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 [7/2/2025 6:24 PM, Hamed Aleaziz, 138952K] reports the number of people crossing the southern border illegally has dropped to levels not seen in decades, a sign that President Trump’s message of deterrence and his hard-line immigration policies are working to keep people out. Border Patrol agents made just over 6,000 arrests in June, figures released this week by the Department of Homeland Security show, punctuating a steep drop since Mr. Trump took office. Mr. Trump ran on a platform of shutting down illegal crossings of the southern border and carrying out mass expulsions of people in the United States without authorization, positions that helped sweep him into office. His campaign to execute his immigration promises has invited showdowns with the courts, tested the boundaries of constitutional rights and upended America’s longstanding role welcoming those seeking refuge or asylum. But in his first few months in office, it also appears to have been effective. Adam Isacson, a border expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the border crossings in June were the lowest since the 1960s and were likely aided by the intensified immigration push, pointing to images of arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the sending of immigrants to El Salvador and other countries they are not from, and the holding of migrants at the U.S. detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. “Smugglers’ messaging may not be able to overcome the climate of fear among the immigrant community in the United States,” he said. “People are probably getting scary messages on WhatsApp, TikTok and elsewhere about how bad for migrants the climate is in the United States.” President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration largely struggled with the southern border, with monthly arrests peaking in December 2023 at nearly 250,000. After Mr. Biden moved to limit asylum at the border, the numbers dropped under 50,000 by the closing months of his administration — but never this low. In a statement, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, celebrated what she called “the most secure border in American history.” “The world is hearing our message: The border is closed to lawbreakers,” she said. “Under President Trump, our Border Patrol agents are empowered to do their job once again, secure our border and protect the American people.” NewsMax [7/2/2025 1:04 PM, Solange Reyner, 4622K] reports Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday wrote on social media that Customs and Border Protection "had the lowest number of nationwide encounters in AMERICAN HISTORY at 25,243" in June. "This is 12% lower than the previous record, set by President @realDonaldTrump, in February 2025. The numbers don’t lie — under President Trump’s leadership, @DHSgov and @CBP have shattered records and delivered the most secure border in American history," she wrote in a post on X. "The world is hearing our message: the border is closed to law breakers. Under President Trump, our Border Patrol agents are empowered to do their job once again, secure our border, and protect the American people." According to DHS, apprehensions along the southwest border dropped to 6,070, a 15% decline from March 2025.

DailySignal [7/2/2025 11:57 AM, Jarrett Stepman, 558K] reports the Trump administration’s border czar Tom Homan announced on X Tuesday evening that not a single person detained at the border in June was released into the country. Last month’s border numbers are in, and they are a massive win for President Donald Trump and the rule of law. That goes alongside a dramatic decline in total border encounters since Trump took office. "Total Border Patrol encounters for the entire month of June 2025 was 6,070," Homan wrote. "That is less than a single day under Biden. As a matter of fact, the total number of encounters is less than half of a single day under Biden on many days.” According to CBS News, June’s numbers represent the lowest monthly apprehensions at the border ever recorded by Customs and Border Protection. The previous record was set just a few months ago, in March, when there were only 7,200 border apprehensions. It’s hard to overstate what an astounding turnaround there has been at the border under Trump compared to President Joe Biden. Fox New correspondent Bill Melugin compared the June numbers of the last four years. The border crisis began the day Biden took office and was extinguished as soon as Trump returned. The stark numbers only highlight the effect of executive will in dealing with this issue. Whatever "root causes" were creating the explosion of illegal immigrants to come to America, the previous administration clearly did nothing to stop them. They opened the door and let in as many illegal aliens as fast as they could while only pretending to prioritize border security when the situation got out of hand and became a political problem. It’s remarkable looking back at the bogus immigration bill promoted by the Biden administration in February 2024 as a reasonable compromise. A section of the bill ordered that the border be shut down after 5,000 border crossings in seven consecutive days or 8,500 in one day. It was set to be in place for three years. Think about that. Serious border security would only flip on if roughly the same number of people came in per day for an entire week as came in during an entire month in June. The answer to this problem wasn’t additional legislation—that seemed more like an excuse to shovel more money at Ukraine and make the Biden policies official rather than fix the border. The answer was a change in who was running the executive branch from an administration that recklessly allowed illegal aliens to flood the country to one that’s been dedicated to enforcing the laws on the books.

DailySignal [7/2/2025 12:48 PM, Virginia Allen, 558K] reports Border czar Tom Homan is praising the "Trump effect" after another drop in illegal-alien encounters at the southern border in June. "Total Border Patrol encounters for the entire month of June 2025 was 6,070," Homan wrote on X. "That is less than a single day under [President Joe Biden]. As a matter of fact, the total number of encounters is less than half of a single day under Biden on many days.” In June 2022, for comparison, the Border Patrol encountered 6,413 illegal aliens a day on average between ports of entry along the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection. In addition to the low encounter numbers, none of the 6,070 illegal aliens encountered at the border in June were released into the U.S., according to Homan. More than 10 million illegal aliens were released into the interior of the U.S. under the four years of the Biden administration, according to CBP. "President [Donald] Trump has created the most secure border in the history of the nation, and the data proves it," Homan said. "We have never seen numbers this low. Never. God bless the men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol, and God bless the men and women of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]." "The interior arrests and consequences help to drive down illegal immigration," according to Homan. "The Trump effect keeps America winning." Homan, together with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has spearheaded Trump’s immigration agenda. FOX News [7/2/2025 3:53 PM, Cameron Arcand, Peter Doocy, Bill Melugin, 46878K] reports White House border czar Tom Homan revealed that southern border apprehensions in June were incredibly low – and nobody was released into the U.S. after being apprehended. The figure is a dip of 15% from March, and a major dip from moments during the Biden administration, such as December 2023 where there were an average of roughly 11,000 encounters daily. There were only 8,039 apprehensions on a national scale by Border Patrol, which is lower than the record set in March. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the first three days of June 2024 had over 11,000 apprehensions, with the southern border alone having over 7,000 apprehensions in the first two days of that month. Total nationwide encounters, which means encounters not just at the southern border, were the lowest in CBP history at 25,243, which is 12% less than the record low in February 2025. Gotaway numbers also shot down by 90% compared with June of last year. "The numbers don’t lie – under President Trump’s leadership, DHS and CBP have shattered records and delivered the most secure border in American history. The world is hearing our message: the border is closed to law breakers," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated.

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New York Post [7/2/2025 4:14 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K]
Breitbart [7/2/2025 4:19 PM, John Binder, 3077K]

Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 7:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports the Trump administration is marshalling federal agents from an array of departments to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest and deport illegal immigrants. Police from the Justice Department’s U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations have left their everyday responsibilities to help ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team find and apprehend immigrants who are illegally living in the United States. Democrats have called the diverting of federal employees inappropriate. Some of those reassigned employees and officials expressed concern about unfinished work at their original agencies in conversations with the Washington Examiner. The Trump administration has not given an estimate for how long it expects it will take the federal government to arrest and deport possibly millions of illegal immigrants. President Donald Trump initially said he would prioritize arresting criminals, but he has expanded the deportation operation to include all illegal immigrants. With the goal of 1 million arrests by next January and roughly 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., four years will not be long enough to complete the undertaking, and it could mean yearslong assistance from employees of other agencies. "The Big Beautiful Bill will allow ICE to hire 10,000 new officers. ICE currently has 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel in more than 400 offices. A larger force will provide ICE agents with the necessary protection so they can continue to carry out removals," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told the Washington Examiner. During his first week in office, Trump took action to allow more federal police to help ICE. Then-acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a memo that allowed DEA, ATF, and Marshals Service employees to enforce federal immigration laws. "Mobilizing these law enforcement officials will help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to carry out mass deportations," a DHS spokesman said in a statement at the time. "For decades, efforts to find and apprehend illegal aliens have not been given proper resources. This is a major step in fixing that problem." DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin maintained that ICE, as well as HSI, were "excited to be able to do their jobs again," even though HSI agents have largely been pulled to help arrest illegal immigrants. Agencies should view their work with ICE as assisting the government in its overall mission of national security, according to a White House spokesperson.

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AP [7/2/2025 6:50 PM, Colleen Slevin, 56000K] reports a federal judge on Wednesday ended an order blocking the deportation of the family of the man charged in the fatal firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, noting government lawyers say the man’s relatives are not being rushed out of the country as the White House originally stated. Hayam El Gamal and her five children were detained by immigration agents on June 3, two days after her husband Mohamed Sabry Soliman was accused of throwing two Molotov cocktails at people demonstrating for awareness of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Prosecutors announced Monday that an 82-year-old woman who was injured in the attack had died. U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garica dismissed the family’s lawsuit challenging their detention by immigration authorities. The ruling noted that El Gamal and her children ages 4 to 18 are not eligible for expedited deportations because they have been in the country for over two years, which he said lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have acknowledged. Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the U.S. illegally. He is being prosecuted in both state and federal court for the attack, which prosecutors say injured a total of 13 people. Investigators say he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire "to kill all Zionist people." He has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crimes charges but hasn’t been asked to enter a plea in the state case, which now includes a murder charge. On the day El Gamal and her children were arrested, the White House said in social media posts that they "COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT" and that six one-way tickets had been purchased for them, with their "final boarding call coming soon." Those statements led a federal judge in Colorado to issue an emergency order temporarily blocking the family’s deportation, Garcia said. The case was later transferred to Texas, where the family is being held in an immigration detention center for families. Garcia is based in San Antonio. Because the family is in regular deportation proceedings, there is no longer any reason to block their deportation, Garcia said. Regular proceedings can take months or even years if decisions are appealed. He also turned down the family’s request to be released from the detention center in the meantime, saying they can pursue release through the normal bond process in the immigration system. Lawyers for the family had challenged their detention as unconstitutional because they said it was intended to punish them for Soliman’s actions. According to a court filing by El Gamal’s lawyers, one of the immigration agents who arrested them told her, "You have to pay for the consequences of what you did.”

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The New York Times [7/3/2025 3:18 AM, Zach Montague, 330K] reports a federal judge in Washington ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot categorically deny asylum claims from people crossing the southern border, striking down a change made on President Trump’s first day in office. The ruling rejected the idea, repeatedly put forth by the president, that such extraordinary powers were justified to curtail what Mr. Trump has called an invasion of the United States by immigrants crossing the southern border. In a hefty 128-page opinion, Judge Randolph D. Moss of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the Constitution and federal immigration law did not afford Mr. Trump the expansive authorities he claimed. “The court recognizes that the executive branch faces enormous challenges in preventing and deterring unlawful entry into the United States and in adjudicating the overwhelming backlog of asylum claims of those who have entered the country,” he wrote. But neither the Constitution nor the current law governing asylum seekers, Judge Moss wrote, could “be read to grant the president or his delegees authority to adopt an alternative immigration system which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted.” Despite the sweeping terms of the order, Judge Moss postponed them from taking effect for two weeks to allow for an appeal. As the administration has sought maximum authority to curb immigration, the matter appeared likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court. The Trump administration filed an appeal hours after the judge’s ruling. The case focused on a Trump proclamation — titled “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion” — seeking to suspend the nation’s refugee admissions program and override procedures that Congress set in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the president’s proclamation, the government has effectively shut down avenues at the southern border for people fleeing persecution or torture to apply for asylum and remain in the United States. At the same time, Mr. Trump has moved to suspend other programs granting certain groups temporary protected status. The immigrant rights groups behind the lawsuit argued that the Trump administration had usurped Congress’s power to make laws governing the system for asylum. They brought a legal challenge on behalf of more than a dozen people who had been detained or removed from the United States without their asylum claims being addressed. “Under the proclamation, the government is doing just what Congress by statute decreed that the United States must not do,” the immigrant rights groups wrote in their complaint. “It is returning asylum seekers — not just single adults, but families too — to countries where they face persecution or torture, without allowing them to invoke the protections Congress has provided.” Many of those people had experienced political persecution in their home countries of Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Peru and Turkey, according to court filings. Their lawyers said some were subjected to “traditional torture” at the hands of those governments. “This ruling means that asylum will once again be available for those fleeing horrific danger and in doing so, reaffirms that the president must respect the laws Congress enacts,” Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case, said. “The decision will literally mean the difference between life and death for many families escaping religious and other forms of persecution.” As part of the ruling on Wednesday, Judge Moss agreed to certify asylum seekers in the case as a class, making the ruling applicable to those “currently present in the United States.” That marked an critical win for most individuals facing the Trump administration’s policy after the Supreme Court last week limited the power of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions. Class actions, involving many people in a similar situation, were not affected by the court’s ruling on birthright citizenship. CNN [7/2/2025 6:33 PM, Angélica Franganillo Díaz and Priscilla Alvarez, 21433K] reports "This an enormous victory for those fleeing danger and the rule of law," said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt. "The court properly recognized that the president cannot simply ignore laws passed by Congress.” The judge said that neither immigration statutes nor the Constitution give the president power to unilaterally deny access to asylum for people who have already entered the US, no matter how they arrived. "Nothing in the (Immigration and Nationality Act) or the Constitution grants the President or his delegees the sweeping authority asserted in the Proclamation and implementing guidance," the ruling states. Moss stayed his decision for 14 days. The administration is expected to appeal. The New York Post [7/2/2025 8:05 PM, Victor Nava, 49956K] reports Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed the ruling as a threat to “the safety and security of Americans.” “The President secured the border in historic fashion by using every available legal tool provided by Congress,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Today, a rogue district judge took those tools away, threatening the safety and security of Americans and ignoring a Supreme Court decision issued only days earlier admonishing district courts for granting nationwide injunctions.” “The Trump Administration is committed to restoring integrity to our immigration system and to our justice system, and we expect a higher court to vindicate us.” Reuters [7/2/2025 2:37 PM, Ted Hesson, 51390K] reports that in a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Moss did not have the authority to constrain Trump’s actions to combat illegal immigration and that the administration would appeal. "A local district court judge has no authority to stop President Trump and the United States from securing our border from the flood of aliens trying to enter illegally," Jackson said. "We expect to be vindicated on appeal.” CBS News [7/2/2025 3:52 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51860K] reports that Moss said that a pair of provisions of federal immigration law do not provide "the president with the unilateral authority to limit the rights of aliens present in the United States to apply for asylum." He further found that the Constitution does not give the president the authority to "adopt an alternative immigration system, which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted and the regulations that the responsible agencies have promulgated." In addition to finding Mr. Trump’s plan to limit access to asylum, the judge granted the plaintiffs’ request to certify a class of all people covered by the president’s proclamation or its implementation who are or will be in the U.S. The judge postponed the effective date of his class-wide order for 14 days to give the Trump administration time to seek emergency relief from the federal appeals court in Washington. He also put off a decision on whether to certify a class of individuals who were subject to Mr. Trump’s new asylum rules and are no longer in the U.S.

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The Washington Post [7/2/2025 9:13 AM, Frances Vinall, 32099K] reports a federal court on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from cutting short the temporary protected status designation for Haiti, days after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem announced that the designation preventing some Haitian immigrants from being deported would end in September. U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan, a George W. Bush appointee in the Eastern District of New York, ruled that Noem’s decision was unlawful and ordered that the designation remain in place until its scheduled end date of Feb. 3. Noem had initially moved to shorten the designation period in February. About 520,000 people from Haiti living in the United States are eligible for temporary protected status (TPS), and about 350,000 have been granted it, according to DHS. The State Department advises against all travel to Haiti, which has been under a state of emergency since March 2024 because of “kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.” A TPS designation allows immigrants to live and obtain a work permit in the United States because of circumstances in their home country such as war or a natural disaster. The designation is currently applied to 17 countries, including Nepal, Lebanon, Ukraine and Yemen. DHS under Noem previously said that it would end the designation for other countries including Afghanistan and Venezuela, decisions that have faced court challenges. The Supreme Court in May ruled that the Trump administration could cancel temporary protections for some Venezuelans while litigation progresses. In a statement after Tuesday’s ruling, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades,” adding that the Trump administration expects a “higher court to vindicate us in this.” Lawyers for the Haitians who filed the lawsuit had argued it is unreasonable for people who would be forced to return to make arrangements in the unexpectedly shorter time period. Cogan agreed, writing in his order, “When the Government confers a benefit over a fixed period of time, a beneficiary can reasonably expect to receive that benefit at least until the end of that fixed period.” The Hill [7/2/2025 11:23 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan ruled Noem could not issue a "partial vacatur" of a decision by her predecessor that gave Haitians Temporary Protected Status (TPS) until February of next year. In February, Noem signed an order seeking to advance that date, moving to end protections for Haitians this August. "Plaintiffs’ injuries far outweigh any harm to the Government from a postponement. Without a postponement, plaintiffs face the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation on September 2, 2025 and the subsequent loss of their legal right to live and work in the United States, despite this Court’s finding that Secretary Noem’s partial vacatur of Haiti’s TPS designation was unlawful," Cogan wrote. Roughly 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S. have TPS. Noem has also sought to end TPS protections for other countries such as Venezuela and Afghanistan. The Supreme Court in May agreed to lift a lower court ruling that blocked Noem’s efforts to end TPS for Venezuela. But amid a series of court rulings questioning the validity of her efforts to vacate designations made under the Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun following the notice and comment rulemaking process required for terminating TPS designations. The Daily Caller [7/2/2025 10:03 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports “This ruling delays justice and seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades.” “The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe, and we expect a higher court to vindicate us in this,” McLaughlin continued. “We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”

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NewsMax [7/2/2025 12:03 PM, Theodore Bunker, 4622K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsmax on Wednesday that "Alligator Alcatraz," the controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, could start housing migrants "as early as this morning.” President Donald Trump on Tuesday toured the immigrant detention facility, located at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, on Tuesday along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. McLaughlin told Newsmax’s "Wake Up America" that the facility could open for use "as early as this morning," adding, "It really is quite the feat. Three thousand beds getting developed and put together in just eight days, it’s remarkable what President Trump and Secretary Noem have been able to do since the start of this administration.” She added that "Secretary Noem has called on state and local governments" for assistance, which she said has been "key operationally to really turbocharge those arrests. And that’s exactly what the Florida attorney general and DeSantis were able to deliver with ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’". McLaughlin noted that much of the funding for the facility comes "from the federal government, about $450 million from FEMA, from that shelter and services program, which a lot of viewers might remember was the exact funding that was bastardized by the Biden administration and given to five star luxury hotels like the Roosevelt Hotel...And so now we’re using that funding where it should go, which is to hold these illegal aliens until they’re deported from our country.”

The Hill [7/2/2025 4:48 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 18649K] reports just fewer than 70 Florida National Guard troops have been sent to guard the remote migrant detention center in the state’s Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz," the Pentagon’s top spokesperson announced Wednesday. The activation comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he would send 100 guard troops there, with people arriving at the facility as early as Wednesday. President Trump on Tuesday toured the site in southern Florida at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, saying afterward the complex is "surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is really deportation." The facility, estimated to cost $450 million annually, will hold migrants awaiting deportation and could house around 5,000 people, officials have claimed. But Democrats have denounced the complex, with Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) describing the site as an "internment camp," and 24 House Democrats on Wednesday began lobbying for the site’s closure. NewsMax [7/2/2025 5:14 PM, Staff, 4622K] reports Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters that the active-duty members are "conducting base camp security" there. The activation of the Guard comes on the heels of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, calling for troops to be sent to the facility. President Donald Trump, who toured the detention center this week, said it was "surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation." Officials say the center could hold up to 5,000 people and would cost an estimated $450 million annually.

AP [7/2/2025 10:00 PM, Curt Anderson and Marta Lavandier, 24051K] reports the first group of immigrants were scheduled to arrive Wednesday night at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," the state’s attorney general said. "Alligator Alcatraz will be checking in hundreds of criminal illegal aliens tonight," Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier said on the X social media platform. "Next stop: back to where they came from.” It wasn’t immediately clear precisely when the detainees would arrive or where they were coming from. They were being brought to the facility on buses, officials said. The facility, at an airport used for training, will have a capacity of about 3,000 detainees when fully operational, according to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days over 10 miles (16 kilometers) of Everglades. It features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel. Environmental groups and Native American tribes have protested against the center, contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred. It’s also located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening. State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph (154-177 kph), and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred. State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and "guarded" by alligators wearing hats labeled "ICE" for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility’s name.

FOX News [7/2/2025 11:16 AM, Emma Colton Fox, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump on Tuesday visited "Alligator Alcatraz" — the newest illegal immigrant detention facility in the nation that’s located in the Florida Everglades and surrounded by swamplands teeming with alligators and pythons. "It’s known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ which is very appropriate because I looked outside, and that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon," Trump said Tuesday during his tour. "But very soon this facility will have some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” "We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation," the president added. "And a lot of these people are self-deporting back to their country where they came from.” Trump toured the facility, which opens Wednesday, alongside Florida Gov. Ron Desantis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. He was also joined by Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and other local and federal leaders. Trump was taken to where the illegal immigrants will sleep and toured the common areas before their deportation from the U.S. Noem remarked that the facility’s remote location adds an extra layer of security protection, while celebrating the detention center is air-conditioned.

Breitbart [7/2/2025 1:55 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis explained on Tuesday that illegal aliens who are going through intake at "Alligator Alcatraz" — a detention facility to house, process, and deport illegal aliens — have the option to voluntarily self-deport before entering the front door. DeSantis said on Tuesday that when they do they intake of illegal immigrants, they explain the option of voluntarily departing. "So right when you do the intake, they have the information about voluntary departure. They have the ability, obviously, you guys are funding that, because it’s a lot cheaper to do it that way," DeSantis said. "So, even if they get brought to the front doorstep here, they still have an opportunity to just go back voluntarily," he explained. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also drove this point home while touring the facility on Tuesday. "If they self-deport and go home, they can come back legally. We will let them come back," she told reporters as President Donald Trump added, "And there is a lot of self-deportation." "If you wait and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get to come back to America. You don’t get the chance to come back and be an American again," she warned, reiterating that point later on as well during the roundtable discussion.

Blaze [7/2/2025 8:15 AM, Julio Rosas, 1805K] reports the mosquitoes were out in full force just before the sun rose on Tuesday in the Everglades. The shoulders of the two-lane road were packed with cars of media members doing live shots outside the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, now known as Alligator Alcatraz. Alligator Alcatraz has made waves in Florida and across the nation because within eight days, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration worked with the Department of Homeland Security to build a temporary holding facility at the remote airport. While the site has many advantages, a primary deterrent from escape attempts or interference from open-border radicals are the state’s famous swamps and the wildlife that resides in them. In attendance at Tuesday’s grand opening of the facility were President Donald Trump, DeSantis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and numerous state and federal officials. They presented a unified front to say: This holding site is operational, and if illegal aliens do not want to be held there, they can self-deport. "They don’t have to come here. If they self-deport and go home, they can come back legally," Noem explained. "But if you wait and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get to come back to America. You don’t get the chance to come back and be an American again.”

The Hill [7/2/2025 12:17 PM, Rachel Scully, 18649K] reports House Democrats are calling for the closure of Florida’s new migrant detention facility on a remote site nestled in the Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," citing it as an example of what they argue is the Trump administration’s "shameful, dehumanizing approach to immigration.” Democratic Reps. Janelle Bynum (Ore.) and Maxwell Frost (Fla.) led a group of 24 Democrats in sending a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons on Wednesday. The letter includes signatures from Reps. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Eric Swalwell (Calif.). The Democratic lawmakers panned the facility as a "cruel and inhumane stunt." The administration used money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program to build the facility, which is projected to cost about $450 million a year. "This kind of cruel rhetoric and deliberate endangerment further exemplifies the administration’s shameful, dehumanizing approach to immigration – an approach rooted in anti-immigrant hostility that is morally indefensible and in clear violation of fundamental human rights," the members wrote in the letter. They said migrants detained there while awaiting deportation will be kept in tents "with inadequate sanitation facilities" facing conditions including "exposure to deadly pathogens, constant threats from unpredictable flooding and extreme weather events, and daily temperatures averaging 90 degrees, with a heat index often over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.” "Erecting tents in the blazing Everglades sun, during hurricane season no less, and call it immigration enforcement is nothing short of disgusting and cruel. Donald Trump and his Administration don’t care if migrant men, women, and children live or die – they only care about cruelty and spectacle," Frost said in a statement. President Trump toured the site Tuesday to mark its opening, touting the facility alongside Noem.

The Federal News Network [7/2/2025 5:56 PM, Justin Doubleday, 2346K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is setting a wide-ranging agenda for the revamped Homeland Security Advisory Council, including getting potential advice on hiring and firing employees. During the new council’s first meeting Wednesday, Noem told members their guidance will be needed on issues beyond just border security and immigration enforcement. "All of you are entrusted to be my advisors, to be the ones who give me advice — not just on the border and immigration, citizenship, visa waiver programs, work programs — but also on FEMA, how we respond to disasters, how we contract, how we get good people that work for us, and how to fire people who don’t like us," Noem said. Noem also said she doesn’t feel supported by some employees within DHS. The department employs about 250,000 staff across 16 components. Noem’s comments come as the Trump administration seeks to remove civil service protections for at least 50,000 policy-related positions across government. The changes will make it easier for agencies to fire employees in those positions. While she discussed work the council could undertake, Noem did not give any specific taskings during the public portion of Wednesday’s meeting. Bloomberg [7/2/2025 11:55 AM, Ellen M Gilmer, 19320K] reports that the secretary’s remarks kicked off the first meeting of the Homeland Security Advisory Council since President Donald Trump took office in January, setting an aggressive tone for the independent advisers group that will make recommendations for overhauling the department. The group is stocked with Trump allies, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R). Noem told the members she spends much of her time “surrounded by bureaucrats” and wants the council’s advice on how to craft homeland security policies that will keep the country secure 20 years from now. Part of that effort for Noem includes rooting out DHS employees who she said “don’t support what we’re doing.” She argued that much of the workforce “hasn’t been required to do much” under past leadership during President Joe Biden’s administration. Noem has been open about her mistrust of the workforce, even using polygraphs to root out potential leakers.

Reported similarly:
Axios [7/2/2025 2:27 PM, Philip Wang, 13599K]

FOX News [7/2/2025 9:06 AM, Danielle Wallace, 46878K] reports California is leading a coalition with 19 other states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for transferring Medicaid data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta said the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Northern District of California represents the 28th time in 23 weeks – or more than once a week – that California is challenging the president in court. "Upon information and belief, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) handed over a trove of individuals’ protected health data obtained from States, including California, Illinois, and Washington, to other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)," the complaint says. "Millions of individuals’ health information was transferred without their consent, and in violation of federal law." Those states allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that they say pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars. The Associated Press first reported last month that the sharing of data by HHS to DHS included addresses, names, social security numbers, immigration status and claims data for enrollees in those states. "In doing so, the Trump administration silently destroyed longstanding guardrails that protected the public’s sensitive health data and restricted its use only for purposes that Congress has authorized, violating federal laws including the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)," the lawsuit says. The complaint alleges violations of several other federal privacy laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, known as HIPPA. HHS has claimed that the transfer of data to DHS is meant "to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them." "President Trump, Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are weaponizing Medicaid to fuel their anti-immigration campaign," Bonta said at a virtual press conference. "They’re threatening the personal health data of 78.4 million individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid and the children’s health insurance program, CHIP, for their mass surveillance and federal immigration enforcement plans." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Daily Caller [7/2/2025 1:07 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports that the shared data includes information on individuals who live in California, Washington, D.C., Illinois and Washington state — all of which allow noncitizens to enroll in their own Medicaid programs. The states behind the courtroom challenge are California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, according to court documents. HHS, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem are named as defendants. An HHS spokesperson said their actions were perfectly legal in a statement provided Wednesday.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [7/2/2025 5:48 AM, Staff, 3077K]
The Hill [7/2/2025 10:37 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K]
Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 9:00 AM, Emily Hallas, 1934K]

Axios [7/2/2025 7:00 AM, Emily Peck, 13599K] reports President Trump’s immigration crackdown is hitting key pockets of the economy, disrupting workplaces and communities around the country. The sharp fall in immigration this year threatens to slow down economic growth, particularly in the sectors and cities that relied on newcomers to the U.S. in recent years. With the push against immigration, "the economy will find itself slightly diminished in the long run and inflation will run a touch higher," economist Bernard Yaros writes in a report for Oxford Economics. There will be fewer workers to produce goods and services, slowing down growth and putting pressure on wages. Yaros estimates in the long run, GDP will be 0.25% lower as a result. That’s a relatively modest macroeconomic effect, but there’s a wild card. The "big, beautiful bill" that passed the Senate contains about $175 billion for even more immigration enforcement. That could mean an even bigger decline going forward. Immigration’s effects on the economy are a slow burn, and it’ll take a while before it shows up in the macro data. For now they are rippling through industries that rely on immigrant workers, like farms, hotels, construction and meatpacking plants.

Breitbart [7/2/2025 9:59 AM, Jeff Poor, 3077K] reports Tuesday on FNC’s "Hannity," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem discussed the challenges facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with its efforts to deport criminal illegal aliens. Included according to Noem were "cannibals" and "deranged individuals.” "They’ve allowed in known terrorists, including from Iran. People need to know that. And murderers, rapists, and cartel members, drug members, drug dealers, other violent criminals, they’ve allowed them all in," host Sean Hannity said. "We don’t know the actual number. Somewhere between 12 million, 20 million. How many gotaways? Nobody knows. Where the terrorists are? How do you find them? It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. But you’re doing it. Apparently, you have found a lot of people with terror ties in the last two weeks.” Noem replied, "Oh, we absolutely have. In fact, President Trump since he’s been in office has removed almost 600 known and suspected terrorists. Thousands of violent criminals, individuals that are murderers and rapists, and drug traffickers, human traffickers. And I talked today about one of the horrific instances of our individuals, our law enforcement officers, having to put hands on individuals that were even cannibals and removing them from our country. These are deranged individuals that other countries released out of their prisons, out of their mental institutions, and sent them to America to roam on our streets and perpetuate violence against our citizens. President Trump is just trying to follow through on what he promised the American people, and that’s to get the worst of this worst out of this country so that they can raise their children in safety and apply the law equally to everyone, bring justice back to America, secure our border, but also get these dangerous criminals out.”

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [7/2/2025 8:03 AM, Bob Price, 3077K]

NBC News [7/2/2025 2:32 PM, Kalhan Rosenblatt, 44540K] reports a new platform that encourages users to share information about sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents nearby rose to the top of the Apple App Store this week, amid criticism from Trump administration officials who say the app could put agents at risk. ICEBlock, which launched in April, made headlines after a CNN article about it was called out by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and ICE acting Director Todd M. Lyons on Monday. Both cited concerns over agent safety in their statements about the app, stating that "agents are facing a 500% increase in assaults." But Joshua Aaron, ICEBlock’s Texas-based developer, called the administration’s recent criticism "another right-wing fearmongering scare tactic," telling NBC News in a phone interview on Tuesday that his app was designed to be a resource for immigrants who are fearful they will get deported. He said he felt like he was "watching history repeat itself" when he saw things like "5-year-olds in courtrooms with no representation" and "college students being disappeared for their political opinions.” The app, which is free and gives users the ability to anonymously report ICE sightings within a five-mile radius, had approximately 95,200 users as of Monday, Aaron said. He said he has not received updated figures from Apple since the White House and ICE issued their comments on the app. In Monday’s White House briefing, Leavitt said she had not seen CNN’s report about ICEBlock, but described the app as "encouraging violence against law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our country safe.” When asked for comment about ICEBlock, a spokesperson for ICE referred NBC News to Lyons’ previous statement in which he called CNN’s reporting "sickening," and said the app "basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs." He also expressed concern that covering the app could invite "violence against them with a national megaphone." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also weighed in on Tuesday, saying, "We’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them [CNN] for that." "Because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities, operations," she said while speaking to reporters alongside President Trump in Florida. "And we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them with the partnership of Pam if we can. Because what they’re doing, we believe, is illegal.”

The Hill [7/2/2025 9:20 AM, Vivian Chow, 18649K] reports as President Trump’s immigration operations continue nationwide, a new app that allows users to report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in their area is gaining attention and controversy. The platform, called ICEBlock, was launched in April in response to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and the mass protests that followed, according to the app’s creator, Joshua Aaron. The app allows users to report sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in what Aaron said is an effort to protect bystanders from physical confrontations. "That’s what this whole thing is about, is getting it into as many people’s hands as possible so that everybody can protect themselves and their communities from what is going on in this country," Aaron told Nexstar’s KTLA. Joshua Aaron, developer of the ICEBlock app said the platform allows users to report sightings of ICE agents and immigration enforcement activity in their community. (KTLA). Aaron said reports submitted to the app are anonymous and users can report ICE sightings within five miles of their current location. They can also receive push notifications of activity in their area. To keep the app 100 percent anonymous, Aaron said it is only available on iOS because he claimed that offering the app on Android would’ve required them to collect user data, which he wanted to avoid for user safety. He emphasized that he is not trying to obstruct law enforcement operations, but instead, protect civilians from possibly violent encounters in their communities. The app has around 20,000 users, most of them based in Los Angeles, and has garnered criticism and pushback from the White House and federal officials, with some concerned about potential safety issues for agents. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the app in a recent briefing, saying, "Surely, it sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers who are just simply trying to do their jobs.” In a statement, acting ICE director Todd Lyons said, "An app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening.” Aaron, however, stands by the app’s purpose to inform residents of immigration enforcement activity. "In recent years, ICE has faced criticism for alleged civil rights abuses and failures to adhere to constitutional principles and due process, making it crucial for communities to stay informed about its operations," read a statement on the app’s website. Aaron said that despite the pushback and threats he’s received, he hopes more people will download and use the app to report sightings. "You’re going to get blowback, you’re gonna get threats," he acknowledged. "I got three death threats last night through email. I can’t live in fear, and this is way more important because if we can save one person’s life, if we can just help one person avoid an encounter or some horrible situation, that’s all that matters.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 7:00 AM, Mia Cathell, 1934K]

Reuters [7/2/2025 3:22 PM, Ted Hesson, 51390K] reports the major tax-cut and spending bill that Republicans hope to bring to final passage in the U.S. House of Representatives this week would devote an unprecedented $170 billion to immigration enforcement, according to an analysis by the pro-immigration American Immigration Council and a Reuters review of the bill text. The bill, which passed in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, would provide $45 billion for immigration detention to increase from the currently funded level of a daily average of 41,500 people to at least 100,000, by far the most on record. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which administers the immigration detention system, was over its funded capacity as of June 15, with 56,000 in custody. The bill devotes $46.6 billion toward construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Another $5 billion would go toward upgrading U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities and checkpoints. The legislation provides $30 billion for ICE’s arrest and deportation operations - more than double the $10 billion appropriated for the agency this year. The funds would pay for the hiring and training of new ICE officers. The money could also be used to ramp up arrests across the country through partnerships with state and local law enforcement. While the Senate bill does not specify how many officers, the House version of the legislation had set a level of 10,000 ICE officers over five years. The measure gives $4.1 billion to hire more CBP personnel, including Border Patrol agents. The bill creates a $10 billion fund to provide reimbursements for spending use to support the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to secure the border. The legislation will raise fees for various immigration applications, potentially deterring or delaying some migrants from seeking legal status.

FOX News [7/2/2025 8:17 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports the Senate’s version of the "one big, beautiful bill" includes a tiny, 1% tax on international cash transfers — called a remittance tax — which, according to experts, will have a major impact on immigrants working in the U.S. A remittance is a money transfer to another country outside the U.S., which is a common practice among immigrant workers who send part of their wages back to family in their native countries. Tens of billions of dollars in remittances are sent to other countries from the U.S. every year. Earlier versions of the bill included higher tax rates and specifically targeted illegal immigrants sending money outside the U.S. The current version of the "big, beautiful bill," however, imposes a 1% fee only on cash transfers, not electronic transfers, sent to other countries. U.S. citizens who want to send cash to other countries will also be subject to the 1% tax. The tax is expected to generate $10 billion in extra revenue for the federal government, according to an estimate done by Politico. Besides generating extra revenue, Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that the remittance tax has the potential to discourage illegal immigration into the U.S. by making it harder to send money back home. "Illegal aliens generally want five things when coming to the U.S.: to enter, to remain here, work, send money home (remittances), and bring family and/or have children here," she explained. "Prevent those five things, and you prevent illegal immigration and encourage self-deportation.” Ries said the remittance tax could be another effective strategy besides ICE raids that could help to crack down on illegal immigration into the country and reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Ries said, however, that the 1% needs to be much higher to be effective. "A 1% tax only on cash transfers does very little. The tax should be much higher and cover all types of money transfers," she said. "Until now, the U.S. government has not touched the annual billions of dollars going out of the country, not benefiting the U.S. economy," she went on. "Remittances should be taxed to discourage unauthorized employment and its earnings.”

Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 1:08 PM, Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports the Small Business Administration announced Tuesday it approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) request for disaster relief funding, seeking to address the steep damages Los Angeles suffered during recent anti-ICE riots in the city. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler approved an Economic Injury Disaster Loan declaration, enabling small businesses to apply for up to $2 million in low-interest EIDL loans to support working capital and normal operating expenses such as payroll, rent, and utilities, according to a press release from the agency. Loeffler wrote that Los Angeles suffered $1 billion in damages due to fiery protests that sparked last month in reaction to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations targeting illegal immigrants for deportation in the Golden State. Some of the protests turned into riots, with violent anti-ICE demonstrators vandalizing the city amid attacks on law enforcement and federal agents. After hundreds were arrested for looting and vandalism at numerous businesses during the turmoil, which led Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to enact a curfew, Loeffler urged Newsom to request an EIDL declaration from the SBA. She suggested on Tuesday that he had delayed until this week to do so because he wanted to characterize the violent demonstrations as peaceful. "Governor Newsom allowed a mob to rampage Los Angeles – standing with violent rioters, paid protestors, and criminal illegal aliens over law-abiding citizens," she said in a statement. "Despite an estimated $1 billion in damage, he refused federal relief for weeks, insisting that the riots were peaceful even as small business owners stood in the rubble." "Although the SBA has approved California’s disaster relief request and will begin delivering immediate aid to the innocent victims, Governor Newsom must take accountability for his state-sanctioned crisis – and stop playing politics with Americans’ livelihoods," she continued.

New York Times [7/2/2025 11:51 AM, Miriam Jordan, 138952K] reports two novel challenges to the Trump administration were filed this week in Los Angeles, highlighting the tactics of federal officers in Southern California that immigrant rights groups and ordinary citizens say have been excessive, sometimes brutal and often unconstitutional. Immigrant rights groups filed suit in federal court on Wednesday to halt what they described as unlawful enforcement actions in Southern California that include racial profiling, warrantless arrests and denying access to counsel to people held in a “dungeonlike” facility. In a different claim, filed with federal immigration agencies late Tuesday, Job Garcia, an American citizen, said federal officers in Los Angeles tackled and wrongfully detained him for more than 24 hours after he recorded masked border agents conducting a raid. He is seeking $1 million in damages for economic losses and personal injury. The cases are among the first challenges against dragnet tactics that have stunned immigrant communities and captured the attention of many Americans, as the Trump administration escalates its crackdown. Even a group of Republican lawmakers in California recently joined others urging President Trump to train Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other Department of Homeland Security agents on violent criminals. “We urge you to direct ICE and D.H.S. to focus their enforcement operations on criminal immigrants,” the Republican state lawmakers wrote, “and when possible, avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace.” Ernest Herrera, a lawyer with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed Mr. Garcia’s claim, said the civil right group wanted “to put a stop to Trump’s campaign of terror on U.S. citizens who are exercising their rights.” The lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, filed before dawn on Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles, accuses the Trump administration of unleashing “indiscriminate immigration operations” that have ensnared day laborers, carwash workers, farm workers, caregivers and others described as “the lifeblood of communities across Southern California.” “Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from,” the claim said. The arrests have been “guised as a crackdown on the worst of the worst,” according to the suit. But, it continued, most of the “individuals stopped and arrested in the raids have not been targeted in any meaningful sense of the word at all, except on the basis of their skin color and occupation.” In his claim, Mr. Garcia said he was handcuffed and taken to Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium grounds, where he heard “agents boast about how many ‘bodies’ they nabbed that day.” After the Dodgers denied the agency access to its parking lots, Mr. Garcia said, he was taken to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he was held for hours. Ms. McLaughlin, the D.H.S. spokeswoman, said Mr. Garcia was arrested after he “assaulted and verbally harassed a Border Patrol agent.” She called enforcement operations “highly targeted,” with officers doing “their due diligence.”

The Washington Post [7/2/2025 11:45 PM, Steve Thompson, 32099K] reports that, in a rare account of the notorious prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration deported 261 Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants in March, Kilmar Abrego García’s lawyers said in a court filing Wednesday that he and the others were severely beaten and forced to kneel for nine straight hours upon their arrival. The world saw some of that arrival in a tightly edited video posted on social media by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, which began with drone footage of three planes on the tarmac, surrounded by rows of soldiers and police in riot gear, and went on to show the migrants emerging one by one, heads pushed down in a frog march, wrists and ankles shackled. But Wednesday’s court filing, in the civil case brought by Abrego and his family against Trump administration officials in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, for the first time contains his account of what happened in the hours and days that followed. Abrego was kicked in the legs and struck with wooden batons inside El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, lawyers said in the filing. They said he was held in a crowded, windowless cell that was brightly lit around-the-clock while guards, who had determined that he wasn’t a hardened gang member, threatened to put him in with real gang members who would “tear” him apart, the filing said. “Plaintiff Abrego Garcia reports that he was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival at CECOT, including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture,” the court filing says. White House and Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Damian Merlo, a lobbyist for Bukele in the United States who speaks for the Salvadoran president’s administration, disputed the filing’s assertions. “None of those accusations are substantiated by facts or truth. … Amazing they make such claims,” Merlo said in a text message. Abrego, who entered the U.S. illegally as a teenager after fleeing gang members in El Salvador, is now being held in a Tennessee prison after being returned from El Salvador early last month to face federal human smuggling charges, part of the winding legal drama triggered by his mistaken deportation that has highlighted the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to deport millions of people who arrived to the country without authorization. Axios [7/2/2025 7:54 PM, Rebecca Falconer, 13599K] reports Kilmar Ábrego García alleged in an amended complaint Wednesday that he "was subjected to severe mistreatment" while detained in the El Salvador mega-prison CECOT after being mistakenly deported to the country. The U.S. resident is now detained in Tennessee after being returned to the U.S. and is now awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. A federal judge had last week ordered his release from prison, but another judge ruled on Monday that Ábrego García should remain in jail for now over concerns from his legal team that he could be deported if freed while awaiting trial. Lawyers for Ábrego García alleged in a Wednesday filing that the father, who is originally from El Salvador, "was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival at CECOT, including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture." Among the allegations outlined in the filing to the District Court of Maryland are that Ábrego García and 20 other Salvadorans were "forced to kneel" in a cell from 9pm to 6am "with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion." It adds, "During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself. The detainees were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation." Ábrego García allegedly suffered a significant deterioration in his physical condition during his first two weeks at CECOT and his weight dropped from about 215 pounds to 184lb, according to the filing. The lawyers allege that Ábrego García and four others were transferred in April "to a different module in CECOT, where they were photographed with mattresses and better food — photos that appeared to be staged to document improved conditions."

Reported similarly:
Reuters [7/2/2025 10:09 PM, Kanishka Singh, 51390K]

New York Times [7/2/2025 10:20 PM, Alan Feuer, 138952K] reports Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March, was beaten, deprived of sleep and psychologically tortured during the nearly three months he spent in Salvadoran custody, according to court papers filed on Wednesday evening by his lawyers. The papers, filed in Federal District Court in Maryland, detailed a litany of horrors that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said he suffered while being held at the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, one of El Salvador’s most notorious prisons. His lawyers said that he and 20 other Salvadoran men who were deported to the prison from the United States on March 15 were once made to kneel overnight “with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion.” During the time he spent there, the lawyers said, Mr. Abrego Garcia was “denied bathroom access and soiled himself.” He and others prisoners were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell that had no windows, but was outfitted with bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day. When Mr. Abrego Garcia first arrived at the prison, his lawyers maintained, he was greeted by an official who told him, “Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave.” Two weeks later, the lawyers added, he had lost nearly 31 pounds. Mr. Abrego Garcia is currently being held by federal authorities in Nashville after the Trump administration, in a surprising move, brought him back from El Salvador last month after weeks of asserting it was powerless to do so. But the Justice Department stated that it had returned him for a specific reason: to stand trial on a federal indictment accusing him of having taking part in a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants as a member of the violent street gang MS-13. The new filing by his lawyers appeared to undercut charges that he was a member of MS-13 as well as a specific accusation lodged by President Trump himself that his tattoos indicated he belonged to the gang. A spokeswoman for El Salvador’s president did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CBS News [7/2/2025 10:19 PM, Joe Walsh, 51860K] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man whose mistaken deportation by the Trump administration has fueled a monthslong legal saga — alleged Wednesday that he faced "psychological torture" and "severe beatings" after he was sent to a supermax prison in El Salvador earlier this year. The new allegations emerged in a legal filing by attorneys for Abrego Garcia in Maryland federal court, seeking to amend his lawsuit against the Trump administration over his deportation. Abrego Garcia was flown back to the United States in early June — months after a Maryland judge ordered his return — and promptly charged with human smuggling in Tennessee, but his attorneys say they’re concerned he could be deported again. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have previously described his more than three-week stint at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, as "torture.” But Wednesday’s court filing offers new allegations of his "severe mistreatment," which Abrego Garcia says included "severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture." He says he lost 31 pounds during his time in prison. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, was part of a group of more than 250 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men who were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador and held in CECOT in mid-March. Shortly after his arrival at the Salvadoran mega-prison, an official there said, "Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave," the court filing alleges. The filing states prison staff then forced Abrego Garcia to strip and change into a uniform, kicked him to make him hurry up, shaved his head and marched him to a cell while hitting him with batons — leaving him with "visible bruises and lumps all over his body.” Abrego Garcia says he was kept in a crowded, windowless cell with metal bunks and lights that remained on for 24 hours a day. In one case, Abrego Garcia and his cellmates were allegedly forced to kneel for nine hours, and were struck if they fell down. After more than three weeks, Abrego Garcia says he was transferred to a different area and was "photographed with mattresses and better food" in what he believed to be staged images. Abrego Garcia was eventually transferred to a different prison in early April, but he says he was still denied contact with his attorneys or family members. Early on during his time at CECOT, Abrego Garcia says prison staff sorted a group of inmates based on whether they had gang tattoos but acknowledged that wasn’t the case for him, saying, "Your tattoos are fine." The Trump administration has alleged in the past that Abrego Garcia has tattoos linking him to the gang MS-13, which his lawyers have strongly denied. Yahoo News [7/2/2025 10:43 PM, Li Zhou, 59943K] reports that “The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary of public affairs, in a statement responding to the filing. The beatings allegedly began as soon as Abrego Garcia boarded a bus from an airport in El Salvador to the prison. He was “repeatedly struck by officers when he attempted to raise his head” while in the vehicle, and upon arrival at the facility, he was “kicked in the legs with boots” and again struck on the head and arms to make him change his clothing more quickly. Abrego Garcia’s filing emphasizes the horrors that immigrants deported to CECOT have faced, the broader abuses that are prevalent in immigrant detention and the appalling civil rights violations that have occurred as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up mass deportations. CECOT has been condemned by multiple human rights organizations for its horrific treatment of prisoners, who never see sunlight and are crammed into crowded cells that can hold 80 people at a time.

CNN [7/2/2025 11:40 PM, Kaanita Iyer, 875K] reports lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Wednesday continued their push to keep their civil case against the Trump administration alive, requesting to amend the lawsuit to include what they describe as the "torture and mistreatment" he experienced at El Salvador’s notorious mega prison, where he was wrongfully deported and held earlier this year. In court documents filed in federal court in Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s legal team alleges the Salvadoran national "was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival" at the Center for Terrorism Confinement, "including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture.” When Abrego Garcia arrived at the prison, his head was shaved and he was kicked and "struck on his head and arms," which left "visible bruises and lumps all over his body," according to the filing. Abrego Garcia and 20 others were then made to kneel overnight, with prison guards striking those who fell, his attorneys said – "During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself," the filing added. The lawyers describe where Abrego Garcia was first held as a windowless, "overcrowded" cell, with metal bunks without mattresses, "bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.” Lawyers also claimed in the filing that at one point, Abrego Garcia and four other detainees were transferred to a different part of the prison to take photos "with mattresses and better food," which they said "appeared to be staged to document improved conditions.” He remained at the mega prison for nearly a month before he was transferred to a facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador. During the first two weeks, his lawyers claim Abrego Garcia lost around 31 pounds. The request to revise the lawsuit comes as Justice Department attorneys have argued that the case is moot because the government has returned Abrego Garcia to the US to face human smuggling charges. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued in Wednesday’s filing that including details of his time in the prison "is essential to present a complete picture of the violations and ensure adequate relief.” In a statement to CNN, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the claims from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers as a "sob story.” "Once again the media is falling all over themselves to defend Kilmar Abrego Garcia," McLaughlin said. "The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story. We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Melissa Gomez, 14672K] reports Rev. Jason Cook, a minister at Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist congregation, wore his traditional white collar and a colorful stole resembling stained glass when he arrived at immigration court in Santa Ana last Friday. For several weeks, Cook and clergy members from a cross section of religions have been showing up at courtrooms in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego to stand with immigrants during their deportation hearings. The practice was launched after faith leaders learned that many immigrants seeking asylum were being whisked away by federal agents after what had been billed as routine court appearances, and locked up in remote detention facilities without a chance to prepare or say goodbye to family. They have sought to use their presence to comfort migrants and lend a sense of moral authority to the proceedings. They have also taken to the courtroom benches to bear witness with silent prayer.

New York Post [7/2/2025 6:41 PM, Josh Christenson and Craig McCarthy, 49956K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is mulling whether to use her powers to probe socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a "danger" to New York City, a source familiar with the matter told The Post. Noem made the stunning suggestion she could invoke previously unused "authorities" to look at whether the 33-year-old candidate’s whitewashing of anti-Israel demonstrations was a threat to the public during a Wednesday meeting of President Trump’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. "The Department of Homeland Security has authorities that have never been utilized before," the secretary noted in remarks to the 22-member council about Mamdani, which were first reported by NOTUS, "and I’m going to need some good minds on how to use those authorities.” Mamdani, a Muslim, won an upset victory against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Big Apple’s Democratic primary last month, and was promptly lambasted by Trump as a "total nut job" as well as threatened with arrest if he bucks federal immigration enforcement. The socialist mayoral candidate ran on a platform to freeze rents, open government-run grocery stores and made an 11th-hour pledge to not chip away at the police budget after having previously backed calls to defund law enforcement. Even members of his own party — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) — have condemned his controversial statements about wanting to "globalize the Intifada" and opposing the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. David Chesnoff, a criminal defense attorney who also sits on the president’s advisory council, expressed disgust at how protests sweeping across New York have at times publicly endorsed foreign terror groups like Hamas or Hezbollah by waving their banners.

The Hill [7/2/2025 10:11 AM, Brett Samuels, 18649K] reports President Trump on Wednesday railed against New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and appeared to suggest he could use federal authority to exert power over the city depending on the outcome of November’s election. "As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York," Trump posted on Truth Social, a reference to Mamdani. "Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!". Trump’s post echoed threats he has made against California and other Democrat-led cities and states to withhold federal funding if those areas do not comply with his immigration orders or other aspects of his agenda. The post also marks the latest attack from Trump, a New York City native, against Mamdani, who this week officially secured the Democratic nomination for November’s mayoral race. Trump on Tuesday also threatened to investigate Mamdani’s immigration status and arrest him if he stood in the way of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s raids in the city.

Breitbart [7/2/2025 7:04 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 3077K] reports activists are suing Tennessee to cancel a new law that could ban landlords from renting apartments and homes to illegal aliens. The law, which went into effect Tuesday, criminalizes harboring, transporting, or giving shelter to an illegal migrant with new language in the state’s criminal statutes and adding more definition to human trafficking laws. Republican Sen. Brent Taylor said the law aims to fill a gap in laws against human trafficking and also insists that churches and landlords could not be prosecuted under the law for harboring illegals, according to the Tennessean. Senate Bill 392 creates a new crime called human smuggling. The crime is designated as a Class E felony — the lowest level felony — with prison time between one and six years. One of the actions that would trigger prosecution under the law includes transporting a person known to be illegal with the purpose of hiding them from law enforcement. The second is by concealing, harboring, or shielding from detection a known illegal alien. Critics claim the law would prevent landlords from renting to illegals, or churches from giving aid to illegals. But Taylor disputes the claim and says the law is aimed at "coyotes" who deal in smuggling illegals into the U.S. for a fee. "We weren’t looking to penalize families traveling, we were looking to try to get people who were actually smuggling people into the country and into the state for personal financial gain or commercial advantage," Taylor explained.

NewsMax [7/2/2025 10:28 PM, Michael Katz, 4622K] reports a class-action lawsuit has been filed against a Tennessee law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee in May that criminalizes providing shelter to illegal immigrants. Senate Bill 392, which took effect Tuesday, created a felony in Tennessee for human smuggling, which the law classifies as concealing, harboring, or shielding people determined by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be in the country illegally, for financial gain, Washington Post reported. A coalition led by the Tennessee-based Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America filed the lawsuit on June 20, joined by a Nashville landlord and a Mexican immigrant in the state. They alleged that the law is unconstitutionally vague, oversteps federal authority to regulate immigration, and could place churches, landlords, and immigrant communities in the state’s crosshairs. "This law is not just harmful, it’s unconstitutional," Elizabeth Cruikshank, senior counsel for the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law, which is a party to the lawsuit, said in a news release. "Immigration enforcement is a responsibility of the federal government, not something that states can pick up and weaponize however they choose.” The complaint also stated that the law infringes on the First Amendment freedom of the church’s members to express their faith by providing services to migrants. "These kinds of state laws have the possibility to be really destabilizing to communities because they create an atmosphere of fear for people about the status of immigrants within their communities," Bill Powell, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Post. Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor and Rep. Chris Todd, both Republicans who sponsored the bill — no Democrats voted for it — said it was aimed at stopping human trafficking, not prosecuting landlords or religious groups. "I don’t believe that the plaintiffs in this case are intentionally wanting to evade immigration officials … and they’re not being paid for that purpose," Taylor told the Post. "Then they’re not going to be prosecuted under this statute.”

The Hill [7/2/2025 5:32 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) announced Tuesday he would seek the top spot on the House Homeland Security Committee as current Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) prepares to leave Congress. Gimenez, a former fire chief, Miami mayor, and third-term congressman, argued his blend of experience makes for a fitting background to lead a panel focused on the sweeping mission undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "I believe my unique career, rooted in public safety, executive leadership, and crisis management, makes me the right person to lead this Committee at a time when our nation faces unprecedented threats both at home and abroad," Gimenez wrote in a letter to colleagues. "As Representative for Florida’s 28th District, the southernmost district in the continental United States, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating human, economic, and security consequences of the Biden-Harris open-border agenda. Every day, the vast maritime border of my district is tested. Thankfully, under President Donald J. Trump’s renewed leadership, we are seeing long-overdue changes.” Politico first reported the letter. If selected, Gimenez would take over a committee left by Green, who said he would resign after the passage of President Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" in order to pursue an opportunity in the private sector. Gimenez represents a unique district, one previously controlled by Democrats that is also home to a wide variety of migrants, including many from Latin America.

Wall Street Journal [7/2/2025 5:52 PM, Staff, 646K] reports pssst, don’t tell anti-immigration impresario Stephen Miller. But on Wednesday the Trump Labor Department moved to rescind a burdensome Biden regulation on farm guest workers. Excellent news. Even as it waved illegal migrants across the border, the Biden Administration sought to deter farmers from using the H-2A visa program to hire guest workers. Unions say foreign workers suppress wages, no matter that the H-2A program requires employers to pay elevated “prevailing” wages to guest workers. The Biden Labor Department last spring required farmers who use the H-2A program to provide certain labor rights to guest workers as well as their domestic co-workers. Farm workers are exempt from the 1935 National Labor Relations Act’s labor protections because Congress didn’t want them going on strike and letting crops rot. Yet the Biden DOL rule dodged the law by establishing a right for farm workers to engage in “collective action” and “concerted activity” if an employer uses the H-2A program. By hiring guest workers, employers could open themselves up to labor disruptions. Employers would also have to allow union organizers access to worker housing. The rule included other discouragements to use guest workers, such as making them more difficult to fire for cause. Employers might also have to pay H-2A workers for work they don’t do if their employment start date was delayed owing to “unforeseen circumstances.” Biden officials claimed to find legal authority for the rule in a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that requires the agency to ensure “hiring H-2A workers does not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed workers” in the U.S. How does this provision create labor rights for guest workers? The Biden DOL claimed that the “increasing reliance upon the H-2A program makes the entire agricultural workforce as a whole more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.” In other words, stricter labor regulations are needed to prevent H-2A workers from becoming too attractive to American employers. Hello? There aren’t enough U.S. workers who want to do strenuous farm jobs. Undocumented immigrants, many of whom arrived decades ago, account for more than 40% of the farm workforce. Many are growing too old to pick tomatoes or grapes. Hence employers are increasingly turning to the H-2A program. Making it harder for foreigners to work legally in the U.S. makes it more likely they will come illegally. Worker shortages could also mean more food has to be imported. The Trump DOL’s rule reversal on Wednesday follows the President’s welcome statement this weekend that he will provide a deportation reprieve for farmers and hotels. If he really wants to help farmers and businesses, how about championing legislation that would increase guest worker visas and streamline the Labor bureaucracy?

Wall Street Journal [7/2/2025 4:54 PM, Jimmy Soni, 646K] reports something is missing from the national conversation about immigration—the story of those who came here the long way, through the front door, forms in hand, hope in heart. I am one of those people. My parents, born in India, brought me to America from France when I was 4. What followed were years of patient waiting and the quiet accumulation of documents to prove our worthiness to belong. First came visa applications, then the green-card paperwork for permanent residency. The forms arrived by mail, precious documents that we couldn’t afford to miss. At one point, my father asked my mother to stay behind in Michigan for a month while he began a new job in Illinois, in case immigration papers arrived at our old address. Such was the careful choreography of legal immigration: family life arranged around envelope delivery. My parents saved for the filing fees and studied hard for the citizenship test. They learned the Founding Fathers’ names and Revolutionary War dates, memorized the Constitution’s promises and the Bill of Rights’ protections. They did this so that my brother and I could dream American dreams without looking over our shoulders. Their deliberate choice of America bred in me a deep love of this country. Those born here inherit America as they inherit eye color. Those who choose America know what they have gained. I also know the alternative: the countries we might have wound up in, with their narrower horizons and limited possibilities. When July Fourth comes around, my gratitude differs from that of my native-born neighbors. Their celebration is inheritance; mine is thanksgiving. Coming to America changed the trajectory for my whole family, now including my 10-year-old daughter. She is a third-generation American, belonging here as naturally as she breathes, knowing only this country as home. I hope to teach her that this is a gift, that her easy belonging rests on her grandparents’ anxious years of waiting. This story has been lost in our immigration debates. When we discuss border security and enforcement, we often overlook the millions who came here legally, adhered to every rule, earned their place. We aren’t the problem being debated; we are the solution that worked.

The Hill [7/2/2025 12:30 PM, Jacob Brooks, 18649K] reports I am not a right-wing zealot, nor a left-wing revolutionary — just an ordinary American with some views that lean right and others that lean left. But when I step back and examine the current state of immigration in the U.S., I can’t help but feel a deep sense of frustration. Not at the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents carrying out their duties, nor at the Americans protesting what they view as government overreach, and not at the administration for enforcing laws it campaigned on. My frustration lies squarely with Congress. Elected lawmakers take to cable news to denounce the actions of the executive branch while conveniently ignoring the fact that it is their own legislation being enforced. Immigration and Custom Enforcement and the Homeland Security Department are implementing laws Congress passed, many of them years ago. If the system feels cruel or outdated, the power to fix it does not lie with agents on the ground or even entirely with the president. It lies with Congress. Yet, rather than work toward legislative solutions, too many politicians choose public outrage and performative soundbites over meaningful reform. In one public moment, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told a line of National Guard troops, "If you shoot me, you better shoot straight." That kind of rhetoric is not brave — it’s disgraceful. These servicemembers are young Americans, fulfilling lawful orders. They are not the enemy. If the policies are unjust, then it is Congress that must act to change them, instead of scapegoating those tasked with enforcement. Most Americans support immigration. Millions can trace their family’s roots back to Ellis Island or similar ports of entry. We value hard work and the idea that America is a land of opportunity. We also understand that the process of becoming a citizen should be fair, secure and efficient. A secure border is not at odds with compassion, it’s a prerequisite for a system that works. We need to fix the system by making it easier for honest people to come here legally, while keeping out those who pose legitimate threats. That requires a process that is both streamlined and deeply secure. If Americans want Immigration and Custom Enforcement and the Homeland Security Department to operate differently, that must start with legislation. Call your representatives. Demand clarity, fairness and compassion in the law — not just outrage in front of cameras.

Blaze [7/2/2025 10:00 AM, Jeffrey H. Anderson, 1805K] reports most mainstream press accounts have largely ignored one obvious source of the Los Angeles riots — namely, that the Biden administration released more than enough illegal aliens into this country to populate a wholly new Los Angeles. In the aftermath of those riots, it’s an appropriate time to ask this question: How many illegal aliens did the Biden administration actually let into the United States? According to the Congressional Budget Office, from 2021 through 2024, a net 10.3 million people immigrated to the United States. That figure reflects the number of (legal or illegal) immigrants who entered the U.S., minus the number who left. As a result of this huge immigration influx, the portion of the U.S. population that is foreign-born hit 16.2%, per the Congressional Budget Office, surpassing the all-time record of 14.8% set in 1890. That mark lasted for more than 130 years, but it couldn’t survive the Biden administration. In fact, the percentage of the population that is foreign-born is probably even higher than 16.2%, as that figure was for 2023 (up from 15.6% in 2022). Since a net 2.7 million people immigrated to the U.S. in 2024, according to the CBO, and about 500,000 foreign-born residents die annually (based on the CBO’s estimate for 2023), the foreign-born population rose by an estimated 2.2 million in 2024 — from 55.1 million to about 57.3 million. So the percentage of the population that is foreign-born likely hit about 16.8% last year (57.3 million out of 342 million). In comparison, in 1970, the portion of the U.S. population that was foreign-born was 4.7%, which is just over a quarter of the current rate. Citing numbers obtained from the Department of Homeland Security, the CBO estimates that in 2023 and 2024, the gross increase in the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. was 5.9 million, while the net increase was 4.3 million. That’s about four new illegal aliens added (by being released into the country, evading capture, or overstaying a legal authorization) for every one that was subtracted (by leaving or being legalized).

The Hill [7/2/2025 10:30 AM, Lauren Jones , 18649K] reports recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Sayed Naser, an Afghan man who had spent years translating for the U.S. military, as he left an immigration court hearing in San Diego. Naser had done everything we ask of those seeking safe harbor in the U.S. When Taliban fighters killed his brother and abducted his father from a family wedding for working with the U.S., Naser and his family fled to Brazil, then made the long and dangerous trek here on foot. In 2024, he made an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection as he entered the country. There, government officials paroled Naser into the U.S., where he applied for asylum and a Special Immigrant Visa created for foreign nationals who work with the U.S. in a war zone. On June 11, 2025, Naser went to his first hearing before an immigration judge, as was required for his asylum application. When he arrived, however, a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security claimed that his case had been "improvidently issued." Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waiting outside the courtroom handcuffed him. He is now in immigration detention, and his wife and children are in hiding. Although shocking, Naser’s case is sadly no longer unusual. Since May, as part of their effort to meet a 3,000 person per day quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country have been arresting hundreds of people as they leave their immigration hearings. Arresting people in and around courthouses used to be largely off limits — and for good reason. Such practices mean that immigrants face an impossible choice: go to court to follow the law and apply for immigration or asylum status legally — and face possible arrest there and then, or fail to appear, give up your legal claims to asylum or a green card, and have the judge order deportation in your absence. There is another, much less visible way that immigrants’ access to the courts is now in peril as well. If Trump’s budget reconciliation bill passes as written, immigrants and asylum seekers like Naser will face exorbitant fees that will prevent almost everyone from having their day in court. Under the bill, people paroled into the United States would have to pay a $1,000 fee upon entering plus a $550 work authorization fee. To renew or extend parole — which people would have to do at least every six months — there would be an additional $550 fee. Then, to apply for asylum, there would be another $1,000 fee. And if an applicant needed more time to find a lawyer or to collect documents, the court would charge another $100 for each continuance the person requested in court. Similar fees would apply for people applying for other kinds of status, including for youth traveling alone and for people fleeing countries decimated by war or natural disasters.

FOX News [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Grant, 46878K] reports first President Donald Trump dropped the Midnight Hammer on Iran’s nuclear program, courtesy of the B-2 bombers. Then, four days later Trump dropped the hammer on NATO. With threats, charm and the momentum of victory, Trump pushed NATO’s European allies to pledge to spend 5% of their GDP on defense – the single biggest jump since 1949. President Trump achieved "something NO American president in decades could get done," said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Every American President since Dwight D. Eisenhower has urged NATO to invest more in collective defense, that "wall of security" as Eisenhower called it. Trump’s actually done it. Here’s the catch. For all the exuberance, Trump’s success at The Hague last week won’t amount to a hill of beans unless his administration speeds up U.S. arms production. Sure, the NATO moment was historic, but the stakes are high. Russia is rearming and China would love nothing more than to overstretch U.S. forces and gain an edge in the Pacific.

Daily Caller [7/3/2025 12:13 AM, Mariane Angela, 1010K] reports Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons provided an update on Fox News Wednesday on the agency’s ongoing efforts to combat illegal immigration, specifically regarding the self-deportation initiative. The Department of Homeland Security launched the CBP Home app in March, encouraging illegal migrants to self-deport voluntarily or face deportation by ICE and permanent barring from re-entry. During an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle,” Lyons discussed the success of the program. “We’re actually seeing more people self-deport than we thought we would. We’re offering these with inside the detention facilities. We were just down with the president, Secretary Noem, and Governor DeSantis at Alligator Alcatraz,” Lyons said. Lyons described the self-deportation program as a practical and humane alternative to detention. “We have that available for individuals to self-deport there instead of being locked up. The safe and most humane way to go. And it gives them the opportunity to come back legally,” Lyons said. Lyons said ICE will keep moving forward despite criticisms and push back from the left. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/2/2025 7:00 PM, Rachel del Guidice, 46878K] reports Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., defended a recent social media post calling ICE a "terrorist force" Wednesday. During an interview with Brianna Keilar on "CNN News Central," the host spoke to Jayapal about her Tuesday Instagram post where she wrote that "ICE is acting like a terrorist force. People across the country of all legal statuses — including U.S. citizens — are being kidnapped and disappeared off the street by masked men. No oversight, no accountability. Completely lawless.” Keilar asked Jayapal to respond to a statement from White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, which was obtained by Fox News Digital. In the statement, Jackson said, "Jayapal’s disgusting comments warrant an immediate apology. Heroic ICE officers are simply doing their jobs and enforcing federal immigration law, with the utmost professionalism.” "Dangerous smears by deranged leftists like Jayapal radicalize their supporters to violently attack and obstruct federal law enforcement. Because of comments like Jayapal’s, assaults against ICE agents have increased by 500% this year. And that number will go even higher if Jayapal doesn’t stop with her smears," Jackson added. Jayapal responded, "What is deranged and cruel and outrageous is that, literally, we are seeing ICE agents, I assume they’re ICE agents. They say they are. They don’t have any identification. They’re wearing masks. They’re in plain clothes. They are coming and kidnapping and disappearing people on the streets of the United States.” "I never in a million years thought that that is something that I would see here in America," she added. "And so I think it is the administration that has to apologize to U.S. citizens that have been rounded up to legal, permanent residents, to people with legal statuses across the country who are getting swept up, people who have been here for 20 years and committed no crimes, getting swept up by masked men who are kidnaping them and deporting them.” Jayapal called ICE’s immigration enforcement "outrageous," "unconstitutional," and "illegal.”

Blaze [7/2/2025 11:57 AM, Cortney Weil, 1805K] reports that, as if the streets of New York City were not already dangerous and crowded enough, illegal Chinese immigrants with few English-speaking or driving skills may be cruising about with a valid license, thanks to a potentially massive scheme allegedly involving a driving school and some corrupt DMV personnel. On Tuesday, District Attorney Michael McMahon of Richmond County; George Ioannidis, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations; and a host of other state and federal officials held a press conference to announce some arrests made in connection with an investigation dubbed Operation Road Test. ‘Regardless of immigration status, language, and even their ability to actually operate a vehicle.’. According to authorities, T&E Driving School in Queens took to social media to identify residents who speak Fujianese for marketing purposes. Its clients, most of whom are Chinese noncitizens, would then pay anywhere from $1,600 to $2,000 for a driver’s license and/or learner’s permit. Staff at the driving school would then allegedly take the required driver’s test on behalf of the client. The school also allegedly paid off DMV employees to issue documents and fudge the database. "As alleged, the defendants utilized deceptive social media practices and strategic advertising that targeted and exploited members of the Chinese community and guaranteed individuals driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, language, and even their ability to actually operate a vehicle," said Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel, according to SILive.com. "Our investigation found that T&E Driving School blatantly flouted the laws and procedures that are necessary to ensure the public safety on the road," Ioannidis added. Thus far, two dozen suspects associated with Operation Road Test are in custody, and T&E owner Weixan Tan, 38; T&E secretary Weiwan Tan, 40; and another T&E employee, Winnie Yang, 36, have all been charged. Others named in the indictment include: Wenfeng Yang, 38, who allegedly took driving tests on behalf of T&E clients; and Edward Tarik Queen, 40; Aji Idicula, 43; and Tianna Rose Andolina, 30, all from the DMV. "The state employees indicted here sold out not just the safety of their fellow New Yorkers, but they sold out their oaths of office," claimed New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang. The scandal was apparently uncovered after NYPD received a tip, prompting a sting operation involving an undercover officer who speaks Fujianese. After working with T&E, the officer reportedly received a New York driver’s license without ever having taken a scheduled road test.

Breitbart [7/2/2025 5:32 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have deported an illegal alien convicted of sexually abusing children in the sanctuary state of New York. On June 28, ICE agents deported 55-year-old illegal alien Alvaro De Jesus Martinez-Juarez to his native Guatemala after he had resided in the United States for 35 years. Martinez first crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into California in 1990. In March 2015, Martinez was arrested in Nassau County, New York, on two counts of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child who is less than 13 years old and the perpetrator is over 18 years old. In September 2017, Martinez was convicted of one of those counts and sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 2019, a federal immigration judge ordered him deported from the U.S. following his release from prison. After serving less than eight years for the child sex crimes, Martinez was set to be released from New York State Department of Corrections custody in Wallkill, New York, and was therefore turned over to ICE agents.

CBS New York [7/2/2025 6:19 PM, Dave Carlin, 51860K] Video: HERE reports New York City’s Law Department is taking a stand to support a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant and former Queens high school student who was arrested and detained by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents last month. José Luis Rojas Figuera was leaving an immigration hearing at a Lower Manhattan courthouse when it happened, and he’s now in an upstate detention center. His situation bears a strong resemblance to the case of a 20-year-old Bronx student named "Dylan," who was detained at immigration court on May 21, an arrest that sparked chaotic protests in the city. Paige Austin, an attorney with the group Make the Road New York, is working to get her client released from what she claims was a trap. Figuera went to 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan for a scheduled appointment on June 2. He was detained as he left the immigration courtroom, Austin said. "He was surrounded by masked ICE agents, who quickly detained him, and they put him into detention," Austin said. City attorneys have joined his fight, arguing that he is being "detained without cause and in violation of his right to due process.” Mayor Eric Adams said the city supports him and has filed a brief backing his petition for release. "We will continue to fight to ensure that people going through the legal process are protected under the law," Adams said in a statement. Figuera, who for about a year was enrolled at Pan-American High School in Elmhurst, has no criminal history and is pursuing a pathway to a green card, his attorney says.

Blaze [7/2/2025 12:25 PM, Andrew Chapados, 1805K] reports the Donald Trump administration has clamped down on illegal employment, and it seems the simple enforcement of existing law has been enough to cripple businesses relying on undocumented labor. It was only for a brief moment that the administration showed leniency to employers in the farming, hospitality, and restaurant industries, with a Department of Homeland Security memo telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in June to put raids on those industries on the back burner. However, the White House quickly ended any such leniency and reversed the policy just days later. The result has been a steady flow of employers getting a lesson in hiring practices and the consequences of illegal labor. Homeland Security Investigations and ICE executed a search warrant last week and found dozens of illegal workers employed at what is likely considered a reputable business in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, population 11,142 as of 2020. Buckeye Fire Equipment Company was the target, a fire extinguisher and fire-protection product manufacturer that boasts itself as "family-owned and operated" and "made in the U.S.A. since 1968.” It turned out many of Buckeye’s employees were not family members after federal authorities arrested 30 people on site as a result of their initial investigation. According to an ICE press release, the operation specifically focused on allegations of aggravated identity theft and "potential federal crimes.” Employee Eric Pinion shared video from inside the raid to local outlet Queen City News and told the news station the facility was "half empty" and "dead silent" when he went in for his shift after the raid. Pinion also said he was afraid, despite being a citizen, because he had heard that citizens had been apprehended by ICE previously; he did not get arrested. Family members of those who were arrested were reportedly spotted picking up cars from the Buckeye parking lot, with one employee’s daughter saying her parent is a "single mother, [who is] trying to raise two kids on her own.” HSI said it will continue to pursue those who exploit financial and identification systems for their personal gain, which it says "fuels a range of criminal activity.”

NewsNation [7/2/2025 10:38 AM, Brian Didlake, 5801K] reports an undocumented father’s arrest was caught on camera after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came to his home. The family is now claiming that their Fourth Amendment rights, which protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures, were violated. NewsNation affiliate WREG took the case directly to an immigration attorney, who said this situation raises questions. Edgar Perez said all he could do was watch as his father, Gerardo Granados, was arrested on Tuesday morning by ICE agents. "It just has me so distraught because I not only seen my father get taken away, I saw them ask my 17-year-old brother to translate and tell his own father he is going to get deported," Perez said. Perez told WREG that his father has been in the United States for 23 years after leaving Mexico. While he understands why people would argue that, since his father was undocumented, he should be deported, Perez said that his father had done nothing wrong. "I understand that, but the whole point of these deportations happening is because of the rise of crime," Perez said. ‘Somebody who has never committed a crime is now being treated as the same level as a criminal. Like, there should be some separation of process, some due process.” The family said the arrest leaves them with questions, claiming that a warrant wasn’t produced. "It’s either they saw him and they identified him as some immigrant because of the color of his skin or they’re using this for G25 for something malicious and not informing the people," Perez said. Andrew Rankin, an immigration attorney, said it is possible ICE agents used a registration form to make the arrest. "That could very well may be – it’s the G25R," Rankin said. " [The] ‘R’ standing for registration, that is this idea that most non-citizens need to register their information.” Looking at the video as is, Rankin said he has questions. "I didn’t see a warrant," Rankin said. "If they had one, they should be able to produce it. If they are acting without a warrant, they have to comply with federal law.” Rankin told WREG that, according to federal law, to operate without a warrant, two things must happen: ICE agents must have a reason to believe a person is undocumented and prove that same person would likely run before a warrant could be obtained. "This was a calm situation, a calm scene," Rankin said. "What was stopping them from bringing out paperwork if they had it?". Rankins said even if the family can get Gerardo Granados released on bail, the reality of their situation is just getting started. "He still has to find a way to stay here and if he has tried already and didn’t have any success, the family may have to take the long view on this stuff," Rankin said. WREG asked the family how Granados was able to remain in the U.S. for over two decades. They pointed to a lack of information and proper channels to find a path to citizenship.

NBC News [7/2/2025 2:29 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44540K] reports a press freedom group applauded the release of journalist Mario Guevara from immigration detention but continued to raise concerns that the government considers his coverage of a "No Kings" protest last month to be dangerous. Guevara was released Tuesday from detention in Georgia, following an arrest that generated quick backlash from press freedom and civil rights groups. He was arrested by local officers, turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention, and was placed in deportation proceedings. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which was among groups to protest Guevara’s arrest and detention, said in a statement it is "concerned by the government lawyer’s argument that livestreaming presented a danger to the public by compromising the integrity and safety of law enforcement activities.” "The fact that Guevara was arrested while exercising his First Amendment rights as a journalist and was subsequently held for over two weeks by various law enforcement bodies sends an alarming message to the media and has effectively silenced Guevara’s coverage of his community," said Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator at CPJ. Guevara’s attorney has said his client entered the country legally on a tourist visa, has permission to work in the U.S. and has a pending legal permanent residency application. Despite the solicitor general’s findings on the misdemeanors and their dismissal, Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement Wednesday that Guevara had obstructed Georgia police and did not comply with their orders to move out of the street. She said Guevara has been placed in removal proceedings. McLaughlin also said Guevara had entered the country illegally in 2004, which is in conflict with his attorney’s statement that he entered on a visa.

Blaze [7/2/2025 1:10 PM, Julio Rosas, 1805K] reports Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) is putting the city of Key West on notice after commissioners recently voted to end their partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, through the 287(g) program, despite legal requirements in place under state law. In a letter sent to Key West Commissioners on Wednesday, Uthmeier reminded the leaders it is against the law for any level of government to provide sanctuary to illegal aliens and that by "declaring the [police] Department’s existing 287(g) agreement void, Key West made itself a sanctuary city." The 287(g) program allows state and local police departments and sheriff offices to carry out certain federal immigration duties. Florida law requires cities to do proactive work to aid the federal government in enforcing immigration law. "In this instance, however, it’s worse," Uthmeier continued. "The Commission didn’t merely prevent the Police Department from entering a 287(g) agreement; it affirmatively voided an existing 287(g) agreement under which the Police Department was actively operating. Bad policy and illegal." Uthmeier pointed to the illegal alien arrests in the Florida Keys during March where all 10 arrestees were convicted sex offenders. A month later, Border Patrol arrested two illegal aliens, one of whom had a history of violent crime and the other of whom had a history of animal abuse. "Florida law unequivocally forbids sanctuary policies. And it requires local governments to use ‘best efforts’ to assist with federal immigration law. Your recent action violated both laws. ... Failure to take corrective action will result in enforcement of all applicable civil and criminal penalties, including removal from office," Uthmeier warned.

FOX News [7/2/2025 5:23 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] reports Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said leaders in the state’s most southern municipality face possible removal from office if they fail to restore an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On Tuesday, the Key West city commissioners voted 5-1 to void an agreement that requires its police department to partner with ICE. In a letter Wednesday to the commissioners, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said their vote violates state law and has essentially made Key West a "sanctuary city." On Tuesday, DeSantis told reporters Key West leaders could face suspension for not upholding the agreement.

The Hill [7/2/2025 3:10 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports Florida state Rep. Angela Nixon (D) condemned President Trump’s visit to the opening of "Alligator Alcatraz" — a new migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades. Her comments come days after large groups gathered for mass demonstrations popped up across the country to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration — including mass deportations, controversy over migrant flights, an uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids to foreign student visa revocations. The migrant facility, built near a remote airport, includes soft-sided holding units for hundreds of detainees through a partnership funded by the federal government and maintained by the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). Additional holding units are expected to be added through next month. The Trump administration has argued the site will help hold migrants awaiting deportation. Trump visited the "Alligator Alcatraz" site Tuesday alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He lauded the natural barriers blockading the building.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [7/2/2025 3:35 PM, Rachel del Guidice, 46878K]

Telemundo [7/2/2025 7:53 PM, Maylin Legañoa, 177K] reports the face of fear has become daily for many Cuban families in South Florida. What begins as a routine appointment in the immigration court ends in an unexpected arrest. This is the case of Orlando Delgado, a Cuban migrant who was arrested by ICE agents on June 25, after appearing in court as his legal process dictated. "They didn’t let me do anything," says Delgado from the Broward Detention Center, where he remains in detention. They just closed my court and ICE stopped me. Orlando has no criminal record. His only mark on the migration file is an I-220A document, received when he entered the border in 2022, like thousands of Cubans fleeing the regime on the island after the social outburst of July 11, 2021. Delgado, the father of a seven-month-old baby, had applied for political asylum in the United States. His request was recently dismissed, but what surprised his family was the way ICE proceeded with the arrest, despite having a request for "credible fear" still under review. His wife, Mercedes Estévez, does not hide the anguish. He participated in the 11J and that is why he was arrested in Cuba. The police then handed him warning letters. "You can’t go back to the island," he says with a broken voice. The possibility of being deported to Mexico, and not to Cuba, due to the suspension of repatriation flights to the island, has ignited alarms between human rights defenders and relatives of detainees. "With those who came here the same day as me, they told them the same thing: deportation to Mexico," Delgado says. My brother has never had any problems in this country. All he’s done is work since he arrived," says Erly Gonzalez, who has accompanied every step of the Orlando process. The family insists that he represents the kind of migrant the U.S. should protect: no criminal record, with a history of political persecution, and committed to a new life in freedom.

New York Post [7/2/2025 6:36 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K] reports immigration agents collared one of Honduras’ "Top 10 Most Wanted" criminals Tuesday who had been roaming the streets of Long Island after he was deported twice before, The Post has learned. Olvin Mauricio Martinez Coto, a 36-year-old, fled Honduras and the possibility of a 44-year prison sentence for aggravated femicide, attempted homicide and forcible entry into a home in the Central American nation, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While Martinez Coto didn’t have a rap sheet in the US, he entered the country illegally three times and was deported on two separate occasions. The feds successfully nabbed the foreign fugitive in Westbury and hope to deport him once more. Martinez Coto first crossed the border illegally on July 17, 2007, when he was met by border agents in Carrizo Springs, Texas, according to ICE. The Honduran national tried for a second time on Feb. 27, 2019 and was nabbed by border agents near Brackettville, Texas before he was deported again the next month, ICE said. But Martinez Coto was successful in his third crossing attempt as he ran undetected from border agents. Since he was never encountered by the feds, it is unknown when Martinez Coto made it across for the third time. A court in Honduras issued a warrant for Martinez Coto’s arrest on Jan. 19, 2022, ICE said. The FBI alerted ICE on May 16, 2025 of an INTERPOL "Red Notice" seeking Martinez Coto’s arrest, according to ICE.

CBS News [7/2/2025 7:14 PM, Doug Myers, 51860K] Video HERE reports a North Texas woman was released Tuesday after spending nearly five months in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, following her arrest in February while returning from her honeymoon — a case that drew mounting legal and public pressure, her attorneys said. Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old Palestinian woman who has lived in the U.S. since childhood but holds no citizenship in any country, was picked up by her husband from Prairieland Detention Center, a medium-security ICE facility in Alvarado. The couple returned to their family home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Her lawyers said her "sudden release" came after ICE attempted to deport her from the country in "the early morning hours" of June 30. Immigration officials arrested her in February after a domestic flight from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she had been honeymooning with her husband, Taahir Shaikh. Her legal team said ICE attempted to deport her twice — including once in violation of a federal court order — despite her pending green card application and marriage to a U.S. citizen. In a news release, Eric Lee, one of her lawyers, called the deportation attempt a "brazenly unconstitutional" act, arguing it violated her due process rights. Another attorney, Chris Godshall-Bennett, condemned the administration’s immigration policies as "depraved," citing a pattern of harsh enforcement tactics. "The cruelty the government inflicted on Ward and her family puts in stark relief just how depraved this administration’s immigration policies are," Godshall-Bennett said. "Let’s be clear: Ward was arrested and almost deported simply because she is Palestinian and ICE thought they could get away with it. "The new American secret police are out of control, but the fault lies with generations of legislators who have happily demonized immigrants in their race to the fascistic bottom." ICE officials have not publicly commented on Sakeik’s release. CBS News Texas reached out to the agency for a statement but had not received a response as of late Wednesday afternoon.

CBS News [7/2/2025 6:35 PM, Staff, 51860K] Video: HERE reports Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old Palestinian woman, is spending her first night back home in North Texas after being released overnight from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado. She had been held in ICE custody for 141 days following her February arrest after returning from her honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands with her U.S. citizen husband.

ABC 8 Dallas [7/2/2025 10:07 PM, Rachel Snyder and Jobin Panicker, 31733K] reports a North Texas woman who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as she returned from her honeymoon has been released after nearly five months in detention, an attorney representing her confirmed. The woman, Ward Sakeik, was initially arrested by immigration officials as she returned from honeymooning in the U.S. Virgin Islands with her new husband, Taahir Shaikh, in February, according to attorney Eric Lee. "It’s inhumane. The amount of joy I heard in his voice goes to indicate how much pain he was in before," said Mohammed Ayachi who spoke with Taahir and was part of a group on the ground working to get Ward home. "Her release was a sign that they didn’t know what they were doing," said Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of DFW’s Council on American Islamic Relations. "The sad part about it is it makes people afraid that shouldn’t be afraid." ICE officers brought Sakeik to an airport in the Fort Worth area and told her they were deporting her to the Israeli border on June 12, Lee alleges, but it didn’t happen. Then, on Monday, one day before she was released, officers attempted to deport Sakeik again despite a court order preventing her deportation, Lee alleged in a press statement, but officers wouldn’t say where. "Had we not intervened, she may very well be in a foreign country right now, separated from her family like so many others illegally deported," Lee said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security claims Sakeik’s detention was justified. “The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "She chose to fly over international waters and outside the U.S. customs zone and was then flagged by CBP trying to [reenter] the continental U.S. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade... Following her American husband and her filing the appropriate legal applications for her to remain in the country and become a legal permanent resident, she was released from ICE custody.”

Houston Chronicle [7/2/2025 5:40 PM, Nicole Hensley, 1982K] reports a Harris County-licensed bail bondsman was among four people indicted in connection to bribes made to an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer to lift holds on jailed immigrants awaiting trial. The bondsman, Leopoldo Benitez, is licensed to operate A Way Out Bail Bonds, with one office near the downtown Houston court complex. His son, Anthony Benitez, while not a licensed bondsman, worked for him and was also indicted, according to a federal news release. An employee of another bail bonding company, Isaac Sierra, was indicted, along with ICE agent, Jose Angel Muniz, accused of accepting bribes to lift the immigration hold.

Univision [7/2/2025 8:32 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports a former ICE agent was arrested and charged with receiving bribes to lift orders for the arrest of undocumented immigrants in immigration custody and awaiting deportation. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, Southern District of Texas, also confirmed the arrest of three suspects. The four people are currently in custody, federal prosecutor Nicholas J. said. Ganjei. Houston resident Leopoldo Perrault Benítez, 53, Anthony Benitez, 32, Isaac Sierra, 51, and Jose Ángel Muñiz, 51, of La Porte, appeared before federal judge Peter Bray for the first time, when the charge was made public. A federal grand jury issued the formal indictment on June 24. It alleges that Leopold Benitez was the owner of A Way Out Bail Bonds in Houston. His son, Anthony Benitez, was an employee of the company, while Sierra worked at the International Bonding Company, according to the charges. Muniz was allegedly a deportation agent for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service - Control and Expulsion Operations (ICE-ERO). Between April 2023 and March 2024, according to the indictment, the three trustees paid Muniz to lift the arrest warrants for undocumented immigrants in ICE custody pending deportation. "The Southern District of Texas takes allegations of corruption by federal officials, particularly those entrusted with the security of our borders and our nation," Ganjei said. "There is no room for bribery or parallel agreements when it comes to immigration law enforcement."

Univision [7/2/2025 1:42 PM, Ivette Franco, 4992K] reports a fake video shared on social networks claims that Jeff Bezos’ company, Amazon, is collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through its delivery services, allegedly allowing its agents to pose as deliverymen. The company itself denied the claim, which also does not present any source to support it.

Breitbart [7/2/2025 1:48 PM, Sean Moran, 3077K] reports a federal judge ordered that a Mexican migrant seeking asylum should be released after being in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention for roughly a month. Judge Michael H. Simon ordered the release of a 24 year-old migrant, known as Y-Z-L-H, to be released from ICE’s custody, saying that the Trump administration could not detain him given his alleged temporary legal status was valid through July 2025. Simon ruled that the Trump administration detained the migrant in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. The migrant reportedly came to the United States in July 2023 and said he had been threatened by the Mexican cartel Familia Michoacana; American officials let him stay in the country temporarily on humanitarian grounds and he applied for asylum a year afterwards. The government moved to dismiss his asylum case and the judge granted the dismissal over his objection. The migrant is still appealing this decision. As soon as he walked out of the courtroom, he was arrested by ICE agents and taken to Tacoma detention facility in Washington state. The judge asked about the government’s claim that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem could detain the migrant, "How do we know whether the secretary has complied with the law unless the secretary tells us… the basis for the ruling? Isn’t the whole purpose of checks and balances that the executive branch must follow the law that Congress writes, and the judiciary is here to ensure that the executive branch only takes those actions that are authorized by law?"

Reported similarly:
FOX News [7/2/2025 8:16 AM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 46878K]

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Rachel Uranga, Brittny Mejia, and Christopher Buchanan, 14672K] reports masked, unidentified agents have been "systematically" cornering brown-skinned people in a show of force across Southern California, tackling those who attempt to leave, arresting them without probable cause and then placing them in "dungeon-like" conditions without access to lawyers, a federal lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit, filed early Wednesday against the Trump administration, describes the region as "under siege" by agents, some dressed in military-style clothing and carrying out "indiscriminate immigration raids flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites, day laborer corners." The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, seeks to block the Trump administration’s "ongoing pattern and practice of flouting the Constitution and federal law" during immigration raids in the L.A. area. "These guys are popping up, rampant all over the city, just taking people randomly and we want that particular practice to end," said Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The complaint centers around three detained immigrants, several immigrant rights groups and two U.S. citizens, one who was held despite showing agents his identification. It comes days after the Trump administration sued Los Angeles to overturn what it called an "illegal" sanctuary city law — and as the region takes center stage in a pitched battle with the administration over its mass deportation plans. The Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has previously told The Times, "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence," she said. "We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability." The lawsuit states, however, that people are fearful that their appearance alone is putting them at risk. A DHS official could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 4:08 PM, David Zimmermann, 1934K]

NewsMax [7/2/2025 2:47 PM, Brian Freeman, 4622K] reports immigrant rights groups filed suit on Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration’s "ongoing pattern and practice of flouting the Constitution and federal law" during immigration raids in the Los Angeles area — including racial profiling, warrantless arrests, and denying access to counsel to people held in a "dungeonlike" facility, New York Times reported. The lawsuit describes the region as "under siege" by agents carrying out "indiscriminate immigration raids flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites [and] day laborer corners.” Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, a group which is one of the litigants in the case, told the Los Angeles Times that "these guys are popping up, rampant all over the city, just taking people randomly, and we want that particular practice to end.” The other litigants include Public Counsel, the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the University of California, Irvine’s law school and private law firms, New York Times reported. "Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from," the complaint said, adding that many of them are menial workers described as "the lifeblood of communities across Southern California.” ABC News [7/2/2025 8:29 PM, Tesfaye Negussie, 31733K] reports that the lawsuit looks to stop "indiscriminate immigration operations flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites, day laborer corners, and other places...” "Since June 6th, marauding, masked goons have descended upon Los Angeles, terrorizing our brown communities and tearing up the Constitution in the process," Mohammad Tajsar, ACLU Southern California attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. "No matter their status or the color of their skin, everyone is guaranteed Constitutional rights to protect them from illegal stops. We will hold DHS accountable.” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told ABC News in a statement that allegations claiming law enforcement have targeted individuals because of their skin color are not true. "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE," McLaughlin said. "These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement.” A major complaint in the lawsuit alleges that detainees are being kept in substandard confinement facilities that are detrimental to their overall health. The AP [7/2/2025 5:34 PM, Jamie Ding and Christopher Weber, 56000K] reports McLaughlin said “enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence” before making arrests. “All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,” she said.

New York Times [7/3/2025 3:18 AM, Miriam Jordan and Jazmine Ulloa, 330K] reports two novel challenges to the Trump administration were filed this week in Los Angeles, highlighting the tactics of federal officers in Southern California that immigrant rights groups and ordinary citizens say have been excessive, sometimes brutal and often unconstitutional. Immigrant rights groups filed suit in federal court on Wednesday to halt what they described as unlawful enforcement actions in Southern California that include racial profiling, warrantless arrests and denying access to counsel to people held in a “dungeonlike” facility. In a different claim, filed with federal immigration agencies late Tuesday, Job Garcia, an American citizen, said federal officers in Los Angeles tackled and wrongfully detained him for more than 24 hours after he recorded masked border agents conducting a raid. He is seeking $1 million in damages for economic losses and personal injury. The cases are among the first challenges against dragnet tactics that have stunned immigrant communities and captured the attention of many Americans, as the Trump administration escalates its crackdown. Even a group of Republican lawmakers in California recently joined others urging President Trump to train Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other Department of Homeland Security agents on violent criminals. “We urge you to direct ICE and D.H.S. to focus their enforcement operations on criminal immigrants,” the Republican state lawmakers wrote, “and when possible, avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace.” Ernest Herrera, a lawyer with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed Mr. Garcia’s claim, said the civil right group wanted “to put a stop to Trump’s campaign of terror on U.S. citizens who are exercising their rights.” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, called the accusations “disgusting and categorically FALSE” in an emailed response. “These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement,” she wrote, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “This kind of garbage has led to a more than 700 percent increase in the assaults on enforcement officers.”

ABC News [7/2/2025 8:29 PM, Tesfaye Negussie, 31733K] reports a lawsuit was filed against President Donald Trump’s administration claiming masked agents have been targeting "individuals with brown skin" in Southern California, arresting them without probable cause and keeping them in "dungeon-like" conditions in efforts to deport them. The claim, filed in the Central District of California on Wednesday, attempts to block the administration’s "ongoing pattern and practice of flouting the Constitution and federal law." The lawsuit looks to stop "indiscriminate immigration operations flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites, day laborer corners, and other places...” "Since June 6th, marauding, masked goons have descended upon Los Angeles, terrorizing our brown communities and tearing up the Constitution in the process," Mohammad Tajsar, ACLU Southern California attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. "No matter their status or the color of their skin, everyone is guaranteed Constitutional rights to protect them from illegal stops. We will hold DHS accountable.” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told ABC News in a statement that allegations claiming law enforcement have targeted individuals because of their skin color are not true. "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE," McLaughlin said. "These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement.” A major complaint in the lawsuit alleges that detainees are being kept in substandard confinement facilities that are detrimental to their overall health.

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 12:21 PM, Steve Lopez, 14672K] reports the president of the United States, who seems to enjoy nothing more than playing the bully, is picking on Los Angeles. But L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, not known as a public brawler until recently, is ducking punches and throwing her own jabs and uppercuts. She has accused President Trump of initiating the protests he condemned, and called Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a liar for suggesting L.A. was a city of mayhem. I had a conversation with her Tuesday about what it’s like to deal with a president like this one, but before we chatted, she stepped to the podium at City Hall, flanked by labor, business and faith leaders, and defended her turf again. "This is essentially an all-out assault against Los Angeles," Bass said, denouncing the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit accusing her and the City Council of hindering the battle against "a crisis of illegal immigration." It’s a political stunt, Bass said several times, denying that the city’s sanctuary city protections are unlawful. Steve Lopez is a California native who has been a Los Angeles Times columnist since 2001. He has won more than a dozen national journalism awards and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist. "We know that Los Angeles is the test case," Bass said. "And we will stand strong, and we do so because the people snatched off city streets and chased through parking lots are our neighbors, our family members, and they are Angelenos. Let me be clear. I won’t be intimidated.” This has not been the best year of Bass’ political career. It began with the destruction of Pacific Palisades by a wildfire that started while Bass was out of town, and continued with the second-guessing of L.A.’s disaster preparedness and questions about who would lead the rebuilding effort.

FOX News [7/2/2025 11:08 AM, Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement clapped back at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after she suggested that federal immigration authorities "go home.” "We would like for the ICE raids to stop. We would like the array of federal officials or civilians dressed as federal officials to go home," she said at a news conference on Tuesday held in response to the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the city’s sanctuary policies. When asked if there could be a deal made between ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, she doubled down. "I don’t know if there’s a deal to be made. Like I told you, the deal that needs to be made is for them to go home," the Democrat said. ICE directly responded, noting that they will continue their operations in the city and in the region. "ICE isn’t going anywhere and will continue to do what Mayor Bass has utterly failed to do – protect the citizens of Los Angeles. If she wants distance from federal law enforcement, I’m sure there is an upcoming diplomatic trip to Ghana," Emily Covington, assistant director, ICE Office of Public Affairs, said in a statement to Fox News. The comment hearkened back to the mayor’s controversial visit to the African country earlier this year, which she visited to attend the country’s presidential inauguration. She returned from the trip as fires were ripping through the city of Los Angeles, which destroyed significant portions of the beach-side community of Pacific Palisades. The National Weather Service warned about the fire risk before she left on the trip, and the Los Angeles Times reported that her staff were aware that fires were possible. Bass later expressed regret over the trip, saying it was a mistake to travel at the time. "Absolutely it is, and I think that I have to demonstrate that every day by showing what we’re doing, what is working, what are the challenges," Bass said in an interview with NBC Los Angeles in February.

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Sandra McDonald, 14672K] reports it has been nearly a month since the Trump administration launched its no-holds-barred immigration enforcement campaign in Southern California, deploying federal forces on raids that have sparked massive protests, prompted ongoing litigation in federal court and triggered a flurry of bills from outraged state lawmakers trying to fight back. And yet — at least so far — nothing seems capable of deterring the White House or forcing a change in tactics. In both Sacramento and Washington, observers said elected officials are coming up with proposals that seem to lack teeth. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy and former senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles, said stopping the Trump administration from sending masked and unidentified immigration agents to snatch people off the street is proving difficult. "They detain everybody and interrogate them all and then just figure out afterward who’s unlawfully present, and that’s blatantly illegal," he said. "We can write more laws, but there’s already perfectly good laws that say this is unlawful, and they’re doing it anyway.” A bill announced Monday by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra) would expand police impersonation laws and require all law enforcement, unless undercover, to wear a name tag or badge number. "While ICE has publicly condemned impersonations, the agency’s use of face coverings and lack of consistent, visible identification creates public confusion and makes it difficult for the public to distinguish between authorized law enforcement personnel and dangerous criminals," Renée Pérez’s office said in a news release. Another bill, introduced by state Sens. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) also seeks to ban law enforcement from wearing face coverings. U.S. Representative Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) announced similar legislation Tuesday at the federal level, but the Republican majorities in both congressional houses mean it stands little chance of becoming law. The state bills have a better chance of passage in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, but they still face opposition. The Department of Homeland Security has insisted its agents are busy arresting "criminal illegal aliens" and said it will continue operations despite efforts by "rioters and politicians trying to hinder law enforcement." "As bad faith politicians attempt to demean and vilify our brave law enforcement, we will only double down and ramp up our enforcement actions against the worst of the worst criminals," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a June 26 news release.

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 8:58 AM, Hannah Fry and Christopher Buchanan, 14672K] reports as protests broke out in cities across Southern California over President Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement sweeps, the mood in Huntington Beach was celebratory. "Make America Great Again" and "Trump 2024" banners waved at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway as the president’s supporters turned out at a protest last month. One sign held up by a teen encouraged attendees to "support your local ICE raid." It wasn’t a surprise in the conservative beach town where leaders had months earlier declared Huntington Beach a nonsanctuary city. At the time, the city filed a lawsuit against the state over its law limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, arguing that illegal immigration was to blame for a rise in crime. "Huntington Beach will not sit idly by and allow the obstructionist sanctuary state law to put our 200,000 residents at risk of harm from those who seek to commit violent crimes on U.S. soil," Mayor Pat Burns said at the time. Elsewhere in Orange County, particularly in cities with higher immigrant populations, the conversation about the raids has been much more muted. Republicans who voted for Trump and support his efforts to deport those who have committed crimes expressed hesitation about the sweeps that have targeted workers and longtime residents. A group of Republican legislators in California, including two who represent Orange County, sent a letter to Trump last week urging him to direct United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to focus their enforcement operations on criminals and "avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace.” "The fear is driving vital workers out of critical industries, taking California’s affordability crisis and making it even worse for our constituents," wrote the legislators, including Assemblymembers Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) and Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel). They called on Trump to modernize the country’s immigration process to give undocumented immigrants with long-standing local ties a path toward legal status.

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 7:39 PM, Gabriel San Román, 14672K] reports Heidi Plummer, a U.S. citizen and Orange County attorney, strolled through Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana on June 14 to clear her mind after a family funeral when she suddenly encountered an immigration raid. The park, with its vast grassy fields, playgrounds and artificial lake, usually bustles with families watching youth soccer games on weekends while push-cart vendors sell ice pops. "There were families picnicking and spending time together," Plummer said. "But it was definitely a quiet day.” Out of view on the opposite end of the nearly 70-acre park, event organizers, city staffers and vendors welcomed guests to the city-sponsored Juneteenth Festival, which celebrated the end of chattel slavery. Plummer recounted seeing several vans pull into a big parking lot near where she walked, sometime between noon and 1 p.m. Masked federal agents poured out of the vans wearing tactical gear emblazoned with "ICE" and made their way through the park. "They were just grabbing people that were close to them and handcuffing them," Plummer said. She stood only a few feet from the sweep, she said, when ICE agents approached and arrested her. Plummer said the federal agents didn’t ask any questions before taking her personal belongings and leading her back to their vans. Plummer, who is half-Ecuadorian, began advising people of their rights after agents handcuffed her. In Spanish, she told those arrested by ICE not to answer any questions and to ask for a lawyer. Her advice continued after vans transported Plummer and other detainees to an ICE detention facility in Santa Ana. Agents had separated men from women in different vans. Plummer said that at the center she was held in a room without enough chairs for all the women detained. Agents called detainees up one by one. Plummer said she provided authorities with her identification. After about an hour-and-a-half, they returned her ID, cellphone and released her. A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to a TimesOC request for comment. After the raid, which the Daily Journal first reported, Plummer retained legal representation. "It’s pretty clear that it’s racial profiling," Jesse Rivera, an attorney representing Plummer, said of the raid. "They’re going in and just grabbing Latinos. It’s a clear violation of these individuals’ constitutional rights.” The raid appeared to have avoided drawing much attention in Santa Ana, Orange County’s only sanctuary city. A spokesperson for the Santa Ana Police Department, which had personnel at the park during the Juneteenth Festival, was not aware of any raids that day. The Orange County Rapid Response Network, a coalition of ICE watching activists, did receive a tip about the Centennial Regional Park ICE raid, but did not have any photos or videos to put out a confirmed public alert.

Telemundo [7/3/2025 1:38 AM, Josué Bran, 37K] reports residents of an apartment complex in Linda Vista say they feel anguish and anger after witnessing Wednesday morning the arrest of one of their neighbors and two people who were trying to help a man who was allegedly being detained by ICE. "There was a lot of migration there, there was a conflict between neighbors and many patrols migrated and the truth is we were all very scared, it was quite a strong situation," said a neighbor, who preferred to omit his name. Another neighbor of the complex said she was upset and assured that they are working people.  "I am angry for what they did in the morning, we are not criminals for what they did to that person, it is not worth it because we are working people, people who work day and night," she said. One of the residents, Israel Medina, recorded part of the ICE operation with his cell phone.  "They may detain a person, I don’t know, an immigrant who doesn’t have papers, they are struggling between several people and there is nothing anyone can do, no one can get in here, it was already chaos," said Israel. He pointed out that what worries him most is the alleged violent manner in which the agents acted. "If there was a struggle, as I said, they used their force because they have the right, here they are in charge, you can’t do anything," he added. The San Diego police went to the scene after receiving a call from federal agents to assist in the operation, a situation that generated doubts among pro-immigrant activists. "It is not completely clear what the role of the San Diego police in these operations is and why they are playing the role of guarding or taking care of the federal agents who are destroying our communities," said Pedro Rios, director of the Friends Committee. The San Diego Police Department issued a statement: "The San Diego Police Department has repeatedly stated that it does not engage in immigration enforcement and is strictly prohibited from doing so under state law (SB 54)." According to Pedro Rios - who for years has provided assistance to the immigrant community in San Diego - the person arrested is a man of Central American nationality. "Guatemalan nationality, if I know the name I can say that he is an adult of 22 years of age, quite young, there is no more information at the moment," he concluded. It is unclear how many people were detained . NBC 7 contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more information about the operation, but has not yet received a response.

AP [7/2/2025 12:29 PM, Jaimie Ding, 1611K] reports that, at a federal immigration building in downtown Los Angeles guarded by U.S. Marines, daughters, sons, aunts, nieces and others make their way to an underground garage and line up at a door with a buzzer at the end of a dirty, dark stairwell. It’s here where families, some with lawyers, come to find their loved ones after they’ve been arrested by federal immigration agents. For immigrants without legal status who are detained in this part of Southern California, their first stop is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in the basement of the federal building. Officers verify their identity and obtain their biometrics before transferring them to detention facilities. Upstairs, immigrants line up around the block for other services, including for green cards and asylum applications. On a recent day, dozens of people arrived with medication, clothing and hope of seeing their loved one, if only briefly. After hours of waiting, many were turned away with no news, not even confirmation that their relative was inside. Some relayed reports of horrific conditions inside, including inmates who are so thirsty that they have been drinking from the toilets. ICE did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Just two weeks ago, protesters marched around the federal complex following aggressive raids in Los Angeles that began June 6 and have not stopped. Scrawled expletives about President Donald Trump still mark the complex’s walls. Those arrested are from a variety of countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, India, Iran, China and Laos. About a third of the county’s 10 million residents are foreign-born. Many families learned about the arrests from videos circulating on social media showing masked officers in parking lots at Home Depots, at car washes and in front of taco stands. Around 8 a.m., when attorney visits begin, a few lawyers buzz the basement door called "B-18" as families wait anxiously outside to hear any inkling of information. Christina Jimenez and her cousin arrive to check if her 61-year-old stepfather is inside. Her family had prepared for the possibility of this happening to the day laborer who would wait to be hired outside a Home Depot in the LA suburb of Hawthorne. They began sharing locations when the raids intensified. They told him that if he were detained, he should stay silent and follow instructions. Jimenez had urged him to stop working, or at least avoid certain areas as raids increased. But he was stubborn and "always hustled.” "He could be sick and he’s still trying to make it out to work," Jimenez said. After learning of his arrest, she looked him up online on the ICE Detainee Locator but couldn’t find him. She tried calling ICE to no avail. Two days later, her phone pinged with his location downtown. "My mom’s in shock," Jimenez said. "She goes from being very angry to crying, same with my sister.” Jimenez says his name into the intercom – Mario Alberto Del Cid Solares. After a brief wait, she is told yes, he’s there. She and her cousin breathe a sigh of relief — but their questions remain. Her biggest fear is that instead of being sent to his homeland of Guatemala, he will be deported to another country, something the Supreme Court recently ruled was allowed.

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Clara Harter, 14672K] reports L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman announced new charges against people at immigration protests in L.A., including a man and a woman accused of assaulting law enforcement horses and a teen accused of attempted murder. Hochman said his office had charged more than 40 people in connection with protest-related violence and vandalism and intended to file more charges as attorneys continued to review evidence. At least 14 people are facing separate federal charges in relation to the L.A. protests, with alleged crimes including assaulting officers with cinder blocks and Molotov cocktails, and conspiracy to impede arrests. Among the new charges announced by the D.A.’s office Tuesday were those against a 17-year-old boy, who faces one felony count each of attempted murder, assaulting a peace officer and vandalism, as well as two misdemeanor counts of rioting. Iran Castro, 29, of El Monte and Dana Whitson, 66, of Oro Valley, Ariz., were charged in separate alleged assaults on L.A. County Sheriff’s Department horses during different days of protests in downtown L.A, prosecutors said. In addition to the injuries suffered by Sheriff’s Department horses, at least five Los Angeles Police Department horses were injured at protests, officials said.

NBC News [7/2/2025 6:32 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44540K] reports the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is demanding the federal government pay $1 million in damages to a U.S. citizen who was arrested and detained while he was recording an immigration raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles last month. MALDEF put the government on notice of a coming civil lawsuit for what it says were assault, battery, false arrest and false imprisonment against Job Garcia, 37. Garcia, a Ph.D. student and photographer, was tackled and thrown to the ground by agents in the Home Depot parking lot in Hollywood, arrested and held for more than 24 hours, MALDEF said. It said Wednesday that it submitted the claim against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Border Patrol and other Department of Homeland Security agencies involved in Garcia’s arrest. MALDEF also said that Garcia’s arrest and detention were racially motivated and that the government agents may have violated his constitutional protections for free speech, his right to remain silent, his freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and his right to due process. MALDEF said the claim is a required administrative step before it files a lawsuit against the Border Patrol, ICE and the other DHS agencies. "The Border Patrol and ICE agents unlawfully restrained and detained Mr. Garcia for more than 24 hours without any valid grounds for interfering with his liberty and freedom of movement and they did so based on legally prohibited grounds," MALDEF said in its claim letter, dated Tuesday. MALDEF said he was released without arraignment or notification of a future court date. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Garcia assaulted and verbally harassed a federal agent and that he was subdued and arrested for the alleged assault. She repeated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s warning that anyone who lays a hand on a law enforcement officer will be fully prosecuted.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/2/2025 9:06 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K]

NewsMax [7/2/2025 10:08 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports a hispanic nonprofit civil rights organization plans to file a $1 million lawsuit on behalf of a U.S. citizen who it asserts was assaulted and detained as part of a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Los Angeles. Job Garcia, 37, of Los Angeles says he was arrested and held for more than 24 hours after being tackled and thrown to the ground on June 19 while recording Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents during a raid in a Home Depot parking lot. Garcia, a photographer and doctoral candidate at Claremont Graduate University, says he was at the store doing delivery work when the ICE raid began. Attorneys argue that CBP and ICE agents unlawfully restrained and detained Garcia "without any valid grounds for interfering with his liberty and freedom of movement." As a result, attorneys say their client suffered economic losses and personal injury. "When government engages in widespread violation of individual rights with respect to immigrants without status, the harm inevitably spills over and spreads to others; that is why we must insist, as a society, on respect for the rights of everyone," Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, said in a release. "Here, a citizen, acting in the best traditions of our democracy, was engaged in documenting government misconduct to encourage policy change; he was wrongfully arrested and detained because of his race and his heroic efforts.” According to MALDEF, Garcia and other witnesses shouted to masked agents that they needed a warrant to arrest people. Upon seeing none of the agents presenting a warrant, Garcia used his phone to record what was happening. He joined numerous other witnesses in yelling at officers who targeted a man in a truck, smashing the window. "A split second after that is when he lunged at me," Garcia said of an agent. "I was still recording, so he pushes me, puts both hands on me, and I pushed his hand off. And then, he didn’t like that, so he grabbed my left hand.” Garcia said he was tackled, placed on his stomach, and restrained. He added that some agents knelt on his back and neck as they handcuffed him, MALDEF said. After agents confirmed Garcia is a U.S. citizen with no criminal warrants or information to suspect he committed a crime, they continued to hold him, attorneys said. Garcia was arrested and placed in a holding area at Dodger Stadium before being taken to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where ICE agents and corrections officers attempted to question him without restating his rights. Garcia refused interrogation each time, according to MALDEF. The next day, Garcia was released without arraignment or any information regarding a future court date, MALDEF said.

Blaze [7/2/2025 4:00 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports several California cities canceled their Fourth of July celebrations, reportedly citing Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities as the reason for the last-minute decision. With President Donald Trump’s vow to execute the biggest deportation effort in the nation’s history, ICE has increased its efforts to find and detain illegal aliens. Now, several California cities are reportedly faulting ICE for their decision to cancel Independence Day celebrations. The city of Cudahy, located in southeastern Los Angeles, announced last Wednesday that it was "postponing" an Independence Day celebration scheduled for July 3 "due to recent events and concerns regarding the safety of our residents." Bell Gardens, a city located just east of Cudahy, also canceled its Fourth of July events, directly citing concerns about immigration enforcement. Huntington Park, a city northwest of Cudahy, similarly postponed its Independence Day celebrations, though it did not provide a reason. Boyle Heights, located east of the Los Angeles River, postponed its July 4 events, citing ICE activities, according to Alejandra Alarcon, a spokesperson for the office of city council member Ysabel Jurado. The outlet reported that celebrations for Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, and Northeast Los Angeles will be postponed until sometime in August.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [7/2/2025 4:06 PM, Randy Clark, 3077K]

NewsMax [7/2/2025 5:58 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports despite municipalities in the Los Angeles area canceling Fourth of July celebrations due to concerns over Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, throngs of people took part in protests aimed at President Donald Trump and ICE on Tuesday. Demonstrators took over and blocked the 6th Street Bridge in Downtown Los Angeles for several hours, Breitbart News reported. One social media post showed protesters performing a line dance as they blocked rush-hour traffic in the city. There were no arrests reported. "The people of Los Angeles are dancing ‘El Caballo Dorado’ on the 6th Street Bridge," a self-described "leftist correspondent" wrote on X. "Our city. Our streets.” "Sick-of-ICE, Sick-of-Trump" demonstrations organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation and other activist groups and took place in many cities across the country, including Los Angeles. The protests in Southern California took place despite holiday events having been canceled or postponed for this weekend amid fears of ICE activity and politicians claiming ICE endangered the area. "Events in public spaces feel dangerous for our constituents, and this is not the time to host large public gatherings because people are afraid," Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said, KABC reported. "For Fourth of July and Independence, it rings hollow for a lot of our constituents here.” Little more than three weeks ago, on June 9, thousands of people ignored ICE threats to line streets in LA for the annual Pride Parade. The LA County Department of Parks and Recreation canceled its East Los Angeles Rockin’ Fourth of July celebration, and organizers did the same with the Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Summer Block Party, KABC reported.

Newsweek.com [7/2/2025 9:45 AM, Billal Rahman, 54790K] reports the state of Alaska has floated the possibility of detaining migrants in an isolated site surrounded by bears. "We don’t have alligators, but we have lots of bears. I am not aware of any plans for an Alaska version of Alligator Alcatraz," the state said in a statement aired on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle on July 1. Newsweek has contacted the office of Governor Mike Dunleavy for comment via email outside of office hours. It comes after Florida unveiled ‘Alligator Allcatraz’, a new migrant detention center being developed on a remote airstrip in the Everglades. The facility aims to house up to 5,000 detainees and uses the area’s natural isolation and wildlife as part of its security measures. The remote facility is expected to cost Florida approximately $450 million annually to operate. The proposal comes amid President Donald Trump’s push for what he has described as the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, called on every Republican governor to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin arranging the construction of new detention facilities to house migrants. "Every governor of a red state, if you are watching tonight: pick up the phone, call DHS, work with us to build facilities in your state so we can get the illegals and criminals out," Miller said. The facility is designed to accommodate individuals detained under Florida’s expanded immigration enforcement measures. It will hold people arrested by state law enforcement through the federal 287(g) program, as well as those transferred to Florida’s custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The facility is operated by the State of Florida through the Division of Emergency Management and takes advantage of the state’s declared immigration emergency, which allows for rapid deployment of resources. National Guard units trained under the 287(g) program will help run the site. The projected cost is about $245 per bed per day, adding up to roughly $450 million in operating expenses for the first year. Florida officials say they plan to seek federal reimbursement from the Department of Homeland Security, which will use FEMA funds. The idea for "Alligator Alcatraz" originated with Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration, which used emergency powers to authorize construction of a new detention center in the Everglades. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier first described the plan publicly during an appearance on Fox News. It comes after President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured the facility along with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. During the visit, Trump praised the Everglades’ remote location and native wildlife as effective deterrents against escape attempts. The tour comes amid growing backlash from immigrant rights groups and civil liberties organizations, which argue that such facilities pose serious risks to detainee safety and civil rights. The White House, however, has defended the plan as a necessary measure to carry out the president’s plans to conduct mass deportations.

Bloomberg Law News [7/2/2025 12:06 PM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 88K] reports US Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued decisions on almost 9,000 pending requests in the month since a federal court ordered it to drop a freeze on benefits like visas and asylum claims for Ukrainians and others admitted through Biden-era humanitarian parole programs. The agency on Tuesday updated a Boston federal court on its progress lifting the benefits pause. Plaintiffs challenging the dismantling of parole programs had told the District of Massachusetts that weeks after the May 28 order that immigrants were still being blocked from decisions on those benefits. As part of a broader immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, USCIS paused adjudication of pending requests in February for migrants who came to the US through parole pathways for Ukraine and Afghanistan as well as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The pause, which agency officials said would allow for extra vetting, also affected immigrants admitted through a family reunification program. Blocking those benefits prevented parolees from securing another legal status in the US before their protections were canceled or expired. Plaintiffs sued to block the Trump administration’s termination of parole and to set aside the pause on new benefits. Although Judge Indira Talwani stayed the cancellation of the CHNV program, the US Supreme Court later allowed the Department of Homeland Security to move ahead with stripping the protections while the litigation continues. More than half of the 500,000 parolees admitted from CHNV countries have applied for green cards, asylum, or Temporary Protected Status before the benefits freeze, according to USCIS data released in a court filing last month. Ukrainian parolees filed more than 90,000 applications for those benefits.

FOX News [7/2/2025 10:00 AM, Breanne Deppisch, 46878K] reports Trump administration lawyers told a federal judge Tuesday that they could begin enforcing President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship before the end of July — moving quickly to enforce the controversial order just days after a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Lawyers for the administration told U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman that they would not enforce Trump’s executive order before July 27, in recognition of a 30-day stay ordered by the Supreme Court in its ruling last week. "The Court’s stay thus allows Defendants to immediately begin to ‘develop and issu[e] public guidance about the executive’s plans to implement the executive order," Justice Department attorney Brad Rosenberg said Tuesday in a court filing. The update comes after Trump officials testified Monday at an emergency hearing in Maryland, where Boardman grilled government lawyers for details on how they plan to enforce the president’s order. Trump’s order, signed on the first day of his second White House term, directs all U.S. government agencies to refuse to issue citizenship documents to children born to illegal immigrants, or who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen of lawful permanent resident. It was almost immediately blocked by lower courts, before eventually making its way to the Supreme Court, which reviewed the case in May. The high court’s 6-3 ruling Friday narrowly focused on the authority of lower courts’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions and did not wade into the legality of Trump’s executive order, which served as the legal pretext for the case. In the ruling, the justices said plaintiffs seeking nationwide relief must file their cases as a class action lawsuit — prompting a flurry of action from the ACLU, CASA and other immigrant advocacy groups who amended their filings over the weekend. In Monday’s emergency hearing, Boardman demanded specifics from the administration. "Just to get to the heart of it," she said. "I want to know if the government thinks that it can start removing children from the United States who are subject to the terms of the executive order." Rosenberg responded in the filing that July 27 "is the earliest date on which defendants may begin to apply" under the Supreme Court’s stay. Lawyers for the Trump administration also stressed that the Supreme Court’s ruling last week, which centered on universal injunctions, does not preclude it from taking other actions before that date, and said it plans to "immediately" begin developing and issuing public guidance on the order.

Blaze [7/2/2025 1:25 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports another district judge sought to block the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts by preventing the Department of Homeland Security from stripping Temporary Protected Status from over 500,000 immigrants, despite the administration’s recent Supreme Court victory. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced Friday that the agency would end TPS for Haiti on September 2, requiring more than half a million Haitian nationals in the U.S. to return to their home country. TPS was initially provided to Haitian nationals in 2010, and the federal government executed numerous redesignations extending the program through the Biden administration. Noem’s DHS argued that "Haiti no longer continues to meet the conditions for designation for TPS," claiming that the Haitian government’s lack of control has resulted in "direct consequences for U.S. public safety." "Haitian gang members have already been identified among those who have entered the United States and, in some cases, have been apprehended by law enforcement for committing serious and violent crimes," the DHS stated. Cogan’s ruling followed President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court victory last week, in which justices limited the scope of district courts’ universal injunctions on executive action. The Supreme Court wrote, "Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to federal courts.” Additionally, the high court in May granted the administration’s emergency appeal to terminate the TPS designation for Venezuelan nationals. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to the ruling, stating, "Today’s SCOTUS decision is [a] win for the American people and the safety of our communities." "The Trump administration is reinstituting integrity into our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe," she added.

Houston Chronicle [7/2/2025 12:25 PM, Michael Garcia, 1982K] reports that, as the Justice Department prepares to hone in on denaturalization cases for individuals who’ve committed certain crimes, legal experts say the move is a "significant expansion" in how denaturalization has been historically used. "Denaturalization is a very dramatic outcome to strip somebody of their citizenship," said Sameera Hafiz, policy director at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a national nonprofit that provides immigration legal trainings, technical assistance, and educational materials, and engages in advocacy and immigrant civic engagement to advance immigrant rights, according to its website. "The intent behind (denaturalization) was really to reserve it for very rare extreme circumstances," Hafiz said. In the recent past, denaturalization has been used for individuals who commit war crimes, pose a threat to the country, or have lied on immigration forms. In a memo on June 11 that laid out a five-point priority list, Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the Justice Department would prioritize denaturalization for cases against naturalized citizens. "The way the memo suggests they’re going to apply it is very broad and expansive, and it’s shockingly dramatic because that’s not the intention behind denaturalization," Hafiz said. Around 3% of those welcomed in 2024 were from Houston, with both Texas and the city coming in fourth with naturalized citizen residents. Which naturalized citizens could face denaturalization? Cases involving naturalized citizens that are subject to denaturalization, according to the DOJ memo, include: Individuals posing national security threats, such as those connected to terrorism or espionage. Human rights violators, including those involved in war crimes or torture. Members of transnational criminal organizations or gangs. Individuals who committed serious criminal offenses not disclosed during naturalization. Those convicted of human trafficking, sex offenses, or violent crimes. Individuals involved in fraud against U.S. government programs (e.g., PPP, Medicare). Perpetrators of large-scale financial fraud against private entities. Cases involving citizenship obtained through bribery or misrepresentation. Cases referred by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in connection with other criminal charges. Any other case the Civil Division deems sufficiently important to pursue. "These categories are intended to guide the Civil Division in prioritizing which cases to pursue; however, these categories do not limit the Civil Division from pursuing any particular case, nor are they listed in a particular order of importance," Shumate wrote. "Further, the Civil Division retains the discretion to pursue cases outside of these categories as it determines appropriate.” Hafiz said there is a possibility that the agency could use denaturalization in a "very broad and expansive way.” How do you protect yourself? The best way for someone to protect themselves is to learn about denaturalization and how they can defend themselves against it, Hafiz said. "It’s hard to know how it’s going to play out just because we haven’t seen this type of expansive intention to prosecute so many denaturalization cases," she said. "But we’re going to be monitoring it and many organizations are tracking this issue, and are ready to stand with folks to fight these cases.”

Telemundo [7/2/2025 8:34 AM, Claudia Moreno, 9K] reports in recent days, an unfounded rumor has circulated on social media claiming that legal permanent residents (known as "green card holders") will not be able to return to the United States if they leave the country, due to an alleged executive order by President Donald Trump. The reality is very different. This rumor is false. The U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico , has publicly confirmed that there are no new measures or restrictions preventing legal permanent residents from entering the country after traveling abroad. In a statement released on social media, U.S. authorities emphasized that the rights of permanent residents remain in effect and have not been modified by any executive order. "The Federal Government clarifies that it is completely false that permanent residents cannot return to the US if they leave the country," the Embassy stated. This clarification comes after the spread of misleading publications that have generated uncertainty among immigrant communities on both sides of the border. Authorities recommend always checking information with official sources such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or the nearest embassy or consulate.

NBC News [7/2/2025 4:45 PM, Kimmy Yam, 44540K] reports a Purple Heart veteran who self-deported to South Korea last week after being targeted with detention and deportation says that he believes his diagnosed PTSD has worsened since arriving in a country he hasn’t been to in decades. Sae Joon Park, 55, a green-card holder who served in the Army more than 30 years ago, says he was told to leave the U.S. because of old charges related to drug possession and bail jumping, or a failure to return to court. Park said the offenses trace back to the difficulty he once had dealing with his then-undiagnosed PTSD. Park, a longtime Hawaii resident, said that for years, he attended annual check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being served the removal order over a decade ago. However, in early June, during what he assumed was a regular check-in, ICE agents gave him an ankle monitor and told him that he would face detention and deportation if he failed to leave within three weeks. So Park, hoping to spare his family from further stress, booked a ticket back to his home country.

FOX News [7/2/2025 7:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46878K] reports attorneys for Teresa Youngblut, the woman accused in the Jan. 20 shooting that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland, are accusing the Justice Department of orchestrating a fast-tracked path to capital punishment that violates her constitutional rights. In a June 30 motion filed in federal court, Youngblut’s defense team called the government’s timeline for deciding whether to pursue the death penalty "unprecedentedly tight" and warned it could render the pretrial process "a near-pointless formality." "This Court should step in to ensure Ms. Youngblut receives a meaningful opportunity to persuade the government not to pursue the death penalty," the motion says. Youngblut, 21, has been linked by investigators to "Ziz," a fringe, self-described vegan, anti-government, transgender-rights collective that federal authorities say may be connected to multiple homicides throughout the U.S. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo 48 El Paso [7/2/2025 2:34 PM, Claudia Moreno, 9K] reports four people were discovered and intercepted trying to enter the United States hidden in the trunks of vehicles. The incident occurred at the El Paso border, where border authorities detected four men hiding in the trunks of vehicles being transported in rail cars, reported U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso. According to official reports, the vehicles were being transported by freight trains crossing the border. During a routine inspection, officers found the individuals hidden in rear compartments, a method increasingly used by human trafficking networks. The detainees were taken into custody, and the corresponding legal proceedings were initiated. This case highlights the need to strengthen border controls and continue efforts to combat illegal human trafficking in the region.

BorderReport [7/2/2025 7:49 PM, Julian Resendiz, 5801K] reports shots ring out in the desert and a man in a green uniform falls to the ground. With a bullet wound in a leg and another projectile having pierced his torso, the man starts yelling for help. A man and a woman in similar green garb hurry to the scene, toting rifles as they run. "Can you walk?" one of them asks his fallen comrade. "Barely, dude. But it hurts. It freaking hurts!" the prone man responds. They carry him to a vehicle some 50 yards away where the male proceeds to stop the bleeding and tend to the injured man’s wounds; the female writes down vital signs on the palm of her surgical glove and calls for assistance. Should this have been a real life-or-death emergency, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter would have reached the scene in 20 minutes to evacuate the injured Border Patrol agent. But the scenario played out on a hot July afternoon at McGregor Range in the New Mexico desert was part of the training agents vying for a coveted spot in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Search, Trauma and Rescue unit, or BORSTAR, receive. Candidates are put through rigorous physical endurance trials. Those selected are told to get certified as emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and expect to be back for three weeks of special forces training from which 7 out of 10 end up being dismissed.

Breitbart [7/3/2025 12:47 AM, Staff, 3077K] reports the Pentagon is establishing a fourth military defense zone along the U.S.-Mexico border, where American soldiers can apprehend noncitizens on charges of trespassing, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman Sean Parnell said Wednesday, amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. The fourth National Defense Area will be controlled by the U.S. Navy and encompass approximately 140 miles of federal property along the U.S.-Mexico border near the Barry M. Goldwater Range in Arizona. The announcement comes a week after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the establishment of a 250-mile NDA along the Rio Grande River in Texas’ Cameron and Hidalgo Counties, which is to be controlled by the U.S. Air Force. The first NDA was established on April 21, spanning 170 miles along the New Mexico border, followed by the second erected on May 1 in West Texas, covering 63 miles between El Paso and Fort Hancock. The NDAs are zones where U.S. military personnel can temporarily detain alleged trespassers, in this case, those who are seeking to enter the United States via Mexico, and transfer them to appropriate law enforcement authorities. The authorization for their creation comes under President Donald Trump’s April 11 memorandum directing the U.S. military to seal the southern border to repel an alleged "invasion" of immigrants trying to enter the country. And the military’s ability to perform immigration law enforcement duties follows a March 20 order from Hegseth to become involved in border operations. Parnell announced the creation of the fourth military buffer zone during a regular press conference Wednesday while updating reporters on the military’s immigration activities. He said there are approximately 8,500 U.S. soldiers performing duties with Joint Task Force Southern Border, and since March 20, days after the task force was formed, they have conducted more than 3,500 patrols. The militarization of the U.S. southern border is part of Trump’s plan to crack down on immigration after having been elected following a campaign during which he often spouted derogatory rhetoric and misinformation about immigrants while vowing to conduct mass deportations. According to Parnell, the relationship between the military and Customs and Border Protection "yielded exceptional results between June 28 and June 30 with zero gotaways across the entire southern border. "We have made incredible progress and will continue to work toward achieving 100% operational control of the border," he said.

San Diego Union Tribune [7/2/2025 9:12 PM, Staff, 1611K] reports a Chula Vista man who was transporting two undocumented immigrants in a car he crashed while fleeing from Border Patrol agents, causing both passengers’ deaths, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six years in federal prison. Sergio Josue Palomera, 23, fled from Border Patrol on Oct. 22 after he was spotted loading the migrants into his car near the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In court documents, prosecutors wrote that a Border Patrol agent attempted to pull over Palomera’s car on state Route 905 in Otay Mesa that afternoon. The car initially slowed down and exited the freeway — which prosecutors described as a “ruse” to put distance between Palomera’s vehicle and the agent’s — then sped away through a red light at the off-ramp intersection and got back onto SR-905. Data pulled from the car’s airbag sensor later revealed the car reached speeds of over 110 mph, according to prosecutors. The Border Patrol agent drove back onto the freeway but terminated the pursuit after losing sight of Palomera’s car. About 30 seconds after re-entering the freeway, Palomera lost control of the car, and it rolled over in the westbound lanes. One of the migrants, a 26-year-old woman, was ejected from the car and died at the scene. The other migrant, a 23-year-old man, died at a hospital that night.

FOX News [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi and Nikolas Lanum, 46878K] reports amid busy streets scattered with pedestrians, stray dogs and the Mexican National Guard lies Nogales, Mexico, where local business owners deliberate on how the second Trump administration has affected crime, border security and more. "Drug trafficking has been controlled a lot, there’s barely any now. It’s not like it used to be," Filiberto, a Mexican native who owns a photography business right outside the walkable entry point into Mexico, said. Juan, an entrepreneur at a local eatery, told Fox News Digital, "We’ve gone through very tough times because, although right now — this past year, these last two years — there’s been some calm in terms of insecurity, in earlier times we had a lot of problems." From "better" to "the same," some locals credited Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, while others discussed how relations with the United States have changed over time with different leaders. When asked about how border security updates under President Donald Trump have affected Nogales, various residents pointed out the construction of local shelters created in anticipation of mass deportations. "Many measures were taken here to [prepare] for Trump’s announcement… that a wave of people would come," Filiberto said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [7/2/2025 12:36 PM, Marlene Lenthang and Kathryn Prociv, 44540K] reports revelers traveling for July Fourth festivities may face delays due to stormy weather as the country braces for the busiest week of Independence Day air travel in 15 years. On Wednesday, trouble spots for travel include Florida, due to showers and thunderstorms, and Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, due to lingering delays. This comes after ground stops were issued up and down the Eastern Seaboard on Tuesday, creating chaos in airports in New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C., though skies have mostly cleared since then. Travel has been a headache on the East Coast for the past several days. Video showed people sitting on the floor at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday due to storms. A flood watch is also in place Wednesday for the Norfolk, Virginia, area after heavy rain moved through in the last 24 hours. The good news is most of the nation will enjoy clear skies — prime for firework viewing — come July Fourth. The only potential trouble spots on Independence Day are the northern Plains with heavy thunderstorms and Florida with heavy rain. The Federal Aviation Administration said this will be a particularly busy holiday with 300,000 flights throughout the week. On Wednesday, there are 49,784 scheduled flights; on Thursday, 51,284; and on Friday, July 4, 35,066. The number of daily flights is then expected to increase, after July Fourth, with 42,866 scheduled flights on Saturday, 47,966 on Sunday and 50,128 on Monday. The Transportation Security Administration said it expects more than 18.5 million people to travel by air over the Fourth of July holiday and pass through the nation’s airport security checkpoints. This year’s projection spans July 1 through July 7 with the highest passenger volume of 2.9 million expected on July 6. "TSA continues to work closely with our industry partners and ensure our airport security checkpoints are fully staffed and prepared to handle the heavy rush of traffic," TSA acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said.

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 3:34 PM, Annie Goodykoontz, 14672K] reports by 6 a.m., the scene inside the airport had transformed to sleepy travelers in sun hats shuffling around check-in kiosks, impatient business workers weaving around luggage toward their gates and stressed parents running to security, urging their straggling children to keep up. It was the type of scene travelers through this weekend should expect to see at LAX and other travel hubs, when millions are expected to drive, fly or take a train out of town for the holiday. According to the American Automobile Association, over 72 million people nationwide will travel more than 50 miles from June 28 to July 6, an increase of nearly 2 million travelers compared to last year. Around 61.6 million people are expected to travel by car over the holiday weekend, which is a 2.2% increase from last year, according to AAA. Wednesday and Sunday are expected to be the most congested traffic days, with the afternoon being the busiest time to drive. AAA recommended that travelers get their vehicles routinely inspected before their trip, as well as keeping an emergency kit available in case of a flat tire or a dead battery. Around 4.78 million people were expected to travel by bus, train or cruise, according to the release. Air traffic will be particularly swamped, with over 18.5 million travelers expected to take flight across the nation from Tuesday to Sunday, according to a release from the Transportation Security Administration. This comes after an already busy summer — last week, the TSA announced it had experienced its busiest travel day of all time on June 22. "We work with the airports and the airline to project down to the hour when those passenger loads are coming through, just to make sure that we’re staffed," said Jessica Maley, a regional spokesperson for the TSA. "The main takeaway for passengers is that we’re staffed up and we’re prepared." LAX is anticipating over 1.5 million travelers through the Fourth of July weekend, with its busiest day projected to be on Sunday, according to Justin Upshaw, an LAX spokesperson.

AP [7/2/2025 12:08 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports in recognition of Independence Day and the enduring sacrifice of military families, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is proud to announce a multi-faceted initiative to enhance the travel experience for members of the U.S. military community. Starting this summer, TSA and its TSA PreCheck® enrollment providers, CLEAR, IDEMIA and Telos, will honor Gold Star family members by waiving the enrollment fee for TSA PreCheck. Gold Star families have lost a loved one in military service to the United States—spouses, parents, children and siblings who carry forward the legacy of their fallen heroes. This gesture represents TSA’s profound respect for their sacrifice and aims to ease their travel journey in a meaningful way. In addition, TSA will offer a $25 discount on TSA PreCheck enrollment for spouses of military and uniformed service members. This new benefit supports families who frequently travel to reunite with service members or relocate due to duty assignments. TSA PreCheck offers enrollees reduced wait times, expedited screening benefits and an improved checkpoint experience at selected airports. “This Independence Day and beyond, TSA reaffirms its commitment to ease travel for the military community through its TSA PreCheck program by providing it free to Gold Star families, discounting it for military spouses and creating expedited lanes for service members,” said TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill. “By expanding access, easing enrollment, and partnering with our TSA PreCheck enrollment providers and industry partners, we strive to honor those who serve and the families who stand beside them.” To increase access to these benefits, TSA is collaborating with its TSA PreCheck enrollment providers to host mobile enrollment events near major U.S. military installations, making it easier for eligible individuals to enroll. TSA, in coordination with its industry partners, is also introducing expedited access for military members in TSA PreCheck lanes at select airports near larger military installations. This includes dedicated screening lanes, or front-of-line privileges, designed to minimize wait times and improve convenience for service members.

CNN US [7/2/2025 12:03 PM, Gabe Cohen, 875K] reports as hurricane season bears down, a new layer of uncertainty is spreading through the disaster response system: a wall of silence from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that’s leaving officials from across the country scrambling for answers. "We’ve been ghosted by FEMA," Robert Wike Graham, deputy director of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management, told CNN, describing repeated, unanswered requests for information on vital emergency preparedness funding for his North Carolina community. In Wyoming, where more than 90 percent of the state’s emergency management budget comes from the federal government, officials say their requests for clarity on emergency management funds also have gone unanswered. "It’s very frustrating not to have good, official information, with lots and lots of rumors flying around, which creates anxiety for folks," said Wyoming’s Homeland Security Director Lynn Budd. "I believe the regional level (of FEMA) is doing their very best to support us, but they are also being asked not to share too much information with us. So, it’s very unfortunate.” From regional offices to the national headquarters, more than a half-dozen FEMA insiders as well as state and local emergency personnel who work with the federal agency told CNN they are frustrated by a clampdown on information sharing that they say will hamper disaster response. Internal memos seen by CNN show top FEMA officials have ordered disaster relief personnel to stop most communication with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and National Security Council as well as members of Congress — and direct those inquiries through FEMA’s acting administrator instead. "Effective immediately ALL engagement with OMB, NSC, and the Hill needs to be routed through the Office of the Administrator," one memo reads. "This includes answering questions if staff call you directly.” Meanwhile, regional teams across the country have been instructed, at times, to limit sharing information with their state and local partners until granted approval from supervisors, multiple FEMA officials confirmed. They spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied any sweeping directives or policies were issued, telling CNN in a statement: "This is fake news. FEMA employees were NOT banned from engaging with external partners. It should be common practice for FEMA leadership to be made aware of decisions happening at FEMA.” But the memos, issued last month, do more than instruct staff to keep the front office informed — they explicitly restrict certain external communications and mandate that all such inquiries be vetted by the political appointees now running the agency. The clampdown comes as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, asserts extensive authority over the agency, reshaping its leadership and operations since President Donald Trump returned to office. It also comes as the Trump administration is vowing to phase out FEMA after hurricane season this summer and fall, and shift responsibility for disaster management onto states. Members of Congress also have grown frustrated with what they describe as FEMA’s persistent lack of responsiveness under the Trump administration. "Under this administration, FEMA has been mostly silent to our questions or requests for information," Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. "Hurricane season is underway. Not only do we need to conduct oversight of FEMA — we need to know whether it’s ready to act. I have serious doubts.”

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Noah Haggerty, 14672K] reports as California’s fire season heats up, Gov. Gavin Newsom sharply criticized the Trump administration Tuesday for failing to devote adequate resources to wildfire preparation and response efforts on federal lands. Newsom said his office sent the White House a proposed executive order that, if signed, would direct the federal government to match California’s forest management investments and capabilities in the state. "We made it easy," Newsom said at a news conference at Cal Fire’s Mt. Howell Lookout tower in Placer County. "The president could sign this afternoon.” As of Tuesday, California was actively fighting nine wildfires and much of inland Northern California was under red flag fire warnings due to the threat of lightning strikes. "Half of the new fire starts in just over the course of the last 48 hours have been on federal land," Newsom said. "We need an equivalent commitment of resources — not rhetoric." In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said Newsom "should own up to his failure to prepare for fire season — including his $144 million cut to wildfire funding in California.”

Los Angeles Times [7/2/2025 8:43 PM, Nathan Solis, 14672K] reports seven people are missing after a massive explosion at a warehouse in Northern California that sent bright fireworks across the area and ignited a brush fire. The location was owned by an active pyrotechnics license holder, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Emergency crews were searching the property for the missing individuals Wednesday, and investigators were also surveying the area with drones. Authorities have not identified any of the missing, but relatives said some were working at the warehouse. News footage showed the explosion was sparked by a fire at the pyrotechnics facility, which is in the rural Yolo County community of Esparto about 40 miles northwest of Sacramento. Residents in Esparto and some in Madison remained under an evacuation order as of Wednesday afternoon due to the burning pyrotechnic materials. Although "there is a reduced risk today" of the brush fire spreading to homes, " a risk that still remains," Cal Fire said in a news release. Officials are working to determine that everything done at the warehouse was in line with license requirements for a pyrotechnics facility. "This type of incident is very rare, as facilities like this are required to not only follow our stringent California pyrotechnics requirements, but also federal explosive storage requirements," Cal Fire said. On Wednesday, family members of some of the missing waited at a checkpoint for answers as emergency crews continued to search the area. One of those waiting was Syanna Ruiz, who said her boyfriend, Jesus Ramos, 18, was working at the warehouse on Tuesday when the fire started, according to reporting from the Sacramento Bee. She identified two others who were still missing, including Ramos’ brother, Johnny Ramos, and his stepbrother, Junion Menendez. "They were all three incredible men who had so much ... coming their way," Ruiz told reporters. "I’m just praying to God that some way, somehow, they’re OK, that they’re just unable to communicate with us at the moment.” The warehouse fire and its explosive aftermath at the fireworks facility came just days before the Fourth of July holiday. The explosion sent debris across the area that ignited multiple spot fires, according to officials. A blaze ignited by the explosion, dubbed the Oakdale fire, started about 6 p.m. Tuesday in Esparto, authorities said.

AP [7/2/2025 2:06 PM, Staff, 56000K] Video: HERE reports Hurricane Flossie strengthened overnight then weakened again Wednesday to a Category 2 hurricane off Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Bloomberg Government [7/2/2025 7:39 PM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 111K] reports the US Coast Guard would get a new leadership position to align with other branches of the armed services under a bipartisan House proposal. Leaders of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday released their plan to authorize the Coast Guard through fiscal 2029, including provisions to add the service secretary, overhaul the service’s acquisitions process, and establish new protections against sexual assault and harassment. Many of the legislation’s provisions align with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s efforts to revamp the service, which sits within the Department of Homeland Security.

Politico [7/2/2025 6:24 AM, Jonathan Miller, 475K] reports that, for years, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have complained about the U.S. falling behind Russia and China in the Arctic. The Republican-led budget reconciliation bill is set to change that in a big way. The latest version of H.R. 1, which passed the Senate on Tuesday, would provide billions to significantly expand a fleet of Coast Guard vessels, known as cutters, to patrol the coldest parts of the world. The largest of those vessels are designed to break through 20-foot-thick ice. That windfall has been met with enthusiasm even though the program to build the cutters has suffered through delays, cost overruns and questions about contracting. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) cited the "historic investment and modernization of the Coast Guard," in a statement after voting for the bill Tuesday. At a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing in June, the top Coast Guard official said the GOP-led bill would be a big help. "The polar icebreaker program is our highest acquisition priority," said Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard acting commandant.

FOX News [7/2/2025 10:47 AM, Julia Bonavita, 46878K] Video: HERE reports three people – including a child – were rescued by the Florida Coast Guard earlier this week after their sailing vessel became partially submerged near the Bahamas, according to authorities. A good Samaritan called the Coast Guard Seventh District watchstanders around midnight on Monday to report a "family in distress" in the waters of Plana Cays, located approximately 350 nautical miles from the southeastern coast of the Sunshine State. The two adults and an 8-year-old child were located aboard a life raft at approximately 7 a.m. by the guardsmen of the Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew. "Our aircrews train very hard for moments like this, and we are thankful to have played a role in the safe rescue of this family of three," Lt. Andrew Boyle, a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater Jayhawk aircraft commander, said in a statement. Dramatic video footage released by the guardsmen shows the crew lifting each individual family member to safety using helicopter rescue baskets seven hours after authorities received the initial call for help. The family was subsequently transported to Bahamian authorities in Great Inagua, according to the Coast Guard. No injuries were reported and the boat’s owner is coordinating with commercial salvage to organize the vessel’s recovery.

CyberScoop [7/2/2025 1:18 PM, Tim Starks] reports the Chinese hackers behind the massive telecommunications sector breach are “largely contained” and “dormant” in the networks, “locked into the location they’re in” and “not actively infiltrating information,” the top FBI cyber official told CyberScoop. But Brett Leatherman, new leader of the FBI Cyber division, said in a recent interview that doesn’t mean the hackers, known as Salt Typhoon, no longer pose a threat. While there’s been some debate about whether Salt Typhoon should be getting more attention than fellow Chinese hackers Volt Typhoon — whom federal officials have said are prepositioned in U.S. critical infrastructure, poised for destructive action in the event of a conflict with the United States — Leatherman said the groups aren’t as different as some think. “Salt Typhoon, even though it was [an] espionage campaign, had access to telecommunications infrastructure,” he said. “You can pivot from access in support of espionage to access in support of destructive action.” The number of telecommunications companies victimized in the United States stands at nine, according to Leatherman. But there have been additional revelations about victim companies as a result of the United States sharing information about breach specifics and Salt Typhoon tactics with nations in Europe and North America, he said. As the head of the division, Leatherman said his priorities are consistent with those of the recent past: “prioritizing our assistance to victims while imposing costs on the bad actors, and that is both nation-state and criminal actors.” He disputed criticisms about the federal government’s efforts to work with victims of Salt Typhoon’s efforts. “There is not one company I can think of who was victimized that we were not engaged with on a cadence that they preferred to be engaged with us,” Leatherman said.

CNN [7/2/2025 5:41 PM, Holmes Lybrand, 21433K] reports a member of a chat-based White supremacy group has been charged in an alleged plot to solicit the murder of federal officials – including a senator and federal judge – through an online "kill list" he allegedly helped create. Noah Lamb, 24, was charged in federal court in Northern California with eight counts, including soliciting the murder of federal officials and a conspiracy to assassinate federal officials, according to court records. Lamb, along with two other individuals who were charged last year in the conspiracy, allegedly helped create what they called "The List" – targeting perceived enemies of White supremacist accelerationism, an ideology centered around the belief that terrorism is necessary to ignite a race war that will create a White ethnostate in the US, prosecutors say. The group, known as the Terrorgram Collective, includes a network of users and group chats on the private messaging platform Telegram. The group, which Lamb was allegedly part of for several years, created the list and disseminated to its members. One of Lamb’s responsibilities in the group, according to the charging documents, was to identify certain targets and find their home addresses and any other information that could be included in the kill list to help others find and target people on the list. Court documents say the list included a US senator described as being an "Anti-White, Anti-gun, Jewish Senator" as well as a federal judge who the White supremacy group saw as an "invader" from a foreign country as well as someone they called "first [racial slur] US Attorney.” The list would include photographs of the targets along with their name, address, and, sometimes, the target’s spouse, court documents say, along with an image of a rifle and "a short description of why the target should be assassinated.” FOX News [7/2/2025 7:02 PM, Greg Wehner, 46878K] reports "The defendant collaborated with members of the online "Terrorgram Collective" to create a list of targets for assassination," acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said. "Individuals on the list were targeted because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity, including federal officials. An indictment unsealed on Wednesday claims Lamb was a member of the "Terrorgram Collective," which is a transnational terrorist group that operates Telegram, a digital messaging platform. The group allegedly uses Telegram to promote racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism, the DOJ said. "Members of the ‘Terrorgram Collective’ believe the white race is superior; that society is irreparably corrupt and cannot be saved by political action; and that violence and terrorism are necessary to ignite a race war and accelerate the collapse of the government and the rise of a white ethnostate," the DOJ said. Lamb is accused of allegedly conspiring with members of the collective to create and disseminate an assassination hit list containing "high-value targets," including federal, state and local officials.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [7/2/2025 6:38 PM, Jim Mishler, 4622K]

CNN [7/2/2025 1:36 PM, John Miller and Holly Yan, 21433K] reports attacks perpetrated by lone actors are the biggest terrorism threat to July 4th festivities in New York City and elsewhere, federal authorities said in a threat assessment obtained by CNN. The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies issued a joint bulletin in late June saying "the most significant terrorism threat facing the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks stems from lone offenders and small groups of individuals seeking to commit acts of violence." "These individuals are often motivated by a broad range of racial, ethnic, political, religious, anti-government, societal, or personal grievances," the assessment continued. But the threat is not limited to New York City. The bulletin said other large gatherings could be targeted. "Special events with high attendance and media coverage … remain attractive targets" for domestic and foreign terrorists and violent extremists who may want to "cause mass casualties or draw attention to their causes," the bulletin said. The agencies said they had not received any reports of specific threats at the massive fireworks show or related events. However, "high-profile, large events can draw interest from malicious actors looking for targets of opportunity to perpetrate criminal schemes," the bulletin said.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [7/2/2025 3:10 PM, Myles Miller, 19320K

FOX News [7/2/2025 12:12 PM, Audrey Conklin, 46878K] reports federal officials on Monday arrested 16 members of the Anti-Tren gang, a rival of the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), in Texas in what is being described as the largest Anti-Tren crackdown yet. Of those 16 gang members, 14 are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, and two are charged separately with various weapons offenses based on their alleged possession and sale of firearms, according to the Justice Department. "These arrests are the largest takedown of suspected Anti-Tren members and associates by the FBI, so far, and they happened right here in Houston," FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams said in a Monday statement. "These individuals are accused of engaging in a turf war with TdA members and carrying out numerous violent crimes throughout our city, including a mass shooting at a local sports bar that left six people wounded.” Charges alleged that Anti-Tren is a criminal organization mostly composed of former TdA members known for its deadly turf wars, as well as gun and drug trafficking. "The Southern District’s twin priorities are securing our border and the eradication of violent crime. This case implicates both," U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said in a Monday statement. "Operation Take Back America means going on the offensive against transnational criminal organizations to ensure that they cannot take root in our community and endanger public safety. SDTX is going to be unapologetic in carrying out that mission.” If convicted on the drug charges, the suspects face up to life in prison and a possible $10 million fine. Those charged separately with firearms offenses could receive up to 15 years in prison. Jose Miguel Briceno, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela living in Houston, is also charged separately with unlawful possession of ammunition by an alien after he was allegedly involved in a mass shooting in March at the Latinas Sports Bar club in Houston, where six people were wounded, including four in critical condition. Briceno is accused of using a firearm to shoot inside the doorway of the bar and then discarding the gun. Officials were unable to locate the weapon. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine if convicted. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case with the Department of Justice’s Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), which was created to combat MS-13 and expanded to include TdA under Attorney General Pam Bondi. The 16 arrests come as part of Operation Take Back America, "a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime," according to the DOJ.

New York Times [7/2/2025 5:05 PM, Michael Crowley and Hamed Aleaziz, 138952K] reports after President Trump ordered airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, U.S. officials issued urgent alerts about potential terrorist attacks in the United States, including warnings that Tehran could direct sleeper cells to strike. But when Iran’s government was determined to assassinate Mr. Trump during the 2024 campaign, it did not activate sleeper agents or try to sneak elite operatives into the country. Instead, an Iranian military commander assigned the job to Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan man living in Tehran, according to a criminal complaint released by the Justice Department. Mr. Shakeri in turn enlisted two men he’d met in an American prison more than a decade earlier: Carlisle “Pop” Rivera, a self-employed Brooklyn pipe fitter, and his friend Jonathon Loadholt of Staten Island. Federal agents detected the plot and arrested Mr. Rivera and Mr. Loadholt. It was just one of several recent instances in which federal prosecutors say the Iranian government tried to hire criminals — including Russian mobsters, Mexican cartel hit men and a Canadian Hells Angel — to carry out violent acts in the United States. Iran may be seeking deniability by outsourcing its plots to people with no apparent ties to the country. In January, Iran’s president insisted that his government had never plotted to kill Mr. Trump. But the recruitment of such unfamiliar third parties could also indicate that Iran lacks the network of trained operatives within the United States that Trump officials warn of.

New York Post [7/2/2025 5:51 PM, Joe Marino, Amanda Woods, Mikella Schuettler and Katherine Donlevy, 49956K] reports the NYPD will be out in full force on July 4th — with violent lone actors and foreign terrorist sympathizers posing significant threats for the Big Apple, police and police sources said. Hundreds of officers will be deployed Friday, with significant road, bridge and train shutdowns planned hours ahead of the annual Macy’s fireworks show, as tensions from overseas spill into New York City. The NYPD is acting out of extreme caution, Tisch emphasized, adding that there are no known or credible threats to this year’s celebrations. Law enforcement, however, has identified a "persistent and serious threat from lone offenders and small extremist groups motivated by a wide range of ideological and personal grievances," according to an internal threat assessment shared with The Post. Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and foreign terrorist organization (FTO) sympathizers, particularly pro-Hamas actors, are the most likely to strike the massive public July 4th event, according to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Bad actors would likely target Muslim, Christian, Arab and Jewish communities — with authorities pointing to an Israeli consulate located just five miles from the Brooklyn Bridge and a hotspot for fireworks viewing as a vulnerable potential target. Extremists motivated by white supremacist or anti-government beliefs are also a key concern. There will also be hundreds of NYPD officers throughout the five boroughs, while the FDNY and the US Coast Guard will patrol the East River.

FOX News [7/2/2025 2:27 PM, Danielle Wallace, 46878K] reports an MS-13 gang leader from the suburbs of New York City is expected to be sentenced Wednesday in a federal racketeering case involving eight murders, including the 2016 slayings of two Long Island teenage girls. Also known as "Blasty" and "Plaky," Alexi Saenz pleaded guilty last July to his role in ordering and approving the killings as well as other crimes during a rash of bloody violence that prompted President Donald Trump to make several visits to Long Island promising to eradicate the criminal organization. Among the killings Saenz oversaw were the deaths of Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, lifelong friends and classmates at Brentwood High School who were brutally slain with a machete and a baseball bat. Other victims included Javier Castillo, 15, of Central Islip, who was befriended by gang members only to be hacked with a machete in the head, neck, torso and extremities in an isolated marsh. His remains were buried and not found until a year later. Another victim, Oscar Acosta, 19, was found dead in a wooded area near railroad tracks nearly five months after he left his Brentwood home to play soccer. Cuevas and Mickens were honored during Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address, with the victims’ parents in attendance. During his first term, Trump announced in 2020 that the Justice Department would be seeking the death penalty against Saenz. Under the Biden administration, however, Attorney General Merrick Garland informed federal prosecutors in November 2023 that the DOJ was pulling its intent to seek capital punishment against Saenz or his brother, Jairo Saenz. Saenz’s lawyers are seeking a sentence of 45 years behind bars, but federal prosecutors want the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 70 years and argue Saenz deserves to live out his days in prison for his "senseless" and "sadistic" crimes.

New York Post [7/3/2025 4:42 AM, Nicholas McEntyre, 49956K] reports three people were killed and 16 others wounded when gunfire erupted outside a Chicago nightclub Wednesday night, CBS Chicago reported, citing authorities. Police said a drive-by shooting occurred outside the Artis Restaurant and Lounge nightclub on the 300 block of W Chicago Ave in the Near North Side neighborhood of the Windy City. Revelers were leaving the “high-end dining and nightlife destination” after an album release party for Chicago-based rapper Mello Buckzz.

NewsMax [7/2/2025 6:58 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports the FBI’s Houston field office led a joint task force that has arrested 16 Anti-Tren members for drug trafficking and weapons, the Justice Department announced. The charges allege Anti-Tren is a criminal organization almost exclusively composed of former members and associates of Tren de Aragua. Anti-Tren allegedly focuses on preserving its power and territory through attempted murder and other acts or threats of violence. The group targets members and associates of TdA and is involved in trafficking of firearms and controlled substances, according to the charges. Fourteen of the Anti-Tren members arrested face up to life in prison and a possible $10 million fine if convicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. One of the arrested individuals, a 25-year-old migrant named Jose Miguel Briceno, is charged with unlawful possession of ammunition by an alien. Prosecutors allege Briceno was involved in a mass shooting in March at Houston’s Latinas Sports Bar, where six people were wounded, including four critically. If convicted, Briceno faces up to 15 years imprisonment and a maximum $250,000 fine. "The Southern District’s twin priorities are securing our border and the eradication of violent crime. This case implicates both," U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said, the Southern District of Texas announced Monday. "Operation Take Back America means going on the offensive against transnational criminal organizations to ensure that they cannot take root in our community and endanger public safety. SDTX is going to be unapologetic in carrying out that mission.” Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI Houston field office said the arrests were "the largest takedown of suspected Anti-Tren members and associates by the FBI so far.” The FBI Houston field office conducted this investigation with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Texas Department of Public Safety, Houston Police Department, and Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Free Beacon [7/2/2025 3:00 PM, Andrew Kerr, 773K] reports as China experts warn that America’s top adversary could be laying the groundwork for a drone attack on U.S. soil, the House Homeland Security Committee is drafting legislation that would compel the federal government to assess and prepare for the threat, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. Both Israel and Ukraine showcased the power of militarized drones with surprise strikes in June that weakened the Iranian and Russian militaries from within their own borders. Those attacks served as a wake-up call for the committee, which is now drafting legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security to produce a wide-ranging annual threat assessment examining the capabilities of foreign adversaries and terrorist networks to use drones to conduct surveillance, carry out kinetic strikes, or deploy chemical weapons within the United States, a committee aide told the Free Beacon. The committee’s legislation would also require DHS to close any gaps in the federal bureaucracy that could hamper response readiness. Congress is renewing its focus on potential threats from drones as America’s adversaries increasingly utilize unmanned aircraft in conflict zones across the world. China has invested heavily in expanding its fleet of militarized drones and hasn’t shied away from flexing that muscle in Taiwanese airspace, where unmanned Chinese surveillance aircraft are often spotted. And in January 2024, an Iranian-aligned militia carried out a deadly drone attack against a U.S. outpost in Jordan, killing 3 American servicemembers and wounding more than 40 others. "Drones are no longer just tools of surveillance—they have become weapons of disruption, sabotage, and intimidation," said Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R., Fla.), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security. "As our greatest adversaries, Russia, Iran, and Communist China, work to undermine American interests—we must act now. One drone in the wrong hands can threaten lives and cripple critical infrastructure such as air and seaports.” On Tuesday, committee chairman Rep. Mark Green (R., Tenn.) demanded a classified briefing from the Coast Guard by July 18 to review the force’s ability to combat drone threats both at home and overseas, the Free Beacon has learned. Of particular concern to Green is the Coast Guard’s fleet of cutters deployed to the Middle East, which could become "targets of hostile state or proxy drone" operations following the Iranian strikes against a U.S. base in Qatar last week, the Tennessee Republican warned in a letter Tuesday to Coast Guard acting commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday.

NBC News [7/2/2025 8:18 PM, Dan De Luce and Ken Dilanian, 44540K] reports CIA officials failed in some cases to follow standard procedures in an intelligence analysis of Russian interference efforts in the 2016 election, according to an internal review declassified Wednesday. Intelligence officers were given an unusually short timeline for the analysis, there was "excessive involvement" by senior leaders, and staff members were given uneven access to crucial intelligence about Russia, the "lessons-learned" review said. But the review did not refute the findings of the 2017 intelligence assessment that Russia waged an information warfare campaign designed to undermine Americans’ confidence in the electoral process, damage Hillary Clinton and boost Donald Trump’s prospects in the 2016 election. "While the overall assessment was deemed defensible, the identified procedural anomalies and tradecraft issues highlight critical lessons for handling controversial or politically charged topics," the review said. Trump and his allies have long rejected intelligence and other reporting indicating that Russia employed false information and propaganda to try to influence the 2016 election and tip the scales in his favor. They have accused intelligence and law enforcement officials of plotting to tie Trump to Russia and cast doubt on the legitimacy of his victory in 2016. A special counsel appointed during the first Trump administration looked extensively into how the CIA crafted its assessment but filed no criminal charges and reported no clear evidence that political bias tainted the process.

NewsMax [7/2/2025 11:49 AM, Eric Mack, 4622K] reports FBI whistleblowers and emails released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveal that U.S. intelligence knew of a China-led election fraud plot to elect Joe Biden in September 2020, but that information was covered up. The records show FBI headquarters under then-FBI Director Christopher Wray interfered with an investigation into Chinese election interference to shield Wray from political blowback. The COVID-election cover up intended to protect Wray from being exposed for inaccurate or false statements to Congress where he claimed there was no evidence of pending election fraud presented to intelligence or the FBI, according to documents and Grassley’s assessment of them. "These records smack of political decision-making and prove the Wray-led FBI to be a deeply broken institution," Grassley wrote in a statement, releasing the evidence Tuesday night. "Ahead of a high-stakes election happening amid an unprecedented global pandemic, the FBI turned its back on its national security mission. "One way or the other, intelligence must be fully investigated to determine whether it’s true, or if it’s just smoke and mirrors.” Emails and whistleblowers claim the FBI blocked the investigation into a Chinese mail-in ballot scheme to help elect Biden as a way to cover for Wray’s statements to Congress saying there was no evidence of efforts to defraud the 2020 presidential election and American people — as then-President Donald Trump was long warning publicly. "Chris Wray’s FBI wasn’t looking out for the American people — it was looking to save its own image," Grassley’s statement added. Trump appointee Kash Patel is now in charge of the FBI and its investigations, making it likely the 2020 election fraud investigation will be thoroughly reviewed. "Now’s the time to rebuild the FBI’s trust," Grassley’s statement concluded. "Director Patel’s willingness to work with me to establish renewed transparency and accountability is a critical part of that process, and I applaud him for his efforts.” The cover letter responding to Grassley’s oversight suggest there were politics at play in covering up and blocking investigations of election fraud before the 2020 election, as the FBI suppressed an Intelligence Information Report (IIR) that found allegations the Chinese government had produced "a large amount" of fraudulent US driver’s licenses — through TikTok data collection — that would allow "tens of thousands of Chinese students and immigrants sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party to vote for U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, despite not being eligible to vote in the United States.” That intelligence since revealed certainly sounds worthy of investigation now, since foreign Chinese influence, TikTok forced data transfer, mail-in ballot fraud allegations, and questioning of Chinese foreign students visa access are at the top of news cycles. "According to the FBI, these allegations, despite showing initial signs of credibility, were allegedly never fully investigated due to the FBI’s sudden and ‘abnormal’ decision to halt the investigation and bury the IIR’s existence, preventing any additional FBI field offices, as well as other Intelligence Community elements, from accessing or studying the document," Grassley’s bombshell release read. "The FBI’s stated reason for doing so was because ‘the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.’". An intelligence analyst said the merely political reasoning for not disclosing information was against the FBI’s long-held standards against political interference and ostensibly amounted to the FBI playing politics. "Most concerning to me, is stating the reporting would contradict with Director Wray’s testimony," an FBI Albany intelligence analyst wrote. "I found this troubling because it implied to me that one of the reasons we aren’t putting this out is for a political reason, which goes directly against our organization’s mission to remain apolitical and simply state what we know.

Reported similarly:
Federalist [7/2/2025 7:38 AM, Breccan F. Thies, 1142K]

Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 6:00 AM, Mike Brest, 1934K] reports President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk have reignited their feud that they had supposedly worked past, with the president now threatening Musk’s companies’ government contracts. It’s unclear how serious the president is about possibly canceling government contracts with Musk’s companies, but the legal complexities involved in a complete disentanglement would presumably be extensive due to how dependent the government is on his companies, including from a national security perspective. Specifically, the Department of Defense and NASA heavily rely on Musk’s SpaceX for rocket launches and space-based communications. "We have $22 billion in government contracts," said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and COO, in a live-streamed public panel last year. "We earned that. We bid it, we were the lowest price, best bidder, we won and we execute." The Trump-Musk dispute is over how much the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act adds to the national debt, which the Senate passed on Tuesday. Musk has argued that the bill would balloon if signed into law.

Reuters [7/2/2025 5:01 PM, Mike Stone and Max Hunder, 51390K] reports a decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine said it had called in the acting U.S. envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine. The Pentagon’s decision - tied to concerns that U.S. military stockpiles are too low - began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, four people familiar with the decision said on Wednesday. It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS (mobile rocket artillery) missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, they said. "The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine’s defence capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace," Ukraine’s foreign ministry said. The defence ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in U.S. shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts.

The Hill [7/2/2025 12:51 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 18649K] reports Democratic lawmakers are calling out "rogue actors" in the Trump administration over the Pentagon’s halted shipments of certain munitions to Ukraine, insisting many people will die due to the pause. The paused shipments of air defense missiles and precision munitions followed a review of the Defense Department’s munitions stockpiles and worries that U.S. armaments stockpiles were dwindling. Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby was the main driver in the decision, which came in early June, according to Politico. "If this is true, then Mr. Colby, who opposed military assistance to Ukraine and even refused to acknowledge that Russia’s actions amounted to an ‘invasion’ of Ukraine in his confirmation hearing, is taking action that will surely result in the imminent death of many Ukrainian military and civilians," Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) posted Wednesday to social platform X. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) called Colby and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "rogue actors" who are deviating from President Trump’s stance from a week ago, when he said the U.S. was "going to see if we can make some" air defense missiles available for Kyiv. "President Trump pledged just last week to look for additional air defense systems for Ukraine, but Secretary Hegseth and Under Secretary Colby seem to be ignoring him," Shaheen said in a statement. "The Trump Administration’s mixed messaging is undermining its own agenda to bring [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to the negotiation table … now is not the time for rouge actors undermining our national security interests.”

AP [7/2/2025 12:55 PM, Illia Novikov, 56000K] reports Ukraine is forging ahead with early plans for joint weapons production with some international allies, top officials said, while warning Wednesday of potential consequences of the U.S. decision to halt some arms shipments promised to help Kyiv fight off Russia’s invasion. "Any delay or hesitation in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, not seek peace," Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said. A renewed Russian push to capture more land has put Ukraine’s short-handed defenses under severe strain in the all-out war launched by Moscow nearly 3½ years ago. Russian missiles and drones are battering Ukrainian cities. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to find a peace settlement have stalled. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it hadn’t received any official U.S. notification of a suspension or revision of agreed arms delivery schedules. Officials have requested a phone call with their U.S. counterparts to verify the status of specific items in the pipeline, it said in a statement. As Washington — Ukraine’s biggest military backer — has distanced itself from Ukraine’s war efforts under President Donald Trump, a bigger onus has fallen on European countries. Washington’s decision could remove some of the most formidable weapons in Ukraine’s battlefield arsenal, including some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons, according to AP sources. The U.S. decision should prompt European Union countries to spend more on developing Ukraine’s defense industry, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.

Washington Examiner [7/2/2025 9:40 AM, Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas suggested on Wednesday it is receptive to a ceasefire deal with Israel, but did not say whether it would accept the proposal pushed by President Donald Trump. A peace agreement remains uncertain due to the terrorist group’s demands that any deal include a permanent ceasefire and the total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Trump announced on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to "the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day ceasefire deal amid peace talks led by the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt. Hamas official Taher al Nunu responded the following day with a statement claiming that his organization is "ready and serious regarding reaching an agreement," according to the Associated Press. Hamas is "ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the war," al Nunu said as a Hamas delegation is reportedly expected to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the proposal. Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is also expected to head to Cairo in the coming days to hash out negotiations. Hamas’s agreeable stance comes after the Israel Defense Forces announced last week it had killed "one of the last remaining senior Hamas terrorists" left in the Gaza Strip during a targeted airstrike. Hakham Muhammad Issa al Issa was a founder of Hamas’s military wing and a central planner of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The U.S., Qatar, and Egypt have acted as mediators throughout Netanyahu’s war with Hamas, which began in the aftermath of the group’s 2023 attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 civilians. The last ceasefire the U.S.-led coalition mediated lasted from January through March of 2025. After the coalition recently pushed to restart those conversations to end the war in Gaza permanently, Trump announced this week that U.S. negotiators had held "long and productive" meetings with the Israelis to hammer out a ceasefire deal. "The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE," the president said Tuesday.

Washington Post [7/2/2025 1:17 PM, Annabelle Timsit, 32099K] reports President Donald Trump has said he wants to prosecute those responsible for the leak of classified intelligence about U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and suggested his government could pressure journalists who covered the leaked intelligence report to reveal their sources. Several news outlets, citing people familiar with the preliminary assessment, said it found that the U.S. strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back by months but did not eliminate it, contradicting Trump’s claims that the strikes resulted in its “obliteration.” In response, the Trump administration is investigating the leak and plans to limit how much classified intelligence it shares with Congress.

ABC News [7/2/2025 5:16 PM, Anne Flaherty and Nathan Luna, 31733K] reports the Pentagon on Wednesday sharpened its assessment of Iran’s nuclear program, declaring that Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon following the U.S. strike on its nuclear facilities is "closer to two years" away. The assessment from Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, appeared to be significantly more optimistic than by U.N. inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency. IAEA’s director general Rafael Grossi said last weekend that he believed Iran could begin enriching uranium in a matter of months. Military officials and experts have said that there is no doubt the U.S. bombing of three key nuclear sites in Iran -- Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan -- caused significant damage when they were hit by 14 bunker-buster bombs and two dozen Tomahawk missiles. But they caution that a firm intelligence assessment will take time to do. And nuclear experts question whether some of the enriched uranium could have been moved in advance or stored elsewhere -- a possibility the Trump administration dismisses as improbable. When asked what the latest intelligence might show, Parnell told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the administration’s stance is unchanged that Iran’s nuclear sites were "completely obliterated." The term "obliterated" was first used by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the hours after the bombing. "It’s delayed by one to two years. I think we’re thinking probably closer to two years," Parnell told reporters.

FOX News [7/2/2025 8:00 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports once a revolutionary militia, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps built power through ideology and fear. Now, after devastating losses, its future is uncertain. After major military setbacks, Iran’s IRGC faces a turning point. Experts explain its roots, power, and whether its reign of repression and terror can endure. Once a fringe militia born of revolution, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has grown into the regime’s most feared and powerful force. But according to Dr. Afshon Ostovar, a leading expert on Iran and author of "Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards," said the recent U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran may have permanently altered its trajectory. "What the IRGC tried to achieve over the last 25 years is basically toast," Ostovar told Fox News Digital, "Their campaign to build a military deterrent at home through missiles and nuclear enrichment, and to expand regionally through proxies, has essentially collapsed." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [7/2/2025 5:27 AM, Elaine Kurtenbach, 56000K] reports a U.S. judge has ruled that China’s Huawei Technologies, a leading telecoms equipment company, must face criminal charges in a wide reaching case alleging it stole technology and engaged in racketeering, wire and bank fraud and other crimes. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly on Tuesday rejected Huawei’s request to dismiss the allegations in a 16-count federal indictment against the company, saying in a 52-page ruling that its arguments were premature. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. accuses Huawei and some of its subsidiaries of plotting to steal U.S. trade secrets, installing surveillance equipment that enabled Iran to spy on protesters during 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and of doing business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions there.

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