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.

Bloomberg [7/9/2025 4:32 PM, Myles Miller, 19320K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated her call to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency, even as the organization helps in search and recovery efforts following the catastrophic flooding in Texas that’s left more than 100 people dead. “This entire agency needs to be eliminated as it existed and remade into a responsive agency,” she said via video link at a meeting of the FEMA Review Council, held in New Orleans. “Federal Emergency Management should be state and locally led, rather than how it has operated for decades.” President Donald Trump established the council in January to examine FEMA’s structure, performance and role in disaster response. The panel, co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is tasked with delivering recommendations by November on how to streamline the organization, reduce federal control and shift more authority to states. Noem made the comments as FEMA personnel are on the ground in Kerr County, Texas, where pounding rain caused a surge of water through riverside camps and neighborhoods on July 4, killing at least 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic. More than 160 people remain missing from the floods. Trump, who has pushed to limit FEMA’s role, signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, even as Texas Governor Greg Abbott formally requested a broader declaration for affected areas. Trump, who’s scheduled to visit the state on Friday, has signaled it’s not the time to discuss phasing out FEMA as they help in recovery efforts. Noem, who visited Kerrville in Texas on Saturday, opened the Cabinet session with a detailed and emotional account of the damage, describing parents retrieving children’s belongings from the mud. She also emphasized that states should lead in such moments. “We, as a federal government, don’t manage these disasters. The state does,” she said. “We come in and support them, and that’s exactly what we did here.” Reuters [7/9/2025 3:09 PM, Nathan Layne and Courtney Rozen, 51390K] reports Noem’s comments were a restatement of her thinking on FEMA’s future but notable given that FEMA personnel have been deployed to Texas to help in search and rescue efforts following flash floods on July 4 that have killed at least 119 people, with scores more still unaccounted for. Noem, who chairs the FEMA Review Council, noted that the agency had provided resources and supported the search and recovery efforts in Texas, but criticized the agency for what she called past failures to respond to disasters effectively. "It has been slow to respond at the federal level," Noem said. "That is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today, and remade into a responsive agency." Defenders of the agency have said the Trump administration is seeking to politicize a vital agency that helps states both prepare for natural disasters like hurricanes and floods and clean up in the aftermath.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/9/2025 6:23 PM, Rachel Frazin, 18649K]

AP [7/9/2025 11:32 AM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 1611K] reports just weeks ago, President Donald Trump said he wanted to begin "phasing out" the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this hurricane season to "wean off of FEMA" and "bring it down to the state level.". But after months of promises to overhaul or eliminate the federal agency charged with responding to disasters, Trump and his administration are touting a fast and robust federal response to the devastating Texas floods. In doing so, they are aligning more closely with a traditional model of disaster response — and less with the dramatic reform the president has proposed. The president approved Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for a major disaster declaration just one day after it was submitted, activating FEMA resources and unlocking assistance for survivors and local governments. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Trump in a presidential Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning that FEMA was deploying funding and resources quickly. "We’re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA, streamlining it, much like your vision of how FEMA should operate," Noem said. Noem said the rapid delivery of funds to Texas resembled the "state block grants" model Trump has promoted. It’s an idea that would replace FEMA’s current system of reimbursing states for response and recovery expenses at a cost-share of at least 75%. "This is a defining event that can help them realize that a Federal Emergency Management Agency is essential," said Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff in the Obama and Biden administrations. "Imagine if an event like this happened a year from now, after FEMA is eliminated. What would the president or secretary (Noem) offer to the governor of Texas if there is no FEMA?". The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA did not immediately respond to questions about Noem’s remarks, including whether FEMA was doing something different in how it moved money to Texas, or why it resembled a block-grant system. While Noem and Trump have emphasized that Texas is leading the response and recovery to the floods, that has always been FEMA’s role, said Justin Knighten, the agency’s director of external affairs during the Biden administration. While Trump and Noem often say they want states to take on more responsibility in disaster response, experts say the tragedy in Texas underscores how even the most capable states need support. "It’s true that Texas is very capable, but I think it’s something that people forget that FEMA pays for a lot of state and local emergency capacity," said Maddie Sloan, director of the disaster recovery and fair housing project at the policy nonprofit Texas Appleseed. The Texas Division of Emergency Management’s budget of over $2 billion is mostly funded through federal grants. "If a state like Texas asks for federal assistance within two days, the smaller states that are less capable don’t stand a chance," said Jeremy Edwards, FEMA’s deputy director of public affairs during the Biden administration.

NBC News [7/9/2025 4:27 PM, Laura Strickler, Monica Alba, Jonathan Allen and Julia Ainsley, 44540K] reports the devastating Texas flooding that has killed nearly 120 people is the first high-profile disaster the Federal Emergency Management Agency has faced during the current Trump administration. But while the loss of life has been catastrophic, former and current FEMA officials told NBC News that the relatively small geographic area affected means it’s not a true test of what the agency, whose full-time staff has been shrunk by a third, is capable of doing in the wake of a disaster. The real tryout could come later this summer, they say, when there is always the threat that a hurricane could hit several states. As the agency’s future is debated — President Donald Trump has talked about possibly "getting rid of" it — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees it, has tightened her grip. Noem now requires that all agency spending over $100,000 be personally approved by her, according to current and former FEMA officials. To prevent delays on the ground, on Monday FEMA officials created a task force to speed up the process of getting Noem’s approval, according to two people familiar with that unit. While Noem has been exercising more direct control over the agency, there is a void created by the largely voluntary exodus of FEMA leaders. In May, the agency announced in an internal email the departures of 16 senior officials who took with them a combined disaster expertise of more than 200 years. "DHS and its components have taken an all-hands-on-desk approach to respond to recovery efforts in Kerrville," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News. On Wednesday afternoon, officials gathered for the second meeting of the FEMA Review Council, which the president has set up to determine the agency’s future role. Trump told reporters in early June, "We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level." As of now FEMA still has the same mandate and is managing more than 700 open disasters, according to Chris Currie, who tracks and audits the agency for the Government Accountability Office.

NewsMax [7/9/2025 7:18 PM, James Morley III, 4622K] reports Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem implied Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Biden administration was so inept in dealing with the 2023 Lahaina wildfires that 1 out of every 6 survivors had to resort to selling sex for basic human essentials. "After the wildfires in Maui, residents voiced concerns that every FEMA employee that they spoke with had different answers," Noem said during a meeting of the FEMA Review Council. "None of them had conversations that resulted in getting assistance that was helpful or any clarity in their situations. The situation in Lahaina was so bad that 1 in 6 survivors were forced to trade sexual favors, other favors for just basic supplies." On Aug. 8, 2023, devastating wildfires ravaged much of the small Maui town of Lahaina, claiming more than 100 lives. The disaster put many residents on a collision course between lingering insurance claims and meeting basic life needs. In citing her statistic, Noem was referencing a report conducted by Tagnawa, a "Filipino feminist disaster response organization" based in Hawaii that polled 70 female Filipino fire survivors. Yet one of the authors of the report said the HHS was misrepresenting the data. Khara Jabola-Carolus told Politico on Wednesday, "I’m more concerned about just the gross manipulation of using that statistic to do the opposite of what the report calls for," she said. "Like funding FEMA to improve their response for women’s needs." "This job of remaking this agency is not nearly as simple as it should be," Noem said at the Wednesday meeting. "Because we’re up against decades of gross mismanagement and negligence. The list of FEMA’s failures is staggering. The scale of those failures is matched only by their longevity. FEMA has been disastrous at times, incompetent at times. And not just in the last few years but for decades."

CNN [7/9/2025 11:11 PM, Gabe Cohen and Michael Williams, 21433K] reports as monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and life-saving resources, like they have in countless past disasters. But almost instantly, FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles, four officials inside the agency told CNN. As CNN has previously reported, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — whose department oversees FEMA — recently enacted a sweeping rule aimed at cutting spending: Every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be released. For FEMA, where disaster response costs routinely soar into the billions as the agency contracts with on-the-ground crews, officials say that threshold is essentially "pennies," requiring sign-off for relatively small expenditures. In essence, they say the order has stripped the agency of much of its autonomy at the very moment its help is needed most. "We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it," a longtime FEMA official told CNN. "That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.". For example, as central Texas towns were submerged in rising waters, FEMA officials realized they couldn’t pre-position Urban Search and Rescue crews from a network of teams stationed regionally across the country. In the past, FEMA would have swiftly staged these teams, which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods, closer to a disaster zone in anticipation of urgent requests, multiple agency sources told CNN. But even as Texas rescue crews raced to save lives, FEMA officials realized they needed Noem’s approval before sending those additional assets. Noem didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began, multiple sources told CNN. Homeland Security officials have defended the federal response in Texas and President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle FEMA and shift more responsibility for disaster response to states. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for DHS, told CNN: "FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens. The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades.". But the additional red tape required at FEMA added another hurdle to getting critical federal resources deployed when hours counted. Texas did request aerial imagery from FEMA to aid search and rescue operations, a source told CNN, but that was delayed as it awaited Noem’s approval for the necessary contract. FEMA staff have also been answering phones at a disaster call center, where, according to one agency official, callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem’s approval for a contract to bring in additional support staff. The chaos has exposed a deeper uncertainty within FEMA about its ability to respond, its mission, and its authority under the Trump administration — just as hurricane and wildfire seasons have gotten underway. Officials within FEMA warn that if the disaster had spanned a larger area and multiple states, the confusion and delays could have been even more severe.

Washington Examiner [7/9/2025 10:19 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday blasted CNN for an article the outlet ran claiming Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delayed FEMA’s response to the Texas floods, calling the story a "FAKE NEWS LIE.” The report, citing anonymous sources, suggested the agency’s response was delayed by bureaucracy that required Noem to sign off on any contract and grant over $100,000 due to a Trump administration cost-saving rule. "This reporting is an unparalleled display of activist journalism and distracts from the robust, coordinated federal response led by Secretary Noem that has saved over 900+ lives," DHS said in a post on X. . "While these ‘journalists’ slept comfortably in D.C., Secretary Noem deployed to Texas, working day and night to approve every possible need that search and rescue workers had. Within moments of the flooding in Texas, DHS assets, including the U.S. Coast Guard, tactical Border Patrol units, and FEMA personnel, surged into unprecedented action alongside Texas first responders. The U.S. Coast Guard alone rescued over 230 Americans," the agency added. The article alleged that the spending rule strips the agency of its autonomy. "We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it," a longtime FEMA official said. "That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.” The article also suggested that Noem "didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began.” DHS told the outlet that FEMA is shifting away from being "bloated" to being "lean" in a statement. "FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens," spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. "The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades.” While FEMA’s response and local officials’ and meteorologists’ predictions of the storm have been debated, some regard the rain as a freak phenomenon that struck at the wrong time. Many people, including hundreds of campers and counselors at Camp Mystic, were celebrating the Fourth of July weekend when heavy rains hit, rapidly flooding the area overnight. Warnings had been in effect before the flooding hit, but many were unaware. As a result, many people have died or are missing in Central Texas, and the world has mourned the effects. President Donald Trump is set to visit the area later this week and has approved a disaster declaration. DHS said Noem is leading a "first-of-a-kind" approach that it describes as a "breakthrough in how FEMA supports state-led disaster recovery.”

Federal News Network [7/9/2025 6:31 PM, Justin Doubleday, 2346K] reports the Trump administration advisory body set up to review the Federal Emergency Management Agency is diving deeper into FEMA’s core responsibilities to see what could be led by states or other entities. The FEMA Review Council held its second meeting Wednesday in Louisiana. The meeting took place against a backdrop of devastating flooding in Texas and New Mexico, where personnel from FEMA and other agencies are currently aiding in the response efforts. The ongoing disaster has underscored the challenges with President Donald Trump’s desire to eliminate FEMA. Still, at the outset of the council meeting, Homeland Security Secretary Noem heavily criticized FEMA for perceived past failures, while saying state and local governments should lead on emergency management. "It has been slow to respond at the federal level," Noem said. "It’s even been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis, and that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency.". Noem also defended the federal response to the Texas floods. Some lawmakers have raised concerns that the Trump administration’s deep cuts to FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have hampered the preparedness and response to the disaster. "We owe it to all the American people to deliver the most efficient and the most effective disaster response," Noem said. "In fact, some of how we’ve responded to Texas is exactly how President Trump imagined that this agency would operate immediately, making decisions, getting them resources and dollars that they need so that they can conduct the response that they need to do on the ground.". The "Disaster Response and Recovery Assessment Subcommittee" is being led by Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida division of emergency management, and Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas division of emergency management.

NPR [7/9/2025 11:30 PM, Laura Sullivan, 37958K] reports more cabins and buildings at Camp Mystic — the tragic site of more than two dozen deaths in the Texas flood — were at risk of flooding than what the federal government had previously reported, according to new analysis from NPR, PBS’s FRONTLINE and data scientists. Maps by First Street, a climate risk modeling company in New York City, show at least 17 structures in the path of flood waters, compared to maps produced by FEMA, highlighting a longstanding risk facing many Americans. The analysis also shows at least four cabins for young campers were in an area designated by FEMA as an extreme flood hazard, where water moves at its highest velocity and depth. For decades, FEMA’s maps have failed to take rainfall and flash flooding into account, relying instead on data from coastal storm surges and large river flooding, even as climate change is supercharging rainfall intensity. Nationwide, First Street found more than twice as many Americans live in dangerous flood-prone areas than FEMA’s maps suggest, leaving many homeowners and even local officials unaware of the risk. "The unknown flood risk is bad from a preparation, financial standpoint, but there’s a human element here that often gets overlooked," said Jeremy Porter, head of Climate Implications at First Street. FEMA’s maps can serve as critical warnings to the public about potential danger, but they are also one of the few ways the federal government can require people to take precautionary measures. FEMA requires homeowners in certain flood prone areas to build in ways that could help them withstand a flood, often by elevating their homes. But in recent years, many properties affected by disasters are turning up outside FEMA’s floodplains. When Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina last year, 98 percent of the damaged homes were not included in FEMA’s maps. This meant that not only were most homeowners unable to claim flood insurance, most of them had not been obligated to build in a way that could have helped them better survive the storm. FEMA has known about this problem for years, but the agency lacks the mandate and funding from Congress to address it, according to Porter. "You think in principle people would say we should have better flood coverage, look what just happened," Porter says, "but it’s so heavily politicized that you can’t get anybody to bring it forward because they don’t want to be the people that raised flood insurance costs.”

Washington Post [7/9/2025 12:20 PM, Daniel Wu, Praveena Somasundaram and Todd C. Frankel, 32099K] reports the records note that Camp Mystic met state requirements to have a "written plan of procedures" to follow "in case of a disaster" posted in camp offices and to make "all camp staff and volunteers" aware of the plan. But the documents do not include any information on the contents of the plan, or what type of training staff and volunteers might have been given to ensure the safety of the more than 700 campers in residence when the floods hit. Major questions remain about how the tragedy unfolded at the nearly century-old camp, particularly in the cabins close to the river that housed most of the girls and staff who died. They include not only whether the disaster plan was sufficient and staff had adequate preparation, but whether camp staff were aware of the flood risk from forecasted storms heading into the July Fourth weekend. At least 109 people have died due to the floods, including at least 30 children, and more than 170 are missing. Five Mystic campers and one counselor were still unaccounted for as of Wednesday morning. The camp did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Camp Mystic is one of several summer camps located along the Guadalupe River, deep in the Texas Hill Country. Many of them sit near or within areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as high-risk flood zones, The Washington Post has reported. Accounts have emerged of how some Camp Mystic children were taken to safety. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem highlighted the efforts of a Coast Guard team from Corpus Christi, Texas, that reached Camp Mystic at about 2:30 p.m. by helicopter. They had set out earlier that day, but were delayed by poor weather.

Politico [7/9/25 2L40 PM, Kimberly Leonard, 2100K] reports House Democrats on Wednesday raised alarms about President Donald Trump’s proposed staff and budget cuts to weather monitoring and forecasting following deadly floods in Texas and New Mexico. In his budget request from May, Trump proposed cutting $2.2 billion in projects and grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including more than a dozen weather and climate labs. He has also called for reorganizing parts of the agency and shuttering FEMA in favor of moving disaster funding to the states. “If Trump continues to push expert NOAA, [National Weather Service] and FEMA staff out the door through payoffs and forced retirements, people will needlessly die,” predicted Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) The House Democratic members — most from hurricane-vulnerable Florida — held a Zoom call with former NOAA and National Hurricane Center officials to pressure Republican appropriators to ignore Trump’s budget request. They stressed the importance of the agencies’ ability to forecast how intense impending storms could be and to notify people to protect their homes and businesses or evacuate.

New York Times [7/10/2025 3:00 AM, Benjamin Oreskes, 138952K] reports that, since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has disbursed billions of dollars in grants to state and local governments to help with security and prevent terrorism. This funding has helped Everett, Wash., bolster its water and wastewater plants’ cybersecurity infrastructure. It paid for automated license plate readers in New Jersey and the salaries of state employees who, according to court documents, “provide cybersecurity training, plan risk mitigation efforts and combat domestic violent extremism.” And in New York, the grants have paid for National Guard members to patrol the subway, an increased law enforcement presence at the northern border, and 12 F.B.I.-certified bomb squads across the state. But the flow of funds is now being imperiled by FEMA officials, who are nearly two months behind in posting the latest application guidelines for the grants. The new application is expected to reflect additional requirements for cities and states to demonstrate compliance with President Trump’s priorities on immigration enforcement and dismantling diversity programs. But no one has seen the application, leaving longtime funding recipients in limbo and feeling increasingly anxious. In a letter last month to Kristi Noem, President Trump’s homeland security secretary, a coalition of associations that represent local and state officials wrote that the delay hurts “response and recovery capabilities across the country, and puts critical infrastructure at risk.” Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat of New York, followed up with her own letter this week to Ms. Noem. She wrote that the funding uncertainty puts “New York communities at a greater risk than perhaps anywhere else in the nation,” singling out the potential vulnerability of “the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.” After the joint Israeli-U.S. attack last month on Iran’s nuclear facilities, there have been heightened fears that Jewish communities across the country could be targeted in response. During the last fiscal year, FEMA distributed about $1 billion through its homeland security grant program for states to use to protect against terror threats. New York received about $220 million from that program, with a large share flowing to law enforcement agencies in New York City and its suburbs. The city’s Police Department, for example, used the money to pay intelligence analysts and teams that monitor for radiological weapons like “dirty bombs.” (Last month, FEMA awarded about $94 million to Jewish faith-based groups nationwide to help them increase protections against attacks.)

Washington Post [7/9/2025 8:09 PM, Joshua Partlow, Brady Dennis, Tim Craig and Marie-Rose Sheinerman, 32099K] reports Jaay Arredondo stood under the blazing Texas sun on Wednesday, taking in what little was left of Guadalupe Keys Resort, a once-tranquil RV park along the banks of the Guadalupe River. Nearby, chain saws hummed as volunteers slowly sliced through downed trees, trying to clear the way to the overturned trailers that sat mangled beneath the mountains of debris. "No telling what’s in there," said Arredondo, 38, who owns an auto shop in San Antonio. He and his wife, Kristy, a disabled veteran, had spent years visiting this area with their three daughters and wanted to help the families who had lost people in any way they could. At the Guadalupe Keys Resort RV Park in Center Point, Texas, volunteers help remove debris and search for the missing on July 9. (Video: Erin Patrick O’Connor, Zoeann Murphy/Washington Post). Like others, they had been shaken by just how many people remained missing in the wake of the catastrophic floods here. As of Wednesday morning, there were at least 161 in Kerr County alone, and 173 in the region overall. "Unfathomable," Arredondo said, echoing a sentiment felt up and down the banks of the river, where the searching carried on unceasingly almost a week after floodwaters roared through. For miles in every direction, the grim task unfolded once again Wednesday, as state and local authorities and bands of volunteers scoured the river. They moved on foot and horseback, in helicopters and in heavy machinery, overturning piles of debris by hand and peering into crumpled cars for any signs of those who had vanished. Even NASA acknowledged that it had joined the effort, saying in an email that it had deployed two conduct aircraft surveys to assist state and local authorities in ongoing operations. "We are just looking for bodies or parts," said Lee Pool, 53, the chief of the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department. "Anything that can give these families closure.” One question looming was how so many people could remain missing amid the constant, widespread searches. In part, officials and residents say, so many people were drawn to the beloved area, especially over the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend. Not only were there hundreds of young campers at nearby summer camps, but up and down the Guadalupe, RV parks and campgrounds also were packed with holiday visitors. "It’s the Hill Country," Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said. "There are so many places you can camp right along the river.”

New York Times [7/9/2025 5:51 PM, Edgar Sandoval, 153395K] reports officials in Kerr County struggled to provide answers on Wednesday about their response to a devastating flood that swept through the Texas Hill Country nearly a week ago, killing at least 119 people statewide. The bulk of those deaths were in Kerr County, where the death roll reached 95 and officials said 161 people were still missing — a major increase from the numbers they were citing earlier in the week. Statewide, 173 people were unaccounted for as searchers continued to probe the muddy remains of cabins, campers and trailer parks. Pressed about possible lapses in disaster preparation, Gov. Greg Abbott announced an agenda on Wednesday for a special session of the State Legislature this month that includes consideration of flood warning systems. But the session, which was announced last month, will address 14 other topics, including tax cuts and further restricting abortion. Facing questions at a news conference on Wednesday about a lack of warning sirens and other aspects of their disaster response, officials in Kerr County gave an extensive account of rescue efforts as the Guadalupe River rose early on July 4, saying hundreds of people had been saved by local emergency crews. “They rescued people out of vehicles. They rescued people out of homes that were already flooded, pulling them out of windows,” said Officer Jonathan Lamb with the police department in Kerrville, the county’s largest city. He added, “I know that this tragedy, as horrific as it is, could have been so much worse.” But officials said other answers about preparations and response would have to wait for an extensive review. “If improvements need to be made, improvements will be made,” the county sheriff, Larry Leitha, said at the news conference. Asked about the timeline for when increasingly urgent warnings from the National Weather Service were shared with residents, the sheriff asked for more time. “I believe those questions need to be answered,” he told reporters, adding, “We’re going to get that answer. We’re not running. We’re not going to hide.”

Daily Wire [7/9/2025 10:16 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3816K] reports President Donald Trump plans to travel to Texas on Friday to meet with victims of the devastating Fourth of July weekend flooding that led to at least 110 deaths. The president will be joined by first lady Melania Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, he confirmed during a Tuesday cabinet meeting. Parts of the Texas Hill Country along the Guadalupe River were hit with sudden flash floods and more than 170 people are still missing. "I’ll be going down on Friday with the first lady and we will be taking a trip. And we don’t want to get in anyone’s way because, you know, it’s what happens. The president goes, and everyone’s around focused. I don’t want anyone to focus on us," Trump said. First responders are still searching for potential survivors as Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday that 161 people were missing in Kerr County and another 12 throughout other impacted areas. Emergency responders have rescued at least 850 people. "They could have somebody saved still," Trump said. "And, you know, probably unlikely at this point, but that could be. I mean, they’re thinking there could be the possibility, but, what a tragic situation." Trump also stated that the relationship between federal responders and Texas first responders was very good, noting that numerous federal helicopters were deployed to assist local rescuers.

Breitbart [7/9/2025 11:59 AM, Staff, 3077K] reports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent administrative subpoenas to Harvard University demanding that it turn over data on its Student Visitor and Exchange Program. "We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard. Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release announcing the subpoenas. "Harvard, like other universities, has allowed foreign students to abuse their visa privileges and advocate for violence and terrorism on campus. If Harvard won’t defend the interests of its students, then we will.". In a statement to The Hill on Wednesday, Harvard said it plans to follow all "lawful requests" but dismissed the subpoenas as "unwarranted.". In May, Noem said in a letter to the school, "As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege." Noem announced in April that the government would cancel two grants to the school worth more than $2.7 million. She said the school was "unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.". Wednesday’s release said the university’s refusal to comply means "these subpoenas are the only option left for the Department." "Other universities and academic institutions that are asked to submit similar information should take note of Harvard’s actions, and the repercussions, when considering whether or not to comply with similar requests," DHS warned. The New York Post [7/9/2025 12:44 PM, Ryan King, 49956K] reports that the administrative subpoenas will force Harvard to furnish communications, records and other information dating back to Jan. 1, 2020, relating to how the elite university has enforced immigration laws. Fox News first reported on the subpoenas. The probe is also investigating the "criminality and misconduct" of students on campus, particularly those involved in its student exchange program. Noem had made requests for that material on April 16 and on May 22, she directed DHS to cut off its certification of Harvard’s SEVP. Failure to adhere to administrative subpoenas could lead to criminal charges, contempt of court or other types of punishment. A spokesperson for Harvard told The Post that the Ivy League school is "committed to following the law.". "While the government’s subpoenas are unwarranted, the University will continue to cooperate with lawful requests and obligations, the spokesperson added. The New York Times [7/9/2025 12:54 PM, Alan Blinder and Michael C. Bender, 153395K] reports that the two sides have exchanged offers since last month, when they started exploring a potential deal over the federal government’s role in admissions, hiring and curriculum, according to two people who requested anonymity to describe private talks. The details of those offers were unclear, but Wednesday’s moves from the Trump administration suggested that the government has been dissatisfied with Harvard’s proposals. The Department of Homeland Security issued administrative subpoenas seeking data about the university’s international students. Separately, the Education and Health and Human Services Departments opened a challenge to Harvard’s accreditation based on the administration’s finding that the university violated federal civil rights law by not adequately addressing what it said was the harassment of Jewish people on campus. The administration itself cannot revoke accreditation, which is essential for students to be eligible for federal student aid programs, such as Pell Grants. But the administration told Harvard’s accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education, that it believed the university might be out of compliance with its standards. “By allowing antisemitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators and American taxpayers,” Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said in a statement. “The Department of Education expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.” Harvard did not immediately comment on the status of its talks with the government. But in statements on Wednesday, the university described the subpoenas as “unwarranted” and rejected the administration’s civil rights accusations. The university said that it was “far from indifferent” to antisemitism and that it “continues to comply” with accreditation standards. It noted that its accreditation had been uninterrupted since 1929, when it was first reviewed. Kristi Noem, the homeland security security, said in a post on social media that “if Harvard won’t defend the interests of its students, then we will.” “We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard,” Ms. Noem wrote. “Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way.”

Reported similarly:
Politico [7/9/2025 5:55 PM, Bianca Quilantan, 2100K]
The Hill [7/9/2025 9:43 AM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 18649K]
Reuters [7/9/2025 5:19 PM, Nate Raymond and Brendan O’Brien, 51390K]
Axios [7/9/2025 10:44 AM, April Rubin, 13599K]
CBS News [7/9/2025 11:53 AM, Melissa Quinn, 51860K] Video: HERE
NewsMax [7/9/2025 11:08 AM, Staff, 4622K]
Daily Wire [7/9/2025 6:14 AM, Zach Jewell, 3816K]

NBC News [7/9/2025 6:00 PM, Kimmy Yam and Chloe Atkins, 44540K] reports in a rare federal trial Wednesday in which university groups are challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists, the Department of Homeland Security shared how it got the names of some of the students who were targeted for deportation. During day three of the proceedings in Boston, Peter Hatch, a senior DHS investigations official, said most of the names of student protesters who were flagged to the agency for analysis came from Canary Mission. The anonymous group has published a detailed database of students, professors and others who it says have shared anti-Israel and antisemitic viewpoints. Canary Mission said in an email that it has not been working with DHS and pointed out that its database is public. The plaintiffs, the Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the Middle East Studies Association and three other scholar groups, allege the deportations violated the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge William Young questioned Hatch about the lists of students provided to the agency. The trial is set to stretch into next week. It follows the administration’s arrests, beginning in March, of Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk and other students whom it accused of being national security threats. The students were released after judges found that their detentions violated free speech rights. ABC News [7/9/2025 4:40 PM, Nadine El-Bawab, 31733K] reports a division of the Department of Homeland Security created a team that was instructed to look into more than 5,000 people who were named on a doxxing website that lists purported critics of Israel on U.S. college campuses, a government official testified in federal court Wednesday. This is the first time a government official has detailed how far the government has gone in its efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration may have revoked more than 300 student visas since the start of the second Trump administration. As the result of a March 2025 meeting of senior officials with Homeland Security Investigations -- a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- the "Tiger Team" was created to look into student protesters on U.S. college campuses, Peter Hatch, the assistant director for the Office of Investigations within DHS, testified in Massachusetts federal court. The testimony came during Day 3 of a bench trial over the Trump administration’s efforts to deport international students and scholars who express pro-Palestinian views, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, who were both detained by the government but have since been released. The lawsuit was filed by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, which represents hundreds of professors and students across the country. CNN [7/9/2025 1:57 PM, Holmes Lybrand, 21433K] reports Hatch said during questioning from a lawyer for the professors that in early March he was given a list of names of students for his agency to investigate and that "most" of those names came from the website Canary Mission, but also from other places. The list was produced by a Department of Homeland Security team created in March to gather reports on people involved in student protests to submit to the State Department. "Because of the workload," Hatch said, analysts were moved from working on counterterrorism, global trade, and cybercrimes to join the group, known as the "Tiger Team," focused on writing reports about people involved in student protests. His comments are the first time an administration official has said in open court that the government relied on the website this year as it has targeted student protesters, including by moving to deport some alleged outspoken supporters of Palestinians. The anonymously run Canary Mission website says it "documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American campuses and beyond." It also says it will profile people who support efforts to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel or companies associating with Israel – which were among the demands of some campus pro-Palestinian protests last school year. CNN reported earlier this year that a separate but similar website said it shared with the government a list of noncitizen protesters and activists it believes should be deported, but the Department of Homeland Security denied at the time that it was working with either group. Hatch said in a deposition last month that among the entities providing names to his agency is the office of border czar Tom Homan but that he wasn’t sure which of those entities specifically pulled their names from Canary Mission. During the deposition, he testified that "more than 75%" of the names of student protesters his agency was asked to probe came from the website.

Reported similarly:
Politico [7/9/2025 4:04 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 2100K]

AP [7/10/2025 12:01 AM, Holly Ramer and Mike Catalini, 3077K] reports a federal judge in New Hampshire will hear arguments Thursday on whether to certify a class-action lawsuit that would include every baby affected by President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a pregnant woman, two parents and their infants, is among numerous cases challenging Trump’s January order denying citizenship to those born to parents living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, the plaintiffs are seeking to have their case certified as a class action and to block implementation of the order while litigation continues. “Tens of thousands of babies and their parents may be exposed to the order’s myriad harms in just weeks and need an injunction now,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in court documents filed Tuesday. At issue is the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The Trump administration says the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means the U.S. can deny citizenship to babies born to women in the country illegally, ending what has been seen as an intrinsic part of U.S. law for more than a century. “Prior misimpressions of the citizenship clause have created a perverse incentive for illegal immigration that has negatively impacted this country’s sovereignty, national security, and economic stability,” government lawyers wrote in the New Hampshire case. “The Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting American citizenship to … the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws.” Several federal judges have issued nationwide injunctions stopping Trump’s order from taking effect, but the U.S. Supreme Court limited those injunctions in a June 27 ruling that gave lower courts 30 days to act. With that time frame in mind, opponents of the change quickly returned to court to try to block it. The New Hampshire plaintiffs, referred to only by pseudonyms, include a woman from Honduras who has a pending asylum application and is due to give birth to her fourth child in October. She told the court the family came to the U.S. after being targeted by gangs. “I do not want my child to live in fear and hiding. I do not want my child to be a target for immigration enforcement,” she wrote. “I fear our family could be at risk of separation.”

FOX News [7/9/2025 10:43 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss recent attacks on ICE agents, Democratic mayors resisting the crackdown on illegal immigration and TSA’s reversal of the ‘shoes off’ airport security rule. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/9/2025 11:00 AM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46878K] reports a group of House Republicans is calling for an "immediate" probe into an app that allows people to track federal immigration actions in real time. House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, R-Texas, and Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, said the ICEBlock app "paints targets" on the backs of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents throughout the U.S., and asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether the program’s creators are violating federal law. "We are disturbed to learn that the developers of this app may be encouraging people to interfere with and evade lawful ICE operations designed to remove criminals from our streets. While the creators of this app claim to promote ‘awareness,’ their actions actively undermine the integrity of our justice system," their letter to Bondi said. "The development and use of this app is not simply neighborhood awareness; it is a blatant interference with agency operations that has the potential to put government agents in danger and even cost them their lives." The memo was signed by five other House lawmakers: Reps. Randy Weber, R-Texas; Michael Rulli, R-Ohio; Tom Tiffany, R-Wis.; Mark Alford, R-Mo., and Brad Finstad, R-Minn. It comes as the Trump administration’s severe crackdown on illegal immigration continues to be a political flashpoint between the right and left. Both sides have accused the other of acting outside the scope of federal law. Democrats have claimed the Trump administration is using dubious legal justifications to carry out President Donald Trump’s deportation goals, while Republicans argue that left-wing officials’ opposition to ICE amounts to impeding federal authorities.

Reuters [7/9/2025 4:06 PM, John Kruzel, 51390K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court maintained on Wednesday a judicial block on a Republican-crafted Florida law that makes it a crime for immigrants in the United States illegally to enter the state. The justices denied a request by state officials to lift an order by Florida-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams that barred them from carrying out arrests and prosecutions under the law while a legal challenge plays out in lower courts. Williams ruled that Florida’s law conflicted with the federal government’s authority over immigration policy. The Supreme Court’s action came in a brief, unsigned order with no noted dissents. Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, and other state officials filed the emergency request on June 17 asking the Supreme Court to halt the judge’s order. Williams found that the Florida law was likely unconstitutional for encroaching on the federal government’s exclusive authority over U.S. immigration policy. The state’s request to the justices was backed by America First Legal, a conservative group co-founded by Stephen Miller, a senior aide to President Donald Trump and a key architect of the administration’s hardline immigration policies. Florida’s immigration measure was passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law in February by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. It made Florida one of at least seven states to pass such laws in recent years, according to court filings. The American Civil Liberties Union in April filed a class action suit in federal court on behalf of two immigrants in the country illegally who reside in Florida, an immigration advocacy group and the nonprofit group Farmworker Association of Florida, whose members include immigrants in the United States illegally who travel in and out of Florida seasonally to harvest crops. Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the Supreme Court’s denial of Florida’s request "reaffirms a bedrock principle that dates back 150 years: States may not regulate immigration.". "It is past time for states to get the message," Wofsy said. The law imposes mandatory minimum sentences for adult immigrants in the country illegally who are convicted of entering Florida after arriving in the United States without following federal immigration law. Florida officials contend that the state measure complies with - rather than conflicts with - federal law. The Washington Examiner [7/9/2025 8:30 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K] reports Senate Bill 4C, approved by Florida’s legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) earlier this year, makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to enter the state if they had been deported or previously denied entry into the United States, regardless of their history or if they had become lawful residents. Re-entering the state after being deported would have been deemed a felony. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asked the Supreme Court to intervene last month and allow law enforcement. He said the state and its citizens will "remain disabled from combating the serious harms of illegal immigration for years as this litigation proceeds through the lower courts," without intervention. But the Supreme Court is leaving U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’s preliminary injunction in place while a legal battle on the law continues. Florida’s position is supported by 18 states, which have submitted an amicus brief backing the immigration law. The ACLU has filed a motion opposing the law, saying it would undermine federal immigration enforcement and "lead to an unmanageable patchwork of varying state criminal regulations of immigration.” The Justice Department has also filed a 33-page amicus brief backing Florida in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The Trump administration said the law does not "preempt" federal supremacy over immigration law, and that Florida’s S.B. 4C "is in harmony, not conflict, with federal law.” However, the appeals court declined to pause the injunction. The ACLU said in a court filing that several other states have tried to pass similar legislation, but all remain blocked in the courts.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [7/9/2025 4:33 PM, Adam Liptak, 138952K]
Washington Post [7/9/2025 5:07 PM, Ann E. Marimow, 32099K]
NPR [7/9/2025 3:33 PM, Nina Totenberg, 37958K]
Axios [7/9/2025 6:06 PM, Russell Contreras, 13599K]
CBS News [7/9/2025 3:15 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51860K]
USA Today [7/9/2025 6:24 PM, Maureen Groppe, 75552K]

The Hill [7/9/2025 4:10 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports Los Angeles leaders said Tuesday the city would join a lawsuit against the Trump administration over immigration raids in the local area. The city will join the American Civil Liberties Union in suing the federal government, alleging officials are using "unlawful tactics to achieve its intended arrest numbers." Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied the allegations. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence," McLaughlin told The Hill, denying that arrests are not made based off of the color of someone’s skin. (B) NBC News Daily [7/9/2025 3:24 PM, Staff] reports several southern California cities are teaming up to fight the ongoing immigration raids. They have joined a lawsuit filed by the ACLU claiming the operations are unlawful and unconstitutional. The cities of LA, Pasadena, Monterey Park, Montebello, Pico Rivera, West Hollywood, Culver City, and Santa Monica joined the lawsuit against the Trump administration. LA’s attorney says the suit asks for an injunction to stop what they call unconstitutional immigration enforcement and to stop from holding people in federal buildings in what they say are unlawful conditions. The Department of Homeland Security responded to the lawsuit, denouncing, in part, the claims.

The Hill [7/9/2025 11:59 AM, Filip Timotija, 18649K] reports South Sudan confirmed this week that eight convicted criminals, who were deported by President Trump’s administration, are now in its custody. South Sudan’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the eight migrants — who hail from countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam — landed in Juba, the country’s capital city, on Saturday. The men have no connection to the African country. The foreign ministry’s spokesperson Apuk Ayuel said to reporters on that the eight men landed at Juba International Airport following "standard deportation procedures undertaken" by the Trump administration. Ayuel said, according to The Associated Press (AP), that the migrants are "under the care of the relevant authorities who are screening them and ensuring their safety and well-being.". The Department of Homeland Security told The Hill’s sister network NewsNation on Saturday that the flight with eight migrants landed in South Sudan on Friday. The men were held at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti for weeks. The deportations of the group of migrants and acceptance by the South Sudanese government have sparked pushback from some leaders. "South Sudan is not a dumping ground for criminals," the executive director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, Edmund Yakani, said, according to AP.

Wall Street Journal [7/9/2025 7:57 PM, Robbie Gramer, Alexander Ward, and Tarini Parti, 646K] reports as President Trump met Wednesday with the leaders of five West African countries, his administration was pushing them to accept migrants deported by the U.S. whose home countries refuse them or are slow to take them back, according to an internal document and current and former U.S. officials. Before the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Mauritania, Gabon and Guinea-Bissau arrived at the White House for the summit on economic and security issues, the State Department sent each country requests to take in migrants, underscoring the overlap between the administration’s aggressive deportation campaign and its foreign policy. Trump appeared to allude to the U.S. requests during the Wednesday summit. “I hope we can bring down the high rates of people overstaying visas, and also make progress on the safe third country agreements,” he said during opening remarks. The U.S. proposal calls for the countries to accept the “dignified, safe, and timely transfer from the United States” of third country nationals, according to an internal State Department document provided to governments in the region that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The countries would have to agree not to return transferred migrants “to their home country or country of former habitual residence until a final decision has been made” on their claims for asylum in the U.S., according to the document. It is unclear whether any of the countries who met with Trump on Wednesday have agreed to the U.S. proposal. None of the African leaders mentioned it during the public portion of the meeting. The White House and State Department didn’t respond to questions about the document and the requests to the countries. The embassies of Liberia, Senegal, Mauritania, Gabon and Guinea-Bissau didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Axios [7/9/2025 3:20 PM, Sommer Brugal, 13599K] reports this week, the Miami Herald offered the first glimpse into the conditions inside Alligator Alcatraz, the immigration detention center in the heart of the Everglades. Accounts from the facility, which began accepting detainees July 2, one day after President Trump toured the grounds, portray a grim environment for the detainees being kept there. Plans for the facility were met with strong opposition from community members and environmental groups, who argued it would be detrimental to the surrounding wetlands. The reported conditions for the detainees will likely add to the opposition. One detainee reported it being too cold inside the tent to sleep, but later that the air conditioning stopped working, leading to hot temperatures. Multiple detainees reported large bugs and swarms of mosquitoes inside the cells. Reports indicated detainees were unable to flush toilets and weren’t given access to showers for several days. One account said the state had yet to provide a secure phone line for detainees to call their legal counsel. A lawyer for a detainee told the Herald she’s been unable to get in touch or confirm her client’s whereabouts. HCA Florida confirmed to the Herald that a detainee from the facility arrived at the hospital Monday for care. State officials called it "fake news" before acknowledging an inmate arrived at the hospital but adding he wasn’t admitted. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management invited state lawmakers and members of Congress to tour the facility this weekend, one week after a group of officials were denied access.

CBS 12 West Palm Beach [7/9/2025 8:18 PM, Sophie Pendrill] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is denying reports of improper living conditions for detainees at Alligator Alcatraz after reports of a hospitalization surfaced. Reports this week have claimed that the detainees at the detention facility in the Florida Everglades are surrounded by toilets that don’t flush, temperatures ranging from freezing to sweltering, little to no access to showers, less confidential calls with an attorney, and even a hospitalization, according to the Miami Herald. However, DHS took to X to debunk those claims, stating that the detainees are properly cared for. Furthermore, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said on X that no detainees at Alligator Alcatraz have been hospitalized. She continued to state that one was transported but was returned to the detention center in an hour and a half. The facility is run by the state of Florida. CBS News Miami has reached out to the Florida Department of Emergency Management (FDEM) for comment on the alleged conditions. Additionally, CBS News Miami said that Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade is asking for access to the detention facility due to concerns over reported deaths and dangerous conditions at immigration centers across the state.

Breitbart [7/9/2025 12:01 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports migrants detained by the Trump administration at Gitmo have criminal histories including sexual assault, pedophilia, and murder, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release. As previewed early on in President Trump’s second administration, Guantanamo prison is being used to detain migrants as officials work to get criminal illegal aliens off the streets. DHS provided a sampling of some of the migrants detained at the facility, showcasing that these are not innocent individuals — as the left would like the masses to believe — but dangerous criminals with extensive pasts. Many of these crimes are consistent with those of the arrestees of other illegal immigrants — from Florida to California — as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) works to take dangerous criminal illegals off the streets. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Guantanamo Bay is "holding the worst of the worst including child predators, rapists and murderers." "Whether it is CECOT, Alligator Alcatraz, Guantanamo Bay or another detention facility, these dangerous criminals will not be allowed to terrorize U.S. citizens. President Trump and Secretary Noem are using every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country," she said. "Our message is clear: Criminals are not welcome in the United States.".

Daily Wire [7/9/2025 6:49 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3816K] reports the FBI busted a multi-million dollar marijuana trafficking scheme run by Chinese nationals, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Seven Chinese nationals were charged over an alleged marijuana conspiracy operating out of Massachusetts and Maine. Investigators said that the operation, which began in January 2020, generated millions of dollars by distributing kilogram-sized quantities of marijuana in bulk. "This case pulls back the curtain on a sprawling criminal enterprise that exploited our immigration system and our communities for personal gain," said U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. "These defendants allegedly turned quiet homes across the Northeast into hubs for a criminal enterprise – building a multi-million-dollar black-market operation off the backs of an illegal workforce and using our neighborhoods as cover. That ends today." Those charged are 39-year-old Jianxiong Chen, 36-year-old Yuxiong Wu, 38-year-old Dinghui Li, 35-year-old Dechao Ma, 35-year-old Peng Lian Zhu, 35-year-old Hongbin Wu, and 47-year-old Yanrong Zhu. Yanrong Zhu "remains a fugitive," while the others were all taken into federal custody, according to the DOJ. They are all charged with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, and many face money laundering charges as well. Chen, who investigators say was the mastermind behind the operation, is also charged with smuggling aliens into the United States.

Breitbart [7/9/2025 1:16 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested several illegal alien pedophiles and sexual offenders in Minneapolis, according to a Wednesday press release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These arrests took place as part of an operation that spanned from June 6 to June 11, 2025. "Under Tim Walz’s leadership, these depraved individuals have been walking freely around Minneapolis with impunity terrorizing American children," DHS wrote in the press release. Several Laotian criminal illegal aliens are listed in the press release. Pao Angelo Vang, arrested by ICE on June 6, has been convicted of 2nd degree sexual assault of a child, as has Thong Lao, who was arrested the same day. Va Vang, also a Laotian criminal illegal alien, has been convicted of 1st degree sexual assault, while Xiong Pao Vang has been convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14. Both were arrested by ICE on June 6. That same day, ICE arrested Yia Xiong, convicted of 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct. Days later, ICE arrested Pok Vue, convicted of 4th degree criminal sexual conduct. Other Laotian illegal aliens arrested by ICE were convicted of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree sexual conduct. "These pedophiles and sex offenders are the sickos our brave ICE law enforcement are putting their lives on the line to arrest and remove from American communities," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, criticizing Democrat Gov. Tim Walz for embracing sanctuary policies that have allowed these criminals to roam free. "Instead of comparing ICE to the Nazi-Gestapo, Governor Walz should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these pedophiles from Minnesota," she added.

Daily Wire [7/9/2025 4:15 PM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3816K] reports Trump’s Department of Homeland Security slammed a Minnesota newspaper for suggesting that illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes against children may have just been confused about American culture. The agency slammed the Minnesota Star Tribune on Wednesday for running an article that said a group of Laotians arrested for child sex crimes may be victims of a “cultural misunderstanding.” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire that the story was one of the worst examples of media coverage of the deportations of convicted criminals. “We have seen a lot of gross reporting, but this may take gold for despicable. There is no excuse for anyone to commit crimes against innocent children. These pedophiles are the types of sickos our brave ICE law enforcement officers are putting their lives on the line to arrest and remove from American communities,” she said. Last Thursday, the Star Tribune wrote that the Department of Homeland Security was overlooking the fact that Laotians arrested for child sex crimes grew up in a culture where young marriages are normal. “Some Hmong Minnesotans say they suspect many of the decades-old arrests that led to the deportations were a result of Hmong culture encouraging girls as young as 14 to date and even marry older men, which is against the law in the United States,” the outlet reported. One of those featured sympathetically in the article was Chia Neng Vue, an illegal alien from Laos who was convicted in 1998 of criminal sexual conduct with a child under the age of 13 and committing a crime for the benefit of a gang. Despite a judge ordering his removal in October 2003, Vue continued to rack up a criminal history in the United States. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Vue was arrested at least five more times between 2009 and 2012 for crimes including possession of a gun, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and domestic abuse. “This illegal alien repeatedly broke our laws, committed sex and other violent crimes,” McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. “Why does the media continue to peddle sob stories of criminal illegal aliens — including child pedophiles — but ignore their American victims?” “Instead of glorifying child pedophiles and violent criminal illegal aliens, the Minnesota Star Tribune should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these pedophiles from Minnesota,” she added.

Bloomberg Government [7/9/2025 8:53 PM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 111K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to slash more employees after the US Supreme Court cleared the path this week for many agencies to carry out mass layoffs. "Across DHS, we will be eliminating non-mission critical positions and bureaucratic hurdles that undermine our mission to secure the homeland," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Bloomberg Government on Wednesday. The plans come in response to the Supreme Court’s Tuesday order allowing President Donald Trump to continue widescale federal downsizing after a lower court paused the effort. The litigation involves more than a dozen agencies, including DHS.

Wall Street Journal [7/9/2025 5:38 PM, Staff, 646K] reports President Trump is voiding work authorizations for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and other troubled places, and on Monday he ended temporary protected status, or TPS, for thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans. A day later Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pledged no compromise on mass deportation and “a 100% American workforce.” Does the White House really mean that, or is it another fusillade of rhetorical deterrence? Sometimes Mr. Trump talks about giving farms and hotels a deportation pass, given how much they rely on immigrant labor. By the way, these Hondurans and Nicaraguans were originally granted TPS after Hurricane Mitch tore through Central America in 1998. It’s reasonable to ask what’s so “temporary” about this protection. On the other hand, if people have lived and worked in the U.S. under TPS for 30 years, what’s to be gained by kicking them out? The loss side of the ledger is that mass deportation of productive employees will drain economic growth and make it harder for Mr. Trump to deliver a return to the prosperity of his pre-Covid first term. Consider an economic paper published Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “Our analysis,” the authors say, “raises the concern that a sharp tightening of immigration policies has the potential to substantially reduce output growth.” The study is based on a model that includes historical data on immigration and the economy from 1955 to 2019. “U.S. GDP growth typically increases for two years in response to an unexpected increase in net unauthorized immigration and then gradually reverts to its mean,” the authors write. “Inflation shows almost no response in the first few years but decreases slightly at longer horizons.”

The Hill [7/9/2025 9:30 AM, Kimberly Wehle, 18649K] reports on Friday night, the Trump administration deported eight migrants to South Sudan after the Supreme Court — for the second time — gave it permission to go ahead regardless of the Constitution, federal statutory law and international law. In her dissenting opinion from the majority’s first decision in this case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that "thousands will suffer violence in far-flung places as a result.". That time has now come. And the justices in the majority are personally responsible. Under a federal statute first enacted in 1952, the government can only deport eligible noncitizens to countries from which they arrived or where they want to be removed. If those options are not feasible, Congress specified that the government can consider countries where the deportees are citizens, where they were born or where they have a residence. If those don’t work either, the government can consider "third-country removal," or deportation to any "country with a government that will accept them." This last route is how more than 200 migrants landed in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, where they still remain. And now eight men are in South Sudan. According to their lawyers, they are originally from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and Sudan (which is separate from South Sudan). But there’s more. In order to conduct third-country removals, the government must attempt all of the other options first and make a determination that they are all "impracticable, inadvisable, or impossible.". America is also a party to the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits deporting any person "to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.". In 1988, Congress passed a statute implementing that treaty, which states that the government shall not "expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture, regardless of whether the person is physically present in the United States.". So before sending a migrant to a third country, the government is supposed to satisfy these legal criteria as well. Normally, a judge assesses whether the government has met its burden. That’s called basic due process. The Trump administration is snubbing them all.After a judge ordered that a Guatemalan man could not be removed to his home country, which he had fled after facing torture for being gay, the Trump administration sent him to a third country, Mexico. Then Mexico sent him to Guatemala. The U.S. government didn’t bother to tell the judge that it was even considering a third-country deportation to Mexico, so the man got no due process — the Trump administration just did as it pleased. The administration returned the man to the U.S. in early June after agreeing to comply with a court order, and he was arrested by ICE and moved to an detention facility. After this incident, a group of noncitizens filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking an injunction preventing their own third-country removals without notice and an opportunity to be heard under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

The Hill [7/9/2025 11:00 AM, Tobias Burns, 18649K] reports more than 90 Democratic lawmakers filed a brief with a federal court this week telling it to block an agreement between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would give the immigration agency access to private taxpayer data. The group of 93 senators and representatives called the data sharing agreement "unprecedented" and said it violates U.S. tax law. "Despite clear congressional intent and decades of consistent IRS policy, the Trump administration is attempting to weaponize our tax code to meet arbitrary and draconian immigration enforcement quotas," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in a statement along with the amicus brief, filed in Centro de Trabajadores Unidos v. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In the U.S., workers who are in the country illegally still often pay income and other types of taxes, as their wages can be subject to the same withholding and tax filing obligations U.S. citizens and other authorized workers are subject to. "It’s no accident that the IRS and Congress for decades allowed all workers to pay into our system — it is an obvious and indisputable benefit for our nation," Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement.

New York Times [7/9/2025 7:15 PM, Ana Ley, 153395K] reports from New York City to Los Angeles, images of immigrants being handcuffed by armed federal agents who are clad in plainclothes and balaclavas have become an indelible symbol of President Trump’s deportation crackdown. Now, Democratic elected officials around the nation are coalescing around an effort to disrupt the arrests by prohibiting law enforcement officials from concealing their identity in public. In California, lawmakers introduced a measure in June that would prevent such officials at all levels from covering their faces on the job and require them to wear uniforms with clear identification. State and city officials in New York on Wednesday said that they would pursue a similar initiative, with the clear target being federal immigration authorities, especially those who occupy the hallways of courthouses waiting to take immigrants into custody. “We’re in the midst of an autocracy, and we will not stand for it,” said Tony Simone, a state assemblyman and a Manhattan Democrat who drafted the proposal in New York. Republican leaders seem certain to challenge the plan in court, setting up jurisdictional battles as liberal cities and states endeavor to protect immigrants from the president’s widening dragnet. In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that the effort to unmask federal agents who work for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has undermined their safety. “The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens,” Ms. McLaughlin said in an emailed statement. “Make no mistake, this type of rhetoric is contributing to the surge in assaults of ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE.”

NewsMax [7/9/2025 3:52 PM, Sam Barron, 4622K] reports a new bill proposed in Massachusetts aims to ban Immigration and Customs enforcement from wearing masks while on the job. State Rep. Jim Hawkins, a Democrat, introduced a bill that bars any law enforcement officers from wearing "any mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties," WBZ News reported. Law enforcement officers would also be required to have their names and badge numbers on their uniforms. Medical masks and SWAT teams would be exempted. ICE acting director Todd Lyons previously defended agents wearing masks during a press conference in Boston last month. An ICE spokesperson previously told CBS News that ICE agents and their families are facing a 500% increase in assaults. The "No Masks for ICE Act" was recently proposed in Congress by Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/9/2025 3:00 PM, Areta Odiah, 18649K]

CBS New York [7/9/2025 6:23 PM, Allen Devlin, 51860K] Video: HERE reports New York City elected officials plan to introduce a new bill that is designed to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks or other face coverings while acting as federal agents. The proposed legislation is called the Mandating End to Lawless Tactics, or MELT, Act. City officials claim ICE agents wearing masks while making arrests is both illegal and stoking fear in the community. ICE has said that face coverings are for its agents’ protection, as threats against them have drastically increased since President Trump took office. On Wednesday morning, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Assemblymember Tony Simone unveiled the bill, which they said is in direct response to a recent increase in ICE funding, something city officials say will bolster the agency’s presence in New York City. "When police wear masks, democracy loses its face," Simone said. "I introduced the MELT Act to stop unmasked agents from terrorizing our communities. No badges, no names, no rules -- this must stop.". Lander spoke about what he claims are the dangers of masked ICE agents. "It is, as the assemblymember made clear, done for the purpose of striking fear into asylum seekers and immigrants, with the hopes that they will be terrorized by masked gangs who seek to grab and abduct them," Lander said. Lander has tangled with ICE agents before, having been arrested by them back on June 17 after defending a man who had just had his case dismissed in immigration court. While taking questions at the White House on Wednesday, the president spoke negatively against a similar federal bill proposed by Sens. Alex Padilla and Cory Booker that would require ICE agents to identify themselves. "These officers are doing a tremendous job. They are great patriots," Mr. Trump said. "If you expose them because of statements that have been made by Democrats and others on the left, you put them in great danger, tremendous danger.". CBS News New York reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about the MELT Act, and received the following statement: "First, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander assaulted our brave law enforcement. Now, he is comparing them to ‘secret police.’ Our agents are being assaulted by rioters with rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at them and shot at. These sanctuary politicians must tone down their rhetoric. This despicable rhetoric about our brave law enforcement has contributed to a 700% increase in assaults against them," a spokesperson said.

Breitbart [7/9/2025 5:47 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 3077K] reports President Donald Trump blasted Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) on Wednesday over their bill, which would require Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to display legible identification and prohibit them from wearing face coverings. A reporter asked Trump during a multilateral meeting with African leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House if he would ever sign the bill, called "the VISIBLE Act," should it reach his desk. He responded by saying Booker and Padilla hate America. Trump then highlighted that Democrats do not take issue with protesters, like those seen on college campuses, regularly sporting more than just masks to hide their faces, as they do with ICE and CBP officers.

NewsMax [7/9/2025 9:03 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K] reports that, Kari Lake, President Donald Trump’s top adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, warned Wednesday on Newsmax that Democratic efforts to unmask Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could endanger their lives and those of their families. Lake, a vocal advocate for law enforcement, blasted a new Democratic Party bill aimed at banning federal immigration officers from concealing their identities, calling the effort dangerous and potentially deadly for ICE agents. "It’s so sickening. My blood is boiling," Lake said during an appearance on "Rob Schmitt Tonight.” "Thinking about this, because you think about what these ICE agents are doing. These brave men and women — they’re going out and they’re tracking down the most dangerous people that are among us. These are gang members. These are gang leaders, cartel members, high up in the cartels," Lake said. The "Visibility for Immigration Enforcement Officers Act," or VISIBLE Act, was introduced Tuesday by Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey. The bill would prohibit immigration enforcement officers from covering their faces or operating in plain clothes or unmarked vehicles without clearly identifying their agency. The legislation follows widespread criticism of ICE officers reportedly detaining individuals without displaying identification or presenting warrants. The measure’s backers say transparency and accountability are essential in a democratic society, particularly when agencies conduct enforcement actions in public spaces. But Lake argued the bill would put federal agents and their families in immediate danger by exposing them to retaliation from transnational criminal organizations. "Let’s face it, they’re taking people who have come across illegally and bringing them in so they can be deported," she said. "A lot of these people who have come across the border are basically owned by the cartels. They’re indentured servants until they pay off whatever it costs them to get across the border.”

NPR [7/10/2025 5:00 AM, Leila Fadel, 37958K] reports a man lies pinned in the middle of the road, groaning in pain. He’s surrounded by men in tactical gear marked "Police," their faces covered by masks and dark sunglasses. One officer punches him repeatedly in the head. Outside a courthouse in San Antonio, a woman and her 3-year-old son are led away by men in plainclothes with their faces obscured. Her husband calls out, "My wife, my son," in Spanish. These scenes have been captured in various videos posted online by firsthand witnesses of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration across several U.S. cities. The arrests follow a pattern: masked agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers assigned to work with ICE, wearing plainclothes and sometimes arriving in unmarked vehicles. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told NPR that agents are covering their faces to protect themselves from doxing and increasing threats. But civil rights groups and legal advocates say it’s creating fear and undermining public trust.

Washington Examiner [7/9/2025 3:10 PM, Haisten Willis, 1934K] reports the "stupid people" who attacked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Texas deserve a long jail sentence, President Donald Trump said Wednesday. When asked whether ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents enforcing his mass deportation operation are under threat from a left-wing militia, Trump said the attackers are well-funded. During his remarks, Trump surmised that "there is money being put behind" the people who staged the attack. If found guilty, he said the people involved should face a "very stiff" penalty. Ten suspects were charged with three counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a violent crime. An 11th person was charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to attempt to conceal and destroy evidence.

Federalist [7/9/2025 7:24 AM, M.D. Kittle, 1142K] reports their silence is deafening. While Democrats have been quick to vilify ICE agents, they’ve been slow to condemn extremists’ reported attempts to murder ICE agents. "After running an around the clock hate campaign on our border patrol and ICE agents, it’s no surprise that Democrats are now silent when the very people trying to keep our communities safe are attacked," Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Tuesday in a statement to The Federalist. "It’s despicable, and it’s time they take responsibility for not only allowing millions of illegal immigrants to enter the country under the Biden Administration, but for demonizing the ICE agents who are simply enforcing the law." Democrats have done a lot of demonizing thus far in President Donald Trump’s second term. But their overheated rhetoric on the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the southern border and clean up the illegal immigration mess left by the previous administration has plunged into incendiary. As attacks on immigration law enforcers escalate, are ICE-hating Democrats complicit in the violence? Far-left Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, called ICE a "terrorist force" in a recent Instagram post. The "Squad" member says she finds it "inspiring" when people break the law to disrupt ICE operations. How she feels about the violent attacks on the Texas facilities isn’t clear. But acting ICE director Todd Lyons recently reminded America where Jayapal has stood. "An actual Antifa terrorist tried to blow up ICE’s Northwest Processing Center in Rep. Jayapal’s home state of Washington in 2019. At the time, she tried to blame the violent attack on rhetoric from the right, in defense of an actual terrorist who tried to murder detainees and employees alike!" Lyons said in a statement. "Now, she labels ICE officers enforcing immigration law set by Congress ‘terrorists.’" Lyons added that the failure of the Democratic Party to, as its members like to say, "turn down the temperature" of political discourse, comes as officers are facing a nearly 700 percent increase in assaults. Department of Homeland Security officials have urged Democrats to tone down the explosive rhetoric. A good start would be for liberals to condemn the attacks on law enforcement officials. But Dem leadership can’t seem to bring themselves to do so.

NewsMax [7/9/2025 5:16 PM, Solange Reyner, 4622K] reports immigration advocates, lawyers, and a growing number of U.S. citizens say more Hispanics are being racially profiled by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers, according to news reports and a new lawsuit. Axios on Wednesday said in its review of news reports, social media videos, and claims by advocacy groups that there were more instances in which U.S. citizens alleged they were wrongfully detained. The American Civil Liberties Union and other legal groups Wednesday filed a class action lawsuit alleging that immigration agents are racially profiling people. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denies the claim. "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE," McLaughlin said in a statement. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence," she added. "We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability."

Breitbart [7/9/2025 5:15 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports migrants in the United States on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are suing President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt their deportation to their home countries, claiming the president and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem are racist. This week, Noem announced the termination of TPS for tens of thousands of migrants in the U.S. from Honduras and Nicaragua. Last month, Noem similarly announced an end to TPS for migrants from Nepal. The migrants, represented by the National TPS Alliance, claim that Trump and Noem’s decision to revoke their TPS is partly based on racism against non-white immigrants. The migrants are asking the district court to rule that DHS’s move to end TPS for Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Nepalese migrants was unlawful under the Administrative Procedures Act and unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Axios [7/9/2025 5:39 AM, Russell Contreras, 13599K] reports a growing number of U.S. citizens — many of them Latinos — are reporting they were detained for various periods by immigration agents in what critics say were instances of racial profiling and overzealous policing. U.S. citizens aren’t supposed to be arrested or detained unless agents allege they’re breaking laws. But reports of citizens of Latino descent being detained — or stopped and asked to prove citizenship — are rippling through Latino communities nationwide. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hasn’t released statistics on such detentions in months. Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, told Axios that recent reports of citizens wrongly being arrested are false — and that "the media is shamefully peddling a false narrative" to demonize ICE agents. But an Axios review of news reports, social media videos and claims by advocacy groups about raids since President Trump took office found several instances in which U.S. citizens alleged they were wrongfully detained — in one case, for 10 days in immigration detention. The allegations come as ICE continues raids in mostly Latino communities in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego areas, cities in Texas, New Mexico, New York and Florida, and agricultural centers such as Central California.

USA Today [7/9/2025 6:15 PM, Josh Peter, Lauren Villagran, 75552K] reports a week after ICE arrested Julio Cesar Chávez Jr., his whereabouts are still unclear. At times, people detained by ICE don’t show up in the agency’s "detainee locator" for several days while they are being processed into custody. Chávez Jr. has been detained by ICE for a week. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told USA TODAY that DHS didn’t have an update to share on Chávez Jr. when asked Wednesday for information on his detention and whether he will be deported — or formally extradited — to Mexico, where he faces weapons and drug trafficking charges. Attorney Michael Goldstein, who represents Chávez Jr. for a case unrelated to the ICE arrest, told USA TODAY the Mexican boxer is in the custody of DHS. Two days ago, the attorney said he did not know if Chávez Jr. still was in the United States. Goldstein did not provide more information about Chávez Jr. on Wednesday.

CBS Colorado [7/9/2025 2:32 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51860K] reports the "big, beautiful bill" signed into law by President Trump last week will allow him to dramatically expand his immigration crackdown, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement an unprecedented pool of funding to bolster its efforts to arrest and deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The money allocated by the law amounts to the largest infusion of funds Congress has given the federal government for immigration enforcement, at a time when the Trump administration has vowed to oversee a deportation campaign of unprecedented proportions. Overall, the Republican-led Congress set aside roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security efforts through the legislation, including $75 billion in extra funding for ICE, making it by far the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. "The bill will supercharge immigration enforcement," said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an attorney at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. The law gives ICE $45 billion to expand its already sprawling detention system over the next four years, letting officials use the money to hold both single adults and families with children facing deportation. Based on cost estimates, the money could allow ICE to hold more than 100,000 detainees at any given time, roughly doubling the current capacity. On Wednesday morning, ICE was holding just over 58,000 individuals in its detention network, which was previously funded for 41,500 beds, according to internal agency data obtained by CBS News. ICE’s detention network mainly consists of facilities operated by for-profit prison companies and county jails. The Trump administration has also been exploring using military facilities in the U.S. to hold detainees before they are deported. The naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been housing some ICE detainees since February. ICE is also receiving nearly $30 billion in additional money to fund every single stage of the deportation process. Congress said ICE can use the money to hire additional deportation officers and other staff; retain current personnel through bonuses; increase transportation assets supporting deportation efforts; and expand and facilitate agreements that allow state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws. The funds can also be used to modernize ICE’s fleet of deportation planes and hire more agency prosecutors whose job it is to persuade immigration judges that unauthorized immigrants should be deported. The Department of Homeland Security has said the money could pave the way for ICE to hire 10,000 deportation officers. The agency currently has fewer than 6,000 officers in its deportation branch, though the Trump administration has tasked other federal law enforcement agencies, like the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, to support immigration arrests throughout the country. The law also gives the Department of Homeland Security a catch-all pool of $10 billion to support its "mission to safeguard the borders of the United States." Another $13.5 billion was set aside to reimburse states for their immigration enforcement and border security actions, including for efforts under the Biden administration. In a statement, Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, hailed passage of the "big, beautiful bill.". "The unprecedented funding for ICE will enable my hard-working officers and agents to continue making America safe again by identifying, arresting and removing criminal aliens from our communities," Lyons said.

CBS News [7/9/2025 3:50 PM, Sara Moniuszko, 51860K] Video HERE reports as the Trump administration continues its push to deport undocumented immigrants, doctors are hearing that some patients are avoiding getting the health care they need over fears that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids could take place in medical settings. Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, told "CBS Mornings Plus" on Tuesday that she has not seen any official ICE raids in hospitals, but that ICE agents have been seen in hospitals as well as other health care facilities. That’s because detention standards require that ICE detainees be provided medical services, including initial medical and dental screenings, as well as emergency care. "They are often bringing in people that they’ve detained for medical clearance," said Gounder, who is also a practicing internist and infectious disease expert in New York City. "We see this often with law enforcement. But it is creating an atmosphere of fear. And my colleagues and I have had numerous patients tell us that they hesitated or waited too long to come in for health care." And delays in care matter, Gounder added. Delayed care for a heart attack or stroke, for example, can lead to more loss of heart or brain tissue. In a statement to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the claims were false. "When our heroic law enforcement bring detainees into hospitals for medical care, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement. This is for the detainees and hospital staff safety," McLaughlin said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS New York [7/9/2025 8:27 PM, Dave Carlin, 51860K] Video: HERE reports a Spring Valley high school student who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month has been released. Dutan Pierre, who is originally from Haiti, is now a U.S. citizen and sponsored his son, Alan Pierre, expecting quick approval because he’s under 21 and has no criminal record. On June 4, however, as Alan left an immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan, he was handcuffed by masked federal agents and taken into custody. Alan spent five weeks at an ICE detention center, causing him to miss his finals and the deadline to sign up for summer school. Congressman Mike Lawler said he coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security to help facilitate Alan’s release on Wednesday. "I’m grateful for the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Noem for working with me to release Alan Junior Pierre, pending his parole claim being adjudicated. My office and I will continue to work closely with Alan and his family throughout the immigration process, as we have with families throughout the Haitian community and across my district," Lawler said in a statement. "The situation in Haiti remains dire, and I will continue to advocate for Haitian immigrants to be granted asylum and parole within the confines of the law.".

Breitbart.com [7/9/2025 4:02 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports an illegal alien, previously deported from the United States, will serve just 90 days in prison for chasing and threatening the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, John A. Sarcone III, with a knife in the sanctuary state of New York. Saul Morales-Garcia, a 40-year-old previously deported illegal alien from El Salvador, had been charged last month with second-degree attempted murder in Albany County, New York, after he allegedly approached Sarcone as he was leaving a hotel and threatened him with a knife. Sarcone backed away from the illegal alien, police say, and made his way back inside the hotel as Morales-Garcia shouted at him in Spanish, wielding the knife. Since then, Morales-Garcia was offered a plea deal, which he accepted — ensuring that he will serve only 90 days in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree menacing. Morales-Garcia, as part of the plea deal, will be ordered to stay away from Sarcone. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office dropped the attempted murder charges against Morales-Garcia because they say surveillance footage did not meet the legal standard to charge the illegal alien with such a crime, a move that Sarcone supported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have lodged a detainer against Morales-Garcia, hoping to get custody of the illegal alien despite New York’s sanctuary state policy. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking a criminal complaint against Morales-Garcia for illegally re-entering the U.S. after he was deported.

Daily Wire [7/10/2025 5:02 AM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports illegal alien and suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a member of a far-left organization that raked in cash from the Biden administration as it advocated for illegal aliens. Abrego Garcia, infamously and erroneously dubbed a “Maryland man” by Democrat politicians after he was deported to his home country of El Salvador, was a member of a leftwing organization called CASA, which lobbies on behalf of illegal aliens and is now advocating for the Salvadoran national to be shielded from deportation. The group called to abolish ICE and runs campaigns to prevent local law enforcement agents from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement, all while the Biden administration pledged more than $5 million to the organization. It also openly identified Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 human smuggler, as a member of the organization. “CASA is outraged that ICE deported CASA member Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in violation of a court order and at grave personal danger,” the organization wrote in a statement. Now, CASA falsely claims that “the Trump administration disappeared Kilmar Abrego Garcia.” The leftwing organization identified the suspected MS-13 gang member and human smuggler as one of its members in an April statement condemning his deportation, and has remained involved in the case, with CASA representatives appearing to flank his wife at a recent press conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Los Angeles Times [7/9/2025 8:50 PM, Carlos De Loera, 14672K] reports that, despite being granted bond last week by an immigration judge, journalist Mario Guevara remains in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Georgia detention center. Guevera, who left his native El Salavador over 20 years ago and founded Spanish-language new outlet MG News, was detained by ICE agents as he was reporting on a "No Kings" protest on June 14 in the Atlanta area. The 47-year-old journalist’s arrest was captured on video because he was livestreaming his news report as the incident occurred. Police officers from Doraville, Ga., warned protesters at the June 14 demonstration that they needed to disperse and upon that announcement Guevara made it known that he was a member of the media. In spite of voicing his media status, law enforcement is shown detaining him. He was then turned over to ICE. Guevara was charged with unlawful assembly, obstruction of law enforcement officers and a traffic violation for improperly entering a roadway, according to records provided by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. All of the charges against him were dropped on June 25. On June 24, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X about Guevara’s situation. "Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran national, is in ICE custody because he is in our country ILLEGALLY. Guevara was arrested by Dekalb County, Georgia police for willful OBSTRUCTION after he REFUSED to comply with local police orders to move out of the middle of the street," the post claimed. "Following his arrest by local authorities, ICE placed a detainer on him. Following his release, he was turned over to ICE custody and has been placed in removal proceedings." According to Guevara’s lawyer, Giovanni Diaz, the journalist’s family attempted to pay the $7,500 bail that he was granted last week by Georgia immigration judge James Ward, but their payment was denied. "We are of the opinion that there seems to be a concerted effort between different jurisdictions to keep him detained," Diaz told the Associated Press. "What we didn’t know [when the payment was allegedly denied] was what was going on in the background.” Diaz claims that ICE has challenged Guevara’s release to the Board of Immigration Appeals and requested that his bond be put on hold while the appeal is under review. Regarding Guevara’s residence status, Diaz noted that Guevara has a work permit and has a pathway to citizenship through the sponsorship of his adult son, who is a U.S. citizen. On Monday, Guevara posted a statement on social media with the help of some of his professional colleagues in which he revealed he is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution in Atlanta and made a plea for his release. "I hereby make a call to the Government of El Salvador, particularly President Nayib Bukele, to please intercede on my behalf with the Government of the United States, as I am being persecuted for having carried out my journalistic work while covering operations in the streets," his statement reads.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/9/2025 5:26 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K]

The Washington Times [7/9/2025 5:45 PM, Mallory Wilson, 261K] reports Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise helped to gain an Iranian woman’s release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he advocated for her. Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian, 64, has been living in the U.S. for 47 years. Her husband, Russell Milne, and daughter, Kaitlynn Milne, are both U.S. citizens. She was detained by ICE officers on June 22 while gardening at her New Orleans home, even though she has been allowed to stay in the country as long as she checks in regularly with immigration authorities, which she has religiously, her attorney and family said. The community rallied for Ms. Kashanian, leading to Mr. Scalise’s involvement. The majority leader, who represents Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Ms. Kashanian’s home, told NBC affiliate WDSU that he was working with her family and the Department of Homeland Security to get her home. Ms. Kashanian’s attorney, Ken Mayeaux, told The Associated Press that Mr. Scalise’s involvement was “absolutely crucial” to getting her released. Any details about what’s next for Ms. Kashanian’s legal status are still in the works. Mr. Mayueax said she “faithfully and fully complied” with the terms allowing her to stay with her husband and child. However, DHS doesn’t seem swayed by the community’s feedback. Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “the facts of this case have not changed.” “Mandonna Kashanian is in this country illegally,” she said. “She exhausted all her legal options.” NewsNation [7/9/2025 3:06 PM, Bella Dardano, 5801K] reports that after nearly three weeks in custody, her family confirmed she has been released, and a Republican lawmaker may be to thank. In June, Mandonna Kashanian’s daughter Kaitlyn Milne told Nexstar’s WGNO that her mother had been taken away by ICE agents while gardening outside her home. Sarah Gerig and her husband watched it all happen in real-time, claiming ICE agents gave no explanation. Kashanian came to the U.S. on a student visa when she was 17 years old. She reportedly applied for asylum but was denied. According to Milne, Kashanian was granted a stay of deportation in 1978, allowing her to stay in the U.S. under supervision. ICE claims Kashanian was ordered by a judge to leave the U.S. and did not. On Tuesday, a family member confirmed to WGNO that she was released on Monday night. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that "the facts of this case have not changed." "Mandonna Kashanian is in this country illegally," McLaughlin said. "She exhausted all her legal options."

Reported similarly:
Yahoo News [7/9/2025 5:47 PM, Allison Detzel, 59943K]

Daily Wire [7/9/2025 3:17 PM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an Egyptian national and former chaplain at a children’s hospital who was flagged on the FBI’s terror watchlist. Egyptian national Imam Ayman Soliman was arrested by federal immigration enforcement agents Wednesday after the man, whose asylum was revoked under the Biden administration, met with ICE and FBI agents, one report noted. Soliman, who formerly worked as a chaplain at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and presided over services at a local mosque in the Ohio city, first came to the United States roughly a decade ago and was granted asylum status in 2018. That status, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says, was revoked under the Biden administration. The DHS official also noted that Soliman "was flagged on the FBI terror watchlist," leading to his apprehension on Wednesday. Court documents indicate that members of Soliman’s family, who were still in Egypt, had filed a request to migrate to the United States to join him. Some supporters of Soliman say that he was fleeing violence and persecution in his home country and argue that he should not be sent back to Egypt. Even if his fears are found to be credible by the federal government, a recent Supreme Court ruling could enable his deportation to a willing third party country. The Trump administration deported several illegal aliens, who could not be returned to their home countries, to South Sudan after the African nation agreed to receive deportees from the United States. The deportation operation was swiftly challenged in court, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration. The ruling is expected to enable the deportation of thousands of illegal aliens whose home countries are unwilling to accept them, or who have credible fears of torture or persecution if they are returned to their nation of origin.

Axios [7/9/2025 6:18 AM, Alissa Widman Neese, 13599K] reports daily immigration arrests in Ohio have spiked 209% since President Trump took office in January, according to a New York Times investigation. The rise in arrests comes as Ohio lawmakers consider further expanding immigration enforcement and punishing interference. Critics fear such measures would increase racial profiling and distrust in law enforcement, and criminalize people whose only offense is their immigration status. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 1,000 people in Ohio between Jan. 20 and June 10, per data from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. Nationally during that period, ICE "more than doubled its daily immigration arrest rate, averaging 666 immigration arrests per day, compared with fewer than 300 per day in 2024," the NYT reports.

NewsMax [7/9/2025 12:22 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4622K] reports Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday that Windy City police "will not ever cooperate" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities. "You know, again, it’s unconscionable at a time in which so many working people and poor people need government to show up for them, that this administration, the Trump administration, has caused so much consternation and division," Johnson said at a press conference, according to the New York Post. He was responding to a question about whether the city would use the police department to shield students from federal agents conducting immigration raids without warrants. "Look, we are welcoming city ordinance," Johnson said. "Our local police department will not ever cooperate with ICE, whatever their constitutional authority is. That is obviously relegated to the Trump administration. All of our sister agencies, city departments have been thoroughly briefed by a corporate counsel, and I’ll pass it over to her in a second about what they can and cannot do.". Johnson, a Democrat, has been a fierce critic of the Republican administration’s use of ICE to carry out immigration enforcement activities.

FOX News [7/10/2025 2:58 AM, Bradford Betz, 46878K] reports the FBI is searching for a military veteran suspected of being involved in what authorities are calling an ambush on officers at an ICE detention facility in Texas on the Fourth of July. Benjamin Hanil Song, 32, of Dallas, is now the 12th suspect believed to be involved in last Friday’s ambush at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, is accused of firing two AR-15 style rifles at two correctional officers and one Alvarado police officer, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital. Song is charged with three counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. A Blue Alert was sent out to Texas phones Wednesday evening, alerting residents that Song is "wanted for involvement in the serious injury of a law enforcement officer.” The criminal complaint alleges that Song joined a group of 10 to 12 others in an organized attack on officers at the Prairieland Detention Center just after 10:30 p.m. on Friday. The group, dressed in black military-style clothing, began shooting fireworks toward the detention center, while others sprayed graffiti on vehicles and a guard structure in the parking lot at the facility, the complaint alleges. Correctional officers called 911 to report suspicious activity. An Alvarado police officer arrived on scene and was shot in the neck by a suspect in the woods. Another assailant across the street fired dozens of rounds at unarmed correctional officers who had stepped outside the facility, the complaint alleges. Federal prosecutors said Song purchased four of the guns that were found in connection with the shooting. Two of those – AR-style rifles – were found at the scene. One of them had a binary trigger, which allows the shooter to fire more rapidly than a standard semiautomatic gun. Investigators recovered additional firearms – including another AR-15 style rifle – while searching residences and vehicles. Ten assailants are accused of fleeing from the detention center but were apprehended by additional responding law enforcement officers. Song was not located by law enforcement officers, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges that a white Mercedes-Benz registered to a relative of Song was found two days later in the same block as one of the other assailant’s residences. Song is now wanted by the FBI and is considered armed and dangerous. The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. The ten others charged in the attack are: Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Nathan Baumann, Zachary Evetts, Joy Gibson, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Seth Sikes, Elizabeth Soto and Ines Soto. Another person has been charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy for attempting to conceal and destroy evidence, prosecutors said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/9/2025 4:16 PM, Cameron Arcand and Bill Melugin, 46878K] Video HERE reports United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit arrested an alleged MS-13 kingpin and MS-13 associate in Nebraska on Wednesday. The kingpin is on El Salvador’s "Top 100 Most Wanted" list, but his name is not yet being released by authorities. He is wanted for "aggravated homicide of five victims, attempted aggravated homicide, deprivation of liberty and terrorist organization affiliation," according to an ICE press release. "These illegal aliens didn’t just sneak into our country, they brought with them a legacy of violence, terror, and death," Mark Zito ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge of Kansas City, stated. "They thought they could hide in America’s heartland, but they were sadly mistaken, not on our watch." In addition, an alleged "MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist" associate who is also wanted in the Central American nation for allegedly "giving orders" to members of the gang to commit a range of serious crimes such as murder and drug trafficking was also taken into federal custody, according to ICE. The arrest was considered "targeted enforcement action" in Omaha, with authorities saying the two were a "serious threat" to the area. The two were both living illegally in the U.S., and the investigation is being done by ICE and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Federalist [7/9/2025 4:30 PM, Abigail Nichols, 1142K] reports on Tuesday three anti-ICE protesters were charged with assaulting an officer along with other offenses during ongoing protests outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Portland, Oregon. A fourth individual was charged for allegedly "defacing the ICE building" with graffiti. "[F]or weeks, individuals have repeatedly targeted the building and federal law enforcement officers with threatening statements, discharging pepper spray, and throwing rocks, trash, and bricks," the U.S. attorney’s office for the district of Oregon said in a Tuesday press release. Riley Freeman (26 years old) faces charges of "felony offenses of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and possession of an unregistered destructive device." Andrew Marcum (22) and Ian Joseph McCarthy (35) were also charged with a felony for "assaulting a federal officer." The fourth protester, Jeremy Hummel (27), was charged with a misdemeanor for "depredation of government property.". The federal building has been "under siege" for "more than 30 executive days," with many rioters affiliated with "the anarchist extremist group Antifa" camping outside the building, The Post Millennial reported. Officers arrested rioters at the same facility on June 14 when "No Kings" protests happened across the country. On June 20, six rioters were charged with misdemeanor offenses, including "assaulting federal officers and creating a hazard on federal property." The Department of Homeland Security noted that on July 4 "violent rioters targeted an ICE facility in the Portland area — assaulting law enforcement, vandalizing federal property, and burning the American flag.".

The Hill [7/9/2025 3:21 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports members of the Diocese of San Bernardino were relieved of the obligation to attend Mass and encouraged to take up personal prayer on Tuesday in light of the increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the state of California. The bishop’s office said the decree will remain in effect until further notice or until the "circumstances necessitating this decree are sufficiently resolved." FOX News [7/9/2025 7:36 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] reports that on Tuesday, San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas announced his decree. "All members or the Faithful in the Diocese of Jan Bernardino who, due to genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions, are unable to attend Sunday Mass or Masses on holy days of obligation are dispensed from this obligation," he wrote. Meanwhile, Rojas encouraged parishioners to engage in alternative spiritual practices. Normally, Catholic bishops have issued such decrees during times of natural disasters, war and other extreme events. "In issuing this decree, I am guided by the Church’s mission to care for the spiritual welfare of all entrusted to my care, particularly those who face fear or hardship," Rojas wrote. The Diocese of San Bernardino is the sixth largest in the United States, and serves around 1 million Catholics in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Tuesday’s announcement came after immigration authorities conducted an operation at a Los Angeles park a day earlier. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appeared at the scene demanding an end to the raid. "They need to leave, and they need to leave right now," she said at MacArthur Park. "They need to leave because this is unacceptable!". California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has heavily criticized President Donald Trump over his illegal immigration crackdown, said the decree was in response to the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, including immigration raids on courthouses and public spaces. "Freedom of religion? Not in Donald Trump’s America," Newsom wrote on X. "People now have to choose between their faith and their freedom.".

Daily Wire [7/9/2025 10:50 AM, Mary Margaret Olohan, 3816K] reports asked about a Catholic bishop in California who told illegal immigrants they no longer have to go to Sunday mass, White House Border Czar Tom Homan did not mince words. "This is BS," he told The Daily Wire in response to news that San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas issued a decree on July 8 dispensing those in his diocese from attending Mass "due to potential immigration enforcement actions by civil authorities" if they have "genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions." His dispensation is in effect until "such time as this decree is revoked or amended.". The bishop was referring to President Donald Trump’s immigration actions, which include ICE raids throughout the country. Rojas stated that he is "guided by the Church’s mission to care for the spiritual welfare of all entrusted to my care, particularly those who face fear or hardship.". Homan dismissed the announcement, saying, "I do not know of a single incident of a church arrest.". The bishop’s decree may stem in part from the Trump administration’s reversal of a Biden-era policy blocking immigration officials from making arrests at schools, houses of worship, or other "sensitive locations." The Department of Homeland Security said in January that it would not "tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.". "We would only go in if there was a violent criminal who was actively hiding out there or something," Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire, suggesting that an arrest at a church only might occur if an MS-13 gang member was inside.

Univision [7/9/2025 3:24 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports on the morning of Tuesday, July 8, an immigration operation in a Home Depot parking lot in the Van Nuys area resulted in at least four people being detained, including a U.S. citizen. This is Genaro Ernesto Ayala, an activist and representative of day laborers, who, according to witnesses, was violently arrested when he tried to intervene to prevent the detention of one of the workers being detained by ICE. On social media, the head of Customs and Border Protection shared photos of Ayala and the three other detainees, accusing them of “interfering with a federal investigation” and allegedly “creating a tire-damaging device.” It took several hours for organizations that work with day laborers to locate Ayala and learn the charges against him. They were finally informed that he faces charges of obstructing a federal investigation and disturbing public order.

Breitbart [7/9/2025 11:51 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 3077K] reports Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Tuesday that the city will be joining a private class action civil lawsuit against the Trump administration over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. The mayor has sided with protests against the ICE raids, even defending violent riots that have targeted federal, state, and local law enforcement, saying that the violence will stop when the ICE raids also stop. A statement from Bass’s office said: "The federal government has concentrated thousands of armed immigration agents, many of whom lack visible identification, and military troops in our communities, conducting unconstitutional raids, roundups and anonymous detentions, sowing fear and chaos among our residents," said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. "Today’s motion to intervene shows we will not stand by and allow these raids to continue or to become the standard operating procedure in our communities." Central to this effort is a request to intervene in a class action lawsuit "Perdomo v. Noem," which was brought on behalf of people who have been unlawfully stopped or detained by federal agents. The lawsuit alleges that federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have engaged in unconstitutional and unlawful immigration raids by targeting Angelenos based on their perceived race and ethnicity and also denying detainees constitutionally-mandated due process.

Blaze [7/9/2025 8:36 AM, Julio Rosas, 1805K] reports the vehicle convoy made up of Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and the California National Guard was immense as it made its way toward MacArthur Park to conduct an immigration sweep of the crime-ridden area. The joint effort between the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense was in conjunction with other enforcement operations happening in Los Angeles County on Monday amid Democratic leaders calling for the raids to end and locals becoming increasingly unhinged. Bystanders on the street started to heckle and jeer at the convoy arriving at MacArthur Park. Once agents exited vehicles and formed a perimeter, people started to gather to voice their anger at the operation. With the high-profile operations and anti-DHS riots, the normal street vendors were not at the park. No arrests were made, but the operation was also intended to show that the federal government has the ability to deploy a large number of assets in the crowded city. Illegal immigrants in the region were arrested in other operations that occurred on Monday. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) arrived at the scene and demanded to speak to the person in charge of the operation. She was given a cell phone to speak with El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino and had a brief conversation. Bass asked when the task force would leave, to which Bovino replied that agents would leave once their mission was over.

SFGate [7/9/2025 5:05 PM, Madilynne Medina, 11859K] reports Videos outside of the San Francisco Immigration Court show a chaotic and brutal scene as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents clashed with protesters Tuesday. The videos, published on social media and by Mission Local, show an aggressive altercation with some protesters being shoved by ICE agents against the courthouse doors located at 100 Montgomery St. At one point, protesters jumped on the hood and the side of a van after ICE agents pulled an individual into the vehicle. The van then moved slowly through the crowd of protesters. The ICE agents wore body armor along with face masks as they brandished batons and pushed protesters out of the way. Shrieks and shouting can also be heard during the scuffle in the video. After the initial confrontation, the agents walked to ICE headquarters, located nearby at 630 Sansome St., where they were met with more protesters, Mission Local reported. At the courthouse, at least one person was pepper sprayed and the shoving continued, the outlet reported. A man wearing a police vest identified by Mission Local as an ICE agent was photographed pulling out a rifle. In a social media statement, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, whose area covers the Mission District, said it is "deeply troubling" that an agent pulled out a rifle. "Trump’s ICE is trying to deport people who are *following the rules* and showing up to courts," Fielder said in her post. "This isn’t about protecting public safety. It’s about power, fascism, and oligarchy.". Robert Rueca, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, declined to provide details to SFGATE about the altercation and said the department was not involved. He said SFPD does not have any reports of injuries and directed SFGATE to federal authorities. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the ICE San Francisco Field Office did not respond to SFGATE’s request for information.

Reported similarly:
Axios [7/9/2025 7:17 PM, Shawna Chen, 13599K]

Breitbart [7/9/2025 8:31 AM, Randy Clark, 3077K] reports four anti-ICE activists were arrested after allegedly planting homemade tire deflation devices around vehicles belonging to federal law enforcement agents conducting immigration enforcement operations in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon. In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino, who is spearheading immigration enforcement operations in the greater Los Angeles area, reported the incident and provided photos of the makeshift tire deflation devices. In one image, a device can be seen piercing a tire of one of the federal law enforcement vehicles. Bovino announced the arrests shortly afterwards in an additional post, identifying the suspects as Jenaro-Ernesto Ayala, 43, Jude Jasmine Jeannine Allard, 28, Sadot Jarnica, 54, and Daniel Montenegro, 30. According to Chief Bovino, the case has been forwarded to the United States Attorney’s Office. The case is under review by prosecutors. At the time of the arrests, agents located several of the homemade tire deflation devices and a tote bag that bore the logo of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). CHIRLA provides legal services to immigrants and advocates for immigration reform. A social media post by CHIRLA on Instagram urges its followers to track and report U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Los Angeles to a rapid-response telephone line.

New York Times [7/9/2025 5:58 PM, Francesca Regalado and Soumya Karlamangla, 138952K] reports tensions over immigration enforcement in San Francisco escalated this week when federal agents clashed with activists who tried to block an arrest outside a courthouse, with the agents at one point driving away in a van with protesters hanging from the hood of the vehicle. The confrontation on Tuesday came as frustrations grow in the San Francisco Bay Area over federal agents’ aggressive efforts to detain immigrants after they attend required immigration proceedings. Since late May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have regularly been spotted around the San Francisco Immigration Court building downtown, including in its hallways and waiting rooms and outside its doors. Their presence has attracted a growing number of protesters who have tried to block the building’s entrances and shouted at and scuffled with officers. A month ago, demonstrations forced the immigration courts in both San Francisco and Concord, about 30 miles northeast, to close for nearly two days. The new ICE approach is a significant break from past practice, when immigration officials largely steered clear of courthouse arrests out of concern that they would deter people from complying with legal orders. Videos taken by witnesses and local news media, and verified by The New York Times, on Tuesday show masked agents, with body armor and batons, pushing through a crowd of demonstrators to load a handcuffed man into a black minivan. The footage shows agents and protesters shoving one another as some protesters surround the van. The van then began to drive slowly down Montgomery Street, even as several protesters clambered on top of it, footage shows. One video captures the van speeding up with one protester clinging to the hood before falling onto the asphalt. “Someone’s going to get run over,” Joel Garcia, an entrepreneur who captured the footage from a high-rise building across the street, says in the video, which he posted to X. Emily Covington, a spokeswoman for ICE, said in a statement that protesters on Tuesday had “violently attacked and obstructed federal ICE officers who were simply doing their job by enforcing the rule of law.” She added, “Of course these protesters have zero respect for the rule of law, as they so casually violate it.” The courthouse arrests have come as the Trump administration is trying to increase deportations as part of its immigration crackdown. In an email, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security defended the arrests. Immigrants who have a valid claim for asylum can continue with their proceedings, but those who don’t “will be subject to a swift deportation,” the spokesperson said. The department said that most immigrants who entered the United States within the past two years are subject to “expedited removal” if they could not show that they have a valid claim for credible fear of returning to their home countries. The San Francisco Police Department said in an email that no injuries had been reported from the episode on Tuesday, and that it had not been involved.

Telemundo [7/9/2025 9:39 PM, Joey Safchik, 37K] reports a grandmother who planned to document ICE detainers at the San Diego courthouse made headlines Tuesday after a video of her own detention began circulating. An ICE agent accused the woman of pushing her. After spending hours in police custody, the woman denied it to NBC 7 on Wednesday. The latest video to shock the immigrant community from the San Diego immigration court is not of an immigrant, but of a 71-year-old U.S. citizen, Barbara Stone. Stone was handcuffed and held by federal agents for eight hours Tuesday, according to her family. "I have a big bruise there," Stone said Wednesday. "I feel traumatized mentally and physically." In video of the incident, which was shared with NBC 7, viewers can see the moment tensions erupted. A female officer says Stone shoved her. NBC 7 made several attempts to contact ICE about the incident, but was referred to the Federal Protective Service, a different agency, and has yet to receive a response. NBC 7 spoke with Stone’s husband, Gershon Shafir, on the day his wife was detained. "She’s a soft-spoken person who was here to protect innocent refugees, and she’s the last person in the universe who would hit an agent or interfere with his work," Shafir said. Stone was at the courthouse to observe the proceedings and how federal agents act, which is legal and, according to Ruth Mendez of Detention Resistance, is a 1st Amendment right. "The fear is very, very real here," Mendez said, "and the volunteers who are showing up today are coming, knowing that there may be a risk of our own detention." No charges have been filed against Stone, but his family said his phone was confiscated. Mendez is concerned about unseen effects, such as people deciding not to show up voluntarily. In fact, in the video, an officer is heard suggesting that more people might be arrested. "The message it sent was very clear: that let’s be afraid to go back and do the work we’re doing," Mendez said, adding that "all Americans should know that this is how their taxpayer money is being spent, and that it’s really a disgrace. The people who are really suffering are the people who are seeking asylum." For her part, Stone said she would volunteer again.

Washington Examiner [7/9/2025 6:00 AM, Beth Bailey, 1934K] reports on June 12, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicant Sayed Naser was arrested by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials outside an immigration courtroom in San Diego. Before Naser’s arrest, government officials motioned to dismiss his asylum case. Naser’s arrival in the United States came on the heels of years of fear and uncertainty following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. On his SIV application, Naser cited multiple years of work for the U.S. government as a translator and logistics contractor, which reportedly put him in the Taliban’s sights. In 2023, Naser’s brother, also a colleague, was murdered by the Taliban at a family wedding. Fearing for his life, Naser fled to Iran with his family, sought a humanitarian visa to Brazil, and made his way to the U.S.-Mexico border. In Mexico, Naser waited for an appointment through the now-defunct CBP One app and entered the U.S. in July 2024. At least 8,100 Afghans are known to have entered the U.S. between 2021 and the end of July 2024. Customs and Border Protection has not been able to answer questions in the past about how many of those arrivals were SIV or U.S. Refugee Admissions Program applicants. Many immigrants, including Naser, who were paroled into the country through CBP One received notice in early 2025 that their parole was revoked, warning them to return to their homeland through the renamed CBP Home app. Returning to his homeland was an unsafe option for Naser, whose surviving brother was granted asylum in the U.S. two months ago. Acknowledging heightened immigration concerns for our allies and in direct response to Naser’s arrest, the nonprofit groups Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and #AfghanEvac teamed up to create Battle Buddies. The program allows veterans to sign up to accompany our Afghan allies to immigration court hearings. Shawn VanDiver, the president of #AfghanEvac, said the initiative was intended "to ensure that no Afghan wartime ally ever stands alone in immigration. No slogans, no confrontations, just presence." Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has said Naser’s immigration records include no evidence of his service with the U.S. government. Employment documents were provided to the press, showing Naser’s years of work on multiple contracts supporting the U.S. and Afghan militaries. The State Department did not respond to questions about whether it has evidence of Naser’s service, particularly through DAS-T, a little-known vetting mechanism for SIV applicants formerly named Project Rabbit.

Telemundo [7/9/2025 5:20 AM, Staff, 9K] reports the Trump administration has continued its crusade against Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which began during his first term, although for now it has left the protection in place for El Salvador, a country that has been an ally of the White House in its policy of mass deportations, although this is not a guarantee. In recent months, the Department of Homeland Security has announced the cancellation of TPS for more than 800,000 immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti, and this Tuesday officially ended the benefit for nearly 76,000 Hondurans, Nicaraguans , and Nepalis. The program’s termination leaves immigrants vulnerable to deportation and without work permits. In all its decisions, the White House has argued that conditions in their home countries no longer meet the criteria for TPS designation. TPS protection is granted to citizens of a specific country who have migrated to the United States due to a natural disaster or armed conflict. It allows them to live and work in the country until the U.S. government deems it safe for them to return. Currently, immigrants from 17 countries are protected by TPS.

USA Today [7/9/2025 12:03 PM, Rachel Barber, 75552K] reports a home care worker wakes at 3:30 a.m., showers, and prepares for a more than 10-hour day of attending to her clients. She cooks. She cleans. She replaces catheter bags. She bathes her clients, checks their blood pressure and ensures they take their medication. When she wraps up her shift at the home of a disabled U.S. Iraq War veteran at 4:30 p.m., she is off the clock but returns to the home of her first client, a 92-year-old woman with dementia who lives alone, and cooks her dinner. She earns $18.50 an hour and is provided no health care benefits. She loves her job but worries President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and plans for mass deportations could threaten her ability to do it. "Not all immigrants who come here cause harm. Most are here to contribute," the home care worker told USA TODAY in Spanish through a translator during interviews conducted in the spring. "It’s sad and disheartening to see how immigrants are being treated.". She has asked that her real name not be used for fear of being targeted for deportation. USA TODAY has confirmed her identity, agreed to provide her anonymity, and will refer to her as "Julia.". Julia is one of many immigrants living in the country with no clear path to citizenship. She came to the U.S. 23 years ago from El Salvador as a Temporary Protected Status holder after an earthquake devastated her home country. She now faces growing uncertainty as Trump targets others with similar legal but fragile immigration statuses, a focus that could disrupt a caregiver industry that is heavily dependent on foreign-born workers. In February, the Trump administration said it would end an extension of Temporary Protected Status for more than half a million Haitian and nearly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants this year. In June, the Department of Homeland Security said it is revoking Employment Authorization Documents for some individuals on a case-by-case basis, and for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who participated in a parole program that is now terminated. There have been other actions. The president signed an executive order in January arguing the U.S. should revoke people’s birthright citizenship if they are the children of immigrants without legal authorization. Though a U.S. appeals court blocked the order in February, in June, the Supreme Court ruled that district judges don’t have the power to block presidential actions entirely.

NewsMax.com [7/9/2025 4:24 PM, James Morley III, 4622K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) warned green-card holders that their legal immigration status can be revoked if they engage in criminal activity, the agency announced this week. "Attention Green Card Holders: Having a criminal history does not make you an upstanding lawful permanent resident. Possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right. Under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke your green card if our laws are broken and abused. In addition to immigration removal proceedings, lawful permanent residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention," the CBP posted on X on Tuesday. According to estimates by the Office of Homeland Security Statistic, 12.8 million green-card holders were residing in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2024. The Trump administration vowed to crack down on immigration violations, which includes those individuals who may have abused the visa system.

Reuters [7/9/2025 11:57 AM, Nathan Layne, 51390K] reports accompanied by their newborn son, Michelet and his wife arrived at the St. Vincent de Paul Community Center in Springfield, Ohio, last week looking for help from the non-profit’s volunteers. They wanted to apply for a valuable document for the infant that for now seems out of reach for them as Haitian immigrants: a U.S. passport. With their own legal status precarious, Michelet and his wife see the passport as crucial proof that their U.S.-born son is an American citizen. But they know that their son’s citizenship will do nothing to stop the Trump administration from following through on its goal of deporting them - and hundreds of thousands of other Haitian immigrants - back to the violence-racked Caribbean island nation. Michelet, who only provided his first name for fear of drawing attention from immigration agents, said he was not interested in migrating to a third country and sees his pending asylum claim as the best option for staying in the U.S. "Moving to Canada or another country would mean starting over," said the 35-year-old, who works for a local auto parts company and came to Springfield via Chile more than two years ago. "I’m already here. I have a job and experience here." Some migrants began exploring such contingency plans after the Department of Homeland Security said on June 27 that it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status providing legal status for half a million Haitians, effective September 2. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that the earthquake no longer posed a risk and that ending TPS showed Trump was "keeping his promise to restore sanity to our immigration system." Eligible Haitians could pursue legal status through other means, she said.

FOX News [7/9/2025 4:02 PM, Cameron Arcand, Brooke Taylor, William La Jeunesse, 46878K] reports one of the suspects charged with ties to the anti-ICE attack at the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas, was granted a green card under the Biden administration and is a prior recipient of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada, 38, is the husband of one of the alleged attackers. He is referenced in the unsealed criminal complaint lodged against 10 individuals who allegedly attacked the detention center over the weekend, which resulted in an Alvarado police officer being shot in the neck. The officer is expected to recover. The 10 suspects are facing federal charges, including multiple counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and "discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence." Sanchez-Estrada was part of a separate criminal complaint, as he was arrested by the FBI on Monday on a felony charge of "conspiracy to tamper with evidence" as they were executing a search warrant. The unsealed complaint alleges that Sanchez-Estrada was seen "carrying multiple packages from his residence to his truck." The box included "anti-government propaganda," including one entitled "Organising for Attack! Insurrectionary Anarchy."

CNN [7/9/2025 4:00 PM, Staff] reports Sasha and Julio Mendoza are saying goodbye to the United States for good. Julio is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Sasha and their three young children are US citizens. For seven years, they’ve navigated being a mixed-status household, but the return of President Donald Trump to office changed their plans. The family of five now joins a newly emerging community of people who have chosen to voluntarily depart the United States, fearful of the potential consequences they’d face if they stayed in the country without legal status. Senior Trump officials have repeatedly touted self-deportations — part of a broader effort to ramp up the number of undocumented immigrants leaving the United States. That push has included a multimillion-dollar ad campaign telling people to "leave now"; retooling a US Customs and Border Protection app to facilitate self-deportations; and offering money to those who depart. But it’s not just people who are undocumented taking the leap. Some US citizens, like Sasha and her three children, have opted to leave with their spouses.

CBS News [7/9/2025 8:49 AM, Adam Hudacek, 51860K] Video HERE reports a police K9 is returning to its post at Dulles International Airport this morning, two weeks after allegedly being kicked by a traveler while screening the man’s luggage. The dog’s handler, Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialist Melissa Snyder, told CBS News’ Major Garrett that the 5-year-old beagle named Freddie had alerted her to a bag possibly containing fruit and other foods in the baggage claim area of the Virginia airport on June 24. The luggage belonged to Hamed Aly Marie, 70, an Egyptian national who had arrived on EgyptAir Flight 981 with his wife. When Snyder asked the couple about the contents of their luggage, Marie delivered an "intentional kick" to the right side of Freddie’s ribcage, hard enough to lift the dog off the ground and cause bruising and a contusion, according to CBP. Luckily, Snyder said "it scared him more than anything." Freddie was taken to a veterinary emergency room while Marie was arrested by CBP and handed over to investigative authorities from Homeland Security, according to Snyder. Now, after a couple weeks of recovery, Freddie is ready to head back to work.

Bloomberg Law News [7/9/2025 2:37 PM, Taylor Mills, 88K] reports that the Trump administration’s expedited approval of a 27-mile wall on the Arizona-Mexico border unlawfully evades environmental scrutiny, conservation groups said Wednesday in a lawsuit looking to block further construction. The Department of Homeland Security lacks the authority to waive environmental reviews for wall construction that includes bulldozing roads and installing surveillance equipment through a "critical movement corridor" for an endangered jaguar species, the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation CATalyst told the US District Court for the District of Arizona. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

(B) NBC News Daily [7/9/2025 3:52 PM, Staff] reports Border Patrol agents say their tires were damaged by people trying to interfere with immigration operations at a Home Depot. Yesterday, the US Border Patrol says they arrested four people accused of using homemade spikes to ruin tires on their vehicles. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is fighting to get those who were detained released. In a post about what happened, the Border Patrol said anyone who interferes with their lawful mission will be arrested.

San Diego Union Tribune [7/9/2025 9:13 PM, Alex Riggins, 1611K] reports that, just weeks before he was set to go on trial, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer admitted that he conspired with Mexican drug traffickers to allow fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine to pass unchecked through his inspection lanes at the Tecate Port of Entry. Jesse Clark Garcia pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego federal court to nine counts related to the importation of drugs. He admitted in his plea agreement that he and another former CBP officer, Diego Bonillo, conspired with an unnamed Mexican drug-trafficking organization to look the other way while vehicles loaded with narcotics moved through their inspection lanes. Bonillo has pleaded not guilty to similar charges and remains set to go on trial at the end of the month. Garcia faces 10 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced, and a potential fine of up to $10 million. His attorney declined to comment on his guilty plea Wednesday. Prosecutors alleged that Garcia and Bonillo "profited handsomely" from the criminal conspiracy, earning tens of thousands of dollars for each drug-laden vehicle they ushered into the U.S. without scrutiny. The indictment alleged the two men combined allowed more than 1,150 pounds of drugs into the U.S. on five occasions between April 2021 and February 2024, though that total only accounted for the drugs that authorities later seized. Court documents filed by prosecutors last year stated Garcia "lives well-above his CBP salary" and referenced his co-ownership of a horse-racing stable, ownership of multiple vehicles, a home in San Diego, a planned ranch that was under construction in Mexico, and purchases of pricey items from luxury brands Burberry and Louis Vuitton. Both Garcia and Bonillo were arrested in May 2024 as the result of an investigation led by the FBI San Diego field office’s Border Corruption Task Force. According to the indictment and other court records, investigators believed Garcia’s criminal activity began as early as April 2021. A later investigation uncovered patterns of suspected drug smugglers who typically only crossed the Tecate Port of Entry when Garcia was working and only crossed through his lane. Prosecutors alleged that some of those same vehicles or drivers also regularly passed through Bonilla’s lane at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Prosecutors alleged that near the end of the corruption investigation last year, Garcia crossed the border into Mexico with a fully packed vehicle and stopped showing up for work. He only returned to the U.S. after Mexican authorities arrested him and handed him over to U.S. law enforcement at the Arizona border. FBI agents arrested Bonillo a few days later in Las Vegas, where prosecutors allege he was staying at a pricey hotel and had $2,000 tickets to a high-profile boxing match. "We do not tolerate misconduct within our ranks," a CBP spokesperson said last year in response to questions about the officers. "When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations.” Garcia and Bonillo were arrested one month before their former colleague, Leonard Darnell George, went on trial in a similar but unrelated case. George was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of allowing drugs and undocumented migrants through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Former CBP officers Farlis Almonte, Ricardo Rodriguez and Kairy Quinonez are facing charges that they allowed undocumented immigrants through their inspection lanes in San Ysidro in exchange for bribes. They have each pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Daily Caller [7/9/2025 12:40 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports four individuals accused of spiking a Border Patrol vehicle’s tire were arrested with a tote bag connected to a taxpayer-funded organization tied to Los Angeles protests that eventually exploded into riots. A Border Patrol vehicle’s tire was punctured Tuesday by a makeshift tire spike during a targeted raid in Van Nuys, California, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The individuals arrested in connection to the attack were caught with a tote bag that featured branding from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), an organization under GOP investigation after encouraging protests that led to violent riots. “DHS and its components continue to enforce the law every day in greater Los Angeles even in the face of danger,” a spokesman for the department said Tuesday to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “During the operation, four U.S. citizens placed improvised tire deflation devices on the road and punctured a Border Patrol vehicle’s tire, the DHS spokesperson continued. “Agents were able to identify the suspects and placed them under arrest for obstructing law enforcement.” CHIRLA, which did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF, has previously referred to allegations that it’s connected to the riots as “vicious lies.” Gregory Bovino, the chief of Border Patrol’s operations in the Los Angeles area, confirmed the arrests and posted images of the makeshift tire spike.

Houston Chronicle [7/9/2025 12:20 PM, Sondra Hernandez, 1982K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has updated its policy to allow passengers traveling through domestic airports to keep their shoes on while passing through security screening at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. Secretary Kristi Noem announced the policy change Tuesday in a press conference at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The move is meant to increase hospitality for travelers and streamline the TSA security checkpoint process, leading to shorter wait times. "Ending the ‘Shoes-Off’ policy is the latest effort DHS is implementing to modernize and enhance traveler experience across our nation’s airports," Noem said in the press conference. "We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints, leading to a more pleasant and efficient passenger experience. As always, security remains our top priority. Thanks to our cutting-edge technological advancements and multi-layered security approach, we are confident we can implement this change while maintaining the highest security standards.". In Houston, Tuesday travelers at Hobby Airport reported being able to keep their shoes on when going through security, though officials had not yet confirmed how the policy update may affect Houston flyers. A Houston Airport System public information officer referred questions to the TSA. TSA media representatives did not respond for comment on when the move would be implemented at Hobby Airport and George Bush International Airport. The no shoes rule was implemented by TSA in 2006 following passenger Richard Reid trying to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes in December 2001. Noem said that when President Donald Trump was elected, he pledged to make life better for all Americans and that includes those who are travelers going through our airports. "We want to improve this travel experience while maintaining safety standards," she said. "TSA first implemented the no-shoes policy in 2006, almost 20 years ago. In those 20 years since that policy was put in place, our security technology has changed dramatically and evolved. We have a multi-layered government approach to security and to the environment that people anticipate and experience when they come into an airport that has been honed and hardened. We are very confident we can continue to provide hospitality to folks while maintaining the same standard of security for passengers and for our homeland.".

ABC News [7/9/2025 9:26 AM, Staff, 31733K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has announced that the TSA and its nearly two-decade mandate for passengers to remove their shoes at airport screening is officially over. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/9/2025 5:35 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports in the wake of the catastrophic July Fourth floods that barreled through south central Texas, claiming 119 lives and leaving nearly 200 people missing, NASA dispatched two aircraft to aid local recovery efforts and search and rescue operations. NASA’s high-altitude WB-57 aircraft took off from Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston on Tuesday, and will conduct aerial surveys using its DyNAMITE (Day/Night Airborne Motion Imager for Terrestrial Environments) sensor. The sensor will take high-resolution photos of the Guadalupe River and several miles of the surrounding area, which could accelerate emergency response times. The aircraft are responding as part of NASA’s Disasters Response Coordination System, which was activated to support the flood emergency response in coordination with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and humanitarian groups. Officials said the data will be provided to response teams and aid in rescue efforts and resource allocation. The agency also sent its Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), aboard a Gulfstream III, from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Wednesday to collect observations over the Guadalupe, San Gabriel and Colorado river basins. UAVSAR, which can spot water through vegetation, will be collecting data through the end of the week. The disasters program will create maps to analyze the severity of flooding and damage to buildings and infrastructure, which will be shared on the NASA Disasters Mapping Portal as they become available.

The Hill [7/9/2025 11:44 AM, David Barer, 18649K] reports State and local officials are calling out federal forecasters amid deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the extended Fourth of July weekend. The criticism comes, as funding cuts and staff shortages plague the National Weather Service and other emergency management agencies nationwide. Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd told reporters Friday original forecasts from the National Weather Service predicted 4 to 8 inches of rain in that area, "but the amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.". "Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service, right?" Kidd said. "You all got it, you’re all in media, you got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.". Kidd added TDEM "worked with our own meteorologist to finetune that weather statement" but did not elaborate on any updated interpretation that would have led to more urgent warnings for evacuations. The area actually received a much more significant amount of rain that night, with NWS observed totals exceeding 10 inches just west of Kerrville, near where dozens were killed or remain missing – including several children at a summer camp. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly has claimed officials "didn’t know this flood was coming.". "This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, and we deal with floods on a regular basis – when it rains, we get water," Kelly said to reporters Friday. "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what has happened here, none whatsoever.". Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice reiterated that apparent lack of awareness, telling the media Friday: "This rain event sat on top of that and dumped more rain than what was forecasted.". The National Water Center Flood Hazard Outlook issued on Thursday morning indicated an expansion of flash flood potential to include Kerrville and surrounding areas. President Trump posted on Truth Social he is "working with State and Local Officials on the ground in Texas in response to the tragic flooding," ahead of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visit to represent the administration in Kerrville Saturday. During a press conference after surveying the area, Noem told reporters the amount of rain in this flooding event was "unprecedented," underscoring the reason Trump is working to "fix" aging technology within NOAA.

The Hill [7/9/2025 11:43 AM, Josh Hinkle and David Barer, 18649K] reports in the aftermath of deadly Hill Country flooding, Texas’ junior Republican U.S. Senator is defending the National Weather Service, as questions surface over the agency’s forecast timing, urgency and communication. "I think there have been some eager to point at the National Weather Service and say cuts there led to a lack of warning," Sen. Ted Cruz said during a press event with Gov. Greg Abbott Monday in Kerr County, where dozens died after the Guadalupe River tumbled over its banks July 4. "I think that’s contradicted the facts.". Also on Monday, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged the Commerce Department to investigate NWS vacancies and whether they contributed to the death toll and affected the agency’s ability to coordinate with local emergency officials. "This is a national tragedy which people across the country are mourning," Schumer wrote to Duane Townsend, the Commerce Department’s acting inspector general. "The American people deserve answers.". The Trump administration made cuts to the federal workforce an early priority in the president’s second term this year, and those reductions extended to the NWS. KXAN has previously reported six vacancies in the NWS Austin/San Antonio, according to its online staff roster and the NWS Employees Organization. Those include three meteorologists, two technology staff members and a science officer. The office has 26 employees when fully staffed. "They had additional manpower," the Cruz said. "In fact, they had three additional people working that night, anticipating that it was going to be a very dangerous weather situation.". On Monday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson responded to KXAN’s inquiries, calling NWS operations surrounding the flood "successful.". "The NWS leveraged advanced tools like the Amber Alert software to send critical flood warnings directly to wireless devices, ensuring widespread awareness," Jackson wrote in an email. "While we mourn the tragic lives lost in this disaster, the NWS’s early and frequent warnings saved countless others.". Critics have questioned the effectiveness of those specific warnings in rural and remote areas of Central Texas. Representing the administration on Saturday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited the area along the Guadalupe River, calling the amount of rain in the flooding event "unprecedented," broadly referencing the administration’s goal to "fix" aging technology within NOAA – the parent agency to the NWS. "I do carry your concerns back to the federal government and back to President Trump," Noem said, acknowledging the need for upgraded technology so "families have as much warning as possible.". What the NWS put out was also information used by the state and its emergency management team – alerts, or warnings, about heavy rain and the potential for flash flooding, Abbott said in a Sunday press event. Abbott said he discussed NWS alerts with Noem during her visit over the weekend. In the upcoming special session – starting in two weeks – the Texas Legislature would address the response to weather events like this deadly flood, he added.

Bloomberg [7/9/2025 4:38 PM, Coco Liu, Eric Roston, and Kyle Stock, 19320K] reports the narrow canyons and shallow soils in the central Texas area pummeled by recent storms long ago earned it the nickname of “Flash Flood Alley.” Yet only a fraction of homeowners there have flood insurance, data show. In Kerr County, where the Guadalupe River swelled, killing more than 90 people, only 2% of homeowners hold federal flood insurance. In neighboring Kendall, another hard-hit county, that share is less than 5%. In fact, the share of homeowners with federal flood insurance doesn’t reach 10% in any of the 21 counties named in Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s disaster declaration issued on Saturday. That gap is becoming more problematic as climate change intensifies the storms and cyclones that can cause flooding. Climate change may also lead to an increase in the severity of Texas droughts, which can exacerbate flash flooding as parched soil struggles to absorb heavy rainfall in a short period of time. The recent flooding in the state is estimated to have generated as much as $22 billion in damages. It underscores the growing challenge under-insured communities face in bouncing back from disasters of a scale they’ve never seen before.

CBS News [7/9/2025 6:43 PM, Doug Myers, Jack Fink, 51860K] reports in response to the deadly Central Texas floods, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday expanded the special session agenda to prioritize disaster readiness, including flood alerts, emergency upgrades, and recovery aid. "There is more work to be done, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country," Abbott said in a news release announcing the session. "We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future." The special session agenda includes 18 legislative priorities, with several directly addressing the recent disaster. The session is set to begin July 21. The special session will also focus on education reform, tax relief, public safety, and government accountability. Key proposals include replacing the STAAR test, cutting property taxes, regulating THC products, protecting children and trafficking victims, banning taxpayer-funded lobbying, and enhancing the election and judicial systems.

FOX News [7/9/2025 7:11 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday called for a special session to consider legislation to improve warning systems and emergency response in flood-prone areas across the state. The proclamation comes days after more than 100 people died, and nearly 200 others went missing, in the July Fourth Texas Hill Country floods. The floods, which were caused by excessive rainfall near the Guadalupe River, swept away people and homes across multiple counties early Friday morning. Officials said the river rose nearly 30 feet within 45 minutes. Following the disaster, which claimed the lives of 27 campers at a riverfront youth camp, citizens criticized an apparent lack of prior notice. The National Weather Service (NWS) said notifications were expanded about 12 hours before the tragedy, though the warning remained "moderate.". Abbott specifically called for new legislation to improve early warning systems and other preparedness infrastructure, strengthen emergency communications and other response infrastructure, provide relief funding, and evaluate and streamline rules and regulations to speed preparedness for and recovery from natural disasters. Other legislation requests unrelated to the floods but included in the proclamation surrounded education, taxes, abortion, human trafficking, crime and public safety, elections and redistricting, and hemp-derived products. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem addressed flood notification failures at a news conference on Saturday, claiming the administration was working on updating the National Weather Service and NOAA’s "neglected" and "ancient" systems. Noem vowed to upgrade the weather service technology, which she described as being "neglected for far too long," to ensure families have "as much advanced notice as possible.". She added reform is ongoing, though she did not provide a timeline.

AP [7/9/2025 8:19 PM, Ryan J. Foley, Christopher L. Keller, Sean Murphy and Jim Mustian, 24051K] reports that, over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert a disaster like the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of others in Kerr County on the Fourth of July. The agencies repeatedly failed to secure roughly $1 million for a project to better protect the county’s 50,000 residents and thousands of youth campers and tourists who spend time along the Guadalupe River in an area known as "flash-flood alley." The plan, which would have installed flood monitoring equipment near Camp Mystic, cost about as much as the county spends on courthouse security every two years, or 1.5% of its annual budget. Meanwhile, other communities had moved ahead with sirens and warning systems of their own. In nearby Comfort, a long, flat-three minute warning sound signifying flood danger helped evacuate the town of 2,000 people as practiced. A deadly 2015 Memorial Day flood in Kerr County rekindled debate over whether to install a flood monitoring system and sirens to alert the public to evacuate when the river rose to dangerous levels. Some officials, cognizant of a 1987 flood that killed eight people on a church camp bus, thought it was finally time. But the idea soon ran into opposition. Some residents and elected officials opposed the installation of sirens, citing the cost and noise that they feared would result from repeated alarms. County commissioners sought compromise. They moved forward with a plan for a warning system without sirens, which would improve flood monitoring with a series of sensors but leave it up to local authorities to alert the public. They didn’t want to pay for it on their own but found little help elsewhere. The county’s largest city, Kerrville, declined to participate in a joint grant application that would have required a $50,000 contribution. The state’s emergency management agency twice passed over the county’s request for hazard mitigation funding, citing a deficiency in the application and then backing communities ravaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The state’s flood infrastructure fund later offered an interest-free loan for the project — but that plan was seen as too stingy and turned down by the agency in charge of managing the watershed. Without the flood monitoring system, the county was left vulnerable when rains pounded the area in the early morning hours of July 4 and the river rapidly rose. Kerr County requested a flood warning system grant in 2016 through the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s hazard mitigation program, which is supported by Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to help communities reduce their risk. But that application was rejected because it did not meet federal specifications, including one that required the county have a current hazard mitigation plan on file, Texas emergency management spokesperson Wes Rapaport said.

AP [7/9/2025 7:35 AM, Susan Montoya Bryan, Morgan Lee, Roberto Rosales, and Thomas Peipert, 56000K] reports a New Mexico mountain village prepared Wednesday for another round of monsoon rains as crews scrambled to dig out from a historic flash flood that killed three people, damaged dozens of homes and left streets and culverts clogged with mud and debris. A man, a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy were swept away from an RV park along the Rio Ruidoso as floodwaters raged through the area Tuesday. The bodies were found downstream from the park at a distance between 1/4 of a mile and 2 miles (3 kilometers). The two children were related, but authorities were not releasing their names. They had yet to identify the man who was killed. Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said the community is devastated by the loss of life, a tragedy that is not unfamiliar for the popular summer retreat, which is about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Albuquerque. Before summer rains began, Ruidoso had made much progress in recovering from last year’s wildfires and post-fire flooding, but village officials acknowledged Tuesday’s rain was too much to absorb. “As bad as it is, it could have been way worse because people did heed the warning, did get the higher ground,” Crawford said during a radio address. “But we do have people that are in greater need today than they were yesterday.” New Mexico’s governor signed an emergency declaration Tuesday night and requests were pending for more assistance from the federal government as search and rescue crews fanned out Wednesday in places that had been hard to reach the night before. Emergency crews had completed dozens of swift water rescues before the water receded Tuesday, including of people who were trapped in their homes and cars. Two National Guard teams and several local crews already were in the area when the flooding began, said Danielle Silva of the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Washington Post [7/9/2025 6:56 PM, Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Maeve Reston and Marianna Sotomayor, 32099K] reports for months, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has pressed the GOP-led Congress to free up $40 billion in federal relief for swaths of Los Angeles consumed by devastating wildfires. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have so far withheld the funds, with many arguing that Newsom and other Democrats in the deep-blue state have mishandled the fires and should be forced to rescind liberal policies in exchange for aid. But now deadly floods have struck ruby-red Texas — and the Republican response is much different, with Trump and others promising unfettered and prompt federal support in the months and years to come. The contrast underscores the extent to which the Trump administration treats blue and red states differently, whether in disaster response or in targeting liberal areas for aggressive immigration enforcement. "In Texas, they have very different points of view than we do in California on policy, but I would never imagine conditioning or arguing that our congressional delegation condition aid to Texas until they changed some policy on an ancillary issue," Newsom said during an appearance in South Carolina this week. The tone of Newsom’s comments, tame in contrast to the barbs that often fly between him and Trump, reflect the efforts of politicians on both sides to avoid being seen as politicizing the catastrophe in Texas, where at least 117 people — nearly a quarter of them children — were killed during holiday weekend flash floods. More than 160 people remain unaccounted for, meaning the death toll is sure to rise. Trump is slated to visit the state on Friday, fulfilling a unifying public ritual for commanders in chief as he and other White House officials continue to deflect questions about whether anything could have prevented the devastation. The stance is unusual for Trump, who is not shy about assigning blame and has done so repeatedly in the aftermath of past tragedies — at several points critiquing Newsom and other California Democrats. The conversations occur against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to the federal workforce, which include agencies that deal with forecasting and emergency preparedness. Trump’s White House has bashed the Federal Emergency Management Agency since his second inauguration, and, in May, pushed out the agency’s acting head. Both the president and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem have expressed a desire to eradicate the disaster relief agency, even as a council studies whether it should continue to exist.

New York Times [7/9/2025 6:09 PM, Rylee Kirk, 138952K] reports a 13-year-old boy was arrested this week, accused of setting off illegal fireworks that sparked a wildfire in Laguna Beach, Calif., that burned nearly five acres and led to evacuations and power outages, the authorities said. The blaze, called the Rancho fire, started just after 2 p.m. Monday, as flames burned along a hillside, the Laguna Beach Police Department said in a statement. As the fire spread to 4.6 acres, an evacuation order was issued for homes on four streets, and community centers were opened as shelters for displaced residents, officials said. By 5 p.m. Monday, the mayor had told residents in a video posted on Facebook that officials already suspected that the fire had been started by fireworks. The police said on Tuesday that witnesses had reported seeing a juvenile who was “possibly involved in setting off fireworks.” Two juveniles were detained for questioning, but were released after they were found to have been witnesses, the police said. Investigators later obtained video evidence that they said showed another juvenile “lighting a firework and fleeing the scene.” They identified the suspect as a 13-year-old boy and obtained a warrant for his arrest, the police said. The teenager was arrested on suspicion of felony reckless burning of forest land, the police said. Because of “the absence of any injuries or immediate threat to structures,” he was processed at police headquarters before being released to his parents. The case will be submitted to the Orange County district attorney’s office for review and the possible filing of criminal charges, the police said. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said California welfare law prevented her from discussing the case.

CBS News [7/9/2025 7:53 PM, Nicole Sganga and Laura Geller, 51860K] Video: HERE Secret Service suspended six personnel without pay as the agency faced intense scrutiny after the assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, nearly a year ago. Matt Quinn, Secret Service deputy director, told CBS News that their penalty ranged from 10 to 42 days of leave without pay or benefits. The personnel were placed into restricted duty or roles with less operational responsibility upon their return. "We are laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem," said Quinn, who defended the agency’s decision to not dismiss anyone after the security failure on July 13, 2024, in which a gunman opened fire during a campaign rally and a bullet grazed Mr. Trump’s ear. One person was killed and two others were wounded while the alleged gunman, Thomas Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper. "We aren’t going to fire our way out of this," Quinn said in an interview Wednesday. "We’re going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation.". "Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler," he said. "Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.". Quinn said the personnel were disciplined according to a federally mandated process. Quinn told CBS News the agency has been focused on addressing the root causes of the operational failures that played out in Butler. To do that, the Secret Service introduced a new fleet of military grade drones and mobile command posts that allows agents to communicate over radio directly with local law enforcement – interoperability that didn’t exist last year. The assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and a second, foiled attempt against Mr. Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, a few weeks later, spurred the resignation of then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and triggered several investigations and contentious congressional hearings. The lawmakers noted that "preexisting issues in leadership and training created an environment" in which the failures could occur, like giving significant responsibilities to Secret Service personnel with little to no experience in advanced planning roles. Lawmakers also noted a lack of coordination and planning between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners. "The events of July 13, 2024, were tragic and preventable, and the litany of related security failures are unacceptable," the report said.

Reported similarly:
ABC News [7/9/2025 8:11 PM, Josh Margolin, 31733K] Video: HERE
FOX News [7/10/2025 4:12 AM, Elizabeth Pritchett, 46878K] Video: HERE

FOX News [7/9/2025 4:07 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports the newly decommissioned Marine One helicopter found a new home with the U.S. Secret Service. In a video posted to X on Wednesday, Secret Service Deputy Special Agent in Charge Troy Sarria announced the famed aircraft, a Sikorsky VH-3D, is now being used for special agent training at the Rowley Training Center in Maryland. The helicopter is an authentic Marine One platform that was recently decommissioned. Agents going to the president’s or vice president’s detail will have the opportunity to learn in a hands-on, realistic training environment thanks to the new addition. "We are able to give the basic special agent classes more and better protective training," Sarria said. "This is another step forward in advancing the Secret Service’s training capability here at the Rowley Training Center."

NewsMax [7/9/2025 5:54 PM, James Morley III, 4622K] reports the Secret Service surveilled former FBI Director James Comey immediately following his controversial Instagram post that implied harm should come to President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Immediately following the post, Comey and his wife Patrice left the North Carolina coast and headed back to their Virginia home. Speaking on a condition of anonymity, an official told the outlet the Secret Service was able to track the couple using Comey’s cellphone, a procedure typically used for legitimate threats. Secret Service agents were then waiting for Comey when he arrived at his house. Comey, who during his Congressional testimony to the House Judiciary and Oversight Committee in 2019 said some variation of "I don’t know" or "I can’t remember" 245 times, said in his retraction of the 8647 post, "It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took down the post," he wrote.

New York Times [7/9/2025 6:03 PM, Michael S. Schmidt and Eileen Sullivan, 138952K] reports the Secret Service had the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey followed by law enforcement authorities in unmarked cars and street clothes and tracked the location of his cellphone the day after he posted an image on social media in May that President Trump’s allies said amounted to a threat to assassinate the president, according to three government officials. Mr. Comey and his wife, Patrice, were tailed by the authorities as they drove from the North Carolina coast, where they had been vacationing, through Virginia to their home in the Washington area, the officials said, describing the details of the surveillance on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a federal investigation. At the same time, the Secret Service was receiving information showing the location of Mr. Comey’s phone while federal authorities were stationed at his home waiting for him to return, the officials said. The intense surveillance occurred a day after Mr. Comey, long perceived by Mr. Trump as an enemy, had posted a photo on social media of seashells he said he had found while walking on the beach. The shells were arranged in the formation “86 47,” combining a slang term meaning to dismiss or remove with the numerical designation of Mr. Trump’s second presidency. Trump critics have often displayed the phrase on signs and clothing at protests. To justify following Mr. Comey, the Secret Service cited “exigent” circumstances, according to two of the government officials, using a term that in law enforcement means a pressing need to take immediate action. It is unclear what those exigent circumstances were. The Secret Service initially declined to comment, but shared a statement after publication of this story. “The Secret Service will vigorously investigate any individual, regardless of position or status, that may pose or be perceived as a threat to any of our protectees,” said Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the service. “To preserve operational integrity, we are not able to comment on specific protective intelligence matters.” Mr. Comey has not been charged with a crime, and the status of the inquiry into his actions is unclear.

FOX News [7/9/2025 7:50 PM, Greg Wehner, 46878K] reports a Rhode Island man faces serious charges after he allegedly threatened to kill President Donald Trump and multiple members of his administration on Truth Social. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said 37-year-old Carl D. Montague has been charged with threats against the president, interstate threats, threats to assault and kidnap, or murder of a U.S. official, judge or law enforcement officer. Montague is accused of writing a profanity-laced post on Truth Social on June 27, 2025, threatening to shoot and kill Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The FBI wrote in a criminal complaint filed against Montague that it was notified by Trump Media and Technology, the parent company of Truth Social, about the post at 11:30 p.m. on June 27. The post read, "It’s a shame you won’t get to see the end of our f- - - - -g term, because I’m gonna make sure I put a bullet…between your f- - - - -g head you piece of s- -t, you Pam Bondi. Stephen f- - - - -g miller, all you b- - - - -s are gonna get a f- - - - -g bullet to the head every single f- - - - -g one of you.” After receiving the information, the FBI launched an investigation that led agents to Montague. Once agents contacted Montague at his residence in Rhode Island, he allegedly confirmed he had made the post. The criminal complaint alleges that Montague said he was smoking a lot of marijuana when he posted the threat. It is also alleged he claimed to delete the Truth Social account after sending the message. Additionally, Montague reportedly said he was upset with the current politics and turned to Truth Social to express his frustrations. The complaint acknowledged that Montague said he did not have a specific reason to direct his threat toward Miller or Bondi, adding that he could not identify Bondi. Ultimately, Montague expressed remorse for his post, the complaint noted. The FBI said in the complaint that Montague does not own or have access to weapons, nor did he have plans, intentions or the means to travel to commit such violence. Still, the FBI found probable cause to charge Montague with threatening to harm the president and members of his administration. The investigation into the matter is ongoing.

FOX News [7/10/2025 4:00 AM, Michael Dorgan, 46878K] reports that several members of a violent migrant gang accused of "unleashing terror" to maintain control of a notorious crime strip represented by progressive Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Grace Meng have been taken down by police in a major bust. Eight members of the ruthless 18th Street transnational gang are accused of carrying out several brutal beatings and stabbings to maintain their dominance of the Roosevelt Avenue commercial corridor in Queens. They also distributed fake passports and counterfeit currency, dealt drugs and trafficked firearms while extorting businesses for rent payments, prosecutors said. Seven of the eight gangbangers are in the country illegally, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital. They are all members and associates of the 18th Street gang, which was formed by Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1960s and today has members throughout the United States as well as in Mexico and Central America, prosecutors said. The suspects "are accused of unleashing terror onto Queens communities through brutal assaults, extortion, fraud, and drug trafficking," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. Locals have likened it to a "Red Light district" or a third-world flea market, given the sidewalks are often full of women soliciting sex as well as vendors selling all sorts of stolen or counterfeit goods and unregulated hot food. Fox News Digital witnessed at least 30 women soliciting sex on one block on the strip following Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall recently. The indictment against the gangbangers, which was unsealed on June 16, follows a Fox News Digital report from April revealing that local leaders were sounding the alarm about the 18th Street Gang sweeping in to take control of the area. The gang had moved in to fill the territorial void left by groups like Tren de Aragua, which local leaders said was largely dismantled after a major winter police operation in the area which resulted in hundreds of arrests. The local leaders had called on the FBI and the DEA to help them crack down on the criminals who they said had turned their neighborhood into a festering "gangland." The 18th Street gang has been tagging their gang insignia around the area, marking their turf.

FOX News [7/9/2025 11:58 AM, Hanna Panreck, 46878K] reports White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles recalled the chaos of the Butler assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in a new interview, saying she thought the president was dead at first. "We were just crazy the minute he was hit," Wiles said, as she admitted she thought Trump had been killed by the gunfire. Speaking with Miranda Devine Wednesday on "Pod Force One," Wiles suggested divine intervention saved Trump’s life, noting the placement of the immigration chart he had up on the big LED screen at his rally caused him to turn his head in a different direction, just as the shots were fired. "So to have him ask for that chart, eight minutes in, and to have it come on the side that was opposite, caused him to look in a different direction and lift his head just a little because it was higher, and that just doesn’t happen because it happened," she said. Trump grabbed his ear as it was struck and quickly went down as Secret Service agents rushed the stage. He stood up with blood streaming down the side of his face and yelled, "Fight!" at roaring supporters as he was taken to safety, in one of the most memorable images in American political history. "You think the worst. You cannot, it’s human, you can’t think otherwise. And when he stood up, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh,’" Wiles told Devine. Wiles, who was the successful campaign’s co-chair, said it was clear soon after they arrived at the hospital that Trump was going to be okay. "But it was a scary time, and it changed everything for us, the security became front and center, which it hadn’t been before," she said. "Not to take away from the Secret Service, it’s just that they they became on steroids then. And we couldn’t do outdoor rallies, which became sort of the hallmark for the campaign. We couldn’t go to buildings that had lots of windows.".

Breitbart [7/9/2025 10:15 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 3077K] reports a Florida woman has been arrested after arriving at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club with a gun and "an urgent message" to deliver, according to police and local reports. Trump was in Washington, DC, when Caroline Shaw, 49, allegedly went to the Mar-a-Lago Club’s south gate on the evening of July 7, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. An arrest report obtained by the outlet states that Shaw, from Orlando, parked her gray Mercedes van on Southern Boulevard and approached the gate on foot, claiming she was there to speak with the president and deliver an urgent message. She allegedly told Secret Service agents that she had firearms in her vehicle, and the arrest report shows that a handgun was seized upon her arrest. Court records show that she was charged with driving with a suspended license and failure to register a vehicle, with no charges related to trespassing on the property or making threats of any kind. Shaw’s vehicle registration expired in December of 2021, and her driver’s license was suspended in April 2023 after she failed to pay traffic tickets, police said. Jail and court records show that she remained at the Palm Beach County Jail on a $2,000 bond and pleaded not guilty on July 8. Judge Donald Hafele ordered her to have no contact with the president or any of his properties, the local outlet reported, adding that Palm Beach Police also filed a petition to remove her access to firearms for one year. Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.

AP [7/9/2025 4:17 PM, Staff] reports a man awaiting trial on federal charges of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course is seeking to get rid of his court-appointed federal public defenders. A hearing for Ryan Routh’s motion regarding the proposed termination of his appointed counsel is scheduled for Thursday in Fort Pierce, according to court records. The motion requesting the hearing didn’t say why Routh, 59, no longer wished to be represented by Kristy Militello and Renee Michelle Sihvola. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Routh was hiring a new attorney or planned to represent himself. Routh faces charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Besides the federal charges, Routh also faces state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Routh’s trial is set for September. If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison, federal officials have said.

USA Today [7/10/2025 5:05 AM, Trevor Hughes, 75552K] reports Climate change is opening up a new front in the ongoing cold war between the United States and China, and President Donald Trump is gearing up with new icebreakers to help patrol the Northwest Passage connecting Alaska to Greenland. Contained in the new federal spending law formerly known as the "Big Beautiful Bill" is funding for 17 icebreakers, 21 cutters, more than 40 helicopters and six large patrol airplanes, Coast Guard officials said. It could take as long as 15 years to get the first of the large ships commissioned, according to government estimates. The icebreakers and ice-strengthened cutters would work in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, which are seeing increasing focus as climate change makes mining and shipping more practical by melting some of the ice. "This historic investment marks a new era for the Coast Guard," Coast Guard Acting Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday said in a statement. The Coast Guard currently only has one heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, and it’s almost 20 years beyond its expected service life. Coast Guard officials have been warning for years they lack the necessary ships to properly patrol icy waters, which include shipping routes between the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes, along with serving Alaska and the Antarctic research base McMurdo Station. Alaska Native people living along the shores of the Bering Sea worry increasing shipping and resource extraction pose environmental dangers, especially if the Coast Guard lacks the resources to patrol the area.

FOX News [7/9/2025 11:10 AM, Julia Bonavita, 46878K] reports two teenagers are lucky to be alive following a harrowing helicopter rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard after straying from a popular Oregon tourist destination over the weekend. The daring rescue unfolded Saturday near Roads End Point recreation site, where the two teens and a member of the Lincoln County Fire Department became trapped on a cliffside on Saturday, according to the Coast Guard. Officials with the Coast Guard Sector Columbia River were dispatched to the scene after receiving reports of the two stranded teens trapped alongside a firefighter who was initially sent to rescue the pair. Dramatic footage shows an MH-60 helicopter crew locating the three distressed individuals on the rocky cliff before hoisting them to safety just yards away from the dangerous coastline. They were then transported to Siletz Bay State Airfield. Roads End Point is a popular coastal destination where visitors can enjoy tidepools, hidden coves and islands formed by "fragments of lava," according to Oregon State Parks.

FOX News [7/9/2025 12:04 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports two teenagers and a firefighter were saved from a rocky cliffside in a dramatic helicopter rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard near Roads End Point in Oregon on Saturday, July 5, 2025. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CyberScoop [7/9/2025 3:30 PM, Derek B. Johnson] reports at the outset of a Senate hearing Wednesday on cybersecurity in the health care sector, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., took a moment to implore lawmakers and witnesses to stay focused on the topic at hand — and not veer off into discussions about the impact of cuts to the sector from Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill. Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said any attempts by ranking member Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., or witnesses to steer the hearing in that direction would be “a distraction,” and at one point the Louisiana Republican accused Sanders of spreading “half truths” about the bill’s impact, angrily banging the gavel. “This is about cybersecurity,” Cassidy said. “Thank you for [all] those who actually talked about cybersecurity. I really appreciate that.” But during the hearing, multiple witnesses warned that the Republican-passed law will have a devastating impact on cybersecurity and basic services in a health care sector that is already plagued by digital threats. Others decried what they see as a general pullback from the federal government in supporting health care and health care cybersecurity under the Trump administration. Some witnesses painted a dire funding picture for rural and community hospitals that could only worsen as the GOP’s cuts — which include hundreds of billions of dollars to Medicaid and other health care programs along with President Trump’s budget proposal that is seeking an overall reduction of $1.23 billion in cybersecurity spending across the federal government — take effect.

Daily Wire [7/9/2025 1:00 AM, Julio Rivera, 3816K] reports the footage was striking: plumes of smoke rising over Iran’s nuclear facilities, the culmination of years of brinkmanship and intelligence coups. With one sweeping air campaign, the United States sent a message: the Islamic Republic will not be permitted to cross the nuclear threshold. Yet as the dust settles, it would be a profound mistake to assume the threat has been neutralized. If anything, Iran’s nuclear humiliation may accelerate a transition that has been quietly underway for years — from ambitions of atomic deterrence to mastery of digital disruption. Even as diplomats trumpet the ceasefire, cybersecurity professionals are aware of the dangers that still exist. In 2025, a nation doesn’t need fissile material to cripple its adversaries, it only needs a cadre of skilled operators, a menu of stolen exploits, and a willingness to play dirty in the world’s most critical networks. Iran’s embrace of cyber operations is hardly a new development. In a 2012 cyberattack U.S. intelligence attributed to Iran, the Shamoon virus wiped tens of thousands of computers inside Saudi Aramco, a major Saudi Arabian oil company, reducing corporate IT to smoking rubble — digitally speaking. Since then, Tehran’s capabilities have matured steadily. Today, Iran’s cyber forces are well-trained and highly motivated. And given the loss of their nuclear infrastructure, they now possess ample incentive to reassert influence through other means. Cyber warfare is attractive precisely because it offers an asymmetrical advantage: the power to disrupt, humiliate, and retaliate without risking a direct military clash.

New York Times [7/9/2025 7:26 PM, Paulina Villegas, 138952K] reports a Mexican court on Tuesday sentenced 10 men to more than 140 years each in prison for killing one person and disappearing two others in a cartel-run recruitment and training compound in the western state of Jalisco. The case had shocked the nation and underscored the ruthless methods Mexico’s criminal groups use to abduct, train and kill young recruits. The 10 men were also ordered to each pay nearly $70,000 in reparations for the victims, officials said. The men were arrested in September at Rancho Izaguirre, a remote property about six hour’s drive west of Mexico City, after the authorities responded to reports of gunfire. At the site, officers were met with gunshots and discovered one person dead and two others held captive, state officials said. In March, six months after the arrests, the site generated national headlines after volunteers searching for their missing relatives found what they called underground cremation ovens, burned human remains, hundreds of bone shards and discarded personal items inside the ranch. Mexico’s attorney general later said that there was no evidence the ranch had been the site of human cremations, but that the property had been used by a major cartel as a training hub. The volunteer searchers did find apparent evidence of victims, however. Photos taken at the abandoned ranch, in the small community of Teuchitlán outside Guadalajara, the state capital, showed hundreds of shoes piled together and heaps of clothing, including a blue summer dress, a small pink backpack, pieces of underwear and what seemed to be bone fragments. In a country seemingly inured to episodes of brutal violence from drug cartels, the images shocked Mexicans and prompted outraged human rights groups to demand that the government put an end to the violence that has ravaged the nation for years. The authorities published photos of more than 1,000 personal items found at the site — a chilling hint at the number of people who might have died there. The photos set off a frantic search across Mexico by families who scoured the images, desperately searching for signs of their missing relatives. The case also renewed pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to address the crisis of forced disappearances. More than 126,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico since such record-keeping began in 1962, according to official data. Human rights groups and collectives of volunteers searching for missing relatives have said that the number could be higher. Hector Rodolfo Flores González, a member of Luz de Esperanza, a search group based in Jalisco, applauded the sentences and said that he expected the convictions to lead to more information that would help explain what had transpired at the Izaguirre ranch. “We still don’t know what happened there; we still don’t know the whole truth,” he said. “And the victims and victims’ families deserve to know that truth.”

Washington Post [7/10/2025 3:20 AM, Andrew Jeong, 32099K] reports Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy will serve as the interim administrator of NASA, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, weeks after he abruptly rescinded the nomination of entrepreneur Jared Isaacman as the agency’s next leader. “He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time,” Trump said of Duffy on social media. Duffy affirmed the decision, saying on social media shortly after Trump’s post that he was “honored to accept this mission.” The former Wisconsin congressman and reality television star was the second Fox News host — after Pete Hegseth — to be selected by Trump for his Cabinet. Duffy becomes another senior Trump official to wear multiple hats. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also serving as interim White House national security adviser and the acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. During Trump’s first term, Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, was named the acting White House chief of staff. In late May, Isaacman was preparing for a confirmation vote in the full Senate when he was told that Trump had rescinded his nomination. At the time, Trump said on social media that the withdrawal was “after a thorough review of prior associations.” It was unclear what he meant by that, though some Republicans had previously criticized Isaacman for donating to Democrats, Washington Post reported. On Sunday, Trump said he had withdrawn the nomination because of the entrepreneur’s ties to Elon Musk and after learning that Isaacman was a “blue blooded Democrat who had never contributed to a Republican.” Trump and Musk, former allies, are in an escalating feud. In a statement Monday, Isaacman said “the President is entitled to assemble the leadership team he believes will best serve his administration,” but rejected Trump’s characterization of him. “I have been relatively apolitical — a right-leaning moderate — and my political donations across both parties (though 10x more to Republicans) were disclosed in writing, with rationale, before my nomination was ever submitted to the Senate,” Isaacman said in the statement. On Wednesday, he backed Duffy’s appointment, saying on social media that NASA “needs political leadership from someone the President trusts and has confidence in.”

Reported similarly:
CBS News [7/9/2025 10:12 PM, Joe Walsh, 51860K]

UPI [7/9/2025 3:11 PM, Ian Stark, 3077K] reports the Trump administration announced Wednesday it has designated more than 20 entities as complicit in the facilitation of selling Iranian oil, which funds a paramilitary force considered a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, has designated 22 companies and individuals located in Hong Kong, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as complicit in enabling the sale of the oil, which OFAC reports provides funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, or IRGC-QF. By way of front companies outside Iran, OFAC accuses the IRGC-QF of transferring hundreds of millions of dollars through offshore accounts to avoid sanctions and to fund "terrorist activities.". Refineries that purchase Iranian oil then transfer payments to these front companies, which also move money to accounts that belong to IRGC-QF. Iran then reportedly uses the cash to fund both its weapons programs and support terrorist partners and proxies elsewhere in the Middle East. "The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a press release. "[The] Treasury remains focused on disrupting this shadowy infrastructure that allows Iran to threaten the United States and our allies in the region.". OFAC’s action in regard to this activity falls under Executive Order 13224, first issued in 2001 by then-President George W. Bush, which "provides a means by which to disrupt the financial support network for terrorists and terrorist organizations by authorizing the U.S. government to designate and block the assets of foreign individuals and entities that commit, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.".

Washington Examiner [7/9/2025 10:37 AM, Gabrielle M. Etzel, 1934K] reports the Senate health committee voted on partisan lines Wednesday morning to approve President Donald Trump’s nominee for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Susan Monarez, advancing her to a vote in the full Senate. Monarez, who was acting director of the agency before Trump nominated her for the full-time post, advanced without a single Democratic vote, with all 12 Republicans on the panel voting to confirm. If Monarez is confirmed, she will be in a position to endorse or reject the vaccine recommendations of the CDC’s outside panel of experts that was recently overhauled by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last month, Kennedy fired all 17 of the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and replaced them with eight outsiders more aligned with his skeptical view of vaccines. During their first meeting, the ACIP members voted to launch a review of the "cumulative effects" of ingredients in the childhood vaccine schedule and voted no longer to recommend a small section of flu vaccines containing the controversial mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA), in his opening statement on Wednesday, stressed the importance of the CDC directorship, mentioning the measles crisis that has proliferated "due to misinformation regarding measles vaccines.". Cases of measles in the United States are at the highest level in more than 30 years since the disease was declared eradicated. Vaccination rates have declined as trust in public health recommendations has declined. Monarez is the first CDC director to undergo Senate approval after Congress changed the selection process for the role in the wake of controversy regarding the agency’s power during the COVID-19 pandemic. If confirmed by the full Senate, she will also be the first CDC director not to be a medical doctor, instead holding a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has extensive experience in government medical service, working for various biomedical research agencies under the Department of Homeland Security prior to her appointment to the CDC’s Research Project Agency for Health in 2023.

Reuters [7/9/2025 2:31 PM, Ana Isabel Martinez and Kylie Madry, 51390K] reports the U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it had extended a deadline to September 4 for a prohibition on certain transactions involving three Mexican financial institutions hit by sanctions last month over alleged money laundering linked to fentanyl trafficking. The actions apply to Mexico’s CiBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa, which the Treasury said were identified as "primary money laundering concerns.". "This decision is the result of dialogue and collaboration between the Mexican government and U.S. financial authorities," Mexico’s finance ministry said in a statement following the announcement. Mexico had previously balked at the sanctions, arguing that they were unilaterally applied by the U.S. without providing Mexico with any evidence to back up the money laundering claims. Since the sanctions were announced, Mexico temporarily took over the three financial firms to protect creditors and depositors.

CNN [7/9/2025 11:33 AM, Lex Harvey and Kosta Gak, 21433K] reports at least one person has been killed after Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, just hours after US President Donald Trump pledged more military support for Kyiv and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of throwing "bullsh*t" over peace talks. The massive aerial assault involved 728 drones and 13 missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said, eclipsing the previous record number of 539 drones, set on July 4, by hundreds – but it was largely repelled, with the damage limited. One civilian in the western Ukrainian district of Khmelnytskyi sufffered fatal injuries from debris from a Shahed drone, local authorities said. "This is a demonstrative attack, and it comes at a time when there have been so many attempts to achieve peace and cease fire, but Russia rejects everything," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. "Our partners know how to apply pressure so that Russia will be forced to think about ending the war, not new strikes. Everyone who wants peace must act."

Reuters [7/9/2025 6:22 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports the Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was not sure of the veracity of a CNN article that reported U.S. President Donald Trump had once threatened to bomb Moscow to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine. CNN’s report cited audio recordings of Trump telling a private gathering of donors amid his pre-election campaign in 2024 that he had once warned Putin that he would "bomb the sh*t out of Moscow" if Russia attacked Ukraine. Asked about the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "I cannot confirm or deny this, even if I wanted to... Whether it is fake or not, we do not know either. There is a lot of fake news these days." The CNN report did not say when exactly Trump reportedly made the comments about bombing Moscow to Putin. Washington Post reported that Trump had spoken to Putin by phone last November - after he won the presidential election but before he returned to the White House - and warned him not to escalate in Ukraine. The Kremlin dismissed reports of the phone call as "pure fiction." The first acknowledged phone call between the men this year took place on February 12. Trump, who promised to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin in recent months as the conflict has dragged on.

Breitbart [7/9/2025 12:16 PM, John Hayward, 3077K] reports the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen attacked and sank the Greek-operated bulk carrier ship Eternity C near the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah on Monday. It was the second ship to suffer massive damage and sink from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea this week. The Houthis made their first "swarm" attack on Sunday, when they used a combination of small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, and remote-controlled boats loaded with explosives against the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas. The massive cargo ship caught fire and began taking on water, forcing the crew to abandon ship. Houthi nautical terrorism during the Gaza war previously consisted of sporadic missile and drone fire, which generated a great deal of alarm among shipping companies, but only inflicted severe damage on a few occasions. The Houthis made a deal with the Trump administration in May to "pause" their attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, although they insisted their position on using terrorist violence to support the Palestinians in Gaza had not changed. The Yemeni insurgents are once again an active threat and they appear to have become much more dangerous by concentrating a large number of weapons on single targets, overwhelming private security forces aboard the targeted ships.

AP [7/9/2025 11:51 PM, Jon Gambrell, 49956K] reports a Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank Wednesday in the Red Sea, and a European naval force in the Mideast said only six of the 25 people who were on board have been rescued. The attack on the Eternity C, which also killed at least three of the crew, represents the most serious assault carried out by the Houthis in the crucial maritime trade route where $1 trillion in cargo once passed through annually. From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones in a campaign the rebels describe as supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iranian-backed rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by US President Donald Trump. The attack on the Eternity C, as well as the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas in another attack Sunday, raise new questions about the Red Sea’s safety as ships had slowly begun returning to its waters. Meanwhile, a new possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war — as well as the future of talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program — remain in the balance. "We are now with grave concern seeing an escalation in the Red Sea with attacks on two commercial ships earlier this week by Ansar Allah, resulting in civilian loss of life and casualties as well as the potential for environmental damage," warned United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg, using another name for the rebels. A statement from the European Union naval mission in the Red Sea said the crew of the ship included 22 sailors, among them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, as well as a three-member security team. Those rescued were five Filipinos and one Indian. Three people also were killed during the hourslong attack on the ship, the EU force said, and their nationalities were not immediately known. The armed rebels had attacked the ship with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, later using two drones and two drone boats carrying bombs to strike the vessel, the EU force said. The Eternity C sank at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday, it added. The ship, flagged out of Liberia but owned by a Greek firm, likely had been targeted like the Magic Seas over its firm doing business with Israel. Neither vessel apparently requested an escort from the EU force. The US military has two aircraft carriers in the Mideast, the USS Nimitz and the USS Carl Vinson, but both are likely in the Arabian Sea, far from the site of the attacks. There are two American destroyers believed to be operating in the Red Sea. However, the ships attacked had no US ties and a ceasefire between the Houthis and America announced after the bombing campaign earlier this year still appears to be holding. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a prerecorded message Wednesday night as the EU force acknowledged it was still searching for those onboard with private industry rescuers.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [7/10/2025 1:55 AM, Renee Maltezou, Yannis Souliotis and Jonathan Saul, 21433K]

Reuters [7/10/2025 4:34 AM, Renee Maltezou, 51390K] reports rescuers pulled three more crew members and a security guard alive from the Red Sea on Thursday, maritime security sources said, a day after Houthi militants sank the Greek ship Eternity C and said they were holding some of the crew still missing. This brings the total number of those rescued so far to 10, including eight Filipino crew members, one Indian and one Greek security guard. The people found on Thursday had spent more than 48 hours in the water. Another 11 people are still missing. "This fills us with more courage to continue to search for those missing, as the Greek vessel operator requested, and shows that our search plan was correct," said Nikos Georgopoulos, an official at the Greece-based maritime risk firm Diaplous. Eternity C is the second Greek bulk carrier sunk this week by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen. The attacks, which Houthis say are an act of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war, have ended months of calm in the area. The United States’ Mission in Yemen has accused the Houthis of kidnapping crew members and has called for their immediate release.

CNN [7/10/2025 3:40 AM, Aria Chen, 21433K] reports the US mission to Yemen has accused the Yemeni rebel group of kidnapping several crew members in the attack. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted ships they claim are linked to Israel, vowing to continue until Israel ends its military campaign in Gaza. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [7/9/2025 9:53 AM, Filip Timotija, 18649K] reports the United States has condemned a pair of recent Houthi rebel attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, warning that the escalation by the Iran-backed militants in Yemen risks jeopardizing freedom of navigation and "maritime security.". "The United States condemns the unprovoked Houthi terror attack on the civilian cargo vessels MV Magic Seas and MV Eternity C in the Red Sea, which resulted in the tragic loss of three mariners, with many others injured and the complete loss of the MV Magic Seas and its cargo," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement Tuesday. "These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security," Bruce added. Houthi rebels attacked a Greek-owned Eternity C bulk carrier on Monday, according to authorities. A search and rescue operation took place overnight, rescuing five crew members as the search continues for others, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center, operated by the British military, said in an advisory notice on Monday. The vessel was going toward the Suez Canal. UKMTO said that the ship sustained "significant damage and has lost all propulsion," adding it was attacked by "multiple rocket propelled grenades from small craft.".

New York Times [7/9/2025 5:34 PM, Vivian Nereim, 138952K] reports Yemen’s Houthi militia has taken hostage some of the crew members of a cargo ship they attacked earlier this week, the U.S. Mission to Yemen said on Wednesday on social media. The move is an escalation of a conflict that has already disrupted global shipping. “We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release,” the Embassy’s statement said. The Houthi attack on Monday on the Eternity C, a Liberian-flagged vessel that was sailing through the Red Sea, killed at least two of its crew members, according to Liberian officials who spoke to a United Nations meeting on Tuesday. A Houthi military spokesman, Yahya al-Sarea, said in a statement on Wednesday that the militia had attacked the ship with cruise and ballistic missiles because it was headed to an Israeli port. The Times could not independently confirm the ship’s destination. Mr. al-Sarea said that after the attack, the group “responded to rescue a number of the ship’s crew, provide them with medical care and transport them to a safe location.” He did not specify how many crew members the Houthis had transported, where they were taken or when they would be released. In 2023, the militia seized a ship called the Galaxy Leader and held its crew hostage for more than a year. The Houthi statement also did not mention the crew members who were killed. On Tuesday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi political official, declined to comment on the attack but told the Times that the group “cares about the safety of sailors.” Officials from the Houthis, an Iran-backed group that controls a large part of Yemen, shared video footage on social media that they said showed the Eternity C sinking into the sea, overlaid with dramatic music and voices chanting the Houthi slogan: “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews, victory for Islam.” The Houthis began assaulting ships in the Red Sea after the war between Hamas and Israel erupted in 2023. The Houthis say their campaign is an attempt to pressure Israel to stop its bombardment of Gaza and allow the free flow of humanitarian aid to two million Palestinians who are facing catastrophic hunger there. Because Houthi territory abuts a vital waterway in the Red Sea that ships must pass to reach the Suez Canal, the attacks have disrupted global trade, forcing container ships to take a longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

Washington Examiner [7/9/2025 11:34 AM, Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports Javad Larijani, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned President Donald Trump is not safe from an assassination attempt from the regime, even when he "sunbathes" at his Florida home. Top Iranian adviser Larijani made the threat during televised remarks, informing the White House that Trump "might" be targeted by the regime through a possible drone strike attempting to assassinate the U.S. leader at Mar-a-Lago. "Trump has done something that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago. As he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple," Larijani said in remarks aired on Iranian television. The White House declined to address the specifics of the threat in order to "preserve" the Secret Service’s "operational integrity." However, a USSS official told the Washington Examiner that the agency "operates in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment and the safety and security of the President and all of our protectees remains our highest priority.". Federal agencies have long warned Iran is seeking to assassinate Trump, particularly since he ordered the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qassem Soleimani during his first term. While the regime has, in the past, denied accusations that it is targeting Trump, Iranian threats against the president increased last year as he campaigned for reelection, according to U.S. officials. Last July, government authorities reported intelligence that Iran was plotting to assassinate Trump, a development that led to enhanced Secret Service protection for the then-GOP presidential candidate.

FOX News [7/9/2025 9:20 AM, Alex Miller, 46878K] reports a Senate Republican wants to give the U.S. a leg up in its race against China and to ween the nation off of its reliance on imports of key raw materials needed for weapons systems. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., would like to fast-track the harvesting of raw materials in the U.S. needed for the nation’s defensive capabilities, and plans to blow through federal and judicial red tape to do it. Cotton plans to introduce legislation that would allow critical mineral mining projects deemed necessary to bolster the nation’s military and defensive readiness by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to skirt environmental laws and possible blockages by the courts. His bill is designed to give the U.S. an edge against China, the world’s largest producer of critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, graphite and other rare earth minerals used in weapons systems, electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Currently, China produces roughly 60% of the world’s critical mineral supply, and processes up to 90%. "Current environmental laws put our readiness to counter Communist China at risk and waste taxpayer dollars on projects that stall out and die on the vine," Cotton said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "This bill will create jobs, better arm and prepare our soldiers, and spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently.". Cotton’s bill, dubbed the Necessary Environmental Exemptions for Defense Act, would create a waiver for mining activities and projects related to countering China and to allow the Pentagon to "operate with maximum agility and efficiency to ensure it is prepared to deter and, if necessary, fight and win a conflict with the Chinese Communist Party," according to bill text first obtained by Fox News Digital.

NewsMax [7/9/2025 9:13 PM, Daphne Psaledakis, 4622K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, a senior U.S. State Department official said. It would be the second in-person meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, and comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on. The first meeting between the top diplomats took place in Saudi Arabia in February as part of the Trump administration’s effort to re-establish bilateral relations and help negotiate an end to the war. Trump, who returned to power this year promising a swift end to the war that began in 2022, had taken a more conciliatory tone toward Moscow in a departure from predecessor Joe Biden’s staunch support for Kyiv. But on Tuesday, a day after Trump approved sending U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine, he aimed unusually direct criticism at Putin, saying the Kremlin leader’s statements on moving toward peace were "meaningless.” Trump has also said he was considering supporting a bill that would impose steep sanctions on Russia, including 500% tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. When asked on Wednesday about Trump’s criticism of Putin, the Kremlin said Moscow was "calm" regarding the criticism and that it would continue to try to fix a "broken" U.S.-Russia relationship. At a conference of Ukraine-friendly nations in Rome on Wednesday, Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in what Kyiv described as a "substantive" conversation. Russia targeted Ukraine with a record 728 drones early on Wednesday, the latest attack in a series of escalating air assaults in recent weeks that have involved hundreds of drones in addition to ballistic missiles, straining Ukrainian air defenses at a perilous moment in the war. In his first visit to Asia since taking office, Rubio is in Kuala Lumpur to meet with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and with senior Malaysian government officials. The trip is part of an effort to renew U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific and look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the Trump administration’s attention, with Rubio balancing dual responsibilities as secretary of state and national security adviser.

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