attack given how hell-bent Jabbar appeared on creating carnage. The broader safety conundrum is more complex, they said, given the quarter’s dense, alcohol-fueled crowds and structural challenges inherent to an early 18th-century neighborhood built for horse-drawn buggies. Policing here is even more complicated in a city with notoriously high crime, a chronic shortage of officers and a new state law allowing permit-less concealed carry of firearms.

Bloomberg [1/11/2025 2:07 PM, Tony Capaccio, 6595K, Neutral] reports two of seven U.S. intelligence agencies broke with previous assessments that foreign adversaries were not to blame for so-far unexplained health incidents among government employees overseas that came to be known as "Havana Syndrome." The latest conclusions highlight the confusion that continues to surround the incidents, which were first reported in 2016. Diplomats and other staff reported headaches, dizziness and other debilitating effects, and one theory was that they were the result of an attack with a directed-sound weapon. Most of the intelligence community "continues to assess that it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible for the events reported as possible anomalous health incidents," as the agencies reported in March 2023, the agencies said in a new report issued Friday. But two intelligence community agencies, which weren’t identified, now have shifted their positions based on their evaluation that certain nations are making progress in research and weapons development, according to a summary. "One IC component judges there is a ‘roughly even chance’ a foreign actor has actually used a novel weapon or prototype device to harm a small, undetermined subset" of the U.S. government "personnel or dependents who reported medical symptoms or sensory phenomena," the report disclosed. A second agency gave a "roughly even chance" to the idea that a foreign actor had developed such a weapon, it said. It noted both agencies had low confidence in the judgments. The five agencies that are sticking with the 2023 assessment judged "it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign actor has used a novel weapon or prototype device" to harm Americans and their dependents. The intelligence agencies and the White House issued statements that reflected the sensitivity of the issue. Some of those who reported debilitating symptoms from Havana Syndrome, and their supporters, have accused the government of downplaying their symptoms or suggesting they were psychosomatic.

Washington Post [1/11/2025 2:44 PM, Emma Uber, 40736K, Neutral] reports people in the D.C. area may spot a rare sight in the coming week: drones in the most restricted airspace in the country. The Civil Air Patrol will conduct “calibration flights” over Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Joint Base Andrews and Washington Navy Yard from Jan. 13 to Jan. 15, the Air Force District of Washington said in a statement Friday. The calibration flights are meant to test “the integration of various sensors and systems,” according to the statement. “We want to assure the public that these flights are carefully planned and executed to minimize any potential disruption to daily activities,” the statement read. The advance notice comes after mysterious drone sightings in several states, including Maryland and Virginia, sparked concern and confusion, with state and local officials calling on the federal government for increased transparency. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said in a statement Dec. 14 that he was “deeply concerned” about the lack of information shared about the puzzling drone sightings. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense said in a joint statement Dec. 17 that the drone activities to date did not present “a national security or public safety risk.”

Bloomberg [1/11/2025 8:05 PM, Manolo Serapio Jr, 21617K, Neutral] reports the Philippines said a huge Chinese coast guard ship widely known as the “Monster” has returned to its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, prompting its own coast guard vessel to approach and issue a radio challenge. A Philippine Coast Guard ship, BRP Teresa Magbanua, approached the 12,000-ton Chinese patrol ship’s “starboard side at close range, effectively hindering the China Coast Guard vessel’s attempts to move” towards the coastline of the western province of Zambales, spokesman Jay Tarriela said in a post on X late Saturday. The Chinese “Monster” ship has replaced another vessel, CCG 3304, in the area, he said. The Southeast Asian nation’s coast guard “has consistently communicated over the radio, reminding the Chinese crew that they are unlawfully operating within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and do not possess any legal authority to conduct maritime patrols,” Tarriela said. It’s at least the second time this month that the Philippines has challenged the China Coast Guard vessel, CCG 5901, whose presence marks Beijing’s latest move to bolster its expansive claim to most of the South China Sea. Bigger than a US Navy destroyer, CCG-5901 is armed with anti-aircraft guns and fuel storage capacities that allow it to undertake extended missions.

Reported similarly:
Yahoo! News [1/12/2025 2:05 AM, Staff, 57114K, Negative]

AP [1/11/2025 6:36 PM, Natalie Melzer and Wafaa Shurafa, 30936K, Neutral] reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, his office said Saturday, in a sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza. It was not immediately clear when David Barnea would travel to Qatar’s capital, Doha, for the latest round of indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group, but there is U.S. pressure for a deal before the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. Barnea’s presence means high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved. Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in 15 months of war, and that was in the earliest weeks of fighting. The talks mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have repeatedly stalled since then. Under discussion is a phased ceasefire, with Netanyahu signaling he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weekslong halt in fighting. Hamas has insisted on a full Israeli troop withdrawal from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu has insisted on destroying Hamas’ ability to fight in Gaza. Also being sent to Qatar are the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency and military and political advisers. Netanyahu’s office said the decision followed a meeting with his defense minister, security chiefs, and negotiators “on behalf of the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations.” The office also released a photo showing Netanyahu with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who was in Qatar this week.

Newsweek [1/11/2025 2:26 PM, Brendan Cole, 6595K, Neutral] reports two North Korean soldiers have been captured by Ukraine during Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The soldiers were given medical care for their injuries and are in the custody of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv, according to Zelensky, who shared a statement on X (formerly Twitter) along with images of the captives. Ukraine has alleged that North Korea had deployed around 12,000 soldiers in Kursk Oblast to fight alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces. The contribution Pyongyang makes to Moscow’s war effort is of concern to Kyiv. In a post on his Telegram social media channel, Zelensky said on Saturday that soldiers of Ukraine’s Tactical Group No. 84 had captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war (POWs) in the Kursk region in a task he described as "not easy." According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), one POW was born in 2005 and had been in the military since 2021. The agency said in a post on Telegram that the POW thought he was going to Kursk for training and not to fight against Ukraine in the war. The other POW was born in 1999 and had served in the North Korean army since 2016 as a sniper reconnaissance officer, the SBU said. It said investigations are ongoing with the help of South Korean translators because neither could speak Russian or Ukrainian. One POW had a Russian-style military ID issued in the name of another person with registration in the Republic of Tuva and the other was without documents at all, the SBU said. Zelensky said that Ukraine had given the injured pair medical treatment and that they were being treated better compared to what Russia or North Korea might have done with its own wounded.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [1/11/2025 2:44 PM, Zach Halaschak, 2365K, Neutral]

AP [1/12/2025 12:00 AM, Hanna Arhirova, 2600K, Neutral] reports for weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow’s forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia’s Kursk region over the summer. Their arrival marked a new and alarming phase in the war. And while initially inexperienced on the battlefield, North Korean troops have adapted quickly — a development that could have far-reaching consequences as they gain combat knowledge in the war against Ukraine. Unlike the Russian troops Ukraine has been battling for nearly three years, Kyiv’s forces were uncertain about what to expect from this new adversary, drawn into the war after Moscow and Pyongyang signed an agreement pledging military assistance using “all means” if either were attacked. One Ukrainian soldier who has witnessed North Koreans in battle described them as disciplined and highly methodical, saying they were more professional than their Russian counterparts. The soldier spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive military issue. However, other soldiers, including Ukrainian special forces, have shared battlefield drone footage on the Telegram messaging app mocking their tactics as outdated. Nevertheless, there is consensus among Ukrainian soldiers, military intelligence and others monitoring developments on the ground: While Pyongyang’s troops lacked battlefield experience when they arrived, that has been changing quickly.

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