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 [7/27/2025 5:24 PM, Johnny Diaz, 138952K] reports a man armed with a folding knife who went on a random stabbing spree that left 11 people injured at a Michigan Walmart faces a charge of terrorism in connection with the attack, the authorities said on Sunday. The man, Bradford James Gille, 42, of Afton, Mich., also faces 11 counts of assault with intent to murder, Sheriff Mike Shea of Grand Traverse County said at a news conference on Sunday. Though officials said a motive for the attack remained undetermined, they are seeking to charge Mr. Gille with terrorism. Such a charge is customary in a mass attack like the one on Saturday because its intent was believed to be to bring fear and destruction to a community as a whole, rather than to harm specific individuals, Noelle R. Moeggenberg, the prosecuting attorney for Grand Traverse County, said. If convicted, the maximum penalty Mr. Gille would face for that charge would be life in prison, she said. Mr. Gille used a “standard folding-style knife” with a 3.5-inch blade, Sheriff Shea said. He acted alone, the sheriff added. Mr. Gille entered the store at 4:10 p.m. and remained there until the attack began around 4:45 p.m. at the store’s checkout area. Mr. Gille was detained less than three minutes after the police arrived, Sheriff Shea said. He said that the attack appeared to be a random act. The sheriff noted that “multiple citizens, including one who was armed with a pistol,” confronted Mr. Gille in the parking lot, “preventing him from harming further people and leaving.” Sheriff Shea was unwilling to name the citizens or reveal additional information about them but he said, “What they did was amazing.” Eleven people were initially treated for injuries at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, said Megan Brown, the chief marketing and communications officer for Munson Healthcare, which runs the center. As of Sunday afternoon, one victim had been discharged, two were in serious condition and the others were in fair condition, according to Dr. Tom Schermerhorn of Munson Healthcare. The victims, six men and five women, were between the ages of 29 and 84. One of those injured was a Walmart employee. Mr. Gille was booked into the Grand Traverse County Correctional Facility. Ms. Moeggenberg said he would be arraigned this week. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. A shopper on Saturday described a scene of mayhem and confusion. Julia Martell was in the canned vegetables aisle at Walmart when she heard screaming and saw a man with a knife running through the store’s pharmacy area, she said. As the man moved through the store, he was shoving and stabbing people, she said. Then the man changed course and started running toward her. She saw the knife in his hand — a knife with a blade about two inches long, she said — and ran. The man didn’t follow her and instead turned back toward the store entrance, she said. “If anything, him not following me kind of scared me more because then you had no idea where he was,” she said. Ms. Martell, 30, said she saw three people with stab wounds as she evacuated the store, including a man on the floor in the store’s frozen food section. There was “blood everywhere,” she said. A spokesman for Walmart said the violence at its store was “unacceptable” and expressed gratitude for the quick response by emergency workers. The AP [7/27/2025 6:34 PM, Mike Householder, Ryan Sun and Michael Casey, 1934K] Video: HERE reports that the man is expected to be charged with one count of terrorism and 11 counts of assault with intent to murder. Shea praised the quick response by law officers who arrived within three minutes of receiving the call about the stabbing — as well as a group of bystanders who intervened and detained Gille in the parking lot of the store in Traverse City. The community of about 16,000 people is along Lake Michigan. Gille entered the store at 4:10 p.m. and remained there for some time before the attack began, authorities said. Calls began coming in to authorities at 4:43 p.m. on Saturday and a sheriff’s deputy arrived at 4:46 p.m. He said the “remarkable” efforts likely prevented others from being harmed, adding a 3 and 1/2 inch (nearly 9-centimeter) cutting blade was used in the attack. “I cannot commend everyone that was involved enough,” Shea said at a news conference. “When you stop and look from the time of call to the time of actual custody, the individual was detained within one minute.” Gille remained jailed and his name did not appear Sunday in Michigan’s online jail records. Messages left Sunday with phone numbers and an email listed for Gille were not immediately returned. His previous court cases did not have an attorney’s name listed in public records. Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg told reporters that the terrorism charge will be brought due to the fact that the attack impacted the community, rather than one individual.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [7/27/2025 4:18 PM, Staff, 51860K] Video: HERE
NBC News [7/27/2025 7:04 PM, Staff, 44540K] Video: HERE
NBC News [7/27/2025 10:58 PM, Maggie Vespa, Selina Guevara, Rebecca Cohen, 44540K]
FOX News [7/27/2025 3:32 PM, Stephen Sorace and Greg Wehner, 46878K]
Daily Wire [7/27/2025 12:31 PM, Zach Jewell, 3816K]
Washington Examiner [7/27/2025 5:08 PM, Zach LaChance, 1934K]
Detroit Free Press [7/27/2025 4:19 PM, Clara Hendrickson and Natalie Davies, 4241K]

The New York Post [7/27/2025 4:22 PM, Anthony Blair, 49956K] reports dramatic video shows a heroic Walmart shopper armed with a gun confronting a knife-wielding maniac moments after he allegedly stabbed 11 people inside the Michigan store on Saturday night. In wild cellphone footage shared on X, the brave man is seen yelling at the suspected attacker to drop the weapon in the parking lot of the superstore in Traverse City, about 255 miles northwest of Detroit. The unidentified armed shopper is being praised for his actions. "Give this man the recognition his actions deserve," one commenter said. "Good men who are armed save lives.". In the harrowing video, the good Samaritan shouts down the attack while brandishing a small handgun. Several other men standing alongside him, one pushing a Walmart shopping cart, helped to force back the attacker. The camera then pans to the Walmart entrance, where one of the victims of the stabbing attack is seen lying on the ground. The other brave customers surround the attacker and order him to lay on the ground before the video ends. On Sunday, authorities identified the suspect as Bradford James Gille, 42. He faces charges of terrorism and 11 counts of assault with intent to murder following the shocking stabbing spree in Traverse City — a popular Michigan tourist destination. His victims range in age from 29 to 85, with six of them over 60, Shea said. They are all expected to survive. CNN [7/27/2025 7:02 PM, Hanna Park, Lauren Mascarenhas, and Cindy Von Quednow, 21433K] Video: HERE reports that all the victims – who are between the ages of 29 and 84 – are expected to survive, the sheriff said, praising bystanders who cornered the suspect in the parking lot and held him until law enforcement arrived. Gille faces one count of terrorism and 11 counts of assault with intent to murder, Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea said Sunday. He is set to be arraigned early this week and faces life in prison, officials said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The New York Post [7/27/2025 4:34 PM, Zoe Hussain, 49956K] reports multiple federal agencies are investigating a death on board a Texas-based Carnival Dream cruise ship, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. An unidentified person died on the Galveston-based Dream on Wednesday, the FBI Houston office confirmed to the Post. The incident is being investigated by an FBI Maritime Liaison Agent based out of the Texas City Resident Agency, the US Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, authorities said. Officials haven’t said if the death appeared to be criminal in nature. "Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, I am not able to provide additional details at this time," a spokesperson for the FBI’s Houston office said in a statement. The Houston Chronicle [7/27/2025 2:39 PM, Jarrod Wardwell, 1982K] reports that an FBI "maritime liaison agent" based in Texas City is coordinating with the Carnival ship, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the case, FBI spokesperson Connor Hagan said Sunday. Hagan did not specify the nature of the case. The FBI is the main U.S. agency to investigate possible crimes "on the high seas." Hagan’s confirmation comes a day after KHOU reported that someone died on the cruise ship. The Chronicle has not verified any death on the ship, and Carnival Cruise Line denied any investigation into a "suspicious death." KHOU said law enforcement sources confirmed the death. "It’s disappointing to learn that any guests might be spreading rumors about something they know nothing about." the Carnival statement in the KHOU report reads. Carnival did not immediately return a request for comment from the Houston Chronicle.

Reported similarly:
Univision [7/27/2025 8:57 PM, Staff, 4992K]

FOX News [7/27/2025 7:15 PM, Greg Wehner, 46878K] reports an illegal alien from Honduras faces deportation after allegedly driving while intoxicated and crashing, killing two teenagers in Dane County, Wisconsin. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer against 30-year-old Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila, who was charged in the deaths of 18-year-old Hallie Helgeson and 19-year-old Brady Heiling. "Hallie Helgeson and Brady Heiling had their whole lives ahead of them—and they would still be alive today if it weren’t for Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila—a criminal illegal alien from Honduras," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "Martinez-Avila recklessly drove the wrong way on a highway while intoxicated and killed these two teens. "ICE has lodged an arrest detainer to remove this public safety threat from the U.S.," she continued. "Unfortunately, this sanctuary jurisdiction has a history of not honoring ICE arrest detainers often leading to the release of murderers and other heinous criminals. Under Secretary Noem, these precious victims will not be forgotten, and we will fight for justice.” Martinez-Avila faces charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, homicide by the use of a vehicle, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and causing injury, knowingly operating a vehicle with a revoked license while causing death, knowingly operating a vehicle with a revoked license while causing bodily harm, failing to install an ignition interlock device and violating a court order, among other charges. The West Central Tribune reported that on July 20, Martinez-Avila was allegedly driving a Chevrolet Suburban the wrong way on I-90 when she collided with a Volkswagen Tiguan with Helgeson and Heiling inside. Helgeson, of Montevideo, died a short time after the crash, while Heiling was airlifted to an area hospital and treated for his injuries. Heiling ultimately died of his injuries. The publication also reported that Martinez-Avila was convicted of drunk driving in 2020 and was required to have an interlock device installed in her vehicle, preventing the vehicle from starting if she had been drinking. The Wisconsin State Journal of Madison reported that the interlock device was not installed at the time of the crash last week. Court records show that bond was set in the amount of $250,000 per case, and should Martinez-Avila post bond, she can only be released once pretrial services can outfit her with any necessary equipment. Martinez-Avila is also not permitted to consume or possess alcohol, operate a vehicle, or have contact with family members of the victims, among other things if released. DHS said ICE lodged a detainer for Martinez-Avila’s arrest and removal from the U.S., noting that Dane County has historically not honored ICE detainers because of sanctuary jurisdiction policies. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [7/27/2025 8:17 AM, Giovanna Dell’Orto, 4622K] reports faith leaders across the U.S. are hoping a bipartisan bill, recently introduced in the U.S. Senate and House, might finally bring resolution to an immigration issue that has been hindering their service to their communities for more than two years. In March 2023, the Biden administration made a sudden change in how the government processes green cards in the category that includes both abused minors and religious workers. It created new backlogs that threaten the ability of thousands of pastors, nuns, imams, cantors and others to remain in the United States. The bill only tackles one small part of the issue, which sponsoring lawmakers hope will increase its chances of passing even as immigration remains one of the most polarizing issues in the country. Faith leaders say even a narrow fix will be enough to prevent damaging losses to congregations and to start planning for the future again. "Unless there is a change to current practice, our community is slowly being strangled," said the Rev. Aaron Wessman, vicar general and director of formation for the Glenmary Home Missioners, a small Catholic order ministering in rural America. "I will weep with joy if this legislation passes," he said. "It means the world for our members who are living in the middle of uncertainty and for the people they’ll be able to help.” Two thirds of Glenmary’s priests and brothers under 50 years old are foreign-born — mostly from Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria and Uganda — and they are affected by the current immigration snag, Wessman added. So are thousands of others who serve the variety of faiths present in the United States, from Islam to Hinduism to evangelical Christianity, providing both pastoral care and social services. No exact numbers exist, but it is estimated that there are thousands of religious workers who are now backlogged in the green card system and/or haven’t been able to apply yet. Congregations bring to the United States religious workers under temporary visas called R-1, which allow them to work for up to five years. That used to be enough time for the congregations to petition for green cards under a special category called EB-4, which would allow the clergy to become permanent residents. Congress sets a quota of green cards available per year divided in categories, almost all based on types of employment or family relationships to U.S. citizens. In most categories, the demand exceeds the annual quota. Citizens of countries with especially high demand get put in separate, often longer "lines" — for several years, the most backlogged category has been that of married Mexican children of U.S. citizens, where only applications filed more than 24 years ago are being processed. Also in a separate line were migrant children with "Special Immigrant Juvenile Status" — neglected or abused minors — from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Hundreds of thousands sought humanitarian green cards or asylum after illegally crossing into the U.S. since the mid-2010s, though the Trump administration recently cracked down on the program.

NPR [7/27/2025 7:21 AM, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, Manuel Rueda, 37958K] reports that, Carlos Daniel Terán, 19, still remembers the words a prison warden told him when he entered El Salvador’s mega-prison, CECOT. "He told us we were never going to leave this place," Terán recalled. It was March of this year. Terán had just been transferred from an immigration detention center in Texas to the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo — known as CECOT — a maximum-security prison built to house accused Salvadoran gang members. El Salvador’s own justice minister once said the only way out of the prison was "inside a coffin.” Terán was among hundreds of Venezuelans sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration, many under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a rarely-used wartime power. They were accused — without evidence — of being members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. For nearly four months, the U.S. government withheld the identities of the men it deported and barred them from contacting their families or lawyers. Then just over a week ago, Terán was suddenly a free man — released alongside more than 250 other Venezuelan detainees as part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Venezuela. "I thought this was going to be the last experience of my life," Terán told NPR from Caracas. "I thought I was going to die there.” Since their release, NPR has spoken with Terán and two other former detainees about their time at CECOT. They described being subjected to violence — and, in some cases, sexual abuse — by prison guards, denied adequate food, and forced to endure inhumane conditions. NPR has followed Terán’s case since he was first picked up by ICE from his home in Texas in February. He had entered the U.S. legally through the Biden-era CBP One program. He has no criminal record in the U.S., and denies any gang affiliation. His only past offenses stem from charges in Chile as a minor - of gun possession and possessing or transporting small quantities of drugs. Like Terán, the other Venezuelan’s sent to El Salvador from the U.S., have denied being affiliated to the Tren de Aragua. Although he describes himself as a man of faith, Terán said his days at CECOT were really hard for him. "I felt really sad — I spent my birthday there and it was hard to not get a call from my family," he said. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the specific allegations made by the men. Instead, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin repeated the accusation that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but did not provide any evidence to back those claims. "Once again, the media is falling all over themselves to defend criminal illegal gang members," McLaughlin said in an email to NPR. "We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

NBC News [7/28/2025 5:00 AM, Daniella Silva and Didi Martinez, 44540K] reports three Venezuelan men told NBC News they experienced physical and psychological torture, including one man’s allegation that he was sexually assaulted, after the Trump administration sent them to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The men were held for four months in the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a Salvadoran megaprison known for its harsh conditions and reported abuse. The allegations included beatings that left bruises and cuts, psychological abuse and the denial of necessities such as food or bathroom access. The Trump administration sent about 250 Venezuelan men to CECOT in March and has accused them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Many of the men and some of their families and attorneys have denied the claim. The men were released and flown to Venezuela on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap with the United States. When asked whether the U.S. government would continue to send people to CECOT, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, “whether it is CECOT, Alligator Alcatraz, Guantanamo Bay or another detention facility, these dangerous criminals will not be allowed to terrorize U.S. citizens.” The statement said that President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “are using every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country. Our message is clear: Criminals are not welcome in the United States.”

CBS News [7/28/2025 5:00 AM, Sandy West, 51860K] reports a child developed a rash after he was prevented from changing his underwear for four days. A little boy, bored and overcome with despair, began hitting himself in the head. A child with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was forced to go without his medication, despite his mother’s pleas. "I heard one officer say about us ‘they smell like sh--,’" one detained person recounted in a federal court filing. "And another officer responded, ‘They are sh--.’" Attorneys for immigrant children collected these stories, and more, from youth and families detained in what they called "prison-like" settings across the U.S. from March through June, even as the Trump administration has requested a federal district court judge terminate existing protections that mandate basic rights and services — including safe and sanitary conditions — for children held by the government. The administration argues that the protections mandated under what is known as the Flores Settlement Agreement encourage immigration and interfere with its ability to establish immigration policy. U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee, who is in California, is expected to issue a ruling on the request after an Aug. 8 hearing. With the Flores agreement in place, children are being held in "unsafe and unsanitary" U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities such as tents, airports, and offices for up to several weeks despite the agency’s written policy saying people generally should not be held in its custody longer than 72 hours, according to the June court filing from immigrants’ attorneys. In addition to opposing the U.S. Department of Justice’s May request to terminate the Flores consent decree, the attorneys demanded more monitoring for children in immigration detention. "The biggest fear is that without Flores, we will lose a crucial line of transparency and accountability," said Sergio Perez, executive director of the California-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. "Then you have a perfect storm for the abuse of individuals, the violation of their rights, and the kind of treatment that this country doesn’t stand for." The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, which includes both the Customs and Border Protection agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to answer questions about the administration’s intent to end the Flores agreement or about the conditions in which kids are detained. In a May court filing, government attorneys argued, among other points, that the agreement improperly directs immigration decisions to the courts, not the White House. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also has said that the Flores agreement has "incentivized illegal immigration," and that Congress and federal agencies have resolved the problems Flores was designed to fix.

New York Times [7/27/2025 8:44 AM, Eli Saslow and Erin Schaff, 138952K] reports they gathered in a conference room for the weekly management meeting, even though there was hardly anyone left to manage. Chad Hartmann, the president of Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, pushed a few empty chairs to the side of the room and then passed around a sheet totaling the latest production numbers. “Take a deep breath and brace yourselves,” he said. For more than a decade, Glenn Valley’s production reports had told a story of steady ascendance — new hires, new manufacturing lines, new sales records for one of the fastest-growing meatpacking companies in the Midwest. But, in a matter of weeks, production had plummeted by almost 70 percent. Most of the work force was gone. Half of the maintenance crew was in the process of being deported, the director of human resources had stopped coming to work, and more than 50 employees were being held at a detention facility in rural Nebraska. Hartmann, 52, folded the printed sheet into tiny squares and waited out the silence. “So, this gives you a pretty good sense of the work we have ahead of us,” he said. It had been almost three weeks since dozens of federal agents arrived at the factory’s door with a battering ram and a warrant for 107 workers who they said were undocumented immigrants using false identification — part of a wave of workplace raids carried out by the Trump administration this summer. The president’s advisers had set a target of 3,000 arrests per day, shifting the focus of enforcement away from the border and into the heart of the American economy. Trump had vowed to pursue “blood-thirsty criminals” during his campaign, but he had also promised the “largest mass deportation in history,” which meant agents were rounding up hundreds of immigrants from restaurant kitchens, avocado groves, construction sites and meat processing facilities, where most of the work force was foreign-born. Rohwer, 84, had always used a federal online system called E-Verify to check whether his employees were eligible to work, and Glenn Valley Foods itself had not been accused of any violations. Rohwer was a registered Republican in a conservative state, but he’d voted for a Democrat for the first time in the 2024 election, in part because of Trump’s treatment of immigrants. Rohwer couldn’t square the government’s accusations of “criminal dishonesty” with the employees he’d known for decades as “salt-of-the-earth, incredible people who helped build this company,” he said. Most of them had no criminal history, aside from a handful of traffic violations. Many were working mothers, and now they were calling the office from detention and asking for legal advice. Their children, U.S. citizens, were struggling at home and in some cases subsisting on donations of the company’s frozen steak. “I’m still furious about what happened to our people, but we have to keep the machines running,” Rohwer said. “We need more people trained and ready to go.” “Trained by who?” another manager asked. “We lost every supervisor out there. If you ran a machine or checked temperatures or did anything important, you’re gone.” “Then we pick up our hiring,” Rohwer said.

USA Today [7/27/2025 7:34 AM, Chris Kenning, 75552K] reports that, for Candice Lyall, cherry harvest is always a race against the clock. Eastern Washington is famous for its cherries, and in the fourth-generation farmer’s lush orchards, not far from Columbia River, there’s just a short window when they are the perfect ripeness. Wait too long and they are too soft for sale. And they must be picked by hand. Lots of them. Finding those hands locally can be a challenge. Like other growers, some of her workers are foreign-born, whose presence is reflected in the Hispanic restaurants in the nearby 3,300-resident town of Mattawa. But this summer the harvest coincided with President Donald Trump’s mass deportation sweeps. Rumors swirled of roadway checkpoints. More than 100 workers who started Lyall’s harvest dwindled to 30 by the second week, leading her farm to struggle to get cherries picked in time. Some were picked too late, she said, but the financial hit to her farm was likely to be far less than what some other growers experienced. "There’s a lot of farms that didn’t pick because they didn’t have enough labor," she said. Lyall is a Trump supporter in a conservative farming region. She favors stricter border security because of worries of drug cartels. But she wants to see a path toward a stable workforce. "There needs to be some solutions put on the table," Lyall told USA TODAY. Across the country, Trump’s immigration raids have roiled farms and farming communities – with cases of worker shortages and fears of unpicked crops. And it has fueled growing calls for the Trump administration to protect agricultural workers critical to the U.S. food supply. Of the 2.6 million people working on U.S. farms, about 42% lack legal status, according to the Department of Agriculture and other estimates. Farmers say few native–born residents will pick fruit or tend cows. The country’s foreign agriculture worker visa program can be costly, burdensome and limited. And farmers say Congress has failed for decades to pass comprehensive immigration reforms. Those long-standing struggles are now compounded by the lurking presence of Trump’s masked immigration forces as harvest season approaches or is underway. Earlier this month, raids on farms in California left hundreds detained, and soon after, a group of farmworkers in California held a three-day strike and called for boycotts. At stake are potential disruptions to the U.S. food supply and higher consumer costs. "Farm employers are holding their breath, trying to keep operations afloat without knowing whether their workforce will show up tomorrow — or stay away for fear of a raid," said Ben Tindall, head of the Save Family Farming advocacy group, based in Washington state. The Trump administration in June suspended farm enforcement but then reversed that decision. More recently, Trump has cited the importance of farm labor and said his administration would look into ways for farmworkers to "be here legally, they can pay taxes and everything.” Other administration officials, including border czar Tom Holman, said there would be no "amnesty" but cited ongoing discussions about policy changes related to farmworkers. A bill in Congress would create a legal pathway for longtime workers and streamline worker visas.

Telemundo [7/27/2025 9:21 PM, Sophia Tarren, 3352K] reports several federal immigration court judges who were fired by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration are filing appeals and other legal actions. They are also making critical public statements about the situation in an unusually outspoken manner. So far more than 50 immigration judges have been fired during Trump’s second presidency, ranging from high-level judges to recent appointees to the position from which they were booted. Several have been speaking out against, deeming their firings illegal, or have wanted to discuss why they believe they were removed from their positions; citing gender discrimination, that their rulings allegedly did not please the federal administration, or that they allowed Democratic leaders to visit immigration courts as possible reasons. Immigration judges are a centerpiece of the deportation system that Trump has promoted since his presidential campaign, and there are far fewer judges than needed to review all the cases pending before the courts, according to research by government agencies. So it has seemed strange to many that there would be layoffs in this context. "My job was important to me, and I was very good at doing it," Jennifer Peyton said in an interview. Peyton was appointed supervising judge in 2016 for a Chicago immigration court, until she was fired in early July without giving her justification. "I received a letter with three sentences that did not explain any reason why I was fired," Peyton commented. Peyton said that being an immigration judge at the Chicago courthouse, where she helped train, mentor and supervise other judges, was her dream job. The former judge said she always received excellent marks on her performance evaluations, and never faced disciplinary action. So she is preparing an appeal against her dismissal through the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), an independent arbitration agency to review possible unjustified dismissals of federal officials. Trump has been critical of the MSPB. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Wall Street Journal [7/27/2025 4:27 PM, Staff, 646K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged in January to clean house at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Six months later she still hasn’t explained the mystery of false travel records at CBP Orlando. As Mary O’Grady explains nearby, the case concerns Filipe Martins, a member of the inner circle of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. A Brazilian court has been using false CBP records to detain Mr. Martins as a flight risk since March 2024 in the investigation of an alleged Bolsonaro coup-d’état against Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva. Mr. Martins ought to be free while mounting his defense. Yet neither Ms. Noem nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio has weighed in on what might be rotten at Orlando. Lawyers for the U.S. government are stonewalling his legal team. The problem is bigger than Mr. Martins, since the falsification of travel data undermines U.S. national security.

FOX News [7/28/2025 5:00 AM, Brett L. Tolman and Ja’Ron K. Smith, 46878K] reports a new report from the Council on Criminal Justice brought welcome news: crime is down across much of America. But what the report doesn’t say out loud is that the timing is no coincidence. President Donald Trump is simply enforcing immigration laws already on the books — proof that we don’t need more laws; we just need leaders with the backbone to enforce the laws we have. The results are undeniable: communities nationwide are seeing tangible improvements in public safety. According to the report, homicides dropped 17% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Gun assaults are down 21%. Robberies fell 20% and carjackings plummeted by 24%. Even property crimes — like burglary and larceny — saw double-digit declines. These aren’t just statistics. They reflect real communities seeing real results. While violent crime fell, ICE arrests surged — more than doubling in places like Sacramento and climbing over 500% in California overall. Nationwide, immigration arrests have already topped 300,000 in 2025 alone. That’s not political theater. That’s law enforcement doing its job. This data shows the power of real deterrence, the effect of giving law enforcement respect and support to do their job. The fact that these historic drops occurred in the absence of passing new laws gives strong evidence to the power of simply letting law enforcement do their jobs.

Wall Street Journal [7/27/2025 1:36 PM, Neera Tanden, 646K] reports the Trump administration’s first six months of immigration policy are a case study in unimaginable cruelty that makes no distinction between legal immigrants and the undocumented, that targets undocumented people who have been here for decades, and that uses brute force police tactics to intimidate communities. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is raiding churches, courthouses, and schools and locking up undocumented grandmothers. The Homeland Security Department is revoking the protected status of tens of thousands of legal immigrants, clearing the way to deport people who have lived here for more than 20 years. Thankfully, the American people are rejecting this cruelty. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 35% of the country approves of the Trump administration’s actions—the lowest figure of this term. Meanwhile, 79% of Americans now believe immigration strengthens the country—a record high and up from 64% last year. This reflects a seismic shift in the politics of immigration over six months. While the Trump administration attacks legal immigration, the public wants more of it. Democrats can go on the offensive on immigration, because Americans are repelled by President Trump’s extreme policies. But to take on the president’s immigration cruelty most effectively, Democrats must demonstrate that they back real border security.

Wall Street Journal [7/27/2025 4:25 PM, Mary Anastasia O’Grady, 646K] reports something seems to be rotten at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Orlando, Fla., where a fake U.S. entry document for an adviser to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been posted on its official website not once but twice since 2024. Cellphone data, credit card receipts and the passenger manifest for a commercial flight that Filipe Martins took in Brazil on Dec. 31, 2022, prove that he couldn’t have entered the U.S. late on the night of Dec. 30, 2022, as CBP Orlando first alleged in March 2024. When these facts were brought to the attention of the Homeland Security Department, it agreed that Mr. Martins couldn’t be in two places at one time. In June 2024 it took down a bad entry log. This month it suddenly reappeared on CBP Orlando’s website. The truth matters to Mr. Martins because he’s being investigated in Brazil by Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes for playing a role in an alleged Bolsonaro conspiracy to overthrow President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva. Since there is no Brazilian record of Mr. Martins exiting Brazil, as required by law, Mr. de Moraes says Mr. Martins’s entry into the U.S., as alleged by CBP Orlando, shows he sneaked out of the country and could do it again. Mr. Martins was arrested in February 2024. Since March 2024 Mr. de Moraes has been using false CBP claims to brand Mr. Martins a flight risk. Naturally Mr. Martins’s lawyers want the record corrected. They also want to know who created the phantom entries and when. CBP refuses to share that information. For U.S. national security reasons, the Homeland Security Department should also want to know. There is no obvious American motivation for inventing a Martins trip when it didn’t happen. But someone working inside CBP on behalf of Brazilian political interests opposed to Mr. Bolsonaro would have a motivation.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/27/2025 7:00 AM, Joe Mathews, 4120K] reports this show must not go on. It’s time, right now, for greater Los Angeles to halt all preparations to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. Let’s turn over these Games to a world city better positioned to host them. Not because Angelenos don’t love the Olympics. We are a proud Olympic city, shaped by the 1932 and 1984 Games. In normal times, the city’s incomparable international connections, entertainment assets and sports facilities would make us the perfect host for what LA 28 chair Casey Wasserman calls "the largest peacetime gathering in the history of the world.” But it’s no longer peacetime in Los Angeles. This event is now too dangerous for California. Hosting an Olympic Games requires us to work together with a lawless U.S. regime — and its rights-violating security apparatus — as it openly wages war against our city and state. National Special Security Events, like the Olympics, require host cities to let federal agencies take the lead during the Games. For the 2028 Olympics, an agreement, which took effect last year, puts the U.S. Secret Service in charge of security, with support from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. All those agencies work for President Donald Trump, who has launched a war against California that includes deploying troops and secret federal police in our neighborhoods. California leaders have righteously demanded that immigration raids end and the troops leave. But those demands are incompatible with the Olympics agreement, which gives these agencies the power to surge security personnel into Los Angeles. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explicitly linked the current federal occupation of Los Angeles with the 2028 Olympics. He recently declared that Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, by defending protesters instead of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, forced the feds to take over the city — and suggested they would do so again. "If this was a preview of their leadership ahead of next year’s World Cup games and the L.A. 2028 Olympics, we have bigger problems," Duffy said. It all may sound like Trumpian nonsense, but California leaders are actually citing the need to hold a safe Olympics to justify partnerships with the very federal agencies now attacking California. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell, in his eagerness to go forward with the Games, has come to resemble the British prisoner-of-war Colonel Nicholson in the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai," who proudly builds a railroad bridge even though it aids his Japanese captors. McDonnell frequently refers to ICE agents as "law enforcement partners," despite their attacks on the city that he is sworn to protect. Pressed by the City Council on why he was still working with ICE, McDonnell replied: "Without that partnership, we wouldn’t be able to go into the World Cup, the Olympics.” Such weakness demonstrates how Trump can use the Olympics against California. That’s why it’s urgent that California take away the president’s leverage by immediately hitting pause and following up with a deadline and clear demands: We will abandon these Olympics by Friday unless the Trump administration stops all immigration raids, removes all federal troops in L.A., releases all immigration detainees, supports an independent prosecutor to investigate the raids and restores all frozen federal funding for California. Anything less, and we’re out.

New York Post [7/27/2025 6:07 PM, Casey Babb and Joe Adam George, 49956K] reports that, in a chilling internal memo, the Muslim Brotherhood laid out its long-term strategy to conquer North America through what it called a "civilization-jihadist process" aimed at "sabotaging" and "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.” The detailed 18-page document, written in 1991, surfaced in 2007 during the Holy Land Foundation trial — the largest terrorism financing case in US history. More than three decades later, the Brotherhood’s strategy is no longer theoretical. It is materializing just north of the US border in Canada. The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Sunni Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928, is committed to establishing a global caliphate governed by sharia, an often extreme set of laws on a range of religious and societal matters that Muslims believe was given to them by God. Though often cloaked in the language of charity and civil society, the Brotherhood’s true objective remains Islamist dominance — something its leaders have repeatedly emphasized. Indeed, the group’s founder Hassan al-Banna once declared, "It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” And while the Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s, its ideology is broadly seen as a "stepping stone" to violent jihad. Its teachings provided the foundation for jihadist groups like Hamas and al Qaeda and inspired notorious terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. State actors like Qatar and Turkey strategically lend the Brotherhood substantial support, giving it the resources and legitimacy needed to expand its influence across the West. In Canada, though, these realities are almost entirely absent from public conversation or debate. The country’s shockingly permissive immigration policies, multiculturalist ethos and general complacency toward national security threats have made it fertile ground for the Brotherhood’s insidious ambitions. Brotherhood-affiliated organizations have proliferated in Canada for decades, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy warned last month, methodically expanding and spreading radical Islamist ideology without fear of repercussion. These organizations, often posing as benign religious or charitable entities, have built an extensive infrastructure of mosques, schools and community centers across the country — with the help of significant taxpayer funds. Senior Brotherhood leadership in Canada has reportedly encouraged followers to take up key government positions to push policies in line with sharia. This strategy mirrors the Brotherhood’s operations in Europe — and there, authorities have begun to take notice.

FOX News [7/27/2025 3:30 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons discusses the Trump administration’s focus on sanctuary city polices and more on ‘Fox News Live.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [7/27/2025 10:17 AM, Staff, 4992K] reports something unusual is happening in U.S. immigration courts: government attorneys are refusing to provide their names during public hearings. In June 2025, Immigration Judge ShaSha Xu in New York City informed the attorneys in her courtroom, "We’re really not giving names publicly." Only the names of government attorneys were withheld; counsel for immigrants were to identify themselves as usual. Xu cited privacy concerns and asserted that "things have changed recently." When an immigration attorney objected that the court record would be incomplete without the name of the government attorney, Xu refused to provide it. At another hearing, Immigration Judge James McCarthy referred to the ICE attorney simply as "Department" throughout the session. Judge Shirley Lazare-Raphael stated that some ICE attorneys believe "it is dangerous to say their names publicly." This trend follows a broader pattern of ICE agents wearing masks during arrests to conceal their identity. This practice of concealing identities violates a fundamental principle that has protected Americans for centuries: the openness of the courts. The following explains how these courts operate and why the principle of openness is important. The American legal system is based on openness, with multiple layers of legal protections guaranteeing public access to court proceedings. This tradition of open courts developed as a direct rejection of the secret court proceedings that used to be used to abuse power in England. The infamous ‘Star Chamber’ operated in secret from the 15th to the 17th century, initially trying people "too powerful to be brought before the common courts of law." But the Star Chamber eventually became a tool of oppression, using torture to extract confessions and punishing jurors who ruled against the Crown. Parliament abolished it in 1641 after widespread abuses. By the time the U.S. colonial courts were established, the backlash against the Star Chamber had already influenced English legal thinking and inclined it toward openness. American courts adopted this principle of transparency from their inception, rejecting secret proceedings that had facilitated abuse. Today, the term ‘star chamber’ refers to any secret court proceeding that appears terribly unfair or is used to persecute individuals. In the United States, courts have repeatedly emphasized that "justice faces its greatest threat when courts dispense it in secret." The First Amendment gives the public the right to observe judicial proceedings. The Supreme Court has held that "a presumption of openness is inherent in the very nature of a criminal trial under our system of justice." All federal appellate courts have recognized that this constitutional right extends to civil cases as well, subject to certain exceptions such as protecting "the privacy of the parties, confidential business information, or trade secrets." Federal procedural rules require that trials be "conducted in open court" and that witness testimony be "taken in open court except as otherwise provided." Many state constitutions also guarantee this openness of the courts, such as the mandate in Oregon that "no court shall be secret." While there is no explicit law requiring lawyers to be publicly named, there is also no policy allowing their names to be kept secret. The presumption is always toward openness. In response to these recent developments, law professor Elissa Steglich said she had never heard of someone at a public hearing who was not identified, and that not identifying an attorney could limit accountability "if there are ethical or professional issues." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [7/27/2025 5:30 PM, Stephen Dinan, 261K] reports the Department of Homeland Security located less than 25% of the illegal immigrant children it tried to find when it visited the adults who were supposed to be taking care of them, the department’s inspector general told Congress last week, underscoring the deep hole the Biden administration left. Some 300,000 children were flagged as worrying cases, and agents identified 50,000 of them for immediate investigation. In those cases, a particular address had been used to sponsor more than one unaccompanied alien child. Of those 50,000, agents located just 12,000, Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Agents arrested about 400 sponsors, the inspector general said. Mr. Cuffari said his numbers came from Homeland Security Department briefings. On Friday, the department released data showing that the Biden administration had left a backlog of 65,000 tips about problems with unaccompanied alien children during the previous four years. The department has now processed 59,000 of those and, as a result, has developed more than 4,000 leads for further investigation. “By leaving our borders open and even encouraging people to come here illegally, Biden enabled the largest human trafficking operation in modern history,” Secretary Kristi Noem said. “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to eradicate human trafficking operations targeting the United States.” Unaccompanied alien children are the toughest cases in the immigration debate. These minors are at risk of being trafficked into what Rep. Clay Higgins, the Louisiana Republican who chaired the hearing, called “some kind of horror.”

Newsweek [7/28/2025 4:38 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports a Pennsylvania man who came to the United States as a child and was once recognized by former President Barack Obama is now being held in federal custody following a routine court appearance. Darwin Contreras, 27, has lived in the United States since he was 7 years old, and was a recipient of the President’s Education Awards Program, his wife, Elizabeth DeJesus, told Newsweek. Newsweek has obtained a copy of the award dated January 2012, during Obama’s presidency. "This boy was turning into an athletic man with dreams of pursuing soccer as a career. His senior year, he unfortunately had to drop out and get a job. So instead, he picked up track and field," DeJesus told Newsweek. "He motivated his teammates to go hard during practice and to never stop. After graduating from high school, he got a job and continued to work hard," she added. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told Newsweek that ICE agents detained Contreras during a court hearing for driving under the influence. "His criminal history includes convictions for theft and possession of marijuana. This criminal illegal alien admitted to law enforcement that he is in the country illegally," McLaughlin said.

NBC 5 Dallas [7/28/2025 12:15 AM, Sophia Beausoleil] reports several family members with loved ones at the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement field office in Dallas claim conditions inside the facility are "inhumane." Sunday evening, community members showed up to hold a vigil outside the building in an effort to speak up about the conditions inside. "We here today for several reasons, the first being to bear witness and acknowledge what our neighbors have worked so hard to tell us, to reach us from inside of that room where inhumane conditions are being manufactured by ICE in order to produce signed deportations," claimed Noemi a volunteer with Vecinos Unidos, Neighbors United, DFW, a grass roots organization. People held signs, chanted and gave speeches outside the building near I-35 in Dallas. Late Friday, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement disputing the claims: “ICE has legal authority to temporarily house illegal aliens while they are being processed after their arrest. Any allegations that these processing centers do not have beds, running water, or other basic essentials are FALSE. ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously. It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. ICE is regularly audited and inspected by external agencies to ensure that all ICE facilities comply with performance-based national detention standards.” People in the community said they do not believe the statement.

Yahoo News [7/27/2025 3:30 PM, Addie Hovland, 59943K] reports officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest of an illegal alien in Houston on charges of kidnapping and assault after video evidence from a doorbell camera showed him abducting a woman off the street. Jose Armando Carcamo-Perdomo, who is unlawfully present in the U.S. from Honduras, was arrested by local law enforcement and is believed to be part of a sex-trafficking ring. “This accused kidnapper and suspected sex trafficker was just one of the countless criminal illegal aliens who inexplicably had their removal proceedings terminated by the Biden Administration and were allowed to remain in the country,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are being locked up and will no longer be allowed to terrorize American communities. Our message is clear: criminals are not welcome in the United States,” she added. According to DHS, Perdomo entered the U.S. in 2020 and was released by the Biden administration after his removal proceedings were terminated in September 2023. In accordance with the Laken Riley Act, signed by President Donald Trump soon after taking office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer upon Perdomo’s arrest to ensure he will not be released back into American communities.

The San Francisco Chronicle [7/27/2025 4:20 PM, Aidin Vaziri, 4120K] reports a Delta Air Lines co-pilot was reportedly arrested by federal agents Saturday night, moments after Flight 2809 from Minneapolis landed at San Francisco International Airport. The Boeing 757-300 touched down at approximately 9:35 p.m. after a delayed second approach due to heavy fog. What began as a routine deplaning quickly turned chaotic, according to eyewitness accounts. "A group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings were pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit," passenger Sarah Christianson said in an email to the Chronicle. Seated in first class, Christianson said she counted at least 10 law enforcement officers, including agents from Homeland Security Investigations and people identifying as air marshals. The officers reportedly "stormed the cockpit, cuffed the co-pilot, arrested him, walked him down the aisle, and ushered him off the plane through the cabin doors located between first and coach.” A second team of agents returned shortly after to retrieve the co-pilot’s personal belongings. Christianson described the event as "shocking and unnerving," noting that passengers received no information from the crew about what had occurred. "It was rage-inducing to see someone being disappeared right in front of me," she added. Video of the incident was shared on the aviation blog A View From the Wing. Delta Air Lines declined to comment, referring inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security, which has not yet responded. The remaining pilot appeared unaware of the arrest, telling passengers he had "no idea what just happened." The reason for the arrest has not been disclosed. The incident comes days after another Delta pilot was detained in Amsterdam for allegedly failing a breathalyzer test — a result that is reportedly being contested. The New York Post [7/27/2025 11:24 PM, Alex Oliveira, 49956K] reports that the arrest was on charges of child sexual abuse material, Fox News reported. HSI is a division of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and has helped lead many of the immigration raids and arrests since President Trump began rolling out a mass crackdown on illegal immigrants. Christianson called the incident "shocking and unnerving.” "It was rage-inducing to see someone being disappeared right in front of me," she said, borrowing language frequently used by critics to describe ICE arrests of illegal immigrants. HSI has not clarified why the pilot was arrested or whether his immigrant status had anything to do with it, and did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication. Delta Air Lines deferred questions to law enforcement. But it wouldn’t be the first time illegal immigrants have been snapped up at their workplace since Trump’s crackdown began. In recent months, farms, factories and construction sites around the country have seen raids in the middle of the workday, with employees hauled off for deportation.

Reported similarly:
FOX Business [7/27/2025 11:29 PM, Greg Wehner , Bill Melugin, 9940K]

Telemundo [7/27/2025 12:13 PM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 3352K] reports that, since May, immigration officials have repeatedly been seen outside a Hollywood homeless shelter, leaving staff to accompany residents from war-torn countries to work, errands and court. An executive at the shelter, which serves people between the ages of 18 and 24, said she saw two Venezuelan men handcuffed and arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after they returned to the shelter after finishing their workdays. "There was no conversation," said the employee, Lailanie, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of ICE retaliation. Lailanie said that about half a dozen immigration agents approached the residents "and immediately put their hands behind their backs." Homeless shelters appear to be another target of the current immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration, which has executed nearly 3,000 arrests in the Los Angeles area. Now shelters join Home Depot locations, 7-Eleven and cannabis farms as places where the federal government is carrying out its campaign of mass deportations. In addition to the Hollywood shelter, service providers have reported seeing immigration agents at shelters in North Hollywood and San Diego, local media report. Immigration officials did not respond to an email asking whether homeless shelters are being targeted for enforcement. With more than 72,300 homeless people, Los Angeles County is the epicenter of the nation’s homeless crisis. It is unknown how many of them are immigrants, as the federally mandated annual count does not include questions about citizenship. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo [7/27/2025 11:45 AM, Marina E. Franco, 3352K] reports two people of Latino origin with U.S. citizenship who work at a Southern California medical center were indicted this week on federal charges for allegedly interfering with an immigration raid, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The charges stem from an altercation at the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center after a man identified as Honduran Dennis Guillén-Solís, a 30-year-old landscaper, ran into the facility to avoid arrest in an immigration raid. The man was of Honduran origin and was wanted for "being in the country illegally," according to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the U.S. Attorney’s California District Office. Not having regularized immigration status is not a crime, but a civil infraction that usually does not warrant arrest. Reports of that interference include asking the agents to stop grabbing a man and touching an immigration officer’s vest. The employees were identified as Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, who was arrested Friday, and Danielle Nadine Davila, 33, who turned herself in to authorities Friday. Both are U.S. citizens, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which is handling the case, confirmed Saturday in an e-mail to Telemundo News. Ortega and Davila were working at a surgery clinic in San Bernardino County when, last July 8, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents came after Guillen and the gardener tried to escape a raid by entering the clinic. "Both wearing medical garb, they impeded and interfered with the arrest: Davila got between the agent and the alien, pushed the officer and yelled ‘Let him go,’ while Ortega grabbed the officer’s arm and then his vest," according to the indictment. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office told Telemundo News that the next arraignment hearing, at which the defendants would plead guilty or not guilty, is scheduled for Aug. 19 in Riverside. If convicted in the case when their trial begins, Ortega and Davila would face a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in prison on the charge of assaulting a federal agent and up to six years in prison on the charge of "using intimidation and conspiracy" to forcibly prevent an immigration agent from performing his or her duties. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [7/27/2025 5:31 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports on July 4, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed into law H.R. 1, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA). Among its many immigration-related provisions, the legislation introduces a new $250 Visa Integrity Fee, which will affect a wide range of nonimmigrant visa applicants worldwide. The new fee will be charged at the time of visa issuance and is designed to fund increased immigration enforcement activities led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Secretary of Homeland Security is authorised to raise the fee as needed and adjust it annually to reflect inflation. “This policy shift represents a major cost consideration for individuals and organisations navigating the U.S. immigration process,” said a spokesperson for Global Immigration Partners PLLC, a globally recognised, award-winning immigration law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. “We expect this change to significantly affect both short-term planning and long-term immigration strategies for our clients.”

Univision [7/27/2025 7:18 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports Donald Trump’s administration plans to toughen the test for U.S. citizenship, something it did in his first administration, the new director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Joseph Edlow, said in an interview with New York Times. "The test as it stands now is not very difficult," he said. "It’s easy to memorize the answers. I don’t think we are complying with the spirit of the law," the official added in the interview with that media outlet. In his first term, the Trump administration had already attempted to raise the difficulty level of the civics test by doubling the number of questions required to pass. Edlow said work is underway to return to that more rigorous format, in which immigrants were required to answer at least 12 of 20 questions correctly, compared to the current 6 of 10. The naturalization test is one of the final steps toward citizenship, a months-long process that requires permanent legal residency for years before applying for citizenship. Trump modified the test in 2020, making it longer and harder to pass. Within months, Democratic President Joe Biden took office and signed an executive order aimed at removing barriers to citizenship. In that spirit, the citizenship test reverted to its previous version, last updated in 2008. Federal law requires applicants for citizenship to demonstrate that they understand English - including speaking, reading and writing words in common usage - and that they know U.S. history and how the government is constituted. Edlow added to New York Times that, when it comes to granting H-1B visas, USCIS will prioritize companies that offer the highest wages, with the goal of preventing employers from hiring foreigners to cut labor costs. "I really believe that H-1B should be used to complement, not replace, U.S. workers and U.S. companies," he told the Times. The proposal seeks to respond to criticism from the hard-line wing of the Republican Party that the current program displaces local workers. However, leaders in the technology sector - including Trump allies - have historically defended these visas as an indispensable resource in the face of a shortage of domestic talent. The H1-B visa is a type of nonimmigrant visa, which allows a temporary stay in the United States and is not intended for people who want to migrate permanently. Some foreign nationals do become residents over time, but only after moving to other immigration statuses. The visa is most commonly associated with the technology industry. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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Univision [7/27/2025 7:01 PM, Staff, 4992K]

New York Times [7/28/2025 3:23 AM, Jenna West, 330K] reports a Venezuelan youth baseball team will not participate in the Senior League World Series because it was denied travel visas to the U.S., Little League International said Friday. The team, Cacique Mara, reached the championship round of the tournament after winning the Latin America qualifiers in Mexico last month and was scheduled to play Saturday in South Carolina. Instead, the Santa Maria de Aguayo Little League team from Victoria, Mexico, and second-place finisher in the Latin America qualifiers took Cacique Mara’s place. The Senior League World Series is a tournament for players ages 13-16 organized by Little League International. It is held annually in Easley, S.C., for teams from six U.S. regions and six international regions. The Senior League World Series is for players older than the 10-12-year-olds who participate in the Little League World Series, a more high-profile tournament held in South Williamsport, Pa. Cacique Mara said in a social media post that its players and coaches attended interviews on July 14 for obtaining visas and were denied by a U.S. immigration officer. When Little League International tried to arrange emergency visas for the team, the organization’s request was denied, the team said. The State Department said in a statement to The Athletic that it is reviewing the decision to deny entry to Cacique Mara. “The players are demoralized. All they know how to do is play baseball. They want to go compete and leave the name of Venezuela and Latin America high. They don’t represent any threat; they are 15-year-old kids who want to win the World Cup,” Kendry Gutiérrez, president of the Cacique Mara Little League, said in a release. Cacique Mara’s visa denial follows President Donald Trump’s signing a proclamation in June to ban citizens of 12 countries from entering the U.S. and to partially restrict entry for citizens of seven other countries, including Venezuela, citing national security concerns. At the time, the State Department said Trump’s executive order contains exemptions for nationals who would enter the U.S. as athletes for major sporting events, as well as support staff and immediate relatives of athletes. However, there are no such assurances for fans, raising many questions ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Cacique Mara isn’t the first sports team denied entry for a tournament after Trump’s ban. Earlier this month, the Cuban women’s national volleyball team had its visa requests denied for the NORCECA Women’s Final Four tournament in Puerto Rico, a tournament that awards ranking points toward qualification for the Volleyball Nations League. By missing the tournament in Puerto Rico, the Cuban women’s national volleyball team will likely not make the Nations League. Cuba is among the seven countries with restricted entry into the U.S.

Reported similarly:
Univision [7/27/2025 12:55 PM, Staff, 4992K]

FOX News [7/27/2025 8:42 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports retired Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to weigh in on Mexico’s travel warning to citizens going to Florida as Alligator Alcatraz deportation flights begin. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [7/27/2025 10:38 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4622K] reports drug cartels south of the U.S. border will keep coming up with new paths to get their contraband where they want it to go, including now with unmanned semi-submersible watercraft to circumvent the Trump administration’s efforts to keep them out, Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad County, Texas, told Newsmax on Sunday. "You have to look at the cartels like water," said Boyd on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America Weekend." "They’re always going to come up with a new path to get where they need to go. And so with these new unmanned semi-submersibles that they have, they have the capacity to bring folks to the Gulf of America. We’ve seen that through some of our investigations, thanks to the efforts of the men and women of Border Patrol, sealing off the river and the land border.” The cartels have also moved to bringing people through the Gulf and into the United States in areas like Florida and Alabama, he added. The cartels also were able to bring in advanced technology while President Joe Biden was in office, including using drones to drop off drugs. "We were having over 10,000 drone incursions from the cartel every month while the Biden administration was in office, so they’ve been investing in technology heavily in order to ensure their profit margin is kept," Boyd said. Now, with the Trump administration deploying the Department of Defense to take control of the skies, drone incursions are reducing greatly, said Boyd. "I think the administration is taking the necessary steps to secure us from those technological threats, but we’re going to have to keep advancing because this is asymmetrical," he said. "Warfare is what it is, and it always has been. But we finally have a president who understands asymmetrical warfare, and we’re no longer going to conduct our operations in a linear fashion.” The sheriff said he was briefed by the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley recently and learned that in one three-month period, in the Rio Grande Valley alone, "they had over 35,000 incursions into the state of Texas.” Some of those drones, he added, can bring in loads of up to 500 kilos, or 1,200 pounds. "We’ve seen footage of these drones dropping off packages of drugs in the state of Texas over the last four years," Boyd said. And with the 1,200 miles of border, the cartels don’t always take direct routes, including flying out over the Gulf and dropping back in to leave drugs on the Padre Island National Seashore, "where there’s almost nobody down there during the day," said Boyd.

New York Post [7/27/2025 11:43 AM, Zoe Hussain, 49956K] reports a Florida traveler was caught trying to smuggle two turtles through airport security by hiding them in her bra — prompting authorities to beg fliers not to stash things in "weird places." The woman, who was not identified, was stopped at a Miami International Airport checkpoint with the reptiles wrapped in gauze and plastic, according to photos shared by the Transportation Security Administration on Facebook on Thursday. One of the turtles tragically died, but the surviving one was handed over to the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials said. "Friends, please – and we cannot emphasize this enough – stop hiding animals in weird places on your body and then trying to sneak them through airport security," the TSA wrote in the social-media post. "We want you to be able to travel with your pets, and you turtle-ly can, but please travel with them safely. You can start by reaching out to your airline for their rules concerning pets on board flights. As far as TSA screening goes, small pets are allowed through our checkpoint but must be removed from any carriers and carried through the checkpoint (notice we said "carried" and not "hidden underneath your clothing")."

New York Post [7/27/2025 2:59 PM, Anthony Blair, 49956K] reports New Yorkers were hit with a second day of hazy weather and bad air on Sunday — and more is on the way for this coming week, forecasters warned. The culprit is Canadian wildfires — with more than 550 active blazes in the province of Manitoba alone, and 15 million acres have already been burned across the country. Some of that smoke is starting to drift over the Northeastern US. The Air Quality Index (AQI) reached reached warning levels on Sunday — hanging out consistently above 100 — meaning the elderly, people with respiratory problems and other vulnerable groups should limit time the outdoors. Experts have said that while conditions may improve later on Sunday, the coming days could bring even more problems — especially as the heat becomes oppressive. "While it may improve a little bit later on today or tonight, I think the air quality could go back down again beginning Tuesday and perhaps into Wednesday," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines told The Post. He added: "The big thing is if you’ve got health issues that could be affected by the poor air quality, like asthma or other respiratory issues, then definitely take it easy.” With a heat advisory warning issued for many parts of the Northeast including New York City from Monday, as the heat index could hit 105, this could exacerbate the air quality issues. New Yorkers were already starting to feel the effects. "The air does feel a bit heavier. We won’t be out as long today as we normally are because of the haziness in the air quality," Omri Ayalon, 42, a Carroll Gardens resident out with his 9-year-old son, told The Post. "I felt weird this morning. Light-headed, nauseated to be honest and a little bit dizzy," Brooklynite Nehemiah Bounds, 27, said. "I’m going to try to do my daily workout routine indoors tomorrow. I’m definitely feeling the difference today in air quality.” Eray Akil, 38, who was out in the park with his wife and young son, described how it felt like having "allergies" being outside. "I feel like I have allergies today, my son too. Nose is running, a little light headache," he said. The worst air in the NYC area on Sunday was recorded in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn with an AQI of 133, and outside Flushing Park in Queens, with a AQI of 132. Anything above 150 is considered unhealthy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Evidence of the smoke pollution was easy for everyone to see. The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were barely visible from Brooklyn Bridge Park, due to the hazy conditions for much of the day. Kines, the meteorologist, said said that even after this week, more smoke cold invade the northeast. "This probably won’t be the last of it. There’s still fires burning up in Canada," he said.

FOX News [7/27/2025 9:41 PM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46878K] reports the U.S. Secret Service confirmed Sunday evening that a person is in custody following reports that a suspicious package was found near the White House. "At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 27, 2025, U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers immediately apprehend [sic] an individual who climbed a fence on the southeast side of the U.S. Treasury Building," the federal law enforcement agency told Fox News. The suspect allegedly dropped a bag on the sidewalk adjacent to the fence line of the building, which is located adjacent to the White House. That prompted a response from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team, who cleared the item. The suspect was transported to a local hospital for a medical evaluation, and will face charges for unlawful entry, as well as fugitive from justice stemming from a warrant in a different jurisdiction. Twice during his 2024 campaign for the nation’s highest office, President Donald Trump was the subject of assassination attempts. July 13 marked one year since a lone gunman on a rooftop at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Pennsylvania fired eight rounds at the president while he hosted a campaign rally. Trump was shot in the ear before his Secret Service detail dove atop him and pulled him to the ground. The gunman was killed by authorities at the scene. Trump emerged with blood dripping down his cheek, and in an iconic moment, raised his fist and chanted, "Fight, fight, fight" while his security detail attempted to whisk him away to safety. Corey Camperatore, a local former fire chief who was attending the rally, was shot and killed while valiantly shielding his family from the volley of gunfire. Just three months later, the Secret Service spotted the barrel of a rifle poking through the bushes while Trump played golf at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect in that alleged attempt on Trump’s life, Ryan Routh, 59, ran away when spotted, only to be taken into custody a short time later. He was charged with assaulting a federal officer and multiple firearms violations, along with the attempted assassination. He is scheduled to represent himself at his upcoming trial.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [7/27/2025 6:27 PM, Joseph Tanfani, 51390K]

New York Post [7/27/2025 3:47 PM, Joe Marino and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 49956K] reports Patrick Freaney was shot down when he first tried to join the US Secret Service — but the 9/11 survivor, former state trooper and native New Yorker isn’t one to quit on a dream. Freaney, 48, gave it another shot and went on to a decorated 25-year career with the elite federal agency, guarding US presidents, UN dignitaries and rising to the top spot in the Big Apple field office. This week, he’s calling it a career. "I always felt a strong connection to New York, even from my early days in the service," he told The Post. "To conclude my career here as the Special Agent in Charge will always be a source of personal pride. It’s been an honor and a privilege to lead this amazing group of dedicated professionals.” Raised in Long Beach, Freaney was the son of an FDNY captain and a New York City school teacher, and went on to attend Siena College, where he was a standout lacrosse player. But he dreamed of a career in law enforcement, inspired by his FBI agent grandfather, and joined the state police department in 1998, serving in Farmingdale, Brewster and Wappingers Falls. Seeking to join the Secret Service, at first he was rejected. "It was humbling, but it was also a really good lesson early in life that things will not always go your way," Freaney said. "It also taught me about resolve and it obviously worked out when I re-applied.” This time, he got in, and joined the service on July 21, 2000, starting in the New York Field Office. On Sept. 11, 2001, he survived the collapse of 7 World Trade Center during the terror attacks, and joined first-responders in follow-up evacuation and recovery efforts. His career then took off, joining the Counter Assault Team in the Special Operations Division in 2005 and moving to the Presidential Protection Division in 2008, where he was part of the unit protecting former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. "People always know the service for its role in protection, but we also have an investigative mission where we focus on financial crimes that significantly impact the public and our financial system.” In June 2012 he returned home as assistant to the special agent in charge in the New York office, and in March 2016 was promoted to resident special agent in charge of the White Plains office. Two more promotions quickly followed, to assistant special agent in charge of the Electronic Crimes Task Force in 2018, deputy special agent in charge the following year, and, finally, to special agent in charge of the New York office in June 2021.

New York Post [7/27/2025 4:09 PM, Chris Nesi, 49956K] reports President Trump’s security team has debuted what appears to be a heavily armored golf cart 10 months after a would-be assassin aimed an SKS-style rifle toward him at his West Palm Beach tee resort. As the president played at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire, Scotland, this weekend, an imposing, apparently heavily fortified black vehicle followed close behind — with security experts saying it bears all the hallmarks of an armor-reinforced golf cart in the mold of Trump’s official limo, a k a "The Beast." . Trump drove a standard white golf cart as he played, but the bulky silhouette of the latest addition to his security fleet — which appears to be a modified Polaris Ranger XP — stood out like a sore thumb on the course. "Just looking at the front windscreen, that looks armored," said Gary Relf, director of Armoured Car Services, to The Telegraph. Relf said that while it’s difficult to ascertain exactly which elements have been reinforced, noting companies such as his often remove and discreetly replace nearly every interior element with armor plating, the vehicle’s darkened front windscreen featuring black banding is a dead giveaway that something major is afoot with it. "From those photos, that is 100% armored," he told the outlet. "The windscreen is a giveaway, as are the side panels, doors and the large panel at the rear above the load tray.” He said the vehicle appeared to be kitted out for "defensive, not offensive" purposes and claimed the tinted windows could indicate a robust transparent armor has been added. "The thicker the transparent armoring, the more tinted the window looks," he said. Relf said it was likely the modifications would likely be designed to keep the vehicle as secure as possible while remaining lightweight enough to avoid damaging grass on the course. A Secret Service spokesman wouldn’t confirm or deny whether the cart is armored or part of Trump’s security apparatus, telling the outlet that the agency doesn’t discuss the specific means and methods it deploys to protect the president. But stepped-up hardware to protect Trump on the golf course would not be unexpected given his surviving a pair of assassination attempts last year. On Sept. 15, Ryan Routh, 59, trained a rifle styled after a Soviet-designed semiautomatic at Trump’s security detail as the president walked along the fifth hole at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida. Agents spotted Routh during a sweep of the sixth hole, where the suspect had obscured his location in heavy brush some 400 yards from the president, and fired a shot at him, at which point he ditched his weapon and fled in a Nissan SUV. Less than an hour later, Routh was apprehended during a traffic stop and charged with the attempted assassination of Trump. Two months earlier, Trump survived another assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., carried out by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Crooks perched on the rooftop of a building just outside the Butler fairgrounds and opened fire with an AR-style rifle, nicking Trump’s ear, seriously wounding an audience member and killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore. Crooks was taken out by a counter-sniper team moments after firing. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [7/27/2025 11:16 AM, Kristin Brown and Caroline Linton, 51860K] Video: HERE reports preparations to refit the Qatari jet that will be used as Air Force One are underway, and floor plans or schematics have been seen by senior U.S. officials, CBS News has learned. Earlier this year, President Trump confirmed that the Qatari royal family was donating a Boeing 747-8 for his use. Valued at $400 million, the jumbo jet is set to be donated to Mr. Trump’s presidential library after his term is over. Mr. Trump, in May, called it a "gift.". "They knew about it because they buy Boeings, they buy a lot of Boeings, and they knew about it, and they said, we would like to do something," Mr. Trump said. "And if we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture. Now I could be a stupid person and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane.’" In May, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York said he sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office urging an investigation into the Trump administration accepting a plane as a gift. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the U.S. government and Qatar are expected to finalize the agreement this week. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Breitbart [7/27/2025 4:30 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports “They knew about it because they buy Boeings, they buy a lot of Boeings, and they knew about it, and they said, we would like to do something,” Trump said. Qatar will send the Boeing 747-8 aircraft as an unconditional “donation” to the Department of Defense, which will then be responsible for its maintenance, the Washington Post reported. The agreement, dated July 7, was signed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Soud bin Abulrahaman Al-Thani. Once the deal is finished, the Air Force can begin renovating the plane to become Air Force One. The process is projected to take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

FOX News [7/28/2025 4:00 AM, Adam Sabes, 46878K] reports the rise in illegal immigration that took place by boats under the Biden administration has created unique dangers for law enforcement, according to a border security expert. Maritime illegal immigration, using boats to enter the U.S. illegally, rose during the Biden administration as a result of the political and economic crises of Haiti and Cuba, according to the Migration Policy Institute. In February 2023, the U.S. Naval Institute said that illegal immigrant interdiction operations were in a "state of emergency" due to societal turmoil in Caribbean countries. Along the border between the U.S. and Mexico in California, illegal immigrants attempt to cross into America using boats as well. On July 12, the U.S. Coast Guard interdicted three people who were trying to enter the U.S. illegally by boat and were apprehended at Imperial Beach in San Diego County, California. Two individuals said they were Mexican, while one said they were Turkish. In January, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying 21 illegal immigrants that was headed toward San Diego. Coast Guard officials and Border Protection officials apprehended the illegal immigrants, who were from various countries. "Initial interviews revealed that all individuals claimed Mexican nationality, although subsequent checks identified two passengers as Guatemalan and Salvadoran nationals," the Coast Guard wrote in a press release.

The New York Times [7/27/2025 4:58 PM, Adeel Hassan, 138952K] reports three people were killed after a small plane crashed off the coast of Pacific Grove in central California on Saturday night, the authorities said. The private plane, a Beech 95-B55 Baron, took off from San Carlos Airport, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, shortly after 10 p.m., according to Flightradar24, a site that compiles public information about aircraft locations and flight paths. It was in the air for about 30 minutes, flight data shows, before it crashed into the Pacific Ocean, approximately 200 to 300 yards from Point Pinos, on the southwestern edge of Monterey Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Sunday. Just before 11 p.m., the authorities in Monterey County alerted the Coast Guard about the crash. The plane was located and the three people who were aboard were found, Petty Officer Ryan Graves with the Coast Guard’s public affairs office in San Francisco said on Sunday. As of Sunday afternoon, there was no immediate information about the victims. The plane crashed shortly ahead of its intended destination of Monterey Regional Airport, which is near the bay and a few miles east of Pacific Grove, which is about 120 miles south of San Francisco. Petty Officer Graves said that a Coast Guard helicopter, rescue boats from Cal Fire and Monterey County, and units from the Pacific Grove Police Department and Monterey County joined in the operation. The F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board said they were investigating the crash. The Detroit Free Press [7/27/2025 6:35 PM, James Powel, 4241K] reports that television stations KION and KSBW first reported that the U.S. Coast Guard recovered the bodies. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a preliminary statement to USA TODAY that three people were on the Beechcraft BE55 it alerted as missing off the coast of the town July 26. Cal Fire told KSBW that witnesses reported hearing an aircraft engine revving, followed by a splash in the ocean. The NTSB will lead the investigation, the FAA said in its statement. The Los Angeles Times [7/27/2025 2:29 PM, Jenny Gold, 14672K] reports that the plane took off from the San Carlos airport at 10:11 p.m. and was last seen at 10:37 p.m. near Monterey, according to flight tracking data from Flight Aware. The Coast Guard launched a 29-foot response boat that arrived on the scene shortly after 11 p.m. A Coast Guard helicopter and three California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection boat crews also assisted in the search, along with two Cal Fire drones. Multiple local law enforcement agencies also assisted in the response.

Reported similarly:
Los Angeles Times [7/27/2025 2:29 PM, Jenny Gold, 14672K]
New York Post [7/27/2025 3:27 PM, Chris Nesi, 49956K]
Breitbart [7/28/2025 12:28 AM, Staff, 3077K]
AP [7/27/2025 2:47 PM, Staff, 56000K]
NBC News [7/27/2025 1:55 PM, Meriam Bouarrouj and Mirna Alsharif, 44540K]
San Francisco Chronicle [7/27/2025 10:15 AM, Anna Bauman, 4120K]

Washington Examiner [7/27/2025 11:40 AM, Brett Rowland, 1934K] reports that, when hackers stole a rural school district’s computer system last year, students in the middle of midterm exams were left frustrated, but concerns went far beyond testing. Cafeteria staff scrambled to help students who depended on school meals. Parents searched for childcare when district officials canceled classes. Seniors worried about college application deadlines while transcripts were inaccessible. A report from the Center for Internet Security found such attacks are becoming more sophisticated, more frequent and more damaging to K-12 schools. CIS runs the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center with the goal of better overall cybersecurity posture for governments at all levels through coordination and collaboration. The 2025 CIS MS-ISAC K-12 Cybersecurity Report found 82% of K-12 organizations experienced cyber incidents. Of the nearly 14,000 security events, 9,300 were confirmed. It also found that attacks surge during high-stakes periods such as exams, disrupting education and forcing officials to make difficult decisions. Randy Rose, vice president of security operations and intelligence at the Center for Internet Security, said cyber attacks at school can have "huge, broad implications." He pointed to the unnamed rural school district highlighted in the report. Like many other schools, it serves as a central hub in the community and school disruption can create a cascade of community problems. "Schools are really central to a community. So when they’re impacted, it’s far beyond just kids in classrooms," he told The Center Square. "We’re talking about their kids who only eat when they’re in school. So if they’re out of school, there’s no food. There are parents whose lives are disrupted because they’re unable to work, and a lot of those parents don’t have jobs where they can take time off. So if they’re not working, they’re not making money, which has an impact on the local economy.” Many districts have some form of insurance to cover cyber attacks, but those policies vary widely in what they cover after a breach, Rose said. "Insurance will cover things like initial incident response. In some cases, they’ll cover ransomware payments. Sometimes they won’t," he said. "Sometimes they’ll require you to have a particular provider that does ransomware negotiations with the actors. But sometimes they stop short of actual recovery and future implementation.” What insurance doesn’t cover usually ends up on local taxpayers. "If you’re having to pay massive amounts of money for restoration and ransomware payments, guess whose taxes are going to go up next?" Rose said. It can get more complicated when foreign state-backed groups are involved. Some policies might consider that an Act of War, which isn’t covered. Recovering from cyber attacks can take time, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report from 2023. That report found the loss of learning after an attack "ranged from 3 days to 3 weeks and recovery time ranged from 2 to 9 months.” The GAO report found financial losses to school districts ranged from $50,000 to $1 million. The GAO also noted that the "precise national magnitude of cyberattacks on K-12 schools is unknown.” Experts said many attacks are not reported. The issue isn’t limited to schools. It can affect the vendors that districts hire. In 2022, a cyber attack on Illuminate Education, an education technology company based in California, affected more than 1 million students, including students in New York, California, Connecticut, Washington, Oklahoma and Colorado. Josh Bauman is the technology director at Festus R6 School District, located in Festus, Missouri. The district serves about 3,500 students at five schools near the Mississipi River and the state’s border with Illinois. It’s about 35 miles south of St. Louis. Outside of school, he hosts a K-12 Tech Talk podcast on cyberattacks, talking with school officials who have reported breaches. Most of the people on the podcast change details to protect the identity of the schools involved. He said simple things such as public-facing school calendars can give hackers an advantage. Since they know what’s happening at the school, they can use information to make strikes more damaging, hit at key times, or wait until no one is in the building.

AP [7/28/2025 12:10 AM, Isabel Debre and Nayara Batschke, 31733K] reports the Venezuelan gang members wrote out even their most minute purchases in blue pen: $15 for a drug trafficker’s Uber; $9 for instant coffee during a lookout shift; $34 for supplies to clean what investigators learned were torture chambers. The meticulous spreadsheets seized during police raids in Chile’s northern town of Arica, and shared with The Associated Press, suggest the accounting structure of a multinational. They amount to the most comprehensive documentation to date of the inner workings of Tren de Aragua, Latin America’s notorious criminal organization designated by President Donald Trump as a foreign terrorist group. An investigation built over years by Chilean prosecutors in Arica, which resulted in hefty sentences for 34 people in March — and inspired other cases which, earlier this month, sent a dozen Tren de Aragua leaders to prison for a total of 300 years — contrasts with Trump’s mass deportations of suspected gang members. While Trump’s supporters cheer the expulsions, investigators see missed opportunities to gather evidence aimed at uprooting the criminal network that has gained momentum across the region as migration from Venezuela surges and global cocaine demand spreads. “With the U.S. snatching guys off the streets, they’re taking out the tip of the iceberg,” said Daniel Brunner, president of Brunner Sierra Group security firm and a former FBI agent. “They’re not looking at how the group operates.” Transnational mafias have fueled an extraordinary crime wave in once-peaceful nations like Chile and consolidated power in countries like Honduras and Peru, infiltrating state bureaucracies, crippling the capacities of law enforcement and jeopardizing regional stability. The new developments are testing democracies across Latin America. “This is not your typical corruption involving cash in envelopes,” said former Peruvian Interior Minister Ruben Vargas of the impunity in his country. “It’s having criminal operators wield power in the political system.”

AP [7/28/2025 1:19 AM, Esteban Felix, 56000K] reports Chilean prosecutors brought a record number of gang members to trial after a yearslong investigation into Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan crime syndicate designated a foreign terrorist group by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Chilean case dismantled the gang’s northern Chile offshoot, known as Los Gallegos, and highlighted the value of long-term investigations as public enthusiasm grows for a more ruthless approach. [Editorial note: consult source link for photo gallery]

FOX News [7/28/2025 4:00 AM, Julia Bonavita, 46878K] Video HERE reports as drone technology rapidly advances, industry experts are warning Congress about potential airspace lapses creating the next national security threat if left unregulated. In a U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing held last week, drone industry experts testified about the looming threats to airspace safety posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). "More than half of all near misses with commercial and general aviation are with drones," Tom Walker, CEO of DroneUp, told Fox News Digital. Walker leads the world’s largest drone services network while working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Departments of Transportation (DOT), Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security (DHS) to implement changes on national airspace policy. While on Capitol Hill, Walker implored lawmakers to build a nationalized system that has the ability to identify each drone, pilot and mission throughout the country. "We don’t have awareness of our airspace," Walker said. "We don’t have a common operating picture. We can’t look at a picture, and see all of the drones and manned aircraft and say, ‘Here’s who this is and here’s what they’re doing.’" Currently, the federal government does not have a centralized database that identifies a drone and its pilot in real-time, creating security lapses around critical infrastructure throughout the country and a lack of accountability surrounding rules and regulations of airspace.

Reuters [7/27/2025 3:00 PM, Andrew Gray and Andrea Shalal, 51390K] reports the Trump administration will announce the results of a national security probe into imports of semiconductors in two weeks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday, as President Donald Trump suggested higher tariffs were on the horizon. Lutnick told reporters after a meeting between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the investigation was one of the "key reasons" the European Union sought to negotiate a broader trade agreement that would "resolve all things at one time.” Trump said many companies would be investing in semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, including some from Taiwan and other places, to avoid getting hit by new tariffs. He said von der Leyen had avoided the pending chips tariffs "in a much better way.” Trump and von der Leyen announced a new framework trade agreement that includes across-the-board 15% tariffs on EU imports entering the United States. Trump said the agreement included autos, which face a higher 25% tariff under a separate sectoral tariff action. The Trump administration in April said it was investigating whether extensive reliance on foreign imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors posed a national security threat. The probe, being conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, could lay the groundwork for new tariffs on imports in both sectors. The Trump administration has begun separate investigations under the same law into imports of copper and lumber. Earlier probes completed during Trump’s first term formed the basis for 25% tariffs rolled out since his return to the White House in January on steel and aluminum and on the auto industry. Trump has upended global trade with a series of aggressive levies against trading partners, including a 10% tariff that took effect in April, with that rate set to increase sharply for most larger trading partners from August 1. The U.S. relies heavily on chips imported from Taiwan, something Democratic former President Joe Biden sought to reverse during his term by granting billions of dollars in Chips Act awards to lure chipmakers to expand production in the United States.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [7/27/2025 3:22 PM, Staff, 4622K]

FOX News [7/27/2025 11:25 AM, Amanda Macias, 46878K] reports the White House pulled the plug on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of polygraph tests to root out leakers, according to a report. Patrick Weaver, a current adviser to Hegseth, alerted high-ranking administration officials that he could soon have to submit a polygraph test, the Washington Post reported. That prompted a call to Hegseth to drop the lie detector tests. Weaver, who has previously held roles on the White House’s National Security Council and in the Department of Homeland Security during President Donald Trump’s first administration, took offense to the potential measure. The investigation to identify leakers within the Department of Defense began in late March with a memo from Joe Kasper, then Hegseth’s chief of staff.

NewsMax [7/27/2025 4:10 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4622K] reports statute of limitations rules likely won’t come into play when it comes to potential charges against former President Barack Obama and key members of his intelligence community when it comes to allegations that they conspired to undermine President Donald Trump’s first term in office with claims of Russian collusion, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Sunday. "I don’t think statutes of limitations are going to impact because in the conspiracy, the statute of limitation doesn’t start to run until the last act and furtherance of that conspiracy," Ratcliffe told Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo. "Part of why this is so important is that the people behind this are still furthering the conspiracy. They’re refusing to admit or acknowledge what they did in 2016 and what they did in 2020 was wrong.” And, he added that there is "no doubt in my mind" that Obama, and his CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, and others conspired against Trump and the American people. "I’ll leave it to [Attorney General] Pam Bondi and our Department of Justice, and [FBI Director] Kash Patel and our FBI, to investigate the conspiracy and what charges that they’re capable of bringing," Ratcliffe said. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe explained that the origins of the Russian collusion claims began back in the summer of 2016, when U.S. intelligence "intercepted Russian intelligence talking about a Hillary Clinton plan to falsely accuse Donald Trump of Russia collusion, to vilify him and smear him with what would become known infamously as the Steele dossier.” Brennan then briefed Obama, Comey, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and the national security team, said Ratcliffe. "It wasn’t until more than four years later, in October of 2020, when I found, after an exhaustive search of John Brennan’s handwritten notes and the underlying intelligence behind it, that it revealed exactly what happened," he continued. That meant for four years, "the truth about the origins of the Russia collusion hoax was hidden from the American people," said Ratcliffe. But then, with Biden’s election in 2020, that gave "another four years to be able to continue to be able to bury the truth," he added. "It’s only now with Donald Trump having been reelected that through DNI [Tulsi] Gabbard, myself, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, all of this intelligence, all of this evidence that’s been hidden and buried from the American people is finally coming to light," the director said. Ratcliff said he and Gabbard have made their referrals to the DOJ, and will keep sharing intelligence to support their "fair and just claims against those who perpetrated this hoax against the American people and this stain on our country.” Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.

New York Post [7/27/2025 5:51 PM, Ryan King, 49956K] reports CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Sunday teased plans to publicly disclose additional files that allegedly help tie Hillary Clinton to the false claims of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Ratcliffe specifically hinted at "underlying intelligence" referenced in the annex of the Durham report, which scrutinized probes into the Clinton vs. President Trump match-up and is currently undergoing a declassification process. "What hasn’t come out yet and what’s going to come out is the underlying intelligence," Ratcliffe told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures," referring to Russiagate. "And what that intelligence shows, Maria, is that part of this was a Hillary Clinton plan, but part of it was an FBI plan to be an accelerant to that fake Steele dossier, to those fake Russia collusion claims by pouring oil on the fire, by amplifying the lie and bearing the truth of what Hillary Clinton was up to." During the 2016 election cycle, an opposition-research file against then-candidate Trump and compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele was circulated within the intelligence community. The Washington Free Beacon, Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee ultimately ended up paying for the research Steele conducted into Trump during the 2016 cycle. The largely debunked Steele dossier was reviewed by investigators in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
CIA director teases more files on alleged Russiagate links to Hillary Clinton: ‘Finally coming to light’

ABC News [7/28/2025 3:54 AM, David Brennan, 31733K] reports Polish and allied NATO aircraft were scrambled in response to a large Russian drone and missile attack launched into Ukraine on Sunday night, the Polish military’s Operational Command said in a statement. "Polish and allied duty aircraft have been scrambled and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness," the command said in a statement posted to X in the early hours of Monday morning, as hundreds of drones and missiles targeted sites across Ukraine. The alert lasted for around three hours, after which the command posted another statement saying that "deployed forces and resources have returned to standard operational activities." NATO’s Air Command and Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters stationed in Poland took part in the response, the Polish Operational Command said. An official at Lithuania’s Defense Ministry confirmed to ABC News that a drone also crossed into Lithuania from Belarusian airspace. Russian forces regularly route drones through Belarusian airspace to attack Ukrainian targets from the north. A search for the drone was still underway as of Monday morning, the official said.

FOX News [7/27/2025 1:45 PM, Paul Tilsley, 46878K] Video: HERE reports the State Department and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have joined a chorus of analysts this week in warning Fox News Digital of "significant threats to U.S. national security" from the actions of Iran in Africa. Tehran is accused of reportedly buying uranium in Niger, supplying drones in violation of a U.N. arms embargo to forces in Sudan and promoting the growth of destabilizing Islamist fundamentalism and terrorism on the continent. "Iran’s long arm of terror stretches around the globe, including in Africa", Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told Fox News Digital, adding, "Iran is an enemy to freedom everywhere, and a threat to U.S. national security; our partners in Africa must proceed with caution before engaging with this dangerous, authoritarian regime." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [7/27/2025 7:00 AM, David J. Lynch, 32099K] reports a Trump administration campaign to stop Chinese manufacturers from evading high U.S. tariffs risks clogging global trade with red tape, snarling the supply chains that electronics companies and automakers rely on to produce goods at the lowest cost, according to logistics experts and economists. Administration officials say some Chinese companies have skirted the tariffs that President Donald Trump began imposing in 2018 by shipping their goods to American customers via countries such as Vietnam that face lower U.S. trade barriers. Those flows have grown this year as Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese goods to an unprecedented 145 percent in April before lowering them a few weeks later. The skeleton trade deals that the president has announced in recent weeks with Vietnam and Indonesia aim to thwart that practice, known as transshipment, with a two-tier tariff: one rate for products produced locally and a much higher rate for goods originating elsewhere. Since most manufactured goods contain some Chinese components, distinguishing between goods that are made locally and those that are Chinese will depend on regulatory fine print that has yet to be agreed on by Washington and its trading partners. These “rules of origin” will limit the amount of Chinese content that a Vietnamese or Indonesian product can contain while still qualifying for the lower tariff rate. Along with preventing Chinese goods from dodging U.S. customs fees, the two-level tariff will introduce added complexity and paperwork to the cross-border movement of goods, especially in Asia. The rules of origin in the North American trade deal Trump negotiated during his first term, for example, ran to 270 pages. Many experts said it is unlikely that the Indonesian or Vietnamese details will be agreed on by Aug. 1, when the president’s latest tariffs are scheduled to take effect. “It’s a frontal assault on globalized supply chains. This is make-it-in-America writ large,” said Chris Rogers, head of supply chain research with S&P Global Market Intelligence in London. “It’s why these rules of origin are going to be so important.” Some forms of transshipment are legitimate, such as cargo that moves from one shipping vessel to another at a transport hub, much as an airline passenger might board a connecting flight. But sending, say, Chinese goods to Vietnam just so they can be repacked into Vietnamese shipping containers and exported to the United States is not. Companies have long engaged in both types of transshipment. But the illicit version grew more prevalent after Trump began imposing high tariffs on Chinese goods during his first term. This year’s even higher tariffs — many Chinese goods face import taxes of 55 percent — gave manufacturers a greater incentive to look for lower-tariff routes into the U.S. market.

Reuters [7/28/2025 3:44 AM, David Lawder, 51390K] reports top U.S. and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to try to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world’s top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months and keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay. The negotiations will begin on Monday afternoon local time at Rosenbad, the Swedish prime minister’s office in central Stockholm, a source familiar with the planning of the talks said. Chinese and U.S. national flags were being raised at the building on Monday morning. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from U.S. duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Trump’s biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15% tariff on most EU goods exports to the U.S., including autos. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump’s administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We’re very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we’ll see how that goes," Trump told reporters on Sunday before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck their tariff deal. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the U.S. had paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support Trump’s efforts to secure a meeting with Xi this year. The industry and security bureau of the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, had been told to avoid tough moves on China, the newspaper said, citing current and former officials.

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