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 [7/19/2025 2:52 AM, Julie Turkewitz and Hamed Aleaziz, 330K] reports ten Americans and U.S. permanent residents who had been seized by the Venezuelan authorities and held as bargaining chips were freed Friday in exchange for the release of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants whom the Trump administration sent to a prison in El Salvador. The release of the Americans and permanent residents was described by the State Department, while the release of the Venezuelans was announced by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, on X. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the U.S. citizens and permanent residents had been arrested and jailed in Venezuela “without proper due process” and called for the “restoration of democracy in Venezuela.” The capture and imprisonment of the Americans had been part of the Venezuelan government’s efforts to gain an upper hand in negotiations with the Trump administration, while the detention of the Venezuelans in El Salvador played a high-profile role in President Trump’s promise to deport millions of immigrants. The president had invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime power, to detain and expel many of the migrants sent to El Salvador. This set off a legal battle, with critics accusing Mr. Trump of ignoring the law’s intent to fulfill a campaign promise. The Trump administration has accused the men it sent to El Salvador — 252 people in all — of being dangerous criminals and members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, though it has provided little evidence to back this up. Their lawyers say the men were summarily deported from the United States without due process. The U.S. government sent the men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, along with around two dozen Salvadorans, including Kilmar Abrego García, a man U.S. officials later admitted had been mistakenly deported. Officials in the Trump administration had previously argued that they had no authority over the men once they landed in El Salvador and that it would be Mr. Bukele’s decision whether or not to release them. Venezuela’s government began detaining and imprisoning foreigners late last year. Among them was Lucas Hunter, now 37, a U.S. and French citizen who had traveled to Colombia to go kite surfing, according to his family. In an interview, his sister, Sophie Hunter, said he was still in Colombia — close to its border with Venezuela — when he was nabbed by the Venezuelan authorities in early January. She has been working for his release ever since. “We have prayed for this day for almost a year,” she said on Friday. The AP [7/19/2025 3:11 AM, Regina Garcia Cano, Eric Tucker and Megan Janetsky, 31733K] reports that “Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement in which he thanked Bukele, a Trump ally. Bukele said El Salvador had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody. Maduro described Friday as “a day of blessings and good news for Venezuela.” He called it “the perfect day for Venezuela.” Central to the deal are more than 250 Venezuelan migrants freed by El Salvador, which in March agreed to a $6 million payment from the Trump administration to house them in its notorious prison. That arrangement drew immediate blowback when Trump invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to quickly remove the men that his administration had accused of belonging to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang, teeing up a legal fight that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The administration did not provide evidence to back up those claims. Photos and videos released by El Salvador’s government on Friday showed shackled Venezuelans sitting in a fleet of buses and boarding planes surrounded by officers in riot gear. One man looked up and pointed toward the sky as he climbed aboard a plane, while another made an obscene gesture toward police. Maduro alleged that some of them were subjected to various forms of abuse at the Salvadoran prison, and one of them even lost a kidney “due to the beatings he received.” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told reporters the men would undergo medical tests and background checks before they can go home. One of the men is reportedly Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist who fled Venezuela last year and was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at a border crossing in San Diego before eventually being flown to El Salvador. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., posted on social media Friday night: “We have been in touch with Andry Hernández Romero’s legal team and they have confirmed he is out of CECOT and back in Venezuela. We are grateful he is alive and are engaged with both the State Department and his team.” Politico [7/18/2025 9:36 PM, Kyle Cheney, 16523K] reports Mellissa Harper, the acting assistant director of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the Trump administration “obtained assurances” from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government that it would permit its citizens to return to the United States for legal proceedings, if required by a court. “The Maduro regime will not impose obstacles to the individual’s travel,” Harper said in a sworn declaration Friday to U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Maryland-based Trump appointee. That arrangement for the Venezuelan men, many of whom were deported under President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, will also allow the return of 10 Americans detained in Venezuela. Politico [7/18/2025 5:04 PM, Aaron Pellish, Kyle Cheney and Eric Bazail-Eimil, 16523K] reports Venezuelan nationals deported from the U.S. to El Salvador are being sent to Venezuela, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced on Friday. The deal is part of a large-scale prisoner swap between the U.S., Venezuela and El Salvador that will allow 10 Americans detained in Venezuela to return to the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post that 10 Americans who were detained in Venezuela are “on their way to freedom,” and thanked Bukele for facilitating their release. Bukele said in a separate social media post that he has approved the release of “all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua.” The Washington Post [7/18/2025 7:22 PM, Karen DeYoung and Samantha Schmidt, 32099K] reports that in a statement issued after the departing U.S. plane cleared Venezuelan airspace with the Americans aboard around 4 p.m., Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that more Americans had been wrongfully jailed "under highly questionable circumstances without proper due process" in Venezuela than in any other country. He said that "every wrongfully detained American" in Venezuela was now free. Maduro had demanded the return of the Venezuelans, who he said had been "kidnapped," as a point of national honor, after Bukele offered in April to send them home if Maduro would free all U.S. citizens he was holding as well as dozens of imprisoned domestic political opponents. But an exchange being negotiated by the State Department in May was scotched when it collided with separate negotiations being secretly conducted by presidential envoy Richard Grenell, who told Trump he had persuaded Maduro to resume suspended deportation flights to Caracas in return for release of the Americans. The State Department eventually resumed talks leading to the final deal.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [7/18/2025 6:05 PM, Victor Nava, 49956K]
The Hill [7/18/2025 5:10 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K]
AP [7/19/2025 3:14 AM, Staff, 56000K]
Reuters [7/18/2025 4:40 PM, Aram Roston, Ted Hesson, and Vivian Sequera, 51390K]
ABC News [7/18/2025 4:14 PM, Laura Romero, 31733K]
NBC News [7/18/2025 4:16 PM, Didi Martinez, Laura Strickler, and Erika Angulo, 44540K]
CNN [7/18/2025 7:59 PM, Kristen Holmes, et al., 21433K]
Daily Wire [7/18/2025 12:12 PM, Zach Jewell, 3816K]
Daily Caller [7/18/2025 4:43 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 1010K]
NewsMax [7/18/2025 5:36 PM, Jim Morley, 4622K]

ABC News [7/18/2025 12:07 PM, Meredith Deliso, 31733K] reports the last remaining detainee who escaped from an immigration detention center in New Jersey last month has been located in Los Angeles, federal authorities said. Andres Felipe Pineda Mogollon was one of four detainees who escaped from Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark on June 12, according to the FBI. He was arrested after a traffic stop in Silver Lake, the FBI in Los Angeles said Thursday. No additional details on his capture were released. Mogollon, a 25-year-old Colombian national, has been charged with escape from the custody of an institution or officer, according to the Department of Justice. He was previously arrested by the New York City Police Department in April for petit larceny and by the New Jersey Police Department in May for residential burglary, conspiracy residential burglary and possession of burglary tools, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He is illegally in the country after overstaying a tourist visa, according to DHS. The other three detainees -- Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez, Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada and Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes -- were captured within a week of escaping from Delaney Hall, a privately owned facility that has been contracted out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said. DHS had described the four men as "public safety threats" who were all in the country illegally. The AP [7/18/2025 1:33 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports Mogollon, 25, and three other men had busted out of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark during reports of disorder there by breaking through a wall and escaping from a parking lot, according to U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, and Homeland Security officials. All four men were in the country illegally and had been charged by local police in New Jersey and New York City, federal officials said. The men broke through an aluminum wall on the second story of the facility and dropped mattresses through an opening, giving them a place to jump, the FBI said. They used bedsheets to cover barbed wire to get over the fence, according to the bureau. FOX News [7/18/2025 2:28 PM, Greg Norman, 46878K] reports "We are tremendously grateful to our brave ICE agents and law enforcement partners for capturing Andres Pineda-Mogollon and the other three dangerous criminal illegal aliens who escaped Delaney Hall," Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Politicians and activists relentlessly try to smear ICE, but the facts remain true: Delaney Hall houses dangerous criminals, including these four fugitives who committed aggravated assault, burglary, theft and even threatened to kill law enforcement. Now, these slimeballs no longer pose a threat to public safety." The Colombian entered the U.S. in 2023 and overstayed his tourist visa. He was one of four inmates DHS described as "public safety threats" who broke out of Delaney Hall, a privately-run ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, the evening of June 12. Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes, Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez and Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada, all from Honduras, were captured before Pineda-Mogollon.

Breitbart [7/18/2025 9:48 AM, Bob Price, 3077K] reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials announced the arrest of two illegal aliens who were convicted of impregnating young girls in Texas. DHS officials described the criminal aliens and other child sex predators recently arrested as the "worst of the worst.". Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Houston arrested Pedro Trejo Reyes, a Mexican national, on July 17. The criminal alien was convicted in 1995 for DWI and again in 2011 for "repeatedly sexually assaulting his 12-year-old niece, resulting in her pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage.". An immigration judge ordered Reyes’s removal in 2011. Following the completion of his 16-year prison sentence, ICE officers arrested the child sex offender and shipped him home to Mexico. "As the media and politicians continue to carry water for criminal illegal aliens who have committed indescribable acts of evil in our country, the brave men and women of ICE are arresting and removing the worst of the worst from the U.S.," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement on Thursday. "Just today, ICE deported Pedro Trejo Reyes, who raped and impregnated a defenseless child. There is no path forward, no second chances, and no place in America for depraved aliens like him. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, DHS is continuing to make America safe.". He was not the only alleged or convicted child rapist arrested this week by ICE agents. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers from the Houston Field Office arrested Edwin Jacobo Hernandez Mateo, a criminal alien from Honduras, officials stated. Hernandez was charged in Waller County, Texas, for raping and impregnating a minor under the age of 14. He will remain in ICE detention in Montgomery County, Texas, officials reported. NewsNation [7/18/2025 12:56 PM, Steph Whiteside, 5801K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a news conference Friday to discuss recent arrests made in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Speaking in Nashville, Noem described the "worst of the worst," as she listed a small number of arrests made in Tennessee. She detailed the arrests of people from Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador and Iraq, saying that they had convictions or charges for offenses ranging from promoting prostitution to homicide and child sexual abuse. Noem attacked those who have criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including elected officials, the media and the mayor of Nashville, whom she accused of "forcing" city employees to document interactions with federal immigration authorities. In her remarks, Noem also brought up the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, reiterating the allegations leveled at him by the administration and accusing the media and Democrats of distorting the facts in the case. Noem also called out those who have criticized ICE, citing a steep rise in threats and violence against officers. When asked about claims that ICE was detaining people based on skin color, Noem denied it. "That is absolutely false, and don’t you ever say that again," she told the reporter. Noem also said the government is following due process in deportation cases, though the administration has faced multiple lawsuits over speedy deportations that advocates say violate the right to due process.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [7/18/2025 3:53 PM, Sam Barron, 4622K]

FOX News [7/18/2025 11:47 AM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 46878K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ripped a federal judge in Washington for releasing a transgender illegal migrant from detention, saying the release was caused by the judge bowing to activist pressure. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio, a President Joe Biden appointee, ignored the rule of law and promoted "gender ideology fanaticism" by releasing the migrant, a transgender woman who is claiming asylum in the U.S. The migrant, identified by DHS as "Odalis Jhonatan Martinez-Velasquez, a male illegal alien from Mexico," entered the country in 2023 and was released under the Biden administration. Martinez-Velasquez was detained on June 2 and placed into ICE’s male detention center for the safety of women in ICE custody in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at protecting women, DHS said. Baggio ordered Martinez-Velasquez released this week, despite having already been processed for expedited removal, ruling that the asylum seeker had been deprived of liberty without proper procedural safeguards. "The activist judge is ignoring the biological reality of sex, undermining ICE’s commitment to promoting safe, secure, and humane environments for women in custody, and subverting the American people’s mandate to restore commonsense to our immigration system and reject extreme gender fanaticism," McLaughlin said. "An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Odalis Jhonatan Martinez-Velasquez should be released or detained.". On his first day back in office, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order of Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, which prohibits DHS from detaining males in women’s detention centers. McLaughlin said Martinez-Velasquez is no exception. "The President made it clear on Day One: DHS will not buy into radical gender ideology when detaining illegal aliens," McLaughlin said. Breitbart [7/18/2025 11:57 AM, Lowell Cauffiel, 3077K] reports Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: “The President made it clear on Day One: DHS will not buy into radical gender ideology when detaining illegal aliens. An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Odalis Jhonatan Martinez-Velasquez should be released or detained. The activist judge is ignoring the biological reality of sex, undermining ICE’s commitment to promoting safe, secure, and humane environments for women in custody, and subverting the American people’s mandate to restore commonsense to our immigration system and reject extreme gender fanaticism.”

Reported similarly:
Daily Caller [7/18/2025 11:18 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K]

Daily Wire [7/18/2025 1:30 PM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem slammed Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in a Friday morning press conference in the southern city, accusing him of “risking people’s lives” after he doxxed ICE agents. Noem showcased some of the criminal illegal aliens, including rapists and murders, captured in the Nashville area before warning that left-wing politicians have sided with illegal aliens and in some cases, even endangered federal law enforcement. “One of the open border politicians is right here in this state and right here in this city, and I’m specifically calling out the mayor of Nashville,” Noem charged. “Freddie O’Connell has gone after our ICE individuals and agents who work with HSI,” she said, referring to Homeland Security Investigations. “He’s openly doxxed them, revealed them to the public, and encouraged people to go against them and their efforts to clean up the streets of Nashville.” “What the mayor is doing to this city is shameful. What he needs to do is participate with us and make sure that he is helping us enforce the rule of law,” Noem said of the Democrat mayor, also accusing him of playing politics and “risking people’s lives.” Noem’s statements came after O’Connell doxxed the names of ICE agents involved in raids in Nashville, which The Daily Wire revealed resulted in the capture of 196 illegal aliens, 96 of whom had criminal histories or pending criminal charges beyond illegally entering the country. The city’s mayor said that the doxxing was done by accident, but one DHS official charged that there was “zero chance it was a mistake.” The DHS Secretary also told The Daily Wire that she blames the rhetoric of liberal politicians and leftist organizations for the rise in assaults against ICE officers.

Reported similarly:
DailySignal [7/18/2025 3:12 PM, Virginia Allen, 558K] r

ABC 45 Winston-Salem [7/18/2025 1:11 PM, Sydney Keller, Caitlyn Frolo] reports the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem addressed Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns in Tennessee on Friday, singling out Nashville’s mayor and calling on Abrego Garcia to stay in custody. The conference focused on what the department describes as an exposure of "the worst of the worst" criminal illegal immigrants in the state. Secretary Noem spoke at a press conference in Nashville, Tennessee Friday morning. “The mainstream media consistently tries to defend this individual [Abrego Garcia] as an innocent Maryland man, but I will be very clear, this man has a history and decades-long ties to a gang that has been convicted of human trafficking, and he himself, has been deeply tied to those horrific charges and criminal activities," Sec. Noem says. She adds she hopes the Nashville federal judge chooses to not release Abrego Garcia from custody. Sec. Noem also called out Nashville’s mayor Freddie O’Connell for "doxxing" ICE agents names, which she says has posed a threat to them and their families. The mayor has previously said the release of the names was unintentional. Sec. Noem added that the mayor needs to start doing his job and stop "playing politics."

AP [7/18/2025 7:04 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports Tennessee state Representative Justin Jones was removed from the news conference of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday before the secretary arrived. Jones said he had come to ask Noem what happened to his constituents who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a recent weeklong operation in Nashville. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [7/18/2025 1:57 PM, Harold Hutchison, 1010K] reports that border czar Tom Homan provided Fox News host Harris Faulkner an update on unaccompanied children that the Biden administration lost track of during a Friday Fox News appearance. At least 85,000 children placed into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) were unaccounted for as of February 2023, according to a report by The New York Times, with the figure believed to be as high as 300,000, according to some Trump administration officials. Homan tore into the Biden administration when "The Faulkner Focus" host asked about a report that at least 7,500 of those children had been accounted for. "Well, the Biden administration, not only did they lose over 300,000, they weren’t looking for them," Homan told Faulkner. "President Trump committed from day one, on top of the mass deportations, on top of having the most secure border in the history of this nation, he instructed us go find these kids. We know some of these kids are in forced labor and sex trafficking and we found some, unfortunately, in those conditions. We found many with their families. But we’re gonna find every one of these children and make sure they are safe."

DailySignal [7/18/2025 2:27 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 558K] reports that there’s a new border czar in town, and he says he has "zero tolerance" for attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. "This ridiculousness is over," Tom Homan told The Daily Signal. "You put a hand on an ICE officer, you’re going to prison. You impede an ICE officer, you’re getting prosecuted," he said Friday in a press gaggle outside the White House. "If you knowingly conceal an illegal alien, you’re going to to to jail. If you throw a stone at an ICE vehicle or an officer, those days are over. They’re going to get out of the car, and they’re going to arrest you." Violence against ICE officers has increased 830% between Jan. 21 and July 14 of this year, compared to the same period in 2024, the Department of Homeland Security said. That marks a sharp increase from the end of June. DHS previously announced that assaults against ICE officers increased 690% between Jan. 21 and June 30 of this year, compared with the same period last year. There were 10 assaults on ICE officers from Jan. 21 to June 30, 2024, and 79 assaults from President Donald Trump’s inauguration through the end of June this year, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported. The attacks on ICE have prompted ICE officers to wear face masks while making arrests. Attacking an ICE officer is a "felony" punishable by prison, Homan said.

FOX Business [7/18/2025 8:55 AM, Staff, 9940K] reports Tom Homan on attacks against ICE agents: Democratic lawmakers have emboldened ‘nuts’ on the left. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [7/18/2025 10:12 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4622K] reports Democrats in Congress, by comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to "terrorists and racists and the Nazis," are giving "nuts on the left" incentive to attack them, and the mainstream media is not helping matters, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said on Newsmax Friday. "I put a lot of blame on members of Congress," Homan told "Wake Up America," adding that such talk "emboldens" would-be attackers. "Congress needs to stop the rhetoric." Homan pointed out that two months ago, he said that if such attacks didn’t stop from the nation’s leaders, "there would be bloodshed, and unfortunately, I was right. A man was killed while attacking a border patrol facility in Texas, and there was an ambush at an ICE facility. You know, a dozen people with weapons trying to ambush ICE agents. A cop was shot there.". He also said he blames the media for the division. "They’re saying most of the people in ICE detention are not criminals," Homan said. "That is not a fact. If you look at our retention capacity right now, over a majority of them are criminals." He added that there are also a "bunch of terrorists or suspected terrorists" who can be held under a mandatory detainment order or others who expedited removal is mandated by statute. "They don’t tell you that story," said Homan. "They’re playing with the numbers, and that misleads the American people, thinking ICE isn’t doing what we’re saying they’re doing. The fact is, ICE is concentrating on public safety threats and national security threats. That is the priority.". But, said Homan, the media is "beating America across the head with a false narrative because they’re embarrassed … we’re proving them, they were wrong, and they can’t handle it."

FOX News [7/18/2025 2:08 PM, Cameron Cawthorne and Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports a social media account that is believed to belong to anti-ICE Texas attack suspect Benjamin Song, 32, who was captured Tuesday evening, contains anti-Israel, anti-police and anti-Trump rhetoric, according to posts reviewed and verified by Fox News Digital. Song was arrested by the FBI Dallas Field Office after the FBI offered a $25,000 reward for his capture regarding the attempted murder of federal officers and firearms crimes in an Independence Day riot at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. A local police officer is now recovering after being shot in the neck, and 11 other individuals are also facing charges, including 10 others for the aforementioned charges. "Do you want to end mass shooting? Abolish the police," he posted in June 2022 under the X handle, BubbleBreakBS. Fox News Digital was able to confirm that the "BubbleBreakBS" account belonged to Song after reviewing several social media posts, including a 2019 post when he thanked "Behind the Masks," a Facebook group that was dedicated to telling stories of protesters in the Free Hong Kong Movement, for telling his story, referring to their post as "my story." The link that the account shared highlighted how "Ben Song, a 26-year-old Uber driver from Arlington,Texas who has been a political activist since he was 13, was moved by Hong Kong’s fight for freedom and flew from the US to show his support." Older archives of the website from 2021-2023 lists Song’s mom as an "owner" of the studio. The alleged attack by the younger Song, who is innocent until proven guilty, came as the Department of Homeland Security is sounding the alarm on assaults on ICE agents, which DHS says have increased by 830% from last year. "This new data reflects the violence against our law enforcement in cities across the country in the last few weeks. Politicians across the country, regardless of political stripe, must condemn this," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted to X on Tuesday.

AP [7/18/2025 5:38 PM, Ali Swenson and Christina A. Cassidy, 56000K] reports a federal judge on Friday modified part of a previous ruling that blocked much of President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order seeking to overhaul elections in the U.S. The minor change affects just one aspect of a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper granted on June 13 in a case filed by Democratic state attorneys general. The judge said Friday that the part of Trump’s order directing certain federal agencies to assess people’s U.S. citizenship when they ask for voter registration forms will now only be blocked in the 19 states that filed the lawsuit. Election law experts said the modification will have little, if any, practical effect because a judge in a different lawsuit filed against the executive order also blocked the federal agencies from obeying the mandate in all 50 states. "If there are two partially overlapping orders, the effect of changing one of them would not change what is binding in the other," said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Friday’s order follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case that judges are limited in granting nationwide injunctions. Government lawyers pointed to that ruling in arguing the court needed to "narrow the scope" of the injunction in the elections case. The 19 Democratic attorneys general who filed the case told the judge they wouldn’t object to the narrower scope. The rest of Casper’s initial preliminary injunction against other aspects of the election executive order remains intact. In June, the judge blocked various parts of Trump’s sweeping order, including a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement on the federal voting form and a requirement that mailed ballots be received, rather than just postmarked, by Election Day.

AP [7/18/2025 2:34 PM, Michael Casey, 56000K] reports President Donald Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally will remain blocked as an order from one judge went into effect Friday and another seemed inclined to follow suit. U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante in New Hampshire had paused his own decision to allow for the Trump administration to appeal, but with no appeal filed in the last week his order went into effect. “The judge’s order protects every single child whose citizenship was called into question by this illegal executive order,” Cody Wofsy, the ACLU attorney representing children who would be affected by Trump’s restrictions, said. “The government has not appealed and has not sought emergency relief so this injunction is now in effect everywhere in the country.” The Trump administration could still appeal or even ask that LaPlante’s order be narrowed but the effort to end birthright citizenship for children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily can’t take effect for now.

NewsMax [7/18/2025 3:05 PM, Jan Wolfe, 4622K] reports that a group of Democrat-led states urged a federal judge in Boston on Friday to deal another blow to President Donald Trump’s attempts to limit birthright citizenship, even though a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month made it more difficult for lower courts to block White House directives. Lawyers for New Jersey, arguing on behalf of 18 states and the District of Columbia, urged U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin to maintain an injunction he imposed in February that blocked Trump’s executive order nationwide. The states’ case is back in Sorokin’s courtroom so he can assess the impact of the Supreme Court’s landmark June 27 decision. In that 6-3 ruling authored by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court directed lower court judges like Sorokin that had blocked Trump’s policy to reconsider the scope of their orders. Trump’s executive order was already halted again last week by a different judge in New Hampshire, but a win in Sorokin’s courtroom would give critics of the Trump policy another boost in litigation that is widely expected to end up back before the Supreme Court. Shankar Duraiswamy, an attorney for New Jersey, told Sorokin that the Supreme Court decision made clear that nationwide injunctions are permissible if they are the only way to provide "complete relief" to litigants in a particular lawsuit. A nationwide block on Trump’s executive order is the only way to avoid massive administrative upheaval for state governments, Duraiswamy said.

CNN [7/18/2025 1:30 PM, Devan Cole, 21433K] reports a federal judge who previously blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship spent more than an hour Friday grappling with whether his nationwide injunction could stand after the Supreme Court curbed the ability of judges to issue such broad rulings. US District Judge Leo Sorokin of the federal court in Boston made clear during a hearing that he intended to keep intact some of his earlier ruling against the birthright citizenship executive order issued by Trump on his first day back in office. He grilled Trump administration lawyers and a group of Democratic attorneys general from more than a dozen states, the District of Columbia and several cities, on major questions about whether his nationwide injunction would still hold after the conservative Supreme Court instructed lower courts to take a second look at such rulings to ensure they weren’t overbroad. Signed by Trump on January 20, the executive order, titled "PROTECTING THE MEANING AND VALUE OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP," said that the federal government will not "issue documents recognizing United States citizenship" to any children born on American soil to parents who were in the country unlawfully or who were there lawfully but temporarily. The Supreme Court said in its June 27 ruling that the administration cannot begin enforcing the order for 30 days, though the government is allowed to begin developing guidance on how the policy will be implemented. The Justice Department pressed Sorokin, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, to issue an alternative injunction in which the policy would not be blocked at all, but instead allow children impacted by it to still enroll in federal benefit programs administered through the states. Under that proposal, DOJ attorney Eric Hamilton explained, the federal government would be required to reimburse the states for the children’s benefits costs in the same way it always has, even though they would not technically be citizens otherwise permitted to receive the benefits. "We think the court should modify the preliminary injunction or stay the preliminary injunction and it should at most be tailored to the injuries the plaintiffs are alleging, which are primarily financial injuries," Hamilton said.

Breitbart [7/18/2025 3:39 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 3077K] reports that the Secretary of Defense has confirmed that a military base in Indiana and another in New Jersey will be converted to house detained immigrants who are awaiting deportation. Since Trump came into office this year, the administration has added sixty facilities to the list of those used to house migrants marked for deportation, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Now, two more are being added to that list. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth supplied a letter to Congress to inform them that Camp Atterbury in central Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey will be available "for temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security to house illegal aliens," the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. In the letter, Hegseth insisted that turning space over to immigration enforcement "will not negatively affect military training, operations, readiness, or other military requirements, including National Guard and Reserve readiness." The timeline to begin shipping migrants to the bases has not been determined. Camp Atterbury already has facilities to accommodate 7,000 in its dorm-style housing for families, and open barracks for singles. The buildings are equipped with central heating and air conditioning, and bathroom facilities. The 41,000-acre Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey is the Pentagon’s only "tri-service" base and serves more than 42,000 active-duty service members, civilians, and families. It seems likely that the base will also serve as an ICE base of operations for the northeastern area. The AP [7/18/2025 5:17 PM, David Klepper and Kevin Freking, 56000K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says bases in Indiana and New Jersey can house detained immigrants without affecting military readiness — a step toward potentially detaining thousands of people on bases on U.S. soil. Hegseth notified members of Congress from both states this week of the proposal to temporarily house detained immigrants at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. President Donald Trump has moved to aggressively detain and deport people in the country illegally, a push that has swept up large numbers of immigrants, including many with no prior criminal records, and forced federal authorities to find places to house them. Hegseth said the presence of the detainees would not negatively affect the bases’ operations or training. Officials have not said when detainees could begin arriving at the facilities or if other military bases are under consideration. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said there are about 60,000 beds currently available for detained immigrants and the goal is to expand to 100,000. “We’re looking for any available bed space we can get that meets the detention standards we’re accustomed to,” Homan said Friday. “The faster we get the beds, the more people we can take off the street.”

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [7/18/2025 1:51 PM, Myles Miller, Alicia A. Caldwell, and Courtney McBride, 19320K]

CNN [7/18/2025 3:48 PM, Holmes Lybrand, 21433K] reports the State Department had more than a dozen meetings with the White House – including Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff – and other agencies to discuss the topic of student visas, a top department official said in federal court on Friday. The White House did not comment on the meetings. John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, described to a judge how the State Department used broad definitions of antisemitism when scrutinizing the speech and activities of non-citizen students and professors the department chose to attempt to remove from the US. Armstrong appeared toward the end of a two-week trial in which a group of university professors who say the administration’s efforts to deport individuals over their anti-Israel views is intended to limit protected political speech. During his testimony, Armstrong discussed action memos to revoke visas for several students and professors as part of the US’s effort to combat antisemitism, whose definition could include comments against the Israeli government, support of an arms embargo in the war in Gaza or calling for the US to stop military aid to Israel. “This is not a mundane thing,” Armstrong said. “If we get this stuff wrong, we get 9/11. This is very serious stuff.” According to previous testimony from Homeland Security agents, a system was established whereby the State Department would send DHS referrals for non-citizens they wanted investigated. DHS would then investigate the person and send a report to the State Department if they believed there was enough to support a visa revocation.

CBS News [7/18/2025 2:56 PM, Austin Turner, Richard Esposito, Anna Schecter, Julie Sharp, Jeff Nguyen, and Matthew Rodriguez, 51860K] reports that an explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility Friday left three deputies dead, officials said. The blast was reported just before 7:30 a.m. Pacific and occurred at the Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East L.A., which opened in 2017. During a news conference Friday, Sheriff Robert Luna declined to answer questions about how the events unfolded, citing the ongoing investigation. He noted that the scene was rendered safe for investigators to enter just minutes before he took the podium. "There’s a lot more that we don’t know than we do know," Luna said, adding that it was too early to say what the deputies were doing when the blast took place. "But our intent is to look at this from the very beginning and figure out what is it exactly that caused this tragic event.". Luna did not identify the fallen deputies, citing their grieving families. He said he’d met with family members of two of the three deputies killed in the explosion. No other department members were injured in the blast or transported to the hospital, Luna said. The incident represented the largest loss of life for the department since 1857, Luna said. L.A. County was founded in 1850. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency was working with local and federal law enforcement to respond to the incident. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
AP [7/18/2025 4:21 PM, Staff, 56000K] Video: HERE

AP [7/19/2025 6:43 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports the Los Angeles Fire Department is reporting that a vehicle has driven into a crowd of people in East Hollywood, injuring more than 20. Up to five people are in critical condition, a further 8-10 in serious condition and 10-15 in fair condition, the department reported Saturday. The incident occurred on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Axios [7/18/2025 5:33 AM, Marc Caputo, 13599K] reports President’s Trump’s audacious plan to convert Alcatraz back to a maximum- security prison could come with a hefty price tag: $2 billion, administration sources tell Axios. Trump’s plan has been derided by Democrats, but the president is so intent on building a new prison on Alcatraz Island that administration officials have figured preliminary estimates of the costs and made repeated visits to site, the sources say. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday toured the island in San Francisco Bay. Bondi’s department oversees the Bureau of Prisons, which would run the facility. Burgum’s agency owns the land and manages the site — which has been a tourist attraction since 1973 — through the National Park Service. Two administration officials say Trump hasn’t made a final decision on what he wants to do with the island, and it’s unclear what the precise costs would be. As described to Axios, there are three general options on the table: A "supermax" prison complex that would cost more than $2 billion. It would require razing all of the island’s decrepit structures and building from scratch. A scaled-back prison that would cost $1 billion and not occupy the entire island. Putting the project out to bid for private prison contractors to build and operate. This option is the least likely of the three, the sources said. "We’re still in the early stages," an administration official said. "We need a lot more study, a lot more specificity, before the president decides. But $2 billion might just be too much money for him."

The Hill [7/18/2025 1:14 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports that a senior White House official said Friday that President Trump’s request to reopen Alcatraz at a reported $2 billion price tag seems "excessive." The figure "sounds excessive, but ultimately it’s up to the president to decide," the official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister station. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum toured the island that houses the complex in San Francisco Bay on Thursday to evaluate the state of the former maximum security prison, which was closed in 1963. "We’re still in the early stages," one administration official told Axios. "We need a lot more study, a lot more specificity, before the president decides," the official said. "But $2 billion might just be too much money for him." The Trump administration has not confirmed the project costs. Axios reported Friday the president is assessing whether to pour $2 billion into a complete renovation of the site, invest $1 billion into partial reconstruction efforts that would not occupy the entire island or allow private contractors to bid on the project. The latter measure was used to secure the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey for federal immigration operations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program also recently funded the opening of the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades. The White House and Interior Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on potential developments at the California prison managed by the National Park Service.

Washington Post [7/18/2025 10:40 AM, Victoria Bisset, 32099K] reports that the Justice Department is asking sheriffs in California, including in major counties such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, to provide lists of all prisoners and detainees who are not U.S. citizens, in the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s battle with California authorities over immigration. The DOJ said in a statement Thursday that it was seeking information including the crimes noncitizens were arrested for or convicted of, as well as their scheduled release dates. The department said that it “hopes” sheriffs in California will produce the information voluntarily but added that it will “pursue all available means of obtaining the data, including through subpoenas or other compulsory process” if necessary. “Removing criminal illegal aliens is this Administration’s highest priority,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the statement. “I look forward to cooperating with California’s county sheriffs to accomplish our shared duty of keeping Californians and all Americans safe and secure.” However, the sheriff of Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, pointed out that the request would not be feasible, given that state legislation prohibits law enforcement from asking about immigration status. The rule, a central part of California’s status as a “sanctuary state,” came into effect in the early days of President Donald Trump’s first term in 2017, and means that law enforcement does not generally cooperate with federal immigration agents.

AP [7/18/2025 1:37 PM, Holly Ramer, 24051K] reports that more than a dozen people protesting the detainment of a Muslim chaplain were arrested Thursday night in Cincinnati. Video from the demonstration shows some protesters blocking the Roebling Bridge that carries traffic between Ohio and Kentucky, as well as one officer punching a protester while others wrestle him to the ground. At least 13 people were arrested, including two journalists. The demonstrators were there to support Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian immigrant who has worked as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and was detained last week during a check-in with immigration officials. Soliman, 51, served as an imam — a Muslim religious leader — in Egypt for 14 years before fleeing to the United States in 2014, according to the Initiative on Islam and Medicine, where he serves as a board member. According to his lawyers, he was granted asylum in 2018 based on past persecution for his work as a journalist in Egypt during the Arab Spring uprising. His lawyers say he was jailed and tortured for reporting on the intense political conflict. In late 2024, a U.S. asylum officer began proceedings to terminate Soliman’s asylum status, according to his legal team. The U.S. has not designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, though President Donald Trump considered it during his first term. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on Soliman’s case Friday. On the day of Soliman’s arrest, the agency’s assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, wrote on X that "this Egyptian national was flagged on the FBI terror watchlist.". "He had his asylum status revoked by the (asterisk)checks notes(asterisk) BIDEN Administration," she wrote.

Daily Caller [7/18/2025 12:14 PM, Staff, 1010K] reports Republican Florida Rep. Aaron Bean is introducing a bill Tuesday to intensify prison sentences for people who assault or injure police dogs and horses in the line of duty. The Leo K9 Protection Act, named after a K9 shot and killed by an armed suspect in 2024, would make the maximum penalty for harming a police animal 15 years rather than ten. The legislation will also expand the federal statute to any state, county or local police animal assisting a federal agency, according to bill text first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. "Our police dogs and horses serve on the front lines, protecting officers and communities alike," Bean said in a statement to the DCNF. "They deserve real protection, not just praise — and the "Leo K9 Protection Act" will deliver tougher penalties against those who harm these heroic animals in the line of duty.". Police animals are subject to the same dangers as officers and federal agents, such as shootings, stabbings, attacks, accidents and other related fatalities. A total of 21 police K9s died in the line of duty in 2024, and concerns for police animals are heightened as attacks on ICE agents and other immigration enforcement officers have increased 830% in the last six months, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Los Angeles Times [7/18/2025 12:20 PM, Fidel Martinez, 14672K] reports on July 3, the state of Florida officially opened the so-called Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention center about 45 minutes west of Miami. Built in the Everglades swampland and managed by the state’s Division of Emergency Management, the makeshift facility is intended to hold as many as 4,000 immigrants and has been touted by the likes of President Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Gov. Ron DeSantis. Those locked inside have claimed that they are being subjected to inhumane conditions, including toilets that overflow with fecal matter and food with worms in it. State officials have denied the allegations. "The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order," Stephanie Hartman, a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press. After initially being denied entry, a group of lawmakers were given a tour of the facility on Saturday by state officials. Among them was Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.). "This is a tent city in the middle of the Florida Everglades, in the hot blazing Florida summer in the middle of hurricane season," Frost told me over the phone Thursday. "This area is actually on an airstrip that was built decades ago for what was supposed to be the largest freight airport in the entire Southeast, and they abandoned the whole project because of the environmental concerns and because of how bad the flooding gets," he added. The airstrip in question was built in 1968 and was meant to be part of the Everglades Jetport, a planned travel hub that was supposed to be the largest airport in the world. The plan was scrapped after an environmental report was released the following year. "Think about that," said Frost. "They were building an airport and abandoned it because the area it’s in isn’t good for infrastructure. Now they’re wanting to essentially hold in internment of up to 4,000 immigrants and staff in tents, not in buildings.". Frost said that he and a group of fellow members of Congress had originally planned to do an unannounced visit — "You catch the facility off-guard, and you see what the conditions are usually like" — but Florida officials caught wind and extended an invitation to the lawmakers.

New York Times [7/19/2025 2:52 AM, Alan Blinder, Michael S. Schmidt and Michael C. Bender, 330K] reports President Trump crowed online in June that his administration might cut a “‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC” deal with Harvard University “over the next week or so.” But as the White House and the university negotiated in the weeks that followed, no deal materialized to return the billions of research dollars that the government had frozen. Now the two sides face a crucial court hearing on Monday in their lawsuit about financial obligations and academic independence, even as the Trump administration continues to pelt the nation’s oldest university to amass leverage in negotiations. Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement served subpoenas to Harvard with sprawling demands that included payroll records, years of disciplinary files and any videos Harvard had of international students protesting on campus since 2020, according to two people familiar with the subpoenas, some of which were reviewed by New York Times. The agency gave the university a breakneck one-week deadline for compliance. Also this month, the administration formally accused the school of civil rights violations, arguing that Harvard had failed to protect Jewish people on campus. The government also complained to the university’s accreditor, which could eventually jeopardize Harvard students’ access to federal financial aid. Even so, both sides have continued discussions toward a resolution of the government investigations into the school and the sprawling legal fights, though they have made limited headway. This account is drawn from conversations with four people familiar with negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid endangering the talks, and from public statements and court records. Harvard leaders are well aware that a long fight with the government is perilous, threatening jobs, projects, reputations and academic independence. Some inside the university have feared that civil inquiries could become criminal matters. Trump administration officials are looking to secure the most significant victory of their ongoing pressure campaign on academia. They are seeking to balance the long-term advantage of their powerful hold on the government with the short-term reality of working for a president who regularly favors dealmaking over systemic policy changes.

FOX News [7/18/2025 5:20 AM, Pam Bondi , Robert J. Murphy, 46878K] reports the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and championing the safety of the American people against deadly, illegal drugs. No drug continues to pose a greater threat to our nation than fentanyl — a synthetic opioid so powerful, deadly and pervasive that it is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45. But we cannot ignore the growing supply of highly addictive and dangerous methamphetamine. The Mexican cartels have created a vast global supply chain, sourcing precursor chemicals from countries like China, manufacturing fentanyl and methamphetamine in secret labs in Mexico, and smuggling them across the border into the United States. These drugs are flooding our communities, and their impact is catastrophic. Current CDC data estimates that 82,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year — nearly 49,000 from fentanyl and more than 30,000 from psychostimulants, including meth. While we’ve seen a decline in overdose deaths in recent months, we cannot ignore the threat of fentanyl, often found in other drugs and fake pills. The cartels are also producing methamphetamine pills made to look like Adderall or MDMA, drugs popular with young adults. Fentanyl and methamphetamine together are toxic evidence that the cartels have no value for human life. DEA’s mission is clear, and it is confronting this crisis head on. DEA is second to none at developing, interpreting and acting on intelligence. In full coordination, the DOJ is fully committed to prosecuting criminals who are in possession of these dangerous and deadly drugs — including any fentanyl-related substance — to the fullest extent of the law. Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, the DOJ and the DEA are executing Operation Take Back America, an aggressive campaign to dismantle the criminal organizations responsible for trafficking fentanyl and other synthetic opioids — an unprecedented move to take back our communities and save American lives.

Bloomberg [7/18/2025 7:00 AM, Noah Feldman, 19320K] reports a new memo outlines plans by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport potentially thousands of immigrants to countries that are not their own. The Trump administration’s assiduous efforts to send people to places like Libya and South Sudan are clearly intended to scare noncitizens, both those in the US and those who might contemplate coming. To understand what’s so bad about these deportations, however, takes more than an intuitive sense that these are dangerous places. You need to go back to the Holocaust, which is the reason we have rules guiding such deportations in the first place. In the run-up to the Final Solution, Jews fleeing the Nazis were refused entry at the gates of the US. Postwar horror at what had happened helped lead to the adoption of the international law principle that refugees cannot be sent back to places where they may be subject to persecution and torture. (The principle is known by its French name, "non-refoulement," which roughly means "non-return.") The US laws at issue today in the Trump deportations can be traced to international treaties that the US signed, which, in different ways, give legal force to the non-return principle.

Washington Post [7/18/2025 6:00 AM, Fareed Zakaria, 32099K] reports you have seen the blizzard of scary images — immigration agents taking parents away in front of their kids, masked officers raiding neighborhoods, men detained in remote centers — but here is the surprising fact behind the mayhem: Donald Trump has deported fewer people per month than Barack Obama did, and barely more than Joe Biden during a similar span last year, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained by NBC News. Trump signals that his administration is fearlessly executing mass deportations. But the numbers reveal a different reality. Since February, his administration has deported 14,700 people per month on average, according to NBC News. That’s far below Obama’s peak in 2013, when he deported 36,000 per month. And it’s not even close to the Trump administration’s reported goal of deporting 1 million people in a year. Trump’s deportation dragnet is less effective than those of his predecessors because it is chaotic, theatrical and detached from the systems that work. Rather than effectively coordinating with local law enforcement, following rules, laws and norms, or expanding and expediting legal processing, Trump has prioritized optics over outcomes. What his administration lacks in strategy, it tries to compensate for with spectacle — sweeping up schoolchildren, targeting families, broadcasting raids on social media.

Washington Examiner [7/19/2025 6:00 AM, Chad Wolf, 1934K] reports A core tenet of the America First movement is that policies should primarily benefit hardworking American citizens, not foreign interests or globalist elites. President Donald Trump’s proposed Gold Card immigration program, if implemented properly, would serve as an America First model to leverage the strengths of the U.S. economy while reducing the national debt, creating new jobs, and ensuring that only those who truly contribute to our nation can live and work here. Additionally, the Gold Card must avoid common flaws of some current visa programs, including fraud, national security risks, and visa overstays — one of the primary drivers of illegal immigration. Trump introduced the Gold Card idea to the public in February, promising that the new program could lead to billions in revenue and a significant reduction in the national debt. Remarkably, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reported in June that 70,000 people had already expressed interest in the program. Predictably, the usual suspects in the media have been rooting for this initiative to fail. The Washington Post, a longtime home of Trump-hating media, recently reported that the Gold Card "might never happen" and erroneously argued that the Trump administration lacks the legal authority to implement it. Instead of plotting its demise, let’s envision how Trump’s Gold Card can be a national success.

Los Angeles Times [7/18/2025 6:08 AM, Nathalye Cotrino, 14672K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last month that temporary protected status for about 5,000 Haitians would end Sept. 2, five months earlier than planned. The Trump administration has cited flawed and contradictory assessments of conditions in Haiti — which, make no mistake, remains unsafe. Although a U.S. district court halted the action — at least temporarily — and reinstated the original termination date of Feb. 3, the administration is likely to challenge the ruling. The outcome of such a challenge could hinge on whether the courts receive and believe an accurate representation of current events in Haiti. The administration asserts that "overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety." Nothing could be further from the truth. But few outsiders are entering and leaving the country lately, so the truth can be hard to ascertain.

CBS News [7/18/2025 8:29 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51860K] Video: HERE reports that in an exclusive interview, Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told CBS News he’s not a "proponent" of agents wearing masks during arrest operations, but said he will allow the practice to continue due to concerns about his officers’ safety. He also confirmed ICE plans to use data from government programs like Medicaid to locate immigrants suspected of living in the U.S. illegally, including those with criminal histories. Pressed on concerns about masked ICE officers and the possibility that imposters could exploit the practice by posing as immigration agents, Lyons said, "That’s one of our biggest concerns. And I’ve said it publicly before, I’m not a proponent of the masks.". "However, if that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it," Lyons said during his first television network sit-down interview at ICE headquarters in Washington. "I do kind of push back on the criticism that they don’t identify themselves." Asked if he will allow ICE personnel to wear masks, Lyons said, "I will." The Department of Homeland Security has said attacks against ICE officials have increased by more than 800% this year compared to the same time period in 2024. Numerous instances of violence directed at ICE agents and facilities have occurred in recent weeks, including an armed attack against a detention center in Texas earlier this month that has led to more than a dozen arrests. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [7/18/2025 7:30 PM, Staff, 49956K] reports the Trump administration is offering former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers up to $50,000 in bonuses to rejoin the agency now that it has additional funding to carry out migrant deportation arrests. "You served the United States of America with distinction and honor. Now, your country calls upon you to serve once more," read an email sent by ICE to a retired employee and obtained by The Post. "Due to the prior administration’s disastrous immigration policies, the men and women of ICE now face unprecedented challenges," the message continued. "Your experience and unwavering commitment are critically needed to secure our communities and uphold our laws.". The "urgent call" to former ICE officers has been dubbed "Operation Return to Mission.". As part of the deal, returning employees may serve in their "current location and previous job series," and they could be eligible for lucrative bonuses. ICE is offering a signing bonus of $10,000 upon returning to service; another $10,000 bonus for those who submit applications by Aug. 1; and annual $10,000 bonuses, for up to three years, for those who take part in Operation Return to Service. The agency notes that "dual compensation waivers" will also be offered, allowing former federal workers to retain pension payments and benefits if they come out of retirement. "By returning to ICE, you are providing an honorable, indispensable service to our nation," the email said. ICE noted that President Trump’s July 4 signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has allowed the agency to "significantly" grow its team and that it is "starting with bringing back our former colleagues.".

Breitbart [7/18/2025 4:20 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports that left-wing organizations linked financially to Alex and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations have filed a lawsuit to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting illegal aliens at courthouses. This week, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Legal Education and Services, National Immigrant Justice Center, Democracy Forward, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area filed a lawsuit to that seeks to preliminarily enjoin ICE from making arrests of illegal aliens inside courthouses — often the safest environment for agents to take custody of some of the most violent offenders. “The process of being arrested and detained while complying with a legal process has also caused serious harm,” the lawsuit states, claiming two illegal aliens “experienced serious distress when they learned that they were being arrested, and both required medical treatment.” Democracy Forward partners with several left-wing organizations, including the Center for American Progress, which receives millions in funding from Soros’s Open Society Foundations every year. In 2023 alone the Open Society Foundations threw $5.7 million at the Center for American Progress. Similarly, the National Immigrant Justice Center received a combined $400,000 from Soros’s Open Society Foundations in 2021 and 2019.

USA Today [7/18/2025 11:26 AM, Eduardo Cuevas, 75552K] reports they were free to leave the windowless courtroom. But the only way out was through a hallway lined with masked immigration agents. Before heading out, several men cried. Women made the sign of the cross. Federal officials arrested a handful of them before they could reach the far end of the hall. The detainees were forced into a fire exit, away from press and a small group of New York lawmakers. This was the scene earlier this month outside a 12th-floor courtroom at a Manhattan federal building. But immigration attorneys say similar events are playing out across the country, as federal agents detain immigrants who thought they followed all the rules. To fulfill a campaign promise, President Donald Trump has overturned the asylum process set up by his predecessor and determined that tens of thousands of people who followed that process are in the United States illegally. "Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. "ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been." In late May, DHS began asking courts to dismiss cases against these recent migrants ‒ and then arrested them on their way out of courtrooms. More recently, even migrants with active asylum cases and no criminal history have been taken into custody. “They’re seemingly just taking everyone,” Alexa Avilés, a New York City councilmember from Brooklyn who chairs the city’s immigration committee, said after a July 3 hearing. “It feels like an utter escalation, a very violent one.”

CNN [7/18/2025 6:00 AM, Nathaniel Meyersohn, 21433K] reports summer is the busiest time of the year for immigrant day laborers outside Home Depot, picking up jobs as roofers, painters and construction workers. But the usual crowd of both legal and undocumented workers has vanished from many Home Depot parking lots. Dozens of day laborers in recent months have been arrested outside various stores around Los Angeles, New York City and Baltimore, fueling national protests. Top White House official Stephen Miller directed ICE officials in late May to target day laborers at Home Depot and other businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported, part of the Trump administration’s deportation push. "Right now, I’m behind on my rent because I’m scared of getting detained at the corner of Home Depot or having an encounter with ICE," one undocumented day laborer who has been in the United States for a decade told CNN in Spanish. This worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of deportation, has stopped looking for jobs outside a Home Depot in East Windsor, New Jersey. "This is the most important season for us to work, and the fear is stopping us from going out." It’s no accident that Home Depot is at the center of a volatile fight over immigration. The fifth largest US retail chain has a fraught, decades-long connection to day laborers, or jornaleros. Home Depot told CNN it isn’t notified when ICE operations will happen or involved in coordination, and it’s required to follow local and federal laws. When an ICE agent arrives, Home Depot asks employees to report incidents and avoid interactions with immigration officials. Home Depot’s role as one of the country’s largest hiring sites for day laborers — and an easy target for ICE raids — stems from larger social and economic forces, including the growth of illegal immigration; changes in the construction industry; the company’s dominance; and the boom-and-bust cycle of the housing market. "Day laborers have emerged as on-demand workforce at Home Depot as a result of these huge trends," said Nik Theodore, an urban policy professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and one of the country’s leading researchers on day laborers. But "Home Depot is part of this story. They’re not just innocent bystanders. The success of the company has helped create these conditions."

The Hill [7/18/2025 8:56 AM, Brooke Shafer, 18649K] reports the personal health information of 79 million people will soon be in the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, who will use the data trove to find undocumented migrants in the U.S. amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown. ICE plans to use the nation’s Medicaid database to “receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” according to an agreement obtained by The Associated Press. Information available to ICE officials will include: Addresses, Birthdates, Ethnic and racial information, Social Security numbers. The agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not allow ICE officials to download the data.Instead, officials will be allowed to access the data for a limited period from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Sept. 9. While immigrants who have entered and remained in the U.S. illegally are not eligible for Medicaid, every state is required to provide emergency Medicaid coverage for life-saving situations. Some states also make exceptions for children and certain adults. That means, despite not qualifying for the federally funded coverage, some noncitizens’ information is still available in Medicaid records.

FOX News [7/18/2025 3:20 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports illegal alien Ronald Joseph was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to raping and impregnating his own teenage daughter while living at a government-run Massachusetts migrant shelter. Joseph, a 44-year-old Haitian national, was living in a government-run hotel in Marlborough, Massachusetts, when it was discovered he had repeatedly raped his own daughter, resulting in the 14-year-old girl becoming pregnant. Though the crimes were committed between 2023 and 2024, Joseph was not arrested until Jan. 31, 2025, when he was charged with aggravated rape of a child and held without bail. In a statement Thursday, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Marlborough Chief of Police David Giorgi confirmed Joseph pleaded guilty to aggravated rape of a child for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old victim. According to the statement, Judge Kenneth Salinger of the Massachusetts Superior Courts sentenced Joseph July 11 to 12-15 years in prison. According to The Boston Globe, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also filed an immigration detainer against Joseph. The outlet reported an ICE spokesperson saying that Joseph entered the U.S. in May 2023 without valid paperwork but was granted entry into the country and given a date to appear before an immigration judge. Earlier this year, Jon Fetherston, a former Massachusetts state employee who was running the Marlborough shelter when the crime was uncovered, told Fox News Digital that when he confronted Joseph, the Haitian migrant grabbed and attacked him.

Reported similarly:
Blaze [7/18/2025 3:20 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K]

CBS New York [7/18/2025 6:52 PM, Ali Bauman, 51860K] Video: HERE reports a Queens high school student has been reunited with his family in New York after being detained by federal immigration officials since June. Derlis Chusin spent more than a month in ICE detention, and was reunited with his family Friday when he arrived back in New York at the Port Authority. "He was in a detention facility as a teenager with adults in his bunk. He had limited food options, limited access to us. It’s essentially being in prison," NYLAG attorney Lauren Rave said. Chusin came to the U.S. from Ecuador last year and was finishing the 11th grade in June when he was taken into custody by federal immigration agents at his asylum hearing in a Manhattan immigration court. "Derlis, like many people were allowed into the United States legally to seek asylum," attorney Melissa Chua said. "And on the day he went to immigration court to litigate his case, he was detained without any notice, without any process and then separated from his family and moved.". Chusin released on bond while asylum case plays out. A senior Department of Homeland Security official said, "Derlis Chusin Toaquiza, an illegal alien from Ecuador, was arrested by ICE on June 4, 2025. He entered the country illegally under the previous administration in March of 2024. Secretary Noem is reversing Biden’s catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. This Administration is once again implementing the rule of law. Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been. If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.". Chusin was released on $20,000 bond from a Texas detention facility. His attorney says he is now able to continue his asylum case in the courts while living with family and going to school.

CBS Philadelphia [7/18/2025 4:38 PM, Raymond Strickland, 51860K] Video: HERE reports a few dozen people gathered at the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia on Friday to protest a controversial arrest by ICE that took place outside the courthouse. "They refused to identify themselves. They didn’t present a warrant," said Erika Guadalupe Nunez, with Juntos, an immigrant advocacy organization. A volunteer with Juntos captured the moment the man was arrested Wednesday as he was leaving a court hearing. The organization created a program called ICE Watch to monitor the activity of federal agents at courthouses. "[ICE agents] physically, violently restrained the community member. He couldn’t breathe. They had his leg on his back on his neck," Nunez said. Nunez believes this recent incident underscores a bigger issue of immigrants being treated unfairly across the country. She said the city needs to do more to make sure immigrants’ rights aren’t violated. "The same way that [ICE is] being just as forceful and just as aggressive, we request our city to meet that energy in the same in defense of immigrant communities if we truly are a sanctuary city," Nunez said.

New York Post [7/18/2025 4:02 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials deported a “depraved” illegal migrant convicted of raping and impregnating his 12-year-old niece — and took another illegal migrant charged with raping and impregnating a 14-year-old into custody, the agency announced Thursday. Pedro Trejo Reyes, a previously deported migrant from Mexico, was removed from the US on Thursday after being convicted in 2009 of repeatedly sexually assaulting his young niece in Texas. The heinous crime resulted in the child becoming pregnant, which ended in a miscarriage, according to court documents. DNA testing on the fetal tissue found that Trejo Reyes, 67, was the biological father with over 99% certainty, the docs show. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the “depraved” rapist now has “no path forward, no second chances and no place in America.” “As the media and politicians continue to carry water for criminal illegal aliens who have committed indescribable acts of evil in our country, the brave men and women of ICE are arresting and removing the worst of the worst from the US,” she said.

Daily Caller [7/18/2025 4:05 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 1010K] reports the last of four detainees who broke out of a Newark, New Jersey, migrant detention facility in June has been captured — nearly 2,500 miles away in California. Andres Felipe Pineda-Mogollon, a Colombian national, escaped on June 12 from a privately run Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Friday. DHS later confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had tracked him down in Los Angeles and taken him back into custody. “We are tremendously grateful to our brave ICE agents and law enforcement partners for capturing Andres Pineda-Mogollon and the other three dangerous criminal illegal aliens who escaped Delaney Hall,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the DHS press release. “Politicians and activists relentlessly try to smear ICE — but the facts remain true: Delaney Hall houses dangerous criminals, including these four fugitives who committed aggravated assault, burglary, theft and even threatened to kill law enforcement.”

Breitbart [7/18/2025 2:12 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports that two Iranian graduate students in Louisiana have been released from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement custody after lawyers took issue with ICE agents using a "ruse" to "lure" them outside to be arrested. The couple was released this week and all proceedings against them dropped after their lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the procedure surrounding the June 22 arrest at an off-campus apartment in Baton Rouge, La. ICE agents convinced Pouria Pourhosseinhendabad and Parisa Firouzabadi they were there to speak to the mechanical engineering students about a hit-and-run reported the two had reported weeks earlier. When the married couple stepped outside to show police their vehicle, they were taken into custody and later challenged the detention in immigration court. Pourhosseinhendabad and Firouzabadi are both doctoral students at Louisiana State University, having arrived in the United States in 2023. Both are legally allowed to remain in the country, although Firouzabadi’s student visa was not formally renewed. "There’s a significant problem with how the two of them were arrested, because there were no exigent circumstances that required any type of Ruse," ACLU of Louisiana Legal Director Nora Ahmed told WBRZ-TV in an interview. Ahmed said ICE agents at the time came only with an administrative warrant that does not require a person to permit law enforcement entry into a dwelling.

AP [7/18/2025 11:23 AM, John Seewer, 1982K] reports that police in Cincinnati arrested at least 13 people, including two journalists, after demonstrators protesting the immigration detention of a former hospital chaplain blocked a two-lane bridge carrying traffic over the Ohio River. A reporter and a photography intern who were arrested while covering the protest for CityBeat, a Cincinnati news and entertainment outlet, were among those arraigned Friday morning in a Kentucky court. Other journalists reporting on protests around the U.S. have been have arrested and injured this year. More than two dozen were hurt or roughed up while covering protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles. A Spanish-language journalist was arrested in June while covering a No Kings protest near Atlanta. Police initially charged Mario Guevara, a native of El Salvador, with unlawful assembly, obstruction of police and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway. A prosecutor dropped the charges, but Guevara had already been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is being held in a south Georgia immigration detention center. His lawyers say he has been authorized to work and remain in the country, but ICE is trying to deport him. Video from the demonstration in Cincinnati Thursday night shows several tense moments, including when an officer punches a protester several times as police wrestle him to the ground.

The Hill [7/18/2025 4:50 PM, Amalia Huot-Marchand, 18649K] reports that Indiana’s Camp Atterbury and New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst will be temporarily used to detain immigrants lacking permanent legal status, according to a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth announced the decision in a Tuesday letter to Rep. Herb Conaway (D-N.J.), the House Committee on Armed Services and other members of Congress outlining that both locations would be for "temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] to house illegal aliens." The news surfaced widely Friday as Democrats publicly criticized the move. Hegseth in the letter also stated this will not affect military activities in the camps. "The Secretary approved a Department of Homeland Security request for assistance to use real property at Camp Atterbury, Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey to establish temporary soft-sided holding facilities," an official from the Department of Defense (DOD) told The Hill in a statement. The letter did not indicate how many immigrants could be detained there or when the camp would be open. "The timeline for these facilities will depend on operational requirements and coordination with DHS," the DOD wrote. Earlier on Friday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem suggested Alligator Alcatraz would be a blue-print for future facilities. The governors of South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas told NewsNation they would be ready to host these temporary facilities in their states.

Axios [7/18/2025 5:15 PM, Monica Eng, et al., 13599K] reports ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions have soared nationwide, including in Illinois, per data compiled by the Deportation Data Project at the UC Berkeley School of Law. The surge came after the Trump administration tripled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrest quota, and marks a major shift from the president’s pledge to target the "worst of the worst." In January, ICE arrested 160 people in Illinois, of whom 31% had no criminal charge, an Axios analysis found. By June, 61% of the 333 people ICE arrested in the state had no criminal charge. "This disturbing data trend reflects what we’ve been hearing on the community level and on our hotline: that ICE under the Trump administration is expanding their operations and attacking our families at a rate we haven’t seen before," Brandon Lee, communications director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, tells Axios.

FOX 32 Chicago [7/18/2025 8:35 AM, Taylor Penley, 46878K] reports Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons scorched Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday, slamming his "disgusting" claim that President Donald Trump is using ICE as a "militarized force" to "engender and institute anxiety and fear." "For an elected official like the mayor of Chicago to compare us to a militarized force… that’s absolutely disgusting, and he’s totally wrong," Lyons told "Fox & Friends" co-host Lawrence Jones. "What he should really do is look at Chicago with the amount of criminal aliens that he’s harboring under his sanctuary policies. The men and women of ICE are out there every day doing their law enforcement mission. They are some of the bravest people I’ve ever had a chance to serve with," he added. Deep blue Chicago’s sanctuary policies and progressive leadership have remained in the Trump administration’s crosshairs since the president’s return to office. Johnson’s remarks regarding Trump’s policies are consistent with some he made previously, including last month when he compared immigration enforcement to "terrorism" and suggested Trump’s America showcases how the country would look if the Confederacy had won the Civil War. Lyons, meanwhile, praised ICE officers for acting courageously as the Department of Homeland Security indicates they face doxing and physical assault risks. DHS announced Tuesday that its ICE officials have faced a staggering 830% increase in assaults between Jan. 21, 2025 and July 14, 2025, compared to the same period last year. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [7/18/2025 5:55 PM, Hannah Fingerhut, 56000K] reports Iowa’s attorney general on Friday said she will withdraw her lawsuit accusing a sheriff of discouraging compliance with federal immigration law, ending a monthslong public dispute between the two Republicans days after the sheriff’s northeast Iowa constituents rallied in his defense. Attorney General Brenna Bird sued Winneshiek County Dan Marx in March over his Facebook post saying his department doesn’t always need to detain people at the request of federal immigration authorities. Bird sued even though Marx deleted the post and an investigation from her office showed that Marx fully complied with each of the nearly two dozen requests he had received from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold someone suspected of immigration violations. Marx had declined to post a conciliatory message the attorney general’s office had scripted. Bird alleged the original post violated state law by impeding and discouraging cooperation with federal immigration officers. The lawsuit jeopardized state funding to the county. As President Donald Trump took office and initiated his campaign of mass deportations, Marx told constituents on Feb. 4 that he shares some of their “mistrust and many of your concerns with the legitimacy of how these federal agents conduct business” and that requests to hold individuals without a court order are “violations” of constitutional rights. At the same time, there was a legislative push in states across the country to support Trump’s immigration efforts and curtail “ sanctuary cities “ that generally limit cooperation with immigration authorities. The Trump administration had also begun taking legal action against governments that have adopted policies inhibiting ICE arrests and deportations. Marx said in a statement Friday that he met with Bird in person and explained it was “never my intent to discourage immigration enforcement.” Marx also thanked his constituents for their patience and “outpouring of support through this situation,” he said.

Univision [7/18/2025 3:33 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports that Univision 45 has learned new information about José Armando Carcamo-Perdomo, the Honduran man accused of human trafficking in Harris County. Carcamo, 22, allegedly kidnapped a Chinese immigrant in New York and took her to a property located at 13300 Elderberry Lane, off Highway 90 in Houston. The woman, a massage therapist, was reportedly offered a position in Houston that promised more money, and she ended up accepting. However, when she arrived at the home in Texas, her Chinese passport was allegedly taken away. According to court documents, the Hispanic man locked her in a room without access to food or water for at least five days. During her kidnapping, there was one day when the victim saw the home was open and tried to escape. She actually ran through the neighborhood. But Carcamo caught up with her, beat her, and tied her up. The immigrant explained that Carcamo sexually assaulted her and then locked her in a bolted closet. Lieutenant John Klafka, who heads the Harris County Sheriff’s Office’s adult special crimes unit, said the investigation began after authorities received a 911 call about a woman screaming for help. Officers were told that a witness had seen the woman running down the street before a man grabbed her and took her back to the location from which she had fled. Jose Carcamo appeared at his probable cause hearing on July 16 at 1:00 a.m. The Honduran national was held on $150,000 bail. Additionally, it was confirmed that he has an ICE immigration hold.

Axios [7/18/2025 1:44 PM, Alayna Alvarez and Kavya Beheraj, 13599K] reports ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions have soared nationwide, including in Colorado, per data compiled by the Deportation Data Project at the UC Berkeley School of Law. The surge marks a major shift after the Trump administration tripled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrest quota, directly contradicting the president’s pledge to target the "worst of the worst." In January, ICE arrested 267 people in the Denver Field Office region, of whom 28% had no criminal charge, an Axios analysis found. By June, 47% of the 544 people ICE arrested had no criminal charge. ICE arrests in Colorado have skyrocketed 305% between Jan. 20 — when Trump took office — and June 26, compared to the same period in 2024, according to a Colorado Sun and WyoFile analysis of Deportation Data Project figures.

Axios [7/18/2025 8:20 AM, Kim Bojórquez, 13599K] reports Utah restaurateurs are feeling the impacts of the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement efforts, according to local industry leaders who say the policies and policing are interrupting business and fueling fear. The enforcement crackdown threatens to limit operating hours, drive up menu prices or shut down local restaurants. Almost 90,000 undocumented immigrants live in Utah, hailing mostly from Mexico and Central America, according to the Migration Policy Institute’s 2019 estimates. Nearly half have resided in the state for more than 15 years, and around 17% of those ages 16 and older work in hospitality services, arts, entertainment or recreation. Some restaurant owners say their employees have not shown up to work, later finding out they were detained by immigration authorities at home or during traffic stops, Michele Corigliano, executive director of the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association, which represents independently owned restaurants, told Axios.

CBS News [7/18/2025 11:12 AM, Lucia Suarez Sang, 51860K] reports a 38-year-old father was arrested by immigration officials outside his child’s preschool in Oregon on Tuesday, officials said. Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a citizen of Iran, was arrested for overstaying his visa, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told CBS News on Friday. The spokesperson said ICE officials attempted to arrest Khanbabazadeh during a traffic stop when he requested permission to drop his child off at daycare. The agency allowed him to the school’s parking lot, where he "resisted arrest and refused to exit his vehicle.". ICE officials broke one of the windows of the vehicle to "complete the arrest," the spokesperson said, adding that Khanbabazadeh’s child was unharmed. "It was just chaos," Randy Kornfield, who was dropping off his grandson at Guidepost Montessori School in South Beaverton, Oregon, at the time of the arrest, told CBS affiliate KOIN. "There were a lot of parents who were upset. And rightly so. It’s just not something that needs to happen at a preschool, or at any school, for that matter.". Caroline Medeiros, an immigration lawyer who said she offered her advice and guidance to the school and family, told local media that seven unmarked cars pulled into the school’s parking lot to make the arrest. She said that Khanbabazadeh was dragged out of the car while his wife was asking where they were taking him. Medeiros has a daughter who attends the school and was playing outside when the arrest happened, she told CBS News via email on Friday. "Thankfully, the kids didn’t see anything, but it was definitely a dangerous and traumatic situation, as there were several armed, masked officers in the parking lot within feet of where they were playing," she said via email.

CBS News [7/18/2025 8:20 PM, Carter Evans, 51860K] reports one construction site in Los Angeles has just about everything needed to build a traditional family home. Everything, that is, except enough workers. "We have probably three people on site, four people on site, and normally, we’d have about double, about eight to 10 people," general contractor Jason Pietruszka told CBS News. "They’re hiding. People aren’t will to coming to work.” Pietruszka said he only hires builders here in the country legally, but that he also relies on companies that employ highly skilled, undocumented labor. Many of those workers are now no-shows because they are fearful of the ramped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. "If a company has five trucks going out and doing work every single day, and there’s two guys per truck, and half their crew doesn’t want to come, that’s literally three jobs, or two jobs, that can’t be performed," Pietruszka explained. The labor shortage comes at a time when more than 12,000 homes destroyed by the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County earlier this year need to be rebuilt. About 41% of construction workers in California are foreign-born, according to a 2023 analysis from the National Association of Home Builders, a trade group for the housing construction industry. A report in March from the UCLA Anderson Forecast found that a rise in "deportations will deplete the construction workforce" statewide. "For single-family and smaller (non-high rise) multi-family development, the loss of workers installing drywall, flooring, roofing and finishing will directly diminish the level of production," the report found. Pietruszka said the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is already causing longer construction delays and greater competition for fewer crews. "When you find the people who are willing to do the job, they want probably double the hourly rate," Pietruszka said. "...That means the consumer is paying more." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [7/19/2025 6:07 AM, Dalia Faheid, 21433K] reports George Retes, a 25-year-old Army veteran and father of two, had been planning his three-year-old daughter’s Minnie Mouse birthday party at the park for weeks. He would get her an inflatable bounce house, invite the whole family and shower her with gifts and treats. She was excited for the fun party and he was excited to see the smile on her face, he said. Those plans fell apart last week when Retes – a US citizen – was detained by federal immigration agents during an immigration raid and protest at a legal Southern California marijuana farm where he worked. Left injured and burned from pepper spray and tear gas, Retes was detained for three days without explanation, he said. His wife, who couldn’t reach him during his detention, was scrambling to find out where her husband had been taken. The arrest unfolded on July 10 when federal immigration officers carried out large-scale raids at two Glass House marijuana farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo and arrested over 300 people – part of an ongoing trend of immigration enforcement at worksites like farms and construction sites that have struck fear into immigrant communities. That day, Retes says he woke up and drove to work like he would any other day, not knowing there was unrest at his workplace. When he arrived at Glass House Farms in Camarillo – where he works as a contract security guard – he was met with throngs of protesters, cars piled up in the middle of the road and people standing in the street. He made his way through the crowd and was confronted by a barricade of agents blocking anyone from going into Glass House, he recounted. The Department of Homeland Security said Immigration Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection officers were executing warrants at the marijuana grow sites and were met with hundreds of protesters. Retes became one of a number of US citizens and legal permanent residents detained or arrested in the tense raids amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown – with some arrested without explanation and with no way to contact their families, immigrant advocacy groups say. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told CNN in a statement on Sunday that Retes had not been charged. The US Attorney’s Office told CNN Friday it would not be pressing charges against Retes. McLaughlin later said Retes was detained for alleged assault, but did not provide details on the accusation. "As CBP and ICE agents were executing criminal search warrants on July 10 at the marijuana facility in Camarillo, CA, George Retes—a U.S. citizen—became violent and refused to comply with law enforcement," McLaughlin said Thursday. "He challenged agents and blocked their route by refusing to move his vehicle out of the road."

Bloomberg Law [7/18/2025 10:14 AM, Andrew Oxford, 1707K] repots tensions in Los Angeles are beginning to subside, according to the Trump administration. But US immigration raids there are ongoing, and federal courts are still parsing which methods used by the administration in those raids may continue. In the latest ruling, the Ninth Circuit denied the federal government’s request to pause the Central District of California’s temporary restraining order on immigration enforcement, Maia Spoto reports. That means US officials can’t use racial or ethnic profiling during immigration sweeps in the region and must grant detainees access to lawyers.

NewsMax [7/18/2025 1:48 PM, Jim Mishler, 4622K] reports an illegal alien living in California has been charged by federal prosecutors with fabricating a story about being kidnapped by federal agents in a scam intended to get people to donate money. The U.S. Attorney’s office in central California said 41-year-old Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon is being detained following her arrest on charges of conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers. Investigating agents said Calderon, originally from Mexico, was represented by an attorney who held a media conference on June 30 and announced Calderon was being held by federal authorities after being taken from a restaurant parking lot in downtown Los Angeles. An affidavit filed by agents indicated the woman’s daughter had set up a GoFundMe page seeking donations to secure Calderon’s release. But federal agents said it was all a hoax. Almost a week after the media conference, agents located Calderon and made contact. Agents said she held to the kidnapping story. The investigating officers said they discovered Calderon had faked photographs showing her purported rescue and said they discovered she had planned yet another media briefing to try and boost donations. HSI Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang said it was a terrible situation. "Since early July, my office invested valuable time and resources working this alleged kidnapping investigation only to discover that it was a hoax." California U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli pointed an accusing finger at all involved. "Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are kidnapping illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents."

FOX News [7/18/2025 7:12 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, a critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, is being mocked for pushing a story about an LA woman being kidnapped by ICE that ended up allegedly being an elaborate hoax. The Department of Homeland Security posted on its official X account on Friday, "Mayor, you pushed a HOAX. There is still time to delete this.". This comes after Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, a 41-year-old Mexican illegal alien living in Los Angeles, was charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, according to the DOJ. On July 1, Bass posted a link to a local news story about Calderon’s supposed kidnapping, commenting, "She’s a mother from L.A. — taken out of her car on her way to work, and then held in a warehouse as officers hoped she would ‘self-deport.’. "No hearing. Just fear," Bass added. "This doesn’t make anyone safer.". After the charges went public, DHS slammed Bass for her comments, saying, "Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon was NEVER arrested or kidnapped by ICE or bounty hunters—this criminal illegal alien scammed innocent Americans for money and diverted limited DHS resources from Los Angeles.". RNC Research, a page run by the Republican National Committee, also chimed in, commenting on X that "Karen Bass spreads a false story demonizing ICE agents.". According to the Justice Department, Calderon claimed to have been kidnapped by masked, uniformed men in unmarked cars at a Jack in the Box parking lot June 25. She claimed to have been forcibly taken to the border and presented to an ICE staffer who demanded she sign self-deportation papers. Calderon said that when she refused to sign the document, she was taken to a warehouse to be held indefinitely. The Los Angeles Police Department launched a missing person investigation and notified DHS, which, after determining Calderon was not in its custody, launched its own investigation. During the investigation, HSI noticed several irregularities, including that the phone calls to loved ones that Calderon had supposedly made via borrowed phones were made from her cell phone, intentionally masked to appear as an unknown number. According to the affidavit, video surveillance of Calderon’s alleged forced abduction further showed her calmly leaving the Jack in the Box parking lot and getting into a nearby sedan. Despite the video showing a marked LAPD car in the vicinity, Calderon did not make any attempts to alert officers that she was in danger. The affidavit states that "when confronted with true information that contradicted their kidnapping story," Calderon and others lied to federal agents and "attempted to thwart law enforcement efforts" by keeping her whereabouts from law enforcement.

Univision [7/18/2025 3:23 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Chief Robert Luna revealed that the federal government has intensified its attempts to obtain information from immigrants detained in local jails, even without warrants. According to Luna, the U.S. Department of Justice has sent him threatening letters demanding cooperation in the enforcement of civil immigration laws, despite California’s sanctuary laws prohibiting such cooperation without a legal mandate. "If we put someone in jail, we never ask if they have papers," Luna stated, emphasizing that his agency does not inquire about the immigration status of inmates. He also clarified that they only collaborate with ICE or the Border Patrol if a violent crime is involved or if an inmate poses a direct threat to officers. Although the federal government has requested a list of 435 suspected undocumented individuals for transfer in 2025, Luna reiterated that his department has not provided any information due to the lack of court orders. "I don’t know how we’re going to provide a list to anyone. We don’t ask about immigration status," he insisted. Immigration attorney Alex Gálvez warned that this pressure could be accompanied by economic retaliation, since California receives significant federal funding. State law SB 54, in effect since 2018, strictly limits cooperation between local and federal agencies on immigration matters, except in specific cases ordered by a judge.

Axios [7/18/2025 4:34 PM, Kavya Beheraj, 13599K] reports that ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions in San Diego soared in June, per data compiled by the Deportation Data Project. Why it matters: The surge follows a national trend that coincides with the Trump administration’s decision on May 21 to triple ICE’s arrest quota. By the numbers: In January, ICE agents arrested 146 people in the San Diego Field Office region. As of June 26 — the most recent data available — the monthly arrest figure had more than quadrupled, to 591. Between the lines: But the share of people in San Diego arrested by ICE who had no criminal charges or convictions flipped during that time. In January, 64% of ICE arrestees had a criminal charge or conviction. In June, 72% of ICE arrestees had no criminal charges or convictions. The big picture: Nationwide, 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. Zoom out: Total ICE arrests in the San Diego region increased more than 400% in the first six months of 2025, compared with the previous year, based on a Union-Tribune analysis of Deportation Data Project figures. That’s 1,339 arrests this year compared with 325 last year.

Breitbart [7/18/2025 2:01 PM, Lowell Cauffiel, 3077K] reports that the U.S. Border Patrol swept a Home Depot parking lot near California’s capital, Sacramento, this week, arresting nearly a dozen illegal aliens and showing that opposition from California officials is not deterring federal immigration enforcement in the sanctuary state. The Thursday morning operation, which included nabbing one illegal with nearly five dozen criminal bookings and a fentanyl conviction, was captured in a Fox News ride-along. Foot chases can be seen as well as the takedown of a man who claimed to be an American citizen and had allegedly slashed a tire on a federal vehicle. Gregory Bovino, U.S. Border Patrol chief for the El Centro Sector, told the news network such raids will continue in California in search of criminal aliens, saying: There is no sanctuary city, Sacramento is not a sanctuary city, the state of California is not a sanctuary state, there is no sanctuary anywhere. We’ll be here. You’ll probably see us in many other locations as well. We’re here to stay, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to effect this mission and secure the homeland. According to Fox, the habitual criminal apprehended is Mexican national Javier Dimas-Alcantara, who had 67 prior jail bookings with convictions dating as far back as the 1980s. His rap sheet includes felony burglary, illegal firearm possession, and a host of narcotics possession and distribution offenses, the network reported.

FOX News [7/18/2025 8:52 AM, Michael Dorgan and Bill Melugin, 46878K] Video HERE reports despite pushback from California officials to federal immigration enforcement, Border Patrol in Sacramento arrested 11 illegal migrants during a tense raid at a Home Depot parking lot on Thursday — including one man with 67 prior jail bookings in California since 1986 and a prior fentanyl trafficking conviction. Fox News was on scene as the migrants scattered in all directions when federal agents moved in to make arrests in the sanctuary city. That triggered multiple foot chases and several physical encounters between masked agents and fleeing migrants. Gregory Bovino, U.S. Border Patrol chief for the El Centro Sector, said his agency will continue prioritizing the removal of criminal illegal immigrants. "There is no sanctuary city, Sacramento is not a sanctuary city, the state of California is not a sanctuary state, there is no sanctuary anywhere," Bovino said. "We’ll be here, you’ll probably see us in many other locations as well. We’re here to stay, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to effect this mission and secure the homeland." The migrant with 67 prior jail bookings is Mexican national Javier Dimas-Alcantara, who is an aggravated felon with convictions and charges spanning decades. His criminal history includes multiple instances of transporting and selling narcotics or controlled substances, felony burglary, possession of a controlled narcotic with intent to sell, carrying a loaded firearm in public and multiple felony-level marijuana possession charges for sale. He’s also been arrested for illegal entry, revocation of probation due to reoffending, multiple instances of providing false identification to law enforcement, multiple cases of narcotic possession and being under the influence of a controlled substance. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed the defenders of sanctuary policies. "Dimas has been convicted of a myriad of offenses — you would not want this man to be your neighbor and yet politicians like [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom defend criminals who terrorize American communities and demonize law enforcement who defend those same communities," McLaughlin said. "He and every other sanctuary politician should be thanking CBP for getting this scum out of American communities instead of obstructing federal law enforcement at every possible turn." McLaughlin said that the Trump administration has been given a clear mandate by the American people to get violent illegal aliens off the streets and out of the country.

NBC News [7/18/2025 3:31 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 44540K] reports the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Puerto Rico is denouncing the transfer of immigrants detained in the U.S. territory to "Alligator Alcatraz," the new immigration detention facility built in Florida in just one week on an abandoned airstrip surrounded by swampland. People who are taken into immigration custody in Puerto Rico, many of them from the Dominican Republic, are sent to the mainland U.S., as the island lacks permanent detention centers that can hold detainees for prolonged periods. The ACLU of Puerto Rico said Friday in a news release that they had received reports this week of detainees from the island being transferred to the facility in Florida as well as allegations of "rights violations and dehumanizing treatment.". Annette Martínez, the executive director of the civil rights nonprofit, condemned President Donald Trump’s plan to build more detention centers as well as the construction of Alligator Alcatraz during an interview with NBC News earlier this month. "This isn’t even a detention center. We’re talking about a facility that more closely resembles a torture center," Martínez said in Spanish. "It’s even been described as a place where you enter and you can’t leave." In a lawsuit filed by the ACLU this week against the Department of Homeland Security, four people detained in Alligator Alcatraz and their attorneys alleged that the federal government has interfered with their ability to access detainees and provide counsel for those being held there. Michael Borrego Fernández, a Cuban national being held in the Florida detention center and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, alleged "harsh and inhumane conditions" at the facility. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied allegations of inhumane conditions, telling NBC News in a statement: "No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States."

CBS News [7/18/2025 3:55 PM, Aimee Picchi, 51860K] reports many travelers to the U.S. are now subject to a new $250 "visa integrity fee," part of the tax cuts and spending law signed by President Trump on July 4. The fee is effective in the current federal fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, 2024, and ends on Sept. 30, 2025, according to the text of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. For subsequent years, the amount will be adjusted for inflation, the law states. The fee applies to visitors who come to the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas, such as foreign students attending American universities or workers who receive temporary work visas such as the H-1B, which is often used by companies to hire foreign engineers or other skilled workers. In 2023, the U.S. issued more than 10 million nonimmigrant visas, according to data from the U.S. State Department. Visa holders subjected to the fee may later be reimbursed as long as they comply with their visa’s restrictions, such as leaving the U.S. within five days of the visa’s expiration, according to the new law. However, the law doesn’t specify how visa holders may apply for reimbursement of the fee, nor how the fee will be collected. "The visa integrity fee requires cross-agency coordination before implementation," a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told CBS MoneyWatch in an email. "President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill provides the necessary policies and resources to restore integrity in our nation’s immigration system," it added. Given that fee isn’t yet set up to be collected, it’s unclear whether the visa integrity fee will be retroactive. The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether the fee would be collected retroactively.

Breitbart [7/18/2025 2:12 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports that many visitors to the United States will soon have to pay a $250 "visa integrity fee" to enter the country. The fee was in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and applies to people from countries who need a nonimmigrant visa to enter. The fee will be added to any other visa application fees. There are few details, which creates "significant challenges and unanswered questions regarding implementation," a spokesperson from the U.S. Travel Association told CNBC Travel. The new law includes fee hikes for those using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, and new charges for migrants arrested at the border. It creates a $13 ESTA fee, and goes up to $5,000 for the arrests of undocumented people. The visa integrity fee is set at $250 from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, but after that, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, is free to raise the fee. The applicant will pay the fee when the visa is issued. If the visa is denied, the applicant doesn’t have to pay. Steven A. Brown, a partner at immigration law firm Reddy Neumann Brown in Houston, said in a post on his firm’s website that it significantly raises prices for those coming into the United states to work. "For example, an H-1B worker already paying a $205 application fee may now expect to pay a total of $455 once this fee is in place," he said. There is also an I-94 form fee that the bill raised from $6 to $24. He added that the law allows the government to give refunds of the visa integrity fee if the person follows all provisions of the visa. But it is unclear how, when and who decides that the refund will be issued.

Bloomberg [7/18/2025 5:03 PM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 1707K] reports that a bevy of new fees for immigrant benefits imposed in the sweeping GOP package of tax cuts and new government spending will be added to existing Department of Homeland Security charges. Payment for existing DHS fees and those added in the law (H.R. 1), must be submitted separately, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a Federal Register notice released Friday. No waivers or exemptions will be available for the charges created by the multi-trillion dollar law. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

Bloomberg Law [7/18/2025 10:52 AM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 88K] reports a new Department of Homeland Security rule would add weighted selection of petitions for H-1B specialty occupation workers. The proposed rule (RIN 1615-AD01) was sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review Thursday. The H-1B visa program is heavily used by the tech sector to hire foreign talent and is limited to 85,000 slots each year under a statutory cap. Universities and research institutions are eligible for cap-exempt visas. After a random lottery each year for visas subject to the cap, employers with winning entries are eligible to submit petitions to sponsor workers. US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that enough petitions had been submitted to reach the annual cap, meaning an additional lottery wouldn’t be required for fiscal year 2026.

ABC News [7/18/2025 5:03 PM, Nadine El-Bawab, 31733K] reports that action memos on pro-Palestinian protesters sent by government officials to Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the authority he used to strip their visas had never before been used and would likely face scrutiny, a government official testified in court Friday. Rubio used what the government says is his authority to find someone deportable "if the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe that the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States," citing the Immigration and Nationality Act. A section of a government memo that was read in court noted "it is likely that courts will closely scrutinize this determination" because the basis of it could be considered "protected speech." The contents of the memo were revealed during an ongoing bench trial in which the Trump administration is accused of instituting a constitutionally illegal ideological deportation policy against pro-Palestinian protesters, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi and Tufts University’s Rumeysa Ozturk. The White House, Department of Homeland Security, State Department and Department of Defense had over 20 conversations about student protester visa revocations, most of which took place in March, Armstrong testified. Armstrong also testified that he had conversations with people on the Homeland Security Council over the visa revocations, naming Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller and his deputy.

New York Times [7/18/2025 2:44 PM, Zach Montague, 138952K] reports that a senior State Department official testified Friday that his office, which the Trump administration has tasked with vetting foreign students’ social media posts and revoking student visas, has operated this year without a working definition of “antisemitism” and routinely considers criticism of Israel as part of its work. The testimony, at the end of a two-week trial focused on the Trump administration’s efforts to deport students such as Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk and others, helped build the case by the academic groups behind the lawsuit, who have argued that the government systematically targeted students based on their remarks about Israel. During a heated back-and-forth in Federal District Court in Boston, John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, said that the State Department regularly took into account speech or actions that it saw as hostile toward Israel. Pushed for examples of things he might consider in weighing whether to deny or revoke a student’s visa, Mr. Armstrong testified that calls for limiting military aid to Israel or “denouncing Zionism” could all factor in his agency’s decisions. “In your view, a statement criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza could be covered depending on the statement, right?” asked Alexandra Conlon, a lawyer representing the organizations behind the lawsuit. “Yes, depending on the statement, it could definitely,” he said. “You say that they’re worse than Hitler with what they’re doing in Gaza? — that would be a statement that, I think, would lead in that direction that you seem to be going, counselor.” But Mr. Armstrong said the State Department did not conduct its reviews based on a common understanding of what qualified as “antisemitism.”

Bloomberg [7/18/2025 4:59 PM, Sam Skolnik, 1707K] reports a federal district judge ruled the Trump administration must face claims that it illegally tried to stop funding for counsel for unaccompanied immigrant children, in what is now the administration’s fifth attempt in the courts to block its role in the legal aid. The US Department of the Interior, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement "mischaracterized" and "willfully misread" the arguments from the 11 plaintiff-nonprofits that provide immigration legal services, said Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín Thursday for the US District Court for the Northern District of California, denying the government’s motion to dismiss.

New York Times [7/18/2025 2:33 PM, Madeleine Ngo, 138952K] reports President Trump’s immigration crackdown is beginning to strain the long-term care work force, raising concerns about how the effects could ripple across the nation’s senior population. Providers that operate nursing homes and home care agencies say they have lost staff members as the Trump administration has moved to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants with temporary legal status. Republican critics of those programs say that they have allowed migrants to stay longer than intended, and that ending them “restores integrity” in the country’s immigration system. But the long-term care industry already faces persistent challenges in recruiting workers. Providers say the reduction in staff could threaten the quality of services they are able to offer to the nation’s senior population. Some said they would have to raise wages to attract more workers to fill positions, and they were set to pass on cost increases to people receiving care. The issue underscores the critical role that foreign-born workers play in the long-term care industry. Immigrants make up about 28 percent of the work force directly providing that care, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data from KFF, a health policy research group. In comparison, foreign-born workers account for about 19 percent of the entire U.S. civilian labor force. Katie Smith Sloan, the president of LeadingAge, an association representing nonprofit aging services providers, said the Trump administration’s immigration policies were already starting to disrupt facilities across the country as providers moved to terminate some caregivers in recent weeks. She said some employees had stopped showing up at work out of fear for themselves and their families. The biggest impact so far has stemmed from the Trump administration’s decision to end various programs that grant migrants temporary legal status, which authorizes them to live and work in the United States. In late May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration, for now, to end a humanitarian program that gave temporary residency to more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The administration has also tried to end a program for Haitians who have been living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, which is intended to help migrants who cannot return to their countries because of unsafe conditions. Before he left office, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had extended those protections through next February. Although the Trump administration moved to end those protections by September, a federal judge recently blocked the administration from doing so. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said the administration expected “a higher court to vindicate us in this.”

CBS Philadelphia [7/18/2025 5:58 PM, Staff, 51860K] Video: HERE reports it was a naturalization ceremony with deep roots in Pennsylvania. Set in the beautiful backdrop of Pennsbury Manor, the riverfront home of Pennsylvania founder William Penn, dozens of people from all around the world completed the naturalization process to become U.S. citizens.

Blaze [7/18/2025 12:50 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports a multiagency investigation into a suspicious uptick in reported crimes uncovered an alleged visa fraud scheme that led to the arrest of several current and former law enforcement officers. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Alexander Van Hook explained that an "unusual number of armed robberies" in small Louisiana communities sparked investigations. He noted that most of the listed victims were not from the area. "The armed robberies never took place, and those listed in the applications were never victims of crime," Van Hook stated during a Wednesday press conference. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a 62-count indictment against a local business owner, Chandrakant Patel, and several current and former police officers: Oakdale Chief of Police Chad Doyle, Oakdale’s Ward 5 Marshal Michael Slaney, Forest Hill Chief of Police Glynn Dixon, and former Glenmora Chief of Police Tebo Onishea. The indictment charged the defendants with bribery, conspiracy to commit visa fraud, and mail fraud after the men reportedly ran a "more than nine-and-a-half-year alleged scheme to author, facilitate, produce, and authenticate false police reports of purported armed robberies in the central Louisiana area.". Hundreds of foreign nationals used those alleged false police reports to apply for U visas, which are intended to protect crime victims who are willing to assist law enforcement in investigations or prosecutions.

Reuters [7/18/2025 1:47 PM, Staff, 51390K] reports that Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro told Reuters on Friday he expects his son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman, to seek U.S. citizenship instead of returning from the United States. In an interview with Reuters after federal police searches of his home and party headquarters, Bolsonaro said he has been speaking at least every other day with his son, an outspoken ally of U.S. President Donald Trump who has sought support in Washington for his father. The former president said there has been no "strategy" behind their discussions.

USA Today [7/18/2025 2:36 PM, Nathan Diller, 75552K] reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection removed crew members from at least two cruise ships operating in the Great Lakes. A "limited number" of crew working aboard Victory Cruise Lines’ Victory I and Victory II vessels were removed at the Port of Detroit, according to Founder and Chairman John Waggoner. "We are actively cooperating with federal authorities to clarify the circumstances, and my priority is always our crew and the experience for our guests," Waggoner told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. "We wish to thank federal, state and local representatives across the Great Lakes for their prompt and continued attention to this matter." Eight crew members were removed from Victory I on July 11, and five were removed from Victory II on July 9. The employees – who Victory hires primarily through third parties and have valid work visas – had been cleared to enter the U.S. to work aboard the ships, the line confirmed. A CBP spokesperson told USA TODAY the agency is "involved in an ongoing operation on the Great Lakes," but could not provide further details. Travel Weekly reported that crew members were also removed from other ships operating in the region, including Viking and Pearl Seas Cruises vessels. Viking did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment. Pearl Seas Cruises declined to comment.

FOX News [7/19/2025 7:00 AM, Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi and Nikolas Lanum, 46878K] reports under the bright sun, Border Patrol agents Daniel Hernandez and Teresa Fast glisten with sweat as they stride along the rusted fence separating the United States and Mexico. They revealed the reality of what life is like working at the border. "A few months ago, before the election and before the previous administration, we were mostly doing processing of detained individuals," Hernandez told Fox News Digital. "That’s an administrative duty that is part of our job, but it used to be a small sliver of it, [and we were] doing a large portion of that. Now it’s inverse." "Now we’re doing small slivers of the processing, and we’re doing the bulk of patrolling duties. Most of our agents are out there patrolling." "We’re historically one of the busiest sectors," the homeland security agent said. "We’re at [a] 91% reduction [rate] over last year’s amounts, but that’s because we’re out here every single day." "If we were to take our foot off the gas and just assume the border’s secure, then we would lose what we had gained. So every single day we have to invest in patrolling," he added.

NBC News [7/18/2025 3:07 PM, Anagilmara Vílchez, 44540K] reports the Trump administration has been urging immigrants without legal immigration status to self-deport, with video and radio messages by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem telling them: "Leave now — if you don’t, we will find you and deport you.". But a number of immigrants and their attorneys told Noticias Telemundo that they’re not getting the documents and the guidance they need, and haven’t been able to leave. "I felt sad, honestly," Jairo Sequeira said about his failed attempt to return to his home country of Nicaragua. He said he tried to self-deport at the end of May and filled out the voluntary departure form through the CBP Home app. Sequeira was turned away, he said, because he didn’t have a Nicaraguan passport, which was taken when he surrendered in 2021 to immigration authorities in El Paso, Texas, after entering the U.S. "I never thought that would happen at the airport," said Sequeira, whose suitcase still has a Nicaragua-bound sticker. "I was always in touch [with my family], telling them, ‘I’ll arrive at such and such a time,’ excited." In response to questions from Noticias Telemundo, a Department of Homeland Security official stated in an e-mail that "tens of thousands of immigrants" have used the CBP Home app to self-deport. They didn’t provide an exact number or answer specific questions about the process. Noticias Telemundo contacted United Airlines — the airline Sequeira was supposed to travel on — but in a brief email response, the company referred questions to Customs and Border Protection. CBP then referred Noticias Telemundo to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not respond to specific questions. In an email, it indicated that foreign nationals seeking voluntary departure "through the CBP Home application may be eligible to receive financial assistance for their departure." They also stated that, if requested, the U.S. government will assist them in booking tickets and/or obtaining necessary travel documents.

New York Post [7/18/2025 8:30 PM, Shane Galvin, 49956K] reports Customs and Border Protection mocked an illegal migrant with a criminal history after he was nabbed in upstate New York while wearing an American flag T-shirt. "Nice shirt! But it doesn’t erase the fact that you entered the country illegally," the federal law enforcement agency wrote in a Friday post on X. The unidentified migrant, who "has multiple DUIs" and a prior arrest for assault, was busted at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, according to Border Patrol. The federal law enforcement agency posted a photo to X showing the man donning the apparently patriotic garb when he was taken into custody. "Criminal illegal aliens have no place in the U.S.," the post concluded. The Old Glory gloating comes as acting ICE director Tom Homan, a New York native, is calling for his agents to dramatically hike the amount of criminal illegal alien apprehensions up to 7,000 migrants per day — more than double the current numbers. As the Trump administration executes its illegal immigration crackdown, it is also streamlining a visa program for migrant workers to address concerns of farmers and hotel owners. "This is not amnesty. It’s not amnesty lite," a senior Trump administration official told Axios. "No one who is illegally here is being given a pathway to citizenship or residency.” Last week, an ICE raid at a cannabis farm in California turned up 361 illegal migrants.

FOX News [7/18/2025 11:22 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports that Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin discusses a Border Patrol raid at a Home Depot in Sacramento on ‘America’s Newsroom.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/18/2025 11:50 AM, Staff, 46878K] Video: HERE reports TSA deputy administrator Adam Stahl joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to make airport screenings faster and improve the travel experience.

NBC News [7/18/2025 9:48 AM, Matt Lavietes, 44540K] reports Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced on Thursday that the TSA will open security lanes dedicated to families and military service members. "Families on the Fly" will create dedicated security lines for families with small children and give families a $15 discount for TSA pre-check enrollment, Noem said at a press conference at Nashville International Airport. The new policy has already begun a pilot program at an airport in Orlando, Florida, home to Disney World, Noem added. "This means that when families come into our airports and enter our TSA security checkpoints, they will have dedicated lanes specific for families," Noem said. "They’ll be expanded areas that will give them the benefit of recognizing that they have children with them, and will help make sure that we have the ability to take care of them and their families as they go through this expedited process with their kiddos.". The "Honor Lane," which will expedite security checkpoints for military service members and their families, opened in Nashville last month, Noem said. The new military lanes are available at 11 different airports and will expand elsewhere soon, particularly near military bases. TSA will also begin offering Gold Star families TSA pre-check enrollment free of charge, she said. "These tokens of gratitude are just a small amount of what we can do in this country to honor those who serve in our military, but also them and their families, and recognize their sacrifice," Noem said at a press conference at the Nashville airport. FOX Business [7/18/2025 5:59 PM, Preston Mizell, 9940K] reports that the initiative is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s "Families on the Fly" campaign to alleviate difficulties for families traveling in groups, which also includes reducing invasive pat-downs on minors, and eliminating self-identified breast milk screening in TSA PreCheck lanes. "DHS and TSA are committed to making the airport security experience as smooth as possible for traveling families," Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News Digital. "The ‘Families on the Fly’ campaign reflects our commitment to putting families first by ensuring their journey through security is as seamless and stress-free as possible while we continue to usher in President Trump’s vision for a new golden age of American travel.". Current participating airports include Orlando International (MCO), Charlotte-Douglas International (CLT), but expansions are expected to John Wayne Orange County Airport and (SNA) and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), according to the TSA. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees TSA, also hinted that there may be an easing of rules surrounding the size of liquids that travelers can bring on carry-on luggage. "The liquids I’m questioning, so that may be the next big announcement, is what size your liquids need to be," Noem said at a DC conference hosted by "The Hill" on Wednesday.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [7/18/2025 10:11 AM, Brooke Steinberg, 49956K]
The Hill [7/18/2025 4:23 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K]
ABC News [7/18/2025 12:35 PM, Kelly McCarthy, 31733K]

AP [7/18/2025 10:23 AM, Rebecca Santana and Wyatte Grantham-Philips, 56000K] reports when limits on liquids were introduced at TSA checkpoints across the country in 2006, bins overflowed with bottled water, toothpaste, shaving cream and so much more. Nearly two decades later, travelers are much more accustomed to the "3-1-1" regulations" governing the size of the liquids they’re flying with, but scenes of passengers guzzling a beverage before putting their bags through the screening machines are still common. That’s why Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent ripples through the traveling public when she said earlier this week that changes might be afoot when it comes to the TSA’s current liquid limits. "The liquids, I’m questioning. So that may be the next big announcement, is what size your liquids need to be," Noem told a conference hosted by "The Hill" in Washington. Will travelers be able to carry bigger bottles? Multiple 1-quart bags of liquids? Those details haven’t been rolled out. But coming on top of her announcement earlier this month that travelers could keep their shoes on at TSA checkpoints, it seems a much different security experience for American air travelers might be emerging. Airline travel changed dramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Before that, airlines were responsible for security and would often contract it out to private firms, said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group. Travelers often didn’t need to show their ID at security checkpoints — and people without boarding passes, such as family members or friends, could go to the gate in some locations. "It was much more casual. And clearly it was ineffective, because 9/11 occurred," Harteveldt said. That’s when the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration were born, with the mandate of preventing more terrorist attacks. Jeffries was working for TSA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when the liquids rules came down overnight. Signage had to be changed to let passengers know of the new regulations. Barrels overflowing with toothpaste, shaving cream and shampoo had to be emptied every half hour. Jeffries remembers seeing a pair of shoes sitting in one of the barrels. When he asked why, a TSA staffer said there was gel in the soles. "I said, ‘Please tell me I don’t have a passenger back there walking in the sterile area barefoot. And he says, ‘No, sir, they still have their socks on,’" he said. "That’s how chaotic it was.". Any move to simplify the screening process and cut down on the time it takes for passengers to navigate checkpoints would be a welcome change for everyone, Harteveldt says. Because it isn’t just about convenience; those lines before the security checkpoints are the most at risk to a potential threat. The fact that the TSA felt confident enough to change its shoe policy earlier this month may not save too much time from an individual traveler’s perspective, Harteveldt notes — but marks a "big step forward" toward cutting down the average length of the security process when you think about the number of people going through U.S. airports each day. Relaxing current liquid restrictions could aid that effort.

USA Today [7/18/2025 2:57 PM, Chloe Kim, 75552K] reports decades old TSA policies are being rolled back by Homeland Security. Here’s what we know now about the safety of new TSA rules.

HS Today [7/18/2025 6:23 AM, Staff, 38K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that President Donald Trump wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency “remade” rather than dismantled entirely. “I think the president recognizes that FEMA should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response,” Noem said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” referring to the federal government’s response to the Texas floods. “It’s not just FEMA that can respond in these situations. The federal government has all kinds of assets, and we deployed them,” Noem added, pointing to the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection helping with disaster response. Both groups routinely respond to disasters.

Bloomberg Government [7/18/2025 1:22 PM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 111K] reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s top political official will testify before Congress next week as concerns mount about the Trump administration’s response to devastating floods in Texas earlier this month. David Richardson, who has led FEMA since May, will appear July 23 at a hearing for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s emergency management panel. Subcommittee Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) will focus on how FEMA "can become more agile and effective" in disaster response, according to an announcement Friday. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [7/18/2025 1:20 PM, Alex Brown, 1611K] reports with hurricane and wildfire season well underway across much of the country, state and local emergency managers say they have little idea how much support the federal government will provide if disaster strikes. And the recent deadly floods in Texas have shown just how dire the need can be. President Donald Trump has imposed severe cuts on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and denied some states’ requests for disaster recovery funds. FEMA also has failed to issue grants that many emergency managers rely on to fund their agencies — or to communicate its plans. Wyoming’s Office of Homeland Security, which responds to disasters, relies on the feds for 92% of its money, said Director Lynn Budd. With that federal support in question, the state could face a precarious situation when the current grants expire at the end of September. "If we don’t get this funding, what are we going to do?" Budd said. "You’re taking our capability away.". Budd serves as president of the National Emergency Management Association, a nonprofit focused on public safety. She said state officials have been told by Trump that they’ve become too dependent on federal support. Trump and officials in his administration have repeatedly talked of scaling back FEMA and pushing states to take the lead in disaster response. But in the wake of this month’s devastating flooding in Texas, administration officials have backed off Trump’s claims that he would eliminate the agency altogether. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson did not grant an interview request, but issued a statement calling on states to play a larger role in disaster response. State and local officials say Trump has provided no clarity about which disasters will qualify for federal recovery funds. He has denied support for disasters that met the existing criteria. At the same time, FEMA has yet to issue federal grants that provide much of the funding for local emergency management agencies. Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in an April statement to Stateline that the federal government would provide support only for "truly catastrophic disasters," adding that states should have "an appetite to own the problem.". Emergency management experts say it would be inefficient for all 50 states to stockpile the resources, staff and recovery funding to handle disasters on their own. Having a national agency that can deploy where it’s needed is far less wasteful. There’s no reason for every state to have all the resources that FEMA has. — Michael Coen, chief of staff at FEMA during the Obama and Biden administrations. Morton, the Saluda County official, echoed that concern. He also serves as first vice president with the International Association of Emergency Managers, a nonprofit representing professionals in the field. "It would be impossible for every county in the U.S. to maintain an adequate disaster recovery fund on their own," he said. "Right now, we have a disaster fund at the federal level, and that money is able to be moved around to where it’s needed in the moment. That really is the best bang for the buck for the American people.". But that federal support is no longer a sure thing. Morton said recovery funds for Hurricane Helene — which walloped states from Florida to North Carolina — have been slower to materialize than for previous disasters. FEMA officials have required more paperwork, he said, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s insistence that she personally approve any expenditure over $100,000 has also slowed the process.

AP [7/19/2025 12:05 AM, John Hanna and Nadia Lathan, 31733K] reports the search for victims of deadly flooding in Texas Hill Country is headed into its third week as officials try to pin down exactly how many people remain missing and lawmakers prepare to discuss authorities’ initial response and providing better warning systems. Flash floods killed at least 135 people in Texas over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with most deaths along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio. The Hill Country is naturally prone to flash flooding because its dry, dirt-packed soil cannot soak up heavy rain. The Texas Legislature is scheduled to convene Monday for a special session. Gov. Greg Abbott initially called lawmakers back to the Texas State Capitol in Austin for other reasons, but he and legislative leaders have added flooding-related issues to the agenda. State officials had been saying about 160 people were unaccounted for after the flooding in Kerr County alone, but they now say about 100 remain missing in Kerr and other counties. Kerr County officials said the number of missing people decreased as victims were recovered, contact was made with people who were found safe, and some reports were found to be unsubstantiated or falsified. Also, they said, the missing list fluctuates as reports come into a hotline. The floods laid waste to the Hill Country. Vacation cabins, youth camps campgrounds fill the riverbanks and hills of Kerr County, and Camp Mystic, a century-old Christian summer camp for girls in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe. At least 27 of its campers and counselors died. Abbott called the special session hoping legislators would pass a measure to regulate a booming business in THC products after he vetoed a bill that would have banned them. And since the flooding, President Donald Trump has told the Republicans who control state government to redraw congressional districts to help the GOP’s chances of retaining a U.S. House majority in next year’s midterm elections. Abbott said lawmakers would also review authorities’ handling of the flooding and consider improving warning systems for Hill Country residents. Kerr County does not have a warning system because state and local agencies missed opportunities over the past decade to finance one. One bill already introduced by Republican Rep. Don McLaughlin would require the state’s top public health official to set building standards for youth camps in 100-year floodplains — which FEMA defines as a high-risk area with a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. During a recent news conference, Republican state Rep. Drew Darby, a member of the House’s committee, said lawmakers cannot bring back flood victims or undo the flooding. "But what we can do is learn from it," he said.

New York Times [7/19/2025 5:01 AM, Orlando Mayorquín and Pooja Salhotra, 153395K] reports in the days after the deadly July 4 floods in Central Texas, Megan Newton spent hours sitting outside her parents’ home in Marble Falls, looking overhead to spot medical choppers among the Black Hawk helicopters searching for the missing. “I was just waiting for someone to call and say, ‘We found him,’” Ms. Newton, 41, said, “that ‘we’ve got him and he’s good.’” Since then, her hope has waned for her father, Michael Phillips, 66, the chief of the volunteer fire department in Marble Falls, about 80 miles north of San Antonio. Yet his name remains among more than 100 people still missing statewide after floodwaters roared through summer camps, riverside homes, campgrounds and R.V. parks, claiming at least 135 lives. As days have turned into weeks, the number of missing, still stubbornly high, may be the flood’s biggest lingering question. The total in Kerr County, the epicenter of the disaster, dropped this week to 97 from 173, and then stalled, raising still more questions. At least four others are missing or unidentified from Travis County, just east of Kerr. And one person — Mr. Phillips — is missing from Burnet County, and still others across the region might be out there. “Even though we are reporting 97 people missing,” in Kerr County, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas told reporters on Monday, “there’s no certainty that all 97 of those people were swept away by the storm.” The fluctuation of the numbers has only contributed to the puzzlement, as bodies are recovered and it becomes clear that some counts are incorrect. Mr. Abbott has said that in the days following the floods, local and state officials were better able to identify people from out of town who had come to the Hill Country to stay at camps and hotels.

Washington Post [7/19/2025 7:01 AM, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, 32099K]
reports from the north bank of the Guadalupe River, Rough Vine watched as a team of searchers in neon yellow shirts circled a mound of crushed trees near the water’s edge. Suddenly his face turned grim. It was his 10th day volunteering with the massive effort to find bodies — and to provide solace to the families most devastated by Texas Hill Country’s historic flooding on the Fourth of July. Often working solo, Vine had maneuvered his skid steer and flatbed trailer to clear tons of debris carried downstream by the raging waters. So far, the contractor had helped recover the remains of eight people. Now, even from a distance, he could tell that something new had just been discovered. “A cadaver dog just hit,” he said. “That’s another one.” Overhead, turkey vultures circled. A field of pulverized rocks and twisted cypress trunks lay between him and the river. His friend owned the property, a wedding venue called Paradise, now transformed by what Vine called “biblical carnage.” At least 11 bodies had been found there alone, he said. The enormity of the tragedy had shaken him. “This is going to go on for a very long time,” said Vine, 43, a native Texan with muddy alligator boots and neck and knuckle tattoos. “There’s bodies that are encapsulated in that stuff, that are in their tombs.” Two weeks into a rescue-turned-recovery, the death toll across Central Texas stands at 135, including at least 37 children. About 100 people are still missing, and Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly pledged to continue the search until every person is found. But with no end in sight, the task has become a grueling, painstaking slog along 60 miles of the Guadalupe, through communities in Kerr County and farther south.

Houston Chronicle [7/19/2025 7:05 AM, Claire Hao and Rebekah F. Ward, 200K] reports after devastating floods tore through the Hill Country on the Fourth of July, government representatives faced intense scrutiny about how they’ve handled the disaster, and whether earlier public warnings could have saved lives. In response, President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials have pushed back against pointed questions and stayed mostly silent on what local leaders did during the crucial early morning hours before the Guadalupe River surged. “It’s a masterclass in how not to communicate,” said Tom Stewart, a Texas public relations specialist who has worked in the past on storm response. Professional crisis communicators like Stewart watched the news conferences with dismay. Deflecting blame is not helpful if politicians want to build trust with the public, they say.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/18/2025 4:24 PM, Megan Fan Munce, 4120K] reports the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles are now the costliest set of wildfires in global history, according to a new insurance industry report. Gallagher Re, a global reinsurance firm, estimates that the January fires caused economic losses of $65 billion, including $40 billion of insured damage. That makes the two blazes the "costliest individual wildfire events ever recorded for the (re)insurance industry," according to the report released Wednesday. Reinsurance firms provide insurance to insurance companies in order to handle the costs of major catastrophes, such as large wildfires, and closely track the costs of such events. Measured by structures destroyed — which includes homes and businesses as well as barns and sheds — the Eaton and Palisades fires are the second and third most destructive fires in state history, respectively, according to Cal Fire. Their massive devastation is outpaced only by the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed more than 18,800 structures in and around the community of Paradise (Butte County). The Eaton Fire, which killed 18 people, is also the fifth deadliest wildfire in California. The Palisades Fire is the ninth deadliest, with 12 deaths. Though previous fires have burned more structures, the Palisades and Eaton fires uniquely ripped through scores of highly expensive homes.

Axios [7/18/2025 2:30 PM, Sam Sabin, 13599K] reports a top Secret Service official was the target of a "swatting" incident at his home on the Fourth of July, according to an agency official. While the incident didn’t lead to any harm, it’s another example of just how difficult it’s become for law enforcement to rein in the wave of hoax calls. Someone called 9-1-1 on July 4 to falsely report that the senior-level official’s daughter was running around the house with a weapon, Michael Centrella, assistant director of the Secret Service’s office of field operations, told a small gathering of tech executives Thursday at the Deepfake Resilience Symposium in San Francisco. The voice on the phone appeared to be trying to mimic the agent’s, but law enforcement is still investigating whether the caller used a precise deepfake of the agent’s voice or just a synthesizer to sound like a man around his age, Centrella added. However, the bad actor’s plan was foiled by a simple fact: The agent doesn’t have a daughter, and his local law enforcement knew that. The Secret Service asked Axios to keep the name of the official who was targeted anonymous to protect them and their family from copycat attacks. "We were able to protect [the senior official] and not have a major incident," Centrella said. "But you’ve seen these cases now across the country, they are very impactful."

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [7/18/2025 4:55 PM, Jim Mishler, 4622K]

Waterways Journal [7/18/2025 1:36 PM, David Murray, 13K] reports that on July 11, United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced the partial termination of two contracts with Panama City, Fla.-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) to build two Coast Guard offshore patrol cutters (OPCs). According to a statement by DHS, the cancellations were due to repeated delays and underperformance. ESG’s delivery of the first OPC, named Argus, was initially expected in June 2023, but the yard launched and christened it in October 2023. While the Coast Guard has possession of the Argus—a change of command ceremony was held last month in San Pedro, Calif.—DHS doesn’t expect the first-in-class OPC to be completed before "the end of 2026 at the earliest." The Coast Guard stopped work on OPCs 3 and 4 after ESG notified the service earlier this year they could not fulfill their contractual duty to deliver all four OPCs without unabsorbable loss. In light of that, Noem partially canceled ESG’s contract for the latter two OPCs "because it was not an effective use of taxpayer money." The Coast Guard awarded the first OPC contract to Eastern Shipbuilding in 2016, but the yard suffered major damage—and subsequent production delays—from Hurricane Michael in 2018. While the Coast Guard eventually awarded the OPC 2, 3 and 4 contracts to ESG, the agency opted to pivot and award the next 11 OPC contracts to Austal USA in nearby Mobile, Ala., in June 2022, less than two months after the Eastern was awarded the contract for OPC 4. Eastern Shipbuilding Group challenged the awarding of the second batch of OPCs to Austal USA but lost that appeal. DHS placed the decision to cancel the contracts for OPC 3 and 4 within the context of fiscal responsibility.

ABC News [7/18/2025 7:02 AM, Jon Haworth, 31733K] reports the body of an unidentified person has been found floating near the Isles of Shoals off of the coast of New Hampshire in the Atlantic Ocean, police said. The grisly discovery was made on Sunday morning at approximately 9:15 a.m. when a person on a fishing vessel reported seeing a body floating near the Isles of Shoals to the U.S. Coast Guard, according to a statement from the New Hampshire State Police on Thursday. "The Coast Guard relayed the information to members of the New Hampshire State Police – Marine Patrol, who responded and recovered the body," officials said. Authorities did not immediately provide details on the condition the body was in, whether the person was male or female or give an estimate on the age of the person that they are trying to identify. "The investigation is ongoing to determine the person’s identity, as well as their cause and manner of death," officials said. Authorities said that there are no known threats to the public in connection with this incident but did not say if they suspected foul play or not. The investigation into the death is currently ongoing.

HS Today [7/18/2025 6:40 AM, Staff, 38K] reports he U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) hosted a Change of Command ceremony on campus, July 16, 2025. Rear Adm. Gregory Rothrock officially relieved Rear Adm. Michael Johnston, becoming the 44th superintendent of USCGA. The event, held in Leamy Hall Auditorium, honored tradition by acknowledging the continuation of leadership in the Coast Guard. Acting Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Kevin Lunday presided over the ceremony. Reflecting on a tour defined by meaningful progress and achievement, Johnston shared his gratitude for the chance to lead the Academy, calling it an honor to serve alongside such dedicated faculty, staff, and exceptional cadets. “The U.S. Coast Guard Academy, I can say without hesitation, has been the most meaningful assignment of my career. Being Superintendent is not just about running a campus. It’s about shaping the future of our service and the nation,” Johnston said to the audience.

FOX News [7/18/2025 3:43 PM, Alec Schemmel, 46878K] Video: HERE reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was "looking into" a cloud computing program run by Microsoft utilizing foreign workers from China, which was criticized this week for potentially lacking adequate safeguards, which could provide the CCP easy access to classified defense data and systems. A ProPublica report released Tuesday accused Microsoft of allowing China-based engineers to assist with Pentagon cloud systems with inadequate guardrails in an effort to scale up its government contracting business. In response, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to Hegseth Thursday asking for information and documents about the program, including a list of all Department of Defense (DOD) contractors that hire Chinese personnel to provide maintenance or other services to DOD systems, a list of subcontractors that hire Microsoft’s American-born "digital escorts" required to supervise foreign computer scientists while they work on DOD systems and documents on the training these supervisors receive to identify suspicious activity. The Republican senator requested answers to his questions by the end of the month. "In light of recent and concerning reports about Microsoft using engineers in China to maintain DOD systems, I’ve asked the Secretary of Defense to look into the matter," Cotton said in a post on X sharing his letter to Hegseth. "We must guard against all threats within our military’s supply chain.". A few hours after Cotton’s X post, Hegseth responded, "Spot on senator.".

The Hill [7/18/2025 4:25 PM, Julia Shapero, 18649K] reports that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) pressed the Defense Department on Thursday for information about Microsoft’s reported use of Chinese engineers to help maintain the agency’s computer systems. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Cotton pointed to recent reporting from ProPublica indicating Microsoft relies on Chinese engineers, who are overseen by U.S. citizens with security clearances known as "digital escorts." "While this arrangement technically meets the requirement that U.S. citizens handle sensitive data, digital escorts often do not have the technical training or expertise needed to catch malicious code or suspicious behavior," Cotton wrote. "The U.S. government recognizes that China’s cyber capabilities pose one of the most aggressive and dangerous threats to the United States, as evidenced by infiltration of our critical infrastructure, telecommunications networks, and supply chains," he added. "DoD must guard against all potential threats within its supply chain, including from those subcontractors." The Arkansas Republican requested information from Hegseth about the Pentagon’s contractors and subcontractors who hire Chinese personnel or digital escorts, as well as recommendations for closing loopholes in the security requirements for government cloud providers. The group known as Salt Typhoon has compromised at least nine telecommunications firms. One state’s National Guard network was also hacked for nearly a year, according to a recent memo from the Department of Homeland Security obtained by NBC News.

Reuters [7/18/2025 6:57 PM, Stephen Nellis, 51390K] reports that Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Friday said it will stop using China-based engineers to provide technical assistance to the U.S. military after a report in investigative journalism outlet ProPublica sparked questions from a U.S. senator and prompted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a two-week review of Pentagon cloud deals. The report detailed Microsoft’s use of Chinese engineers to work on U.S. military cloud computing systems under the supervision of U.S. "digital escorts" hired through subcontractors who have security clearances but often lacked the technical skills to assess whether the work of the Chinese engineers posed a cybersecurity threat. Microsoft, a major contractor to the U.S. government, has had its systems breached by Chinese and Russian hackers. It told ProPublica it disclosed its practices to the U.S. government during an authorization process. On Friday, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said on social media website X the company changed how it supports U.S. government customers "in response to concerns raised earlier this week ... to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance" for services used by the Pentagon. Earlier on Friday, Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the chamber’s intelligence committee and also serves on its armed services committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about Microsoft’s reported practices.

Breitbart [7/18/2025 3:39 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 3077K] reports that the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday imposed sanctions on Héctor "The Child" Guerrero, leader of the Tren de Aragua terrorist organization, and five other members of its top brass. The U.S. is offering a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Guerrero alongside bounties on other sanctioned Tren de Aragua leaders totaling up to $12 million. "Today’s action highlights the critical role of leaders like Niño Guerrero and his lieutenants in Tren de Aragua’s efforts to increase its destabilizing influence throughout the region," Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said. "The Trump Administration will not allow Tren de Aragua to continue to terrorize our communities and harm innocent Americans." "In line with President Trump’s mandate to Make America Safe Again, Treasury remains dedicated to dismantling Tren de Aragua and disrupting the group’s campaign of violence," he added. Weeks after the "raid," authorities from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Chicago, Illinois, reportedly confirmed the presence of Tren de Aragua’s gang members in the city. Several other U.S. states such as Louisiana, New York, Colorado, and South Carolina saw Tren de Aragua members commit criminal activities within their territory in the following months.

NewsMax [7/18/2025 2:52 PM, Duvi Honig, 4622K] reports it’s one of the great ironies of our time — and one of the most disturbing. Zohran Mamdani, a New York State Assemblyman who won the Democratic Nomination to Run for mayor of New York City, whose family fled Uganda under the tyrannical rule of Idi Amin, has now emerged as one of the loudest voices trying to destroy everything America and New York City stands. He has defended Hamas and attacked Israel. His political stance isn’t just hypocritical — it’s dangerous, dishonest, and an insult to every New York City resident suffering, post Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct 7, 2023 - as a result of unbridled terrorism. It’s Beyond Critically Important to Return to History.

Bloomberg [7/18/2025 2:53 PM, Eric Heisig, 1707K] reports that the Michigan Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit against the Michigan State Police filed by the father of a student killed in a 2021 school shooting in suburban Detroit, which said troopers didn’t properly respond to tips about potential violence. A Court of Claims judge improperly dismissed the lawsuit by Steve St. Juliana—who represents the estate of his deceased daughter Hana, a 14-year-old student at Oxford High School—based on statute of limitations issues, said the unsigned opinion issued Thursday. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

The Chicago Tribune [7/18/2025 5:48 PM, William Tong, 3987K] reports a Lombard teen faces terrorism and weapons charges for allegedly planning a terror attack at the Islamic Education Center in Glendale Heights, authorities announced Friday. Prosecutors charged the unnamed 16-year-old with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of attempted terrorism, according to a news release from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office. CBS Chicago [7/18/2025 7:36 PM, Jeramie Bizzle, 51860K] Video: HERE reports that the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office announced on Friday that the 16-year-old boy appeared at a detention hearing, charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of attempted terrorism. The judge ordered the teen to be held until at least his next court appearance.

FOX Business [7/18/2025 4:14 PM, Aislinn Murphy, 9940K] Video: HERE reports Northrop Grumman is producing vital semiconductor chips in the U.S. The Virginia-based defense company manufactures millions of chips in America each year, FOX Business correspondent Max Gorden reported Friday from its factory in Baltimore, Maryland. At the facility, Gorden showed a "wafer" that contained "thousands of microchips." "They’re all on here, and then they’re eventually cut out toward the end of the process," he explained. He also showed the "clean room" where he said Northrop Grumman staff were "actually testing out these microchips" before they left the production line. The company makes the chips for usage in military aircraft, defense ground radar systems, electronic warfare systems, space and weather satellites and other technology, according to Northrop Grumman. Production of a chip typically takes "a couple of weeks" but the defense company can "speed things up if there’s a national security need," according to Gorden. Northrop Grumman senior manager Dave Shahin told FOX Business that the microelectronics made at the Maryland facility "are the core of those national defense systems." Northrop Grumman, which has produced its chips entirely in the U.S. for many decades, is in a "good position," Gordon reported. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Federal News Network [7/18/2025 5:19 PM, Matt Loszak, 2346K] reports recent executive actions underline the urgency of mitigating vulnerabilities that arise from dependence on traditional power grids, which are susceptible to disruptions, and emphasize nuclear power as a secure, resilient and stable alternative. Specifically, the United States government is now focused on enhancing national security and powering critical infrastructure, such as data centers integral to defense and intelligence operations, through the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies. The strategy of the Trump administration is to radically overhaul the approach to nuclear energy deployment at military installations and federally owned sites. Central to this strategy is a policy directive mandating the rapid deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs), microreactors and next-generation nuclear technologies at strategic military sites. The government has specifically identified nine military installations — spanning Army, Air Force, Space Force and Navy bases — as immediate candidates for nuclear technology deployment, prioritizing locations in geopolitically sensitive regions such as the Indo-Pacific and Arctic environments. The Defense Department, collaborating with the Energy Department, has been instructed to address logistical and regulatory barriers swiftly, clearing the path for immediate installation and operational readiness.

The Hill [7/18/2025 12:56 PM, Rachel Frazin, 18649K] reports the Trump administration is exempting dozens of chemical manufacturers, oil refineries, coal plants, medical device sterilizers and other polluters from Clean Air Act rules. On Thursday, the White House announced that it would exempt more than 100 plants from pollution limits established by the Biden administration. The limits are aimed at reducing the releases of toxic chemicals, including those that cause cancer. One rule, that the Trump administration is exempting about 50 polluters from, would have been expected to reduce cancer risks of people living within 6 miles of a chemical plant by 96 percent. The Trump administration touted its decision as being supportive of fossil fuels and manufacturing. "President Trump recognizes that overly restrictive environmental regulations undermine America’s energy reliability, economic vitality, and national security," said a White House fact sheet. However, the move also stands in contrast with the administration’s pledge to "Make America Healthy Again.". "Trump’s action on behalf of big corporate polluters will cause more cancer, more birth defects, and more children to suffer asthma. The country deserves better," said Patrice Simms, vice president of litigation at Earthjustice’s Healthy Communities Program, in a written statement.

Reuters [7/18/2025 2:09 PM, Ahmed Aboulenein, 51390K] reports that the United States has rejected amendments adopted in 2024 by members of the World Health Organization to its legally binding health rules aimed at improving preparedness for future pandemics following the disjointed global response to COVID-19. The Department of State and Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement they had transmitted on Friday the official U.S. rejection of the amendments to the International Health Regulations, which were adopted by consensus last year. The amendments introduced a new category of "pandemic emergency" for the most significant and globally threatening health crises in an effort to shore up the world’s defenses against new pathogens. "Developed without adequate public input, these amendments expand the role of the WHO in public health emergencies, create additional authorities for the WHO for shaping pandemic declarations, and promote WHO’s ability to facilitate ‘equitable access’ of health commodities," the U.S. statement said. "Terminology throughout the 2024 amendments is vague and broad, risking WHO-coordinated international responses that focus on political issues like solidarity, rather than rapid and effective actions," said the statement, jointly issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

FOX News [7/18/2025 10:09 AM, Bradford Betz, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump late Thursday directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to work on releasing grand jury transcripts in the case of Jeffrey Epstein. It’s unclear exactly when any testimony may go public. The Justice Department is expected to file Friday asking a judge to unseal transcripts. The order came after a barrage of criticism against the Trump administration following the release of a joint DOJ-FBI memo that concluded there was no evidence that the disgraced financier had blackmailed powerful people, kept a client list or was killed while in jail. The memo has created deep fissures among Trump supporters who have complained of a lack of transparency from the administration. A source told Fox News Digital that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino had been considering resigning over the matter, though he has not stated anything publicly. The president, meanwhile, has pushed back at the criticism, calling the charges a "hoax" and contending that his supporters are being "duped" by Democrats. Trump posted to Truth Social on Friday morning, "If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had [then-Attorney General Merrick Garland] and [then-FBI Director James Comey] in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!". Before joining the Trump administration, Bondi was among the staunchest advocates for releasing the Epstein list, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity in 2024: "It should have come out a long time ago.". The Justice Department released a new batch of Epstein files in February, but the documents revealed no new revelations in the case. Many of the documents had already been released during the federal criminal trial of Epstein’s associate, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

New York Times [7/18/2025 6:33 PM, Matthew Cullen, 138952K] reports the Justice Department asked a federal judge on Friday to unseal grand jury testimony from the prosecution of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as President Trump seeks to dispel a storm of criticism and conspiracy theories coming from many of his supporters. The request was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where Mr. Epstein was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges six years ago when he was found dead by hanging in his jail cell about a month after he was arrested. The New York City medical examiner ruled the death a suicide. The government also sought the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite who in a 2021 trial was convicted of helping Mr. Epstein facilitate his sex-trafficking scheme and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She has appealed her conviction. “Public officials, lawmakers, pundits, and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,” Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, wrote in a motion to the court seeking to unseal the transcripts. “The time for the public to guess what they contain should end.” Ms. Bondi and Mr. Blanche referred in the motion to Mr. Epstein as the “the most infamous pedophile in American history,” and called the facts of the case “a tale of national disgrace.” The filings on Friday followed Mr. Trump’s announcement in a social media post Thursday night that he had authorized Ms. Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.” Obtaining court approval for unsealing the testimony could be difficult because the records are shielded by grand jury secrecy, to protect crime victims and witnesses. Judges rarely agree to grant public access to such materials. In their motion, Ms. Bondi and Mr. Blanche said the Justice Department would work with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, to make “appropriate redactions” of information related to victims and “other personal identifying information” before releasing the transcripts.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [7/18/2025 5:30 PM, Steven Nelson and Ben Kochman, 49956K]

Los Angeles Times [7/18/2025 4:22 PM, Michael Wilner and Jenny Jarvie, 14672K] reports President Trump sued Dow Jones and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for libel on Friday, striking back against the publication of a bombshell story in the Wall Street Journal alleging the president sent a sordid letter to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s. The Journal, a Dow Jones publication, reported Thursday that Trump sent a raunchy 50th birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, featuring breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair. The paper said it had reviewed copies of a collection of lewd letters that Epstein’s longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, gathered from Epstein’s friends and colleagues and compiled in an album to mark his 2003 birthday. “We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Friday, adding that the suit also targets Murdoch and the reporters on the story.

FOX News [7/18/2025 7:11 PM, Staff, 46878K] Video: HERE reports Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel reports on ‘stunning details’ found in declassified documents that seemingly show ‘politicization’ of intelligence by former President Barack Obama’s administration on ‘Special Report.’

Bloomberg [7/18/2025 4:02 PM, Nick Wadhams and Ryan Chua, 19320K] reports that the top US intelligence official declassified an email trove purporting to expose a Democratic conspiracy to cast doubt on Donald Trump’s 2016 election win, just as his team seeks to defuse criticism over its handling of files linked to financier Jeffrey Epstein. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the 114 pages of heavily redacted emails reveal that former President Barack Obama’s national security Cabinet faked and manipulated intelligence behind the assessment that Russia wanted Trump to win the election. In a press release, Gabbard said the information “clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government.” She called for an investigation and prosecution of those involved, “no matter how powerful,” and said on X that the documents would be turned over to the Department of Justice. Gabbard’s claim stands in contrast to the findings of a bipartisan Senate investigation that ended in 2020 and the conclusion of a Central Intelligence Agency review released earlier this month. That review faulted some aspects of a 2017 assessment on Russian interference but stood by the conclusion that Moscow wanted Trump to win in 2016.

FOX News [7/18/2025 1:02 PM, Brooke Singman, 46878K] reports that the Obama administration "manufactured and politicized intelligence" to create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise, Fox News Digital has learned. On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents revealing "overwhelming evidence" that demonstrates how, after President Donald Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Barack Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the years-long Trump–Russia collusion probe. Documents revealed that in the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the intelligence community consistently assessed that Russia was "probably not trying…to influence the election by using cyber means." One instance was on Dec. 7, 2016, weeks after the election. Then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s talking points stated: "Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the U.S. presidential election outcome." Fox News Digital obtained a declassified copy of the Presidential Daily Brief, which was prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, with reporting from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, State Department and open sources, for Obama, dated Dec. 8, 2016. The Washington Examiner [7/18/2025 3:41 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1934K] reports that top officials from former President Barack Obamaʼs administration suppressed a key intelligence assessment in December 2016 that concluded Russia had not interfered with voting systems or altered the outcome of the presidential election, then ordered the creation of a new narrative alleging the opposite, according to newly declassified documents. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified and released the records Friday, calling them "overwhelming evidence" that the Obama administration "manufactured and politicized intelligence" to justify what would become a yearslong campaign to undermine President Donald Trump. "These documents detail a treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate," Gabbard wrote on X. Among the documents is a draft of the Dec. 8, 2016, President’s Daily Brief, which concluded that "Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent U.S. election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure." Intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Security Agency, contributed to the product.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [7/18/2025 5:32 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 3077K]

New York Post [7/18/2025 4:37 PM, Caitlin Doornbos, 49956K] reports with the US and Ukraine discussing a "mega deal" for Washington to purchase battle-tested drones from eastern Europe in exchange for American heavy weaponry, The Post got an exclusive look Friday at two Ukrainian companies that are developing the technology to blast Russian crafts out of the sky. "In Ukraine, there is a phrase people have been using — that ‘quantity’ becomes ‘quality,’" said Nomad Drones co-founder and CEO Andrii Fedorov. A single, highly advanced interceptor missile or rocket — such as those in America’s Patriot air-defense systems, can cost between $100,000 and $250,000, according to Pentagon data. While those are effective for countering enemy missiles and other advanced air capabilities, they are not financially feasible to defend against Iranian-made, Russian-launched Shahed drones — which Moscow has deployed in large quantities against Ukraine due in part to their cost of under $50,000 apiece. Nomad Drones, and a second company that requested anonymity to avoid Russian targeting after having been struck multiple times, are in the business of making hundreds of thousands of small interceptor missiles and drones — that often are even less expensive than Shaheds. "There is absolutely no sense to waste a $1 million weapon to shoot down a $50,000 Shahed," Federov said. "But if you have 20 drones, then the capacity costs you, say, $40,000 to shoot it down.".

CyberScoop [7/18/2025 10:22 AM, Tim Starks] reports as the U.S. government contemplates additional sanctions on Moscow, the United Kingdom went ahead and levied its own Friday against what it said was a group of Russia’s hackers and spies. The sanctions target 18 military intelligence officers and three divisions of the Russian military unit known as the GRU. Cyber operations in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine drew the U.K. targeting of the hackers. “The GRU routinely uses cyber and information operations to sow chaos, division and disorder in Ukraine and across the world with devastating real-world consequences,” reads a news release. But the sanctions also go after the use of malware tied to an attempted assassination of a former Russian double agent residing on U.K. soil and the related poisoning of his daughter. “Today’s action also hits GRU military intelligence officers responsible for historically targeting Yulia Skripal’s device with malicious malware known as X-Agent — five years before GRU military intelligence officers’ failed attempt to murder Yulia and Sergei Skripal with the deadly Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury,” the release states. According to a 2018 U.S. grand jury indictment, X-Agent is custom malware that Russia developed to hack the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to interfere in the 2016 election.

Reuters [7/19/2025 4:55 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports China vowed on Saturday to step up a crackdown and toughen law enforcement against smuggling of strategic minerals seen as vital to national security and critical for development. The remarks by the commerce ministry came a day after the state security ministry accused foreign spy agencies of having tried to "steal" rare earths and pledged to crack down on infiltration and espionage targeting the critical sector. The world’s largest supplier of dozens of strategic minerals, China began imposing export curbs in 2023 on supplies vital to sectors ranging from chipmaking and the energy transition to defence. The commerce ministry remarks, describing smuggling and export of strategic minerals as a severe problem to be combated, came at a meeting of officials responsible for export control coordination and other government bodies. "Cases of smuggling by a small number of criminals for their own selfish interests and collusion between domestic and foreign parties are still occurring," it said in a statement. Evasive methods such as false declarations and third-country transshipment were taking on increasingly covert forms, it added, urging government bodies to prevent illegal outflows of strategic minerals and related technologies. China has adopted a "zero-tolerance" approach to smuggling and export of strategic minerals, which it will fight with a heavy hand, through special efforts to toughen law enforcement, the ministry said. In May China said it would strengthen controls on the entire supply chains of strategic mineral exports while tightening its grip on materials deemed crucial to national interest. Earlier, Beijing launched a special campaign to tackle smuggling of strategic minerals such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten and some rare earths.

Reported similarly:
AP [7/18/2025 7:41 AM, Elaine Kurtenbach, 56000K]

FOX News [7/18/2025 5:51 PM, Brie Stimson, 46878K] reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Friday it had fired dozens of foreign contract workers from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. The cuts of about 70 workers followed a national security review for U.S. food safety. A USDA spokesperson said the contract workers came from "countries of concern" and will "no longer be able to work on USDA projects.". The workers had been with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the research arm of the USDA, Thomas Henderson, who represents the union for some of the research workers, told Reuters. ARS does research on areas of importance to American farmers, such as pests, food safety and climate change. Most of the contract workers were vetted Chinese post-doctoral researchers, with some even arriving to work this week to find out their badges no longer worked. Earlier this month, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in a new plan to keep U.S. farmland safe that contracts with any workers from China, North Korea, Iran and Russia should be canceled, and nationals from those countries wouldn’t be allowed to buy farmland in the U.S. All ARS project publications are also expected to be reanalyzed and those co-authored with researchers from the four countries will be denied, Ethan Roberts, an ARS employee who is also the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3247 union, told Reuters. The workers won’t be able to be replaced until the Oct. 15 federal hiring freeze is lifted. That will force some research projects to be halted, Henderson said, citing a project to develop a vaccine for a deadly toxin that occurs in undercooked beef.

The Hill [7/18/2025 11:14 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports an ex-intelligence official said late Thursday that China’s military leaders are experimenting with creating a "super soldier," calling the lack of information "disturbing.". "Other nations have explored in this area over decades. So it’s not the newest thing in the world, but the more disturbing part [is] we don’t know exactly how much effort they’re putting in towards it," Nicholas Eftimiades, a former senior intelligence officer in the Defense Intelligence Agency, said during an appearance on NewsNation’s "Elizabeth Vargas Reports.". "We don’t know any of the accomplishments they’ve had towards it. We do know, which is disturbing, is that it’s under the People’s Liberation Army.". Eftimiades said Beijing’s research is "promising," but noted that little is known about gene splicing or personality altering efforts. "They’ve been exploring this concept for a while. Can they modify human behavior, human physiology, to create, if you will, a more superior individual, physically as well as mentally?" he asked. The remarks comes as China works to shore up military installments in Africa and elsewhere around the world amid a tense trade relationship with the United States and blossoming alliance with Russia. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem earlier this week warned that China has capabilities to shut off U.S. water and electricity grids during remarks at the inaugural Hill Nation summit.

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