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.

FOX News [7/14/2025 3:53 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports the Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee DHS says was doxxed by Rep. Salud Carbajal was taken to the emergency room on Thursday for stitches after a rock was thrown at him, causing his hand to bleed, according to new pictures from the department. The ICE Public Affairs specialist, who DHS said had his business card shown to the mob protesting the raid by the congressman, had a rock thrown at him, which caused injury to his left hand. Images show the bloodied hand before and after the incident. The farm was the subject of a criminal search warrant by federal immigration authorities. "The actions by Representative Carbajal are downright un-American. He dares to claim that his actions were simply congressional oversight, but doxxing ICE personnel and inciting a mob of rioters to attack law enforcement is NOT oversight—it’s abominable," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "His actions sent an ICE employee to the emergency room. It’s no wonder that ICE agents are facing a 700% increase in assaults when radical members of Congress like Salud Carbajal and Monica McIver are openly encouraging and leading their supporters in assaulting law enforcement," McLaughlin continued. The incident took place at a massive riot that broke out as ICE conducted operations at a California marijuana farm in Carpinteria, which resulted in 361 arrests of those in the country illegally. DHS said it rescued 14 migrant children who may have been victims of trafficking, forced labor and exploitation. A child labor investigation is ongoing at the federal level. DHS said there were 500 rioters at the incident, as operations in the Golden State have been subject to major protests and riots in recent weeks. NewsMax [7/14/2025 6:57 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K] reports that the ICE employee subsequently required emergency medical attention following injuries sustained in the confrontation. Carbajal has denied these allegations. Posting on X, Carbajal said: "This is a blatant attempt to distort what occurred in Carpinteria." He further claimed DHS employed an unnecessarily aggressive approach, describing federal agents in military gear using smoke canisters and projectiles against peaceful protesters, including families and children. The confrontation occurred during ICE operations at Glass House Farms, a marijuana cultivation facility. According to DHS, the ICE specialist was hit by a rock thrown by demonstrators, causing significant injuries to his left hand. Images released by DHS show the employee’s hand covered in blood before and after medical intervention, including stitches. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin condemned Carbajal’s alleged actions. In her statement, McLaughlin said, "The actions by Representative Carbajal are downright un-American. He dares to claim that his actions were simply congressional oversight, but doxxing ICE personnel and inciting a mob of rioters to attack law enforcement is NOT oversight — it’s abominable.” McLaughlin further alleged that incidents of doxxing by public officials, such as Carbajal, have contributed significantly to increased hostility and violence against ICE agents. DHS statistics indicate a disturbing 700% rise in assaults against immigration enforcement personnel in recent months, a trend they link directly to inflammatory rhetoric from political figures. DHS named Carbajal and other members of Congress as contributing factors to this escalation. "At the California marijuana facilities, ICE and CBP law enforcement rescued at least 10 migrant children from what looks like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling. Our law enforcement also arrested nearly 200 illegal aliens," said McLaughlin.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [7/14/2025 5:40 PM, John Binder, 3077K]

Breitbart [7/14/2025 4:25 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have skyrocketed since January amid left-wing attacks from anarchist groups and elected Democrats. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials reveal that ICE agents are now facing a nearly 700-percent increase in assaults as they try to arrest illegal aliens. At the same time, the likes of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Boston, Massachusetts, Mayor Michelle Wu (D); Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D); Los Angeles, California, Mayor Karen Bass (D); and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) have made incendiary comments about ICE agents, with some comparing them to Nazis. At the same time, Antifa-affiliated groups, according to DHS officials, have started targeting ICE agents and their families — posting identifying information about them online, including their home addresses. "We will prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law. These criminals are taking the side of vicious cartels and human traffickers," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "We won’t allow it in America."

Daily Caller [7/14/2025 3:33 PM, Hudson Crozier, 1010K] reports a new Democrat-leaning activist group has raised more than $750,000 for "mobile response teams" to confront Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during raids in California as agents face increasing violent assaults. The organization Save America Movement is asking for donations so its teams can "follow ICE raids in real time," according to a fundraising text message reported Thursday by Townhall columnist Dustin Grage. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have warned that physical assaults of ICE agents are happening nearly seven times more often so far in 2025 than in the same period in 2024. The resistance to immigration enforcement has included two shootings at ICE and Border Patrol facilities in Texas, as well as violent riots in California and around the country.

(B) ABC 6 News at Noon [7/14/2025 12:34 PM, Staff] reports DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is warning of growing safety threats against ICE agents, prompting Trump in a post to give total authorization for ICE to protect itself using whatever means necessary. As Democrats sound alarm bells about aggressive tactics and unsafe and unsanitary conditions, those immigration efforts are expected to be ramped up and by a lot due to $178 billion from President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill has been allocated to help. ICE will become the highest funded law enforcement agency in the country.

FOX News [7/13/2025 8:00 PM, Tomi Lahren, 46878K] reports President Trump will NOT tolerate the attacks on our brave ICE agents. Attacks and assaults on our brave ICE agents have gone up well over 500% in recent months and it’s not hard to see why. The way even ELECTED Democrats speak about and characterize our federal agents is DESPICABLE. President Trump agrees. He put out a stern warning to would be ICE antagonists on truth social and with it, directed DHS Secretary Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan to take care of business. From now on, all federal agents on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks or any other form of assault will promptly ARREST the "slimeballs" as President Trump called them on Truth Social using any means necessary. These agents have total authorization from the president to protect themselves just as they protect the public. This will go a long way in not only deterring the violent attacks on our agents, but will also boost their morale knowing their president has their back 100%.

Washington Post [7/14/2025 7:46 PM, Maria Sacchetti and Carol D. Leonnig, 32099K] reports the Trump administration has declared that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. In a July 8 memo, Todd M. Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told officers that such immigrants should be detained “for the duration of their removal proceedings,” which can take months or years. Lawyers say the policy will apply to millions of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border over the past few decades, including under Biden. In the past, immigrants residing in the U.S. interior generally have been allowed to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge. But Lyons wrote that the Trump administration’s departments of Homeland Security and Justice had “revisited its legal position on detention and release authorities” and determined that such immigrants “may not be released from ICE custody.” In rare exceptions immigrants may be released on parole, but that decision will be up to an immigration officer, not a judge, he wrote. The provision is based on a section of immigration law that says unauthorized immigrants “shall be detained” after their arrest, but that has historically applied to those who recently crossed the border and not longtime residents. Lyons, who oversees the nation’s 200 immigration detention facilities, wrote that the policy is expected to face legal challenges. ICE did not respond to requests for comment. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott issued similar guidance last week; that agency also did not respond to questions. The sweeping new detention policy comes days after Congress passed a spending package that will allocate $45 billion over the next four years to lock up immigrants for civil deportation proceedings. The measure will allow ICE to roughly double the nation’s immigrant detention capacity to 100,000 people a day. Since the memos were issued last week, the American Immigration Lawyers Association said members had reported that immigrants were being denied bond hearings in more than a dozen immigration courts across the United States, including in New York, Virginia, Oregon, North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia. The Department of Justice oversees the immigration courts. “This is their way of putting in place nationwide a method of detaining even more people,” said Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It’s requiring the detention of far more people without any real review of their individual circumstances.”

CNN [7/14/2025 4:59 PM, Devan Cole, 21433K] reports the Trump administration on Monday asked a federal appeals court to pause a sweeping order from a California judge that required officials to stop making immigration arrests without probable cause in the southern part of the state. The ruling issued Friday by US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered the Department of Homeland Security to develop guidance for officers to determine "reasonable suspicion" outside of the apparent race or ethnicity of a person, the language they speak or their accent, "presence at a particular location" such as a bus stop, or "the type of work one does." The ruling applies only to the seven-county jurisdiction of the US Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Justice Department attorneys asked the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to put Frimpong’s order on hold while they challenge it before the appeals court. The administration said in its emergency appeal that Frimpong had overstepped in her ruling, accusing the appointee of former President Joe Biden of a "judicial takeover" of executive branch policy. The administration is also asking the appeals court to issue an "administrative stay," which would put Frimpong’s order on hold for a short period of time while the court weighs whether to put it on hold for much longer. The legal challenge alleged that the Department of Homeland Security — which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement — has made unconstitutional arrests and prevented detainees’ access to attorneys. The Los Angeles Times [7/14/2025 3:10 PM, Sonja Sharp, Rachel Uranga and Brittny Mejia, 14672K] reports that the order granted Friday night by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong "is inflicting irreparable harm by preventing the Executive from ensuring that immigration laws are enforced," Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a motion asking for an emergency stay. "These harms will be compounded the longer that injunction is in place." Government lawyers argued Frimpong’s injunction was a first step to placing immigration enforcement under judicial monitorship and was "indefensible on every level." They asked the higher court to pause the order while the appeal is heard. Despite arguments from the Trump administration that its tactics are valid, Frimpong ruled that using race, ethnicity, language, accent, location or employment as a pretext for immigration enforcement is forbidden by the 4th Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. She said those factors cannot be used alone or in combination to form reasonable suspicion, the legal bar needed to detain someone. Government lawyers flatly rejected that notion. Frimpong had also found that preventing detainees from meeting with lawyers violates the right to due process guaranteed by the 5th Amendment. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem incorrectly referred to Frimpong as a man when responding to the order during a news conference Saturday, saying of the judge’s order: "He’s an idiot." "We have all the right in the world to go out on the streets and to uphold the law and to do what we’re going to do. So none of our operations are going to change," Noem said. "We’re going to appeal it and we’re going to win." In addition to blocking roving patrols, the judge also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to open part of its detention facility in downtown Los Angeles to attorneys and legal aid groups. The Trump administration did not immediately contest that portion of the ruling. Instead, it attacked the 4th Amendment claim, seeking a stay that would immediately restore the status quo for immigration agents across Southern California while the case is heard by judges from the higher court. The appeal escalates an already fierce and sprawling legal battle over Trump’s promised mass deportations and the means used to achieve it.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [7/14/2025 8:30 PM, Greg Wehner and Matt Finn, 46878K] Video: HERE

NPR [7/14/2025 1:50 PM, Ximena Bustillo, 37958K] Audio: HERE reports another round of immigration judges received an email on Friday informing them they are being let go, NPR has learned, adding to the growing list of immigration court personnel cut by President Trump amid his efforts to speed up deportations of immigrants without legal status. Fifteen immigration judges learned that they would be put on leave and that their employment would terminate on July 22, according to two people familiar with the firings and a confirmation from the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a union that represents immigration judges. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "Pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, the Attorney General has decided not to extend your term or convert it to a permanent appointment," the email reviewed by NPR stated. It went out to judges in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New York and California. Like the 50 other judges fired within the last six months, the union said, the judges who received the most recent notices were not given a reason for the terminations. They were at the end of their two-year probationary period with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which is part of the Justice Department. Dozens of others took the "Fork in the Road," a voluntary resignation program aimed at reducing the size of the federal workforce. EOIR declined to comment. "I wanted to ride it until the very end," said one of the fired judges, who spoke to NPR under the condition of anonymity since they are still employed by the department for a few more days. "I wanted to keep adjudicating, reviewing these cases. I figured as long as I am here, I can do some good.” The terminations landed after Congress approved a mega-spending bill that allocated over $3 billion to the Justice Department for immigration-related activities, including hiring more immigration judges. The funding and additional personnel are aimed at alleviating the growing case backlog, which is nearly 4 million cases. Hiring and training new judges can take more than a year. "It’s outrageous and against the public interest that at a time when the Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause," said Matt Biggs, president of the IFPTE union. "This is hypocritical — you can’t enforce immigration laws when you fire the enforcers.” In recent months, EOIR leadership has criticized judges for not efficiently managing their caseloads and has encouraged adjudicators to streamline asylum reviews and give oral, as opposed to written, decisions on case dismissals. Trump has also voiced support for a plan in Florida to deputize members of the state’s National Guard Judge Advocate General’s Corps as immigration judges.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [7/14/2025 6:17PM, Michael Katz, 4622K] r

AP [7/15/2025 12:05 AM, R.J. Rico, 56000K] reports immigration authorities are demanding that landlords turn over leases, rental applications, forwarding addresses, identification cards and other information on their tenants, a sign that the Trump administration is targeting them to assist in its drive for mass deportations. Eric Teusink, an Atlanta-area real estate attorney, said several clients recently received subpoenas asking for entire files on tenants. A rental application can include work history, marital status and family relationships. The two-page “information enforcement subpoena,” which Teusink shared exclusively with The Associated Press, also asks for information on other people who lived with the tenant. One, dated May 1, is signed by an officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ‘ anti-fraud unit. However, it is not signed by a judge. It is unclear how widely the subpoenas were issued, but they could signal a new front in the administration’s efforts to locate people who are in the country illegally, many of whom were required to give authorities their U.S. addresses as a condition for initially entering the country without a visa. President Donald Trump largely ended temporary status for people who were allowed in the country under his predecessor, Joe Biden. Some legal experts and property managers say the demands pose serious legal questions because they are not signed by a judge and that, if landlords comply, they might risk violating the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, defended the use of subpoenas against landlords without confirming if they are being issued. “We are not going to comment on law enforcement’s tactics surrounding ongoing investigations,” McLaughlin said. “However, it is false to say that subpoenas from ICE can simply be ignored. ICE is authorized to obtain records or testimony through specific administrative subpoena authorities. Failure to comply with an ICE-issued administrative subpoena may result in serious legal penalties. The media needs to stop spreading these lies.”

Daily Wire [7/14/2025 11:43 AM, Zach Jewell, 3816K] reports at least 361 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested, and 14 children were taken into custody, during an immigration raid in Ventura County, California, last week, where leftist protesters attacked federal agents. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, told Fox News on Sunday that many of those arrested at the marijuana farm in Camarillo had "heinous rap sheets, including kidnapping, child molestation, rape, serial burglary, hit and runs.” "These are people that should not be in our communities illegally, much less around innocent children," McLaughlin said. She added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents "rescued at least 14 migrant children from what looks like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire." Of the 14 children, 10 were not accompanied by an adult. "This is rapidly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office," McLaughlin added. On Friday, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott posted a photo of agents posing with the minors who were found at the marijuana farm. Newsom hit back at CBP Commissioner Scott, writing, "We prosecute criminals that break child labor laws." "You make the kids pose for photos, tear gas them, and promote laws like this," he added, pointing to Republican-led states relaxing child labor laws. As the federal agents conducted the immigration raid with a search warrant, they were met by leftist protesters, some of whom threw rocks at their vehicles, and one man appeared to fire a handgun at the agents. The FBI is still looking for the gunman, offering a $50,000 award for information leading to his conviction. In response to Thursday’s attack on agents at the cannabis farm, President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is giving "Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the public." "I know for a fact that these Officers are having a hard time with allowing this to happen in that it shows such total disrespect for LAW AND ORDER," Trump said. "Therefore, I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and Border Czar, Tom Homan, to instruct all ICE, Homeland Security, or any other Law Enforcement Officer who is on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.”

FOX News [7/14/2025 6:20 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports the Heritage Foundation’s Simon Hankinson joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the latest on an ICE raid at a California pot farm, Democrats’ resistance to the crackdown and Noem’s defense of the agency’s operations. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [7/14/2025 1:55 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports that President Donald Trump’s administration faced significant backlash from the left last week after federal authorities conducted raids on two marijuana farms in California, operations that protesters attempted to disrupt. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection obtained a criminal warrant to conduct the raids at the Carpinteria and Camarillo facilities. On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security announced additional information about its sweep, revealing the arrests of 361 illegal aliens and the rescue of at least 14 migrant children. The children were exposed to potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking, according to the DHS. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott stated that nearly all of the children recovered from the farms were unaccompanied, noting that one minor was as young as 14. Glass House Farms, the farms’ owner, confirmed that federal authorities obtained valid warrants to perform their sweep. The business claimed, "Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors." DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, "At the California marijuana facilities, ICE and CBP law enforcement rescued at least 14 migrant children from what looks like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire. Our brave agents also arrested at least 361 illegal aliens — including criminals with convictions for rape, serial burglary, hit and run and DUIs." "As Secretary [Kristi] Noem stated, this is quickly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office," McLaughlin added. The Daily Caller [7/14/2025 11:32 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports that a joint Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operation executed search warrants at two marijuana grow sites in the California towns of Camarillo and Carpinteria on Thursday, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of illegal migrants and the rescue of more than a dozen minors believed to be victims of child labor. Appearing to believe agents targeted a regular farm, a number of Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, quickly issued public statements condemning the operation The immigration raids attracted more than 500 rioters who attempted to obstruct agents, resulting in four American citizens being criminally processed for allegedly assaulting or resisting officers, according to DHS. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is currently offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of one individual who fired a gun at law enforcement agents during the mayhem. "At the California marijuana facilities, ICE and CBP law enforcement rescued at least 14 migrant children from what looks like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a public statement. "As [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi] Noem stated, this is quickly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office," McLaughlin continued. Spokespeople for the Democrats did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

DailySignal [7/14/2025 11:00 AM, Virginia Allen, 558K] reports ten of the 14 children found at the marijuana grow sites in California did not have a parent present at the facility, according to Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection conducted an operation at two marijuana grow sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, last week and found 14 migrant children working among over 360 illegal aliens at the facilities. "Our ICE enforcement officers found 14 children, 10 who were unaccompanied. They were likely being exploited—potential slave or forced labor, potential child and human trafficking, so this is something that is incredible disturbing and goes far beyond politics," McLaughlin told Fox News over the weekend. During the four years of the Biden administration, encounters with unaccompanied alien children at the southern border reached over 540,000, more than doubling from the nearly 235,000 unaccompanied alien children encountered under the first Trump administration. CBP has encountered about 4,000 unaccompanied children at the southern border since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. A convicted kidnapper was among the 361 illegal aliens apprehended at the marijuana facilities.

New York Post [7/14/2025 6:29 PM, Jared Downing, 49956K] reports the co-founder of the pot farm where migrant kids as young as 14 were working has dolled out thousands of dollars to Governor Gavin Newsom and other local Democrats, records show. Graham Farra is co-founder and president of Glass House Farms in Ventura County, the largest pot farm in California, which had been lauded as a pioneer in “green” — that is environmentally friendly — cannabis. ICE rounded up 361 undocumented workers last Thursday, including 14 underage kids – eight of them unaccompanied — in a raid that turned violent after protestors clashed with agents and one worker died after falling from a greenhouse. Farra previously donated to various Dem candidates and causes in the Golden State, including giving $10,000 to Gavin Newsom in 2018. He also donated to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal PAC and Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA), campaign finance records show. He was even photographed presenting an oversized check to local school officials for a scholarship fund, the LA Times reported in 2019. “Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” the farm’s parent company, Glass House Brands, posted to X. But the federal government tells a different story — at least when it comes to labor practices. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the conditions for the children looked “like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire. Mexican illegal immigrant Juan Duarte-Velasquez, who had a rape and DUI conviction, was also arrested on one of the farms.

New York Times [7/14/2025 2:55 PM, Miriam Jordan and Jonathan Wolfe, 153395K] reports a Mexican farmworker died on Saturday from injuries sustained during a federal immigration raid this week north of Los Angeles, a lawyer for his family said. The farmworker, Jaime Alanís, fell several stories to the ground from a greenhouse on Thursday, when federal agents raided a state-licensed cannabis farm in the agricultural region of Ventura County, Calif. Mr. Alanis’s condition had been the subject of confusion among officials, relatives and the media. On Friday, leaders with the United Farm Workers union said that Mr. Alanís had died on that day, and The New York Times and other media outlets reported that. On Saturday morning, however, his family said that he was on life support and that it was deciding next steps, and Ventura County Medical Center said in a statement that he was still alive but in critical condition. On Saturday evening, a lawyer retained by the family through the Mexican consulate said in a text message that Mr. Alanis had died on Saturday afternoon. The lawyer, Jesus Arias, added that the family decided to “disconnect” after tests for brain function yielded “no good results.” Mr. Arias said arrangements were being made to transfer Mr. Alanis’s body to his family in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Elizabeth Strater, vice president for the United Farm Workers union, said in an interview on Friday that during the chaos of the raid, Mr. Alanís “fell 30 feet or more, and experienced devastating spinal and skull injuries.” An official who was briefed on the situation said Mr. Alanís was from Michoacán, had been working at the farm for more than a decade and had been trying to flee from agents when he fell. He is in his late 50s. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said on Friday that Mr. Alanís had not been in federal custody and denied that the agents involved in the raid were the reason he climbed the greenhouse. “Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30 feet,” she said in a statement. Agents called for help, she added, “to get him care as quickly as possible.”

Reported similarly:
Univision [7/14/2025 4:46 PM, Staff, 4992K]

Los Angeles Times [7/14/2025 6:38 PM, Jessica Garrison, Melissa Gomez and Rachel Uranga, 14672K] reports the coastal pot operation that was raided by a massive force of federal immigration agents last week is the subject of a state investigation into illegal child labor, state officials said Monday. Officials with the state Department of Cannabis Control said they have launched "an active investigation" after receiving a complaint that Glass House, one of the state’s largest legal cannabis companies, had employed minors. The company has facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria; it’s unclear where the complaint was directed. In a statement, state officials said they had conducted a site visit at Glass House in May and found no violations. But later that month, the department received a complaint and opened the probe. "The employment of individuals under the age of 21 in the cannabis industry is strictly illegal, a serious matter, and is not tolerated," the statement said. "We encourage anyone with information about child labor or trafficking at any facility to immediately contact the Department.” Glass House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. But in a statement posted to X last week, the company said it "does not and has never employed minors.” Federal officials raided the company’s operations in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against undocumented immigrants in California. Officials said they arrested 361 people at the two sites, including "at least 14 migrant children.” In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said it had "rescued" the children "from potential exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking." Department officials said 10 of the children, who were unaccompanied minors, had been transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Thursday raid brought chaos, panic and protests to the rural area of the Central Coast. Agents fanned out across the company’s greenhouses, and workers fled in panic, hiding in refrigerators, containers, car trunks and on the greenhouse roofs. One worker, Jaime Alanis Garcia, 57, died after he fell three stories trying to evade agents. Among those arrested, according to the Department of Homeland Security, were "violent and dangerous criminal illegal aliens convicted of rape, child molestation and kidnapping." The Department released the names of 10 people who had been charged with crimes such as indecent exposure, felony possession of a firearm, and possession with intent to sell narcotics. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the operation had come to the government’s attention in part because of concerns about possible child labor. "We went there because we knew, specifically from casework we had built for weeks and weeks and weeks, that there was children there that could be trafficked, being exploited, that there was individuals there involved in criminal activity," Noem told reporters during a weekend appearance in Florida.

Daily Caller [7/14/2025 3:02 PM, Harold Hutchison, 1010K] reports MSNBC as of Monday failed to include mention of suspected child labor in its coverage of Thursday’s raid by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a marijuana farm, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found. ICE executed a search warrant at a California marijuana farm, rescuing at least ten minors, eight of whom were reportedly unaccompanied. By comparison, during the timeframe covered in a keyword search of footage archived by Grabien News for the term “child labor” from Thursday to 11:00 a.m. Monday, CNN and Fox News mentioned the phrase a total of 70 times, the vast majority of which were by Fox News. The phrase aired 15 times on CNN in the context of news reports, segments, whether in panel discussions, aired video clips or from a direct comment by a host or guest. While the phrase was used mostly by reporters on Friday discussing an investigation (five out of seven mentions), but the term was primarily mentioned during panel discussions or by guests on Saturday and Sunday (six out of eight mentions), the DCNF review found. During the Saturday morning discussion, former “Biggest Loser” star Jillian Michaels clashed with CNN host Abby Phillip over the discovery of minors at the marijuana farm. “Here’s what people don’t want to see on the other side. They don’t want to see people throwing rocks into the cars of federal agents. They don’t want to hear that someone supposedly opened fire on them,” Michaels said. “They also don’t want to learn that there are a bunch of kids there that are undocumented or unaccompanied, and they think this is crazy talk, and we should be focusing on that. And I, for one, think, how did those kids get there?” Hosts and guests on Fox News used the phrase 55 times, with many of them directing criticism toward Democrats for attacking ICE’s operations. A similar search for the term “minors” found eight mentions on CNN and three on MSNBC, with none of MSNBC’s mentions of the term coming in connection with the ICE raids. MSNBC’s only three mentions of the term came in connection with reporting over the Trump administration’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. “This issue goes far beyond partisan, transcends partisan lines,” Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF. “And it’s about the welfare of children and the fact that MSNBC is willfully ignoring the potential exploitation, forced labor and even trafficking of innocent children is disgusting and they’re doing it in the name of partisan politics.” CNN and MSNBC did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.

FOX News [7/14/2025 2:16 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports that Fox News senior national correspondent William La Jeunesse has the latest on the nationwide search. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin discusses former President Joe Biden’s immigration crisis. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/14/2025 2:01 PM, Stephen Sorace, 46878K] reports a military veteran wanted in connection with an attack on an ICE detention facility in Texas remained on the run Monday, as the FBI’s manhunt stretched into its 10th day. Benjamin Hanil Song, 32, of Dallas, was named as a suspect on Thursday, almost a week after he allegedly joined a group of 10 to 12 others in an organized attack on officers at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4. Ten assailants were apprehended at the time, though Song managed to evade capture, authorities said. "We believe he is somewhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth area but have expanded our publicity efforts to neighboring states just in case," the FBI Dallas Field Office told Fox News Digital on Monday. The FBI noted that it is still offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to Song’s arrest and conviction. The bureau previously said Song should be considered armed and dangerous. 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 last week.

Breitbart [7/14/2025 4:57 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested what officials are calling "monstrous" illegal aliens convicted of sex crimes, most against children, across the United States over the weekend. "Over the weekend, our brave ICE agents arrested monstrous illegal aliens convicted of heinous crimes, including rape of a child, sexual assault, and possession of child pornography. ICE is putting their lives on the line to keep America’s children and families safe," the Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

CBS News [7/14/2025 9:11 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended "Alligator Alcatraz" in a press conference on Saturday, while Democratic lawmakers were critical of the facility’s conditions after taking a tour. CBS News correspondent Bradley Blackburn joins with more details. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/14/2025 11:03 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the Democrats’ resistance to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [7/14/2025 11:15 PM, Hailey Gomez, 1010K] reports Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said Monday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that giving Democrats a tour of “Alligator Alcatraz” had been “taxing,” with some allegedly trying to exaggerate their experience. Democrats and Republicans toured Florida’s new migrant detention facility Saturday, with Democrat lawmakers later calling to shut it down over claims of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. While discussing the tour, Fox News’ Jesse Watters asked Guthrie whether he witnessed any lawmakers trying to “create controversy” by “making things up or exaggerating.” “Absolutely. I think probably one of my favorites was an individual [who] had a thermometer, an infrared thermometer that they actually pointed at a light bulb, and it was 110 degrees,” Guthrie said. “I knew it was 110 degrees. I said, ‘Let’s actually pull that down to where the ambient air is at and not point it at the light bulb.’” The bipartisan group included at least five members of Congress and about 20 state legislators, making them among the first elected officials to view and inspect the facility, according to Politico. After leaving the site, Democrats like Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke to reporters and accused the facility of being an “internment camp,” the outlet reported. While Democrats who took the tour complained, Republicans who joined them quickly pushed back with Florida State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia dismissing their “political theater” and telling Politico the center is “clean, air-conditioned, and well-kept.” “The rhetoric does not match the reality,” Ingoglia told the outlet. “It’s basically all political theater coming from the [Democrats]. What they’re saying is pure bullshit.”

Los Angeles Times [7/14/2025 5:40 PM, Hannah Fry, Brittny Mejia, and Rachel Uranga, 14672K] reports that the Trump Administration immigration sweeps that have roiled Southern California have shown no signs of slowing despite lawsuits, a court order and growing signs the aggressive actions are not popular with the public. The operations, which began in early June in the Los Angeles area, largely focused on small-scale targets like car washes, strip malls and Home Depot parking lots before authorities hit their biggest target last week — two farms for one of the largest cannabis companies in California. One worker died after falling from a green house roof during the raid while 361 others were arrested. Responding to the death, Border Czar Tom Homan called the situation "sad.” "It’s obviously unfortunate when there’s deaths," he told CNN. "No one wants to see people die." "He wasn’t in ICE custody," Homan said. "ICE did not have hands on this person." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said authorities plan to intensify immigration crackdowns thanks to more funding from the recently passed "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" spending plan from Congress. The budget bill infuses roughly $150 billion into Trump’s immigration and border enforcement plans, including funding for ICE and Border Patrol staffing, building and operating immigrant detention facilities and billions to reimburse states and local governments for immigration related costs.

Blaze [7/14/2025 12:20 PM, Paul Sacca, 1805K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security has publicly blasted a left-leaning media outlet for its seemingly sympathetic coverage of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of child sex crimes. The Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest of 11 illegal aliens convicted of sex crimes in the Minneapolis area between June 6 and June 11. The illegal immigrants are from Laos and Thailand, and some were convicted of committing sexual abuse against children. "Under Tim Walz’s leadership, these depraved individuals have been walking freely around Minneapolis with impunity terrorizing American children," the DHS stated. DHS public affairs Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "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." "Governor Walz and his fellow sanctuary politicians are fighting to keep these sex offenders and other criminal illegal aliens in our country," McLaughlin continued. "Instead of comparing ICE to the Nazi-Gestapo, Governor Walz should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these pedophiles from Minnesota.” The Department of Homeland Security blasted the Minnesota Star Tribune’s "reporting" on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of "child pedophile criminal illegal aliens." The DHS highlighted the arrest of Chia Neng Vue, who is described as a "criminal illegal alien pedophile" convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a child under 13 years old in 1998. Vue was also previously arrested for committing a crime for the benefit of a gang, domestic assault, and a violation of a domestic abuse no-contact order.

Univision [7/14/2025 3:49 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports a group of Hispanic representatives from both parties will introduce a new version of an immigration reform bill this Tuesday that includes provisions to secure the border and promote immigration enforcement, while also offering a path to legal status for some immigrants who have lived undocumented in the United States for years. The proposal will be introduced by Representatives María Elvira Salazar (Republican from Florida) and Verónica Escobar (Democratic from Texas). It’s a "new and improved" version of the bill they unsuccessfully pushed for in 2023. Univision News attempted to obtain details of the bill that will be introduced. Spokespeople confirmed they will be released this Tuesday. Border security is a topic in the new bill to be introduced this Tuesday. It will reveal what this bill contemplates, which will fit in with the nearly $50 billion budget for the border proposed by the Trump mega-law recently passed by Congress.

Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 5:56 PM, Jack Birle, 1934K] reports the Justice Department appealed a district court ruling Monday that restricts federal immigration authorities’ ability to make arrests and stops targeting suspected illegal immigrants, accusing the lower court of violating the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on universal injunctions. In an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, DOJ lawyers accused Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California of issuing an order last week which "threatens to hobble lawful immigration enforcement" with his order last week blocking officers from relying on apparent race, language spoken, location, or job, as sole reasons to inquire about a person’s immigration status. The DOJ also accused the lower court judge of ignoring the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Trump v. CASA, which struck down universal injunctions from district courts as generally beyond the lower courts’ power.

Bloomberg [7/14/2025 2:32 PM, Linda Poon, 19320K] reports since February, federal agents — sometimes armed and in bulletproof vests — have been approaching families at their homes and on the streets to perform "welfare checks" on kids who entered the US alone. The Trump administration says they help prevent trafficking and exploitation of unaccompanied minors, but advocates representing these children argue the unprecedented checks intimidate rather than protect. Now, with the approval of billions of dollars in new funding for immigration enforcement, advocates fear these initial visits are laying the groundwork for future arrests of both the children and the immigrant adults living in the same households. "My clients are just terrified," one attorney told reporters Fola Akinnibi and Rachel Adams-Heard.

Reuters [7/14/2025 6:50 PM, Doyinsola Oladipo, 51390K] reports Avelo Airlines, a Texas-based budget carrier, said on Monday it will close its base at Hollywood Burbank Airport as it struggles financially, amid calls to boycott the airline over its decision to operate deportation flights under a contract with the Trump administration. Avelo signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in April to transport migrants to detention centers inside and outside the U.S. The company said it will reduce its operation at the airport to one aircraft until December 2 and then close the base which currently serves 13 routes. Avelo said the protests and its contract with DHS did not have any effect on its decision to close the base and have not impacted its business. "We believe the continuation service from (Burbank) in the current operating environment will not deliver adequate financial returns in a highly competitive backdrop," the company said in a statement. Avelo said it had made several changes over the past few years to its West Coast operations but they did not produce the results necessary to continue presence there. The company has faced a backlash from employees and customers due to its partnership with the DHS. Protests have cropped up across the country from outside the Burbank Airport to their hub in New Haven, Connecticut, calling on the airline to end its partnership with the DHS and for customers to boycott the carrier.

Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 7:03 PM, Heather Hunter, 1934K] reports Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) launched a scathing attack on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics, calling recent ICE raids and the deployment of military forces in his state “weakness masquerading as strength.” While appearing on The Shawn Ryan Show podcast, Newsom condemned the decision to call in the National Guard following immigration protests and unrest in Southern California, describing the show of force as both excessive and ineffective. “Five thousand damn military in the streets of an American city,” Newsom said. “You just see three blocks, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, all of L.A.’ But I’m in the Reagan building, literally a couple blocks away. You don’t even hear anything.” He criticized the optics and intent behind the response, recalling images of National Guard troops on horseback carrying American flags through soccer fields and frightening children. “It’s a weakness masquerading as strength,” Newsom continued. “That’s what I don’t like about this son of a b****.” The California governor said that law enforcement ended up protecting the National Guard from anti-ICE protesters, rather than restoring order, calling the situation absurd. He accused Trump and federal agencies of testing “executive boundaries” nationwide. He warned that the president is building “one of the largest private armies in the world” through resource-heavy federal enforcement. Newsom also defended undocumented immigrants in California, stressing their vital role in the state’s economy. “We have all these mixed-status families, $8.5 billion in tax collection in California every year from undocs,” he said, citing a Pew Research estimate. He argued that undocumented workers form the “backbone” of key industries, including agriculture and construction. “If you care about farmers and ranchers … then you, sure as hell, should care about their workers,” Newsom said, noting that 41% of construction workers in states like California and Texas fall into this category.

Daily Caller [7/14/2025 9:29 AM, Jason Cohen, 1010K] reports Border czar Tom Homan clashed with Politico’s Dasha Burns in a Sunday interview where she cast doubt on the necessity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks during enforcement operations. Despite increased attacks, Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Alex Padilla of California introduced a bill July 8 that would bar ICE agents and other federal immigration authorities from donning face masks during most enforcement operations. Burns, on "The Conversation with Dasha Burns," said many people are "up in arms" about ICE wearing masks, saying it’s "not something that we’ve really had on this scale in this country," prompting Homan to interrupt her to note the ramping up of attacks against agents. "Well, we never had the scale of attacks on ICE we have now — up 700% attacks on ICE, doxing against ICE agents," Homan said. Burns responded by arguing that there was a surge in "attacks on police officers" following the "defund the police movement." She noted police officers did not start wearing masks after the attacks. "Name a police agency that has a 700% increase in assaults," Homan retorted. "Name one. You can’t.” "I haven’t looked at that data, yeah," Burns acknowledged. The border czar asserted that there has never been this level of attacks on law enforcement. He added that not only have ICE agents faced doxing, but so have their families, as the Department of Homeland Security reported in a June press release. "So they’re wearing masks to help give them some sort of protection," he said. "The same people that are complaining about ICE wearing masks, have they ever said anything about BLM [Black Lives Matter] protesters wearing masks?" [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [7/14/2025 10:18 AM, Elizabeth Crisp, 18649K] reports that President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan ripped into a heckler who interrupted his address during a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) gathering in Florida on Saturday, saying the unidentified man doesn’t have the "balls" to be an immigration or border officer. "This guy lives in his mother’s basement — the only thing that surprises me, you don’t have purple hair and a nose ring," Homan said to the heckler as attendees cheered. "Get out of here, you loser!". "You’re such a bada‑‑? Meet me offstage in 13 minutes and 50 seconds," he continued, adding to the crowd, "I guarantee you he sits down to pee. Guaranteed.” The TPUSA Student Action Summit was streamed online. Several social media accounts posted clips of Homan’s response to the interruption. The heckler, who was removed from the event, was holding an enlarged photo of Homan with "MS-13" photoshopped across the former Border Patrol officer’s knuckles. The man yelled out asking whether Homan was a member of the gang, which Trump has designated a terrorist organization. "This says so," the man, dressed in MAGA attire, shouted while raising the image into the air. Homan stopped his prepared remarks to respond to the heckler. The Trump administration has used photos of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s hand tattoos to allege he was a member of MS-13 and defend his erroneous deportation to El Salvador in March. Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. last month and faces new charges and a second deportation effort. The image spurred backlash because of the addition of the "MS-13" characters, which the White House has argued was meant to make explicit the symbolism behind his existing tattoos.

New York Post [7/14/2025 6:22 PM, Brandon Cruz, 49956K] reports Nassau Democrats are fuming after Bruce Blakeman quietly re-upped his longtime political ally Peter King’s no-bid contract Monday, accusing the Republican county executive of cronyism and a lack of transparency. The 81-year-old King, a former Republican congressman, was first hired in November 2023 as Blakeman’s "confidential adviser" on counterterrorism and homeland security, a role that has allowed him to collect up to $8,000 a month without a public vote or an open bidding process due to the sensitive nature of the post. Records show Nassau has already shelled out $192,000 to King. And his contract, which was extended on Monday by the county executive, will now run through October. "No-bid contracts for political insiders like Peter King are exactly why Long Islanders pay some of the highest taxes in the country," county Legislator Seth Koslow, a Democrat who is running against Blakeman in November, told The Post. "Bruce Blakeman is treating our wallets like an ATM for his friends. "This so-called ‘sensitive’ legal work is just another excuse for a secret payout. While Nassau families are getting squeezed, the GOP machine is cashing in.” Blakeman called it "ridiculous" that the Democrats were making an issue of the appointment. He pointed to King’s nearly three decades in Congress, where he chaired the House Homeland Security Committee, served on the Intelligence Committee and helped lead post-9/11 emergency preparedness efforts across New York state. He represented both Nassau and Suffolk counties while working on Capitol Hill. "Congressman King held the highest security clearances in the federal government, military, and law enforcement, and has not only a wealth of knowledge but an extensive network of intelligence professionals that he has made available to Nassau County," Blakeman said. The investment, especially as Nassau cops are gearing up to assist ICE, is needed now more than ever, Blakeman said. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder also backed the hire, saying King is "available 24/7" and regularly sits in on meetings with top law enforcement officials from local jurisdictions to the federal level. The ex-congressman has also been intimately involved in major security planning efforts, including last year’s Cricket World Cup held at Eisenhower Park, according to Ryder.

Blaze [7/14/2025 8:05 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1805K] reports anti-Israel migrant Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of illegally targeting him for deportation in a $20 million lawsuit. Khalil is accused by the administration of leading a violent anti-Israel protest when he was a student at Columbia University and violating the terms of his immigration visa. The case has become a proxy battle between the opponents of the mass deportations ordered by President Donald Trump and his supporters. "Mr. Khalil is seeking $20 million, which he would use to help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University," reads a press release from the Center for Constitutional Rights. "He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy." The CCR said the lawsuit was only the beginning. "The claim is a precursor to a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, which he will bring under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 federal statute that allows individuals to sue the U.S. government for damages for civil law violations," the statement reads. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Homeland Security, responded with her own fiery statement. "Mahmoud Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an anti-Semite and terrorized him and his family is absurd. It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus. He ‘branded’ himself as anti-Semite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric," McLaughlin said. "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America," she added. "The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property."

Reuters [7/14/2025 11:37 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports Mexico’s president on Monday hit back at U.S. criticism that her government was not doing enough to combat fentanyl, calling for the United States to do more to arrest drug traffickers on its own turf and stop the flow of weapons south across the border. The comments came after President Donald Trump threatened 30% tariffs against his southern neighbor and largest trading partner over the weekend, accusing Sheinbaum of failing to stop fentanyl being smuggled into the United States. "We do our part and they also have to do theirs," President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her regular morning press conference. "We have insisted on matters related to controlling the flow of weapons from the U.S. into Mexico, on the arrest of people involved in drug trafficking in the U.S., and on the responsibilities that belong to the United States," she said. Sheinbaum added that she believed Mexico and the U.S. were close to finalizing an agreement on security and expected it to be signed before the Aug. 1 deadline when the new tariffs are set to take effect. Any security deal with Washington will not include the entry of U.S. security forces into Mexico, Sheinbaum said, reiterating a Mexican red line for any cooperation.

Houston Chronicle [7/14/2025 3:25 PM, Staff, 1982K] reports on Sunday morning, Nikki Howard and Shauna Howard Russell set up a lemonade stand. The sisters — both moms in their mid-40s — wanted to find some way to give back to the local families that had suffered tragic losses in the Hill Country floods, and selling drinks for a dollar per cup seemed like a good option. They ended up raising around $1,500. "We give back spiritually in prayer and in thought, but we just need something tangible to give, and so that’s what we’re planning on doing," Nikki said. "We want to reflect what compassion and empathy looks like to our children.” All across the state, Texans are stepping up to do what we can to help our neighbors in need. As kids splashed in an inflatable pool behind the stand, minivans and SUVs parked along the curb at University Blvd. and College St. in West University Place. Some just dropped off a few bucks — or $20 — without even asking for a beverage. Judging by recent reporting on the Hill Country floods, however, some officials in Washington are more focused on saving cash than helping Texans recover. First, the New York Times reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency bizarrely laid off workers at its disaster assistance call center just days after the flood. Impacted families, like those who lost a home to the flood, can receive a one-time payment of up to $750 to help with their immediate expenses. This money helps cover meals, hotel stays, clothing, and other needs while recovery teams continue to search through and remove flood debris. But due to budget cuts by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the call center contract was dropped and thousands of phone calls went unanswered. Internal emails even show that officials knew they were failing at their task and needed the secretary to extend the call center contracts. "We still do not have a decision, waiver or signature from the DHS Secretary," one FEMA employee wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues. Leaving disaster victims on hold isn’t governmental efficiency. It’s heartless. CNN reported that FEMA waited 72 hours before sending any resources to help support Texas’ disaster response. Why the delay? Self-imposed government red tape. Noem has mandated that she personally review and approve expenses over $100,000 — including, say, deploying search-and-rescue teams after a flood that left more than 100 dead. As a result, Noem didn’t provide a green light for those critical efforts until the Monday after Friday’s flood, long past the moment for immediate action. Noem claims the reporting is "fake news" and called for anonymous sources to reveal themselves. A Homeland Security spokesperson said that the agency is shifting from a "bloated, DC-centric dead weight" to empowering states. Congressional watchdogs have already started asking for an investigation. Last week, Democrats on the House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform wrote a letter demanding Secretary Noem and FEMA turn over information regarding their response — or lack thereof — to the deadly Hill County flood. Republicans need to join their colleagues and treat this investigation into Secretary Noem as a bipartisan effort.

Los Angeles Times [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Joel Kotkin, 14672K] reports even as Californians protest the crude and often brutal deportation tactics employed by President Trump’s ICE and Homeland Security agents, we’re giving too little thought to how our state, and the nation, is failing the very immigrant community we want to protect. In the past, particularly in the last century, when the U.S. economy, and California’s, was growing at a fast rate, loosely controlled immigration filled critical needs and, over time, moved many immigrants into an increasingly diverse middle class. But now newcomers are getting stuck. According to new findings from USC and University of California researchers, immigrants account for nearly a quarter of the U.S. population living in poverty, up from 14% three decades ago. The immigrant poverty rate fluctuates, but it has been rising in recent years, especially since the pandemic. In 2024, 22.4% of all immigrants and 28.4% of non-citizen immigrants, including the undocumented, were poor, the highest rates since 2008. As well, welfare dependency is more pronounced among immigrants than the native born. A 2023 analysis of census data showed that 54% of households headed by naturalized citizens, legal residents and the undocumented use one or more welfare programs versus 39% of U.S.-born households. In California, the overall situation is only slightly better. A 2023 report from the Public Policy Institute of California put the poverty rate for all foreign-born residents at 17.6%, compared to 11.5% for those born here. For unauthorized immigrants, however, the rate was even higher than the national figure: 29.6%. Undocumented households, notes a separate USC study, have consistently had the lowest median household income in L.A. — $46,500, compared to $75,000 among all Angelenos in 2024. The grim statistics reflect a decline starting in the 1980s in blue-collar industries in California, which traditionally offered upward mobility to immigrants. Unionization in the immigrant-heavy hospitality industry has helped lift some families, but those gains may lead to fewer jobs as employers look to rein in costs, potentially by automating some services. And immigration itself, especially mass immigration, puts downward pressure on many of the jobs newcomers fill — in agriculture, for example, or construction.

Chicago Tribune [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Staff, 3987K] reports walking in stocking feet across a grimy airport as you make your way through security was the reality for many travelers for years. And if you happened to show up to security in sandals … well, we shudder to think. But last week, the Transportation Security Administration ditched its "shoes off" rule. Good riddance. An irritant of modern life has been lifted. That doesn’t happen very often. Reducing security wait times — and, frankly, improving hygiene — is a good thing, and we’re pleased to hear it. Nobody will miss the sights and smells that accompanied this security protocol. Of course, we understand that post-9/11, everything changed when it came to keeping travelers safe. It was implemented after the attempted 2001 shoe bombing, in which Richard Reid, a British citizen and self-proclaimed follower of al-Qaida, attempted to detonate explosives midflight from Paris to Miami. Some countries introduced similar checks, though few maintained them as long as the U.S. We hope that an end to stuffing our footwear into bins for the X-ray machine signals more progress to come in bringing the U.S. closer to how other airports around the globe operate. Modern airport scanners (like advanced CT scanners and millimeter wave scanners) can now detect threats without requiring passengers to remove shoes. These machines provide detailed 3D images and can spot anomalies inside shoes, laptops and even liquids. For the TSA, there are many examples of how to improve processes.

The Hill [7/14/2025 12:30 PM, Staff, 18649K] reports speaking for a 6-3 majority in Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court case involving birthright citizenship, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that while the "executive has a duty to follow the law, the judiciary does not have unbridled authority to enforce this obligation.” That sentence should strike fear into the heart of every American. And it was the last thing the Framers had in mind when they designed the U.S. Constitution. If anyone had heard those words when the Constitution was debated, it would have been rejected out of hand. Opponents of the Constitution — and there were many — agreed with Patrick Henry that the proposed new government with its presidential office "squints towards monarchy; and does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American?" Barrett’s controversial statement arose from a legal challenge to Executive Order 14160 signed by Donald Trump on Jan. 20. It identified circumstances in which a person born in the United States is not "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" and bluntly stated: "The 14th Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States." In making its case to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration cleverly did not ask it to rule on the executive order’s constitutionality, but whether federal courts could issue nationwide injunctions against its enforcement. The court ruled that enforcing Trump’s executive order would only apply in the 22 states and the cities of San Francisco and the District of Columbia that were a party to the lawsuit; it did not apply elsewhere until a final ruling on the order’s constitutionality is issued sometime in the Supreme Court’s next term. New Hampshire federal judge has restored the nationwide ban on enforcing Trump’s order thanks to a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union following the Supreme Court’s decision. Immediately following that ruling, White House spokesman Harrison Fields said the Trump administration "will be fighting vigorously against the attempts of these rogue district court judges to impede the policies President Trump was elected to implement."

Washington Post [7/14/2025 7:45 AM, León Krauze, 32099K] reports last Monday, as federal forces stormed MacArthur Park in an operation that appeared to have no clear objective beyond spectacle, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass arrived at the scene to demand an immediate end to the operation. She got on the phone with Gregory Bovino, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, and said she demanded Bovino to have his agents “leave, immediately.” The armored vehicles, heavily armed men and mounted officers eventually withdrew. But when asked for comment, Bovino fired back: “I don’t work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.” The standoff is indeed coming to symbolize a new, unsettling normal for Southern California. Since the start of the federal government’s “immigration enforcement surge,” Los Angeles has been targeted by federal authorities. Once-crowded spaces — public parks, markets, churches — now sit eerily empty. Families have been fractured, and fear is palpable everywhere. For Bass, standing up for Los Angeles’s immigrant community represents an opportunity for political redemption. Her poor handling of the wildfires in Palisades and Altadena earlier this year threatened to derail her political career. Today, she sounds like she is on a mission. After I interviewed her last week on my podcast, it was clear to me Bass doesn’t lack conviction. But I was left wondering just how effective her resistance can be.

Daily Caller [7/14/2025 10:53 AM, John Loftus, 1010K] reports remember Kilmar Abrego Garcia? Back in the spring, Democrats tried to turn Garcia (an illegal alien) into a political martyr, a victim of President Donald Trump and his administration’s cruel whims and treatment of immigrants. It backfired, however, and as more information was revealed about Garcia’s background and alleged crimes, including charges of human trafficking, Democrats simply … stopped talking about him. They knew better than to die on a political hill for a man who may have smuggled migrants, narcotics, and firearms throughout the country. Democrats, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are once again repeating their fatal mistake: leaping at the opportunity to champion supposedly innocent illegal aliens before more background information is known. Amid Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) recent raids in southern California, Newsom and others omitted the fact that they took place at pot farms, and, of course, spun the narrative that the Trump administration was targeting the workers who pick our food, not cannabis. Now, it turns out that one of the innocent "strawberry pickers" arrested at the facility was sentenced to seven years for kidnapping and attempted rape and had a prior conviction for attempted child molestation, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott. One can safely say this is not a great look for the governor, especially considering that there were allegedly juveniles at the farm.

Like Kilmar, Democrats may pretend that every illegal alien is a hero who deserves nothing less than citizenship and their own federal holiday. Sometimes — in fact, in most cases — their cheap dunks and sermonizing come back to haunt them.

Top News (Sunday Talk Shows)

Reuters [7/14/2025 6:43 PM, Nate Raymond and Ted Hesson, 51390K] reports U.S. immigration officials may deport migrants to countries other than their home nations with as little as six hours’ notice, a top Trump administration official said in a memo, offering a preview of how deportations could ramp up. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will generally wait at least 24 hours to deport someone after informing them of their removal to a so-called "third country," according to a memo dated Wednesday, July 9, from the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons. ICE could remove them, however, to a so-called "third country" with as little as six hours’ notice "in exigent circumstances," said the memo, as long as the person has been provided the chance to speak with an attorney. The memo states that migrants could be sent to nations that have pledged not to persecute or torture them "without the need for further procedures." The new ICE policy suggests President Donald Trump’s administration could move quickly to send migrants to countries around the world. The Supreme Court in June lifted a lower court’s order limiting such deportations without a screening for fear of persecution in the destination country. Following the high court’s ruling and a subsequent order from the justices, the Trump administration sent eight migrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan and Vietnam to war-torn South Sudan. The administration recently pressed officials from five African nations ‒ Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon ‒ to accept deportees from elsewhere, Reuters reported.

Reuters [7/15/2025 1:06 AM, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke, 51390K] reports the Trump administration is launching a new effort to keep immigrants who entered the US illegally detained by denying them bond hearings, an internal memo showed, a change that could further swell the numbers of those held. The guidance by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a portion of which Reuters reviewed, could be applied to millions of people who crossed the border illegally and are contesting their deportation. President Donald Trump has vowed mass deportations, which he says are needed after high levels of illegal immigration under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. Congress passed a spending law this month that provides funding to detain at least 100,000 people, a steep increase over the record 58,000 in custody by late June. Washington Post first reported the new ICE policy limiting bond hearing eligibility, citing a July 8 memo by its acting director, Todd Lyons. The guidance shared with Reuters called for ICE to interpret several immigration law provisions as "prohibitions on release" after an arrest, adding the shift in policy was "likely to be litigated.” It encouraged ICE prosecutors "to make alternative arguments in support of continued detention" during immigration court hearings. The US Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Miami Herald [7/14/2025 3:38 PM, Antonio Maria Delgado, 3805K] reports immigrant communities across South Florida are on edge after a newly revealed immigration memo from the Trump administration confirmed that migrants could now be deported to countries other than their own with as little as six hours’ notice — even in cases where those countries offer no guarantees of safety. The policy, laid out in a July 9 memo by Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expands the controversial use of "third-country deportations." Immigration lawyers, human rights advocates and families say the rule marks one of the most extreme deportation tactics yet under President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration approach. The Miami area, home to large diasporas from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti, has emerged as one of the regions most likely to be affected by the policy — and also one of the most politically sensitive. Many immigrants in South Florida are in legal limbo, with pending asylum cases or final orders of removal that haven’t been enforced. Under the memo, first reported by the Washington Post, ICE is now authorized to deport non-citizens — including long-term U.S. residents — to third countries with only 24 hours’ notice. In "exigent circumstances," that window can shrink to six hours, so long as the detainee is given an opportunity to speak with an attorney. In cases where a receiving country has given "credible diplomatic assurances" that the deportee won’t face torture or persecution, ICE can carry out removals without any prior notice to the individual. Legal experts say this amounts to a sweeping removal power with few safeguards and little transparency. The Trump administration has defended the policy as a necessary tool to accelerate the removal of unauthorized immigrants — including some with criminal records — particularly when their home countries are unwilling to accept them. "We need to get the worst of the worst out of our country," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on Fox News. But data and accounts from immigration attorneys paint a different picture.

NewsMax [7/14/2025 4:03 PM, Michael Katz, 4622K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Monday ripped a media report as "fake news" that alleged illegal immigrants in overcapacity detention centers are going hungry because of food shortages. An unnamed former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told NBC News in a story published Monday that it’s difficult for a detention facility to stay stocked with the right amount of food when it might face an unexpected surge of new detainees. Reports of poor conditions at ICE facilities are becoming a common theme in the mainstream media, with The New York Times reporting June 28 that the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration is straining the nation’s detention facilities. The Hill [7/14/2025 4:15 PM, Tara Suter, 18649K] reports that according to the NBC News report, ICE detainees in multiple states have reported facing food scarcity or receiving spoiled food, according to immigration advocates and detainees themselves. The outlet said detainees are experiencing weight loss and sickness as a result. Democrats have railed against the Trump administration’s immigration policies and ICE tactics, which have included workplace raids, masked agents and alleged racial profiling. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons responded to criticism from Democrats during a Monday interview on Fox News.

NewsMax [7/14/2025 9:00 PM, Michael Katz, 4622K] reports Madison Sheahan, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shot back Monday on Newsmax at criticism from a Florida Democrat lawmaker that a detention facility for illegal immigrants is an "internment camp" that should be "shut the hell down.” Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., claimed the conditions at "Alligator Alcatraz," a state-run ICE detention center on an airport tarmac surrounded by the Everglades that opened July 3, as "really appalling" after touring the facility Saturday with other lawmakers. She described the detention areas as "cages, wall-to-wall" that held 32 people per "cage," which contained only bunk beds and "three tiny toilets" that are a toilet and sink combined into a single unit. President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis toured the facility July 1, with Trump saying, "This is an amazing thing that they’ve done here.” Sheahan told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" the "cages" are no more different than a prison cell. "What we have is some of the best facilities in the country," Sheahan said. "This facility in particular shows that whole-of-government approach that President Trump and Secretary Noem have taken leadership on to be able to allow ICE to execute its mission every single day. "And I would also say that it was the Biden administration that put people in cages throughout the country to be able to allow them to come into this country without being vetted, and us having no idea who came into the country over the last four years because of the open-border policies."

Daily Wire [7/14/2025 8:14 AM, Virginia Kruta, 3816K] reports that Border czar Tom Homan pulled no punches in a recent conversation with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns, providing her with statistics and evidence when she suggested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were inviting criticism for wearing masks while conducting raids. Homan pointed to the backlash against ICE agents — which has led not only to them being targeted in the streets but to them being targeted at their homes, along with their spouses and their children — and argued, just as acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has, that they should be allowed some measure of protection.. "Well, we never had the scale of attacks on ICE we have now — up 700% attacks on ICE, doxing against ICE agents," Homan interrupted. "Well, you’ve had increased attacks on police officers as well in the wake of the defund the police movement, too. But they haven’t put masks on," Burns protested. "Name a police agency that has a 700% increase in assaults," Homan challenged. "Name one. You can’t.” Burns conceded: "I haven’t looked at that data, yeah." Homan went on to point out that it wasn’t just the agents themselves who were being targeted — although that would be serious enough — but activists and extremists were also doxxing their families. "You won’t find one. The attacks on ICE is unprecedented, 700% increased. And we’re not even talking about the doxing of agents, their spouses, and their children," Homan explained. "So they’re wearing masks to help give them some sort of protection … The same people that are complaining about ICE wearing masks, have they ever said anything about BLM protesters wearing masks?" "Let me answer though. Let me answer," Homan pushed back. "Did they ever say anything about the masked protesters that became criminals on college campuses that threatened Jewish students and took over buildings, destroyed property? They were all wearing masks. Did anybody pass legislation saying they can’t wear a mask during a protest? No."

FOX News [7/14/2025 1:30 PM, Gabriel Hays, 46878K] reports that Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said Sunday he believes it’s entirely reasonable that Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents (ICE) are wearing masks while arresting illegal immigrants in a new podcast exchange. In an interview on Politico’s "The Conversation" podcast, Homan told host Dasha Burns that agents are masking up because they have become targets for attacks. "The attacks on ICE is unprecedented, 700% increased. And we’re not even talking about the doxing of agents, their spouses and their children," he said, noting people revealing ICE agents’ identities and home addresses to the public. Burns noted some Americans have been critical of footage showing ICE agents wearing masks or finding other ways to obscure their identities while arresting illegal immigrants, and others have raised concerns about copycats who can masquerade as ICE agents for nefarious purposes. "I think one of the things that’s had a lot of folks up in arms is that ICE agents — unlike other law enforcement — have been masked to protect their identities. That’s not something that we’ve really had on this scale in this country. Do you––," she said, as Homan interjected in a clip flagged by The Daily Caller. "Well, we never had the scale of attacks on ICE we have now — up 700% attacks on ICE, doxing against ICE agents," he said. During the Fourth of July weekend, 10 individuals attacked a detention center in Alvarado, Texas where the Department of Homeland Security was holding people accused of immigration violations. Authorities charged the suspects with attempted murder of a federal officer after one of them shot a police officer in the neck during the attack. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

DailySignal [7/14/2025 6:15 PM, Lucy Spence, 558K] reports Democrats presented a bill in the Massachusetts House on Wednesday to ban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from covering their faces during immigration raids and arrests. Democrats and Republicans are sparring over the issue with increased heat as leaders on the Left look to pass similar legislation on the federal level. ICE agents have taken center stage as President Donald Trump’s administration increases its deportations of criminal illegal aliens in an effort to contain the damage from the Biden administration’s "open door" immigration policies. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X that ICE arrests of illegal immigrants had risen by 627% alone in the first month of Trump’s second term as president. The Massachusetts bill, introduced by Democrat state Rep. James Hawkins and co-sponsored by 10 other state representatives, would require law enforcement officers to fully show their faces and wear their names or badge numbers on their uniforms. The bill makes exceptions for medical masks or face protection in emergency situations, such as protection from smoke or tear gas. Violation of the bill would result in a misdemeanor. The Massachusetts bill follows on the heels of similar efforts in New York, where legislators are planning to introduce the Mandating End to Lawless Tactics, or MELT, Act. According to CBS News, New York City elected officials unveiled the bill on Wednesday morning. Legal experts have pointed out that state governments don’t have the power to pass laws like the MELT Act. Zach Smith, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told The Daily Signal, "States do not have the authority to regulate how federal law enforcement agents conduct their operations.” Smith added, "Unfortunately, the reason many federal agents feel the need to wear masks in the first place is because the overheated rhetoric coming from many on the Left has led to these agents being threatened and harassed.” Democrats have increasingly expressed alarm about the sight of masked ICE agents. A video posted on X by Fox News host Laura Ingraham showed New York Rep. Jerry Nadler saying, "These people are wearing masks, and they are totally unidentified. … It’s completely improper and one has to assume they’re hiding something or they’re hiding misbehavior because otherwise, why would they be wearing masks and denying their identities?". ICE acting Director Todd Lyons explained in a June Fox News interview, ICE agents have reverted to masks to protect themselves and their families. Individuals opposed to deportation efforts have begun "doxxing" ICE agents online—posting names, addresses, and social media accounts of agents and their family members. "There was the one agent out of the Boston field office … his photo was plastered all over the place. Compared him to some neo-Nazi group," said Lyons. "They get specific threats online, and what the media and a lot of elected officials don’t realize is their rhetoric, what they are saying, is so dangerous and so hurtful to ICE agents.” A June report from the Department of Homeland Security showed that ICE agents face a 500% increase in assaults while trying to arrest illegal immigrants. Noem told Fox News on Thursday that the violence is "getting worse.” "They’re not just threatening them and doxxing them," Noem said, "they’re ambushing them. They’re threatening their families. … It’s extremely dangerous, and the rhetoric has to stop.”

NewsNation [7/14/2025 8:07 PM, Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers being pressed by the White House to arrest thousands of migrants each day, how they are carrying out their mission remains under scrutiny amid complaints they are working shrouded in secrecy. Democrats are pushing legislation that would require federal immigration officers to identify themselves properly and to operate without their faces covered. Lawmakers claim ICE’s tactics "endanger public safety by creating confusion, fear and mistrust" in communities migrant advocates say have been terrorized by threats of arrests and deportation. Yet, Department of Homeland Security officials insist officers and agents are acting properly despite significantly rising cases of ICE officers being assaulted. But the Trump administration’s insistence that ICE put 3,000 migrants in custody per day is putting officers in a very dangerous position, a former ICE official told NewsNation. "The eye is off the ball for public safety, and it’s about the quota," Jason Houser, the agency’s chief of staff between 2021-23, said. "The ICE officer is now the sword of the political class in the White House." ICE is leaving how officers dress to the discretion of individual field offices, which is creating confusion among the general public, Houser said. Houser said ICE and other federal immigration enforcement agencies often act outside the bounds of other law enforcement organizations. "There is no policy, there is no stance, there is no procedure for what they are doing," Houser said, adding, "Nobody conforms in this way and acts in this manner." However, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin argued in a statement to NewsNation that federal immigration agents and officers "clearly identify themselves as law enforcement" despite needing to protect themselves from "highly sophisticated gangs" by covering their faces. ICE Director Todd Lyons told NewsNation that officers rarely wore masks before President Donald Trump took office in January. However, citing rising attacks being reported on federal immigration officers who also face doxing threats, some officers have been forced to mask their identities. "They don’t want to wear those masks, but it’s for their own safety," Lyons said. "If I could figure out a way that we could do it and they could do their job safely, I would love to sit down with lawmakers and come up with some solution to that. But until I can assure the men and women of ICE and their families are going to be protected, I’m going to let them do whatever they need to do to protect themselves."

NewsMax [7/14/2025 8:46 AM, Eric Mack, 4622K] reports the left is apparently fully understanding of the safety problems of masking, albeit with a caveat that they are now suggesting it gives people, including illegal criminal migrants, justification for violence against law enforcement officials. "So, in my world, you mask yourself because you don’t want to be seen," Sunny Hostin, a New York-based, liberal co-host of ABC’s "The View" said Friday. "You mask yourself because you don’t want to be seen, there will be a reckoning for some of the actions that law enforcement — actual law enforcement — have done.” Hostin did not mention a reckoning for violent criminal illegal migrants, or those violently attacking and doxing federal law enforcement that led to the masking to protect the officers and their families, though. While the left is fomenting violence on federal law enforcement like it is 2020 again, President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan is standing up against the violence and saying "bring it," in a full-throated defense of law enforcement’s use of force against violent criminal illegal migrants. Homan had bold and pointed responses to an anti-ICE protester during his Turning Point USA speech Saturday, then added calls for all leftist protesters in the same vein. "You want some? Come get some," Homan told the Turning Point USA crowd, the New York Post reported, after being heckled by a protester. "I’m tired of it for the men and women of ICE. I deserve your respect.

FOX News [7/14/2025 9:07 PM, Stepheny Price and Bill Melugin, 46878K] reports a progressive Democratic state representative sparked controversy after referring to ICE agents as "Nazi Gestapo thugs" following an ICE operation in Providence, Rhode Island, that resulted in the arrest of a known MS-13 gang member. "The Nazi Gestapo ICE thugs kidnapped another of our neighbors in Providence this morning. This time on Alverson St.," wrote Rep. Enrique Sanchez in social media posts. "The ICE thugs damaged a couple of residents’ cars as well. They think they are above the law. I strongly condemn this act of terror and will be demanding answers and seeking action tomorrow. I am tired of this s**t. Providence doesn’t want ICE thugs in our city.” The arrest in question was of Ivan Rene Mendoza Meza, a 27-year-old Honduran national illegally present in the U.S. and a self-admitted member of the violent MS-13 gang. ICE sources told Fox News that during the operation, Mendoza attempted to flee, causing a crash by striking ICE vehicles before running into his apartment. He was eventually surrounded and surrendered to agents. Mendoza was seen smirking in his arrest photo, seeming to be unfazed by his capture. Mendoza has a history of criminal activity, including fentanyl trafficking charges in Rhode Island. ICE Boston had previously lodged an immigration detainer against him following those charges in August 2023. However, the 6th District Court of Rhode Island declined to honor the detainer, releasing Mendoza without notifying ICE, forcing agents to locate and arrest him in the community. According to ICE Boston spokesperson James Covington, "Mendoza is a self-admitted member of MS-13 in Honduras and states he has committed crimes on behalf of the gang.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/14/2025 3:02 PM, Bob Egelko, 4120K] reports can immigration agents stop and detain anyone with brown skin if they’re within a few hundred miles of the U.S.-Mexico border? Amid President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations and massive influx of cash to seize immigrants, his "border czar" Tom Homan suggested as much last week, saying agents can question people "based on their physical appearance." Courts will have to decide whether someone’s skin color and overall appearance can be considered by officers looking for illegal immigrants, or whether this is just another form of discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The two federal judges who have considered the issue so far have both ruled against the Trump administration.

Daily Caller [7/14/2025 7:03 PM, Staff, 1010K] reports organizations selected for a multi-million-dollar grant from the Biden administration are now advising illegal immigrants on how to avoid deportation. Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and its affiliate, Stop AAPI Hate — which have vowed to "fight" and "resist" what they deem the "racist" agenda of the Trump administration — were picked to receive a $2 million Department of Justice (DOJ) grant in 2024. The organization is now distributing materials instructing illegal immigrants to refuse to open the door to ICE agents, avoid answering questions or identifying themselves, and report ICE activity in their neighborhoods. Based in San Francisco, CAA bills itself as a "progressive voice" for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), advocating for "systemic change that protects immigrant rights, promotes language diversity, and remedies racial and social injustice." In 2020, CAA, along with the AAPI Equity Alliance and San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department, formed the Stop AAPI Hate coalition in response to what they called a rise in anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden DOJ awarded CAA a $2 million grant to support Stop AAPI Hate in conducting research, performing policy advocacy and implementing "strategic communications and digital media to sustain public education and conversation on anti-AAPI hate and scapegoating. "CAA received $500,000 of the $2 million grant before the Trump administration terminated the rest of the funding in April, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to other groups, arguing that the activities it supported were "inconsistent with the interests of the United States." Since President Donald Trump assumed office in January, both organizations have circulated resources instructing illegal immigrants on how to respond to encounters with ICE.​. The CAA website advises individuals to keep their doors closed, refuse to answer questions or present identification, call the San Francisco Rapid Response Hotline to "report ICE and protect your community," among other recommendations.

NewsNation [7/14/2025 7:07 AM, Marilyn Parker and Rachel Tucker, 5801K] reports two people were arrested "for trafficking and financially exploiting" a teenage girl who went missing several months earlier, according to a Hillsborough County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office news release. Detectives began investigating the case after spotting a person in a commercial sex advertisement that appeared to be the missing 15-year-old girl. HCSO, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Lakeland Police Department conducted an undercover operation in Lakeland, Florida, to rescue the girl on June 24. Terrance Whitfield Jr., 22, was identified as her trafficker and was arrested, according to HCSO. "This is not typically a stranger that is yanking somebody off the street," said Meredith Grau Porter, vice president of client services at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. The center contributed to the data in a study from the University of South Florida. They found the most common victim-offender relationships were with acquaintances and friends or neighbors. Brittany Armstrong, 36, conspired with Whitfield to exploit the girl and posted the online advertisements, HCSO said. She was also accused of arranging meetups between sex buyers and the teen, where she would collect money for the acts. "This young girl was exploited and abused by individuals who viewed her as nothing more than a way to make money. Let me be clear, anyone who preys on children will be found, arrested, and held accountable," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. "I want to thank the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Lakeland Police Department for their outstanding partnership. Because of their collaboration and the relentless work of our Human Trafficking Section, we were able to rescue a child from an unthinkable situation.”

Detroit Free Press [7/14/2025 7:33 PM, Niraj Warikoo, 4241K] reports standing in front of the Detroit headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a sunny Monday morning, the Rev. David Buersmeyer asked a security officer if he could accept a letter from Catholics asking ICE Detroit to better treat immigrants. Judith Brooks, a fellow Catholic who advocates for immigrants, stood by the Detroit priest’s side with a sealed envelope, leaning forward to hand the letter to him. But the officer didn’t respond, slammed the glass door shut with a loud thud and then pushed on it to make sure it was secure. "Shame!" a protester shouted out. A crowd of hundreds who stood outside the building on Michigan Avenue then started to sing a song by Batya Levine, a Jewish musician: "In hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here, in hope, in prayer, we’re right here.” The scene on July 14th outside the Detroit ICE building illustrated the growing frustration Catholic leaders and others have expressed with immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, which they allege has unfairly targeted communities with overzealous actions. ICE officials did not respond to the Free Press for comment about the letter and march in Detroit. Since being installed in March as the head of the Archdiocese of Detroit in March, Archbishop Edward Weisenburger has been an outspoken supporter of immigrants, meeting with an immigrant family facing deportation the day after he became archbishop. And on Monday, Weisenburger was there walking with other protesters in a silent procession from the historic Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Corktown to the ICE headquarters a few blocks away.

Detroit Free Press [7/14/2025 7:30 AM, Dave Boucher, 4241K] reports federal officials are deporting a Mexican woman they discovered in southeastern Michigan only after she went to local police begging for help following an alleged assault. Veronica Ramirez-Verduzco recently pleaded guilty to illegally re-entering the country. She’s a citizen of Mexico, and her record shows she came to the U.S. without proper authorization. She has two adult sons, both U.S. citizens. She lived with one in Michigan, but now both are following their mother: Ramirez-Verduzco’s lawyer says they know they owe their mother everything. "Ramirez-Verduzco is not returning to the United States. She and her sons will find a nice place for her in a Mexican border town across from a United States border town where they can live and cross the border every day to visit their mother," lawyer Lisa Dwyer wrote in a July 1 memo to the judge in her client’s case. "They are close-knit, respect their mother and recognize the risks their mother took to give them better lives." In March the Free Press reported on her arrest, noting immigration advocates warned police that tipping federal officials to someone reporting a crime could ultimately make communities less safe. On Tuesday, July 8, she was sentenced to time served, fined $100 and turned over to authorities for deportation. It’s unclear where she is now; she was released from the Sanilac County Jail last week, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions about her location.

Chicago Tribune [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, 3987K] reports Abel Orozco was getting home after buying tamales for his family, like he did most weekends for the past 30 years. They would have breakfast and head to church. Instead, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained the Mexican immigrant outside his home in suburban Lyons without a federal warrant. Now, nearly six months later, he is still detained. Immigration and civil rights attorneys argue that his arrest was not only unfair but illegal. Thanks to the video his son recorded of the arrest, Orozco has become the face of a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Attorneys say the two government agencies violated the constitutional rights of Orozco and at least 25 other people, including one U.S. citizen, during the first week of increased immigration enforcement in the Chicago area after President Donald Trump took office. The father, 47, has a clean record. Yet he is the only plaintiff left that is still in detention. One was deported. The rest have been released. "We are angry and concerned," his son said. "I hope the judge can see what we experienced on Sunday morning, and make a ruling in favor of my family and all the families affected by the cruelty of the ICE agents.” A federal judge heard arguments earlier this month for a motion filed by immigration attorneys and advocates who argued that DHS and ICE officers violated warrantless arrest policies amid sweeping arrests in the Chicago field office region in January. The motion, filed in March of this year, focuses on 25 people who were detained, including one U.S. citizen, in the Trump administration’s highly publicized enforcement operation over the winter. In making arrests, the federal government allegedly went against both immigration laws and the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, the plaintiffs argue.

The Daily Wire [7/14/2025 8:08 AM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents captured more than 1,300 illegal aliens in the Houston area in June, nabbing a plane hijacker, child predators, and murderers. ICE agents and members of Texas law enforcement arrested an astonishing 1,361 illegal aliens in the Houston area last month, including Adermis Wilson-Gonzalez, a 56-year-old Cuban national with a conviction for hijacking a plane. Wilson-Gonzalez served 20 years in prison after he was convicted in 2003 for hijacking a plane traveling from Cuba to Florida. The man was released from prison into the United States before being apprehended by law enforcement agents late last month. He was just one of many criminal illegal aliens caught last month in southeast Texas. "The brave men and women of ICE continue to work tirelessly around the clock targeting dangerous criminal aliens to restore integrity to our nation’s immigration system and bolster public safety in our communities," said Gabriel Martinez, the acting Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston. "The number of dangerous criminal aliens that they removed from local communities across Southeast Texas last month is just another example of their selfless and unyielding efforts to return our local communities to places where we can all raise our families without having to worry about child predators, gang members, or other violent criminal aliens preying on our loved ones." FOX News [7/14/2025 2:47 PM, Adam Sabes and Brooke Taylor, 46878K] reports that of those arrested, 32 were previously convicted of child sex offenses, nine for homicide-related offenses, and 16 believed to be gang or drug cartel members. One person arrested by ICE was convicted of hijacking an airplane headed to Key West, Florida, from Cuba. Gabriel Martinez, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston acting field office director, said some people tried to derail their mission. "Despite attempts by some to undermine our mission by spreading false and malicious rumors, the brave men and women of ICE continue to work tirelessly around the clock targeting dangerous criminal aliens to restore integrity to our nation’s immigration system and bolster public safety in our communities," Martinez said. "The number of dangerous criminal aliens that they removed from local communities across Southeast Texas last month is just another example of their selfless and unyielding efforts to return our local communities to places where we can all raise our families without having to worry about child predators, gang members, or other violent criminal aliens preying on our loved ones," he continued.

Univision [7/14/2025 3:35 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 1,361 undocumented immigrants in the Houston area in June who are currently charged with or have been convicted of a criminal offense after entering the United States illegally. Among those arrested are 32 immigrants convicted of child sex crimes; nine convicted of homicide-related offenses; 16 documented members of a transnational gang or drug cartel; and one undocumented immigrant convicted of hijacking a plane flying from Cuba to Key West.

Reuters [7/14/2025 12:07 PM, Mary Milliken and Arafat Barbakh, 51390K] reports Flor, a Mexican migrant, picks strawberries in the agricultural town of Oxnard, but immigration roundups in recent weeks have infused the farmworker community in the strawberry capital of California with stress and fear. Flor said the raids are taking a toll on the farmworkers’ children, who fear that their parents will be detained and deported and some are depressed. Flor, who has a permit to work in the fields, is a single mother of three U.S. citizen daughters and when she picks them up in the afternoon she feels a palpable sense of relief. "It hurts my soul that every time I leave the house they say, ‘Mommy, be careful because they can catch you and they can send you to Mexico and we will have to stay here without you,’" said Flor, who asked that only her first name be used. "You arrive home and the girls say, ‘Ay Mommy, you arrived and immigration didn’t take you.’ It is very sad to see that our children are worried." The Trump administration has arrested twice as many alleged immigration offenders as last year, but the number of farm workers specifically remains unclear. An immigration raid at marijuana farms near Los Angeles on Thursday prompted protests. Many Oxnard residents have not left their houses for three or four weeks and some simply don’t show up for work, Flor said. "It is really sad to see," Flor said. "We have senior citizens who work with us and when they see immigration passing where we are working , they begin to cry because of how fearful they are. They have been here many years and they fear they could be sent to their home countries. Their lives are here.” Flor has little hope that the circumstances will improve. When asked on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday about people afraid of possible arrest even if they have legal immigration status, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan was unapologetic about the crackdown. "It’s not OK to enter this country illegally. It’s a crime," Homan said. "But legal aliens and U.S. citizens should not be afraid that they’re going to be swept up in the raid(s).” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

San Diego Union Tribune [7/14/2025 1:34 PM, Brian Rokos, 1611K] reports that in a scene that an immigrants-rights group spokesman described as "barbaric," some two dozen children with their hands chained were videotaped shuffling single file in the parking garage of the 300 North Los Angeles Federal Building late Friday, July 11, apparently in federal custody. Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, said in an interview Saturday that its attorneys had confirmed details posted with the video describing when and where it was recorded. The attorneys contacted the children and planned to represent them, Cabrera said, adding the children were not accompanied by their parents and were from Ventura County. Attorneys for the Rapid Response Network, which CHIRLA created, described the children as "safe," Cabrera said — though that was of little consolation to him. A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond Saturday to an email with detailed questions on the children’s detention. President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to run the largest deportation effort in American history, with extensive efforts to locate and remove immigrants in the U.S. illegally. It wasn’t immediately known who shot the video.

(B) 7News ON YOUR SIDE at Noon [7/14/2025 12:32 PM, Staff] reports US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is again taking center stage in a new legal battle in California. How it plays out could have implications nationwide. The Trump administration says they are carrying out the promises the president made. A federal judge blocked agents from indiscriminate arrested of suspected undocumented immigrants in the LA area and from relying on factors like their race, the language they speak, or the type of work they do to make those arrests. The Trump administration is appealing the order.

AP [7/14/2025 3:49 PM, Rebecca Santana] reports temporary measures that allowed nearly 12,000 Afghans to work in the U.S. and be protected from deportation are expiring Monday as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to make more people eligible for removal from the country. The Department of Homeland Security in May said it was ending Temporary Protected Status for 11,700 people from Afghanistan in 60 days. That status had allowed them to work and meant the government couldn’t deport them. The number of Afghans protected by TPS is relatively small compared to the overall number of Afghans — about 180,000 — who have fled Afghanistan and come to the U.S. since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021. It’s also not clear how many of those 11,7000 covered by TPS have applied for or received other forms of protection like asylum that would keep them from being deported after Monday. But the removal of the protective status for Afghans has struck a chord with many advocates and volunteers because of the suggestion that it is safe for Afghans — many who helped the U.S. during its two-decade long war there — to go home. At the time that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ended the temporary protected status for Afghans, the department wrote in the decision that the situation in their home country was getting better.

CBS News [7/14/2025 11:35 PM, Joe Walsh, 51860K] Video: HERE reports an appeals court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking deportation protections and work permits for thousands of people from Afghanistan. The administration had planned to end temporary protected status for Afghanistan on Monday, part of a broader push to cut back a program that gives migrants reprieve from deportation if their home country is deemed unsafe. The administration argues those protections aren’t meant to be permanent and Afghanistan’s security situation has improved, though opponents say the country remains unsafe and revocation would force people to uproot their lives. But in a late-night ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit blocked the administration from putting into place its withdrawal of temporary protected status for one week. The court’s administrative stay didn’t weigh in on the merits of the case, instead giving the administration and CASA — a group that sued the government over its policy — time to file briefs. CASA’s national communications director Jossie Flor Sapunar told CBS News that, although the ruling is temporary, "every moment counts when it comes to families figuring out their futures." CBS News has reached out to the White House and Department of Homeland Security for comment. The program is separate from the more permanent "special immigrant visas" issued to Afghans who worked for the U.S. military, often as translators. TPS for Afghanistan was set to expire in May of this year unless the Trump administration chose to extend it again. Two months ago, DHS announced it would end the program in mid-July, saying the administration was "returning TPS to its original temporary intent." "Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent[s] them from returning to their home country," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [7/14/2025 9:51 PM, Ismail Shakil and Kanishka Singh, 51390K]

FOX News [7/13/2025 8:00 PM, John Toldi, 46878K] reports Howie Kurtz on Trump threatening to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, Trump dismissing questions about Texas flood warning capabilities and debate over ICE agents wearing masks heating up. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [7/14/2025 8:00 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1611K] reports the plan had always been to seek asylum in the U.S. But somewhere on the journey between their home in El Salvador and the northern Mexico border, Wilver Arteaga and his family realized there was no way. The strong rhetoric around President Donald Trump’s immigration policies was becoming reality, and on his first day in office, he shut down the legal appointment process for migrants to be screened for asylum. Arteaga, 40, and his wife used to be security guards. They were rule-followers. It was time to come up with a backup plan. They are now among the nearly 20,000 refugees or asylum seekers living in Baja California — most of them in Tijuana. "When that legal option was no longer available, I resigned myself," he said. Tijuana has always been a place of waiting for migrants. It’s one of the main entry points to the U.S. for thousands arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of whom are seeking asylum. However, faced with increasingly severe roadblocks to crossing into the U.S., whether legally or illegally, the sprawling border city has lately become a place to call home. "Tijuana is an appealing place for asylum seekers and refugees," said Dagmara Mejía, head of the UNHCR office in Baja California and Sonora. "There are jobs available, and the pay is good. People also say that they don’t feel discriminated against here, and there’s a solid network of people who have settled here and spread the word.” There are also challenges, including a monthslong waiting period to process asylum claims, expensive housing, difficulties earning a living as an undocumented worker and high crime. Many said they have accepted their new reality.

USA Today [7/14/2025 3:43 PM, Nathan Diller, 75552K] reports an incident involving two passengers forced a TUI Airways flight to divert to Maine, authorities said. TUI flight 49 from Cancun to London landed at Bangor International Airport around 9:20 p.m. local time on July 8 "after the crew reported a passenger disturbance," the Federal Aviation Administration told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the plane stopped in Maine "due to an in-flight altercation between two passengers." "Upon arrival, CBP officers removed both individuals from the aircraft, and they were returned to their home countries on separate outbound flights," they said in an emailed statement. The agency did not share additional specifics about the altercation or the passengers involved.

USA Today [7/14/2025 2:31 PM, Nathan Diller, 75552K] reports that a traveler was arrested after law enforcement seized nearly $3 million in narcotics from him at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Vance Ray Randolph was traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil, when officers "seized a large amount of THC extracted products /marijuana" from his luggage on June 28, according to a July 12 Facebook post from the Atlanta Police Department. The seizure was conducted in partnership with Customs and Border Protection. The search yielded 12.35 pounds of THC wax; 34.39 pounds of hashish; 4.6 pounds of marijuana and 1.21 pounds of pasty marijuana. "The seized narcotics have an estimated street value of $2.97 million," police said in the post. "Mr. Randolph is facing narcotics violation charges and was transported to the Clayton County Jail." Clayton County Jail records show the 22-year-old was charged with trafficking marijuana and released on June 30. Court records did not list an attorney for Randolph. The incident is not the only one of its kind in recent years. Police reportedly found 56 pounds of marijuana in a traveler’s luggage at Memphis International Airport last year, before she could board a United Airlines flight.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [7/14/2025 11:55 AM, Adam Sabes, 46878K] Video: HERE

Telemundo 48 El Paso [7/14/2025 5:07 PM, Claudia Moreno, 9K] reports a woman was rescued from the border wall after being abandoned by suspected human smugglers, the U.S. Border Patrol reported in a recent release. The incident occurred in the Ysleta sector, where Border Patrol agents, in coordination with El Paso Fire Department personnel, responded to the scene to perform the rescue. The woman was found in a vulnerable position on the wall structure, unable to descend on her own. Thanks to the rapid response of emergency teams, she was brought to safety and received medical attention. This case highlights the danger migrants face when they rely on human trafficking networks, which often leave them in extreme and high-risk conditions.

Breitbart [7/14/2025 5:31 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports a U.S. Border Patrol agent who drowned last week while saving his children from a rip current while vacationing in South Padre Island had lost his father six months earlier to an explosion. Gulf Cartel gunmen had turned rural ranch roads in northern Mexico into minefields. Last week, U.S. Border Patrol agent Eric Cespedes drowned as he rescued his children who were caught in a rip current while visiting the beach in South Padre Island, Texas. Information released by U.S. Border Patrol at the time highlighted Cespedes’ heroism, pointing out that while he saved his children, he did not survive. As the Cespedes family deals with the loss of their loved one, the local Telemundo station reported that just six months earlier, the family lost its patriarch to an explosion in Mexico. According to the local station, 78-year-old Antonio Cespedes was the U.S. citizen who died in January when he unknowingly drove his truck over a cartel IED while visiting a ranch near the Mexican city of San Fernando, Tamaulipas. The widespread use of explosives by the cartel triggered a series of consular alerts and warnings after several innocent victims, including Cespedes, were injured or hurt by the hidden devices. To date, Mexican authorities have not made any arrests on the individuals responsible for setting up the explosive device that killed Cespedes.

Houston Chronicle [7/14/2025 3:34 PM, Julián Aguilar, 1982K] reports a Palestinian man who entered the country earlier this month on a valid visa at George Bush Intercontinental Airport has been detained by federal immigration officials for more than a week without any explanation, attorneys for his family said Monday. Muhanad J. M. Alshrouf, 22, has been confined to the secondary screening room at the airport since he landed in Houston on July 5th, said Maria A, Kari, an attorney and the executive director of Project TAHA, a Houston nonprofit. Kari said that as far as she’s aware, this is one of the longest detentions of an individual at an airport in recent history. He was given a visa after his father, a U.S. citizen, petitioned for his son to join him in the United States years ago. Kari said that approval involves rigorous background and screening procedures. He was also cleared by the Israeli government, which Kari said makes Alshrouf’s detention even more egregious. Rusty Payne, a public affairs officer with the CBP Houston office, said in an email that the agency would look into what information is available about Alshrouf’s case. Payne added that generally however, an immigrant who wants to enter the country bears the burden of proof "to establish that they are clearly eligible to enter the U.S."

Los Angeles Times [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Ruben Vives, 14672K] reports the 54-year-old woman was splayed on the sidewalk with her shirt half-raised, unconscious. Nearby, federal immigration agents stood guard as people screamed at them. Arturo Hermosillo, a U.S. citizen, was in his work van, recording it all when an agent ordered him to back up to make room for an ambulance that was en route for the woman. As he was reversing, he said, another agent started banging on his window and side view mirror, pushing it in. He couldn’t see behind him and felt a bump. Hermosillo opened his door to tell the agents he couldn’t move. But not long after, they dragged him out of his van. "I told them I didn’t do anything illegal," he said. Hermosillo was arrested and sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. The woman, who later said she had fainted while an agent bear-hugged her to the point she struggled to breathe, underwent heart surgery at a Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. A doctor told her she had suffered a heart attack. The immigration sweep on June 19, just outside a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, is one of many that have taken place in Southern California and encapsulates the chaotic methods employed to detain people over the last month. A federal judge on Friday ruled that there was sufficient evidence that agents were using racial profiling to target people and ordered a halt to the indiscriminate sweeps, saying they violated the 4th Amendment. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in an email response to The Times that a person "rammed his vehicle into a law enforcement vehicle" during the June 19 operation. "CBP Agents were also assaulted during the operation and verbally harassed ... despite this, CBP arrested 30 illegal aliens in Hollywood and 9 illegal aliens in San Fernando and Pacoima," she wrote. The Times sought clarification as to which operation involved the ramming of the federal vehicle, but neither McLaughlin nor the agency responded to the follow-up question.

New York Post [7/15/2025 1:24 AM, Richard Pollina, 49956K] reports
A California professor was arrested for allegedly chucking a tear gas canister at ICE agents during a raid on a marijuana farm being investigated for child labor violations. Jonathan Anthony Caravello — a math and philosophy professor at California State University Channel Islands — was arrested by federal agents conducting a raid at Glass House Farms in Ventura County on Thursday, ABC 7 reported. US Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X that Caravello was arrested for "throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement.” Essayli said Caravello was charged with "a violation of 18 USC 111," for allegedly "assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees," according to federal law. The US attorney also denied claims that the educator was "kidnapped" by federal agents. On Friday, the California Faculty Association shared that Caravello was "kidnapped" by federal agents after protesters and law enforcement clashed during Thursday’s raid. The post claimed that "4 masked agents dragged Jonathan away into an unmarked reason without identifying themselves, without giving the reason for arrest, and without disclosing where they are taking him.” However, a criminal complaint obtained by the Ojai Valley News revealed "dozens of protestors attempt to obstruct the execution of the high-risk search warrant" near Glass House Farms. The affidavit claims that Caravello was seen holding a "megaphone" walking along the yellow police tape, "loudly playing a siren sound" towards agents. More than 350 undocumented workers were arrested in the raids at its locations in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. Officials said that "violent and dangerous criminals" were arrested during the operation, and "as of July 13, at least 14 migrant children have been rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking.” Officials also said that "more than 500 rioters attempted to disrupt operations," leading to "four US citizens" being "criminally processed for assaulting or resisting officers." Glass House Farms is now facing alleged child labor law violations.

Telemundo [7/14/2025 8:52 AM, Camilla Rambaldi and Missael Soto, 103K] reports community members demonstrate against the arrest of a CSU Channel Islands professor during a protest following an immigration raid on a farm in Camarillo. Members of the California Teachers Association held a vigil Sunday outside the detention center in downtown Los Angeles, demanding the release of Jonathan Caravello. "We don’t know how he’s doing or when he’ll be released. The CFA is devastated," said Nichelle Henderson of California State University, Fresno. Vigil organizers say Caravello is a U.S. citizen and has worked at CSU Channel Islands for more than five years. “We demand the release of our colleague, a public servant in California and a beloved professor to the students of Cal State Channel Islands,” said Alejandra Marchevsky, a professor at Cal State LA. Sister station NBC4 obtained the criminal complaint against Caravello, which includes surveillance photos identified by the Department of Homeland Security as his. The complaint alleges that Caravello threw a tear gas canister at Border Patrol agents. Court documents indicate that Caravello allegedly left the area, changed his clothes, and returned before being arrested by Border Patrol agents. Caravello is expected to appear in court on Monday, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced Saturday that federal agents arrested 319 people during operations at Glass House Farms, near Camarillo and Carpinteria. “Just received an update on Thursday’s operation at the marijuana plant in California. @DHSgov law enforcement rescued 14 children from possible forced labor, exploitation, and human trafficking,” Noem wrote.

(B) NBC News Daily [7/14/2025 3:26 PM, Staff] reports that a Cal State professor detained while protesting immigration raids is due in court later today. The California Faculty Association held a vigil outside a detention center in downtown LA last night. They are demanding the release of CSU Channel Islands Professor Jonathan Caravello. He was arrested by Border Patrol agents Thursday during a protest after an immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo. A criminal complaint includes surveillance phots that the Department of Homeland Security says identifies the person as Caravello. He is accused of throwing a tear gas canister at Border Patrol agents. The complaint states he left the area, changed clothes, then came back before being arrested by Border Patrol agents.

Detroit Free Press [7/14/2025 10:34 AM, Jenna Prestininzi, 4241K] reports if you’re heading to the airport this summer, be sure you’re up to date on the latest changes at security checkpoints. Federal officials with the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration brought changes to airport security screenings in 2025, starting new rules and ending others. When you fly domestically, you’ll need to show your Real ID or other document to TSA agents, but you can keep your shoes on through the security screening. Be sure to check your portable electronics, any lithium-iron battery items must go in your carry-on bags. TSA no longer requires travelers to remove shoes at airport security checkpoints, as of a July 8 news release. "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," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. "This initiative is just one of many the Trump administration is pursuing to usher in the President’s vision for a new Golden Age of American travel."

NewsMax [7/14/2025 7:11 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K] reports massive crowds overwhelmed St. Louis Lambert International Airport during the weekend, leading to long lines, missed flights, and hours-long waits as thousands of travelers departed following the conclusion of a major religious conference. Travelers flying out of Lambert Airport on Sunday faced significant delays and frustration as long lines spilled out of Terminal 2 and onto the street, a result of an influx of passengers leaving a large Seventh-day Adventist conference that wrapped up the day before. Airport spokesman Roger Lotz said the airport experienced one of its busiest days of the year Sunday, with hundreds of people waiting outside the terminal for hours. While lines returned on Monday, Lotz noted that conditions had improved. "Sunday morning, St. Louis Lambert International Airport experienced a high volume of departing passengers. Much of this was due to the large number of delegates going home from the Seventh-day Adventists’ General Conference," the airport said in a statement released Monday. "We understand many of the delegates arrived at the airport early for flights scheduled later in the day.” "The situation was exacerbated by most passengers needing to check bags and few of these passengers being a member[s] of a program designed to expedite airport security, such as TSA Pre-check or CLEAR. This led to the airport ticket counters and TSA security lines being overwhelmed. St. Louis Lambert International Airport apologizes for any delay experienced on Sunday.” The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference took place in St. Louis from July 3 to July 12 and drew thousands of attendees. Many began traveling home early Sunday, leading to the surge in airport traffic.

NewsMax [7/14/2025 11:54 AM, Theodore Bunker, 4622K] reports Micah Bock, the deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsmax on Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency must be "fundamentally" restructured, "eliminating it as it exists today" to improve its response to natural disasters. Bock, in an interview with Newsmax’s "National Report," defended the Trump administration’s response to the flooding in Central Texas, criticizing the Biden administration as being at the root of the agency’s issues. Bock said, "FEMA has not served the interests of the American people and provided for their needs in a very, very long time. So fundamentally, restructuring FEMA and eliminating it as it exists today into a new organization is right in line with serving the American people in the ways in which those needs need to be met." He added that "the response from the state and local governments within the state of Texas have been overwhelmingly positive. The governor has given his full endorsement of FEMA’s response." When asked about The New York Times report that nearly two-thirds of calls made to FEMA during the disaster went unanswered, Bock said, "There’s always ways to improve. And the secretary is laser-focused on obtaining those methods and applying them as natural disasters continue. But it is important to note that every individual in Texas who called FEMA had the ability to be answered, and we were able to answer them and get to their requests." He added, "Of course, when a natural disaster takes place, there is a surge in wait times for calls, but those were adequately responded to and effectively responded to. But it’s also important to understand that the manner in which disaster management is currently being addressed does have its issues, and that makes it even more important to reform FEMA from the ground up, to turn it into a new organization that is actively solving the issues that the American people are facing following a natural disaster.”

NPR [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Michael Copley, 37958K] reports nearly every county in the United States has experienced flooding in the past few decades, but just 4% of homeowners nationwide have flood insurance, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It’s what experts call the flood insurance gap. Most homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding. And while FEMA aid may be available to help people repair their homes after federally declared disasters, it often covers just a fraction of the costs. That means when floodwaters come, people frequently are on their own to pick up the pieces. It’s a reality communities across the country are facing after flooding hit parts of Texas, New Mexico and North Carolina in the past week alone. In all three states, the floods were caused by extremely heavy rainfall inland — a risk that’s growing with climate change. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. As temperatures rise, it’s fueling more intense rainstorms that drop more water in shorter periods of time. One solution: homeowners, renters and businesses can buy flood insurance, which most people get through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, says Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First Street, which assesses property risks from climate change. "It’s clear that [flood] insurance protects property owners and it protects the communities," Porter says. "It ends up keeping property values from dropping, post-event. It ultimately ends up keeping properties from going into foreclosure.” In some places, though, federal flood insurance is unaffordable for many residents, and costs are rising around the country.

AP [7/14/2025 9:26 PM, Seth Borenstein, 56000K] reports the Trump administration on Monday took another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people. Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do. But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans. "The USGCRP (the government agency that oversees and used to host the report) met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host globalchange.gov’s data," NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or the government science office that coordinated the work will be on NASA, she said. On July 3, NASA put out a statement that said: "All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.” "This document was written for the American people, paid for by the taxpayers, and it contains vital information we need to keep ourselves safe in a changing climate, as the disasters that continue to mount demonstrate so tragically and clearly," said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. She is chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of several past national climate assessments. Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s library and the latest report and its interactive atlas can be seen there. Former Obama White House science adviser and climate scientist John Holdren accused the administration of outright lying and long intended to censor or bury the reports. "The new stance is classic Trump administration misdirection," Holdren said. "In this instance, the administration offers a modest consolation to quell initial outrage over the closure of the globalchange.gov site and the disappearance of the National Climate Assessments. Then, two weeks later, they snatch away the consolation with no apology.” "They simply don’t want the public to see the meticulously assembled and scientifically validated information about what climate change is already doing to our farms, forests, and fisheries, as well as to storms, floods, wildfires, and coast property — and about how all those damages will grow in the absence of concerted remedial action," Holdren said in an email.

CNN [7/14/2025 1:18 PM, Luke Snyder and Amanda Musa, 21433K] reports dozens of flash flood warnings are in effect for millions across several states and Washington, D.C., as slow-moving summer storms impact the East Coast Monday evening. Flooding has been reported near Newark, New Jersey, New York City, northern Virginia and southern Maryland, according to the National Weather Service. More warnings are likely to come throughout the evening. A state of emergency has been declared in New Jersey due to ongoing flooding, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday night. "I urge New Jerseyans to exercise caution, follow all safety protocols, and remain off the roads unless absolutely necessary," Murphy said in a statement. Flash flood warnings were extended well in to the evening hours in Essex and Union counties due the rain, according to the National Weather Service. The steady rainfall has slowly moved East towards New York City where about two inches of rain fell in Central Park in one hour Monday evening, the weather service said. At least one subway station was flooded by the deluge after water seeped into the MTA station on 23rd street, according to a spokesperson with the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Several trains were suspended, delayed or rerouted due to the flooding, according to MTA’s website. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, several water rescues were reported in Mount Joy Township Monday afternoon, according to Ruth Miller, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Video captured several cars struggling to navigate through the municipality’s flooded streets. A photo taken by the Franklin Fire Company showed firefighters conducting a water rescue after occupants became trapped in their vehicle in flood waters. Storms will continue overnight Monday, but most will move off the coast by Tuesday morning.

Reported similarly:
CBS New York [7/14/2025 10:14 PM, Mark Prussin, 51860K]

Houston Chronicle [7/14/2025 3:38 PM, Anusha Fathepure, 1982K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the federal government’s response to the deadly Hill Country floods, dismissing claims that deployment was slowed. During an interview Sunday on NBC News’ "Meet the Press," Noem denied that a new policy she issued in June, requiring her personal approval for Federal Emergency Management Agency contracts over $100,000 had slowed the agency’s response. "Those claims are absolutely false," Noem said. "Within just an hour or two after the flooding, we had resources from the Department of Homeland Security there helping those individuals in Texas." An investigation by The New York Times revealed on July 6 and July 7, as the Guadalupe River surged, overtaking homes and children’s camps, thousands of calls went unanswered because of understaffing. Hundreds of contractors at FEMA call centers were laid off after their contracts expired on July 5, the New York Times reported. According to the investigation, on July 5, before contracts lapsed, FEMA answered more than 99% of the 3,027 calls it received, but in the following days, that responsiveness dropped with only 16% of 16,419 calls being answered on July 7. Noem dismissed the New York Times’ findings as inaccurate and claimed FEMA’s response to the floods was one of the best the agency has ever seen. Both President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott have also dismissed questions about federal and state government responses to the flood. During the "Meet the Press" interview, Noem confirmed there were no plans to totally eradicate FEMA.

Politico [7/14/2025 12:17 PM, Staff, 16523K] reports two Democratic senators want the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General to launch an investigation into Secretary Kristi Noem’s cost-control measures — and how the policy may have affected FEMA’s response to devastating flooding in Texas that left more than 120 people dead. The letter from Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, first obtained by POLITICO and sent on Monday, references a sweeping rule Noem has implemented at DHS — which oversees FEMA — requiring every contract and grant over $100,000 to have her approval before the funds can be released. In the aftermath of the Texas flooding this month, reports have suggested the policy created obstacles to FEMA’s response, leaving it unable to pre-position certain resources and quickly activate certain response teams. “The American people deserve answers and more importantly, they deserve accountability. While we are still waiting for all the facts to come out, what is clear is that FEMA must be able to respond to disasters immediately,” the letter said. “A disaster response system that must wait for one official’s signature is unacceptable and designed to fail.” Noem has forcefully pushed back against suggestions that her leadership slowed the federal response, calling the anonymously sourced stories “completely wrong.” She said the cost-cutting policy that required her sign-off was “an accountability on contracts that go forward.” “The response time was immediate,” Noem told NBC’s Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.” “And if you talk to anyone in Texas that was there, that was a part of this operation, they would say the federal government and President Trump immediately responded.”

Houston Chronicle [7/14/2025 2:59 PM, John Lomax V, 1982K] reports cuts made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Trump administration severely impaired its ability to respond to the devastating floods in central Texas and could spell similar catastrophe in Harris County, Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones said in a statement posted to X Saturday. Briones said nearly two-thirds of calls made to the agency immediately following the floods went unanswered. Her statement followed reporting by the New York Times that alleged a policy requiring executive approval for contracts over $100,000 had left the agency’s call centers understaffed and underequipped to respond to the floods, which have left more than 100 dead, including dozens of children. "This lack of responsiveness is a direct result of cuts the Trump administration has made to FEMA," Briones said. "After catastrophic events like Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Beryl, FEMA was a critical partner. While the Trump Administration is abandoning its responsibility to the American people, in Harris County, we are doubling down on our efforts to protect our residents. Nothing is more important than keeping our families safe.” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in a Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press defended FEMA’s response to the disaster, alleging the New York Times’ finding that thousands of calls had gone unanswered was "false reporting" and "fake news.” Noem characterized relief efforts in the aftermath of the floods as "immediate," and said the policy requiring her sign-off for certain contracts did not impact the agency’s response. She said call centers were fully staffed, and that allegations otherwise stemmed from individuals who were "playing politics.” "It’s discouraging that during this time, when we have such a loss of life and so many people’s lives have turned upside down, that people are playing politics with this because the response time was immediate," Noem said. "And if you talk to anyone in Texas that was there, that was a part of this operation, they would say the federal government and President Trump immediately responded.”

Reuters [7/14/2025 8:01 PM, Steve Gorman, 51390K] reports the official tally of storm-related deaths across Texas rose to 131 on Monday as authorities warned of yet another round of heavy rains 10 days after a Hill Country flash flood that transformed the Guadalupe River into a killer torrent. A National Weather Service flood watch forecasting heavy downpours of up to half a foot of rain was posted until Tuesday morning for a wide swath of central Texas extending from the Rio Grande east to San Antonio and Austin. The advisory included Kerr County and other parts of Texas Hill Country along the Guadalupe still recovering from the July 4 flood disaster, which ravaged the county seat of Kerrville and a riverside Christian summer camp for girls in the nearby town of Hunt. Riverfront residents as well as search teams still combing the banks of the waterway were advised to seek higher ground until the latest danger had passed. The search for additional victims along the Guadalupe was likewise suspended due to flood concerns on Sunday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday said storms had claimed at least 131 lives in Texas since July 4, the bulk of those deaths in and around Kerrville, up from 120 reported on Friday. He said 97 people were still listed as missing in the greater Kerrville area, down from the 160-plus who authorities said were unaccounted for last week. About a third of the Kerr County fatalities are children, most of whom perished at Camp Mystic when floodwaters raged through the girls-only summer retreat before dawn on July 4. Authorities have not rescued anyone alive since the day of the floods, when more than a foot of rain fell in less than an hour in the heart of a region known as "flash flood alley," sending a deadly wall of water down the Guadalupe River basin.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo [7/14/2025 5:28 AM, Staff, 56K]

NBC News [7/14/2025 6:39 PM, Aria Bendix, Morgan Chesky and Erik Ortiz, 44540K] reports local and state officials who responded to the catastrophic flooding this month in Central Texas defended their actions in an interview with NBC News, saying they did everything in their power to save lives and are now considering what more could be done to prevent future tragedies. "Our teams did everything that they possibly could with this gruesome, devastating situation that happened, and we would not change the way we did that. And I think we saved as many people as we could," Dalton Rice, the city manager of Kerrville, said. He spoke with NBC News alongside Jeff Holt, a Kerr County commissioner, and state Rep. Wes Virdell, over the weekend, before a new round of heavy rain and flooding threatened parts of the region. The officials said they did their best to coordinate evacuations and rescues against uncontrollable forces of nature, but noted that a permanent emergency operations center, more diversion dams and better cellphone service in certain areas might help save lives in future floods. Hundreds of people were rescued in the early morning of July 4 as the Guadalupe River surged to unprecedented heights in less than an hour, its intractable current carrying homes and vehicles for miles downstream. At least 132 people died in the flood, including campers and counselors at a girls’ summer camp, and more than 160 people are still missing. Flash floods are common in the Texas Hill Country, where Kerrville is located, but National Weather Service forecasts predicted less rain than ultimately descended on July 4 — and by the time officials learned that lives were in jeopardy, many homes along the river were already submerged or washed away. "It happened so rapidly that nobody, nobody could have anticipated it," Rice said. Kerr County and Kerrville officials held separate meetings Monday about the ongoing flood response. Officials mostly steered clear of addressing speculation over how leaders communicated about the events on July 4, but one noted that he had received death threats. Rice told NBC News the water level was normal in his morning run along the river at about 3:30 a.m., during which he planned to survey the Fourth of July festivities. At 5:20 a.m., he started getting phone calls and text messages about the water surging. By that point, evacuations were already underway at campgrounds and RV parks.

New York Post [7/14/2025 8:17 PM, Alex Oliveira, 49956K] reports volunteers still combing through the wreckage of Texas’ devastating July 4 flooding are being evacuated from the disaster zone over the possibility of another deluge. "MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND," Kerr County officials wrote in an urgent advisory Monday, cautioning that incoming heavy rainfall could bring another wave of flooding to the area that’s still sorting through the carnage of the past two weeks. A flood watch will remain in effect in Kerrville and the surrounding area — the epicenter of the July 4 damage that left at least 130 dead — until 7 a.m. Tuesday. "Most rainfall totals should be in the 1 to 3 inch range, but an isolated total to 6 inches cannot be ruled out," Kerrville officials cautioned. "Rivers and streams remain elevated and will be capable of rising rapidly with any new downpours," they added. Texas already saw heavy rainfall over the weekend and flash floods along the San Saba River this time, while Kerrville saw upward of 4 inches of rain in a matter of hours on Sunday. Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that five more Texas counties will receive federal relief funding after President Trump expanded his disaster declaration. That brings the total number of counties receiving relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 10. "President Trump’s approval of my request to add more counties to his disaster declaration is another critical step to get Texans the support they need to recover," Abbott told reporters at a press conference.

Washington Post [7/14/2025 8:29 AM, Annie Gowen, John Muyskens, Arelis R. Hernández, Daniel Wolfe, Nicole Dungca, Naema Ahmed, Todd C. Frankel, and Kevin Crowe, 32099K] reports Camp Mystic Executive Director Richard "Dick" Eastland did not begin to evacuate the young campers asleep in cabins near the rapidly rising Guadalupe River for more than an hour after he received a severe flood warning on his phone from the National Weather Service at 1:14 a.m. on July 4, the family said through a spokesman. Eastland — who had run the beloved Christian-centered all-girls camp in Hunt, Texas, with his wife since the 1980s — rallied family members, some of whom lived and worked at the camp, on walkie-talkies to "assess the situation" soon after the alert went out, said Jeff Carr, the family’s spokesman. At 2:30 a.m., when rain was falling hard and fast, Eastland decided to begin evacuating campers, Carr said. Richard Eastland Jr., Dick Eastland’s son, said in a brief interview with Washington Post last week that "the warning came fast." The camp had previously been under a flood watch that leadership was aware of, Eastland Jr. said. The National Weather Service’s more urgent alert at 1:14 a.m. had warned of "life threatening flash flooding" in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic is in a flood zone. The alert did not include an evacuation order. The statements from the family are the first indications that leaders at Camp Mystic — which has spotty cell service and a policy that limits the use of cellphones — received a warning about the flood before it devastated its 725-acre campus, killing 27 counselors and campers.

Washington Post [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Matthew Choi, Patrick Svitek, and Brianna Sacks, 32099K] reports weeks before flash floods devastated the Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott participated in the first meeting of a new council to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He criticized FEMA as “slow and clunky,” arguing that states are able to respond “more nimbly, more swiftly, more effectively” to disasters. But since the July 4 floods that killed dozens in his state, the Texas governor has spoken much more positively about federal disaster response. “This is the fastest that I’m aware of any administration responding so swiftly, so collaboratively, so coordinated,” said Abbott (R), appearing alongside President Donald Trump during his visit to Texas last week. In a statement, an Abbott spokesperson cited FEMA as an “exceptional” partner. Abbott’s shifting rhetoric reflects thinking at the White House, where talk of abolishing the agency has been replaced by talk of “rebranding.” His opinions will become even more important in the months ahead: Abbott is one of two sitting governors on the FEMA Review Council, giving him direct influence over how the administration will implement Trump’s vague ideas about limiting Washington’s role in disaster coordination and handing more responsibility to the states. The administration is pointing to Abbott’s response to the flooding as an example of how FEMA can work most effectively. But FEMA has always deferred to the states to lead disaster management, putting in question just how drastically the administration wants to alter its role. “This is incredibly high stakes for governors and state legislatures,” said Sarah Labowitz, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who studies disaster response. “I think the hard part is that we don’t know [what exactly will happen to FEMA]. It’s sort of a bumper-sticker slogan to say get rid of FEMA as we know it. What does that actually mean to people who are living through disasters?” FEMA activated in the state after Abbott requested that a state of emergency be declared on July 5, the day after the flooding, sources at the agency said, and Trump signed it the next day. FEMA can’t send responders into a state without an invitation from the governor. The agency also said it would make grants available for recovery efforts in Texas. But the agency’s response was not as proactive as it could have been, Criswell said. The former administrator said FEMA could have had more resources in position to enter the state as soon as Abbott requested federal assistance but was bogged down by new constraints requiring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s approval for larger deployments.

NewsNation [7/14/2025 7:42 AM, Abigail Jones and Avery Travis, 5801K] reports Texas-based grocery chain H-E-B has earned the nickname "FEMA of Texas" thanks to its immediate and thorough response to catastrophic floods that struck the state the weekend of July 4. The grocer started responding to disaster relief efforts within 24 hours of the floods hitting. On the morning of Saturday, July 5, H-E-B posted on X that its team was "staying close to the hardest-hit areas & we will continue to provide support as these tragic situations evolve.” H-E-B started going viral across different social media platforms for its near-instant response. One Facebook post said, "We don’t need to wait on FEMA… we’ve got H-E-B." Several TikTok videos showing H-E-B Disaster Relief trucks deployed the day after the floods have garnered millions of views. A company spokesperson said H-E-B prioritizes disaster relief because "it’s important to us for Texans to take care of Texans, and that’s who we are." Lisa Helfman, managing director of H-E-B public affairs, told NewsNation local affiliate KXAN that on Friday, exactly a week after those floods hit the state, impacting Kerrville in the Hill Country hardest. Kerrville is also where H-E-B was first founded 120 years ago. "H-E-B has an emergency operations team that is working 365 days a year, not just when a disaster strikes," Helfman said. "So, when a disaster strikes, we are ready to go with all the resources the community needs, and they change from disaster to disaster. So, we have eyes and ears on the ground, and we’re ready to go.”

Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 3:36 PM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1934K] reports a fire in eastern Utah has grown rapidly to over 10,000 acres and is 0% contained, as of Monday. The Deer Creek Fire has already claimed five buildings in the area. More than 300 firefighters, 10 fire engines, three helicopters, a plane, and other resources are fighting the fire. Hot, dry, and windy weather conditions have complicated efforts to tame it. The fire began on Thursday around 18 miles south of Moab, Utah. On Saturday, Utah Fire Info said there was a wildfire smoke "vortex," in which flames were seen high in the air, causing an uncommon weather pattern that looks like a fire tornado. The fire is quickly approaching the state’s border with Colorado. Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) issued a disaster declaration because of this fire and several other uncontained fires in western Colorado. All of the fires in western Colorado were caused by lightning. Another fire in neighboring Arizona has claimed nearly 100 buildings and a historic lodge at the Grand Canyon.

NBC News [7/14/2025 7:57 PM, Denise Chow, 44540K] reports Arizona’s senators are demanding answers from the Department of the Interior over its handling of a devastating wildfire that is still burning out of control on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. In a letter sent Monday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly questioned the department’s initial response to the Dragon Bravo Fire. The blaze spread quickly over the weekend and destroyed dozens of structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, a visitor center and a wastewater treatment plant. "It has been reported that National Parks Service officials initially decided to monitor the fire as a controlled burn, but changed their approach as strong winds allowed the fire to jump multiple containment features," the senators wrote in the letter. "There are many questions over the initial decision to treat this fire as a controlled burn and subsequent decisions on how to respond.” Neither the National Park Service nor the Department of the Interior immediately responded to requests for comment. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the federal response, particularly the decision to "manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer," she said in a post on X. "An incident of this magnitude demands intense oversight and scrutiny into the federal government’s emergency response," Hobbs wrote. "They must first take aggressive action to end the wildfire and prevent further damage. But Arizonans deserve answers for how this fire was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park.” As of Monday, the fire had consumed more than 5,700 acres and remained 0% contained, according to InciWeb, the U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire information site.

USA Today [7/14/2025 11:01 AM, Christopher Cann, 75552K] reports firefighters in Arizona were trying to contain a pair of fast-moving wildfires that destroyed a historic lodge in Grand Canyon National Park, closed a section of the park for the rest of the season and prompted calls for an investigation into federal authorities’ wildfire response. The two wildfires burning at or near the park’s North Rim include the White Sage Fire and the Dragon Bravo Fire. The blazes have consumed about 45,000 acres of land as of July 14, an area about the size of Washington, D.C. Park officials said the Dragon Bravo Fire, which has burned 5,000 acres within the park, destroyed dozens of structures, including the Grand Canyon Lodge, the only hotel inside the national park at the North Rim. About 35 miles north, the White Sage Fire has torched about 62 square miles of land and triggered evacuations across communities near the Utah border and the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. Lightning strikes ignited both fires, and a combination of strong winds, low humidity and high daily temperatures fueled their rapid expansion, officials said.

Reported similarly:
NPR [7/14/2025 6:19 PM, Ryan Heinsius, 37958K] Audio: HERE

AP [7/14/2025 7:58 PM, Ross D. Franklin, John Seewer, Felicia Fonseca, and Jaimie Ding, 4K] reports that a wildfire that tore through a historic Grand Canyon lodge and raged out of control Monday had been allowed to burn for days before erupting over the weekend, raising scrutiny over the National Park Service’s decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away. The wildfire along the canyon’s more isolated North Rim, where most visitors don’t venture, was burning quickly with no containment, fire officials said. No injuries had been reported, but more than 70 structures were lost, including a visitors center and several cabins. At first, the fire didn’t raise alarms after igniting from a lightning strike on July 4. Four days later, the Park Service said the fire was being allowed to burn to benefit the land and fire crews were keeping close watch. “There are no threats to infrastructure or public safety at this time,” the park said on Facebook. Then three days later, on Friday, fire officials and the park service sent out warnings to “evacuate immediately” as the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day to more than 1.4 square miles (3.6 square kilometers). Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs called for a federal investigation into the park service’s handling of the fire. “The federal government chose to manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer,” the governor said in a social media post Sunday. She will be meeting with leadership in the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior soon to learn more about the decisions made in managing the wildfire, Hobbs’ spokesperson Christian Slater said in an email.

NPR [7/14/2025 5:26 PM, Rachel Treisman, 37958K] reports a raging wildfire has destroyed dozens of structures in Grand Canyon National Park, including a beloved historic lodge that was already rebuilt once after burning down nearly a century ago. For decades, the Grand Canyon Lodge was the only hotel inside the North Rim, a more secluded portion of the park with higher elevation and fewer visitors. The lodge complex consisted of a main building and 114 standalone cabins perched at some 8,000 feet overlooking the canyon. The lodge was one of the most notable sights that visitors would see when arriving at the end of the North Rim’s main road, welcoming generations of travelers and staffers. But officials confirmed on Sunday that it was destroyed in the Dragon Bravo Wildfire, one of two wildfires that has been raging at or near the North Rim since early July. The National Park Service says the "extreme and volatile" blaze grew by 500 acres on Saturday night, destroying an estimated 50 to 80 structures including the lodge, cabins and visitor facilities. No injuries were reported. "We are grateful that all our employees and guests have been safely evacuated, and we join the National Park Service in mourning the loss of these iconic and beloved structures," said Aramark, the company that operates the hotel. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said she was "incredibly saddened" by the destruction of the lodge, and is calling for an investigation into the federal government’s handling of the wildfire, which was started by a lightning strike on July 4.

Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 10:27 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1934K] reports that Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) questioned the federal government’s handling of the fires burning the Grand Canyon, which have spread rapidly and destroyed dozens of buildings. Two wildfires, the White Sage Fire and the Dragon Bravo Fire, are burning at or near the North Rim. "I am incredibly saddened by the destruction of the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, and my heart goes out to every person impacted by the Dragon Bravo Fire near the Grand Canyon’s North Rim," Hobbs said in a statement. "As someone who was born and raised in Arizona, I know what the Grand Canyon National Park means to so many people, not just in Arizona, but all over the world, and how devastating it is to see this damage done to one of Arizona’s most cherished landmarks." Hobbs commended the firefighters and first responders who are combating the fires while calling for an independent investigation into the decision-making at the federal level that resulted in devastation. "An incident of this magnitude demands intense oversight and scrutiny into the federal government’s emergency response," Hobbs said. "They must first take aggressive action to end the wildfire and prevent further damage. But Arizonans deserve answers for how this fire was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park. While the flame was started with a lightning strike, the federal government chose to manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer."

San Francisco Chronicle [7/14/2025 9:16 PM, Staff, 4120K] reports Siskiyou County officials are asking for state and federal help in addressing the illegal use of toxic pesticides at unlawful cannabis grow operations in the region. In recent years, cannabis cultivators in the county have increasingly used such pesticides often saturated with insecticides, fungicides and herbicides that pose severe health damages to humans upon contact, according to a Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office news release on Monday. These pesticides pose several environmental harms by contaminating local ecosystems through the soil, water and air, according to the sheriff’s office. And their uncontrolled use poses a significant risk to law enforcement and fire personnel, many of whom lack appropriate safety protocols to deal with these situations. "We are battling something far bigger than just an illegally grown plant. This is about environmental destruction, human trafficking, banned chemical fumigants, and transnational organized crime networks operating with impunity across rural America," said Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue in the press release. "If we don’t act boldly and get support from the State and Federal partners, the long-term consequences to public health and California’s ecosystems will be irreversible.” On July 1, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to declare a state of emergency to address the illegal use of toxic pesticides in the county. County officials warned that if burned, the pesticides "create thick, poisonous smoke that presents serious risks to public health, the environment, waterways, and first responder safety.” The proclamation directed the county to form a multi-agency emergency response task force and pursue state and federal assistance to address the pesticide issue. It also urged the launch of public education campaigns working with agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration, CalEPA and United States Environmental Protection Agency. The resolution finally called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to proclaim the county to be in a state of emergency.

Los Angeles Times [7/14/2025 7:56 PM, Hailey Branson-Potts, 14672K] reports at least four firefighters have been injured over the last week while battling three wildfires in Northern California forests that are burning amid extreme heat in steep, bone-dry terrain, fire officials said Monday. One firefighter combating the barely-contained Green fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest sustained a blunt-force trauma wound while working on the fire line on Saturday, said Deanna Younger, a spokeswoman for California Interagency Management Team 10, the incident command team overseeing the fire response. Another firefighter suffered a heat-related injury on Sunday, she said. Both were treated at a hospital and released. Two firefighters fighting the Orleans Complex — two blazes burning in Del Norte and Siskiyou counties — also were stricken with heat illness amid temperatures that have topped 110 degrees in recent days, said Paul Meznarich, a spokesman for the multi-agency team coordinating the response to those fires. "Everyone is very mindful of the heat effects," Meznarich said. "All things considered, everyone has been managing the heat well.” For those fighting the blazes — which, combined, have charred nearly 20,000 acres of forest since July 1 — the conditions have been extremely challenging, fire officials said. The remote areas are steep, thickly-forested and bone-dry. "It is very, very dry right now, and we’re still around 100 degrees," Younger said of the Green fire region on Monday morning. "We are not getting good humidity recovery at night. The Green fire — burning on the eastern side of Shasta Lake near the Pit River between Interstate 5 and Highway 299 — was sparked by lightning the evening of July 1, according to the U.S. Forest Service. It had burned 11,643 acres and was 5% contained as of Monday afternoon.

New York Times [7/14/2025 2:59 PM, Vjosa Isai, 138952K] reports smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Western Canada is wafting east, raising air pollution to hazardous levels across major Canadian cities like Toronto, as well as parts of the upper Midwest in the United States. After a weekend of heat, hazy skies settled over Toronto, Canada’s largest city, on Monday, and officials at Environment Canada, a federal department, issued an air quality alert. As of early Monday afternoon, Toronto’s air quality ranked among the worst around the world, according to IQAir, a global air monitoring platform. Environment Canada advised residents to avoid rigorous outdoor activities in Toronto and most of the rest of Ontario, and issued the same warnings for Saskatoon, the largest city in the western province of Saskatchewan. In the United States, the Great Lakes region has also seen reduced air quality, particularly in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, western New York and northern Pennsylvania. When wildfire smoke remains at atmospheric levels it doesn’t have a major impact on human health, but air quality worsens when the smoke is forced down toward the earth’s surface, said Ian Hubbard, a meteorologist at Environment Canada. The air quality in Toronto is expected to improve overnight and into Tuesday, Mr. Hubbard said, though above-normal temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit, will persist for most of the week. Wildfire smoke has emerged as another source of tension between the United States and Canada, which are already locked in a trade battle set off by President Trump’s tariffs. Six Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin and Minnesota, in a public letter last week, blamed the Canadian government for the smoke blanketing their states. Tom Tiffany, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin who signed the letter, took to social media over the weekend to again criticize the Canadian government. “Canada owes us answers for its forest management failures,” Mr. Tiffany said in a post on X, sharing a video where he appears to be filming a smoky sky over a lake. Many of Canada’s wildfires break out in remote areas that are not managed by forestry officials because they are not easily accessible. Lightning strikes are the leading cause of Canada’s wildfires.

The Hill [7/14/2025 2:30 PM, Staff, 18649K] reports that Members of the conservative Republican Study Committee held a news conference Monday afternoon marking the first anniversary of the assassination attempt against President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa. Sunday marked one year since Trump was bloodied in the assassination attempt, which served as a turning point for Trump both politically and personally. It also set off a reckoning at the Secret Service that is still playing out. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Roll Call [7/14/2025 3:50 PM, Chris Johnson, 692K] reports a Senate committee says the U.S. Secret Service remains unaccountable for failures a year after the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee used its final report to take the Secret Service to task for refusing to answer for the failures at the rally and faulting the agency for not having fired a single person involved in the planning and execution of the event. The shooting took place on July 13, 2024, when Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pa., fired multiple shots at Trump, including one that grazed his ear. Crooks was shot and killed at the site. Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in a statement the shooting was the result of failures of Secret Service that the agency has yet to answer for. The report was released Sunday. The report comes out after 17 transcribed interviews with Secret Service personnel and a review of more than 75,000 pages of documents produced from federal, state, and local law enforcement entities, the report says. Much of the report is consistent with the interim committee findings in September 2024, which found the Secret Service fell short in coordination with local law enforcement and drone operations that would have helped ensure the area was safe. The Secret Service formally disciplined six personnel, the report concludes, and for some of those individuals the disciplinary decision came down as recently as June 2025. U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran acknowledged receipt of the report in a statement.

FOX News [7/14/2025 6:10 PM, Greg Wehner and Alexis McAdams, 46878K] reports documents subpoenaed by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs show major failures among the six U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agents who were suspended without pay in response to an assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. While the USSS had previously told Fox News that the agents were disciplined in February, the paperwork shows that five of the agents were not disciplined until April, which is when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., subpoenaed the records. USSS interviews show that the main site agent was unprepared and undertrained, and fellow agents said she had no idea what she was doing in Butler. The campaign rally marked the first time the agent had secured an outdoor rally, and agents on the ground claimed she lacked basic knowledge, according to the report. The interviews also unveiled that several agents admitted the existence of major security concerns at the Butler rally, but none of them elevated the concerns or helped produce a plan to properly cover the roof that provided 20-year-old Thomas Crooks a clear shot of Trump. The documents show that some agents in charge never even conducted walk-throughs of the site. For example, the lead advance agent, documents show, never did a final security walk through of the rally site because she was in the hospital for heat exhaustion, the special agent in charge said when questioned. But the documents also provide a deeper dive into the six agents who were disciplined because of failures in the security detail. The lead advance agent had 21 years with the USSS, with six of those years spent in the vice-presidential protective division. Despite April documents showing the agent was suspended without pay for 21 days, the agent ended up getting a 14-day suspension. According to the Secret Service, the agent was the most senior and experienced agent on the advance team, yet she failed to secure the rally site. The documents show the lead agent was aware of line-of-sight concerns, but she failed to address the issue or produce a plan to secure the building. The Secret Service said with the lead sniper’s level of experience, he should have known how to successfully secure the grounds. The sniper also said during interviews that he received text messages about Crooks being suspicious, but failed to alert the lead site agent and security room. One of the site agents who was disciplined had five years of experience with the USSS and was originally notified in April that she would be suspended for three days. But the Secret Service changed the length of discipline to 42 days without pay, documents show. The Secret Service said the agent failed to communicate that there was an active threat on the day of the rally, to the team on the ground. The Secret Service also said the agent blamed others for the security failures, but she was the one who was ultimately responsible for all security.

FOX News [7/14/2025 10:38 PM, Greg Wehner, Breanne Deppisch, 46878K] Video HERE reports Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is urging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to declassify all documents related to the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Hawley’s request comes a year after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired off several shots at Trump from a rooftop near the presidential rally grounds. The gunman had a clear shot and grazed the president’s ear. Even after a year, though, questions still remain about how Crooks was able to get a clear shot. In his letter to Noem, Hawley mentions the one-year anniversary of the first assassination attempt on Trump. "This occasion marks a deeply troubling chapter in our nation’s history and serves as a reminder of the importance of transparency in preserving public trust during moments of national crisis," he wrote. "To that end, I urge you to take the necessary steps to declassify all documents within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) related to the events of July 13, 2024. "As you know, assassination attempts against current and former presidents are rare but profoundly consequential events in American life," Hawley continued. "And the American people rightly expect full transparency from their government.” The senator pointed to investigation stonewalling tactics from the Biden administration’s Secret Service and DHS, which he said ultimately denied basic facts to the American people. He also requested a formal explanation for the continued classification of materials Noem believes must remain restricted, as well as a proposed plan and timeline for the immediate declassification and public release of all remaining documents, all by July 30, 2025. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [7/14/2025 10:21 AM, Joseph M. Hanneman, 1805K] reports that the suspected Minnesota assassin Vance Boelter says neither his pro-life worldview nor his support for President Donald J. Trump were motivations behind the deadly June 14 shooting rampage that left a top Democratic lawmaker dead and another seriously wounded. In a series of texts and video visits with the New York Post, the suspect wasn’t specific on his motivation for the predawn shooting of four people, but he clarified that it wasn’t what many people seem to believe. "You are fishing and I can’t talk about my case. … I’ll say it didn’t involve either the Trump stuff or pro life," Boelter wrote from inside the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minn., according to the Post. "I am pro-life personaly [sic] but it wasn’t those," Boelter, 57, wrote via the jail’s messaging system, the Post reported. "I will just say there is a lot of information that will come out in future that people will look at and judge for themselves that goes back 24 months before the 14th. If the gov ever let’s [sic] it get out.” Boelter faces a possible federal grand jury indictment this week after being charged with six felony stalking and murder-related counts in the killing of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the serious wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Boelter has also been charged with murder and attempted murder in Hennepin County District Court.

Military.com [7/14/2025 5:44 PM, Patricia Kime, 44100K] reports as the Guadalupe River rose in Kerr County, Texas, in the early hours of July 4, Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi received a call to help rescue hundreds of campers in the path of a devastating flash flood. The four-person crew of Rescue 6553, an HC-65E Dolphin helicopter dispatched from the station, flew 150 miles through the dense storm, relying on instrumentation only for navigation. After attempting to reach the hardest-hit area three times -- a harrowing flight that took nearly seven hours -- the crew finally succeeded, opening up a lifeline for hundreds of people, including many children, to escape the rushing water. On Friday, the crew members received two of the highest honors for aviation heroism, with two receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross and two given the Air Medal. "In the face of devastating floods in Texas, this Coast Guard aircrew’s courageous actions saved lives and reaffirmed our vital role in protecting American communities," Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, said in a statement released Saturday. For their efforts, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem presented the Distinguished Flying Cross to Hopper and Ruskan and Air Medals to Ogujiofor and Reeves. "This is what the men and women of the Coast Guard do," Noem said in a news release Saturday. "The selfless courage of this crew embodies the spirit and mission of the U.S. Coast Guard." At least 132 people died in the July 4 flash flood and as many as 160 are still missing. Officials said Monday that it may take weeks to complete recovery operations.

San Diego Union Tribune [7/14/2025 6:23 PM, Staff, 1611K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard fired pepper-ball rounds to stop a boat carrying three undocumented immigrants off the coast of Imperial Beach over the weekend, authorities said Monday. Coast Guard personnel spotted the 20-foot vessel roughly 6 miles from shore about 4 p.m. Saturday, running without navigational lights, according to officials. When the occupants of the boat refused to surrender, the crew fired warning shots with a shotgun and then fired pepper-ball rounds onto the skiff, the Coast Guard reported. At that point, the occupants — two of whom claimed Mexican nationality, and the other Turkish citizenship — gave themselves up. They were turned over to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security at Ballast Point.

CyberScoop [7/14/2025 8:20 AM, Ibrahim Waziri Jr.] reports in an era characterized by escalating cybersecurity threats, rapidly evolving technological landscapes, and heightened regulatory demands, organizations face significant pressure to modernize their Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) practices. The federal government is also pivoting toward automation, with Policy-as-Code (PaC) becoming a foundational element in modern cybersecurity governance and compliance. A critical driver accelerating this urgency is a recent executive order that explicitly underscores robust cybersecurity frameworks, continuous monitoring, and adaptive compliance strategies. In response, organizations must move toward adopting innovative solutions such as Policy-as-Code methodologies. In June, the White House issued an executive order that directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Office of Management and Budget to launch a pilot within one year that expresses federal cyber policy in a machine‑readable format. The same section instructs the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council to revise procurement rules so that by January 2027, agencies may buy only consumer IoT products whose Cyber Trust Mark can be parsed automatically. This isn’t just a technical experiment: It’s a blueprint for the future of cyber governance. This is a decisive endorsement of automation-based compliance and signals a governmentwide expectation that policy implementation must be verifiable, scalable, and code-driven. These deadlines extend beyond federal departments. Any company that sells software, cloud services, or connected devices to the public sector will soon need to prove that its security controls are written and enforced through machine‑readable rules. The fastest and most reliable way to supply that proof is Policy-as-Code. Teams that move early will gain an advantage when the new rules shape purchasing decisions. Teams that wait risk a backlog of manual controls and a shrinking share of government business.

Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 11:38 AM, Mike Brest, 1934K] reports the largest-ever military exercise on Australian soil commenced on Sunday and will feature more than 35,000 personnel from nearly twenty countries, including the United States. This marks the 11th iteration of the biennial Talisman Sabre exercise, which will take place over the next three weeks. This year’s participants include Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom, in addition to the U.S. and Australia. The 19 countries participating in the military exercise are the most ever for the drill; Malaysia and Vietnam are attending the training as observers. From the U.S. specifically, it will feature members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Space Force. "Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 is a powerful demonstration of our combined strength, trust, interoperability, and readiness across the Indo-Pacific," Lt. Gen. Joel B. Vowell, Deputy Commanding General U.S. Army Pacific, said in a statement. "As part of the Combined Joint Force, we train diligently and realistically to integrate capabilities across land, sea, air, cyber, and space domains, operating alongside our allies and partners from 19 nations."

Daily Wire [7/14/2025 6:21 AM, Hank Berrien, 3816K] reports that a man reportedly looking for his wife at a Lexington, Kentucky, church gunned down a grandmother of eight and her daughter after shooting a state trooper near the city’s airport on Sunday. The gunman also shot the two women’s husbands, one of whom is the pastor at the church, before police responding to the emergency shot and killed him. The suspected shooter, Guy House, 47, shot a state trooper outside Blue Grass Airport before fleeing, then carjacked a vehicle and headed to Richmond Road Baptist Church, the Lexington Herald Leader reported. The small church is comprised mainly of families related to one another, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said. Beverly Gumm, 72, and her daughter, Star Rutherford, were cooking lunch in the basement of the church on Sunday afternoon when House barged in and asked for his wife, the mother of their three children, who is Gumm’s daughter and Rutherford’s sister. When they informed him she wasn’t there, he said, "Well, someone is gonna have to die, then," and started shooting, Rutherford told the Herald-Leader, which added, "Gumm, 72, ducked and avoided the first shot, but the second hit her in the chest, killing her. The man then went outside and shot and killed another of Rutherford’s sisters — Christina Combs, 32 — and injured two others: Gumm’s husband and the longtime pastor of the church, Jerry Gumm, and Combs’ husband, Randy Combs." Another daughter of Gumm’s, Rachael Barnes, said Combs had five children, including a 6-month-old baby, and had plans to graduate from nursing school in December. Of her slain mother and sister, she said, "They were both fantastic moms." She said Jerry Gumm and Randy Combs were in critical but stable condition. The injured trooper is reportedly also in stable condition.

New York Post [7/14/2025 6:07 AM, Richard Pollina, 49956K] reports the gunman who killed two people and wounded three during a shooting rampage at a rural Kentucky church chillingly said, "Someone’s gonna have to die," when he discovered the mother of his three children wasn’t there. Beverly Gumm and her daughter, Star Rutherford, were in the basement of Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington on Sunday afternoon, preparing lunch for their congregation, when the shooter barged in demanding to speak with one of Rutherford’s sisters, the mother of his three kids, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Rutherford and her mother told the gunman, identified as Guy House, that she wasn’t there. The deranged shooter then told them, "Well, someone’s gonna have to die then," and opened fire, Rutherford told the outlet. Gumm — a 72-year-old mother of eight — was able to avoid the first shot by ducking out of the way, but was then struck in the chest by the second shot, killing her. He then exited the church and shot and killed Rutherford’s other sister, Christina Combs, 34, outside. House then shot Gumm’s husband and the longtime pastor of Richmond Road Baptist Church, Jerry Gumm, and Combs’ husband, Randy Combs — critically injuring them. Responding officers then arrived on the scene and exchanged fire with the suspect, killing him in the shootout. The two injured victims were rushed to the University of Kentucky hospital for treatment. Investigators are still working to discover the motive for the shootings. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear asked residents to thank law enforcement for their response to the shooting.

NPR [7/14/2025 6:52 AM, Brittney Melton, 37958K] reports President Trump has sent additional letters to foreign leaders informing them of the tariff rates he intends to impose on their countries’ goods on Aug. 1. Among the targets is Mexico, one of the U.S.’ most important trading partners. Trump has criticized Mexico for not doing enough to combat the fentanyl trade. The president also issued a letter to the European Union, promising a tariff and demanding changes to European trade policies. Here’s a list of Trump’s tariff letters and threatened rates so far. The AP [7/14/2025 12:45 AM, Aamer Madhani, 56000K] reports NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to meet President Donald Trump this week on the heels of the U.S. leader announcing plans to sell NATO allies weaponry that they can then pass on to Ukraine. Rutte will be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday and plans to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as members of Congress. "I’m gonna have a meeting with the secretary-general who’s coming in tomorrow," Trump told reporters as he arrived in Washington on Sunday night. "But we basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated (weapons) and they’re gonna pay us 100% for them.” A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back Russia. It’s a cause that Trump, who during his campaign made quickly ending the war a top priority, had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.

Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 7:31 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 1934K] reports TRUMP: ‘WE’RE NOT PAYING ANYTHING … IT WILL BE BUSINESS FOR US’: Details are still to be worked out, but President Donald Trump has teased a major shift in U.S. policy prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued rejection of every effort Trump has made to end the war in Ukraine with a negotiated settlement. “I am very disappointed with President Putin. I thought he was somebody that meant what he said — and he’ll talk so beautifully, then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews last night. “Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening. That is a little bit of a problem there and I don’t like it.” Trump appeared to be waiting to make the formal announcement until NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arrived in Washington today for a hastily arranged two-day visit. "We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military, they’re going to pay us 100% for them, and that’s the way we want it," Trump said. "So, as we send equipment, they’re going to reimburse us for that equipment. Doesn’t that sound good?" "I haven’t agreed on the number yet, but they’re going to have some [weapons] because they do need protection. But the European Union is paying for it we’re not paying anything for it but we will send it it will be business for us," Trump said. "We will send them patriots which they desperately need."

AP [7/15/2025 12:05 AM, Farnoush Amiri, 56000K] reports Mike Waltz, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will face questioning from lawmakers Tuesday for the first time since he was ousted as national security adviser in the weeks after he mistakenly added a journalist to a private Signal chat used to discuss sensitive military plans. The former Republican congressman is set to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing, with Trump looking to fill his remaining Cabinet position after months of delay, including the withdrawal of the previous nominee. The hearing will provide senators with the first opportunity to grill Waltz over revelations in March that he added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an unclassified messaging app that was used to discuss planning for strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen. Waltz took responsibility even as criticism mounted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared the sensitive plans in the chat that included several other high-level national security officials. Hegseth shared the same information in another Signal chat that included family, but Trump has made clear Hegseth has his support. Waltz was removed as national security adviser in May — replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and nominated for the U.N. role. Trump praised Waltz in the announcement, saying, “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first.” If confirmed, Waltz would be coming to the U.N. at a moment of great change. The world body is reeling from Trump’s decision to slash foreign assistance — affecting its humanitarian aid agencies — and it anticipates U.S. funding cuts to the U.N. annual budget.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [7/14/2025 6:00 AM, Ramsey Touchberry, 1934K]

Bloomberg [7/14/2025 5:21 PM, Hadriana Lowenkron, 19320K] reports the US Commerce Department launched investigations into imports of drones, parts for unmanned aerial vehicles and for polysilicon, a key material for solar power, setting the stage for possible tariffs on those goods. The probes were launched on July 1 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the latest use of that authority by President Donald Trump to review and impose sectoral-specific tariffs into industries deemed critical to national security. Under the law, the Commerce secretary is expected to deliver the results of an investigation within 270 days. If the probe concludes that importation of the goods under review are a threat to national security, Trump can impose tariffs on those imports. One investigation is focused on imports of “unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their parts and components,” while a separate probe is directed on exports of polysilicon and derivative products to the US. Trump has already announced investigations under Section 232 for other imports, including copper and pharmaceuticals and has placed levies on steel and aluminum under that authority. Those measures are separate from the country-by-country import taxes the president has also been announcing in recent days as he ramps up his tariff agenda.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [7/14/2025 8:04 PM, David Shepardson, 51390K]

New York Times [7/14/2025 4:41 PM, Ana Swanson, 153395K] reports President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have prompted investors to bet that he will “always chicken out” and given businesses and foreign leaders hope that the leader of the world’s largest economy will ultimately back down from his threats if they prove too economically disruptive. Events of the past week have cast serious doubt on that bet. As Mr. Trump renews trade threats against more than two dozen trading partners, he is once again proving his fondness for tariffs, and embracing import taxes in a way that no other president has since the Great Depression. A self-described “tariff man,” Mr. Trump has continually extolled the virtues of heavily taxing imports as a way to raise revenue and cajole factories to relocate to the United States. While the president may ultimately give way on some of his most recent threats, he has still steadily and dramatically raised tariffs to levels not seen in a century. Over the past week, Mr. Trump has threatened 25 trading partners with punishing levies on Aug. 1 unless they sign trade deals that Mr. Trump finds acceptable. The list of countries he plans to raise tariffs on include some of America’s biggest sources of imports, including the European Union, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and Thailand. Those countries had been in active talks with the United States about resolving Mr. Trump’s concerns in an effort to avoid tariffs. Several may still reach deals to avert some of the levies, including India, the European Union, Taiwan and Japan. But even if some deals are reached, American tariffs on trading partners are still likely to rise significantly. That was the case with the two trade agreement frameworks that the Trump administration has so far announced, with Britain and Vietnam, both of which leave double-digit tariffs in place.

New York Times [7/14/2025 12:57 AM, Jeanna Smialek, 153395K] reports the European Union’s key trade negotiator warned on Monday that President Trump risked upending trans-Atlantic trade if he followed through on his latest tariff threat. Maros Sefcovic, the E.U.’s trade commissioner, voiced frustration over Mr. Trump’s abrupt about-face on tariffs and threat — made public on Saturday — to impose a 30 percent levy on all goods from the 27-nation bloc starting next month. The announcement came after what Mr. Sefcovic said were frequent talks that he felt had the two sides “very close to an agreement.” A tariff like the one that Mr. Trump has threatened would “prohibit” trade between the two closely intertwined economies, Mr. Sefcovic said as he walked into a meeting of European Union trade ministers in Brussels. He added that he planned to speak with his American counterparts later Monday to continue working toward a negotiated solution. “We feel the huge responsibility for the biggest trading relationship on this planet,” he said. He added, “I cannot imagine walking away without genuine effort.” But Mr. Sefcovic also made clear that the bloc’s negotiators were surprised and disappointed that their efforts to agree a deal had added up to so little. Before Mr. Trump issued his threat last week, European officials had thought that they were closing in on a deal that was widely expected to include a 10 percent base line tariff, along with important carve-outs. Mr. Sefcovic said that he spoke with his American counterparts “almost every other day” last week. “The feeling on our side was that we are very close to an agreement,” he said. But Mr. Sefcovic said that he got a “heads up” just before Mr. Trump sent the letter blowing up those negotiations, and that had created a “totally different dynamic.” Other ministers attending the meeting in Brussels expressed dismay at Mr. Trump’s latest tariff threat. “We do not want any kind of trade war,” Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the foreign minister of Denmark, said. “It will be devastating, not just for the Americans, but also for Europe.” Mr. Lokke Rasmussen added that it would be important to “flash some muscles,” suggesting that the bloc should be prepared to retaliate with its own tariffs against American imports, if needed.

Axios [7/14/2025 7:24 PM, Josephine Walker, Colin Demarest and Rebecca Falconer, 13599K] reports the Pentagon pulled senior Defense Department officials from the Aspen Security Forum on Monday, a day before the four-day summit in Colorado was set to begin. The bipartisan national security forum has attracted Republican and Democratic administration officials for years. But Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson labeled said the event "promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States," per Just the News, which first reported on the move. The Aspen Institute’s forum is among the most high-profile and exclusive on the national security and foreign policy circuits. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared a screenshot on X of Just the News’ headline that stated "Pentagon pulls all military speakers from ‘globalist’ Aspen Security Forum" with the comment: "Correct." Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement Monday evening that senior Defense Department officials "will no longer be participating at the Aspen Security Forum because their values do not align with the values of the DoD." He added, "The Department will remain strong in its focus to increase the lethality of our warfighters, revitalize the warrior ethos, and project Peace Through Strength on the world stage. It is clear the ASF is not in alignment with these goals." Wilson told Just The News that the Defense Department "has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home." Several people who served in the first Trump administration are slated to speak at the summit: Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, ex-Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Rob Joyce, who served as special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator on the National Security Council. "For more than a decade, the Aspen Security Forum has welcomed senior officials — Republican and Democrat, civilian and military—as well as senior foreign officials and experts, who bring experience and diverse perspectives on matters of national security," per a statement posted to the group’s website. "This year, we extended invitations to senior Trump administration officials, including several cabinet-level leaders. Today the Department of Defense gave their speakers guidance that they ‘will no longer be participating,’" it added. "We will miss the participation of the Pentagon, but our invitations remain open."

CBS News [7/14/2025 2:23 PM, Patrick Maguire, 51860K] reports the Pentagon has signed on to use Grok, the AI chatbot built by Elon Musk’s company xAI, as part of a new $200 million agreement that opens the door for its deployment across the federal government, the company announced Monday. The announcement comes amid Musk’s public breakup with President Trump and days after Grok generated antisemitic responses and praised Adolf Hitler. The rollout is part of "Grok for Government," a newly launched suite of tools designed for use by federal agencies, local governments, and national security operations. xAI said its products, including its latest Grok 4 model, will now be available for purchase through the General Services Administration (GSA), allowing any federal office to adopt the technology. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s push for more aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence across the government. Since taking office in January, Mr. Trump has championed AI as a pillar of national security and innovation. Musk himself briefly served in the Trump administration earlier this year, overseeing the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, before stepping down in May amid a public break with Mr. Trump over his sweeping tax and spending bill. Musk has since emerged as a sharp critic of that legislation, even floating the idea of launching a third political party. Despite the rift, xAI has continued to expand its government work. The new offering includes custom national security tools, AI-powered science and health applications, and cleared engineering support for classified environments. The announcement comes just days after Grok generated antisemitic responses to user prompts and referenced Hitler as part of what the company called an effort to make the model "less politically correct." Hours later, Musk wrote in a post on X that "Grok was too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.”

AP [7/14/2025 2:27 PM, Steve Karnowski, 56000K] reports that a retired Army officer who worked as a civilian for the Air Force has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit classified information about Russia’s war with Ukraine on a foreign online dating platform. David Slater, 64, who had top secret clearance at his job at the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, pleaded guilty to a single count before a federal magistrate judge in Omaha on Thursday. In exchange for his guilty plea, two other counts were dropped. Slater remains free pending his sentencing, which is scheduled for Oct. 8. Prosecutors and his lawyers agreed that he should serve between five years and 10 months and seven years and three months in prison, and the government will recommend a term at the low end of that range. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years behind bars. U.S. District Judge Brian Buescher will ultimately decide whether to accept the plea agreement and will determine Slater’s sentence. “I conspired to willfully communicate national defense information to an unauthorized person,” Slater said in a handwritten note on his petition to change his plea. Slater had access to some of the country’s most closely held secrets, John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement. “Access to classified information comes with great responsibility,” said Lesley Woods, the U.S. attorney for Nebraska, said in the same statement. “David Slater failed in his duty to protect this information by willingly sharing National Defense Information with an unknown online personality despite having years of military experience that should have caused him to be suspicious of that person’s motives.”

Washington Post [7/14/2025 6:51 PM, Michael Birnbaum and Emily Davies, 32099K] reports weighing in on Kyiv’s side of its war with Russia more forcefully than at any time since he reclaimed the White House, President Donald Trump said Monday that he would help Ukraine obtain advanced U.S.-made weaponry and threatened tariffs against Moscow and its trading partners if the war is still raging in 50 days. The announcements came after Trump repeatedly expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued bombardment of Ukraine. Until Monday, Trump had largely held back from opening the U.S. arsenal for Ukraine, avoiding putting his fingerprint on a conflict that he often said was “Biden’s war.” Although he said again Monday that “this is not Trump’s war,” the plans he unveiled amounted to a significant U.S. effort to bolster Ukraine’s military and impose tough economic consequences on Russia if Putin doesn’t soon halt the conflict. The efforts would build on — and go beyond — those by President Joe Biden and would effectively back Ukraine in the war. The plan, however, would shift how the United States helps Ukraine. Under Biden, Washington mostly donated weaponry to Kyiv directly. Trump will require Europeans to pay for it. The new weapons will include Patriot air defense systems, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long sought, saying they are key to protecting cities and other major targets. The U.S. plan envisions European countries sending weaponry, including the Patriots, to Ukraine out of their current stocks so the weapons could be used immediately, Trump said. Germany and Norway will each send at least one battery, officials said. Those countries would then purchase replacements from the U.S. defense industry. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, visiting the White House on Monday, told reporters that the deal also involved “missiles and ammunition,” without specifying what else would be purchased and supplied. Ukraine’s U.S. and European backers have rushed to bolster their production capacity of air defense interceptors and 155mm artillery shells. “There’s a very big deal we’ve made. This is billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment [which] is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, etcetera, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office, speaking alongside Rutte, who will help oversee a NATO-wide purchasing effort of U.S.-made weaponry for Ukraine. In his remarks, Trump offered far more sympathy toward Ukrainians than he has at other moments of his presidency, noting that most Ukrainian civilians have remained in their home cities, even as apartment blocks have come under Russian missile attack. “It’s incredible. They remain even knowing a missile could hit their apartment and bring it down on them,” Trump said. “Say what you want about Ukraine. When the war started, they had no chance,” he added. “They fought with tremendous courage, and they continue to fight with tremendous courage.” And he had harsh words for Putin, saying at one point, “I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy.”

NewsNation [7/14/2025 7:18 AM, Tom Dempsey, Taylor Delandro, and Kellie Meyer, 5801K] reports President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to punish Russia with 100% tariffs if a deal to end the war in Ukraine isn’t reached within 50 days. “I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to be getting there,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days.” He said they would be “secondary tariffs,” meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy. “I use trade for a lot of things,” he added. “But it’s great for settling wars.” When asked about the 50-day deadline, Trump called it a “very short period of time,” noting that he hasn’t been involved in the conflict for long. “This is a Democrat war, not a Republican one,” he said. “I think you’re going to see strong movement — I hope so. Secondary tariffs are very, very powerful.” Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s firm stance on U.S.-led peace efforts in the war in Ukraine. The U.S. is set to deliver more defense missiles to Ukraine to help it fend off Russia’s intensifying aerial attacks. On Sunday, Trump announced plans to sell weapons to NATO members that can then be provided to Ukraine, adding that the European Union is paying for it. “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them,” Trump said Monday. USA Today [7/14/2025 7:00 PM, Francesca Chambers, 75552K] reports "We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days," Trump said on July 14 in the Oval Office. "Tariffs at about 100%, you’d call them secondary tariffs.” Trump’s latest threat against Russia and a related decision to send Ukraine weapons that are made in America, and paid for by European allies, runs parallel to a Senate-led effort to pass crippling sanctions that would hit countries with hefty tariffs if they purchase Russian energy. The bipartisan bill authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, has attracted 85 backers. It would put a 500% tariff on any country that buys or sells Russian oil, gas or petroleum, if Moscow refuses to make peace with Ukraine. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been eager to move forward with the bill that GOP leaders in the Senate and House were aiming to bring to the floor before Congress begins an extended recess at the beginning of August. Trump has indicated he is open to the legislation, but wants to control when the sanctions are triggered. The demand has put the president at odds with some Democratic sponsors of the bill. The legislation that had been gaining momentum was back in limbo on July 14 after Trump’s tariffs announcement.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [7/14/2025 5:37 PM, Samantha Stewart and Dina Katgara, 19320K]

FOX News [7/14/2025 4:32 PM, Caitlin McFall, 46878K] reports Iran on Monday warned that it would retaliate if the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) took steps to impose "snapback" sanctions as nations mull further action to halt Tehran’s nuclear development. "The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei claimed during a press conference, according to a Reuters report. Baghaei did not expand on how Iran would retaliate, but his threats come amid repeated warnings from security experts that time is running out to enforce the sanction mechanism by Oct. 18 under terms dictated by the 2015 nuclear deal. The comments coincided with the 10-year anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was originally intended to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but which some have argued was insufficient to adequately deter Tehran. Under the terms of the JCPOA, any signatory can unilaterally call up snapback sanctions if Iran is found to have violated the terms of the agreement. Though the U.S., which, alongside the U.K., France, Germany, China and Russia, signed the 2015 deal, was deemed by the U.N. and other JCPOA members unable to utilize the mechanism after Washington withdrew from the agreement in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Despite repeated calls by the U.S. to enforce snapback – which would legally enforce all 15 U.N. members on the council, including Russia, to reimpose sanctions on Iran – no one on the UNSC or JCPOA has yet taken steps to enforce the sanctions. "I would say one of the few good things about the JCPOA is that it reverse engineers the veto in the sense that you really only need one of the permanent members to be able to do this," Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran orogram told Fox News Digital. "But why is no one doing it? It’s because it’s a risky move. "I think it’s a worthwhile move, but we have to be honest – it’s a risky move," he added.

Reuters [7/14/2025 11:48 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports hardline Iranian lawmaker Esmail Kosari said any closure of the Strait of Hormuz was still under review but no decision has yet been made, in comments carried by Iran’s state media on Monday. "Military measures concerning the Strait of Hormuz have been completed, but no decision has yet been made regarding its (closure) and the matter is still under review," Kosari, a member of the national security committee in the Iranian parliament, was quoted as saying. It was not immediately clear what military measures he may be referring to. The possibility of Iran closing the waterway, through which about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments pass, was speculated upon during the 12-day air war between Israel and Iran last month.

Reuters [7/15/2025 5:17 AM, Liam Mo, Anne Marie Roantree, and Che Pan, 51390K] reports Chinese firms are scrambling to buy Nvidia’s H20 artificial intelligence chips, two sources told Reuters, as the company said it planned to resume sales to the mainland days after its CEO met U.S. President Donald Trump. Nvidia’s AI chips have been a key focus of U.S. export controls designed to keep the most advanced chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns. The U.S.-listed company has said the curbs would cut its revenue by $15 billion. The world’s most valuable firm is filing applications with the U.S. government to resume sales to China of the H20 graphics processing unit (GPU), and expects to get the licences soon, Nvidia said in a statement. "The U.S. government has assured Nvidia that licences will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon," said the company, whose chief executive, Jensen Huang, is visiting Beijing and set to speak at an event on Wednesday. The White House, which has previously expressed concern that the Chinese military could use AI chips to develop weapons, did not respond to a request for comment.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [7/15/2025 4:29 AM, Katrina Northrop, 32099K]

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