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

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

The New York Times [7/16/2025 9:16 PM, John Eligon and Hamed Aleaziz, 138952K] reports the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini announced on Wednesday that it would repatriate the five migrants who had been deported there by the United States, a day after American officials said the migrants’ home countries had refused to accept them. The migrants came from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, and had been serving time in American prisons for serious offenses, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Their removal was the first so-called third-country deportation from the United States to take place since the Supreme Court ruled this month that the Trump administration could move forward with the practice. The flight included individuals whose own countries “refused to take them back,” Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X Tuesday night. But an Eswatini government spokeswoman, Thabile Mdluli, said in a statement on Wednesday that the governments of her country and the United States, together with the International Organization for Migration, will “facilitate the transit of these inmates to their countries of origin.” The International Organization for Migration said that it had no involvement in the removal of the migrants from the United States and had not been asked to provide any support with repatriation. The Trump administration has worked aggressively to broker deals with international partners willing to take deportees. Legal experts have challenged the deportations on the grounds that the migrants could be subject to mistreatment and torture. The AP [7/16/2025 3:44 PM, Gerald Imray, Michelle Gumede, and Rebecca Santana, 3987K] reports that the U.S. has already deported eight men to another African country, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. The South Sudanese government has declined to say where those men, also described as violent criminals, are after it took custody of them nearly two weeks ago. In a late-night post on X Tuesday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said five men — citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos — had been deported to Eswatini. She said they were all convicted criminals and “individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.” The men “have been terrorizing American communities” but were now “off of American soil,” McLaughlin added. McLaughlin said they had been convicted of crimes including murder and child rape and one was a “confirmed” gang member. Her social media posts included mug shots of the men and what she said were their criminal records and sentences. They were not named. The Eswatini government said Wednesday the men, which it referred to as “prisoners” and “inmates,” were being held in isolated units in unnamed correctional facilities in Eswatini but were considered to be in transit and would ultimately be sent back to their home countries. Politico [7/16/2025 10:20 AM, Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing, 16523K] reports “NEW: a safe third country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed — This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X. The five deportees all have a criminal history, according to McLaughlin’s post. The Trump administration has made the practice of third country deportations a cornerstone of its immigration policy in an effort to speed up its mass deportation agenda, seeking to reach agreements with several nations to accept migrants from other countries. “When you’ve got countries that won’t take their nationals back, and they can’t stay here, we find another country willing to accept them,” Trump border czar Tom Homan told POLITICO last week. It was not immediately clear the scope or scale of any agreement the Trump administration may have come to with Eswatini before Tuesday’s deportations. While previous administrations have also used third country removals as a deportation mechanism, the Trump administration’s practice of sending deportees to places like El Salvador, notorious for its CECOT mega-prison, and conflict-ridden South Sudan, has drawn scrutiny from immigration lawyers and advocates who have warned of the potential dangers of sending deportees to countries with known human rights violations. The legal battle over third country deportations came to a head earlier this month, when the Supreme Court cleared the way for eight men to be sent to South Sudan after they were detained for six weeks in a shipping container on a U.S. military base in Djibouti while the administration fought to deport them in the courts. Homan last week told POLITICO he was unsure of the status of the eight men, confirming that they had arrived in South Sudan but saying that he had no further information on their whereabouts, including whether or not they remained in detention.

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Daily Wire [7/16/2025 11:51 AM, Mary Margaret Olohan, 3816K] reports President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill Wednesday aimed at ending the fentanyl drug crisis while surrounded by mothers and fathers of young people who lost their lives to the deadly drug. "We’ll be getting the drug dealers, pushers, and peddlers off our street, and we will not rest until we have ended the drug overdose epidemic," he promised attendees in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday afternoon. Trump promised that the legislation would take "a historic step toward justice for every family touched by the fentanyl scourge." The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances as "Fentanyl Analogs," a classification that would expire at the end of the month without the new legislation. An analog is a copycat fentanyl that has been chemically changed just enough to skirt the law, but is just as deadly. The White House argues it must be prosecuted in the same way. "Under the HALT Fentanyl Act, anyone who possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit FRS (fentanyl-related substances) will be subject to criminal prosecution in the same manner as any other Schedule I controlled substance," reads a White House document shared with The Daily Wire. A number of top Trump supporters who have been aggressive on border policy were also present at the event: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Fox News contributor Sara Carter, U.S. Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Senator Jim Banks of Indiana filled the first few rows and were named by the president. The Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 5:05 PM, Naomi Lim, 1934K] reports that with this bill, we are officially and permanently classifying all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I narcotics, which is actually a very big deal," Trump said Wednesday. "Meaning, anyone caught trafficking these illicit poisons will be punished with a mandatory, 10-year minimum sentence in prison.” He added, "The monsters who manufacture illicit fentanyl have sought to skirt legal restrictions by making minor variations of the chemical compound and, in the process, they have developed even more toxic versions of the drug.” Trump used the bill signing event in the White House’s East Room to underscore the progress he has made during the first six months of his second administration regarding fentanyl and the border after he "inherited the worst drug crisis in American history.” "We will be getting the drug dealers, pushers, and peddlers off our streets, and we will not rest until we have ended the drug overdose epidemic," he said. "This was an invasion of our country, allowed to happen by people who didn’t care or were stupid people.” Trump cited his deployment of military personnel to the border and designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations as his top drug-related policy accomplishments, in addition to his formation of multiple Department of Homeland Security drug-related task forces and the Justice Department’s seizure of 4,500 pounds of fentanyl. At the same time, he said he almost had a deal with China to impose the death penalty on Chinese drug traffickers before "we had a rigged election.” Reuters [7/17/2025 4:00 AM, Trevor Hunnicutt, 51390K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he thinks China will soon sentence people to death for fentanyl manufacturing and distribution, as he offered fresh optimism about the prospects of a deal with Beijing on illicit drugs. The drug trade has joined a range of economic and security issues as a major flashpoint in the relationship between the countries in recent years. Washington accuses Beijing of failing to stem to curb the flow of precursor chemicals for fentanyl, a leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths. Beijing has defended its drug control record and accused Washington of using fentanyl to "blackmail" China. Trump imposed 20% tariffs on Chinese imports over the issue in February, and they have remained in effect despite a fragile trade truce reached by both sides in Geneva in May. "I think we’re going to work it out so that China is going to end up going from that to giving the death penalty to the people that create this fentanyl and send it into our country," Trump said. "I believe that’s going to happen soon.”

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The Hill [7/16/2025 10:58 AM, Miriam Waldvogel and Filip Timotija, 18649K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended last week’s immigration raid on a California marijuana farm where protesters clashed with federal officers. Authorities arrested about 360 people across two farms owned by the same company. "We will go places where we know there are known criminals, where we’ve built a case to go get those individuals," Noem said during an appearance at Wednesday’s Hill Nation Summit. One worker fell from a greenhouse roof during the Camarillo raid and later died from their injuries. Noem separately said the Trump administration might not spend all of the money allocated to it to build a wall on the southern border. That funding was included in the tax and spending megabill earlier this month. She said the funding might not need to be spent given the significant drop in border-crossing numbers since President Trump came into office. "Maybe you don’t need all that money for the wall because we’ve done such a great job securing the border. We’ll look at all of that," Noem told NewsNation’s Blake Burman. Noem generally took a firm line on immigration, saying there would "never be amnesty" under Trump. That appeared to be a nod to calls from the agriculture industry for shifts in the administration’s approach, given farmers’ reliance on migrant workers. NewsNation [716/25 6:55 PM, Meg Hilling, 5801K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is standing firm that there will be “no amnesty” from the Trump administration when it comes to undocumented migrants, including farm workers. The administration has come under scrutiny following immigration raids at two California cannabis farms that resulted in 361 arrests, as well as the death of a worker who fell from a greenhouse. Speaking at the inaugural Hill Nation Summit Wednesday, Noem defended the administration’s targeting of the farms telling the audience a “large case” had been built to warrant the raids. “We’ve brought in over 360, I believe, criminals that we have brought into detainment, many of them had charges against them that were pending or they were convicted of, of murder of rape and trafficking,” Noem said. “And 14 different children were there as well. Nine or 10 of them were unaccompanied, which means they were working at this facility without a known parent or relative there with them. And, we also had people working at that facility who were charged and convicted of child trafficking and human trafficking and sex trafficking.” While Noem said the administration is targeting undocumented migrants with criminal records, she stressed that no exceptions would be made for those without criminal records. “There will never be amnesty under President Trump,” Noem said. “The president is very clear that he doesn’t believe that the law should apply to some people and not to others, and that there should be consequences for some people and not for others.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [7/16/2025 4:49 PM, Marnie Hunter, 21433K] reports the liquid rule for carry-on bags could be the next airport security measure to be overhauled. Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, hinted at a possible policy change on Wednesday at the Hill Nation Summit hosted by The Hill and NewsNation in Washington. "But I will tell you — I mean the liquids — I’m questioning. So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be," Noem told NewsNation’s host Blake Burman. Noem’s comments came shortly after DHS rolled back a rule in place for nearly two decades requiring travelers to remove their shoes at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. The DHS oversees the TSA, which was established after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Noem spoke more broadly about streamlining the airport screening experience for US travelers. "Hopefully the future of an airport, where I’m looking to go, is that you walk in the door with your carry-on suitcase, you walk through a scanner and go right to your flight," Noem said. "It takes you one minute." Noem said DHS is talking with various companies about technology that could help achieve that goal, adding that travelers will see pilot programs at a few airports before such measures would be implemented widely. ABC News [7/16/2025 4:30 PM, Luke Barr, 31733K] reports that "The liquids I’m questioning, so that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said at an event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. "We’re looking at our scanners, what we have put in place in TSA, multi-layered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security and screening so it still is safe.” Noem didn’t indicate when the updated policy announcement might be made. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2006 implemented a policy limiting liquids, gels and aerosols in passenger carry-on luggage to 3.4-ounce containers or smaller, to lessen the chances of liquid explosives being brought onboard commercial aircraft. The Hill [7/16/2025 12:45 PM, Cate Martel, 18649K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem teased potential changes to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) liquid policy. She also defended the federal government’s response to the fatal Texas floods amid criticism over FEMA deployment delays, as well as recent ICE raids. President Trump told Republican lawmakers that he plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "soon" before quickly denying any such plan after reports emerged about his remarks Wednesday afternoon. How this came up: Trump hosted a group of 11 hardline House Republicans in the Oval Office on Tuesday evening. "The President asked lawmakers how they felt about firing the Fed Chair. They expressed approval for firing him. The President indicated he likely will soon," a senior White House official told The Hill. CBS News first reported the Oval Office discussion. A reporter just asked Trump about this reporting: "I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely," Trump said about whether he would fire Powell. "Unless he has to leave, fraud.”

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Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 2:23 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports that Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee interrupted the panel’s Wednesday hearing on the Biden administration’s border crisis with repeated calls to subpoena top Trump administration officials over the White House’s deportation operation. Democrats made an organized play to force the GOP-led committee to bring senior immigration officials before the House. However, all of their attempts were denied. Led by ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Democrats unleashed a series of motions to force Department of Homeland Security and White House leaders before the committee to answer questions about who is being targeted for arrest and deportation. "Secretary Noem has a lot to answer for, and it’s a dereliction of duty for Republicans to shield her from any semblance of oversight. Because of their failure, the American people will suffer," the panel’s Democrats said in a press release issued after a pause in the hearing for afternoon votes. Democrats’ primary complaint was that the committee has focused its hearings over the past six months on the border crisis that unfolded during the Biden administration rather than keeping a close eye on how the Trump administration is carrying out its own immigration policies.

Blaze [7/16/2025 5:50 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports a tense Wednesday congressional hearing exposed how nongovernmental organizations contributed to the Biden administration’s immigration crisis, profiting off of American taxpayers and fueling an invasion that led to trafficking and exploitation. The Committee on Homeland Security’s hearing, "An Inside Job: How NGOs Facilitated the Biden Border Crisis," was a part of "a years-long investigation by the committee into whether NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity during the Biden-Harris administration." Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas, Oversight Project president and Blaze News contributor Mike Howell, and GUARD Against Trafficking president and co-founder Ali Hopper provided their testimony to lawmakers, highlighting the horrors of child trafficking and detailing how NGOs’ well-funded services incentivized widespread illegal immigration. Tension escalated almost immediately during the hearing, as Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) interrupted Howell’s testimony, calling for a recorded vote to deem the witness’ statements irrelevant to the hearing’s topic. While the Republican majority voted to allow Howell to proceed, the hearing was frequently interrupted and slowed down by the Democratic minority initiating unscheduled procedural votes. They subsequently accused the chairman of breaking the rules when these votes prompted him to repeatedly suspend the hearing temporarily to give lawmakers time to return to the chamber to cast their votes. "Ultimately, the goal of these NGOs was to get people to their desired destination within the United States and help them settle in, even though their legal status was far from being secured."

FOX Business [7/16/2025 7:30 PM, Staff, 10702K] reports DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin pushes back on the Democratic Party’s growing anti-I.C.E. rhetoric on ‘The Evening Edit.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX Business [7/16/2025 1:55 PM, Staff, 10702K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin discusses a new CBP report on border crossings, protecting ICE agents and more on ‘Varney & Co.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/16/2025 5:03 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports I.C.E. acting director Todd Lyons outlines the threats that put agents ‘in the crosshairs’ on ‘The Story.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [7/16/2025 1:54 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested an illegal alien with a staggering 40 prior criminal convictions in the United States. Murad Sanih Awad, an illegal alien from Jordan, was arrested by ICE agents in Atlanta, Georgia, after having been convicted 40 times on criminal charges — including child sexual abuse, organized drug trafficking, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. "Awad is yet another egregious example of what happens when open border policies are paired with spineless leadership," the Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: Awad was allowed to terrorize American communities and accumulate 40 criminal convictions, including sexual battery, without consequence. The Biden era of negligence is over. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are restoring law and order and ensuring dangerous criminal aliens are removed before they can harm more innocent Americans. [Emphasis added]. Also arrested by ICE agents recently is Niceforo Ruiz-Najera, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was previously convicted in Shelbyville, Tennessee, for facilitation of aggravated sexual battery of a 4-year-old child. Ismael Galvan-Perez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested by ICE agents after having been convicted of drug trafficking in Salt Lake City, Utah. And Abdul Waris Akinsanya, an illegal alien from Nigeria, was arrested after being convicted of forgery, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, and fleeing in a vehicle in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ICE agents similarly arrested Victor Manuel Villalobos-Romero, an illegal alien from Mexico, who has been convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in Florida.

Blaze [7/16/2025 3:30 PM, Andrew Chapados, 1805K] reports the Department of Homeland Security says the media is misleading the public about who is being deported. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin decided to strike back against media members who have accused her agency, especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of increasingly going after illegal aliens who do not have criminal backgrounds. New ICE arrest data from late June shows that federal agents ramped up arrests of those who are considered "other immigration violator(s)," but it is that definition that has some journalists and the DHS playing the blame game. ‘This deceptive "non-criminal" categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public.’ The DHS is battling narratives from outlets like NPR, CBS News, and the Cato Institute that have argued that the Trump administration said, through Attorney General Pam Bondi and border czar Tom Homan, that enforcement would focus on aliens who have committed crimes in addition to illegally crossing the border. CBS host Major Garrett even posited to Homan last week that "a growing number of those detained ... are not criminals." "They are here illegally, which is a crime. But they don’t have other felonies on their records," Garrett explained. A report from journalist Austin Kocher made the same point, showing that 44% of ICE’s arrests now represent illegal aliens who have not committed additional crimes. It is precisely this angle that the DHS is calling a "false" and "deceptive" narrative.

CBS News [7/16/2025 10:13 PM, Margaret Brennan, 51860K] reports President Trump campaigned on a vow to round up the "worst of the worst" offenders among the criminals who were living illegally inside the United States. But CBS News has obtained deportation data that indicates the Trump administration’s deportation push has ensnared many undocumented immigrants without violent criminal records. Of the estimated 100,000 people who were deported between January 1 and June 24 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 70,583 were convicted criminals, according to an ICE document obtained by CBS News. However, the data also shows that most of the documented infractions were traffic or immigration offenses. The ICE document listed out raw data that was broken down by conviction, not by deportee. Some 2,355 of the convictions had to do with sex offenses, making up 1.8% of the total number of criminals who were deported. Another 1,628, or 1.2%, were for sexual assault. The number of homicide convictions totaled 729, or 0.58% of criminal deportees, and the number of convicted kidnappers was 536, or 0.42%. About 10,738 convictions were for assault, or 15.2% of criminal deportees, the data showed. ICE’s public messaging about its deportation push has focused on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records, highlighting deportees who were convicted of murder, sex offenses and other violent crimes. Another stated goal of the Trump administration was to remove those with ties to criminal organizations. The CBS News-obtained document shows that 3,256 of the more than 100,000 people removed, or 3.26%, were known or suspected gang members or terrorists. In response to a CBS News inquiry, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said ICE has now deported about 140,000 undocumented immigrants since Mr. Trump took office. She also added that 70% of those arrested by ICE were of "illegal aliens with criminal convictions or have pending criminal charges." McLaughlin declined to detail the nature of the convictions or criminal charges, or offer further specifics. Back on June 11, six Republican lawmakers who are members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference wrote to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons to urge the Trump administration to prioritize the detention of violent offenders, convicted criminals and national security threats. ICE has now responded to that inquiry for the first time with figures of those deported since Jan. 1. The Republicans who signed the letter include the conference’s chair, Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Texas, along with Reps. Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David Valadao of California, Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Gabe Evans of Colorado. ICE arrests have soared since Mr. Trump took office, averaging 1,200 per day in the first three weeks of June, according to internal figures previously reported by CBS News. White House adviser Stephen Miller has pushed the agency to aim for 3,000 arrests per day, a more-than-twofold increase that has led to pressure on ICE leadership. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Axios [7/17/2025 5:00 AM, Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj, 13599K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions surged in June, newly obtained data shows. The numbers illustrate a major shift that came soon after the Trump administration tripled ICE’s arrest quota. Driving the news: People without criminal charges or convictions made up an average of 47% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from about 21% in early May, before the quota increase. The average number of daily arrests for those with charges or convictions also increased in early June, but not to the same degree. As of June 26 — the most recent data available — ICE was reporting an average of 930 daily arrests, about 42% of which involved people without charges or convictions. "The media continues to peddle this FALSE narrative that ICE is not targeting criminal illegal aliens," Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement emailed to Axios. "The official data tells the true story: 70% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges. Additionally, many illegal aliens categorized as ‘non-criminals’ are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members and more — they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S. This deceptive ‘non-criminal’ categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public." A DHS spokesperson did not immediately answer Axios’ follow-up question about the origins of the 70% figure.

AP [7/16/2025 7:36 PM, Martha Bellisle, 1611K] reports a group immigrants and legal advocates filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from arresting migrants who appear at immigration courts for previously scheduled hearings and placing them on a fast-track to deportation. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and ICE says the arrests of thousands of people at court have stripped them of rights afforded to them under U.S. immigration law and the Fifth Amendment. The large-scale immigration court arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants. In what has become a familiar scene, a judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings against an immigrant while ICE officers wait in the hallway to take them into custody. Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, said the Trump administration is "weaponizing" immigration courts and chilling participation in the legal process. "People seeking refuge, safety, or relief should not be arrested, detained, and deported without a chance to be heard and given due process," Perryman said in a statement. Messages seeking comment from ICE, Homeland Security and the Justice Department were not immediately returned. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the courts, declined to comment. President Donald Trump has pledged to deport the most dangerous criminals in the largest deportation program in American history to protect law-abiding citizens, but government data on the detentions show that the majority of people detained by ICE have no criminal convictions. The lawsuit represents 12 people who have been arrested at court hearings, along with the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative and American Gateways, which provide legal services to people who face potential arrest and deportation when they comply with their immigration proceedings by attending a court hearing. Some of the immigrants have lived in the United States for years and were separated from family members, some who were U.S. citizens, without notice, the lawsuit said. Others fled persecution in their home countries and requested asylum. But those requests were quashed when the government lawyer dismissed their case.

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Axios [7/16/2025 2:20 PM, Russell Contreras, 13599K] reports that a new proposal in Congress would stop federal immigration agents from detaining and possibly deporting U.S. citizens. Why it matters: U.S. citizens aren’t supposed to be arrested or detained unless agents allege they’re breaking laws. But reports of citizens of Latino descent being detained — or stopped and asked to prove citizenship — are rippling through Latino communities nationwide. Critics say reports of ICE detaining citizens are instances of racial profiling and overzealous policing — something the U.S. Department of Homeland Security angrily denies. Zoom in: U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash) introduced legislation Wednesday to formally block Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining or deporting U.S. citizens. Dubbed the "Stop ICE from Kidnapping US Citizens Act," the bill would set penalties for ICE agents who unlawfully hold U.S. citizens and place them in immigration proceedings. The proposal is co-sponsored by several Democrats and will likely face a long-shot bid in the GOP-controlled House. Zoom out: The allegations of U.S. citizens detentions come as ICE continues raids in predominantly Latino communities in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego areas; cities in Texas, New Mexico, New York and Florida; and agricultural centers such as Central California.

NewsNation [7/16/2025 10:02 PM, Chris Cuomo, Michael Ramsey, 5801K] Video: HERE reports White House border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday that he’s awaiting word from the White House on a potential policy change that may grant an exception for migrant workers in certain U.S. industries, such as farming and hospitality, that would protect them from deportation. Appearing on “CUOMO,” Homan said officials from the departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture and Labor are discussing the idea as the Trump administration faces pushback from business sectors over workplace raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I don’t want to get ahead of the president on what I think’s coming — or, if something’s even coming. But I know people are talking,” Homan said. President Trump’s second term in office has focused on immigration enforcement and the removal of migrants with criminal histories. But critics have said the crackdown has broadened to include undocumented migrants who are otherwise not committing crimes, and even the president recently addressed concerns that U.S. farms could be hurt by federal workplace raids. “The president’s committed that there will be no amnesty,” Homan told “CUOMO,” “but there’s a lot of smart minds at the White House talking about is there something for farm workers, is there something for hospitality?” He added: “My job is to operate within the framework provided me by the administration. So, if the president comes up with a policy, and says, ‘OK, here’s what we’re going to do with farm workers,’ then ICE will abide by that policy.” Although Trump suggested he may show leniency toward farm workers, he said he does not support giving undocumented workers a path to U.S. citizenship. The Hill [7/16/2025 11:02 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 18649K] reports Homan said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will work to carry out whatever policy the president decides to pursue. "I’m not going to get ahead of the president, what that decision would be," he said. "I can tell you this: I worked for six presidents… My job to is to operate within the framework provided me by the administration.” "So if the president comes up with a policy and says, ‘Okay, here’s what we’re going to do with farm workers,’ then ICE will abide by that policy," Homan continued. The Trump administration has sent mixed messages about its approach to immigration raids that affect farms and migrant farm workers. Last week, Trump announced a new program intended to support the agriculture industry, which has complained to the White House that the deportation efforts have disrupted business. Many farms rely on migrant workers, including workers without legal immigration status. The program would not provide "amnesty," Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins stressed at the time, though they offered few details about what the program would do. "There’s no amnesty," Trump said. "What we’re doing is we’re getting rid of criminals, but we are doing a work program.” He then asked Rollins to further explain the program, which she said would protect farmers and ensure they had the labor they needed but would not provide amnesty. Trump added, "We got to give the farmers the people they need, but we’re not talking amnesty.”

Wall Street Journal [7/16/2025 10:13 PM, Olivia Beavers and Michelle Hackman, 646K] reports President Trump’s aggressive deportation policies are spawning a new GOP-led policy push in Congress: Specific immigration-law changes to help protect the workforce in the agriculture industry, which relies heavily on unauthorized laborers. A small but growing group of House Republican lawmakers is encouraging the Trump administration and other factions of their party to pivot toward addressing immigration policy inside the country now that Trump has brought illegal border crossings to effectively zero. The lawmakers argue the party should focus on changing immigration law to allow some workers to gain temporary legal status and make sure people can remain on the job. “The excuse that we’ve had from not taking steps to pass measures ensuring certainty and availability of workforce has been that the border hasn’t been under control,” said Rep. GT Thompson (R., Pa.), the chair of the House Committee on Agriculture. “That excuse is gone,” he said. GOP backers of changes warn of food shortages and economic calamity if the uncertainty about immigrant labor isn’t addressed soon, pushing them to pursue a position that potentially puts them at odds with the Trump administration’s goal of mass deportations of people who entered the country illegally. It also risks a replay of more than four decades of failed efforts since Congress’s last successful overhaul.

AP [7/16/2025 6:19 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports a federal judge in Maryland could soon become the second to block President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide, if an appeals court were to allow it. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said in an opinion Wednesday that she would grant class action status on behalf of all children affected by the order and grant a preliminary injunction blocking it. But she did not immediately rule, noting a previous decision of hers to block the order was on appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court and that court would have to return the case to her. Boardman said an immediate ruling from her would "promote judicial efficiency and economy because it would enable the Fourth Circuit to consider the merits of a class-wide preliminary injunction sooner rather than later.” A federal judge in New Hampshire issued a ruling last week prohibiting Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide. U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante issued a preliminary injunction and certified a class action lawsuit including all children who will be affected. The order, which followed an hour-long hearing, included a seven-day stay to allow for appeal.

FOX News [7/16/2025 4:56 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 46878K] reports Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia appeared in federal court in Tennessee on Wednesday for a second detention hearing, after a federal judge agreed to hear an appeal from the Justice Department to keep him detained in criminal custody pending trial. The Justice Department’s request to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw caps off months of confusing and contradictory statements from the Trump administration in the case of Abrego Garcia, who was erroneously deported to El Salvador in March in violation of a court order, and returned to the U.S. three months later in June. The acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Robert McGuire, urged Crenshaw in a court filing ahead of Wednesday’s hearing to keep Abrego Garcia detained in criminal custody pending trial, arguing that "there is no combination of bail conditions that can reasonably assure either the safety of the community or the defendant’s appearance in future court proceedings." Crenshaw wrapped the hearing after roughly three hours, telling both parties that he would take the case under advisement. He did suggest he will take his time in reviewing the evidence, however, telling lawyers for the Justice Department and Abrego Garcia that they should not expect a ruling imminently, or even this week. He did suggest he would issue an order next week shortly before adjourning court. The longer timeline is likely a welcome relief for Abrego Garcia’s lawyers as they continue to wait for U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, the federal judge in Maryland, to issue an order blocking ICE from immediately deporting their client to a third country pending release from U.S. criminal custody.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/16/2025 10:03 AM, Erin McCullough and Brittney Baird, 18649K

Politico [7/16/2025 9:12 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 16523K] reports a key court hearing recessed Wednesday without resolving a mystery about whether the Trump administration intends to keep prosecuting Kilmar Abrego Garcia or will attempt to abruptly deport him before a jury can decide his fate. The crucial question arose at the end of a two-and-a-half hour court session where a federal judge mulled whether Abrego, a Salvadoran man deported illegally from the U.S. in March to a notorious anti-terrorism prison in El Salvador, should be detained as he awaits trial on immigrant smuggling charges. The charges were filed in May, as the administration grappled with court orders requiring it to seek Abrego’s return from El Salvador. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, Jr. made no rulings, but he seemed inclined to order Abrego’s release from criminal custody as the smuggling case against him proceeds. He suggested there were weaknesses in the government’s case, particularly its reliance on three cooperating witnesses with family ties. That relationship raised the possibility they’d coordinated their stories, the judge noted. “They’re family. Family talk,” said Crenshaw, an Obama appointee. Crenshaw also said he was “having a hard time understanding” prosecutors’ argument that there were no conditions under which Abrego, who has no criminal record, could be released without endangering the community or making it likely he would flee. However, the twists and turns of the Abrego saga mean that Crenshaw’s decision may not ultimately control whether the Salvadoran man — who lived in Maryland for about a decade after he entered the U.S. illegally in 2012 — walks free or even whether he remains in the U.S. Litigation over those questions is raging instead in another federal courthouse about 600 miles from here in Greenbelt, Maryland, where a judge is considering blocking the Trump administration from immediately re-deporting Abrego if he’s released. That judge, Paula Xinis, indicated she planned to rule before Crenshaw’s hearing, but did not do so. Xinis, also an Obama appointee, has strongly hinted that she plans to put in place an order requiring the administration to give Abrego at least two business days’ notice before attempting to deport him again.

New York Times [7/16/2025 5:45 PM, Alan Feuer, 138952K] reports a federal judge on Long Island chided the Justice Department on Wednesday for trying to “avoid public scrutiny” of its attempts to drop criminal charges against a high-ranking member of the violent street gang MS-13 and quickly deport him to El Salvador, his homeland. In April, federal prosecutors had asked the judge, Joan M. Azrack, to allow them to dismiss the charges against the MS-13 leader, Vladimir Arévalo Chávez, under seal and to keep the entire matter secret until he was returned to El Salvador. The Justice Department is seeking to deport Mr. Arévalo in the wake of a deal that President Trump reached with Nayib Bukele, the Salvadoran president, who had agreed to use his country’s prisons to house hundreds of immigrants that Trump officials were looking to expel from the United States. The United States not only agreed to pay millions of dollars to El Salvador to help Mr. Trump carry out his deportation agenda, but also added an important sweetener at Mr. Bukele’s request: the return of key MS-13 leaders, like Mr. Arévalo, who were in American custody. Judge Azrack ultimately rejected the government’s request to keep the effort to dismiss Mr. Arévalo’s case secret, and unsealed the paperwork in May. In a 29-page opinion issued on Wednesday, she explained why she had revealed the behind-the-scenes move. While the Justice Department had publicly celebrated its charges against some MS-13 leaders as “swift American justice,” she said, it was also throwing out the case against Mr. Arévalo. “The government appears to be making inconsistent representations,” she wrote, “and the public has a right to know about this motion before its resolution.” While officials from both countries have claimed that the gang leaders were being sent back to face justice in El Salvador, the Trump administration has never acknowledged another reason that Mr. Bukele might want them back: U.S. federal prosecutors have, over several years, amassed substantial evidence of a corrupt pact between the Salvadoran government and some high-ranking leaders in MS-13, an investigation by The New York Times last month found. Judge Azrack, who is handling the cases of several of those leaders, who were charged by federal prosecutors in Long Island, did not weigh in on the propriety of the deal or issue a final decision on whether the prosecutors who built the case against Mr. Arévalo could now throw it out. In her written opinion, she simply said it would be inappropriate to keep the public in the dark about the government’s plans to dismiss Mr. Arévalo’s case and then deport him. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the MS-13 cases, declined to comment on Judge Azrack’s ruling.

FOX News [7/16/2025 1:07 PM, Preston Mizell, 46878K] reports that the mother of a young girl who was murdered by an MS-13 gang member in 2022 is speaking out after Congressman Russell Fry, R-South Carolina, introduced a bill that could have saved her daughter’s life. Kayla Hamilton was just 20 years old when she was sexually assaulted, tied up, and strangled to death by Walter Javier Martinez, a 17-year-old illegal migrant in the U.S. under Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC) status who was sentenced to 70 years in prison this April. This week, Rep. Fry introduced the Kayla Hamilton Act, which would mandate the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary to consider whether a UAC, an illegal immigrant under the age of 18, poses a danger to themselves or the community. "No one else should ever again have to suffer the way my daughter Kayla did," Tammy Nobles, Kayla’s mother, told Fox News Digital. "The Biden-Harris Administration’s policies prioritized the comfort of illegal aliens, like Kayla’s murderer, over the safety of innocent Americans." "The Kayla Hamilton Act is necessary to ensure background checks of unaccompanied alien children occur before they are released. If that had happened in the case of Kayla’s murderer, authorities would have known he was an MS-13 gang member.” Currently, laws surrounding UACs who enter the U.S. illegally without a parent or legal guardian to provide care, require illegal minors to be sent to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under HHS rather than being immediately deported. Rep. Fry’s bill would create tighter restrictions on how HHS should assess illegal migrants who are minors by requiring HHS to contact the consulate or embassy of a UAC’s home country to determine any criminal history or gang affiliation, mandate screening for gang tattoos, and ensure UACs with known gang ties or tattoos must be housed in secure HHS facilities, not released into communities.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 2:45 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is in talks with five other states to construct migrant detention facilities inspired by Alligator Alcatraz, she confirmed over the weekend. While she did not name the states, Noem did say they are in talks following the successful partnership between the state of Florida and the federal government in transforming the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility in the Florida Everglades to a center to process, house, and ultimately deport dangerous criminal migrants. "We’ve had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us," she said over the weekend. Alligator Alcatraz has been a subject of attack by the left and establishment media, which have continued to feed the general public mass misinformation on the facility. Despite false reports, Alligator Alcatraz, which has emerged as a model for other states to emulate, has "158,000 square feet of housing, 24/7 air conditioning, a 24/7 medical facility and pharmacy, access to indoor and outdoor recreational yards, legal and clergy support services, laundry," and more. Further, it was constructed with an aluminum frame structure rated for winds of 110 miles an hour, or as Florida Division of Emergency Management head Kevin Guthrie put it, a "high end Category 2, for those people that don’t think that we’re taking that into consideration.” He also noted that there are backup generators in place.

New York Times [7/16/2025 9:23 PM, Patricia Mazzei and Hamed Aleaziz, 138952K]
In phone interviews, several detainees described infrequent showers, meals that amounted to little more than snacks, other detainees falling ill with flulike symptoms and sleep deprivation. They described unrest over a lack of information, recreation and access to medication. “It’s a tinderbox,” said Rick Herrera, one of the detainees, who called a reporter repeatedly over five days, offering a rare window into the chaotic early weeks of what experts say is the nation’s only state-run facility for federal immigration detainees. Florida raced to open the center — officially naming it “Alligator Alcatraz” to play up its remote, swampy location — on July 3, eager to help President Trump’s immigration crackdown by providing more detention capacity. Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said on Sunday that other states want to follow Florida’s lead. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, has positioned his state as particularly aggressive on immigration enforcement, deputizing state and local law enforcement to act as a “force multiplier” for federal authorities. But opening the detention center in the Everglades was a move with little precedent that relied on emergency state powers. Until recently, the federal government has been responsible for housing immigration detainees, and it has largely detained people who recently entered the country illegally, or who have criminal convictions or outstanding deportation orders. But immigration enforcement has changed substantially under Mr. Trump, sweeping up people who were not the focus before. The Everglades facility serves as part of the local-federal immigration cooperation process known as 287(g). Under that system, local officials can arrest and detain migrants on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is unclear, however, if and when detainees at the Everglades center would be transferred to ICE custody before being deported. Most detainees at the center do not have criminal convictions, according to a government official with knowledge of the data who requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it. At least some were transfers from local jails who had been taken into custody after getting pulled over for traffic violations; others had been transferred there from ICE custody. Another government official who requested anonymity for the same reason said that in all, 60 percent of the center’s detainees either have criminal convictions or criminal charges pending against them. Mr. DeSantis is already considering opening another such facility in North Florida. The courts, however, have repeatedly held that immigration enforcement is a federal duty. Last week, the Supreme Court refused to revive an aggressive Florida immigration law blocked by lower courts that would have made it a crime for unauthorized migrants to enter the state. Asked about the Everglades center, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said, “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens.”

San Diego Union Tribune [7/16/2025 12:39 PM, Bill Kearney, 1611K] reports Alligator Alcatraz has triggered pride in the MAGA world — and fury in an unlikely bipartisan mix of South Floridians. In fact, the land where Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration quickly erected the new immigrant detention center, which is expected to eventually hold 3,000 or more people, has been deeply controversial since the 1960s. It was supposed to be the planet’s largest jetport and inspire a new city in the middle of the Everglades. Bipartisan outrage over those dreams (or nightmares) united an odd cross section of Floridians: birder watchers, hunters, native tribes, blue-collar plumbers and Republican advisers. This David-and-Goliath battle pitted them against heavy hitters: the Dade County Port Authority, the Federal Aviation Administration, the state of Florida, the air transport industry and eager chambers of commerce. The ensuing fight over the jetport, which eventually drew in then-President Richard Nixon’s administration, was the catalyst for creating Big Cypress National Preserve, and helped shape the environmental movement we know today. And the bipartisan outrage of the 1960s echoes through today’s protests about that same piece of land. The 1960s were heady times for Florida. The population jumped by 40%, ramping from about five million in 1960 to nearly seven million by 1970. As the population (and real estate values) boomed, the Dade County Port Authority started buying up 39 square miles of cypress swamp and Miccosukee ceremonial sites that sat a few miles from both Everglades National Park and Miccosukee tribal land. They had a dream of building the world’s largest jetport. It would be five times the size of JFK International Airport, big enough to welcome 50 million passengers and one million flights a year, and would serve both the east and west coasts of the state. The fight over the jetport was one of those battles, and it drastically altered what South Florida looks like today. While recently visiting the detention site, President Donald Trump raved about Alligator Alcatraz. Wilton Simpson, Florida’s agriculture commissioner, accompanied Trump on the tour and lavished him with praise, stating, "We are grateful for your leadership. … God had a plan for us, and it was Donald Trump.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has advised other states to follow Florida’s model. And the Florida GOP is so pleased with the site that they’ve got "Alligator Alcatraz" merchandise for sale online.

Politico [7/16/2025 5:57 PM, Kimberly Leonard and Nicole Markus, 16523K] reports Democrats on Saturday called for the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” after touring the controversial pop-up tent immigration detention center that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly assembled in the Everglades. DeSantis has looked to match President Donald Trump’s hard line on immigration, painting his state as an eager partner in the president’s plan to detain and deport potentially millions of immigrants. At least five members of Congress and roughly 20 state legislators toured the detention center over the weekend, the first inspection by elected officials of the area since it opened about a week ago. Trump visited the site ahead of detainees arriving earlier this month, accompanied by DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and since then news accounts of dire living conditions have emerged. While Republicans insisted that the facility was appropriate and clean, and staffed similar to any detention facility, Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about food quantity, drinking water and high temperatures, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz calling the facility an “internment camp.” “They are essentially packed into cages, wall to wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” she said in a news conference following the tour. Democrats also said they thought they got a “sanitized” version of the center and complained they were not allowed to talk to detainees or enter the tents where people were living so that they could get a better look and understanding of the conditions. Members were shown areas where food was being prepared and a tent where medical care was being provided. GOP state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a DeSantis ally, defended the conditions as “clean, air conditioned and well-kept,” and said he lied down on one of the beds and thought it was comfortable. He countered that lawmakers would be allowed to talk to detainees if they requested a specific person by name, at least 48 hours in advance, under ICE rules. “The rhetoric does not match the reality,” Ingoglia said. “It’s basically all political theater coming from the [Democrats]. What they’re saying is pure bullshit.”

Univision [7/16/2025 5:28 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports the detention and subsequent disappearance of a Venezuelan immigrant in Puerto Rico set off alarms among human rights organizations, which denounced irregularities and opacity in the processes of arrest and transfer of migrants by federal authorities to the Everglades detention center, known as Alcatraz de los Caimanes (Alligator Alcatraz). The case came to public light through attorney Mariela Negrón, who represents the affected Venezuelan. According to what she told El Nuevo Día, her client was arrested in Puerto Rico and then transferred to Florida, where he was informed that he would be taken to a detention center. However, from that moment on, a process full of information gaps and situations that, according to advocates, violate human rights began. "When we contacted ICE, they said they had no knowledge of the arrest," said Negrón in another interview with Tele 11. The attorney emphasized that, despite having complied with all legal requirements to obtain information, neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nor the Department of Homeland Security (Homeland Security) provided details about the detainee’s whereabouts or status. According to Negrón’s testimony, the immigrant was transported in a bus along with other detainees to an unknown destination, which increased uncertainty for his family and legal representatives. During the trip, they recounted that they were taken to a place where they remained under tents, waiting for hours without access to food, bathrooms or toilets. "It is undignified treatment that violates basic human rights principles," the lawyer said. The Venezuelan’s last contact with his surroundings was from a detention center, although the specific conditions in which he is being held are still unknown. "What we are seeing is a clear violation of due process," Rodriguez stated, recalling that U.S. laws provide for specific legal routes to protect immigrants. However, he acknowledged that those guarantees, in practice, are not always met. The temporary disappearance of the immigrant and the silence of the authorities rekindle the debate about transparency and respect for civil rights in the handling of people in immigration status. In Puerto Rico, organizations and lawyers have registered an increase in similar complaints in recent months, which fuels the concern that this is not an isolated case. So far, ICE has not issued an official statement on the incident nor has it confirmed the whereabouts of the Venezuelan immigrant. The human rights community on the island is demanding answers and corrective measures to ensure that situations like this do not happen again. "We are talking about people, not numbers," concluded Rodriguez, in a call to put human dignity at the center of immigration policies. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 4:10 PM, Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports the Department of Education on Tuesday launched an investigation into the University of Michigan over the school’s global funding and "vulnerabilities to malign foreign influence" following the arrests of several Chinese scientists who were connected with the university and charged with smuggling biological materials into the United States. The department cited the "highly disturbing criminal charges" slapped against the Chinese scientists in June as it unveiled the federal investigation that accused the university’s foreign funding reports of containing "inaccurate and incomplete disclosures." The Education Department also expressed concern that the Michigan school had downplayed the risks of research collaborations with Chinese institutions, which are often tied to the Chinese Communist Party. "Today’s investigation into UM reflects the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to hold colleges and universities accountable for failing to comply with federal disclosure laws on foreign funding, consistent with President [Donald] Trump’s Executive Order on ‘Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities," an Education Department release read. Paul Moore, the department’s chief investigative counsel, accused the university of having a history of "downplaying its vulnerabilities to malign foreign influence," adding that "recent reports reveal that UM’s research laboratories remain vulnerable to sabotage." In a letter to the university, he accused it of violating a federal disclosure law about foreign gifts due to alleged "incomplete, inaccurate, and untimely" disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more connected to Chinese research. As part of the investigation, the department gave the school 30 days to hand over more than five years’ worth of records related to foreign donations, foreign research collaboration, international students and their visas, and the names and contact information of school personnel who supervise such matters. "As the recipient of federal research funding, UM has both a moral and legal obligation to be completely transparent about its foreign partnerships," Moore wrote, promising to "vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the American people know the true scope of foreign funding and influence on our campuses.” The new investigation comes after authorities brought charges last month against a Chinese scientist and his girlfriend who worked at a University of Michigan lab and were accused of smuggling a toxic fungus into the U.S. Zunyong Liu is alleged to have brought the biological pathogen, which federal officials said had the potential to be used as an agricultural "terrorism weapon," into the country while visiting his girlfriend last year.

The AP [7/15/2025 10:01 PM, Julie Watson, David Klepper, Damian Dovarganes, and Amy Taxin, 56000K] reports the Pentagon said Tuesday it is ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles, accounting for nearly half of the soldiers sent to the city to deal with protests over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines have been in the city since early June. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the 60-day deployment to end suddenly, nor was it immediately clear how long the rest of the troops would stay in the region. In late June, the top military commander in charge of troops deployed to LA had asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 200 of them to be returned to wildfire fighting duty amid warnings from California Gov. Gavin Newsom that the Guard was understaffed as California entered peak wildfire season. The end of the deployment comes a week after federal authorities and National Guard troops arrived at MacArthur Park with guns and horses in an operation that ended abruptly. Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wouldn’t explain the purpose of the operation or whether anyone had been arrested, local officials said it seemed designed to sow fear. “Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement in announcing the decision. ABC News [7/16/2025 11:10 AM, Drew Callister, Curtis Yee, Nell Clark, and Peter Orsi, 31733K] reports Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, wrote employees on July 8 to say the agency was revisiting its "extraordinarily broad and equally complex" authority to detain people and, effective immediately, people would be ineligible for a bond hearing before an immigration judge. Instead they cannot be released unless the Homeland Security Department makes an exception. Asked Tuesday to comment on the memo, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, "The Biden administration dangerously unleashed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into the country — and they used many loopholes to do so." She added that Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem "are now enforcing this law as it was actually written to keep America safe."

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CNN [7/15/2025 6:58 PM, Taylor Romlne, 875K]

NewsMax [7/16/2025 12:49 PM, Sam Barron, 4622K] reports that Republican Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.; Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.; and Rep. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.; want to see greater transparency for nonprofits that accept money from hostile nations. The four teamed up to propose the Foreign Registration Obligations for Nonprofit Transparency (FRONT) Act, which would require nonprofits in the United States that receive funding from foreign principals in countries of concern, such as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The bill would also require nonprofits to disclose the activities they use foreign funds to engage in to mitigate future unrest. Budd said he believes recent left-wing riots that have resulted in violence have been funded by hostile foreign nations. "It’s time for American nonprofit organizations to be transparent about where they are getting their funding from," Budd said. "No foreign country with hostile intentions should be meddling in our democratic process." The group which promoted the anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles is tied to a network of groups bankrolled by a pro-China millionaire, the Daily Caller reported. Avril Haines, the former director of national intelligence, said people with ties to the Iranian government have posed as activists online following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. "What we’re witnessing is not isolated," Budd said. "Safeguarding our political system from continued foreign interference must be a top national security priority to protect the integrity of our democracy."

Daily Wire [7/16/2025 4:19 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3816K] reports that a new bill from Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) would require states to pay back the federal government if U.S. military resources were used in response to "civil disturbances" triggered by a state’s "refusal to cooperate with lawful Federal immigration enforcement." The bill, which was first shared with The Daily Wire, was filed Wednesday in response to violent rioting across parts of California last month over ICE raids. The unrest prompted President Donald Trump to send in thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines into Los Angeles to protect federal property and personnel. "As lawless states like California obstruct the federal government’s work to enforce immigration law, American taxpayers in other states have been forced to foot the bill for the military forces required to quell the chaos and protect law-abiding citizens," Blackburn told The Daily Wire. "If a state refuses to do its job and forces the federal government to respond to unrest, they should pay for it." Blackburn added that her bill, called the "State Accountability for Federal Deployment Costs Act," would "send a message that refusing to comply with federal immigration law will not be tolerated.” A companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Jody Arrington (R-TX), the chair of the House Budget Committee.

Reuters [7/16/2025 6:32 AM, Sarah N. Lynch, 51390K] reports the U.S. Justice Department explored bringing criminal charges against Minnesota judges and defense lawyers who discussed requesting virtual court hearings to protect defendants from being arrested by federal immigration officers, according to five people familiar with the matter. In February, FBI agents in Minneapolis opened a preliminary inquiry into whether local judges and defense attorneys obstructed immigration enforcement by requesting virtual hearings, and the concept was also pitched to law enforcement officials in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal Justice Department deliberations. Reuters could not determine whether the probe is ongoing. To date, no judge or lawyer in Minnesota has been charged over the episode. Two of the people familiar with the discussions said FBI and Justice Department leadership in Washington supported the probe. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Washington Post [7/16/2025 4:51 PM, Andrea Sachs, 32099K] reports Avelo Airlines is ceasing all operations on the West Coast, including its hub in Burbank, California, it confirmed in a statement. The ultra-low-fare carrier will start pulling commercial passenger flights out of 10 cities as early as next month. In a statement, the Houston-based airline said departing the West Coast “was not an easy decision” and there was no singular reason for cutting the 10 routes, shrinking its map to 41 destinations. It cited underwhelming profits as one cause, but said a controversial deal to operate deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security was not a contributing factor. Avelo has faced protests and calls for boycotts from around the country since it announced in the spring that it would augment its commercial business with a new role as a government subcontractor. Homeland Security confirmed to The Washington Post in May that Avelo would transfer migrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a deal with a company called CSI Aviation. Avelo confirmed via email that it is still operating its DHS contract out of Arizona. “We believe the continuation service from BUR in the current operating environment will not deliver adequate financial returns in a highly competitive backdrop,” Avelo said in a statement. “Despite the investment of significant time, resources and efforts, our West Coast operations have not produced the results necessary to continue our presence there.”

AP [7/17/2025 12:02 AM, Corey Williams and Christine Fernando, 31733K] reports protests and events against President Donald Trump’s controversial policies that include mass deportations and cuts to Medicaid and other safety nets for poor people are planned Thursday at more than 1,600 locations around the country. The “Good Trouble Lives On” national day of action honors the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Protests are expected to be held along streets, at court houses and other public spaces. Organizers are calling for them to be peaceful. “We are navigating one of the most terrifying moments in our nation’s history,” Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said during an online news conference Tuesday. “We are all grappling with a rise of authoritarianism and lawlessness within our administration ... as the rights, freedoms and expectations of our very democracy are being challenged.” Public Citizen is a nonprofit with a stated mission of taking on corporate power. It is a member of a coalition of groups behind Thursday’s protests. Major protests are planned in Atlanta and St. Louis, as well as Oakland, California, and Annapolis, Maryland. Lewis first was elected to Congress in 1986. He died in 2020 at the age of 80 following an advanced pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1965, a 25-year-old Lewis led some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was beaten by police, suffering a skull fracture. Within days, King led more marches in the state, and President Lyndon Johnson pressed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that later became law. “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America,” Lewis said in 2020 while commemorating the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Chicago will be the flagship city for Thursday’s protests as demonstrators are expected to rally downtown in the afternoon. Betty Magness, executive vice president of the League of Women Voters Chicago and one of the organizers of Chicago’s event, said the rally will also include a candlelight vigil to honor Lewis. Much of the rest of the rally will have a livelier tone, Magness said, adding “we have a DJ who’s gonna rock us with boots on the ground.”

Daily Wire [7/17/2025 12:27 AM, Tom Cotton and Lisa McClain, 3816K] reports with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans just delivered record funding to secure our border and support our federal law enforcement agents, which will make every American safer. This law paves the way for a brighter, safer, and stronger future for every American. Here’s how you will benefit. First, it makes permanent the largest tax cut in history for middle- and working-class families, reduces costs by unleashing American energy, and rebuilds our military to outpace and dominate 21st century challenges. But that’s not all. Importantly, the One Big Beautiful Bill will restore order and strengthen border security after 10.5 million illegal immigrants flooded the United States under President Joe Biden and the Democrats. For four years, a slow-motion invasion of our nation drove up medical and insurance costs for Americans, as well as criminal activity in our communities. President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have made it a priority to close the border, stop the invasion, and enforce the law without hesitation. Since taking office earlier this year, Trump has deported hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, designated ruthless gangs — such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13 — as foreign terrorist organizations, and resumed border wall construction. Nationwide encounters of illegal immigrants are at the lowest ever recorded, and not one illegal immigrant was released into our country over the past two months. Compare this to the height of the invasion under Joe Biden, which saw nearly 10,000 unvetted migrants enter the United States every day. And this new law builds on these accomplishments. The One Big Beautiful Bill will ensure that we can finish what we started. It is a major win for the American people that provides law enforcement with the tools, resources, and training needed to curb illegal immigration and secure the border.

New York Times [7/17/2025 3:21 AM, Linda Greenhouse, 330K] reports fifteen years ago, when Arizona enacted a notorious anti-immigrant “show me your papers” law, I wrote an essay in The Times that began: “I’m glad I’ve already seen the Grand Canyon. Because I’m not going back to Arizona as long as it remains a police state, which is what the appalling anti-immigrant bill that Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law last week has turned it into.” The essay provoked a variety of reactions, most supportive but some vituperatively negative. One angry reader, noting that the newspaper identified me as teaching at Yale Law School, wrote to the school’s dean to demand that he fire me. The dean and I had a good laugh over that letter. But rather than dismiss it as the product of an eccentric crank, I realize now that I should have understood the letter as a window on the toxic brew of anti-immigrant sentiment that led a state to pass such a law. The Obama administration challenged Arizona’s law, and after the Supreme Court invalidated most of it in 2012, the harsh anti-immigrant wave subsided. But now my letter writer and like-minded people have a friend in the White House. Or friends, actually — among them, Stephen Miller, a deputy chief of staff, who appears to be giving President Trump his marching orders for the arrests and deportations now shredding the civic fabric of communities across the country. I have a home in the Los Angeles area, and my recent weeks there encompassed the deployment of the Marines and the federalization of California’s National Guard. I steeled myself every morning to read the granular reporting in The Los Angeles Times of scenes that I could not have imagined just months ago: people snatched up while waiting at a bus stop in peaceful Pasadena, the undocumented father of three Marines taken at his landscaping job, pinned down and punched by masked federal agents before being thrown into detention. People whose quiet presence among us was tolerated for decades as they paid their taxes and raised their American children are now hunted down like animals, so fearful of even going grocery shopping that Los Angeles nonprofits have mobilized to deliver food to their doors. I was taking an early morning walk in my neighborhood when a black S.U.V. with tinted windows slowed to a stop a half block ahead. I considered: If this is ICE coming to take someone, should I intervene? Start filming? Make sure the victims know their rights? Or just keep walking, secure in the knowledge that no one was coming for me? The car turned out to be an airport limo picking up a passenger, and I was left to ponder how bizarre it was to feel obliged to run through such a mental triage on a summer morning on an American city street. Something beyond the raw politics of immigration lies behind the venomous cruelty on display, and I think it is this: To everyone involved, from the policymakers in Washington to the masked agents on the street, undocumented individuals are the Other — people who not only lack legal rights as a formal matter but also stand outside the web of connection that defines human society. Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, refers to undocumented immigrants as “the got aways,” the ones we didn’t catch.

New York Post [7/16/2025 6:11 PM, Jacob Sullum, 49956K] reports the Transportation Security Administration did not officially start requiring travelers to take off their shoes at the airport until August 2006. That was nearly five years after Richard Reid unsuccessfully tried to ignite explosives in his sneakers on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. The fear of Reid copycats was the ostensible justification for the TSA’s seemingly belated shoe rule, which the agency finally ditched last week, nearly two decades after adopting it. The longevity of that widely resented and ridiculed policy, which the United States was nearly alone in enforcing, illustrates the ratchet effect at work in security theater: Even the most dubious safeguards tend to stick around because eliminating them looks like a compromise that might endanger public safety. "We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints, leading to a more pleasant and efficient passenger experience," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week. "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.” That sounded like the fulfillment of a prediction that Janet Napolitano, one of Noem’s predecessors, made back in 2011.

FOX News [7/17/2025 5:22 AM, Scott Strazik, 46878K] Video HERE reports over the next two decades, global electricity demand is expected to double, growth we haven’t seen since post-World War II. To meet historic projections, we need to generate abundant, reliable and affordable energy at a massive scale. But new generation won’t be enough. We must dramatically modernize the country’s electrical grid infrastructure, the invisible backbone of our entire energy system. Transforming this aging infrastructure – which has been built up over a century – into a state-of-the art system is critical if the U.S. is to maintain its competitive lead on the global stage. It is hard to overstate the urgency: America’s economy is only as strong as the grids that power it. The Energy Department reinforced this view last week, saying in a report: "Electricity demand from AI-driven data centers and advanced manufacturing is rising at a record pace. The magnitude and speed of projected load growth cannot be met with existing approaches to load addition and grid management." Energy Secretary Chris Wright added a more personal view to the issue, saying, "We produce energy for one reason, which is to better people’s lives. So having a reliable grid that’s as affordable as possible and that can grow so we can bring industry and more job opportunities to our states and communities is just critical." I couldn’t agree more. Boosting investments in the grid will expand high-tech U.S. manufacturing, create jobs and develop a stronger domestic supply chain. For the U.S. to truly lead the world in energy, manufacturing electrification infrastructure here at home is just as important as increased generation. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [7/16/2025 7:01 PM, Staff, 49956K] reports that thanks to the investigations of two Senate committees, Americans are getting a clearer picture of what went wrong leading up to the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pa. — and the details are beyond damning for the Secret Service. Reporting, released by the Government Accountability Office and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, list a series of bungles and mishaps that would sound satirical if they didn’t have such deadly serious consequences. First off, the agency denied a request for anti-drone systems for the rally, claiming those resources were already set aside for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and didn’t provide a Counter Assault Team liaison to coordinate between its agents and the local SWAT teams. The agency almost didn’t send in the counter-sniper teams that ultimately took out shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, ending his bloody rampage; imagine the horrific consequences if it hadn’t. The day of the rally, the agency’s drone detection equipment bugged out and was being repaired by an undertrained agent when Crooks flew a drone overhead to plan out his sick scheme. And shoddy cell service kneecapped communication between the local cops and the Secret Service, since the agencies couldn’t radio each other directly. These are tech issues that the Secret Service, alarmingly, had "no policy in place" to address. And get this: Secret Service officials were told about a threat to Trump’s life, probably from Iran, 10 days before the shooting, but the agency "had no process to share classified threat information with partners" if it wasn’t considered "imminent.” Leading up to the rally, the building that Crooks shot from was identified as a possible security concern because of its clear line-of-sight to where Trump would be speaking. Jaw-droppingly, the Secret Service planned to use large farm equipment as a barrier between the building and the stage but decided on a jumbotron and a flag instead — because no one told the advance team that there were active threats on Trump’s life. And then the staffers failed to tell their supervisor that the security concerns hadn’t been fixed.

Bloomberg [7/16/2025 8:00 AM, Erika D. Smith, 19320K] reports on a recent sunny morning in an immigrant neighborhood of Los Angeles, children gathered for summer camp. Then dozens of federal agents rolled in — on horseback, in armored vehicles and on foot, all wearing tactical vests and helmets fit for war. LA resident Mikema Nahmir told reporters that he was out for a walk when he spotted two women yelling about la migra. He joined dozens of citizens and activists recording the scene with their cell phones and helping the children to safety. Soon, the agents left without arresting anyone. “LA is ours,” Nahmir said, just outside MacArthur Park. “This is our city.” His bravado speaks volumes about the problems the Trump administration is about to encounter as it works to expand indiscriminate mass deportations to other American cities, bankrolled by tens of billions of dollars in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. As the militarized dragnet expands, so do the political risks — both for the administration and for the many who oppose its policies. What only a few weeks ago had been a loose protest movement, born of anger over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to LA, has transformed into a highly organized network of “community self-defense” groups that mobilize at a moment’s notice. While some politicians are worried about the potential for violence during standoffs with federal agents, many more are eager for their constituents to stand up for the values and social fabric of Southern California, where roughly a third of residents are foreign-born. “If nobody protested, what signal that would send?” as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told me recently.

NBC News [7/16/2025 1:25 PM, Kimmy Yam and Chloe Atkins, 44540K] reports that during a federal trial challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Tuesday testified that the orders to target Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Öztürk were so unconventional that he had to seek confirmation on the legality of the arrest. Patrick Cunningham, the agent who oversaw the arrest of Öztürk in March, told the court in Boston that he had consulted a Department of Homeland Security attorney to check that arresting her based on her visa being revoked was legal. Cunningham also said he had no knowledge of any criminal offense she had committed. Öztürk, who was in ICE custody for two months, was released in May. "When you receive information from headquarters at this level, top down, you make the assumption that it’s legally sufficient," Cunningham, who is part of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations arm in Boston, told the court. "But I did contact our legal counsel to ensure that we’re on solid legal ground.” Öztürk’s attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said in an email to NBC News that the arrest has "never been about immigration enforcement. Rather, it "has always been about retaliation and punishment on protected speech," Khanbabai said. "We are confident the courts will continue to uphold the basic principles of a just and free society."

The Hill [7/16/2025 2:41 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports that the Democratic Women’s Caucus is demanding an investigation into the treatment of women in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, accusing the Trump administration of "medical neglect" in cases that include the loss of one woman’s unborn child. The Trump administration recently rescinded Biden-era guidance on treatment of migrants in detention, including those detailing guidelines for pregnant women. "We are deeply concerned about women’s access to health care, especially maternal health care, in ICE detention," the caucus wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Joseph Cuffari, inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "The reported assaults, medical neglect, and overall mistreatment of women by ICE agents and contractors demands immediate and thorough oversight and accountability, and this abuse must stop immediately," the caucus continued. "We request an immediate and in-depth investigation into the violations against women while in ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody." The DHS and Cuffari’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Daily Caller [7/16/2025 1:26 PM, Harold Hutchison, 1010K] reports that Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Wednesday that those convicted of assaulting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents should be sent to prison and hinted they should experience unpleasant conditions while serving time. In Texas, there were two incidents where shots were fired at ICE or Border Patrol facilities since July 4, with ten people being charged with attempted murder in connection to the former incident. "America’s Newsroom" co-host Bill Hemmer asked Kennedy about how the increase in assaults on ICE agents should be addressed. "They’re breaking the law, and what you allow is what will continue," Kennedy told Hemmer. "If you put hands on an ICE officer, you should be prosecuted, you should be sent to jail, and you should get to spend some quality time with Bubba. Until we start doing that and prosecuting these folks it will continue. The people who believe in open borders, they’re trading panic attacks, but they shouldn’t be surprised. Illegal immigration is illegal, duh." Rioting spread to multiple cities after initially flaring up in Los Angeles following a June enforcement operation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with some Democrats demanding that the agency cease its operations to "restore order." Democratic Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles issued an order reinforcing the city’s sanctuary policies days after filing a lawsuit to halt ICE raids.

FOX News [7/16/2025 11:30 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., discusses the increase in attacks on ICE agents amid President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown on ‘America’s Newsroom.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/16/2025 5:00 PM, Rachel del Guidice, 46878K] Video HERE reports Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said Wednesday that masked ICE immigration enforcement officers are behaving like "bank robbers." "And these ICE agents running around our communities like masked bank robbers, terrorizing women, they’re going to get themselves hurt — and I hope that doesn’t happen," Swalwell said at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing entitled, "An Inside Job: How NGOs Facilitated the Biden Border Crisis." "And we’re already seeing women are being targeted by people who are impersonating ICE agents," Swalwell added. "I hope every state that is able to, and every community that is able to, unmasks ICE with their policies. If you’re standing on the law, you can show your face." On Sunday, border czar Tom Homan defended ICE using masks, telling Politico’s Dasha Burns, host of "The Conversation" podcast, that they are needed for safety. "The attacks on ICE is unprecedented, 700% increased," Homan said. "And we’re not even talking about the doxing of agents, their spouses and their children," highlighting that people are doxing ICE agents’ private information. Swalwell said that because other law enforcement agencies don’t mask, ICE should not either. He also called out Homan, as well as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and White House advisor Stephen Miller. "Secretary Noem does not want to come in and testify," Swalwell said. "Stephen Miller certainly doesn’t want to sit in that chair and defend putting this 6-year-old battling leukemia into deportation proceedings. Tom Homan doesn’t want to come here and defend why he thinks it’s okay to target people based on their accent and the color of their skin. Yes, he said that. Thankfully, a California court has shut that down, and hopefully more lawsuits are brought across America to shut that down." He then challenged Republicans for their support of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/16/2025 5:50 PM, Maria Lencki, 46878K] Video HERE reports I.C.E. agents are setting the record straight about their work to "protect the public" after the agency has been bombarded with attacks by Democrats for their deportation efforts under President Donald Trump. "The Story" sat down with four agents—Paul, Andres, Celina and Daniel — who have served the country for several years, to ask about the hardships they have faced in recent months. (The agents’ last names were withheld for their safety.) "There are officers here who have been attacked," Paul told anchor Martha MacCallum. "There are officers who have families, and they are well known in their communities, and they operate in a way where ... many people don’t let their families ...(and) don’t (let) their community know that they work for I.C.E. There is a sense of danger." Paul told Fox News the mask his colleagues wear is a sense of "security" for I.C.E. agents, who often have other jobs outside of law enforcement, such as business ownership. "We’re following the law," Paul explained. "We’re basically enforcing immigration law, administrative law, and we have every right to do that. So, in all honesty, that is really what we’re doing. We’re not out here just randomly picking up people … based on race and things like that, just to remove people and kick them out of the country." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/16/2025 4:39 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] Video HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday defended its agents after Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said they were being diverted from targeting dangerous criminals to rounding up illegal immigrants, like gardeners, "many of whom pose no threat whatsoever." Durbin, a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was speaking at a Tuesday hearing titled "Beyond the Smash and Grab: Criminal Networks and Organized Theft" when he noted the various roles federal law enforcement plays in combating organized crime and organized retail theft, specifically Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). "But we acknowledge this administration has announced different priorities," he said. "Under this administration, HSI has been diverted to rounding up immigrants, many of whom pose no threat whatsoever to this country." In a post on X, DHS noted that Durbin’s own state, Illinois, provides sanctuary to criminal illegal immigrants. "The brave men and women of HSI that Durbin attacks are getting the worst of the worst off our streets," the post states. "The Senator should be thanking them, not attacking them." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [7/16/2025 1:31 PM, Lauren Villagran, 75552K] reports in a photo on OnlyFans.com, a former model from Colombia smiles under a white visor as she sunbathes in South Florida. But the snapshot, taken poolside months ago, is far from her current reality: She’s locked up in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. The cost of deportation defense can run into the thousands of dollars, and a growing number of immigrant families are resorting to online fundraising to make ends meet. A USA TODAY analysis of fundraising efforts of one of the nation’s largest crowdsourcing sites, GoFundMe.com, found dozens of campaigns that have raised more than $1.8 million since President Donald Trump took office, the majority in the past two months. Public generosity to the fundraisers appears to be growing as the president’s mass deportation campaign has intensified. Organizers raised $1.7 million in June and July on GoFundMe, compared with about $141,000 in April and May – in step with ICE’s expanding immigration enforcement. GoFundMe declined to discuss the increase with USA TODAY or provide in-house data on immigration-related fundraisers. A spokeswoman said GoFundMe had internally verified 15 campaigns related to immigration detention, meaning both the organizers and beneficiaries have been vetted. "We look forward to USA Today reporting on fundraising for American victims and our brave law enforcement who are facing a 830% increase in assaults against them," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in an emailed statement.

ABC 7 New York [7/16/2025 10:15 PM, Darla Miles] Video HERE reports demonstrators on Wednesday called for the release of 20 workers who were taken into ICE custody during a raid at a warehouse in Edison, New Jersey. The raid happened at the Alba Wine and Spirits Warehouse on July 8. Demonstrators say the workers are now being held in inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark. The workers arrested have a mass immigration hearing on July 21 and organizers are racing against the clock to raise financial aid and legal air for them now that immigration attorneys are in such high demand. One family reported their loved one was forced to sleep on the floor for two nights. ICE Newark and Customs and Border Patrol confirmed the agencies detained more than 100 people, arresting 20 of them from multiple South American countries, five of whom have already been deported. Alba Wines and Spirits said in a statement that "temporary workers hired by third-party staffing agencies" were arrested and that it "maintains contractual agreements that require them to comply with all applicable laws, including verifying employment eligibility." Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the operations are going after networks that illegally employ workers. "These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation," McLaughlin said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [7/17/2025 2:05 AM, Staff, 1934K] reports FBI agents arrested a man suspected of shooting ICE agents in a premeditated ambush at the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4. Agents in Dallas, Texas, apprehended alleged shooter Benjamin Hanil Song on Wednesday after a weeklong search, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced in a press release. Song was charged with "three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.” His arrest is the fourteenth overall stemming from the attack on ICE personnel. Official documents from the case revealed that Song and ten other suspects arranged the attack on ICE agents on July 4, around 10:30 p.m., at the Prairieland Detention Center. Song was a former United States Marine Corps reservist. "Though Song escaped by hiding overnight after the attack, we were confident he would not remain hidden for long," said acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson. "The fourteen individuals who planned and participated in these heinous acts will be prosecuted, and we expect justice will be swift.” FBI Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock applauded the efforts and dedication of all who worked to arrest every suspect from the domestic terrorist attack. "The FBI has worked tirelessly to arrest everyone associated with the shooting at the Prairieland Detention Center," said Rothrock. "We would like to thank all the entities that publicized this case and assisted in our efforts to successfully locate Benjamin Song. His arrest is the result of our determination to protect not only the community, but also our law enforcement partners that were the targets of a coordinated attack.” The Prairieland Detention Center holds more than 1,000 illegal immigrants, including those who have been convicted of arson, child molestation, human trafficking, kidnapping, rape, terrorism, and members of violent gangs such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said that the capture and arrest of the suspects from the attack on the detention center sent a "clear message.” "On Independence Day, as Americans were celebrating our freedoms, a group of violent extremists attempted to assassinate federal officers protecting us from violent criminals," said McLaughlin. "Song’s arrest sends a clear message: under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you lay a hand on an ICE agent, you will NOT walk free. We will not forget, and we will not rest until every attacker is in custody." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/16/2025 8:30 AM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 46878K] Video HERE reports Portland’s progressive-leaning city council is exploring ways to expel Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from a detention facility that has become a flashpoint for violent clashes between agents and radical agitators. Last week, city councilors told a packed hearing that they would consider revoking ICE’s permit to operate its South Waterfront facility along South Moody Avenue due to alleged violations of a 2011 conditional-use permit, according to local news outlet Willamette Week. The permit allows detention and administrative use under specific limitations, but lawmakers have raised concerns that ICE has been holding detainees there for longer than the required 12-hour limit. Residents and lawmakers raised moral concerns too, saying that the facility undermines the city’s sanctuary city policy, while residents testified about targeted arrests, gas attacks and intimidation. "Our values of sanctuary and humanity are under siege," local resident Michelle Dar said. She also said that federal agents’ armed actions threatened everyone’s safety, not just that of immigrants. Other residents complained that loud bangs and flashbangs were disrupting life for residents of subsidized housing and students of a local school. A handful of people also blamed Antifa for the ugly scenes outside the facility. Border Czar Tom Homan last week vowed to "double down and triple down" on sanctuary cities that are obstructing ICE operations, specifically mentioning Portland. "We’re going to do the job," Homan said on Fox News’ "Kudlow."

Blaze [7/16/2025 7:30 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1805K] reports law enforcement officials showed their sense of humor when they appeared to use voice impersonation software to issue an order to anti-ICE protesters in the voice of President Donald Trump. Protesters verbally abused the officers at the ICE facility in Portland and tried to disrupt operations by blocking driveways, which led to the humorous message made by loudspeaker. Video of the incident was posted to social media by Katie Daviscourt of the Post Millennial. "This the Federal Protective Service. The facility is closed and not open to the public," the Trump-impersonating voice said. "Stay out of the area in the driveway to allow for vehicular traffic. Remain on the sidewalk or across the street. Everyone must leave this restricted area and may be subject to detention or arrest for failing to depart the restricted area," the voice added. "Thank you!" The video shows that protesters were confused and angry about the use of the Trump impersonation. The video then shows officers pushing and shoving protesters out of the driveway to allow for vehicular traffic. "You are not following the law! You are not following the law when you follow illegal orders!" one protester yells. At the end of the video, two female protesters threaten to punch the reporter. The ICE facility has faced numerous acts of vandalism from anti-ICE protesters, including smashed windows, cut internet cables, broken sprinklers, burned flags, and assaults on federal officers. The left-leaning city council has sought legal means to shut down the facility rather than impose law and order.

Los Angeles Times [7/16/2025 4:18 PM, Connor Sheets, 14672K] reports the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has resumed transferring jail inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the first time in years via a legal avenue not barred by local sanctuary policies that aim to shield people from deportation. Eight inmates were released to ICE in May and a dozen more in June, according to sheriff’s department records reviewed by The Times. Eleven are Mexican, six are Guatemalan, and one each is from Colombia, El Salvador and Honduras. Their ages ranged from 19 to 63 years old. The transfers to ICE are the first by the sheriff’s department since early 2020, when records show 43 people were sent to federal immigration custody from sheriff’s stations, jails and courts. That marked a steep decline from the 457 handed over in 2019, during President Trump’s first term. The sheriff’s department and legal experts say the recent transfers were lawful and conducted in accordance with sanctuary policies and ordinances approved in recent years by the state, L.A. County and cities including Los Angeles, Long Beach and West Hollywood. The Trump administration obtained federal judicial warrants for all but one of the inmates who were released in May and June, the sheriff’s department records said. The lone exception was transferred to ICE because he was a "[p]erson extradited to United States to face criminal charges based on agreement between Department of Homeland Security (ICE) and LA County (District Attorney and Sheriff) to honor his immigration detainer," according to the records.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 5:12 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 3077K] reports the 18-year-old who was arrested and charged for slamming into two Connecticut state troopers on Thursday is an illegal alien from Ecuador, officials say. The Department of Homeland Security says that Joel Alexander Caica Nishve drove a car into the two state troopers on the morning of July 10 while driving too fast for conditions through a construction zone. He was also driving without a license. Officials have confirmed that the 18-year-old is an Ecuadoran national who entered the U.S. illegally in 2023. "Joel Alexander Caica Nishve is an illegal alien from Ecuador who was released into the U.S. under the Biden administration in 2023," a DHS statement reads. "On July 10, 2025, he was charged with reckless driving after he was involved in a car accident that seriously injured two Connecticut State Troopers. ICE has lodged a detainer for his arrest.” The accident sent the migrant and the two officers to a hospital.

Houston Chronicle [7/16/2025 10:45 AM, Sondra Hernandez, 1982K] reports Benjamin Hanil Song, an FBI Most Wanted suspect who was the subject of a Blue Alert last week, has been captured in North Texas, according to local police. Song, 32, was wanted in connection with a July 4 ambush that wounded a North Texas officer at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility. More than a dozen assailants attacked the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, which was being used as an ICE facility, according to a notice from the Dallas branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Alvarado is south of Fort Worth and Dallas. Updates on the condition of the officer have not been released. Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps Reservist, was captured by FBI agents Tuesday evening after a week-long search and a Blue Alert that went out July 9 through cell phones and media outlets July 9, according to a Facebook post from the Alvarado Police Department. Song’s capture marks the 14th arrest in the case. Ten people charged on July 7 fled from the detention center but were apprehended by additional responding law enforcement officers. Song, however, was not located by law enforcement officers that night, according to police information. No further details were release regarding the circumstances of his capture. He is charged with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, according to the Alvarado Police Department. As of Wednesday morning, Song was listed as an inmate in the Johnson County jail. Bail had not been set. "The FBI has worked tirelessly to arrest everyone associated with the shooting at the Prairieland Detention Center. We would like to thank all the entities that publicized this case and assisted in our efforts to successfully locate Benjamin Song," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock in a statement.

Daily Wire [7/16/2025 9:01 AM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is set to receive a massive influx of funding thanks to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Act, giving the agency a budget that exceeds every federal law enforcement agency, including the FBI. "President Trump’s signing the One Big Beautiful Bill is a win for law and order and the safety and security of the American people," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. "This $165 billion in funding will help the Department of Homeland Security and our brave law enforcement further deliver on President Trump’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens." That sum includes roughly $75 billion for ICE — additional funding on top of the agency’s baseline budget, which hovers around $10 billion per year. That additional funding, which is earmarked for hiring agents, creating new detention space, and funding removal operations, translates to an annual funding of more than $25 billion per year through fiscal year 2029. The sum eclipses the $11.3 billion in funding requested by the FBI for fiscal year 2025. The bill empowers ICE to drastically increase the number of agents on its payroll, putting it closer to its goal of 1 million deportations per year. The law enforcement agency currently has 20,000 agents and support personnel in 400 different offices across the country. With the new funding, another 10,000 could be hired, marking a drastic, 50% increase in agents and support personnel. Just under $30 billion has been earmarked for hiring, training, and agent retention, as well as for the modernization of the agency’s vehicles. The legislation also grants ICE a whopping $45 billion to increase its illegal alien detention capacity over the next two years, a key component in the effort to deport millions of illegal aliens.

Los Angeles Times [7/16/2025 5:30 PM, Andrea Flores, 14672K] reports Organizers of Festival Chapín de Los Angeles have postponed the beloved annual Guatemalan cultural event due to growing concern over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in the area. Hosted by Chapín Summer Festival Inc., the two-day festival was originally scheduled for Aug. 30 and 31 but will move its activities to Oct. 11 and 12. The location of the event, Lafayette Park in the Westlake area of Los Angeles, will the same. Now in its ninth year, the festival that stretches across eight blocks is a treasured community event for those of Guatemalan heritage and more in the Los Angeles area. There are more than 454,000 Guatemalans living in California. "This decision aims to ensure the safety and well-being of all sponsors, collaborators, staff, and attendees," the organizers said in a press release on Tuesday. "Your safety and the integrity of our event remain our top priorities." Festival Chapín de Los Angeles is not the only event experiencing hiccups this summer. Since early June, aggressive ICE sweeps have stirred fear in local immigrant communities. According to the Department of Homeland Security, close to 2,800 people have been arrested in L.A., with most raids conducted by heavily armed and masked agents. While the community has responded with protests, fear of these mass immigration sweeps have also led to shifts in cultural programming, but there could be some temporary relief underway.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/16/2025 7:00 AM, Joe Garofoli, 4120K] reports recent immigration raids on Southern California cannabis facilities have shaken California’s already beleaguered marijuana industry as leaders worry about a renewed federal assault on farms and dispensaries that could scare workers into staying home and further cripple the state’s multibillion-dollar industry. Cannabis industry leaders and advocates have been huddling about how to react to a federal immigration raid this month on grow sites in Camarillo and Carpinteria that led to the arrests of 361 allegedly undocumented immigrants. The sites are owned by Glass House Farms, one of California’s largest growers. The raid became a chaotic, violent mess in which at least one person lost their life and U.S. citizens were detained, including a CSU professor. One worker, Jaime Alanís Garcia, died after he fled federal agents, climbed on top of a greenhouse and then fell 30 feet. Federal officials said they arrested "at least 14 migrant children." The California Department of Cannabis Control said it conducted a site visit to the Glass House Farms facility in May "and observed no minors on the premises." After receiving a subsequent complaint, the department opened an investigation into the facility that is ongoing. The raids may shock the generation of California cannabis industry workers who have grown up without fearing regular paramilitary-style busts that the Drug Enforcement Agency conducted for years in the state until 2014, when federal lawmakers banned the agency from interfering with state-licensed medicinal cannabis operations. But some advocates worry that ethos may be changing. "We are being vigilant to see if this is a one-and-done situation, or whether we can expect more, and need to brace ourselves for that action," said Caren Woodson, president of the board of directors of the California Cannabis Industry Association. Woodson worries that, given the $165 billion increase in the Department of Homeland Security’s budget, with much of that targeted toward immigration enforcement and security, that the administration might increase its focus on California’s cannabis industry, whose workers may not be as sympathetic as those who provide Americans with grocery staples.

CBS Los Angeles [7/17/2025 12:30 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports a U.S. Army veteran detained during the immigration raid at a Ventura County marijuana farm last week said he plans to file a lawsuit against the federal government after agents held him in custody for three days. George Retes, 25, served in the Army for four years and deployed to Iraq. He was driving to work his security guard shift at Glass House Farms in Camarillo on July 10 when he encountered federal agents conducting an immigration operation. He was next to the marijuana facility when protesters clashed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection was serving a search warrant at the farm. Retes tried to speak with the agents but said they ignored him. "They ignored me," Retes said. "They didn’t care what I had to say. They automatically accused me of just, I guess, doing something wrong. They escalated it from there.” Video from a CBS News Los Angeles photographer at the scene showed a line of agents telling the crowd to move back and disperse before they began deploying what appeared to be less-than-lethal rounds and tear gas canisters. Retes said agents shouted conflicting commands and smashed his window before he could understand what was happening. The veteran said they sprayed him with pepper spray and deployed gas before dragging him out of his car at gunpoint. "They took two officers to kneel on my back and then one on my neck to arrest me, even though my hands were already behind my back and I was covered in [pepper spray,]" Retes said. Retes said they held him in federal custody for three days without charges. At the facility, agents did not provide him with medical care, nor did they allow him to contact his family or an attorney, according to Retes. He said he missed his daughter’s third birthday. "They didn’t allow me to shower, didn’t give me a phone call, didn’t let me speak to an attorney," Retes said. "My hands burned the entire night. I wasn’t able to sleep. Even after I got home and showered, I still had [pepper spray] residue.” Retes said agents never explained why he was arrested and ignored him when he said he was a U.S. citizen heading to work. DHS officials said more than 300 immigrants were arrested during the raid on the Camarillo farm and another facility in Carpinteria. Agents said there were at least 10 undocumented children at the facilities. They launched an investigation into possible child labor, exploitation and human trafficking charges. Reuters [7/16/2025 2:52 AM, Daniel Trotta, 51390K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a statement that Retes was arrested, released and has not been charged. "The U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo," McLaughlin said. Retes, who said he works for a security company contracted by the Glass House cannabis farm, said he missed his daughter’s third birthday while in jail and he was planning to sue the federal government. "It doesn’t matter if you’re an immigrant, it doesn’t matter the color of your skin. ... No one deserves to be treated this way," Retes said. "I hope this never happens to anyone ever again."

AP [7/16/2025 11:42 PM, Olga R. Rodriguez, 31733K] reports a U.S. Army veteran who was arrested during an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm last week said Wednesday he was sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray before being dragged from his vehicle and pinned down by federal agents who arrested him. George Retes, 25, who works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, said he was arriving at work on July 10 when several federal agents surrounded his car and — despite him identifying himself as a U.S. citizen — broke his window, peppered sprayed him and dragged him out. "It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back," Retes said. The Ventura City native was detained during chaotic raids at two Southern California farms where federal authorities arrested more than 360 people, one of the largest operations since President Donald Trump took office in January. Protesters faced off against federal agents in military-style gear, and one farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof. The raids came more than a month into an extended immigration crackdown by the Trump administration across Southern California that was originally centered in Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke on the raids at a news conference Wednesday, calling Trump a "chaos agent" who has incited violence and spread fear in communities. "You got someone who dropped 30 feet because they were scared to death and lost their life," he said, referring to the farmworker who died in the raids. "People are quite literally disappearing with no due process, no rights.” Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday. He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody. On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges. "They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around," Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being "locked up for three days with no reason and no charges.” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed Retes’ arrest but didn’t say on what charges. "George Retes was arrested and has been released," she said. "He has not been charged. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.” A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests without warrants in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. Immigrant advocates accused federal agents of detaining people because they looked Latino. The Justice Department appealed on Monday and asked for the order to be stayed. The Pentagon also said Tuesday it was ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles. That’s roughly half the number the administration sent to the city following protests over the immigration actions. Some of those troops have been accompanying federal agents during their immigration enforcement operations.

Los Angeles Times [7/16/2025 9:38 PM, Jessica Garrison, 14672K] reports a U.S. Army veteran who was detained during the massive immigration raid in Ventura County last week said Wednesday that he wants "a full investigation" into how he could have been held behind bars for three days despite being an American citizen. "What happened to me wasn’t just a mistake," he said in a written statement. "It was a violation of my civil rights. It was excessive force.” At a news conference Wednesday, Retes, who is 25 and the father of two children, said he had been on his way to his job as a security guard at Glass House farms on July 10 when "I got caught in the middle between protesters and [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents.” Retes had been focused on his 3-year-old daughter’s upcoming birthday party and didn’t realize that Glass House, one of the largest legal cannabis operations in California, was being raided by scores of heavily armed immigration agents. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security later said they detained more than 360 people in the raid, including numerous undocumented immigrants who had been charged with crimes. As agents moved through the company’s greenhouses, many workers fled in a panic. One worker, Jaime Alanis Garcia, 56, died after he fell three stories while trying to evade capture. Protesters and family members of workers, meanwhile, massed at the Glass House gates on Laguna Road, squaring off against federal agents, who deployed chemical agents and less-lethal ammunition. Retes said he had worked at Glass House as a contractor for the security firm Securitas for seven months. He said he unwittingly headed straight into that melee as he drove down Laguna Road to report for his afternoon shift. "I had no clue about it," he said. "When I pulled up, I saw all the cars, I saw all the traffic, and I was just trying to make my way through.” He did not get to work. Instead, he said, agents smashed his car window, pepper-sprayed him and dragged him out at gunpoint. "I let ICE agents know that I’m a U.S. Citizen, that I’m American," he said. "They didn’t care. They never told me my charges. They sent me away.” Retes, who served in Iraq, said agents never told him why he was being detained at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. He was packed off, without a phone call, access to a lawyer, or even a way to clean the pepper-spray residue off his clothes and face, he said. In a statement, officials at the Department of Homeland Security said: "George Retes was arrested and has been released. He has not been charged. The [U.S. attorney’s office] is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.”

Military.com [7/16/2025 5:10 PM, Drew F. Lawrence, 4100K] reports a father of three Marines who was beaten and detained by immigration agents while landscaping outside of an IHOP in California last month was released from federal custody Tuesday after having spent more than three weeks in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center. Narciso Barranco, 48, an undocumented immigrant, was released on a $3,000 bond from the Adelanto Detention Center, a privately operated facility in the Southern California desert, after weeks of advocacy from lawmakers and one of his sons, a Marine veteran who deployed to Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal from the country. The son, 25-year-old Marine veteran Alejandro Barranco, told Military.com after the arrest that he initially "couldn’t believe" the video depicting his father being repeatedly punched in the head by federal agents as they pinned him to the ground. The video of the beating was later posted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS offered a statement from its assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, last month, repeating the assault claim and asserting that its agents "followed their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary." It did not provide any evidence of a criminal record when asked by Military.com, and refused to say whether Narciso had been charged with assault (his son said he wasn’t) or if any of the agents were injured during the arrest. ICE also did not respond.

Los Angeles Times [7/16/2025 7:39 PM, Staff, 14672K] reports that angst over ICE activity in Costa Mesa reached a boiling point Tuesday, as locals poured into City Hall demanding support and protection for undocumented residents — a viewpoint that prompted backlash from MAGA supporters in the crowd and continually disrupted that night’s City Council meeting. Dozens of people, perhaps drawn by fliers and social media posts soliciting action, sought assurances from city leaders that Costa Mesa police would not collaborate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. They asked officials to require ICE agents to unmask and identify themselves before initiating a detention and sought the city’s support of legal defense funds, rapid response advocacy and mutual aid efforts. Such actions are already happening in other cities, such as Santa Ana, where officials are calling for a full withdrawal of federal agents, and Huntington Park, where local police arrested a man suspected of impersonating a border patrol agent. Costa Mesa officials last month issued a statement assuring police and city employees would neither enforce immigration laws nor investigate immigration status. Meanwhile, a new page on the city’s website lists resources and local aid organizations offering local assistance. But dozens of local residents speaking during the public comments portion of Tuesday’s meeting urged leaders to take steps to make it safer for Latinos, who’ve been noticeably absent from the public eye, to return to their normal daily routines, jobs and lives. "[Racial] profiling is so rampant and unjust, legal residents and U.S. citizens are being rounded up," said a Costa Mesa woman, who later identified herself as "Brooke," one of the people who posted the fliers calling for action. "I applaud the measures that have already been taken. But, respectfully, that’s not enough," she said. "This is about justice, dignity and the safety of our community — please act boldly, and act now.” Many of the people addressing the council were repeatedly disrupted by chants and retorts from a group of audience members wearing "Make America Great Again" hats and shirts bearing slogans such as "Donald Trump was Right.”

Los Angeles Times [7/16/2025 3:41 PM, Ruben Vives, 14672K] reports that a Southern California city councilwoman who drew national headlines and public backlash after posting a TikTok video in which she appeared to call on street gangs to stand up against federal immigration sweeps has apologized for the post, which she said was meant to be "satirical.” Cudahy Vice Mayor Cynthia Gonzalez made the apology during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting after a public comment period, during which a few people raised concerns over the video. "The message was not about violence," she said. "It was about regular people … claiming ownership of our streets in a time of great distress and asking others, who I mentioned in my video, in organizing and protesting against the harm and violence being inflicted on our community.” "Those that inserted a narrative of violence into my video weaponized it in a way that is totally inconsistent with my life’s work," she continued. In the video, which she has since taken down, the councilwoman said, "I want to know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles ... you guys tag everything up, claiming hood, and now that your hood’s being invaded by the biggest gang there is, there ain’t a peep out of you.” "It’s everyone else who’s not about the gang life that’s out there protesting and speaking up," she said. "We’re out there fighting our turf, protecting our turf, protecting our people and, like, where you at?". The video, which came to light late last month, seemed to suggest she was calling on gang members to "help out and organize" and urging street gang leaders to "get your f— members in order." Gonzalez also made reference to Florencia 13 and 18th Street, two violent street gangs in Los Angeles. Both gangs have a known history of murdering police officers. Several speakers — most of whom appeared to be residents of other cities — condemned the video during Tuesday’s meeting.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 5:05 PM, Lowell Cauffiel, 3077K] reports a Puerto Rico grand jury has indicted a 42-year-old religion teacher for sex trafficking two boys, ages 15 and 17. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents arrested Lizamarie Rivera-García this week on the charges of having "recruited, enticed, transported, and maintained" the boys "to engage in commercial sex acts," according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico. Said W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico: These charges reflect the seriousness of the defendant’s conduct inflicted on her victims. The sexual exploitation of children robs children of their freedom, dignity and sense of security. Such conduct is unacceptable in our society. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will use all the tools at our disposal to prosecute sex traffickers and to seek justice for the victims. "We cannot let our guard down!" added Rebecca C. Gonzalez-Ramos, HSI San Juan’s Special Agent in Charge. "Our children are being sexually exploited by individuals in positions of public trust." According to the district attorney’s office, the case was handled as part of Project Safe Childhood, "a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice."

ABC 7 Los Angeles [7/16/2025 12:33 PM, Staff] Video HERE reports Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday said her administration was considering the possibility of filing a legal complaint over the death of a migrant who fell to his death during an immigration raid at a cannabis farm in Camarillo. Jaime Alanís Garcia was hospitalized and later died after falling off a roof during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Camarillo. Federal agents clashed with protesters during the immigration raid at the farm in Ventura County, one of at least two large-scale raids in Southern California on July 10. "We are supporting the family, we are in contact with them, and we’re also exploring the possibility of filing a complaint (in the U.S.) because this is unacceptable," Sheinbaum said at a Tuesday press conference. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently reviewing the matter. It is very unfortunate that this happened. All our solidarity and support go to the family, and there must not be another case like this one. That’s why the complaint must be filed in the courts over there." The Department of Homeland Security said he was not being pursued by law enforcement when he fell. "This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody. Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet," said DHS Public Affairs Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [7/16/2025 4:12 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports the Mexican government, headed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, analyzes the possibility of filing a legal complaint in the United States following the death of a Mexican migrant during a raid by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) in an agricultural field in Camarillo, California. The deceased was identified as Jaime Alanís García, who worked at a cannabis farm in Ventura County. According to his family, Jaime fell from a height of 30 feet while apparently trying to escape the federal operation. He was hospitalized with serious neck and skull injuries and died shortly afterwards. Jaime was not just an agricultural worker, he was a supplier and a human being who deserved dignity. His death is not an isolated tragedy. It is the result of a raid aimed at Glass House Farms, his family said on social media. The raid, which occurred on July 10, was one of at least two large-scale immigration operations in Southern California that day. The operation also sparked immediate protests from activists and local workers, who denounced the disproportionate use of force and the climate of panic among the community. During a press conference on Tuesday, President Sheinbaum expressed outrage at what happened and confirmed that the Foreign Ministry (SRE) is assessing the legal conditions for filing a formal complaint with U.S. courts. "The family is being supported, we are in contact with them, and we are also seeing the possibility of reporting there, because it is unacceptable," said the president. There can’t be a case like this happening again. Sheinbaum stressed that the SRE is already reviewing the case with international lawyers and reiterated its commitment to the defense of the human rights of Mexicans abroad. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied that Alanís was being persecuted at the time of the accident. According to his version, the migrant was not in custody, nor was he persecuted by ICE or CBP when he decided to climb to the roof of a greenhouse, from where he fell. The CBP immediately requested an ambulance to the site to attend to it as soon as possible, said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS spokeswoman.

NPR [7/16/2025 8:35 AM, Juliana Kim, 37958K] reports whenever Ray finds a working internet connection, his first instinct is to contact his wife and tell her that he’s safe — for now. Ray, who is in his late 20s, was born in a refugee camp in Nepal and came to the U.S. as a kid. He was recently deported to Bhutan — a tiny Himalayan kingdom that he had never lived in and where his family faced persecution. Within 24 hours of his arrival, Ray said Bhutanese authorities ordered him to leave. Now, Ray is hiding in India where he has no legal status, family, or passport. He said he is only surviving thanks to a pastor who took him in. "I have nothing here. It’s desperation right now for me," said Ray, who asked to be identified only by his English first name to protect his safety and preserve his chance to appeal his deportation. For years, Bhutan refused to accept Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees like Ray. But under President Trump’s second term, over two dozen people have been deported there, even as Bhutan is accused of turning them away. U.S. immigration law includes safeguards that prevent deporting people to countries where they may face serious danger. But advocates say the Trump administration has largely abandoned those protections — pointing to the attempts to send people to Libya and South Sudan, as well as a notorious prison in El Salvador. While some of those efforts faced legal challenges, the deportations to Bhutan have quietly continued. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Consulate of Bhutan did not respond to requests for comment. But in a recent Supreme Court case about third country deportations, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued that noncitizens with criminal records should not be allowed to stay in the U.S. simply because their home countries refuse them.

AP [7/16/2025 5:00 PM, Sara Cline and Jim Mustian, 56000K] reports federal authorities have charged three current or former Louisiana police chiefs with taking bribes in exchange for filing false police reports that would allow noncitizens to seek a visa that allows certain crime victims to stay in the U.S. The false police reports would indicate that the immigrant was a victim of a crime that would qualify them to apply for a so-called U-visa, U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said Wednesday at a news conference in Lafayette. He said the police officials were paid $5,000 for each name they provided falsified reports for, and that there were hundreds of names. There had been "an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana," Van Hook said, noting that two other people were also charged in the alleged scheme. "In fact, the armed robberies never took place," he said. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Shreveport returned a 62 count indictment charging the five defendants with crimes including conspiracy to commit visa fraud, visa fraud, bribery, mail fraud and money laundering, Van Hook said. Those charged are Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle, Forest Hill Police Chief Glynn Dixon, former Glenmora Police Chief Tebo Onishea, Michael "Freck" Slaney, a marshal in Oakdale, and Chandrakant "Lala" Patel, an Oakdale businessman. If convicted, the defendants could face years or even decades of jail time. According to investigators, people seeking special visas would reach out to Patel, who would contact the lawmen and offer them a payment in exchange for falsified police reports that named the migrants as victims of armed robberies that never occurred. Getting a U-visa can give some crime victims and their families a pathway to U.S. citizenship. About 10,000 people got them in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2022, which was the most recent period for which the Homeland Security Department has published data. These special visas, which were created by Congress in 2000, are specifically for victims of certain crimes "who have suffered mental or physical abuse" and are "helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity," based on a description of the program published by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "These visas are designed to help law enforcement and prosecutors prosecute crimes where you need the victim or the witness there, " Van Hook said. "U-visas serve a valuable purpose, and this is a case where they were abused.” When asked about the extent of the fraud, Van Hook said there "hundreds of names" —- specifically for visas that were approved. At least two of the police chiefs had been arrested as of the Wednesday morning news conference, authorities said.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [7/16/2025 4:02 PM, Chris Nesi, 49956K]
CBS News [7/16/2025 2:57 PM, Kerry Breen, 51860K]
Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 3:24 PM, Ally Goelz, 1934K]

NPR [7/16/2025 10:33 AM, Jude Joffe-Block, 37958K] reports that three Democratic U.S. senators are raising concerns about a searchable citizenship data system developed under the Trump administration, warning that its use could lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. NPR was the first news outlet to report in detail about the tool, which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says can be used to verify the citizenship of most people listed on state voter rolls if a Social Security number, name and date of birth are provided. The Department of Homeland Security system links a network of federal immigration databases with Social Security Administration data. That integration means county and state election officials can check the citizenship of not only foreign-born naturalized citizens, but also U.S.-born citizens for the first time. The Trump administration has been combining and linking government data sets on Americans in unprecedented ways, and there are questions about what the federal government could do with the voter roll data states share. Legal and privacy experts told NPR last month they were alarmed that the new data system — which is an upgrade to an existing USCIS platform known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE — was being rolled out quickly without a transparent process or the public notices typically required for such projects by federal privacy laws. Democratic U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Gary Peters of Michigan and Jeff Merkley of Oregon raised that point in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday.

CyberScoop [7/16/2025 12:21 PM, Derek B. Johnson] reports as the Department of Homeland Security seeks to transform a federal database for immigrant benefits into a supercharged database to search for noncitizen voters, a trio of Democratic senators are pressing the department for more information. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday posing a series of questions around the department’s overhaul of the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. “States and nonpartisan voter advocacy organizations have expressed concerns with using the SAVE program as a standalone tool to determine voter eligibility without adequate safeguards,” the senators wrote. “In particular, there are concerns that data quality issues may cause state and local officials who rely on the program to receive false positives or incomplete results.” The lawmakers’ comments echo many of the same concerns around SAVE that election officials and experts expressed to CyberScoop last month. For a variety of reasons — including SAVE’s clunky history, the fluid nature of immigration status and differing state data streams — the potential is high for the system to return false positives. Further, the Trump administration has already attempted to force states to adopt White House policies around “proof of citizenship” requirements before sending them federal voter registration files. A federal judge ruled parts of that order were unconstitutional, and the administration is appealing.

CBS News [7/16/2025 8:39 PM, Nicole Sganga, 51860K] reports Gary Rohwer built his QuickSteak empire at a meat processing center in Omaha, Nebraska. But then, a tactical team of federal agents raided his facility on June 10, and more than 70 of his assembly line employees were arrested by Homeland Security Investigations. He showed CBS News an old company photo, disclosing that about half of the employees in that photo were swept up in the raid. "Oh my God, half of them," Rohwer said. "It makes me sad, it really does, because these guys made us successful." Rohwer said he put his faith in E-Verify — the federal system used by more than 1 million employers each year, and which is mandatory in 10 states and by most federal contractors — to confirm the employment eligibility of would-be hires. "We did everything right, but yet we got penalized big, I mean, big-time," Rohwer said. The government tells employers like Rohwer that E-Verify provides "peace of mind." To green-light employees, the system matches documents, such as licenses and Social Security cards, to a U.S. government database of eligible workers. But it vets paperwork, not people. Experts say the E-Verify system is broken, not only exposing employers like Rohwer to raids, but also increasing an all too common crime: identity theft. "This is a nationwide problem," Elhrick Cerdan, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations Omaha, who led the investigation into Gary’s QuickSteak, told CBS News. Cerdan called Rohwer and his business victims. "This was in fact a targeted criminal investigation to rescue over a hundred victims of stolen entities," Cerdan said, emphasizing that this was a criminal investigation, not civil immigration enforcement. "Everybody is the victim of this broken system," Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies for the Libertarian Cato Institute, told CBS News. Nowrasteh called E-Verify a "wink-and-nod" system. "The thing that experts know that is sort of a dirty little secret, is E-Verify is a very easy-to-fool program," Nowrasteh said. He added that part of its appeal is that it doesn’t work. "It allows politicians to talk tough about illegal immigration without actually imposing enormous costs on the U.S. economy," Nowrasteh said. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Matthew J. Tragesser told CBS News in a statement that "E-Verify consistently receives high marks from users and maintains a nearly perfect accuracy rate, while requiring no special software or additional costs to employers." "In recent months, staff at USCIS have taken an aggressive approach in concert with the Social Security Administration to systematically block E-Verify from automatically accepting SSNs that are known to have been used fraudulently," Tragesser went on. "E-Verify supports employers, but it does not take the place of their legal responsibility to ensure employee-presented documentation reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the person presenting it." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX Business [7/17/2025 12:55 AM, Landon Mion, 9940K] reports Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the H-2A migrant visa program that is being consolidated under her department allows American farmers and ranchers to have access to the workforce they need, noting that the program will now be faster and more affordable. In an exclusive interview with Fox Business’ Edward Lawrence, the secretary said the program — which allows agricultural employers to temporarily hire foreign workers — is not being expanded and will not allow amnesty for illegal migrants. "The program is already in play, and it’s already in law," she said. "And it’s something that Congress has already determined that needs to happen for our migrant farmworkers so that our American farmers and ranchers have access to the workforce that they need.” "But the one thing that wasn’t being done was how quickly the program could be administered," she continued, adding that the farmers she has spoken to are not sure when and where they will have the workers they need and if they will have them when they need them. "I wanted to make sure that this program really became holistic in what’s already in place, what the law is. So it’s not an amnesty program. And it’s not even a new program. It’s just going to be better, faster and more affordable," she added. Chavez-DeRemer noted that the program will now be brought under the Department of Labor, whereas it is currently under the Labor, Homeland Security and State departments. "This is going to be the one-stop shop," she said. "So the Office of Immigration Policy will be under the Department of Labor in the Secretary’s office. So we can keep an eye on it and offer concierge service to our farmers and ranchers across this country.” The secretary emphasized that the update is "not an expansion of anything" and aims to ensure that the program that is in place works. When asked if there would be enough visas for the agricultural workers needed, she said Congress "deals with the numbers" but that "we’re never going to displace the American worker.” "We want to make sure that we have American workers there," she said. "But if we don’t have those at the time, then we want to follow the law and assist Congress. If they want to, choose to change those numbers, that’s up to them. But we’ll give them the information that they need from the Department of Labor." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [7/16/2025 6:48 AM, Vivian Ho, 32099K] reports the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened the citizenship of certain Americans — be it the president mulling “taking away” comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s or the Justice Department pledging to prioritize stripping it from naturalized citizens. Worldwide, the practice of stripping a person of citizenship has increased in recent decades, with more countries strengthening laws in the name of national security, experts say. Immigration and citizenship researchers warn of the potential for governments to weaponize such laws against political dissidents or opponents. The United Nations says nationality is a human right. “Citizenship is a person’s most fundamental legal status,” said Lucas van der Baaren, a researcher at the Global Citizenship Observatory and the University of Copenhagen. “Our access to rights is dependent on having that status. Once you lose that, your entire life is turned upside down.” The majority — about two-thirds — of the world’s countries have some sort of provision allowing for the stripping of citizenship, usually for reasons of disloyalty or national security such as serving in a foreign army, van der Baaren said. In 79 countries, the government can revoke citizenship if a person, usually a naturalized citizen, commits a serious criminal offense, he said.

Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 5:00 AM, Jack Birle, 1934K] reports Although the Trump administration has aimed to end temporary protective status for immigrants from multiple countries as part of its sweeping immigration agenda, several of the orders to rescind that status have become involved in litigation and have been halted. "Temporary Protected Status was designed to be just that — TEMPORARY. Granted for 18 months under extraordinary circumstances," DHS said in a post on X Tuesday regarding efforts to roll back TPS. "It was never meant to last a quarter of a century. For many of these countries, TPS was granted in the 90’s after natural disasters. Now that conditions have improved, it is time to return home. President Trump and Secretary Noem are restoring integrity to our immigration system and ensuring that TPS remains TEMPORARY." While the Trump administration has announced plans to revoke TPS for a range of foreigners, those orders are in different stages of legal fights in federal court. The Supreme Court has, however, already handed Trump a win on one TPS case, suggesting his administration could be on track for broader success once other cases proceed through the appeals process. A federal appeals court granted an administrative stay Monday, pausing the Trump administration’s end of TPS for Afghanistan, which was set to expire that day. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did not rule on the case’s merits but halted the administration from terminating the status for Afghanistan until July 21 and requested briefs from both sides later this week. The Department of Homeland Security announced its decision to revoke TPS for Afghanistan in May and set it to terminate on July 14 at the end of the day.

Bloomberg News [7/16/2025 6:28 PM, Isaiah Poritz, 88K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to strip the protected status of some 350,000 Venezuelans living the US could be sidetracked by comments she made about them, as a panel of Ninth Circuit judges focused on the question of unconstitutional animus during oral arguments Wednesday. [Editorial note: consult source link for extended commentary]

Breitbart [7/17/2025 12:22 AM, Elizabeth Weibel, 3077K] reports several current and former law enforcement officials in Louisiana were charged in a visa fraud scheme, in which they reportedly "procured" U-Visas under false pretenses, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana. In the press release, it was revealed that Chad Doyle, the Chief of Police for the City of Oakdale; Michael Slaney, the Marshal of the Ward 5 Marshal’s Office in Oakdale; Glynn Dixon, the Chief of Police for the City of Forest Hill; and Tebo Onishea, the former Chief of Police for the City of Glenmora, had worked with Chandrakant Patel, of Oakdale to conspire to "commit Visa fraud, namely a nonimmigrant U-Visa.” Per the press release, the five men and "others" reportedly "authored, facilitated, produced and authenticated false police reports in several central Louisiana parishes" in which "several victims of purported armed robberies" were listed, so that the alleged victims could then "apply for U-Visas." Under the scheme, illegal aliens who were looking for U-Visas "would contact Patel, or another facilitator": The indictment alleges that Patel, Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, Onishea, and others, authored, facilitated, produced and authenticated false police reports in several central Louisiana parishes. Each report listed several victims of purported armed robberies in the central Louisiana area and the defendants produced false police reports so that the purported victims of the robberies could apply for U-Visas. The indictment alleges that as part of this conspiracy to defraud, individuals seeking U-Visas ("aliens") would contact Patel, or another facilitator who would the contact Patel, to be named as "victims" in police reports alleging that an armed robbery had occurred, so that they could submit applications for U-Visas. The indictment also alleges that aliens paid Patel thousands of dollars to participate, and in exchange, Patel would ask his co-conspirators, including Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, and Onishea, to write false police reports naming the Aliens as victims of alleged armed robberies and provide certification and attestation of U-Visa I-918B supporting documents as representatives of their respective law enforcement agencies. It is also alleged in the indictment that Patel did corruptly give, offer, and agree to pay an agent of the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office the sum of $5,000 on February 18, 2025, intending to influence and reward said agent in exchange for a fraudulent police report from the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office. Each of the five men was charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and mail fraud. Patel, Doyle, Slaney, and Dixon were charged with money laundering. Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, and Onishea were charged with visa fraud, according to the press release.

NBC News [7/16/2025 4:31 PM, Albinson Linares, 44540K] reports Rodrigo Sandoval, 17, just graduated from high school in South Carolina. He gets excited when he talks about what he’d like to do — he’s interested in business administration, graphic design or joining the Navy — but his face becomes solemn when he talks about the future. "I’ve noticed a lot of changes, especially in the Hispanic community. We live in constant fear of being deported, arrested and all that," said Sandoval, who came to the U.S. at age 12, fleeing El Salvador due to gang violence that threatened his and his family’s life. One of his earliest memories is when he was 5. "It’s one of my traumas because they put a gun to my head. All I remember is crying out of fear," said Sandoval, who is a beneficiary of the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status classification. Last month, the Trump administration ended a measure in place since 2022 that automatically issued the young immigrants work permits and protection from deportation as they waited for their green card applications, which can take years. "Once they’re approved for special immigrant juvenile status, they’re put on a waiting list, which is currently very, very long. We typically tell clients it’ll probably take more than four or five years," Jennifer Bade, an immigration attorney based in Boston said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo. Now after changes under the Trump administration, work permit and Social Security applications must be processed separately, complicating the process for many young people because, in many cases, granting the applications depends on visa availability. Following the recent changes to SIJS, a group of 19 lawmakers led by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem expressing concern about the changes. The letter said it "leaves abused and abandoned youth in legal limbo while heightening their vulnerability to exploitation." In the letter, the members of Congress said they had received reports "of an increase in the number of detentions and deportations of SIJS beneficiaries."

FOX News [7/16/2025 4:59 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently announced the launch of an investigation into more than 100 potential noncitizens who allegedly cast at least 200 ballots in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. The majority of the suspected illegal ballots cast by potential noncitizens were in Harris County, but Paxton’s office is also investigating possible instances in Guadalupe, Cameron and Eastland counties using information from the Texas Secretary of State, according to a news release. The discovery was made possible by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s SAVE Database to the states. "Illegal aliens and foreign nationals must not be allowed to influence Texas elections by casting illegal ballots with impunity. I will not allow it to continue," Paxton said in the release. "Thanks to President Trump’s decisive action to help states safeguard the ballot box, this investigation will help Texas hold noncitizens accountable for unlawfully voting in American elections," he continued. "If you’re a noncitizen who illegally cast a ballot, you will face the full force of the law." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [7/16/2025 11:03 AM, Eric Mack, 4622K] reports that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation of illegal votes cast in the 2020 and 2022 elections, which alleges more than 100 potential noncitizens illegally cast more than 200 ballots. "Illegal aliens and foreign nationals must not be allowed to influence Texas elections by casting illegal ballots with impunity," Paxton wrote in a statement announcing the investigation. "I will not allow it to continue." The probe lends at least some credence to President Donald Trump’s campaign claims that there was voter fraud in the contested 2020 presidential election, and Paxton’s investigation suggested it might have continued during former President Joe Biden’s administration into the 2022 midterms. Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to provide voter roll databases to the states, enabling Texas to take bold action to advance election integrity. "Thanks to President Trump’s decisive action to help states safeguard the ballot box, this investigation will help Texas hold noncitizens accountable for unlawfully voting in American elections," Paxton’s statement concluded. "If you’re a noncitizen who illegally cast a ballot, you will face the full force of the law." Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who once was pictured in the House chamber Jan. 6, 2021, holding a gun to keep back 2020 election certification protesters, praised the probe and the effort to "to protect the integrity of our elections.” "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into more than 100 potential noncitizens who cast over 200 ballots in the 2020 and 2022 elections," Nehls wrote on X. "Great work! "We must do everything we can to protect the integrity of our elections."

AP [7/16/2025 2:36 PM, Trân Nguyễn, 24051K] reports two California Republican state lawmakers launched a campaign Wednesday to place a measure on the 2026 ballot that would require voter identification and proof of citizenship at the polls. The proposal would require the state to verify proof of citizenship when a person registers to vote, and voters would have to provide identifications at the polls. Those who vote through mail-in ballots would have to give the last four digits of a government-issued ID such as a Social Security number. "We do not want to make it harder to vote. In fact, our initiative makes it easier to vote because it streamlines the process to verify someone’s identity," Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, who’s leading the effort, said at a Wednesday news conference. The Republican lawmakers said the measure would help restore trust in elections where they said people have complained about outdated voter rolls and an inadequate signature review process, with some also casting doubt on election results. The effort was not new. DeMaio unsuccessfully attempted to place a similar measure requiring voter identification on the ballot the last election. While voting by noncitizens has occurred, research and reviews of state cases have shown it to be rare and typically a mistake rather than an intentional effort to sway an election. Voter fraud is also rare. California is among 14 states and the District of Columbia that do not require voters to show some form of identification at the polls or to register to vote.

CBS News [7/16/2025 9:12 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security is appealing a court ruling over the removal of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans. Meanwhile, a judge is deciding if Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be released while awaiting trial in Tennessee. CBS News’ Katrina Kaufman has the latest details. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [7/16/2025 2:18 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports that President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has completely eliminated former President Joe Biden’s parole pipeline for migrants, ensuring that zero migrants were released into the United States interior in June. Last month, DHS oversaw zero migrant releases into the U.S. interior via parole. This represents a 100-percent reduction from the previous year, when the Biden administration released nearly 30,000 migrants via parole into the U.S. interior in June 2023. Trump’s shutdown of Biden’s parole scheme, where migrants were flown into the U.S. interior and allowed through Ports of Entry at the southern border, is significant because of the sheer inflow that occurred over the last four years. Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research Steven Camarota testified to Congress this week that the Biden administration imported almost three million migrants to the U.S. through the parole scheme alone. "It is understandable many Americans focus on the plight of those who have left their homelands in search of a better life in the United States," Camarota told members of Congress.

NewsMax [7/16/2025 1:31 PM, Jim Mishler, 4622K] reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement activities in June involved "zero illegal alien releases along [the] southwest border for the second consecutive month," according to CBP’s latest monthly status report. The report also outlines enforcement activity surrounding protecting borders from illegal crossings, fentanyl smuggling, and now an increased emphasis on tariff enforcement. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in the release that "We are protecting this country with relentless focus, and the numbers prove it." The government’s report said, "Illegal crossings in June dropped to the lowest level ever recorded - just a fraction of what they were under the previous administration. Some of the highlights from the report include: 25,228 total encounters nationwide - lowest monthly total in CBP history. 8,024 U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions nationwide - new historic low. 136 apprehensions on June 28 - lowest single-day total in agency history. CBP said it seized 742 pounds of fentanyl in June, a 3% increase from May. Total seizures of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana were up 13% nationwide from May. Agents say that reflects "continued pressure on cartel-driven smuggling routes." Methamphetamine seizures, according to the report, "surged" 102% in June.

Daily Caller [7/16/2025 11:02 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports that the Trump administration smashed another border enforcement record as its crackdown on illegal immigration continues to produce results. Nationwide illegal crossings in June plummeted to the lowest level ever recorded in U.S. history, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In addition to the drop off in encounters, immigration officials are experiencing unprecedented lows in apprehensions and parole releases, and a continued uptick in drug interdictions as officials crank up the pressure on the illicit drug trade. "From shutting down illegal crossings to seizing fentanyl and enforcing billions in tariffs, CBP is delivering results on every front," CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a public statement. "Under this administration, we are protecting this country with relentless focus, and the numbers prove it," Scott continued. There were just 25,228 total nationwide encounters in June, according to CBP. The agency says this marked the lowest monthly total in CBP history. Border Patrol agents apprehended only 8,024 individuals nationwide, marking another historic monthly low, and arrested a mere 136 individuals on June 28, the lowest single-day total in the agency’s history, according to CBP. At the U.S.-Mexico border specifically, immigration agents netted 6,072 apprehensions in June, a 15% drop from the previous March record, according to CBP.

AP [7/16/2025 12:15 PM, Holly Ramer, 31733K] reports that a judge should not delay the decision on whether to seek the death penalty against a woman charged in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, federal prosecutors said this week. Teresa Youngblut, of Washington state, is part of a cultlike group known as Zizians that has been connected to six killings in three states. She’s accused of firing at agent David Maland during a traffic stop on Jan. 20, the day President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order lifting the moratorium on federal executions. Attorney General Pam Bondi later cited Maland’s death in directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in murder cases involving law enforcement officers unless they find significant mitigating circumstances. But in a motion filed earlier this month, Youngblut’s lawyers argued the government has imposed a "radically inadequate" and "extraordinarily rushed" timeline for that determination. Prosecutors have set a July 28 deadline for Youngblut to explain why the death penalty should not be sought. LaSota and two others face weapons and drug charges in Maryland, where they were arrested in February, while LaSota faces additional federal charges of being an armed fugitive. Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with killing the landlord in California, had applied for a marriage license with Youngblut. His attorney has declined to comment. Michelle Zajko, whose parents were killed in Pennsylvania, was arrested with LaSota in Maryland, and has been charged with providing weapons to Youngblut in Vermont.

CBS Los Angeles [7/16/2025 7:48 PM, Staff, 51860K] reports that the FBI released another photo of the man accused of firing a pistol at immigration agents during a protest at a Ventura County farm last week. The federal operation happened on July 10 at the Glass House Farms facility in Camarillo. Tensions between protesters and law enforcement escalated after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were in the process of "executing a warrant at a marijuana facility," according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided to CBS News. Agents formed a line to prevent a crowd of protesters from crossing the roadway. Video from a CBS News Los Angeles photographer at the scene showed agents telling the crowd to move back and disperse before they began deploying what appeared to be less-than-lethal rounds and tear gas canisters. At around the same time, the suspect allegedly fired a pistol at law enforcement. "FBI has issued a $50,000 award for information leading to the conviction of an Unknown Subject who appeared to fire a pistol at Federal Law Enforcement Officers near Camarillo," U.S.Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a post to X last week. "The shooting occurred on 7/10/25 at approximately 2:26pm on Laguna Rd between Wood Rd and Las Posas Rd.” The initial photo released by law enforcement failed to capture the suspect’s face because he was wearing a mask. Aerial footage from the protest shows the suspect appearing to point the firearm at officers. No one was wounded in the shooting. Federal agents said they were also executing a criminal warrant at another farm in Carpinteria around the same time. The DHS stated that approximately 200 people were detained at both sites. Investigators asked anyone with information to call 1(800) 225-5324. As mentioned by Essayli, the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for info leading to his identification, arrest and conviction.

Daily Caller [7/16/2025 10:06 AM, Jason Cohen, 1010K] reports that CNN on Tuesday aired a segment about a family that chose to self-deport to Mexico from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under President Donald Trump’s second administration. The Trump administration offers illegal immigrants who self-deport through the CBP Home app a free flight back to their home nation, a $1,000 stipend and forgiveness of any fines incurred for failing to follow through on a previous deportation order, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in June. On "Anderson Cooper 360," CNN immigration correspondent Priscilla Alvarez reported the inside story of the family, which consists of an illegal immigrant Mexican father with a citizen wife and three children. "I’ve literally never felt anxiety the way that I have in the last few years here," Sasha Mendoza, the U.S. citizen mother, told Alvarez. "So you are saying bye to the U.S. for good?" Alvarez asked. The illegal immigrant father, Julio Mendoza, confirmed his family would not return to the U.S. Alvarez reported that the family was departing the U.S. as they were "[f]earful of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown." "Julio is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Sasha and their three children are all U.S. citizens," Alvarez added. "They decided to make the move together only moments after Trump took office."

AP [7/16/2025 5:01 PM, Rebecca Santana, 56000K] reports travelers giddy about being able to keep their shoes on while walking through TSA checkpoints at the airport again may have something else to look forward to: changes to how much liquid they can carry. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday during a conference hosted by “The Hill” that she is questioning “everything TSA does” and spoke of possible changes to the amount of liquids travelers can tote in their carry-on baggage. “The liquids, I’m questioning. So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be,” Noem said. “We have put in place in TSA a multilayered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security and screening so it’s still as safe.” She gave no details about precisely what those changes might be or how quickly travelers could expect to see them.

Reuters [7/16/2025 12:02 PM, Daniel Wiessner, 51390K] reports a group of 20 mostly Democrat-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration from terminating a multibillion-dollar grant program that funds infrastructure upgrades to protect against natural disasters. The lawsuit filed in Boston federal court claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency lacked the power to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program in April after it was approved and funded by Congress. FEMA, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has come under scrutiny for its response to deadly floods in Texas earlier this month, which has put renewed focus on the administration’s moves to shrink or abolish the agency. "By unilaterally shutting down FEMA’s flagship pre-disaster mitigation program, Defendants have acted unlawfully and violated core separation of powers principles," said the states, led by Washington and Massachusetts. FEMA and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The BRIC program, created in 2018 as an upgrade of existing grant programs, covers up to 75% of the costs of infrastructure projects, or 90% in rural areas, meant to protect communities from natural disasters. The funding has been used for evacuation shelters, flood walls and improvements to roads and bridges, among other projects. Over the past four years FEMA has approved roughly $4.5 billion in grants for nearly 2,000 projects, much of which went to coastal states, according to Tuesday’s lawsuit. When FEMA announced the termination of the program in April, the agency said it had been wasteful, ineffective and politicized. The states in their lawsuit say that Congress made mitigating future disasters a core function of FEMA, and the U.S. Constitution and federal law bar the Trump administration from altering the agency’s mission without working with lawmakers. They also claim that Cameron Hamilton, who was the acting director of FEMA when the program was terminated, and his successor, David Richardson, were not properly appointed and lacked the authority to cancel it. The states said they would seek a preliminary injunction requiring the program to be reinstated while the case proceeds. The lawsuit is the latest attempt by states to rebuke the Trump administration’s approach to disaster funding. Many of the same states sued the administration in May over a policy tying grant funding for emergency preparedness to states’ cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The New York Times [7/16/2025 2:37 PM, Maxine Joselow, 138952K] reports that the states suing are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. The BRIC program was established in 2018 during President Trump’s first term, replacing a similar FEMA initiative known as the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program. It has helped communities protect key infrastructure from extreme weather, including by raising roads in flood-prone areas and upgrading storm water management systems. In the past four years, FEMA selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC grants, according to the lawsuit. Over two decades, the program and similar federal grants have saved taxpayers more than $150 billion that otherwise would have been spent on rebuilding property damaged or destroyed by disasters, the plaintiffs said. FEMA announced in April that it was shuttering the BRIC program as part of efforts to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.”

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NewsMax [7/16/2025 4:29 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K]
Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 5:04 PM, Jack Birle, 1934K]

CNN [7/17/2025 4:38 AM, Briana Waxman, 21433K] reports a sprawling tropical system churning toward the Gulf Coast threatens to bring significant rain and flash flooding this week to a large swath of the southeast, from the Florida panhandle to Louisiana and parts of eastern Texas. The worst-case scenario, where the system stalls near the coast, would mean parts of southern Louisiana could receive over a foot of rain, with rainfall rates up to 2 to 3 inches per hour. This would likely overwhelm storm drains in flood-prone New Orleans, where the ground is already saturated from recent rain. The potential storm’s flood threat is just the latest in what has been a summer full of deadly and devastating floods. A Level 3 of 4 risk is in place Thursday for south-central Louisiana, with a Level 2 of 4 risk along the Gulf Coast from east Texas to the west Florida panhandle – including New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama, and Gulfport, Mississippi. Heavy storms could be long-lasting, tracking over the same areas repeatedly and soaking the same spots with several inches of rain. On Friday, there is a Level 2 of 4 flood ris k for the same areas, including farther inland in Louisiana. Despite moving over warm Gulf waters, which would provide fuel for development, the cluster of storms has been ripped apart by hostile upper-level winds, leaving it unlikely to claim Dexter, the next name on the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season list. “Regardless of development, heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected over the north- central Gulf through Friday, with erratic gusty winds and rough seas possible,” warns the hurricane center. Signs of trouble have already begun. The storm cluster traveled across the Florida peninsula Monday into Tuesday, dropping nearly a foot of rain in the Tampa area. This amount of rain in a short time overwhelmed even Florida’s resilient, sandy soil, causing flooding in Brevard County, according to the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office. Daytona Beach was drenched with 2.25 inches of rain on Tuesday, breaking its previous daily record of 2 inches set on July 15, 1935. In New Orleans, officials opened several sandbag distribution sites Wednesday ahead of the heaviest rain, according to a notification from the city. It’s clear that heavy rain and flooding will threaten much of the north-central Gulf Coast. What’s not clear yet is exactly where the worst will hit, and how much more water vulnerable communities in this area can withstand.

Axios [7/16/2025 2:39 PM, Avery Lotz, 13599K] reports that Storms sweeping through the U.S. this summer have dumped intense rain on cities across the country, left towns flood-ravaged and forced water rescues. The big picture: Scientists who spoke to Axios say the deadly floods in Texas that killed more than 130 people underscores the risk that climate change can worsen extreme rainfall events. By the early hours of the Fourth of July, storms over Texas had dumped some 12 inches of rain in certain parts of the region, according to National Weather Service radar estimates cited by The Texas Tribune. But the threat didn’t stop that day, with more rain falling and hindering desperate search efforts throughout the following week. Driving the news: Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Tropical Storm Chantal rapidly formed — and slowly drenched North Carolina with flooding rains. Last week, storms sparked floods in New Mexico that killed three in the Village of Ruidoso. Widespread rainfall along the I-95 corridor in the Mid-Atlantic Monday set off flash flood warnings, grounded flights and sent torrents rushing through New York City subway stations. In New Jersey, two people died after the vehicle they were in was swept away by floodwaters. Context: Climate change "is supercharging the water cycle," sparking heavier precipitation extremes and related flood risks, according to Climate Central, a climate research group.

Politico [7/16/2025 3:09 PM, Thomas Frank, 2100K] reports a group of 20 Democratic attorneys general filed a new lawsuit against the Trump administration Wednesday morning, aiming to restore a canceled grant program that helped states protect against potential disaster damage. The lawsuit says the administration in April illegally ended a multibillion-dollar Federal Emergency Management Agency program that was established under a 2018 law signed by President Donald Trump. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, also asks the court to declare that FEMA’s current leader “is acting as FEMA administrator unlawfully.” David Richardson has been acting administrator since Trump appointed him in May, a position that avoids Senate confirmation and a statutory requirement that a FEMA administrator have experience in emergency management. Richardson is a former Marine officer and expert in weapons of mass destruction who has not worked in emergency management. After the administration canceled FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, it reclaimed $4.5 billion in grants that had been approved for states but not spent. Without the BRIC money, states and communities have halted or scaled back dozens of projects aimed at protecting against flood damage, wildfires and other weather-related events. “The impact of the shutdown has been devastating,” the lawsuit says. The complaint says the administration lacks the authority to end the BRIC program and seeks a preliminary ruling that would restore the canceled funding.

USA Today [7/16/2025 7:28 PM, Greta Cross and Thao Nguyen, 75552K] reports a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the Alaska Peninsula on the afternoon of July 16, briefly triggering a tsunami warning for the state’s southern coast as communities were ordered to move inland to higher ground. The earthquake was recorded at 12:37 p.m. local time, southeast of Sand Point, a community located on Popof Island in the Aleutian Chain, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Alaska Earthquake Center said the quake was "felt throughout the Alaska Peninsula and southern Alaska." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initially issued a tsunami warning for the majority of the Alaska Peninsula, spanning into the southernmost part of Alaska’s mainland toward Anchorage. The alert was later downgraded to a tsunami advisory by 1:50 p.m. local time. The tsunami advisory was in effect for coastal areas from Kennedy Entrance, about 40 miles southwest of Homer, to Unimak Pass — a distance of about 700 miles, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. By about 2:43 p.m. local time, the National Tsunami Warning Center said the advisory was canceled for the coastal areas of Alaska. "Tsunami cancellations indicate the end of the damaging tsunami threat," the National Tsunami Warning Center said in an update. "A cancellation is issued after an evaluation of sea level data confirms that a destructive tsunami will not impact the alerted region, or after tsunami levels have subsided to non-damaging levels."

Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 7:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports the Secret Service has made progress implementing the dozens of reforms that House and Senate lawmakers have recommended in the year since an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, but more than half of the congressionally recommended changes remain incomplete. In the year since a gunman attempted to fatally shoot Trump during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, lawmakers have examined how the attack was allowed to occur and ways to firm up protection of certain government officials. In an interview over the weekend, Trump did not directly address the dozens of reforms lawmakers had imposed on the Secret Service. However, he did say to Fox News that he has "great confidence" in the Secret Service and excused the 2024 incident as agents having had a "bad day.” The federal law enforcement agency has also affirmed the seriousness of the safety concerns in the lead-up to the first anniversary. "The reforms made over this last year are just the beginning, and the agency will continue to assess its operations, review recommendations, and make additional changes as needed," the Secret Service said in a statement. The DHS did not respond to a request for comment on how DHS Secretary Kristi Noem views the agency’s progress implementing reforms.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 4:36 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports marking the first anniversary of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, PA, the U.S. Senate released two reports on failures by the Secret Service both during and prior to the shooting. The level of incompetence shown in the reports has caused some to wonder whether Secret Service was really even trying to prevent the incident. Award-winning reporter Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics has covered the Secret Service (USSS) for nearly 20 years, and the incompetence found in the reports shocked even her. Six junior agents were given suspensions ranging from 10-42 days for neglect of duty, though Crabtree is concerned that more senior people were not punished. "It’s the classic maxim that when everyone is responsible, no one is responsible," she tells host Eric Eggers on the most recent episode of The Drill Down. "These were all junior officers, not the supervisors who were supposed to provide experience and oversight" on that day. "It’s alarming that they issued 10- to ­42-day suspensions, but the supervisors are skating and some even got big promotions," she continues.

NewsMax [7/17/2025 10:29 PM, Sen. Paul to Newsmax: Appalling No One Fired for Secret Service Lapses, 4622K] reports Sunday marked the first anniversary of the assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump when he was struck in the ear by a bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania. Former volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed in the attack. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released its final report this week. The report detailed the failures of the Secret Service at the Trump rally. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Newsmax on Wednesday that "it is just appalling that in the end, no one was fired for this." "I had to send subpoenas to the Secret Service because they wouldn’t even let me know if anybody had been disciplined. After I subpoenaed the records to see if anybody was disciplined — they were given two weeks of no pay." Paul said there should be more accountability. "But the guy that was a supervisor in the tent who, with about 45 seconds to go, was told a man was on a roof — who didn’t tell the people around the president to immediately take him off the stage — no punishment. He was allowed to retire with no punishment," Paul said on "Greg Kelly Reports." Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, noted that no one at the Secret Service "ever did admit to their culpability in such a bad situation and near tragedy for the president." He said, "But what a real tragedy it was for the president’s supporter that was killed."

DailySignal [7/16/2025 12:37 PM, Virginia Allen, 558K] reports that the U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 240,000 pounds of cocaine since the start of the Trump administration on Jan. 20, enough to kill the combined population of California, Texas, and New York, according to the Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump "is keeping his promise to Make America Safe Again. The Coast Guard’s tremendous work has guaranteed that these illicit drugs will never infiltrate America’s communities and take innocent lives," Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, told The Daily Signal. "The Trump Administration will never stop fighting to protect Americans from the scourge of dangerous drugs," Jackson said. The 240,000 pounds of cocaine seized in less than six months is equivalent to about the weight of 48 Ford F-150 trucks, or three fully loaded 16-wheelers. Just 1.2 grams of cocaine can be deadly, according to DHS, meaning the amount recently seized could kill over 91 million people. The latest seizures represent a 100% increase in cocaine seizures over the same period last year, DHS reports. The increase maritime drug smuggling efforts may be linked to the increased security at the U.S. land borders under Trump, according to the Coast Guard. "The U.S. southern border is an interconnected system, and as illegal migration and smuggling become harder across the southwest land border, cartels may try different routes," Coast Guard Acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday explained. "Our message to the cartels is this: We own the sea, not you," Lunday said. "Using every capability at our disposal, the Coast Guard will prevent threats from reaching our borders."

Breitbart [7/16/2025 8:03 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports Connecticut-based shipping company pleaded guilty to pollution charges after crew members on one of its ships deliberately dumped more than 10,000 gallons of oil waste into the Gulf of Mexico. On Tuesday, company officials of Eagle Ship Management LLC pleaded guilty to violations of the 1980 Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and was given a fine of more than $1.7 million. “Today’s announcement sends a clear message intended to deter deliberate pollution,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for Louisiana’s Eastern District. “This office will continue to work with our agency partners to enforce the laws that were designed to protect U.S. ports and waters.” In addition, the Stamford-based ESM would be ordered to serve a four-year probation term to include an external company audit by an independent source if court-approved. The U.S. Coast Guard initiated its investigation after a crew member on the foreign-flagged bulk vessel “Gannet Bulker” sent it a tip on social media in March 2021 soon after the purported incident near the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to court documents. ESM admitted in its guilty plea that Gannet ship officers “engaged in a variety of obstructive acts to conceal the internal flooding that was caused by a botched repair.” Records show the unidentified crewman said the Gannet’s engine room flooded and that the ship’s oil-contaminated bilge pumper offloaded the toxic waste overnight. Flooded bilges can pose a number of dangers to a ship and its crew. Federal officials noted that the incident took place without required safety equipment or proper bookkeeping. “The criminal conduct involved here was serious, including intentional pollution and a deliberate coverup,” said Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Adam Gustafson of DOJ’s environment and natural resources division. Meanwhile, the ship’s unidentified captain was prosecuted and later sentence to a year and a day behind bars for his role in the incident. Officials stated that among the obstructive acts was retaliation against a whistleblower with a known identity to the company. They added that Gannet’s senior officer and other crew members lied to Coast Guard officials, destroyed control room information as evidence and “created false and backdated personnel evaluations intended to discredit the whistleblower.” It’s the second known similar instance in recent years of a ship offloading oil into the waters off the coast of New Orleans. In September, the captain of a Turkish ship was given eight months in prison and his company fined $2 million after crew, likewise, rid their carrier of oil waste into open water. Sentencing for Connecticut’s Eagle Ship Management is scheduled for October 16.

CyberScoop [7/16/2025 12:25 PM, Derek B. Johnson] reports congress is set to revisit Stuxnet — the malware that wreaked havoc on Iran’s nuclear program 15 years ago — next week in the hopes that the pioneering attack can guide today’s critical infrastructure policy debate, CyberScoop has learned. The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection will hold a hearing July 22 to examine the operation that, according to independent reports, was carried out by the U.S. and Israeli governments and targeted Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities in Natanz. Witnesses listed for the hearing are Tatyana Bolton, executive director of the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Coalition; Kim Zetter, cybersecurity journalist and author of “Countdown to Zero Day”; Dragos CEO Robert Lee; and Nate Gleason, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory program leader, according to a copy of the notice.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 12:09 PM, Lucas Nolan, 3077K] reports that a longstanding vulnerability in the U.S. rail system could allow hackers to remotely trigger train brakes, according to a cybersecurity researcher and government officials. 404Media reports that a critical security flaw in the U.S. rail system has left trains vulnerable to remote hacking for over a decade, raising concerns about the safety and security of the nation’s rail infrastructure. The vulnerability, which was first discovered by independent researcher Neil Smith in 2012, allows hackers to remotely lock a train’s brakes by exploiting weaknesses in the "End-of-Train and Head-of-Train Remote Linking Protocol" (EOT/HOT). The EOT/HOT system, which was implemented in the 1980s following a Congressional mandate, enables communication between the front and back of a train using radio frequencies. It was designed to enhance safety by allowing the back of the train to send telemetry data to the front and for the front to send basic commands back. However, the radio link used in this system is a common frequency-shift keying data modem that can be easily identified and exploited. According to Smith, a hacker with the right knowledge and equipment could trigger a train’s brakes from a distance. "A low powered device like a FlipperZero could do it within a few hundred feet, and if you had a plane with several watts of power at 30,000 feet, then you could get about 150 miles of range," he told 404 Media.

CyberScoop [7/16/2025 5:15 PM, Matt Kapko] reports an Armenian national is in federal custody and faces charges stemming from their alleged involvement in a spree of attacks in 2019 and 2020 involving Ryuk ransomware, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Karen Serobovich Vardanyan, 33, was extradited from Ukraine to the United States on June 18 and pleaded not guilty to the charges in his first appearance in federal court June 20. Vardanyan is awaiting a seven-day jury trial scheduled to begin Aug. 26. Prosecutors charged Vardanyan with conspiracy, fraud in connection with computers and extortion in connection with computers. He faces a maximum of five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 for each charge. Vardanyan and his co-conspirators — a pair of 53-year-old Ukrainian nationals, Oleg Nikolayevich Lyulyava and Andrii Leonydovich Prykhodchenko, and 45-year-old Armenian national Levon Georgiyovych Avetisyan — are accused of illegally accessing computer networks to deploy Ryuk ransomware on hundreds of compromised servers and workstations between March 2019 and September 2020. Avetisyan is awaiting a U.S. extradition request in France, while Lyulyava and Prykhodchenko remain at large.

CyberScoop [7/16/2025 2:19 PM, Matt Kapko] reports a financially motivated threat group is attacking organizations using fully patched, end-of-life SonicWall Secure Mobile Access 100 series appliances, Google Threat Intelligence Group said in a report released Wednesday. The group, which Google identifies as UNC6148, is using previously stolen admin credentials to gain access to SonicWall SMA 100 series appliances, remote access VPN devices the vendor stopped selling and supporting earlier this year. UNC6148 is likely intruding networks to steal data for extortion and possibly deploy ransomware, according to researchers. The attacks stress the consistent risk SonicWall customers have confronted via exploited vulnerabilities, especially a series of defects affecting the outdated SonicWall SMA 100 series devices. The vendor appears 14 times on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s known exploited vulnerabilities catalog since late 2021. Half of those exploited vulnerabilities affect SonicWall SMA 100 appliances, including three of the four defects added to CISA’s catalog this year. “In response to the evolving threat landscape — and in alignment with our commitment to transparency and customer protection — SonicWall plans to accelerate the end-of-support date for the SMA 100,” Bret Fitzgerald, senior director of global communications at SonicWall, told CyberScoop.

Houston Chronicle [7/16/2025 12:38 PM, John Wayne Ferguson, 1982K] reports that Chinese hackers targeted the University of Texas Medical Branch, the Galveston-based hospital and medical research center, in 2020 in an alleged effort to steal information about COVID-19 vaccine research. A spokesman for the medical branch confirmed its faculty were targeted in a statement after the arrest of one of the alleged hackers last week. "The University of Texas Medical Branch is grateful to the FBI and all involved law enforcement agencies for their diligence in pursuing this investigation," medical branch officials said. "We can confirm that UTMB was among the universities targeted. However, because this matter remains an active, ongoing investigation by the FBI and other authorities, we are unable to provide further comment at this time." Last week, the Justice Department and FBI announced the arrest of Xu Zewei, a Chinese national, in connection with the hack. Xu, 33, is accused of hacking U.S. institutions to steal COVID-19 research for China. If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison. He was arrested by Italian authorities after he flew to Milan from Shanghai. He is still awaiting extradition to the United States. Nicholas Ganjei, the Interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, last week declined to name the entities targeted in the hack, saying they would be treated the same as victims of any other crime.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 10:00 PM, Joshua Klein, 3077K] reports Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reintroduced legislation Wednesday to officially designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, marking the latest push in his decade-long crusade to impose sanctions on the worldwide Islamist network that spawned Hamas and other terror groups threatening American interests. The Texas Republican’s Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 employs a new "bottom up" strategy designed to overcome previous Democratic opposition by first identifying Brotherhood branches that explicitly engage in terrorism before designating the entire organization for supporting those terror affiliates. "The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, and it provides support to Muslim Brotherhood branches that are terrorist organizations," Cruz declared in a statement. "One of those branches is Hamas, which on October 7 committed the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, which included the murder and kidnapping of at least 53 Americans.” Cruz emphasized the urgency of the designation, noting that the Brotherhood remains "committed to the overthrow and destruction of America and other non-Islamist governments across the world, and pose an acute threat to American national security interests.” The legislation formally codifies the connection between Hamas and its parent organization, stating in the bill text that "Hamas is a Muslim Brotherhood branch, according to its charter; which describes Hamas as ‘one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.’" The bill further notes that "on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists committed the worst 1-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, which included the murder, kidnapping, or disappearance of at least 53 United States citizens.” The legislation takes a fundamentally different approach from Cruz’s previous attempts in 2015, 2017, 2020, and 2021, which faced criticism for potentially sweeping up Brotherhood affiliates that weren’t directly involved in violence. Speaking on his podcast Tuesday, Cruz outlined the strategic shift designed to overcome past objections. Cruz acknowledged that previous efforts stumbled because critics argued that not all Brotherhood branches were actively engaged in violence, making a blanket designation difficult to justify. The new approach flips the methodology, beginning with clear identification of Brotherhood-supported groups that indisputably engage in terrorism before building the case for designating the parent organization. The refined strategy addresses past criticism by establishing an evidentiary foundation of Brotherhood support for known terrorist entities, then using that documented relationship to justify sanctioning the entire network for providing material support to terror groups. The bill establishes that "the Muslim Brotherhood functions as a global organization and provides material support to Muslim Brotherhood branches in countries and territories by providing political support, financial resources, training, services, expert advice, and communications assistance." It further declares that "Muslim Brotherhood branches have sought to destabilize and undermine United States allies and partners throughout the Middle East, including in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.”

Axios [7/16/2025 5:31 AM, Andrew Solender, 13599K] reports a House Democrat is digging into the Department of Homeland Security’s reported hiring of 22-year-old Thomas Fugate to lead a terrorism prevention task force, Axios has learned. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) argued in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that Fugate’s role raises "troubling questions about whether DHS is taking the prevention of domestic terrorism seriously." She wrote that his hiring, along with reported layoffs at his office, come "at a time when threats to public officials and democratic institutions are demonstrably increasing," pointing to the shooting of two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses. A DHS spokesperson pushed back by arguing the department has "a robust counterterrorism program" and that the task force "played an insignificant and ineffective role in broader efforts." In her letter, a copy of which was first obtained by Axios, Stevens asked Noem for an accounting of CP3’s funding and staffing levels. She also asked about the "selection process" for Fugate, as well as DHS’s broader plans to combat politically motivated violence. I urge you to take immediate steps to restore CP3’s mission and ensure qualified leadership is in place to carry it out effectively," Stevens wrote.

AP [7/16/2025 11:16 AM, Kate Payne, 56000K] reports that the trial for the Florida State University student accused of killing two people and wounding six others in a mass shooting on campus in April is set to go to trial this November. At a case management conference in a Tallahassee courthouse on Wednesday, Second Judicial Circuit Judge Lance Neff set jury selection in the case of 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner to begin the week of Nov. 3. Ikner’s attorney, public defender Peter Mills, said he needs more time to delve into the case, which involves extensive video surveillance footage and witness testimony. “I object to that, judge,” Mills said of the trial schedule. “I am still investigating the case. My client’s entitled to effective assistance of counsel.” Neff indicated he’s open to hearing out Mills’ concerns, saying, “we can talk about what, what you need” in order to investigate the case. As far as the prosecution, Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell said, “we’ll be ready.” So far, the defense has not participated in discovery, the process of exchanging information between the parties about evidence and witnesses. But that is expected to change, Ikner’s attorney said. Ikner faces two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder. He is the stepson of a local sheriff’s deputy, and investigators say he used his stepmother’s former service weapon to carry out the shooting. Prosecutors in the case intend to seek the death penalty.

AP [7/16/2025 12:39 PM, Steve Karnowski, 56000K] reports a Minnesota man plans to plead not guilty to charges he killed the top Democratic leader in the state House and her husband after wounding another lawmaker and his wife, his attorney said. Vance Boelter, 57, is due in federal court for his arraignment on Sept. 12 under an order issued late Tuesday, hours after a grand jury indicted him on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations. The murder charges could carry the federal death penalty. At a news conference Tuesday, prosecutors released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the June 14 shootings of Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. However, the letter doesn’t make clear why he targeted the couples. Boelter’s federal defender, Manny Atwal, said in an email that the weighty charges do not come as a surprise. "The indictment starts the process of receiving discovery which will allow me to evaluate the case," Atwal said Tuesday. She did not immediately comment Wednesday on any possible defense strategies. At his last court appearance, Boelter said he was "looking forward to the facts about the 14th coming out.” While the scheduling order set a trial date of Nov. 3, Atwal said it was "very unlikely" to happen so soon. Investigators have already gathered a huge amount of evidence that both sides will need time to evaluate. The scheduling order acknowledges that both sides may find grounds for seeking extensions. And the potential for a death sentence adds yet another level of complexity. The acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson, reiterated Tuesday that they consider the former House speaker’s death a "political assassination" and the wounding of Sen. John Hoffman an "attempted assassination.” But Thompson told reporters a decision on whether to seek the death penalty "will not come for several months." He said it will ultimately be up to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, with input from the capital case unit at the Department of Justice, local prosecutors and the victims.

Los Angeles Times [7/16/2025 6:00 AM, Patrick J. McDonnell, 14672K] reports a bitter public dispute between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the New York lawyer representing a son of drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has raised speculation here that the deal-seeking scion of the onetime Sinaloa cartel leader may expose corrupt Mexican officials. On Tuesday, Sheinbaum said she had filed a defamation complaint in Mexico against Jeffrey Lichtman, the high-profile attorney representing Ovidio Guzmán López, who last week pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to fentanyl trafficking and other crimes. He has agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors in a bid to reduce a potential life sentence. In comments after the court hearing, Lichtman labeled as "absurd" Sheinbaum’s repeated contentions that Washington should coordinate with Mexico on the case — especially if, as is widely expected, Guzmán López spills the beans on alleged ties between Mexican officials and cartels.

New York Times [7/16/2025 8:11 PM, Michael Crowley, 138952K] reports experts in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Specialists on Iran’s nuclear program and Syria’s chemical weapons. Workers helping to relocate Afghans who fled the Taliban. Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee grilled a top State Department official on Wednesday at a hearing about the firing last week of more than 1,300 department employees, including longtime policy experts in key national security areas. Among those fired, said Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the committee’s top Democrat, were the entire staff of the Office of Casualty Assistance, which supports the families of State Department employees who die while serving abroad. “The entire team was fired on Friday in the midst of trying to bring back an American citizen who had died overseas,” Ms. Shaheen said. An aide to Ms. Shaheen said the senator was referring to a diplomat killed in a car accident in northern Mexico last week. The mass layoffs are part of a State Department reorganization implemented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who says they are needed to streamline a bloated bureaucracy and root out liberal ideologues. The firings of U.S.-based workers, along with a roughly equivalent number expected to accept voluntary buyout offers, are meant to shrink the department’s domestic work force to around 15,000, from roughly 18,000. Michael J. Rigas, the State Department’s top official for management, argued that the cuts were modest relative to the department’s size and growth over the past 20 years. Mr. Rigas downplayed concerns about the closure of offices handling issues like nuclear proliferation and terrorism, saying much of that work was being merged into existing or new offices. The changes, he said, would “make the State Department a more efficient and effective organization better able to advance the core interests of the American people and accountable to the American taxpayers.” Democrats were unpersuaded.

CBS News [7/16/2025 1:57 PM, Stefan Becket, 51860K] reports that President Trump said the ongoing controversy over his administration’s handling of information related to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is a "Hoax" and "bulls***," criticizing members of his own party who are calling for more transparency as "weaklings." In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning, the president compared the uproar over the Justice Department’s handling of the so-called Epstein files to past controversies, like the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s possible ties to Russia and Hunter Biden’s laptop. "[T]hese Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at - It’s all they have - They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates," he wrote. "Also, unlike Republicans, they stick together like glue. Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker." He continued: "I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!" [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [7/16/2025 12:35 PM, Brett Samuels, 18649K] reports President Trump on Wednesday bashed "foolish Republicans" who he said were aiding Democrats by focusing on documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump during an Oval Office meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain repeated his claim that the documents connected to Epstein were a "hoax" started by Democrats. Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges and died by suicide in 2019, during Trump’s first term. "Some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net, and so they try and do the Democrats’ work," Trump said. "I call it the Epstein hoax. Takes a lot of time and effort. Instead of talking about the great achievements we’ve had … they’re wasting their time with a guy who obviously had some very serious problems, who died three, four years ago. I’d rather talk about the success we have with the economy," Trump added. Prominent Republicans and Trump supporters, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have in recent days called for greater transparency from the administration around files related to Epstein’s case. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), an ardent Trump supporter, called for a special counsel to review the administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Trump’s backers, including some now serving in his administration, have for years espoused conspiracy theories around Epstein’s death and suggested the government was covering up information that connected prominent Democrats to the convicted sex offender. But Trump has in recent days appeared exasperated by the fixation on Epstein. He has said Attorney General Pam Bondi can release "credible" evidence related to Epstein, but has otherwise questioned why some of his followers are so fixated on the issue.

Blaze [7/16/2025 1:30 PM, Cooper Williamson, 1805K] reports that President Donald Trump has consistently raised concerns over election integrity, and as the 2026 midterm elections loom, his team is taking action. His administration is reaching out to several states to shore up election security, and officials from both sides of the aisle are up in arms. The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has begun a multifaceted campaign in several states to inspect voting equipment and gather voter data. The Justice Department has taken what the Post called the ‘unusual step’ of asking at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls. The Washington Post claimed that the "most unusual activity" was occurring in Colorado, where an alleged federal consultant working with the White House has asked county clerks if they would allow the federal government to physically examine the voting equipment. Election laws strictly limit physical examinations by federal agencies, though they can offer technical assistance and advice to state and local election officials. "That’s a hard stop for me," Carly Koppes, a Republican clerk in Weld County, Colorado, told the Post. "Nobody gets access to my voting equipment, for security reasons.” A White House spokesperson declined to comment on whether the agent who was asking the clerks for this voting information, identified as Jeff Small, is connected to the White House. However, the White House official did reiterate the president’s commitment to ensuring the citizenship status of all voters on the voter rolls. Still, this recent move has been met with bipartisan pushback.

DefenseScoop [7/16/2025 12:25 PM, Mikayla Easley, 56K] reports President Donald Trump put forward nominations on Tuesday for two officials to serve as the second-highest ranking officers in the Air Force and Space Force. Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton has been selected to receive his fourth star and become the next vice chief of space operations, according to a notice posted to Congress.gov. If confirmed, Bratton would take over the Space Force’s No. 2 spot from Gen. Michael Guetlein, who was recently tapped to lead the Defense Department’s sprawling Golden Dome missile defense effort. Bratton has been serving as the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements since 2023, where he has been responsible for the service’s overall warfighting strategies, system requirements and budget. Bratton’s nomination confirms that Guetlein will not serve in a dual-hatted position as both vice chief of space operations and direct reporting program manager for Golden Dome. Trump announced in May that Guetlein would lead the DOD-wide effort, which seeks to build a comprehensive missile defense architecture for the U.S. homeland leveraging terrestrial- and space-based systems. Meanwhile, Gen. Thomas Bussiere has been picked to serve as the next vice chief of staff for the Air Force, a second notice on Congress.gov stated. Bussiere currently helms Air Force Global Strike Command, and previously held a number of leadership positions within the service’s strategic enterprise during his career.

Bloomberg [7/16/2025 5:30 PM, Staff, 19320K] reports that the decline in US shipbuilding and China’s global dominance has Washington worried. Last year, the US built just seven commercial vessels, compared to more than 1,000 for China. This has also become a national security issue, with US shipyards struggling to meet the demands of the navy, facing production delays of up to 36 months. In response, President Donald Trump has proposed levying fees on Chinese built ships entering US ports. These measures likely won’t be enough to revive the industry, so what else can the government do? What role can defense allies South Korea and Japan play? And how will these levies impact shipping companies and global trade? Adam Farrar, senior geo-economics analyst at Bloomberg Economics and Kenneth Loh, shipping and logistics analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, join John Lee and Katia Dmitrieva on the Asia Centric podcast. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Washington Examiner [7/16/2025 1:06 PM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1934K] reports that Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) on Tuesday announced that Utah blocked a land sale to a company he said is linked to the Chinese military. The governor said the state blocked the sale near the Provo airport after it was discovered that the purchasing company, a defense manufacturing company, was linked to the Chinese government. The company, Cirrus Aircraft, is majority-owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. "Utah is reaffirming a strong message that it’s been sending for several years: We will not allow adversarial foreign entities to buy up strategic land in our state," Cox said Tuesday. "The proposed investment was millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs. I don’t care. We are not for sale." Cox said AVIC manufactures fighter jets, helicopters, and drones for the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military. A recently-passed Utah law prohibits countries on the restricted foreign entities list from purchasing land or property in the state. Republican state Rep. Candice Pierucci, who worked to get the law through the state legislature, hailed the governor’s announcement. "It’s exciting to see we stopped the transaction from happening right by the Provo airport and that’s a direct result of the law," she told FOX 13 News Salt Lake City. China owns a significant amount of farmland and most of it is concentrated in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah, and Florida, according to the Department of Agriculture. As of 2023, Chinese firms and investors owned 277,336 acres of agricultural land throughout the country and 33,035 acres in Utah.

Breitbart [7/16/2025 2:11 PM, John Hayward, 3077K] reports that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday warned Brazil, China, India, and other heavy buyers of Russian oil they could face stiff secondary sanctions if they keep doing business with Moscow. "My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard," Rutte told reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump and U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C. "So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way," he said. Rutte was referring to President Donald Trump’s threat of "biting" and "very, very powerful" secondary tariffs on Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not make a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days. "I’m disappointed in President Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago," Trump said after meeting with Rutte in the Oval Office on Monday. Secondary tariffs would be a significant escalation over direct sanctions against Russia, which have been in place since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Russia was able to mitigate the impact of those sanctions by shifting its oil export business to eager buyers in China and India, who have a voracious appetite for fossil fuels to power their industrial growth.

Reuters [7/16/2025 2:27 PM, David Shepardson, 51390K] reports that the Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the United States that include Chinese technology or equipment. "We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China," FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. "We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats." The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has broad data security concerns about the network of more than 400 subsea cables that handle 99% of international internet traffic. Since 2020, U.S. regulators have been instrumental in the cancellation of four cables whose backers had wanted to link the United States with Hong Kong. Carr said the FCC is taking action to "guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats." The FCC will also seek comment on additional measures to protect submarine cable security against foreign adversary equipment.

AP [7/16/2025 3:42 PM, Fu Ting, 4120K] reports that American companies in China are reporting record-low new investment plans for this year and declining confidence in profits, while uncertainty in U.S.-China relations and President Donald Trump’s tariffs have become their top concerns, according to a business survey released Wednesday. The companies are also challenged by China’s slowing economy, where weak domestic demand and overcapacity in local industries are eroding profitability for the Americans. "Businesses in China are less profitable now than they were years ago, but risks, including reputational risk, regulatory risk, and political risk, are increasing," said Sean Stein, the president of the U.S.-China Business Council, a Washington-based group that represents American companies doing business in China, including major multinationals. The survey, conducted between March and May and drawing from 130 member companies, came after the two countries clashed over tariffs and non-tariff measures, including export controls on critical products such as rare-earth magnets and advanced computer chips. Following high-level talks in Geneva and London, U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to pull back from sky-high tariffs and restrictions on exports, but uncertainty persists as the two sides are yet to hammer out a more permanent trade deal. Kyle Sullivan, vice president of business advisory services at the USCBC, said more than half of the companies in the survey indicated they do not have new investment plans in China "at all" this year.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/16/2025 12:08, Ken Moritsugu, 56000K] reports the head of Nvidia downplayed his role in getting the U.S. government to lift a ban on selling an advanced computer chip in China and said it will take time to ramp up production once orders for the AI-processor come in. CEO Jensen Huang, speaking Wednesday in the Chinese capital Beijing, was upbeat about the prospects for the H20 chip, which was designed to meet U.S. restrictions on technology exports to China but nonetheless blocked in April. He met U.S. President Donald Trump before his trip and his company announced this week it had received assurances that sales to China would be approved. "I don’t think I changed his mind," Huang told a cluster of journalists, many of whom asked for his autograph or to take selfies with him. The decision to lift the ban on the H20 chip was entirely in the hands of the American and Chinese governments and whatever trade talks they had, he said. "We can only influence them, inform them, do our best to provide them with facts," Huang said. "And then beyond that is out of our control."

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