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.

AP [7/30/2025 2:30 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports that the United States will deploy biometric technologies in partnership with Chile to control migration and disrupt criminal networks, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday during a visit to the South American nation. “This arrangement is going to serve as a bridge to help Chile and the United States work towards bringing criminals to justice and knowing who is in our countries perpetuating crimes,” Noem said while signing the preliminary agreement with Chile’s Security Minister Luis Cordero and Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo. “This increased cooperation between our countries is extremely important to track criminals, terrorists and dangerous individuals,” she added from the capital of Santiago, while nearby thousands of residents heeded tsunami warnings to evacuate along the the country’s Pacific coast. The plan comes as the Trump administration seeks to bolster regional cooperation in its clampdown against transnational criminal groups, including Tren de Aragua, a notorious Venezuelan gang designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the White House. The bilateral agreement allows Chilean officials to identify potentially dangerous migrants entering or exiting the country and share their biometric data, such as fingerprints and iris scans, with the Department of Homeland Security to prevent their travel to the U.S. “That information will be incredibly important as we go after these criminal activities,” Noem said, praising past cooperation between the countries’ intelligence agencies.

The Washington Post [7/31/2025 3:24 AM, Maegan Vazquez and Michael E. Miller, 32099K] reports twelve House Democrats on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over what they say are illegal actions to limit in-person congressional oversight visits to federal immigration detention facilities. The lawmakers say in the complaint that they each “attempted to obtain information about conditions at a DHS [Department of Homeland Security] facility used to detain or otherwise house noncitizens … by visiting a facility in person, or by giving DHS notice of imminent plans to do so, for the purpose of conducting realtime oversight of that facility.” Each attempted visit was blocked by the administration, according to the complaint. The administration now requires a minimum seven-day advance notice to schedule a visit to the facilities “absent authorization by the secretary of DHS,” and “deems certain DHS facilities, including [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] field offices, off-limits for congressional oversight even when they are used for detention,” according to the complaint. The Democrats allege that the new restrictions on lawmakers’ access are unlawful. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the members of Congress suing the administration “could have just scheduled a tour.” She also sought to tie the visits to “a surge in assaults, disruptions and obstructions to enforcement” aimed at ICE officers, saying that some of those disruptive actions have been made by members of Congress. The legal effort follows attempts by members of the party to access the growing number of sites used in President Donald Trump’s sweeping nationwide immigration crackdown, visits that have led to confrontations and the indictment of one Democratic member of Congress. It marks an escalation in a political battle over an issue that polls suggest has started to sour for the president. Immigration arrests have risen substantially across the country as the administration has tried to deliver on Trump’s campaign promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Amid reports of overcrowding and poor conditions in some facilities, Democratic lawmakers attempting to access some sites have often been denied entry. In June, a federal grand jury indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-New Jersey) for allegedly interfering with law enforcement during a confrontation outside an immigration detention center in Newark. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was arrested and charged with trespassing after that May attempt to visit the facility with a Democratic congressional delegation that included McIver. Days after McIver’s indictment, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new policy limiting congressional lawmakers’ access to ICE facilities, a move that Democrats criticized as a violation of their right to conduct oversight. Wednesday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names ICE and its acting director, Todd Lyons, as well as DHS and its secretary, Kristi L. Noem, as defendants. The plaintiffs are Reps. Joe Neguse and Jason Crow of Colorado; Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat of New York; Bennie G. Thompson (Mississippi); Jamie Raskin (Maryland); Veronica Escobar (Texas); and Robert Garcia, Lou Correa, Jimmy Gomez, Raul Ruiz and Norma J. Torres of California. The AP [7/30/2025 6:54 PM, Martha Bellisle, 24051K] reports ICE Director Todd Lyons told a congressional committee in May that he recognized the right of members of Congress to visit detention facilities, even unannounced. But DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told a different committee that members of Congress should have requested a tour of an immigration detention facility in New Jersey where a skirmish broke out in May. Also, ICE has seen a surge in assaults, disruptions and obstructions to law enforcement so any requests for tours of ICE processing centers and field offices must be approved by Secretary Noem, McLaughlin said. The Congressmembers said the law doesn’t require prior approval, and said they’ve been blocked outright from the field offices, according to the lawsuit. While ICE is demanding a week’s notice for detention center visits, it said it’s prohibiting members of Congress from inspecting ICE field offices, where some detainees are being held.” Axios [7/30/2025 3:43 PM, Sareen Habeshian, 13599K] reports that the Congressional members called the new oversight visit policy "unlawful," and said the "illegal actions have harmed" their right to conduct oversight. Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said as ICE law enforcement "have seen a surge in assaults, disruptions, and obstructions to enforcement — including by Member of Congress themselves — any requests to tour processing centers and field offices must be approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security." McLaughlin said ICE officers have seen an 830% rise in assaults and requests must be part of legitimate congressional oversight activities. "As for visits to detention facilities, requests should be made with sufficient time to prevent interference with the President’s Article II authority to oversee executive department functions—a week is sufficient to ensure no intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority," she added. "To protect the President’s Article II authority, any request to shorten that time must be approved by the Secretary."

Reported similarly:
New York Times [7/30/2025 5:56 PM, Michael Gold, 138952K]
Los Angeles Times [7/30/2025 5:46 PM, Andrea Castillo, 14672K]
Roll Call [7/30/2025 5:28 PM, Michael Macagnone, 692K]
Bloomberg [7/30/2025 5:27 PM, Erik Larson, 19320K]
The Hill [7/30/2025 3:57 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K]
Reuters [7/30/2025 3:52 PM, Jonathan Stempel, 51390K]
CBS News [7/30/2025 8:10 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51860K]
CNN [7/30/2025 3:42 PM, Angelica Franganillo Diaz]
Washington Examiner [7/30/2025 4:16 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K]

FOX News [7/30/2025 2:29 PM, Charles Creitz, 46878K] reports that most of Maryland’s congressional delegation joined forces to gain access to what Sen. Angela Alsobrooks described as a "shameful, secret place" where ICE detainees were being processed in Baltimore. Alsobrooks and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the latter of whom made deported suspected human trafficker Kilmar Garcia a cause célèbre, joined Reps. Kweisi Mfume of Baltimore, Johnny Olszewski Jr. of Baltimore County, Sarah Elfreth of Elkridge and Glenn Ivey of Prince Georges at the facility. The scene resembled a more peaceful version of a similar visit by several New Jersey lawmakers to an ICE detention facility in Newark, where Rep. LaMonica McIver was arrested for allegedly accosting officers. Unlike Newark’s jail-type complex, the Baltimore ICE office is more contained within the larger George Fallon federal building near Charles Center. Officials said the office is also a processing center and not a detention facility, with small numbers of detainees being matriculated through at any one time. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told "Special Report" on Tuesday that Democrats are to blame for the high number of criminal aliens released in Maryland — particularly in Prince George’s County. Alsobrooks previously served as the county executive, and Ivey currently represents the area in the House. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also fired back at the delegation on X, saying Van Hollen was "protecting monsters over American victims," highlighting four illegal immigrants arrested on charges including possession of child porn, sexual abuse of a minor and conspiracy to commit murder. But the Maryland Democrats appeared undeterred. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/30/2025 8:03 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports the Trump Department of Homeland Security is mocking several House Democrats for "running to court" over unsuccessfully demanding access to a Baltimore ICE processing facility. A dozen Democrats are suing the Trump administration for "unlawful obstruction of congressional oversight" after Democratic members of the Maryland congressional delegation were denied entry to the ICE facility on Monday. Maryland Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, along with Reps. Glenn Ivey, Johnny Olszewski, Sarah Elfreth and Kweisi Mfume showed up in Baltimore at the Fallon Federal Building on Monday but were denied entry into an ICE detainment facility in the building. After being denied access to the facility, the group held a press conference outside the building in which Mfume said, "We had to stand outside, bang on the door, and ultimately sit in front of the door." The Democrats filed their lawsuit against the administration on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In response, DHS Assistant Secretary for Communications Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that "these Members of Congress could have just scheduled a tour; instead, they’re running to court to drive clicks and fundraising emails." McLaughlin cited concerns over assaults against ICE officers surging by 830 percent. She added that "these requests must be part of legitimate congressional oversight activities."

New York Times [7/31/2025 3:19 AM, Chris Cameron, Hamed Aleaziz and Eric Schmitt, 330K] reports the Trump administration authorized the deployment of National Guard units at immigration facilities, escalating its use of the military as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. In a private memo obtained by New York Times, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials informed field offices that the National Guard would be deployed to assist in “alien processing” — the term used by immigration officials for paperwork done before placing immigrants in detention. It added that ICE leadership would “direct” the troops assigned to the mission. The National Guard troops would be deployed in 20 states with Republican governors, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The deployment of the National Guard troops — part of a reserve military force controlled by individual states — appears to be aimed at allowing military units to directly participate in federal immigration enforcement. A statement from the Pentagon last week outlined a plan to swap Marine Corps and Naval Reserve units supporting ICE with National Guard troops that would be allowed to have “direct interaction with individuals in ICE custody.” The statement said that about 1,700 troops have now been authorized to assist ICE. The first deployments of National Guard troops were scheduled for early August, according to the ICE memo. The use of the military for civilian law enforcement is limited as part of the Constitution’s protections for civil liberties and state sovereignty. But state governments maintain the authority to keep order within their borders — a power given to them under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 — and Republican governors have previously deployed National Guard troops to assist in border control. The deployment of the National Guard to ICE facilities would more directly meld military operations with the agency’s domestic law enforcement duties. The ICE memo said National Guard troops would directly assist ICE agents with “administrative and clerical tasks, field office program management, case management and transportation.” The memo did not authorize the National Guard to take part in immigration raids directly, but replacing ICE agents in clerical roles with National Guard troops would free those agents to participate in enforcement duties. ICE has also established a “strategic planning task force” that will coordinate the deployment of the National Guard troops, according to the memo.

Washington Post [7/31/2025 1:08 AM, Warren P. Strobel and Niha Masih, 32099K] reports the Republican-controlled Senate voted along sharply partisan lines Wednesday to confirm Joseph Kent as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, approving his nomination over objections from Democrats who cited his embrace of conspiracy theories and attempts to alter intelligence reports as disqualifying. Kent, a former Army Special Operations and CIA officer who has served as a top aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was confirmed by a 52-44 vote to head the center, created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to analyze and integrate intelligence relating to transnational terrorism, including threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad. Republicans cited his combat experience and government posts as qualifications. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) noted that Kent’s first wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in northern Syria in 2019. Democrats warned that Kent’s embrace of unsubstantiated theories, including that the FBI played a role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and his past association with white-supremacist groups made him uniquely unqualified to run a key intelligence unit. The core principles of intelligence are “objectivity, nonpartisanship and fidelity to fact,” said Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. “Mr. Kent has shown time and again that he cannot meet that standard.” As an aide to Gabbard, Kent earlier this year pressured analysts at the National Intelligence Council, a prestigious analytic hub, to alter a report that concluded the Venezuelan government did not direct the activities of the Tren de Aragua cartel, according to emails that emerged later. That analysis undercut Trump’s rationale for deporting suspected gang members without due process under the Alien Enemies Act. The intelligence report was not changed. Gabbard quickly fired Michael Collins, the head of the NIC, and his deputy. Kent’s past comments on Russia had clouded his nomination by Trump. Shortly after Russia’s invasion, Kent described President Vladimir Putin’s demands on Ukrainian territory as “very reasonable.”

Reported similarly:
New York Times [7/30/2025 9:00 PM, Eric Schmitt, 138952K]
AP [7/30/2025 6:26 PM, Stephen Groves, 3077K]

Axios [7/30/2025 8:25 PM, Russell Contreras, 13599K] reports new data show that the number of migrants attempting to cross the dangerous Darién Gap from Colombia into Panama has dropped to almost zero. The decline suggests fewer migrants are attempting the 2,600-mile trek to the U.S., amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown and Panama President José Raúl Mulino’s vow to close the dangerous route. The massive decrease in the infamous route comes as illegal crossings at the U.S. southwestern border fell in June to their lowest point in decades. Only 10 migrants traveled northward through the Darién Gap in June, according to Migración Panama, an agency in Panama that keeps track of migration in the region. That’s the fewest in a month since the pandemic, when traffic nearly all but halted, and since the early 2010s, when fewer than a couple hundred migrants took the path monthly, records show. Nearly 82,000 people traveled through the Darién Gap in August 2023, data collected by Migración Panama and reviewed by the human rights advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America found. The August 2023 surge led to a historic rise in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for weeks afterward. During the Biden administration, monthly traffic in the Darién Gap ranged from a few thousand to tens of thousands. Nearly half a million people made it through the jungle pathway in 11 months in 2023. The Trump administration is taking credit for driving the drop in the Darién Gap, pointing to stepped-up enforcement at the southern border. "In Panama’s Darien Gap, migrants are turning BACK before they even reach our border— only 10 migrants crossed in June," Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote to Axios. She noted this represents a drop of more than 99.98% from the jump during Biden’s time in office. "The world is hearing our message that America’s borders are closed to lawbreakers." Mulino said at a press conference in March that his administration is the one behind the decline after he ordered the closure of migrant transit centers along the Darién Gap. "We will not allow more migrants in the Darién region, and we are closing an operation that began in 2016," Mulino said. Panama’s president said the decline was part of a promise he made when he ran for office. Now, some migrants are even using the route in reverse, returning to their home countries, per The Latin Times.

ABC News [7/30/2025 2:39 PM, Staff, 31733K] reports that Brandi Bynum, unit chief for the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking, discusses what a typical trafficking case looks like and how to spot some of the key signs. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsNation [7/30/2025 8:54 AM, Staff, 5801K] reports Brandi Bynum, who works to counter human trafficking with the Department of Homeland Security, joins "Morning in America" to discuss the department’s "Blue Campaign" initiative, which aims to educate the public on human trafficking. Bynum also shares guidance on approaching victims and the latest on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [7/30/2025 5:21 PM, Rebecca Santana, 56000K] reports the agency responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportations is launching a recruiting campaign to entice “brave and heroic Americans” to serve as new deportation officers, lawyers and investigators as the government gears up for a major expansion of immigration enforcement thanks to a recent infusion of money from Congress. The icing on the cake: a promise of up to $50,000 in signing bonuses. “Your country is calling you to serve at ICE,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a news release. “This is a defining moment in our nation’s history. Your skills, your experience, and your courage have never been more essential. Together, we must defend the homeland.” In addition to appealing to prospective applicants’ patriotic fervor, Homeland Security is making a pocketbook pitch. The agency is promising up to $50,000 in signing bonuses, the potential for lots of overtime for deportation officers and other benefits such as loan repayment or forgiveness options. All of this is made possible by a big infusion of money to ICE. The package of tax breaks and spending cuts that Trump signed into law this month includes about $170 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, spread out over five years. ICE is set to get $76.5 billion, nearly 10 times its current annual budget. Some $45 billion will go toward increasing detention capacity. Nearly $30 billion is for hiring 10,000 more staff so the agency can meet its goal of 1 million annual deportations.

Reported similarly:
Politico [7/30/2025 4:44 PM, Gregory Svirnovskiy, 2100K]
Breitbart [7/30/2025 3:50 PM, John Binder, 3077K]
Washington Examiner [7/30/2025 11:14 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K]

FOX News [7/30/2025 5:47 PM, Cameron Arcand, Bill Melugin, 46878K] reports multiple convicted criminals in the country illegally were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tuesday, including some convicted of sex crimes against children. Sierra Leone national Mohammed Sesay was convicted a decade ago in Maryland of raping an 11-year-old girl multiple times within five months in 2014 and threatening to kill her if she spoke up about the abuse. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Sesay’s actions were only revealed after an "assault" during a family function when the father of the victim learned of the incident. "What these innocent children had to endure is horrifying: a criminal illegal alien raping an 11-year-old child 15 different times; a pedophile; innocent children who were struck and injured by an illegal alien driving drunk, sending one child to intensive care. These criminals should have never been in this country in the first place, and these children should have never been victimized," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, this department is putting the safety of Americans first. Thanks to ICE, these monsters are in custody and will be removed from our communities." The announcements come as the agency regularly updates its "Worst of the Worst" arrests as it tries to ramp up deportations and hire more ICE agents, including with a new ad campaign and bonuses meant to entice people to join. The recent Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes funding for 10,000 more agents. Besides the arrest highlights, ICE also maintains an active "Most Wanted" list.

FOX News [7/30/2025 4:08 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] reports an illegal immigrant allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old Kentucky teen who tried to stop him from raping his mother, authorities said. Gildardo Amandor-Martinez, 36, a Mexican citizen, is accused of murdering his girlfriend’s son, identified as Luis Jocsan Nanez Lopez, when the teen tried to intervene in a July 20 attack against his mother. The teen’s younger sister was also assaulted and injured. "15-year-old Luis Lopez died trying to save his mother from this criminal illegal alien who was attempting to rape her. Gildardo Amandor-Martinez is a rapist and cold-blooded killer who should have never been in this country," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. Gildardo Martinez is charged with murder, first-degree assault and attempted rape. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has since lodged a detainer request for him, which calls for local law enforcement to hold illegal immigrants in custody until they can be turned over to federal authorities. Gildardo Martinez attempted to enter the United States via the southern border three times under the Biden administration in 2021, ICE said. He successfully entered illegally on his third attempt. "The Biden administration’s open-border policies allowed this monster to walk American streets and commit these evil crimes, including murder, assault, and attempted rape, against a mother and her children," McLaughlin said. "ICE has placed an arrest detainer to ensure Amandor-Martinez will not be released onto America’s streets and allowed to terrorize American families again." The New York Post [7/30/2025 11:30 AM, Emily Crane, 49956K] reports Amandor-Martinez was arrested and slapped with a slew of charges, including rape, resisting arrest and assault. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since lodged a detainer for him, which calls for local cops to hold illegal migrants in custody until they can be turned over to the feds. Amandor-Martinez was in the US illegally at the time of the slaying, federal officials said. He allegedly tried to illegally cross the US-Mexico border three times in 2021 under the Biden administration. The alleged killer was eventually able to cross undetected "at an unknown date and location," DHS said. "The Biden administration’s open-border policies allowed this monster to walk American streets and commit these evil crimes, including murder, assault, and attempted rape, against a mother and her children," McLaughlin said. "ICE has placed an arrest detainer to ensure Amandor-Martinez will not be released onto America’s streets and allowed to terrorize American families again."

Reported similarly:
Blaze [7/30/2025 8:05 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1805K]

NewsNation [7/30/2025 5:20 PM, Meg Hilling, 5801K] reports there is no formal hurricane plan in place for the Florida detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz," according to the Miami Herald. The outlet reports that in July, it requested "the completed hurricane/disaster plan for Alligator Alcatraz" from the Florida Department of Emergency Management." That request was met with an email from a department spokesperson this week which read, "There are no responsive records for this request." The department’s response to the Miami Herald comes less than a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a press conference at the detention center, during which he was questioned on the facility’s storm preparedness. Univision [7/30/2025 11:32 AM, Staff, 4992K] reports that during the press conference, both DeSantis and Florida Department of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie vehemently defended the state’s ability to protect staff and detainees at the facility in the event of a severe storm. DeSantis has said repeatedly that the tents and trailers at the site can withstand winds of up to 110 mph, equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane . If forecasts call for stronger winds, then DeSantis said people will have to be evacuated from Alcatraz Island.

AP [7/30/2025 1:58 PM, David Fischer and Mike Schneider, 1611K] reports that a legal challenge to a hastily-built immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades was filed in the wrong venue, government attorneys argued Wednesday in the first of two hearings over the legality of "Alligator Alcatraz" in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the federal lawsuit by environmental groups since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, government attorneys argued during Wednesday’s hearing in federal court in Miami. "Everything is happening outside the southern district, either Collier County, Tallahassee or the District of Columbia," said attorney Jesse Panuccio, who represented the state of the Florida. Friends of the Everglades attorney Paul Schwiep agreed that the lawsuit could have been filed in any of several districts, including Florida’s middle district, but the temporary facility could have significant impacts on the cities, environment and drinking water of Miami-Dade County, making the southern district an appropriate venue. Schwiep also pointed out that the state only complained about venue after a judge appointed by President George W. Bush recused himself from the case earlier this month, and it was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have called Williams an "activist judge" after she found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt for ignoring her orders in another case.

NewsMax [7/30/2025 6:09 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K] reports that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice filed more than 6,200 immigration prosecutions in June and oversaw over 65,000 deportations in 100 days, Blaze Media reported. The Trump administration has shattered records in prosecuting illegal immigration offenses. According to The Washington Times, Justice filed 3,200 prosecutions for illegal entry and over 3,000 for illegal reentry — targeting individuals previously deported who tried to cross into the U.S. again. The aggressive prosecution strategy is part of a broader crackdown by the Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which removed 65,682 illegal immigrants in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term. Nearly 75% of those arrested had criminal records, including assault, DUI, and weapons offenses. "These cases have a very high rate of conviction," said Jonathan Fahey, former acting ICE director. "They’re a great way to get a conviction, a great way to get a criminal off the street, and a great way to remove them from the country in an expeditious way." The numbers represent a significant departure from the Biden administration, under which prosecution rates for illegal entry rarely exceeded 1%. In contrast, illegal entry cases under Trump in June alone made up more than half of Border Patrol arrests, setting a new benchmark for enforcement. The Austin American-Statesman reported that 7,660 illegal reentry cases were filed in the first quarter of 2025, up from 4,312 in the same period in 2024 and 3,670 in 2023.

Blaze [7/30/2025 3:13 PM, Paul Sacca, 1805K] reports through sweeping crackdowns, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has reportedly set an all-time record in prosecutions of illegal immigrants — a stunning reversal from the open-border era of former President Joe Biden. According to a new report, Trump’s Justice Department had a record-breaking month for criminal prosecution of illegal aliens in June — notching more than 3,000 cases last month. The Washington Times reported that Trump’s DOJ set a record by filing more than 3,000 illegal re-entry cases in June alone — targeting illegal aliens who were deported but were caught when they attempted to sneak back across the border anyway. Also in June, DOJ prosecutors filed 3,200 cases for simple illegal entry — while not a record high, the number was significant. The figure made up over 50% of all Border Patrol arrests last month, setting a record for prosecution rates. The Trump DOJ numbers are staggering compared to the Biden administration’s open-border era, when prosecution rates never hit 1%. Citing Justice Department data, the Austin American-Statesman reported that federal prosecutors filed 7,660 illegal re-entry cases during the first three months of this year, compared to 4,312 cases filed during the first three months of 2024 and 3,670 during the first three months of 2023. The U.S. Department of Justice said that it is "using all available investigative and prosecutorial tools" to fight the "invasion of illegal immigration." The crackdown on illegal immigration has had a profound effect on encounters with illegal aliens. Earlier this month, the White House noted that U.S. Border Patrol encountered 6,070 illegal immigrants at the southern border in June — a record-setting low that is 15% lower than the previous record set in March.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/30/2025 10:03 PM, Sara Libby, Sara DiNatale, 4120K] reports the Department of Justice has demanded private personal information about some people in the San Francisco Department of Elections’ system, a request the department has not yet complied with and said it is reviewing. The request, dated July 9, asks the Department of Elections for five years’ worth of records showing voters whose registration was canceled because the voter did not satisfy citizenship requirements. It also asks San Francisco’s election chief to provide a trove of personal information about those people, including their voter registration application, voter registration record, voting history, date of birth, driver’s license number and the last four digits of their Social Security number. The same Department of Justice official, Maureen Riordan, demanded the same information from Orange County Registrar Bob Page in June. When Page refused to disclose what he said was personal information protected by state laws, the DOJ sued him. John Arntz, the director of the Department of Elections, told Riordan on July 23 that he’s reviewing the request and planned to respond no later than Aug. 29. He asked Riordan to detail "the specific statutory authority for this request and whether records produced will be kept confidential within the Department of Justice.” Election law experts previously told the Chronicle that the laws being cited by the DOJ in its demand to Orange County do not actually give the agency the authority to demand sensitive personal information from elections officials. The law cited by Riordan, the Help America Vote Act, requires local officials to coordinate with the state to maintain the voter rolls. When Page offered to provide the data to the DOJ if officials there agreed to keep it confidential, the department instead filed a lawsuit. The request for voters’ personal information from San Francisco officials is just the latest such move from the Department of Justice, which has been seeking voter rolls and requesting to inspect voter equipment across the country, Washington Post reported earlier this month. Such requests have alarmed officials in those jurisdictions because of the potential for federal interference with upcoming elections.The Trump administration’s efforts to collect data on noncitizens comes amid the administration’s aggressive mass deportation efforts. White House officials have promised to boost deportation numbers and demanded federal agents hit 3,000 immigration arrests per day. The DOJ earlier this month requested information on noncitizens in custody in large California metros — something the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and the California Attorney General forcefully condemned. Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said at the time his office would only respond to information requests "consistent with local, state, and federal law" but that his priority was public safety and "not politics.” California Attorney General Rob Bonta responded angrily to the request, with his spokesperson adding Trump and the DOJ "cannot bully our local law enforcement into breaking the law.”

FOX News [7/30/2025 6:11 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] reports that President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized spending taxpayer money to house migrants in "luxury hotels" while others continue to struggle to afford necessities. Trump was traveling back to the United States after a four-day trip to Scotland when he was asked about mass migration to the United Kingdom. A reporter pointed out that many in the U.K. have taken issue with housing migrants in hotels at the expense of taxpayers while their asylum claims are being processed and asked whether Britain needs its own "Alligator Alcatraz." It was a reference to Florida’s illegal immigrant detention center on a 30-square-mile property in the Everglades’ swamplands. "They’re putting people in luxury hotels and other people that are working their a---- off are living from hand to mouth. They’re not living the same way," Trump said aboard Air Force One. "I’ve looked at some of the hotels they’re using." Trump noted that illegal immigrants in some parts of the U.S. have also been housed in hotels. "They put them in like the best hotels anywhere in the world," he said. "Thousands of dollars a night, and other people are living out in the streets, including our veterans. They can’t get a room.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [7/31/2025 5:00 AM, Ximena Bustillo and Juliana Kim, 37958K] reports on a Sunday in June, Pastor Ara Torosian gave a message to his congregation in Los Angeles: if detained by immigration officers, "first, call your lawyer and second, call your pastor. It didn’t take long. By the end of the month, two families reached out to Torosian, one through their lawyer and another through a spouse, to notify him they were being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "There are hundreds of Iranian Christians from different churches that are in danger of deportation," Torosian said. "And if they go back to Iran, there’s a big danger. Many, many of them will be in prison." Torosian has been advocating for the release from ICE custody of the Iranian members of his congregation, who entered the U.S. to escape religious persecution in their home country. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Iranian authorities routinely target members of minority faith communities, especially Christians who converted from Islam. One of the families in his congregation entered the U.S. with the app formerly known as CBP One, which under the Biden administration allowed migrants to schedule asylum appointments at legal ports of entry. The Trump administration this year shuttered that function of the app and told everyone who entered the country with the app to self-deport. Torosian told NPR that one couple and their child were released from detention over the weekend, but were placed in an alternative to detention program with an ankle monitor. The others, a couple, remain in separate detention facilities. Religious persecution is one of the many reasons individuals can claim asylum or apply to be a refugee. But the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. asylum and refugee systems has taken a toll on people fleeing religious persecution — many of whom saw the U.S. as a symbol of religious freedom. The pause on most refugee admissions and curbs on some asylum claims mark a shift from the administration’s first term, which offered support for some Christian refugees, even while tightening immigration overall. The White House says the president still supports Christians worldwide.

FOX News [7/30/2025 5:07 PM, Sophia Compton, 46878K] reports Chilean authorities announced Tuesday they had handed over $125,000 in watches stolen from Keanu Reeves to the FBI. The FBI will return the six watches — which include a Rolex worth a minimum of $9,500 — to the Canadian actor best known for his performances in "John Wick" and "The Matrix," according to The Associated Press. The timepieces, recovered months ago during police raids, were stolen from Reeves’ home in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles in December 2023 amid a string of high-profile break-ins. Reeves identified the recovered watches as those stolen, the AP reported, citing Chilean prosecutors. Reeves’ burglarized watches were found during police raids of homes in Chile’s capital of Santiago. Law enforcement found a range of stolen items at the time, including iPhones, cars, designer purses and luxury watches, according to AP. The raids also coincided with a separate investigation into a string of robberies by South American crime groups targeting American luxury homes, including the home of pro football player Travis Kelce, the AP reported. Police in Chile announced in April that 23 citizens linked to the string of burglaries had been arrested, according to the AP. Whether there is a link between Reeves’ watches and the other burglaries remains under investigation, the AP reported, citing a Chilean police officer. The announcement comes as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits the South American country for meetings with officials about issues like transnational crime.

Reported similarly:
Daily Caller [7/30/2025 11:10 AM, Leena Nasir, 1010K]

Univision [7/30/2025 12:55 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) social media post featuring the iconic painting "Morning Pledge" by renowned artist Thomas Kinkade has sparked controversy. The image depicts children walking to school beneath a waving American flag , accompanied by the message: "Protect the Homeland." In response, the Kinkade family immediately reacted with a forceful rejection, calling the use of the work "unauthorized" and denouncing the message as contrary to the humanitarian values the painter championed throughout his life. Thomas Kinkade, known as the “Painter of Light,” is recognized for his idyllic landscapes and traditional American scenes. Although his work is often associated with family and religious values, his family emphasizes that he supported universal human dignity and rights, not the restrictive political agenda that the DHS seeks to promote with this image. In a statement published on the Kinkade Foundation website , the artist’s family expressed their outright rejection. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told The Washington Post that the goal of publishing the paintings was to “celebrate America’s heritage and history.” She added, “If the media needs a history lesson, we’re happy to send them a textbook.” She concluded by noting that President Donald Trump’s administration is proud of its American heritage and will not apologize for it.

NewsMax [7/30/2025 11:56 AM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4622K] reports that the family of Thomas Kinkade is considering legal action against the Trump administration after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used a painting by the late American artist to push what the family says is a message of "xenophobia." Entitled "Morning Pledge," the painting depicts two children walking to school in small-town America as several students gather around a flagpole in the schoolyard to raise the American flag. DHS posted an image of the painting on social media on July 1 and captioned it, "Protect the Homeland." "The use of his artwork was unauthorized, and we have requested that DHS remove the post, and we are consulting with our counsel on our options," a statement posted to the Kinkade Family Foundation website said. The DHS’s X account has frequently highlighted the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown and mass deportation operation and has referred to illegal immigrants as violent "criminals and predators." The family of the self-described "Painter of Light" said it objects to Kinkade’s legacy being associated with the DHS’ anti-immigrant message. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, told The Washington Post that the agency spotlights artwork that "celebrates America’s heritage and history." "If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails and forged this republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook," McLaughlin said in the statement. "This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage."

Reuters [7/30/2025 6:16 PM, Kanishka Singh, 51390K] reports that Brown University reached a deal on Wednesday with President Donald Trump’s administration to restore funding for the university’s federally sponsored medical and health sciences research and to resolve some compliance reviews, the university and the government said on Wednesday. Brown University said that as part of the deal, it will pay $50 million over 10 years to support workforce development in Rhode Island. Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately confirmed the deal in a statement. The Trump administration has threatened to cut federal funds for institutions over pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza, climate initiatives, transgender policies and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Last week, Columbia University agreed to pay over $220 million to resolve federal probes. New York Times reported on Monday that Harvard was open to spending up to $500 million to end its dispute with the government. A U.S. official said in April the government would block $510 million in grants for Brown. Rights advocates have raised concerns about free speech, academic freedom and due process over the government’s funding threats against universities. In particular, the government has alleged universities allowed antisemitism on their campuses during last year’s pro-Palestinian protests.

Politico [7/30/2025 5:00 AM, Felicia Schwartz and Myah Ward, 2100K] reports South Sudan has told the Trump administration that it would consider accepting many more migrants deported from the U.S., but it has some requests of its own. The East African nation has urged the Trump administration to lift sanctions on one of its top officials, according to three people familiar with the matter and diplomatic correspondence viewed by POLITICO. The people, like others in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy and ongoing negotiations. South Sudanese officials have also asked the Trump administration to walk back sweeping visa revocations for its citizens that Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued in April, to reactivate a bank account at the New York Federal Reserve that allows the country to conduct transactions in dollars and to support its efforts to prosecute South Sudan’s first vice president, Riek Machar, who is being held under house arrest. The Trump administration has not agreed to any of those requests — and Juba has a steep hill to climb to improve relations with the U.S. after years of tensions amid civil war, a slide into authoritarianism and systemic human rights violations.

FOX News [7/30/2025 5:00 AM, RJ Hauman, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump was elected on a promise to secure the border and deport illegal aliens. On day one, he declared a national emergency, rescinded Biden-era catch-and-release policies, and restored a clear legal standard of entry. The result? In June, illegal crossings hit a record low for the second consecutive month. And once again, not a single illegal border crosser was released into the interior. This is more than a return to normality; it is the most secure border in American history. But restoring the rule of law does not stop at the border. Interior enforcement pertains to the entire immigration lifecycle—from arrest to detention to removal. To execute mass deportation, everything at President Trump’s disposal must be fully activated, properly executed, and statutorily entrenched. Now, with the One Big Beautiful Bill finally signed into law, the Trump administration has no excuse not to deliver across the board on immigration enforcement. The tools exist, and artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important among them. Just last week, the White House officially unveiled America’s AI Action Plan, recognizing AI as a pillar of national strength and charting a bold course to harness it in service of national security and operational efficiency. For immigration enforcement, the plan’s focus on speed, security, and sovereignty aligns perfectly with the tools Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies need to fulfill their missions. AI is no longer a pilot project or futuristic experiment. If expanded, AI will give immigration enforcement muscle—not by "humanizing" a lawful system, but by accelerating it, cutting bureaucratic bloat, and clearing the path for both mass deportation and faster processing for those doing things the right way. There is still so much modernizing left to be done. Americans would be surprised to learn that much of the immigration bureaucracy still runs on paper, with some case files flown across the country. Steps have been taken, however, with DHS now operating 200 AI systems. Some flag human traffickers in real time. Others assist with casework and detect fraud. Most importantly, the best AI tools do what our federal bureaucracy cannot: resolve identities, sync fragmented case data, and preempt years of duplicative review. Used correctly, these tools supercharge enforcement from the inside out.

Houston Chronicle [7/30/2025 7:00 AM, Patrick G. Eddington, Jeffrey A. Singer, 1982K] reports ethics and federal law hold that your medical records should be private, but President Trump’s ongoing campaign for mass deportation has started to tear down that wall. There are unnerving consequences, not just for undocumented immigrants, but for every American with health insurance. On July 9, 404 Media reported that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is utilizing a vast insurance and medical billing database called ISO ClaimSearch to hunt for people to deport. "Traditionally ISO ClaimSearch is used by insurers to identify people committing fraud or police to recover stolen vehicles," wrote 404 Media cofounder Joseph Cox. "Now, that database is being repurposed as a deportation tool.” Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), law enforcement usually needs a warrant, court order or subpoena to access a patient’s medical records. However, ICE has taken advantage of a legal loophole by obtaining insurance claims data from third-party clearinghouses and data brokers. By accessing these alternative channels, federal agents can avoid legal protections designed to safeguard patient privacy. There’s little reason, though, to think this tactic will be particularly useful in directly targeting individuals without legal status. Half of all likely undocumented immigrant adults don’t even have health insurance, according to estimates by the Kaiser Foundation. In contrast, 8% of U.S.-born adult citizens are uninsured. Meanwhile, those undocumented immigrants who do have health insurance are likely making cash payments; or they’re relying on emergency services or federally qualified health centers. Those approaches typically don’t generate traditional insurance claims. But even if these insurance databases aren’t particularly helpful for finding people directly, ICE could be using the data in other ways. Consider a married couple where one person has legal status and uses their insurance to cover a spouse who lacks legal status. ICE could use ISO ClaimSearch data to uncover such mixed-status households and deport that undocumented husband or wife. Moreover, ICE’s very use of ISO ClaimSearch to go after a large segment of the immigrant community is already having a chilling effect, causing those not in legal status to avoid seeking needed medical care. One of us (Singer) is a general surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona — home to the fourth-largest Hispanic population in the country. Recently, he and his medical assistant noticed a decline in the number of Spanish-speaking patients visiting the clinic. It seems that word is spreading about ICE using insurance claims data to track, arrest and deport people who seek medical care. As fear spreads, even U.S. citizens and legal immigrants may now be avoiding doctor visits. Expect to see similar trends in Harris County, where nearly one in four residents is foreign-born and many live in mixed-status households. If ICE can access claims databases, millions in the Houston area risk having their medical records used for immigration enforcement. That kind of breach doesn’t just threaten privacy — it discourages entire families from seeking care.

San Francisco Chronicle [7/30/2025 7:00 AM, Jimmy Patiño, 4120K] reports that, on May 23, 1980, around 1,000 people, representing some 200 organizations from every border state, Colorado, Chicago and nearby Tijuana, assembled in San Diego for the National Chicano Immigration Conference by the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR), a local grassroots activist group advocating for its community’s self-determination. The historic meeting was a culmination of years of collective rage against increasing violence emanating from the U.S. Border Patrol, police and vigilantes against Mexican migrants. Attendees determined that the current immigration system, built by Republicans and Democrats, could not be reformed, noting that the very category of "illegal alien" was invented to exploit Mexican immigrants’ labor. And so, they put forward a call for the "abolishment of the INS/border patrol," rejecting militarization as a solution to the U.S. immigration issue. "Abolishment" was not a cynical call to start over. It was a means to imagine a more democratic border policy from the perspective of those most affected by it and end a system that took advantage of virtually rightless laborers. That framework continues to guide social movements seeking the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today. While people had always moved between the U.S.-Mexico border, migration increased exponentially after the U.S. government, facing a labor shortage in World War II, established the Bracero Program, which brought millions of Mexican contract workers to the U.S. After the program’s termination in 1964, U.S. employers — now dependent on cheap, imported labor — continued recruiting Mexican migrant workers at the same pace. They did so despite a 40,000-person cap imposed by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This created a growing population of vulnerable, undocumented workers in the 1960s and ‘70s who increasingly faced brutal apprehensions. The aggression was especially evident in the San Diego-Tijuana region, where migrants reported experiencing police brutality, family separation through deportation, wage theft and other types of abuse. Chicano activists mobilized resistance. They documented reports of heinous strip-searches by border agents from hundreds of women of Mexican origin, along with other accounts of Border Patrol violence, and angrily wrote to government officials. In 1972, they succeeded in obtaining a congressional hearing that brought widespread attention to the issue of Border Patrol violence, but little structural change. As apprehensions surpassed 1 million and continued climbing during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, the CCR was among the Chicano Movement activist confronting the police violence, media scapegoating, and deportations targeting their communities. Despite their efforts, elected officials continued to make concessions to employers who hired undocumented migrants and increase border policing. By the time the CCR convened the 1980 conference, the continued escalation of violence had convinced activists: abolishment, not reform, was the only way forward. There, in San Diego’s St. Rita Catholic Church, under banners of Cuban revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata and the flags of Mexico, the U.S., and the United Farm Workers, conference attendees broke out into workshops to come up with solutions to immigration policy problems.

Chicago Tribune [7/30/2025 11:35 AM, Charles Selle, 3987K] reports that first they came for the worst. Then they came for the workers. Now they come for the children. The administration of President Donald Trump is working overtime to round up as many of the estimated 12 million undocumented residents as they can, but so far they are failing in those efforts. The president campaigned last fall on a vow to round up - which no one has an issue with - the "worst of the worst" offenders among those living illegally in the U.S. Yet, the Department of Homeland Security said earlier this month that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have now only deported about 140,000 undocumented immigrants since Trump took office in January. The rush for deportation has found many undocumented immigrants without violent criminal records being caught in ICE dragnets. Among the latest targets are at least a dozen young people in the Waukegan area, mainly Mexican nationals, who received letters recently from Homeland Security to begin self-deporting. Talk about the lowest of low-hanging fruit. It’s a bitter reminder to those who risked crossing the southern border seeking asylum and safety from villainous cartels. Despite having no criminal records, these teens could be subject to detention and deportation. While White House "border czar" Tom Homan has often said the Trump administration’s primary focus is on the nastiest of criminal offenders, any undocumented immigrant could be subject to arrest. "If you’re in the country illegally, you are not off the table," he has said.

Washington Times [7/30/2025 8:26 AM, Jorge Martinez, 2106K] reports every year on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the world pauses to acknowledge a horror that never sleeps: The buying and selling of human beings. But recognizing evil is not enough. We must be willing to stand up and fight it. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of trafficked persons, and Hispanics are among its most frequent victims. That’s not just an alarming fact. It’s a national disgrace. Human trafficking is a global, multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise driven by the exploitation of vulnerable people — women, children, and men alike. From forced labor to sexual exploitation and even body harvesting, traffickers prey on desperation and thrive in the shadows of weak leadership, broken systems, and a culture that too often looks the other way. We refuse to look away because human beings are not for sale. Guided by President Donald J. Trump’s America First vision, we are working to awaken the nation’s conscience and mobilize leaders at every level to take this crisis seriously.

FOX News [7/30/2025 7:00 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports that, in recent months, we have witnessed a disturbing acceleration of antisemitism across the United States. From Ivy League campuses to major cities, Jewish Americans are being singled out, threatened and — in far too many cases — silenced. The hatred is overt and unashamed. The institutions that once championed pluralism and free expression are increasingly impotent in the face of ancient prejudices repackaged for modern times. This is not merely a Jewish crisis. It is an American one. And it is a moral one. At Yad Vashem USA Foundation, we are guided by a singular mission and by my personal family connection to the Holocaust to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never relegated to the margins of history but remains central to our collective moral vision. Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is not just a museum. It is the conscience of humanity. It preserves the names, the testimonies and the lived experiences of 6 million Jews murdered not for what they did, but for who they were. We support this sacred work because we understand a profound truth that forgetting is a precondition for repeating. The phrase "never again" is often uttered. But too rarely is it lived. It is not enough to remember the Holocaust as a historical atrocity. We must internalize it as a warning. The Holocaust did not begin with Auschwitz. It began with words. With disinformation. With dehumanization. With neighbors turning away. With silence from those who knew better. Today, we are again hearing the rhetoric that corrodes civil society. The conspiracies that deny Jewish belonging. The chants that call for Jewish eradication. And, alarmingly, we are seeing it increasingly tolerated in elite institutions — in the name of nuance, in the name of activism. Let us be clear: There is no cause on earth that justifies the hatred of Jews. History has proven, time and again, that when antisemitism is unleashed, it does not remain contained. It infects the broader body politic. It hollows out democracies. It numbs the moral sensibilities of entire societies. This is precisely why Holocaust remembrance is not merely an act of Jewish continuity. It is also a universal imperative. At the Yad Vashem USA Foundation, we bring these lessons to life. We fund programs that bring Holocaust education into American classrooms. We are leading research that enables a profound and accurate understanding of the events of the Holocaust and their consequences in an era of post-truth. We support cutting-edge digital archives and immersive exhibits. We enable scholars and educators to teach the Holocaust not only as a chronicle of tragedy but as a framework for understanding the fragility of civilization and the responsibility of the individual. We also recognize that we are at an inflection point. Fewer survivors remain to tell their stories. Fewer firsthand witnesses walk among us. Soon, the burden of memory will fall entirely on our shoulders. That is both a privilege and a test. If we do not rise to meet it, we risk allowing the memory of the Holocaust to be distorted, diluted or erased.

The Hill [7/30/2025 10:00 AM, Max Burn, 18649K] reports I was never fortunate enough to attend Harvard. Yet after the school’s stunning surrender to President Trump’s $500 million shakedown on Monday, I’m not sure the nation’s most venerated university has much to teach anyone. Back in April, Harvard President Alan Garber drew praise from civil society groups for urging the university to "stand firm" against Trump’s brazen extortion scheme. Harvard’s resolve didn’t even last the summer. Harvard’s elite administrators may think it’s easier to simply pay off the strongman at their gates, but giving the bully your lunch money only invites him to demand more. Harvard’s full-on retreat is the latest in a string of high-profile payments the White House has extracted from institutions it views as left-leaning, and its half-billion-dollar protection payment won’t be the biggest or the last. With a $53 billion endowment and towering cultural standing, Harvard had plenty of resources to challenge Trump’s lawless demands in court and in the press. Instead, university leaders kept the cash and sold out the students, teachers and administrators who had been counting on them to take a stand. Americans across the political spectrum are realizing that for-profit universities and media outlets are anything but "independent," despite what they might claim in press releases. That’s driving a historic collapse in public trust for the media and higher education — and making it easier for Trump to divide and conquer what were once the nation’s most-trusted safeguards of free expression and critical thought.

San Diego Union Tribune [7/30/2025 9:00 AM, Mike Levin, 1611K] reports when it comes to immigration, I’m sick and tired of the same old partisan finger-pointing and failure to act. That’s why I’m encouraged that this past week, something different happened. I stood among a group of 20 House Members — 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans — to reintroduce the Dignity Act, a serious and bipartisan effort to finally help fix the system. I’ve supported this bill in the past, but I’m more hopeful than ever that this version has a real shot at becoming law. It offers a path forward — one that combines smart border security with the American values of fairness, accountability and humanity. The Dignity Act would create a responsible process for undocumented immigrants who’ve been living in the U.S. for at least five years to earn legal status. That process isn’t easy. It requires them to pay fines, pass rigorous background checks and meet clear conditions. At the same time, the bill includes major investments in border infrastructure and staffing, helps Dreamers and individuals with protected status, and tackles the years-long visa backlog that keeps families separated and businesses stuck. This version of the bill improves on the one introduced last Congress. It reflects real feedback from both sides of the aisle. It adds stronger enforcement tools. It gives immigration officers more support and clarity. And it updates timelines and fine structures in a way that’s tough but fair. In short, it’s a better, more complete piece of legislation — one that addresses past concerns without compromising its core values.

Axios [7/31/2025 4:50 AM, Russell Contreras, 13599K] reports federal immigration raids across the U.S. are leaving many immigrants no choice but to abandon their vehicles, work tools and even cherished family dogs and cats. The forsaken pets and property can pose safety problems for cities and towns, along with ramping up the stress for family members who also fear being detained. Unlike local law enforcement agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents don’t appear to be impounding property after arrests, leaving work trucks, food carts and lawnmowers for the taking. With few systems in place to confiscate property or pets after immigration arrests, new networks of volunteers have erupted and cities are scrambling to come up with solutions. The abandoned pets and property phenomenon appears to be most common now in Southern California, especially after what activists are calling the "Summer of ICE," referring to federal immigration raids that began in June. Immigrant advocates from San Diego to Los Angeles to the Inland Empire are reporting immigrants "disappearing" after masked agents quickly arrest them, forcing them to leave their cars behind with keys and phones inside. Ontario resident Chris Ames told KTLA-TV that agents took away two gardeners mowing his lawn last month. "They left the lawnmower going right here on the front lawn ... They threw my gardeners’ phones in the car with the car keys, left everything open, and just took off." Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to Axios that "ICE does NOT impound property." The department didn’t offer any more comment. The breakdown in property and pet abandonment is likely a result of local police refusing to cooperate with ICE on immigration enforcement. Typically, local police are responsible for impounding property and turning pets over to animal control or shelters.

FOX News [7/31/2025 4:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46878K] Video: HERE reports in a sweeping six-month effort, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 214 illegal immigrants in the Houston area for offenses involving the sexual exploitation of minors, successfully surpassing the total number for the entire 2024 fiscal year, when 211 such arrests were made. According to a release from ICE, each of those arrested was either charged with or convicted of a child sex offense. The agency attributes this spike to a "whole-of-government" strategy enacted under the Trump administration. Former Arizona Supreme Court Judge Andrew Gould, who previously served in the border city of Yuma, told Fox News Digital that Houston’s proximity to the southern border plays a significant role in this surge of arrests. "In Yuma, sex trafficking and sexual offenses were common, because offenders could commit a crime and then flee to an enclave in Mexico," Gould explained. "For a border state like Texas, and a city like Houston that isn’t too far from the border, it doesn’t surprise me at all to see these kinds of arrests." Gould emphasized that the surge in arrests reflects more than Houston’s proximity to the southern border; it’s also the result of renewed political will. "This is a renewed commitment," Gould said. "They’ve put together a multi-agency task force, involving the FBI, DEA, Customs, and state law enforcement. The numbers don’t lie—what we’re seeing in these arrests reflects a policy shift." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [7/30/2025 10:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports that in the wake of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer being shot allegedly by two criminal illegal immigrants earlier this month, experts are calling attention to how sanctuary policies sheltering lawbreakers are directly responsible for rising crime and violence in Democratic-run jurisdictions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, however, pushed back against the notion that sanctuary policies are to blame, with a spokesperson calling it "fake news" and an attempt by the Trump administration to justify "their cruel and militaristic actions." This comes after two illegal immigrants – Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez and Cristian Aybar Berroa – were arrested in connection with an off-duty CBP officer being shot in the face in a New York City park. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), both illegals have long criminal histories and had ICE detainers against them that had been ignored by New York City officials. Last week, the Trump Justice Department announced it is suing New York City over its longstanding sanctuary policies, which DHS said enabled the shooting. The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, names New York City Mayor Eric Adams and several other city officials as defendants. The lawsuit claims the city has enacted policies with the intent of impeding the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws. Joe Borelli, a former New York City Council member, told Fox News Digital that sanctuary policies have made many of America’s major cities "demonstrably" less safe.

Axios [7/30/2025 10:38 AM, Steph Solis, 13599K] reports that Market Basket is one of the latest American companies in immigration investigators’ crosshairs. Why it matters: The Trump administration is ramping up its scrutiny of workplaces that may be employing immigrants without legal authorization to work as part of its broader immigration crackdown, per the Washington Post. Driving the news: Market Basket suspended 47 immigrant workers at its New Bedford location last week, the New Bedford Light first reported. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said "no arrests have been made at this time, and the investigation is ongoing." The suspensions come weeks after the DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations issued the company a notice of suspect documents, identifying 167 employees without legal work authorization. Neither DHS nor Market Basket said where the remaining employees work. Between the lines: The notice and suspensions come two years after DHS first flagged the paperwork irregularities, amid the Trump administration’s plans to crack down on employers with undocumented workers. What they’re saying: Harvey J. Wolkoff, an attorney representing the Market Basket board, told Axios in an email that the company will reinstate workers who can properly update their work information. "We hope to have these folks back to work as soon as possible," Wolkoff said.

Univision [7/30/2025 11:00 AM, Staff, 4992K] reports a police officer from a small Maine resort town was detained last week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), despite having authorization to work in the country. ICE detained Old Orchard Beach Police Department Reserve Officer Jon Luke Evans, a Jamaican native, on July 25. According to the agency, Evans was in the United States illegally and attempted to illegally purchase a firearm. The Old Orchard Beach police chief called for an investigation into the officer’s arrest, saying Evans had federal authorization to work in the country issued in May.

AP [7/30/2025 8:57 PM, Patrick Whittle, 56000K] reports the police officer arrested by immigration authorities in a Maine town was a trusted member of the force who is missed by his colleagues, officials said Wednesday, expressing frustration with the lack of information about the case from the federal government. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve Officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency, which has been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations, said Evans overstayed his visa and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm. Police Chief Elise Chard said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has verified that Evans was federally approved to work in the country in May and that the town and police department haven’t received any information about Evans’ case, his current whereabouts or whether he is represented by an attorney. ICE officials did not respond to email and phone request for comment Wednesday. Evans had the respect of his peers and quickly became a valued officer, and his arrest has been dispiriting for a department that relies on seasonal help during the busy summer months, Chard said. She said Evans has a wife who continues to live locally. Chard said the department was notified by federal officials that Evans was legally permitted to work in the country and his authorization document would not expire until 2030. She said the town submitted information via the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program prior to Evans’ employment. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told WMTW-TV that use of E-Verify “does not absolve employers of their legal duty” to verify legal employment status. “The Old Orchard Beach Police Department’s reckless reliance on E-Verify to justify arming an illegal alien, Jon Luke Evans, violates federal law, and does not absolve them of their failure to conduct basic background checks to verify legal status,” McLaughlin told the station.

Daily Caller [7/30/2025 11:03 AM, Adriel Perez-Gonzalez, 1010K] reports that six women from Maryland were arrested after allegedly breaking into a Massachusetts home and fleeing from police in a botched getaway that ended in a wooded foot chase, according to Norwood police. Three of the women were later taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and all six are being investigated as part of a suspected multi-state crime ring, the Norwood Police Department wrote on Facebook. Police say the women broke into a family’s home and took off when the residents came back, sparking a "brief" pursuit. They allegedly eventually ditched the car and ran into the woods, where police tracked them down and made the arrests. Two of the suspects, ages 21 to 42, initially tried to obscure their identities with altered fingerprints, according to Norwood police. But after coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, all six were positively identified. ICE agents appeared at the women’s arraignment after being notified of their court date. Three posted bail — only to be immediately detained by immigration authorities, along with two men who came to bail them out, the report said. All eight are related, according to police. "We commend the outstanding police work, teamwork, and inter-agency coordination that led to the safe and successful apprehension of all six suspects," Norwood Police Chief Christopher Padden said in the statement.

Axios [7/30/2025 7:20 AM, Alex Fitzpatrick, Kavya Beheraj, Chelsea Brasted, 13599K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of people in Louisiana with no criminal charges or convictions surged in June, per newly obtained data. The numbers illustrate a major shift that came soon after the Trump administration tripled ICE’s arrest quota. The June 22 arrest of 64-year-old Mandonna "Donna" Kashanian, a Lakeview mom who was born in Iran, prompted a community outcry. Kashanian, who has since been released, was part of a national wave of arrests of people without criminal records. People with no criminal charges or convictions made up 39% of ICE arrests in Louisiana in early June, which is up from 21% for the entire month of May, before the arrest quota increase. That is according to agency data obtained by the UC Berkeley School of Law’s Deportation Data Project through Freedom of Information Act requests, and is based on seven-day trailing averages. The increase in noncriminal ICE arrests came despite the Trump administration claiming to focus on criminals living in the country illegally. The spike also happened after the Trump administration told ICE to arrest at least 3,000 people daily, up from a previous quota of 1,000 people daily. Being in the U.S. illegally is a civil, not criminal, violation.

AP [7/30/2025 4:16 PM, Obed Lamy and Julie Carr Smyth, 3987K] reports that an Ohio city whose Haitian migrants were disparaged by President Donald Trump last year as he pitched voters on his plans for an immigration crackdown is now bracing to defend the community against possible deportation. A group of about 100 community members, clergy and Haitian leaders in Springfield, Ohio, gathered this week for several days of training sessions as they prepare to defend potential deportees and provide them refuge. “We feel that this is something that our faith requires, that people of faith are typically law-abiding people — that’s who we want to be — but if there are laws that are unjust, if there are laws that don’t respect human dignity, we feel that our commitment to Christ requires that we put ourselves in places where we may face some of the same threats,” said Carl Ruby, senior pastor of Central Christian Church. Ruby said the ultimate goal of the group is to persuade the Trump administration to reverse its decision to terminate legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. under temporary protected status, or TPS. “One way of standing with the Haitians is getting out the message of how much value they bring to the city of Springfield,” he said. “It would be an absolute disaster if we lost 10,000 of our best workers overnight because their TPS ends and they can no longer work.” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said at the time that the Trump administration would eventually prevail and that its predecessors treated TPS like a “de facto asylum program.” In the meantime, the government has set the expiration date back to early February.

Newsweek [7/30/2025 5:59 AM, Billal Rahman, 54790K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has accused an immigration attorney of "lying for likes" after she posted a viral TikTok video alleging that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official gave her the phone number of a Taco Bell when she called seeking help for a detained client. Trisha Chatterjee, an Ohio-based immigration lawyer, shared the video last week, describing her frustration after days of trying to reach ICE. When she finally got through, she said, she was stunned to be referred to the popular fast-food restaurant. DHS later issued a public statement on X denying the incident and calling her account a fabrication. "It’s just kind of crazy to me that that was their first thought, that I lied for likes. And more than that, how can they deny that this happened or that it was a lie when I’ve done everything I can to protect the identity of the officer. I’ve never said his name," Chatterjee told Newsweek in an interview on Tuesday. ICE has been at the forefront of the national conversation surrounding immigration policy. The agency is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, including detaining and deporting migrants without legal status. ICE’s enforcement activities are being heavily scrutinized after President Donald Trump directed the agency to ramp up immigration arrests as he looks to fulfill his pledge of mass deportations. In her TikTok video, Chatterjee detailed how she had been trying to get in touch with ICE "for days" regarding clients who she said were "inmates at the Butler County Jail," and how relieved she was to "finally" get through to someone who gave her a number to call. At the end of the video though, which now has more than 52,000 views on TikTok, the attorney reveals the number was for a Taco Bell. "For the very first time, finally somebody answered me and I was genuinely so excited to have somebody who was going to help us and give us some information," she told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "So, to get a Taco Bell phone number instead was definitely disheartening." Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the allegations were a "lie and smear." "After she posted the video, ICE even attempted to reach out to her to get her information on her clients. She was provided several avenues to directly contact ICE and help resolve any issues, but she has made no attempt to contact the agency," McLaughlin told Newsweek. Chatterjee, however, disputes that claim.

Chicago Tribune [7/30/2025 1:17 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa and Nell Salzman, 3987K] reports that Abel Orozco was coming home from buying tamales for his family, as he had done most weekends for the past 30 years. They would have breakfast and head to church. Instead, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained the Mexican immigrant outside his home in suburban Lyons without a federal warrant. Now, nearly six months later, he remains in custody. Immigration and civil rights attorneys maintain that his detention was not only unjust, but illegal. Thanks to video footage his son recorded of the detention, Orozco has become the face of a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The attorneys say the two government agencies violated the constitutional rights of Orozco and at least 25 others, including a U.S. citizen, during the first week of increased immigration enforcement in the Chicago area after President Donald Trump took office. "I’m not used to [speaking in public], it’s something that I find very uncomfortable and embarrassing," his son Eduardo Orozco told the Tribune. "But even though I feel this way, I have to do it for my father and because there are many other people who are supporting us." The 47-year-old father has no criminal record. However, he is the only plaintiff still detained. One was deported. The rest have been released. A federal judge heard arguments earlier this month on a motion filed by immigration attorneys and advocates who argued that DHS and ICE officers violated warrantless arrest policies amid widespread arrests in the Chicago field office region in January.

Daily Caller [7/30/2025 2:55 PM, Nicole Silverio, 1010K] reports that Sakiah Navas, the wife of an illegal immigrant currently being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said on Tuesday evening that her husband’s "pride" kept him from becoming a citizen after spending two decades in the U.S. Navas’ husband, Jose, illegally entered the U.S. from El Salvador in 2003 and has been in ICE detention in West Texas since Sunday, according to KPRC. She told a reporter for the outlet that her husband likely did not seek citizenship for over two decades because of his "pride" and to prevent others from thinking he only married his wife to become a citizen. "I pushed for [his citizenship] years ago when [her daughter] was born almost 7 years ago. And he’s like, ‘but I don’t want it to look like that’s why I’m married to you’ and maybe even a part of it is pride, too, was what stood in the way," Navas said. "But never because he didn’t want it to look like he’s using this country for that." Jose Navas was turned over to ICE for not having a driver’s license and transferred to a detention center in Eden, Texas, according to KPRC. Sakiah said that the detention center is "completely packed" and accused ICE agents of just "shoving" illegal immigrants in these locations. Since the beginning of his term, President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has led to arrests of over 95,000 illegal immigrants as of June 27, according to The New York Times. As of June 20, over 56,000 were in detention across the U.S., which is a 40% increase from June 2024 and is currently the highest detention population in U.S. history, according to Human Rights Watch. Seventy percent of illegal immigrants arrested by ICE agents have criminal convictions or pending charges, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Several of these individuals have committed heinous acts, such as murder, sexual assault and drug trafficking.

New York Post [7/30/2025 1:36 PM, Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi and Nikolas Lanum, 49956K] reports that national news constantly highlights the turmoil at the U.S.-Mexico border, but in southern Arizona—where red desert dust swirls and cacti rise like sentinels—the people living closest to the issue face a daily reality shaped by more than headlines. Amid this rugged landscape, a political battle simmers as local leaders grapple with balancing community safety and the broader national immigration debate. Kathleen Winn, chair of the Pima County Republican Party, expressed her dissatisfaction with how federal budgets have been managed over the past four years. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Winn said infrastructure received "millions and millions of dollars" under the Biden administration, alleging that some of those funds were used to "encourage the facilitation of illegal immigration into this country." "That money went unaccounted for, it was infused into the budgets. And so now they’re finding that they have to cut programs because they don’t have that money anymore," she continued. "We were the front door for the last four years of all kinds of atrocities happening in this country… we’re paying a price for it now." In a statement to Fox News Digital, Eric Robbins, chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, sharply criticized what he described as the Trump administration’s legacy of cruelty and misinformation on immigration policy.

Los Angeles Times [7/30/2025 6:00 AM, Libor Jany, 14672K] reports that, when Los Angeles police arrested Jose Juarez-Basilio in March on suspicion of threatening his ex-wife’s new romantic partner, he was released after spending less than 24 hours in jail. The short stay behind bars was all it took to trigger his deportation roughly three months later. Even though no charges were filed against Juarez-Basilio, the seemingly routine run-in with police put the 35-year-old undocumented Mexican man on the radar of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which tracked him down and removed him from the country. For months, L.A. Police Department leaders have gone out of their way to reassure the public that the department has strict limits on cooperating with immigration officials. But the case of Juarez-Basilio and several dozen others identified in federal court records show how L.A. police are nevertheless enabling ICE to find new targets by routinely sharing fingerprints with federal law enforcement. The basic question for the LAPD of what it means to cooperate with immigration authorities has taken on fresh urgency amid the Trump White House’s continued crackdown across the region. Hundreds of people have been detained in raids by masked ICE and Border Patrol agents, triggering protests and an ongoing court battle over the use of so-called "roving patrols" to indiscriminately round up suspects. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has frequently pointed to a longstanding policy known as Special Order 40, which bars officers from stopping a person for the sole purpose of determining their immigration status. The policy, implemented in 1979, seeks to assure the city’s growing immigrant community that they can come forward as witnesses or victims of crimes without fear of deportation. But given how complicated the country’s immigration landscape has grown in the half century since, it’s time that the LAPD took steps beyond the policy, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said. "I thought Special Order 40 was the right thing to do at that time," he said in a recent interview. "Do I think it meets the moment right now? Of course not.” Of particular concern, he said, is the LAPD’s handling of data collected from automated license plate readers, devices deployed around the city that track the movements of vehicles. Police officials have insisted that the information is not shared with ICE. But other local law enforcement agencies have flouted their own similar rules in the past, raising concerns that the LAPD may not keep its word. "If there is even the slightest possibility that the LAPD is sharing any data with ICE," then the city needs to take a look at such loopholes, Soto-Martinez said.

Daily Caller [7/30/2025 10:47 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports that leaders of one of the largest sanctuary havens in the country are pushing to leave immigration agents unmasked, despite safety concerns. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to direct county lawyers to draft an ordinance that would largely prohibit law enforcement officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks. The vote follows widespread anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots that rocked the Los Angeles area for days and concerns over agents’ safety. "Law enforcement officers should never wear personal disguises or conceal their identities while interacting with the public in the course of their duties. But since the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids began in Los Angeles County on June 6, 2025, that is exactly what has been happening," read the motion, co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn. "And they have refused to reveal their identities or even a badge when asked, leading to fear of impersonators," the motion continued. ICE leadership has repeatedly denied this claim, noting in press statements that their agents, even when masked, wear easily identifiable insignia. The LA County Counsel has 60 days to draft an ordinance that would bar all law enforcement officers within the county from wearing a mask while on the job and interacting with the public, with some exceptions for medical masks or similar situations, according to the motion. It’s not immediately clear how the Board of Supervisors, a local body, could legally regulate the actions of federal law enforcement.

NewsMax [7/30/2025 1:38 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4622K] reports that anti-immigration enforcement activists helped a British illegal migrant escape from federal custody in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to the New York Post. Department of Homeland Security sources told the outlet that federal contractors had shackled the man and were walking him into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center with others when the protesters helped him slip away. The activists then reportedly helped load the migrant into a van. "This is getting out of control," one source said of the anti-ICE demonstrators’ presence around the federal detention facility. The Post’s sources said that authorities are now searching for the illegal immigrant, who is believed to have a criminal record. He has not been identified. The L.A. detention center was at the center of the anti-immigration enforcement riots that engulfed the city in June, when mobs of protesters attacked federal agents, destroyed property and shut down major highways in an effort to halt President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation. As a result of the destructive riots, Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the city to quell the violence and restore law and order. Newsmax reached out to ICE for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [7/30/2025 10:34 AM, Jennie Taer, 49956K]

Univision [7/30/2025 6:22 PM, Claudia Carrera, 4992K] reports that the massive protests that rocked Los Angeles in June have sparked a growing wave of complaints against US immigration agents, who are accused of falsifying reports and arresting protesters without evidence. According to an investigation by The Guardian, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers allegedly presented manipulated testimony to justify arrests, several of which have already been dismissed by courts for lack of evidence. The organization Cofem, which represents immigrant families in California, has received multiple complaints about the arrests of people in public spaces, often when they were not even participating in the protests, and the arrests were carried out violently. "What we have received have been complaints basically about how the arrests were carried out, the violence with which they were carried out, and how rude the agents were," said Francisco Moreno, a Cofem spokesperson. Moreno also points out that many of those detained were apprehended without a warrant and based on racial profiling. "They would arrive anywhere without knowing who the person was, simply because of their racial profile," he emphasized. Activists and lawyers question the credibility of the agents involved, while warning of the risks of immigration enforcement based on political retaliation and systemic racism. So far, the Department of Homeland Security has not issued an official response to these allegations.

New York Times [7/30/2025 5:01 AM, Michelle Goldberg, 138952K] reports Elizabeth Castillo wasn’t an activist until Immigration and Customs Enforcement started taking away her neighbors. It all began in June, after Donald Trump directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to sweep Los Angeles, then used scattered violence at protests of ICE’s tactics as a pretext to send in the military. Castillo felt her working-class neighborhood in Pasadena, just outside Los Angeles, was under siege. Six people, she said, were seized at a Winchell’s doughnut shop. Two people were taken when ICE raided her apartment complex. “It was just chaos,” she said. “And you can see, you can hear, you could feel the fear, the intimidation. You could feel the terror.” A small woman with long dark hair, Castillo, the American-born daughter of Mexican immigrants, looks younger than her 38 years. She has five children, two of them grown but three still at home. Before the ICE crackdown she’d followed the news and always voted, but her kids and her job in health care administration took up most of her time. “You know, it’s practices here, practices there,” she said. “‘Mom, pick me up.’ ‘Mom, drop me off.’” But she’s someone who knows firsthand what deportation can do to families. In 2012, she said, when her kids were all under 10, her husband, who was born in Mexico but grew up in the United States, was thrown out of the country. She’d been a full-time student; he was the family’s sole provider. Castillo had to drop out of college and explain to her children why their father could no longer live with them. “I can relate to what it does to a family,” she said. So this summer, when ICE started grabbing people from her community off the streets, she felt she had to act. At first, Castillo was on her own with a megaphone. When she saw ICE vehicles in the streets she followed them in her car, honking and shouting to warn people that they were coming. She started getting up before dawn to patrol her apartment complex. Then she contacted the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which runs a nearby job center. Through them, she was plugged into a citywide network of people who are constantly tracking ICE’s activities. Among those doing amateur anti-ICE reconnaissance in Los Angeles are people from established nonprofits that work closely with the mayor’s office. Then there are more militant groups that, beyond simply documenting ICE’s operations, try to actively disrupt them. “We have people patrolling all over the city starting at 5:30 in the morning,” said Ron Gochez, a high school teacher and spokesman for one of the more radical organizations, Unión del Barrio. When they find agents, he told me, “We get on the megaphone. We denounce the terrorists for being there, and then we inform the community in the immediate area that they are present. And then we say to the people, ‘If you are documented, come out. Come outside. Join us. Help us to defend your neighbor.’”

Telemundo 52 [7/30/2025 6:23 PM, Maria Paula Ochoa and Elizabeth Chavolla, 103K] reports that the husbands of two women arrested during a raid on two cannabis operations in Camarillo and Carpinteria are pleading for help to return the mothers of their children home. The raid, which took place on July 10, resulted in the arrest of 300 people, including Rutila Vicente and Aracely Flores. The husbands, who said their lives have changed drastically since their wives’ arrest, spoke with Telemundo 52 and described what these days have been like without them at home. Images of the immigration raid that took place at the Glass House Farms grow shop in Camarillo shocked Mario and Justino Hernández, as their wives, Rutila Vicente and Aracely Flores, were detained there. "When they caught her, my wife called me. That’s all she told me. She said, ‘Take care of the children, they’ve already caught me,’" said Mario Hernández. His wife was detained in an immigration raid. From that moment on, Mario says, his life took a 180-degree turn, having to take care of the home, his job, his children, ages 2 and 11, and returning home every day. Both women are being held in a detention center in New Mexico. According to their lawyer, authorities informed him that the only charge against them is being undocumented in this country. Telemundo 52 asked the Department of Homeland Security about Rutila and Aracely’s cases, but they have not yet responded.

Breitbart [7/30/2025 11:49 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports that, for over a month, Alberto has hardly dared to leave the small room he rents in someone’s backyard for fear of encountering the masked police who have been rounding up immigrants in Los Angeles. "It’s terrible," sighed the 60-year-old Salvadoran, who does not have a US visa. To survive, Alberto — AFP agreed to use a pseudonym — relies on an organization that delivers food to him twice a week. "It helps me a lot, because if I don’t have this… how will I eat?" said Alberto, who has not been to his job at a car wash for weeks. The sudden intensification of immigration enforcement activity in Los Angeles in early June saw scores of people — mostly Latinos — arrested at car washes, hardware stores, on farms and even in the street. Videos circulating on social media showed masked and heavily armed men pouncing on people who they claimed were hardened criminals. However, critics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps say those snatched were only trying to earn a meagre wage in jobs that many Americans don’t want to do. The raids — slammed as brutal and seemingly arbitrary — sparked a wave of demonstrations that gripped the city for weeks, including some that spiraled into violence and vandalism. Alberto decided to hole up in his room after one such raid on a car wash in which some of his friends were arrested, and subsequently deported. Despite being pre-diabetic, he is hesitant to attend an upcoming medical appointment. His only breath of fresh air is pacing the private alley in front of his home. "I’m very stressed. I have headaches and body pain because I was used to working," he said. In 15 years in the United States, Trump’s second term has turned out to be "worse than anything" for him. Trump’s immigration offensive was a major feature of his re-election campaign, even winning the favor of some voters in liberal Los Angeles. But its ferocity, in a place that is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers, has taken the city by surprise.

Los Angeles Times [7/30/2025 2:19 PM, y Suhauna Hussain and Md Fazlur Rahman, 14672K] reports that as the crackdown on undocumented workers in California approaches a third month, researchers say the effects on the state’s economy are already showing. Since early June, Los Angeles has been roiled by the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps. The raids rendered some L.A. neighborhoods ghost towns, with businesses shuttered and customers few and far between, as people stayed home out of fear of being targeted. Even as mass street arrests appear to have slowed, economists warn that continued disruptions could hobble many businesses that rely on immigrant labor. Even those not reliant could see ripple effects, as a lack of such labor disrupts productivity and delays projects, weighing on California’s gross domestic product and causing increases in food prices for the rest of the United States. "If it’s true that we are going into a phase in which a lot of these workers are either deported, or scared enough that they won’t go to work, this will be a massive impact," said Giovanni Peri, an international economics professor at UC Davis. Of course, the state’s economy is massive — the equivalent to the fourth largest in the world if it were a country — so it would take a lot to derail it. But the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are targeting a crucial motor to the Golden State’s success. Economists and business leaders are starting to gather indicators of the actual effects.

NewsMax [7/30/2025 4:57 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration is moving to reinstate a more rigorous version of the U.S. citizenship test, with officials stating that the current version is too easy and fails to reflect the significance of American naturalization adequately, The Hill reported. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is preparing to roll out changes to the naturalization test, a shift that will restore tougher requirements introduced during President Trump’s first term. Newly appointed USCIS Director Joseph Edlow described the existing exam as insufficiently challenging and in need of reform. According to USCIS, nearly 90% of candidates pass the test on their first attempt. Edlow indicated that the administration plans to revert to the 2020 version of the test, which increased the question bank to 128 and raised the number of correct answers required to 12 out of 20. In addition, the updated format would include a new speaking component designed to assess English fluency through visual prompts. Under the proposed changes, immigration officers would show applicants photographs of common scenarios, such as weather patterns, meals, or daily activities, and ask them to describe the images in English. Edlow said these revisions would help deepen applicants’ understanding of U.S. civics and history. However, critics warn that the changes could make the path to citizenship more difficult for vulnerable populations.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/30/2025 2:35 PM, Markie Martin, 18649K]

The Daily Caller [7/30/2025 12:00 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports that Americans who found themselves duped by foreigners in sham marriages are asking the Trump administration to get serious about tackling the issue. Codias Law — a firm representing 140 individuals, including marriage fraud victims, their families and others — filed a formal petition Wednesday with the attorney general, the director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) and the chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), according to documents shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The petition asks the Trump administration to adopt a formal process that would allow Americans to blow the whistle on marriage-based green cards upon new evidence of fraud and challenge approvals made by immigration officials. "For the first time in American history, victims of marriage fraud would finally have an established process for reviewing whether career bureaucrats inside [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] USCIS have improperly approved immigration benefits," Cody Brown, managing attorney at Codias Law, stated to the DCNF. "If a foreign national has a benefit denied, there are ten ways to fight it," Brown stated. "But if a U.S. citizen discovers fraud after the fact, they’re told to submit a tip and hope for the best." The Department of Justice (DOJ), which oversees EOIR, didn’t respond to a request for comment. NewsMax [7/30/2025 2:08 PM, Solange Reyner, 4622K] reports that a firm representing 140 individuals, including marriage fraud victims, their families, and others, has petitioned the Trump administration to adopt a formal process that would ensure that post-approval marriage fraud can be reported and reviewed, reports the Daily Caller. Marriage fraud is one of the shortest pathways to U.S. citizenship — foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens do not have to wait for a visa, and after a two-year period, there are no restrictions on status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late April uncovered a large-scale, nationwide marriage fraud scheme, charging four individuals involved in orchestrating sham marriages to gain immigration benefits. Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.

Telemundo [7/30/2025 9:53 PM, Shelby Bremer, 37K] reports the Trump administration is signaling a major shift in its approach to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and is now encouraging undocumented individuals who came to the United States as children, and who have long been protected from removal, to self-deport. "The DACA program does not confer any legal status in this country," Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Any illegal alien who is a beneficiary of the DACA program may be subject to arrest and deportation." Created by executive order in 2012, the DACA program protects individuals who came to the United States as children from deportation through "deferred action," which refers to the discretionary authority to delay prosecution and removal. Beneficiaries, also called "dreamers," renew their status every two years. DACA also includes authorization to work in the United States, but does not provide an immediate path to citizenship. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), as of September 30 of last year there were approximately 537,730 DACA recipients. "A person who has received deferred action is authorized by DHS to remain in the United States during the period of deferred action," the USCIS website reads. However, the latest statement from DHS indicates that authorization may now be in a more precarious situation. McLaughlin continues to promote self-removal. "Illegal immigrants can control their departure with the CBP Home app," the release reads. "The United States is offering illegal immigrants $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage everyone here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the opportunity to return to the United States legally to live the American dream. If they do not, they will be arrested and deported with no chance to return." The administration’s statement came in response to questions about the case of a detained DACA recipient who is expected to be deported after he said he missed the freeway exit as he approached the southern border at San Ysidro, accidentally ending up in Mexico without prior authorization to leave the United States. Erick Hernandez was brought to the United States from El Salvador 20 years ago when he was 14 years old. He is married to a U.S. citizen, who is due to give birth to their second child in August. On June 1, he was taking two people from Los Angeles, where he lives, to the border when, according to him, he accidentally crossed and tried to turn around and return immediately. Hernandez was detained by Customs and Border Protection and placed in expedited removal proceedings, which is basically a fast-track deportation in which he cannot be released on bond. He is now being held at the Otay Mesa detention center. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [7/30/2025 5:45 PM, Santul Nerkar, 138952K] reports that in June 2017, a Republican donor posed for a photo with President Trump and Melania Trump at a ritzy dinner supporting his re-election at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Admission cost $35,000 per plate. The donor did not come alone. According to federal prosecutors, the donor, Sherry Xue Li, had arranged for a dozen foreigners to attend alongside her, charging them each more than $90,000, including admission to the soiree. Foreigners cannot make campaign contributions, but she nonetheless passed the money along to the fund-raiser’s organizers and used the photo, prosecutors said, to raise even more from unwitting investors who thought they were buying into an educational institute. She spent the money on more contributions — and herself. The dinner was a small part of a nearly decadelong scheme in which Ms. Li, along with her business partner, Lianbo Wang, solicited more than $30 million from roughly 150 foreigners who thought they were investing in the educational institute. In exchange, the donors were promised political access and a pathway to citizenship. Ms. Li, who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans and Republican causes, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Mr. Wang had pleaded guilty to related charges in 2024 and was sentenced to five years in prison.

NBC News [7/30/2025 12:58 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 44540K] reports that hundreds of immigrant workers at a meatpacking plant in Iowa have lost their jobs and face deportation risks after their work authorizations, which were tied to their immigration status, were revoked following the Trump administration’s termination of a series of legal immigration programs. More than 200 employees at a JBS pork production facility in the city of Ottumwa began receiving letters of termination six weeks ago and having individual meetings with their employer, according to Otumwa Mayor Rick Johnson and Brian Ulin, a member and spokesperson of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 230, which represents JBS workers in Ottumwa. In the meetings, JBS told the affected employees that their "status was being rejected" by the company’s verification system, Ulin told NBC News on Tuesday. "It said that they were no longer eligible to work in the U.S." Many of the employees lost their legal immigration status and thus their accompanying work authorizations following the Trump administration’s termination of programs such as the CHNV parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, as well as various types of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, according to the mayor, Ulin and Paulina Ocegueda, vice president of Ottumwa’s chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s oldest Hispanic civil rights organization.

Washington Post [7/30/2025 6:04 PM, Teo Armus and Hannah Natanson, 32099K] reports while President Donald Trump has hiked visa fees for travelers to the United States from dozens of countries and imposed travel bans on more than a dozen others, he appears to be ready to make an exception for a key friend: Argentine leader Javier Milei, the chain saw-wielding libertarian who attended Trump’s inauguration and who Trump reportedly said was his “favorite president.” Washington and Buenos Aires said this week they were putting together a plan that would allow Argentine tourists to enter the U.S. without a visa — an effort that both governments framed as a political reward for Milei ahead of legislative elections in the fall. U.S. officials made the announcement despite acknowledging privately that Argentina falls short of a key metric required to receive the visa exemption, according to a State Department cable obtained by The Washington Post. In a visit to Buenos Aires on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem portrayed the development — an initial step in a process that can take years — as the product of a close relationship between Trump and Milei, who share clear affinities. Noem and two Argentine cabinet ministers signed a statement of intent, starting the process. Noem’s public statement Monday emphasized that few Argentines on short-term visas in the U.S. — less than 1 percent — overstay the 90 days allotted.

FOX News [7/30/2025 6:11 PM, Ashley J. DiMella, 46878K] reports that the U.S. Mission to Nigeria has shared a stark warning about "birth tourism" to those who might be planning trips to America primarily for this reason. "Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted," the mission wrote on its X account this week. The notice was posted on Facebook as well. "We will deny your visa if we believe your primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to get U.S. citizenship for your child. This is not permitted," the post states. Birth tourism refers to foreign nationals traveling to another country and giving birth there so that their newborn children can obtain citizenship in that country. Section one of the Fourteenth Amendment automatically grants citizenship to all persons born in the United States. The most common visas abused are B-2 tourist visas and B-1 business visas – which is what prompted the State Department to introduce a new rule in 2020. "A consular officer shall deny a B nonimmigrant visa to an alien [whom] he or she has reason to believe intends to travel for this primary purpose," the rule reads. "These tourists often cite the superior educational and professional opportunities available in the United States as their justification for making such a trip," according to a Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs report by the Senate Minority in 2022. The report estimates that birth tourists spend anywhere from $7,000 to $100,000 to obtain citizenship for their newborn children.

NewsMax [7/30/2025 8:10 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports President Donald Trump said Ukrainians who have sought refuge in the U.S. to escape the war with Russia likely will be allowed to remain until the conflict ends. Among a small group of reporters at the White House, German media outlet DW’s Misha Komadovsky asked Trump whether Ukrainians who fled the war would be allowed to stay in the U.S. "I think we will, yeah, I do. I think we will," Trump said shortly after returning to Washington from Scotland. "We have a lot of people that came in from Ukraine, and we’re working with them." Then-President Joe Biden in April 2022 began an initiative called "Uniting for Ukraine," which allowed U.S.-based sponsors to bring Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members stateside for a temporary period of up to two years on humanitarian parole, the Kyiv Post reported. Approximately 240,000 Ukrainian nationals have fled to the U.S. since Russian began its unprovoked attack in February 2022. Upon taking office Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Department of Homeland Security to "terminate all categorical parole programs," which would include Biden’s initiative. In March, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a Reuters report that the Trump administration is planning to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia is "fake news." FOX News [7/30/2025 10:26 AM, Caitlin McFall, 46878K] reports that concern over the temporary protected status (TPS) afforded to roughly 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the war to the U.S. under the government program known as Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), first implemented in April 2022, has been heightened since the first day that Trump entered office in January when he issued the executive order titled "Securing our Borders." Eight days later, on Jan. 28, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that the order had paused the government program, barring additional Ukrainians from entering the U.S. under those protections. However, even as TPS remained in place for Ukrainians already stateside, concern remained high amid reports in March that the president was considering the removal of this protection status. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the reporting by Reuters and called it "fake news" before adding "no decision has been made at this time.” However, when asked about the reporting later that day, Trump said, "We’re certainly not looking to hurt them.

The Hill [7/30/2025 4:00 PM, Brett Samuels, 18649K] reports President Trump is ending an exemption that allowed certain low-value commercial shipments into the United States without facing tariffs. Trump signed an executive order that will end the so-called de minimis exemption effective Aug. 29. As of that date, imported goods that are valued at $800 or less and shipped via means other than the international postal network will be subject to duties. The White House said the amount of de minimis shipments has spiked in recent years, with Customs and Border Protection processing more than 4 million such shipments into the U.S. each day. "The de minimis exemption has been abused, with shippers sending illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, precursors, and paraphernalia into the United States in reliance on the lower security measures applied to de minimis shipments, killing Americans," the White House said in announcing the move.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [7/30/2025 4:06 PM, Gavin Bade, 646K]

NewsNation [7/30/2025 5:33 PM, Ali Bradley, Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports encounters between U.S. Border Patrol agents and migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped significantly since President Donald Trump took office in January, but the El Paso Sector remains a hotspot, especially among Mexican drug cartels. Data acquired from NewsNation sources indicate that during July, Border Patrol agents had approximately 1,000 encounters with migrants in the El Paso Sector alone, which encompasses parts of Texas and New Mexico. As of last week, U.S. Border Patrol data showed more than 3,200 encounters along the southern border this month, with the largest percentage of those including migrants who crossed the border illegally from Mexico. However, much of the activity in the El Paso Sector involves Mexican drug cartels, which have continued to use this region of the border to continue to traffic migrants and illicit drugs like fentanyl into the United States. White House Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s crackdown at the border has dramatically slowed cartel activity, including the movement of fentanyl, which has dropped by more than 50% since January, Homan said. Despite Homan’s pledge, though, the activity in the El Paso Sector remains high. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said that, despite hundreds of billions of dollars in Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" being allocated for immigration enforcement, including for renewed construction efforts of the border wall, she may not need all of the cash earmarked for the wall.

Telemundo Amarillo [7/30/2025 5:32 PM, Staff, 4K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has sent a reminder to all foreign nationals residing in the United States. “It’s important to remember to always carry your alien registration documentation with you. Failure to carry it when stopped by federal law enforcement can result in a misdemeanor offense and fines,” CBP warned on social media. According to the law, the publication states, "every foreigner over the age of 18 must carry with them at all times and have in their personal possession any alien registration certificate or alien registration receipt card issued to them." "Failure to do so may result in a misdemeanor offense and fines if you are apprehended by federal authorities. If you are not a citizen, please respect the laws of the United States of America," CBP adds. Although this is not new, the CBP reminder is circulating on social media, with the warning that it could jeopardize the immigration status of those without a green card.

Breitbart [7/30/2025 7:22 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports that U.S. border officials said Wednesday that CBP officers in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border still keep seizing a "large" number of outbound firearms in scores of attempted smugglings to other countries. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized in the last two years through June over 400 handguns and long arms, nearly 1,000 magazines and gun parts, and nearly 52,000 rounds of ammunition. The agency’s "core function" is to keep Americans safe by "ensuring that weapons and terrorists do not enter the United States," Thomas Mahn, CBP’s area port director for Galveston and the Port of Houston, said in a statement. CBP’s port officers stationed at the seaport in Houston and Galveston continue to seize its "large numbers" of guns, weapons and parts as attempted traffickers take steps to cross the border into Mexico. Officials pointed to Honduras as a primary location of the guns. Border officials added there’s a likelihood that weapon shipments directed to other nations, such as Honduras, could "fuel chaos and contribute to escalating violence and instability in regions already grappling with security challenges." America’s border office says the illegal smuggling of guns is often carried out by masking the weapons within shipments of otherwise legitimate goods in shipping containers.

Daily Caller [7/30/2025 9:00 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports many Hispanic Americans living along the U.S.-Mexico border are voicing strong support for President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration enforcement, adding that they got exactly what they voted for. In the 2024 presidential election, Trump managed to flip several border counties that had not voted for a Republican president in decades, and in one particular case, for more than a century. President Joe Biden’s mismanagement of the border was cited by members of these Latino communities as one of the defining reasons for this change, and Trump’s historic crackdown on illegal immigration has kept them satisfied with their choice. "Oh, I’m very happy," Perla Bazan, a lifelong resident of Starr County, Texas, told the Daily Caller News Foundation about Trump’s handling of immigration enforcement. Starr County is heavily Latino — with Hispanics making up more than 97% of the locality. Despite media narratives of Latinos fearing Trump’s immigration crackdown, many in Starr County are embracing his heavy-handed approach. Having experienced many ebbs and flows of illegal migrant activity during her decades living near the southern border, Bazan said the crisis she witnessed under Biden was unequivocally the "worst." The Starr County resident recounted one moment, in particular, when she was home with her daughter and they were terrified their roof would fly away because of a nearby helicopter chasing down a group of illegal migrants. During the Biden era, Bazan said she regularly heard gunshots throughout the day — a practice she said was a "signal" to migrants that they could cross into the U.S. later that night. The Texas mom added that, by the end of Biden’s first term, her community was ready to vote for change.

NewsNation [7/30/2025 6:43 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 5801K] reports that a Mississippi man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for human trafficking and smuggling migrants using a fake store delivery truck in South Texas, Texas Department of Public Safety officials said Wednesday. Cezanne Megel Patterson, 29, of Jackson, Mississippi, was sentenced Thursday in the case that went viral last fall due to a video circulated by DPS. Patterson was arrested Aug. 30 in Kinney County outside the South Texas border town of Del Rio on a highway where he was driving what appeared to be a Lowe’s Home Improvement Store delivery truck. Troopers say they found 17 migrants crammed inside a 3-foot-wide false compartment area with no air ventilation. He was charged with smuggling of persons with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death. The case was subject to enhanced penalties under human smuggling laws signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023. "Patterson’s case is the perfect example of the dangerous lengths smugglers will go to when risking human lives for profit," DPS South Texas Region Chief Arturo Dela Garza said. "Human smuggling is a serious crime, and I am proud of the collaborative work between our State Troopers and local prosecutors to hold smugglers, like Patterson, accountable."

FOX News [7/30/2025 6:00 AM, Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi, Nikolas Lanum, 46878K] reports national news constantly highlights the turmoil at the U.S.-Mexico border, but in southern Arizona—where red desert dust swirls and cacti rise like sentinels—the people living closest to the issue face a daily reality shaped by more than headlines. Amid this rugged landscape, a political battle simmers as local leaders grapple with balancing community safety and the broader national immigration debate. Kathleen Winn, chair of the Pima County Republican Party, expressed her dissatisfaction with how federal budgets have been managed over the past four years. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Winn said infrastructure received "millions and millions of dollars" under the Biden administration, alleging that some of those funds were used to "encourage the facilitation of illegal immigration into this country.” "That money went unaccounted for, it was infused into the budgets. And so now they’re finding that they have to cut programs because they don’t have that money anymore," she continued. "We were the front door for the last four years of all kinds of atrocities happening in this country… we’re paying a price for it now.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, Eric Robbins, chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, sharply criticized what he described as the Trump administration’s legacy of cruelty and misinformation on immigration policy. "Arizonans are exhausted by the Trump administration’s gaslighting, cruelty, and lies," Robbins said. He accused Republican leaders—both nationally and within Arizona—of profiting from fear, citing what he called a surge in unjustified arrests by "masked, unidentifiable agents" targeting individuals without criminal records. "These agents have reportedly detained mothers en route to buy food, leaving their children alone by the roadside," he said. Robbins further claimed that such tactics have undermined local law enforcement efforts and funneled detainees into what he described as "for-profit detention centers.” Labeling these practices as part of a "documented pattern of abuse," Robbins cited allegations, including the harassment of nonprofit workers, increased privatization and militarization at the border, due process violations, and widespread family separations. "This isn’t security—it’s systemic failure dressed as patriotism," Robbins stated. "Trump is not a patriot. He’s a nationalist, and Americans need to recognize that distinction.” On the other hand, Jesus Jerez, a member of the Santa Cruz County Republican Committee, echoed Winn’s concerns and claimed enforcement had been limited during the last four years. "The last four years, there was no enforcement activity," Jerez told Fox News Digital. "[Agents were] told that you can’t arrest anybody, but you give them these papers, and you hold them until someone can take them to be processed and then released.” Winn underscored Tucson’s importance in the national immigration flow. "Everything that happens at the border in order to get into the innermost regions of the country. [Tucson is] a stopping point once you go into the country," she said. "It erodes the quality of life here because people don’t have [financial] means, so crime gets increased, people steal… We are at the effect of whatever is happening at the border.”

Bloomberg [7/30/2025 10:12 AM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 111K] reports that a bipartisan bill allowing travelers to bypass face-scanning technology faltered in the Senate after it was pulled from a planned markup amid consternation among airline and travel industry groups. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Wednesday scrapped plans to review a bill (S. 1691) requiring the Transportation Security Administration to ensure travelers can have their identities verified without the use of facial recognition at checkpoints. Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said some members had questions about the bill, so the committee will continue working on it. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

NBC News [7/30/2025 11:01 AM, Staff, 44540K] reports that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the threat of damage from a "major" tsunami on the U.S. coast has "passed completely." Noem made the comments during an ongoing visit to Chile. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) News 4 NY at 4 [7/30/2025 4:15 PM, Staff] reports that the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s east coast ranks among the strongest in modern history. So far, no reports of any death. It triggered tsunami alerts in the United States. The worst fears of a tsunami for the west coast have eased up. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the threat of a major damage situation in the US has passed completely.

AP [7/29/2025 9:11 PM, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Audrey McAvoy, Mari Yamaguchi, and Vladimir Isachenkov, 56000K] reports that fears of a devastating tsunami faded Wednesday for the U.S. and Japan after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck off a sparsely populated Russian peninsula, but new alerts along South America’s Pacific coast forced evacuations and closed beaches. Warnings in the first hours after the 8.8 magnitude quake sent residents fleeing to rooftops in Japan and forced tourists out of beachfront hotels in Hawaii, snarling island traffic. In Russia, several people were hurt while rushing out of buildings, including a hospital patient who jumped from a window. Millions of people were told to move away from the shore or seek high ground because they were potentially in the path of the tsunami waves, which struck seaside areas of Japan, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast but did not appear to cause any major damage. “We’ve got water, we got some snacks ... we’re going to stay elevated,” said Jimmy Markowski, whose family from Hot Springs, Arkansas, fled their Waikiki beach resort before evacuation orders were lifted. “This is our first tsunami warning ever. So this is all new to us.” U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the worst was over. Later Wednesday, tsunami advisories for Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington state were canceled but remained for parts of northern California, where authorities warned to stay away from beaches and advised that dangerous currents should be expected through Thursday morning. Experts say it’s challenging to know when to drop advisories, which signal the potential for strong currents, dangerous waves and flooding.

Washington Examiner [7/30/2025 10:43 AM, David Zimmermann, 1934K] reports tsunamis hit several nations and U.S. states in the Pacific region early Wednesday morning after a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the far eastern coast of Russia. The waves have ranged anywhere from 2 to 6 feet high, posing a possible threat to people. The earthquake hit Russia’s coastline near the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula around 11:25 a.m. local time Wednesday. It was originally estimated to have an 8.0 magnitude, but was later bumped up to an 8.8 magnitude. It was the biggest earthquake in the region in over 70 years. A Kremlin spokesperson said there were "no casualties" following the natural disaster. The earthquake was tied for sixth on the list of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded globally and is the largest since a 9.0 earthquake hit Japan, where the Fukushima nuclear power plant malfunctioned in 2011. Current workers at the Japanese nuclear site were evacuated before the latest tsunamis hit. After the earthquake, a mix of tsunami warnings and advisories were issued. Hawaii initially issued a warning before downgrading it to an advisory. The less severe forecast came as Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Director Chip McCreery said the "worst part" of the tsunamis was over for the state. Still, residents were instructed to seek higher ground as authorities continued to monitor conditions. As of Wednesday morning, a tsunami warning remained in effect for part of the northern California coast. Meanwhile, tsunami advisories are still in effect for the rest of the West Coast, Hawaii, parts of the Alaskan coastline, and Canada’s British Columbia. Japan lifted all of its tsunami warnings on Wednesday but retained its tsunami advisories for most of the country, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. However, Chile upgraded its warning to the highest level and started evacuating hundreds of people. Tsunami waves could hit Peru and Chile in South America on Wednesday, but warnings and advisories were canceled for the Philippines, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. On Wednesday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she spoke to Gov. Josh Green (D-HI) and that the state lifted its evacuation order for its coastal inundation zones. Nonetheless, Noem warned Hawaiians to exercise caution and stay safe. "Please be careful when returning and watch out for damage," Noem wrote. "We will continue to monitor in Hawaii, Alaska, and California.”

Reported similarly:
AP [7/30/2025 8:06 AM, Audrey McAvoy, 18649K]
AP [7/30/2025 8:07 AM, Mari Yamaguchi, 2106K]
ABC News [7/30/2025 8:05 AM, Kevin Shalvey, 31733K]
NewsMax [7/30/2025 6:39 AM, Mari Yamaguchi, 4622K]

(B) NBC News Daily [7/30/2025 2:22 PM, Staff] reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is looking to make serious potential budget cuts and some local officials are worried about the impact this could have on disaster assistance. As part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to slash spending, FEMA is reportedly looking to cut $1 billion in disaster and security grants. No finalized cuts have been confirmed regarding FEMA’s budget.

NBC News [7/31/2025 4:00 AM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 44540K] reports natural disaster survivors would be eligible for six months of mortgage relief under a bill introduced Thursday by two senators whose states have been ravaged by wildfires and floods. The Mortgage Relief for Disaster Survivors Act would apply to homeowners with federally backed loans in areas declared disasters since Jan. 1 without accumulating interest or penalties during the six-month period. Borrowers could apply for additional six-month extensions. “Earlier this year, we watched as families in Los Angeles were devastated by wildfires, and to date, many homeowners are still struggling to rebuild from this disaster,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is co-sponsoring the bill. “As natural disasters become more frequent due to climate change, it is critical that we pave a path to stability for homeowners in times of crisis,” he added. Parts of Schiff’s former congressional district in Southern California were devoured in January when the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, destroying nearly 6,000 homes and killing at least 19 people. His co-sponsor is Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., whose state was ravaged by the 2021 Marshall Fire, which damaged or destroyed some 1,200 homes in Boulder County.

Chicago Tribune [7/30/2025 6:09 PM, Joseph States, 3987K] reports it’s July 23, and somewhere under the waves is the body of a 14-year-old boy, the second drowning victim at the park this summer. The month before, three of the area’s fire departments had come together for a news conference after the drowning of a 20-year-old man, issuing a call for help from state and federal sources to help address the increase in water calls they had seen at the beach since the completion of a massive restoration project. The news conference was another page in a saga of what they believe to be lackluster support. Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that Winthrop Harbor applied for federal funding in June of 2024 for a new rescue boat, but was denied. This is despite a similar request that same year by Highland Park to the same grant program, also for a new rescue boat, being approved. The funding in question is through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Port Security Grant, which is meant to enhance security at ports and other maritime facilities. Exactly why Winthrop Harbor’s request was denied while Highland Park’s was approved is difficult to determine, with federal agencies pointing fingers at one another.

AP [7/30/2025 11:36 PM, Nadia Lathan, 1982K] reports Texas lawmakers will take their search for answers following the deadly July 4 floods to the heart of the devastation in Kerr County, where local officials were expected to face questions over their response to the disaster that swept away homes and campers along the Guadalupe River. The hearing Thursday is the first time a panel of lawmakers is visiting the hard-hit Texas Hill Country since the floods, which killed at least 136 people. Most were in Kerr County, including 27 young campers and counselors at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp. Among those invited to testify were local leaders who have defended their preparations and response to the fast-rising waters. Residents will also be given the chance to address lawmakers. The hearing comes as authorities have begun publicly releasing records and audio — including 911 calls — that have provided new glimpses into the escalating danger and chaos in the early hours of the July Fourth holiday. They include panicked and confused messages from residents caught in trees as well as families fleeing with children from homes with water creeping up to the knees. "People are dying," one woman tells a 911 operator in call logs released by nearby Kendall County. She says she had a young relative at a church camp in Kerr County who was stranded along with his classmates because of the high waters. "I don’t want them to get stuck in a low-water crossing. And what are they going to do? They have like 30 kids," the woman says. Kerr County officials have denied several Texas Public of Information requests filed by The Associated Press for 911 calls and body-camera footage related to the floods. Lawmakers have had to address flood relief amid a busy 30-day legislative special session that has included a highly-partisan sprint by Republicans to redraw the state’s maps to pick up five more seats in the U.S. House. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott added flood relief and disaster preparedness to the agenda items shortly after calling a special session in June. He also included redrawing the state’s maps after receiving pressure from President Donald Trump, who has said he wants Texas Republicans to squeeze five additional seats.

CNN [7/31/2025 4:26 AM, Rebekah Riess and Shimon Prokupecz, 21433K] reports local leaders in Central Texas will face more tough questions Thursday as state lawmakers – and survivors – press again for information about the responses to July 4 flash flooding that killed at least 136 people. The hearing, at 9:30 a.m. local time, in hard-hit Kerrville follows a 12-hour special hearing last week that saw legislators scrutinize the state’s safety preparations – and split over focusing on whether more should have been done before the storm or how efficiently life-saving efforts unfolded. Among those set to testify Thursday is an emergency response official who a colleague has said likely was asleep in the critical hours before the flood, when four months’ worth of rain fell and forced the Guadalupe River to rise over 20 feet, sweeping homes, cars, campers and cabins downstream. Three people are still missing as the summer’s tragic surge of deadly flash floods across the United States underscores the escalating volatility of the warming planet. Texas’ Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding are scheduled to hear Thursday from Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. and City Manager Dalton Rice; and Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, Sheriff Larry Leitha and Emergency Management Coordinator W.B. “Dub” Thomas.

New York Times [7/30/2025 10:45 AM, Matthew 153395K] reports Oprah Winfrey opened a private road on a property she owns on Maui to help residents evacuate after a tsunami warning, according to the authorities on the Hawaiian island. Ms. Winfrey, the billionaire media mogul, has renovated a ranch on the slopes of Mount Haleakala, a dormant volcano, and owns a road that runs from a coastal area in the southwestern part of the island to higher ground. “Oprah’s road is open to get Upcountry,” Maui County officials said in a statement on Tuesday, citing the Maui Police Department. A spokesperson for Ms. Winfrey, Nicole Nichols, said in an email that law enforcement and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been contacted to ensure that the road was opened. “Local law enforcement are currently on site helping residents through 50 cars at a time to ensure everyone’s safety. The road will remain open as long as necessary,” Ms. Nichols said. In an apparent reference to social media posts early Wednesday that said the road was closed, Ms. Nichols said that any reports that Ms. Winfrey had not allowed the road to be used by the public were false. Residents of Hawaii fled coastal areas after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in the North Pacific off the coast of Russia prompted tsunami warnings. Mountain roads were choked with traffic and flights were canceled.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [7/30/2025 1:12 PM, Alexandra Bellusci, 49956K]
Breitbart [7/30/2025 8:32 AM, Simon Kent, 3077K]

USA Today [7/30/2025 11:01 AM, Saman Shafiq, 75552K] reports a magnitude 8.8 earthquake, one of the strongest in recorded history, struck off of the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula July 29 triggering tsunami alerts across Alaska, Hawaii and the west coast of the contiguous United States. Warnings, advisories and watches were issued by the National Tsunami Warning Center in the wake of the quake that struck around 7:24 p.m. ET, about 78 miles east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shortly after the initial tsunami warning, sirens went off at around 3 p.m. local time in Hawaii. The streets of Honolulu, including the tourist hub Waikiki, were congested as people quickly tried to move to higher ground and away from coastal evacuation zones. Some reported long lines at gas stations, as sirens continued to go off on the hour to the estimated first wave. Video footage from Honolulu shows a gridlock of cars on the streets of Honolulu as residents try to head toward higher ground. The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management had called for the evacuation of coastal areas. "A tsunami has been generated that could cause damage along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii," the agency said in a bulletin. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.” "I spoke to Governor of Hawaii @GovHawaii and the evacuation order has been for lifted for coastal inundation zones," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on social media. "Please be careful be careful (sic) when returning and watch out for damage. We will continue to monitor in Hawaii, Alaska, and California."

FOX News [7/30/2025 12:25 PM, Diana Stancy, 46878K] reports that President Donald Trump dished on the "strange story" stemming from reports that a Secret Service agent attempted to smuggle his wife onto a Secret Service cargo plane accompanying the president on his trip to Scotland, as the Secret Service kicks off an investigation into the incident. Trump told reporters that he had just heard about the alleged incident, which he labeled a "weird deal" and said that the agency was handling the matter. "I don’t know, that’s a strange one. I just heard that two minutes ago. I think Sean’s taking care of it … Is that a serious story?" Trump told reporters on Air Force One Tuesday, appearing to reference Sean Curran, Secret Service director. "I don’t want to get involved, it’s a strange story," Trump said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on whether Trump had been briefed on the matter or on the investigation. Real Clear Politics first reported that a Secret Service agent attempted to smuggle his wife aboard a Secret Service cargo aircraft during Trump’s travels for his Scotland trip. When asked about the report, the Secret Service told Fox News Digital a personnel investigation is underway. "The U.S. Secret Service is conducting a personnel investigation after an employee attempted to invite his spouse - a member of the United States Air Force - aboard a mission support flight," a Secret Service spokesperson said in a Tuesday statement to Fox News Digital. "The aircraft, operated by the U.S. Air Force, was being used by the Secret Service to transport personnel and equipment," the spokesperson said. "Prior to the overseas departure, the employee was advised by supervisors that such action was prohibited, and the spouse was subsequently prevented from taking the flight. No Secret Service protectees were aboard and there was no impact to our overseas protective operations." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
The Hill [7/30/2025 11:02 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K]
USA Today [7/30/2025 6:27 PM, Kathryn Palmer, 75552K]

FOX News [7/30/2025 11:52 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports that President Donald Trump told reporters that the Secret Service is handling matters related to the incident. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [7/30/2025 3:14 PM, Kelly McCarthy, 31733K] reports the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck off Russia’s Pacific coast Wednesday triggered tsunami warnings and evacuation alerts for travelers, spurring emergency procedures for cruise ships in the Pacific Ocean. Some ships in Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. West Coast were required to leave ports after the initial tsunami advisory was issued by the National Weather Service Tuesday evening. With the tsunami warning now lifted, NCL said the affected ports will gradually reopen. "Hilo Harbor, however, requires a safety assessment before it can receive clearance from local authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard," they explained. The National Weather Service has issued a tsunami advisory that remains in effect for all coastal areas of California’s Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties with tsunami-related currents expected to continue for the immediate coastal areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, as of time of publication. As ABC News reported earlier Wednesday, tsunami waves were recorded in Monterey, California, and San Francisco overnight, however none caused significant issues.

CBS Miami [7/30/2025 7:35 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports Morgan Rynor reports the Coast Guard has interviewed the captain of the tugboat but has not disclosed details, citing the ongoing investigation. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [7/30/2025 6:36 AM, Kati Pohjanpalo, 19320K] reports two Finnish shipyards are teaming up with their peers in the US and Canada to offer icebreakers to the US Coast Guard as rivalry in the Arctic heats up. Bollinger Shipyards LLC, based in Louisiana, will lead the partnership that also includes Seaspan ULC of Canada as well as Rauma Marine Constructions Oy and Aker Arctic Technology Oy of Finland, according to a statement on Tuesday. A year ago the three countries signed the ICE Pact, intended to share expertise in building icebreakers as Russia and China boost their presence in the Arctic. Russia is reported to have a fleet of more than 40 icebreakers with more in production, while the US now has just two that will soon have to be replaced. The consortium is offering the US Coast Guard two multi-purpose icebreakers for delivery within 36 months to be built at the shipyard in Rauma, Finland, according to the statement. The design of the so-called Arctic Security Cutters is based on an existing construction-ready blueprint by Seaspan and Aker. Bollinger will later target building more of them in the US. President Donald Trump is continuing the effort started by former President Joe Biden’s administration to build up a fleet of polar vessels for the US. The inclusion of Finland in the ICE Pact stems from its long history and expertise in building such vessels: Finnish companies have designed 80% of the world’s icebreakers and 60% them have been built at shipyards in the Nordic country, according to the government.

FOX News [7/30/2025 2:05 PM, Adam Sabes, 46878K] reports that the FBI is investigating sexual assault allegations on a Carnival cruise ship. An FBI spokesperson told KHOU 11 that the alleged sexual assault incident took place onboard the Carnival Breeze ship based out of Galveston, Texas. The incident happened on a cruise that returned to Galveston on Monday. "FBI Houston is aware of allegations of a sexual assault that occurred on the Carnival Breeze cruise ship which docked in Galveston on 07/28/2025," the FBI spokesperson wrote. "As is customary with crimes aboard a cruise ship, an FBI Maritime Liaison Agent, based out of the Texas City Resident Agency, is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the cruise line regarding this incident. Also keeping in line with case reviews or open investigations, the FBI will not be providing additional details or updates regarding these matters." The Carnival Breeze cruise was 4 days and made a stop in Cozumel, Mexico. The FBI is also investigating a death aboard a different Gavelston-based cruise ship, the Carnival Dream. A FBI Houston spokesperson told Fox News Digital that an incident took place on July 23 aboard the ship. It’s "standard practice" for the FBI to investigate deaths taking place on cruise ships, according to the spokesperson. "This routine protocol ensures transparency. It does not automatically imply suspicious circumstances, and the facts of this matter do not suggest any such activity. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to our guest’s family and loved ones in this difficult time," the spokesperson added.

New York Times [7/30/2025 5:47 PM, Claire Fahy, 138952K] reports that Tsunami waves generated by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia on Tuesday did less damage than had been feared. But some cruise passengers were distressed to learn they had been left behind when all ships were ordered out of port by local authorities. Tiffany Oliver and her 18-year-old daughter were part of a group from Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America that was taking part in an excursion to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the island of Hawaii when the emergency alerts began. At 2:46 p.m., as the women rode a bus toward the park, Ms. Oliver got an alert on her phone, informing her that the National Weather Service had issued a tsunami warning and instructing her to move to higher ground. “You are in danger,” the alert read. But the bus continued, undeterred, toward its destination. When it arrived at Volcanoes National Park, Ms. Oliver said the bus driver told them to get off and enjoy themselves. But as soon as they disembarked, park employees came running toward them, urging them to go back to the ship. “In response to local emergency procedures and to prioritize the safety of our guests and crew, Pride of America was required to depart Hilo, Hawaii, immediately,” a spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Lines said in a statement, adding that the ship left at 4 p.m., two hours earlier than its scheduled 6 p.m. departure. “The safety of all mariners has been our top priority throughout the tsunami warning in Hawaii,” Capt. Nicholas Worst, commander of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu and captain of the Port of Honolulu, said in a statement.

AP [7/30/2025 4:42 PM, Ali Swenson, 56000K] reports that a U.S. Senate committee voted Wednesday to advance President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency that secures the nation’s critical infrastructure, including election systems. Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-6 to recommend Sean Plankey ‘s nomination for director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, which sits under the Department of Homeland Security. The agency has been dealing with workforce and funding cuts, as well as criticism from Republicans over some of its election-related activities. Plankey, who retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2023, worked in the first Trump administration as a director for cyber policy at the National Security Council and then as a principal deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, he will inherit an agency that has been mired in partisan tensions over the role it should play in combating false claims about voting or election fraud. Those claims have led to a lack of trust among Republicans in election workers and voting machines since Trump started lying about widespread fraud leading to his loss in the 2020 election.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [7/30/2025 11:34 AM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 111K]

Reuters [7/30/2025 5:06 PM, Raphael Satter, 51390K] reports more than 90 state and local governments have been targeted using the recently revealed vulnerability in Microsoft server software, according to a U.S. group devoted to helping local authorities collaborate against hacking threats. The nonprofit Center for Internet Security, which houses an information-sharing group for state, local, tribal, and territorial government entities, provided no further details about the targets, but said it did not have evidence that the hackers had broken through. A wave of hacks hit servers running vulnerable versions of Microsoft SharePoint this month, causing widespread concern. The campaign has claimed at least 400 victims, according to Netherlands-based cybersecurity firm Eye Security. Multiple federal government agencies are reportedly among the victims, and new ones are being identified every day. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 national labs said it was among those hit.

The Hill [7/30/2025 12:51 PM, Julia Shapero, 18649K] reports Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) pressed the Pentagon on Monday for answers about its guardrails on contractors following revelations that Microsoft was using China-based engineers to maintain the agency’s computer systems. Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, raised questions in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the Pentagon’s implementation of a 2018 provision requiring Defense contractors disclose when a country considered a cyber threat has asked them to share their source code. The provision passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in 2018. However, the Defense Department did not propose rulemaking until last November. "[I]t unfortunately took the Department six years to take this initial step," Shaheen wrote. "Meanwhile, PRC engineers were engaged in providing support to the DOD that could have exposed the Department to serious vulnerabilities." The New Hampshire Democrat requested information about the timeline for implementation of the 2018 provision and why it took so long to propose rulemaking. She also pressed the Pentagon for details about its Microsoft contract, how it aims to mitigate similar risks going forward and the scope of its two-week review. "As cybersecurity risks stemming from the PRC compound, the United States government should not be proactively opening the door to its critically sensitive IT systems due to a lack of U.S. government oversight," she said.

CyberScoop [7/30/2025 7:09 AM, Lauren Boas Hayes] reports during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing earlier this month in which lawmakers considered if Sean Plankey is fit to become director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, ranking member Gary Peters asked the CISA nominee how he would ensure the agency meets all of its statutory requirements, including those in the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022. The problem is, it can’t. To meet the statutory deadline established by Congress, CISA will need to publish a final rule by October. That means CISA has two months left. Ever since CIRCIA was signed into law in March 2022, CISA has had every intention of meeting this deadline. I know that because I ran the program while at CISA, from the day it was signed into law through when I left government in January. You don’t have to take my word for it. CISA was shouting its commitment to this timeline from the rooftops. You can check the Unified Agenda — the government’s official record of planned regulatory action — from both fall 2024 and spring 2024, both of which state that CISA was targeting an Oct. 4 final rule due date. These commitments are additionally reinforced by the updates provided in the National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan published by the Office of the National Cyber Director. The formal publications mirror the consistent public statements made by senior officials from CISA and the Department of Homeland Security over multiple years. However, since January there has been silence from the agency regarding CIRCIA. Despite receiving hundreds of public comments on the CIRCIA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which necessitates an internal policy process to decide how to respond to those comments and adjust the rule, the agency has made no public statements about its progress.

CyberScoop [7/30/2025 6:05 AM, Matt Kapko] reports the average cost of a data breach for U.S. companies jumped 9% to an all-time high of $10.22 million in 2025, as the global average cost fell 9% to $4.44 million, IBM said in its 20th annual Cost of a Data Breach Report Wednesday. While shorter investigations are pushing down costs globally, reflecting the first decline in five years, IBM found higher regulatory fines, along with detection and escalation costs, are driving up the ultimate recovery price in the United States. “This widening gap helps explain why U.S. organizations continue to face the highest breach costs globally, further compounded by more organizations in the U.S. reporting paying steeper regulatory fines,” Troy Bettencourt, global partner and head of IBM X-Force, said in an email. The report underscores that organizations face an uneven burden in the wake of data breaches, even as detection and containment times improve. On average, it took organizations 241 days to identify and contain a breach through the one-year period ending in February — a nine-year low, according to IBM. “Shorter breaches mean less disruption, faster containment, and fewer chances for attackers to access sensitive systems or data. Time really is money when it comes to breach impact,” Bettencourt said. “Faster detection is proving to be one of the most effective ways to reduce breach costs across the board.” Average global costs for detection and escalation declined almost 10% to $1.47 million, remaining the largest cost driver for data breaches for the past four years. Other cost categories also declined, with lost business coming in at $1.38 million on average, followed by $1.2 million for post-breach response costs and notification costs of almost $390,000.

Federal News Network [7/30/2025 7:09 PM, Anastasia Obis, 2346K] reports that both the House and Senate are pressing the Defense Department to accelerate its adoption of phishing-resistant authentication, signaling a growing bipartisan concern over the Pentagon’s slow progress in retiring legacy IT security practices that remain vulnerable to phishing attacks. The House version of the 2026 defense policy bill notes that the Defense Department has not kept pace with civilian agencies in adopting phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA). While civilian agencies have made substantial progress since the release of the Office of Management and Budget Memorandum 22-09, which mandates phishing-resistant MFA for all staff, contractors, and partners — the House Armed Services Committee said it is "not aware of commensurate progress in the Defense Department." While the Common Access Card (CAC) remains widely used across the department, there are several instances where the use of a CAC is not feasible — such as for reservists at home or service members using mobile devices. The House wants the Defense Department’s chief information security officer to brief the committee by July 2026 on efforts around phishing-resistant authentication. Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee acknowledged that the Defense Department has established a process for new multifactor authentication technologies approval, but few approvals have successfully made it through.

Breitbart [7/30/2025 1:30 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports that the Trump administration’s Treasury Department is "pushing as hard as we can" on cybersecurity, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a policy event with Breitbart News. Host Matthew Boyle, Breitbart News’s Washington Bureau Chief, noted that Americans have seen international criminal syndicates engaged in financial scams. "There’s a lot of financial institutions in this room today, and people that represent various financial institutions. What steps do you think this administration, through the Treasury Department, Justice Department, et cetera, are prepared to take to work with the private sector to go after those criminal syndicates who are engaged in financial scams of people?" he asked. Bessent said they are currently "pushing as hard as we can on cybersecurity," explaining that the Treasury was hacked before he came on the scene, likely by Chinese hackers. "[The] Treasury was hacked before I arrived. OCC was hacked. We believe that they were both Chinese hackers, which were brought up during our meetings yesterday or in the two days," Bessent said, adding that they are "holding a tabletop exercise with the regulators." "I believe we just did it two weeks ago in case of a large scale cyber attack, and we were pushing as hard as we can on this because, again, with generative AI — that they could just grab your voice and do it is, you know, I think my team, my public affairs team, I think, pulled down 30 false Facebook pages of me, of things I said," Bessent said, putting this threat in greater perspective.

Breitbart [7/30/2025 2:04 PM, Alana Mastrangelo, 3077K] reports that Tea, an app where women gossip about the men they are dating, suffered a major security breach on Friday resulting in 72,000 selfies, ID photos, and other user images being exposed. Now, the app is facing additional leaks after a second database containing user chats has been revealed to the public. The slew of data left unprotected by Tea now allegedly includes 1.1 million private messages sent between users on the app, according to a report by 404 Media. The leaked database reportedly contains conversations users had with one another from 2023 up until last week, and include multiple messages in which women appear to be discussing their abortions. Other exchanges show app members contacting other women about the men they are either dating, engaged to, or have married, with some sharing information about their significant others, such as what car he drives, to verify other users are seeing the same man. Many of the messages reportedly show Tea Dating Advice users telling other women "I am his wife" with regards to the men who have been posted on the app. Moreover, Tea users can be "easily" identified via their social media profiles, phone numbers, or real names, all of which have apparently been shared on the app and in the chats, 404 Media reported.

AP [7/30/2025 11:30 PM, Edith M. Lederer, 31733K] reports the threat from Islamic State and al-Qaida extremists and their affiliates is most intense in parts of Africa, and risks are growing in Syria, which both groups view as a "a strategic base for external operations," U.N. experts said in a new report. Their report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Wednesday said West Africa’s al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin group, known as JNIM, and East Africa’s al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab have continued to increase the territory under their control. The experts monitoring sanctions against the two groups said "the organization’s pivot towards parts of Africa continued" partly because of Islamic State losses in the Middle East due to counterterrorism pressures. There are also "increasing concerns about foreign terrorist fighters returning to Central Asia and Afghanistan, aiming to undermine regional security," they said. The Islamic State also continues to represent "the most significant threat" to Europe and the Americas, the experts said, often by individuals radicalized via social media and encrypted messaging platforms by its Afghanistan-based Khorasan group. In the United States, the experts said several alleged terrorist attack plots were "largely motivated by the Gaza and Israel conflict," or by individuals radicalized by IS, also known as ISIL. They pointed to an American who pledged support to IS and drove into a crowd in New Orleans on Jan. 1, killing 14 people in the deadliest attack by al-Qaida or the Islamic State in the U.S. since 2016. In addition, they said, "Authorities disrupted attacks, including an ISIL-inspired plot to conduct a mass shooting at a military base in Michigan," and the IS Khorasan affiliate issued warnings of plots targeting Americans. In Africa’s Sahel region, the experts said, JNIM expanded its area of operations, operating "with relative freedom" in northern Mali and most of Burkina Faso. There was also a resurgence of activity by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, "particularly along the Niger and Nigeria border, where the group was seeking to entrench itself.” "JNIM reached a new level of operational capability to conduct complex attacks with drones, improvised explosive devices and large numbers of fighters against well-defended barracks," the experts said.

New York Post [7/30/2025 1:50 PM, Joe Marino, Amanda Woods, and Chris Nesi, 49956K] reports that detectives found prescription medication for depression and epilepsy in the Las Vegas home of Midtown mass shooter Shane Tamura, sources tell The Post. The discovery was made while executing a search warrant at his Sin City apartment Tuesday, a day after he stormed a New York skyscraper with an AR-style rifle, killing four people and wounding one before turning the gun on himself. Also found in the home was a note in which Tamura, 27, revealed he felt like a "complete disappointment" to his parents, including his retired cop father, sources told The Post. While previously searching his car, investigators found a Colt Python .357-caliber handgun, along with a rifle case, ammunition and the migraine medication Sumatriptan. Tamura had been targeting the NFL, which has its headquarters at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan, blaming the league for what he alleges is CTE — a degenerative brain disease brought on by repeated blows to the head. A note found on his body after the shooting expressed admiration for doctors specializing in CTE as well as a documentary linking the NFL to the prevalence of the disease among its players. Tamura was a star running back in high school, but never played football at the collegiate or professional level. A suicide note found on Tamura after the rampage also included a plea to "study my brain" after his death, as CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem.

New York Post [7/30/2025 6:30 PM, Lydia Moynihan and Jeanette Settembre, 49956K] reports that shellshocked Wall Street executives feel powerless and uncertain about how to keep employees secure after the Park Avenue murder of four by a deranged gunman on Monday. One CEO of a publicly traded company told me he’d like to see companies scrap all existing security measures — like key cards and unarmed guards — and simply "put someone with a f***ing gun in every lobby. Commercial real estate managers, for their part, have made sure buildings are conducting normal active shooter drills in addition to fire drills and that security forces are fully staffed so there aren’t any other vulnerabilities. But some executives concede that is about all they can do. Referring to mentally disturbed Shane Tamura’s rampage at the office building housing KPMG, the NFL and Blackstone at 345 Park Avenue, one real estate executive put it bluntly, "Someone with a gun like that, it’s really hard to stop them if they’re intent on doing harm.” Tamura killed an off-duty cop working security and three other people before turning the gun on himself. Safety expert Mac Segal at AHNA Group, which advises businesses and individuals on best security practices, said some of his clients are exploring panic buttons to be installed under a desk in a lobby. Others are exploring enhanced safety rooms with fortified walls and deadbolts on each floor where employees could hide in the event of a shooting. Some executives hid in a panic room during the Monday shooting, according to reports.

Washington Examiner [7/30/2025 10:53 AM, Gabrielle M. Etzel, 1934K] reports a Senate panel voted Wednesday to approve a biomedical security bill sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that would create an executive branch board to conduct oversight of life science research with pandemic-causing abilities, a measure inspired by the research conducted in Wuhan, China, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Risky Research Review Act advanced from the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in an 11-2 vote, with two Democrats voting against. The panel also approved the bill last Congress in an 8-1 vote, but it never received a vote on the Senate floor. The bill aims to create a more cohesive system with greater oversight for gain-of-function research, which, in layman’s terms, is any type of genetic manipulation of a pathogen that gives the disease either the capacity to infect a host in new ways or makes the disease more transmissible. President Donald Trump issued a ban on all gain-of-function research in a May executive order, providing a technical definition of "dangerous gain-of-function research" as any research activity altering a pathogen or toxin that "could result in significant societal consequences." If passed by the full Senate, the bill would create the Life Sciences Research Security Board, with nine members appointed by the president. Paul has in the past said that the board would create "an extra layer of protection" before approving projects that could be risky.

Axios [7/30/2025 6:08 AM, Mike Allen, 13599K] reports China-specific national-security concerns were a big reason the Justice Department decided last month to allow Hewlett Packard Enterprise to take over rival Juniper Networks, Trump administration officials tell Axios. Axios has learned that the U.S. intelligence community intervened to persuade the Justice Department that allowing the merger to proceed was essential to helping U.S. business compete with China’s Huawei Technologies, among other national-security issues. A senior national security official tells Axios: "In light of significant national security concerns, a settlement ... serves the interests of the United States by strengthening domestic capabilities and is critical to countering Huawei and China." The official said blocking the deal would have "hindered American companies and empowered" Chinese competitors. A Justice Department spokesman added that DOJ "works very closely with our partners in the IC [intelligence community] and always considers their views when deciding how best to proceed with a case." The merger was back in the news this week with reports that two senior enforcers in the DOJ’s antitrust division were fired Monday amid infighting over the department’s settlement greenlighting HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper. Attorney General Pam Bondi had conversations with top intelligence officials that convinced her there was a strong national interest in not driving allies to Chinese technology, a senior administration official tells us. The administration official said the conversations about the deal reflect President Trump’s tight-knit Cabinet: Many top officials have longstanding personal connections. Bondi sees fellow Cabinet members "almost daily at happy hours, dinners, Bible studies," the official added. "It all feels very natural."

AP [7/30/2025 7:42 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports eighteen European Union countries have applied for billions of euros from a new defense fund aimed at helping Europe provide for its own security, the bloc’s executive branch said Wednesday, with Poland seeking more than a third of the money. The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund is a 150-billion-euro ($173 billion) program of cheap loans that member countries, Ukraine and outsiders with an EU security agreement, like Britain, can use to buy military equipment together. The fund was launched after the Trump administration signaled that Europe is no longer a U.S. security priority. It’s for buying key equipment like air and missile defense systems, artillery, ammunition, drones and “strategic enablers” like air-to-air refueling. The European Commission said that Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain had applied for money so far. They have requested at least 127 billion euros ($147 billion) in total, it said. Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday that his government has identified defense projects worth around 45 billion euros ($52 billion), but that the amount it receives will depend on how the commission allocates funds. Countries using the fund are urged to buy much of their military equipment in Europe, working mostly with European suppliers — in some cases with EU help to cut prices and speed up orders. Earlier this month, 15 EU countries were also permitted to use a “national escape clause” to allow them to spend more on defense without breaking the bloc’s debt rules. U.S. allies in Europe are convinced that President Vladimir Putin could target one of them if Russia wins its war on Ukraine. The SAFE fund and budget leniency are aimed at preparing Europe to defend itself from attack by the end of the decade, but even EU governments concede that this is an ambitious target.

FOX News [7/30/2025 11:20 AM, Brooke Singman, 46878K] reports that FBI Director Kash Patel found a trove of sensitive documents related to the origins of the Trump–Russia probe buried in multiple "burn bags" in a secret room inside the bureau, sources told Fox News Digital. Sources told Fox News Digital that the "burn bag" system is used to destroy documents designated as classified or higher. Sources told Fox News Digital that multiple burn bags were found and filled with thousands of documents. Sources told Fox News Digital that one of the documents FBI officials found in a burn bag was the classified annex to former special counsel John Durham’s final report, which includes the underlying intelligence he reviewed. The declassification of the classified annex is being done in close coordination between CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman. The declassified annex will be transmitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who ultimately will release the document to the public. Sources exclusively briefed Fox News Digital on some of the contents of the classified annex — including that the U.S. intelligence community had credible foreign sources indicating that the FBI would play a role in spreading the alleged Trump–Russia collusion narrative — before the bureau ever launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane probe.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [7/30/2025 2:11 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K]

CBS News [7/30/2025 11:34 AM, Kaia Hubbard, 51860K] reports that Senate Democrats are trying to force the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files using a little-known law that directs executive agencies to turn over information to congressional oversight committees, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday. "Today Senate Democrats take additional action to try and uncover the truth about the Epstein files," Schumer said on the Senate floor, and he proceeded to describe the nearly century-old law the minority would use to try to compel the release of the "full and complete Epstein files." The federal law, known as Section 2954 and referred to as the "Rule of Five," allows five members on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs to submit an information request on matters within its jurisdiction to a federal agency. Enacted in 1928, the obscure law is part of Congress’ ability to wield influence over executive branch agencies, and gives minority members of the oversight committees the ability to request information without the help of the committee chairman. "The situation with the Epstein files is very simple — Donald Trump promised transparency and he has broken that promise," Schumer said. "As a candidate, Trump said on many occasions he would release the Epstein files if elected, and yet he has refused to do so."

CNN [7/30/2025 2:19 PM, Natasha Bertrand, 875K] reports that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Wednesday ordered the US Military Academy at West Point to rescind an offer of employment to a former top national security official who served under President Joe Biden, announcing the move in a post on X — the latest example of the Pentagon’s political leadership dictating staffing and curriculum at the nation’s military academies. Jen Easterly, a West Point graduate who served as the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency under Biden, was named by the academy on Tuesday as the new Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in the Department of Social Sciences. Her appointment was announced by West Point in since-deleted posts on X and LinkedIn. Before they were deleted, the announcements drew the attention of far-right activist Laura Loomer, who on Tuesday tagged Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in a post on X calling Easterly a "Biden holdover who worked to silence Trump supporters under Biden.” Easterly did not a return request for comment. On Wednesday, Driscoll posted a memorandum on X that said West Point will be terminating its "gratuitous service agreement" with Easterly; that it will be pausing "non-governmental and outside groups from selecting employees of the Academy"; and that Driscoll will be requesting "an immediate top-down review" of West Point’s hiring practices. Loomer responded with a clapping emoji. In response to Driscoll’s post, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on X that "we’re not turning cadets into censorship activists. We’re turning them into warriors & leaders. We’re in the business of warfighting. Our future officers will get the most elite training so that America can continue to dominate on the battlefield."

Washington Examiner [7/30/2025 2:00 PM, Tom Rogan, 1934K] reports President Donald Trump is often far too trusting of the KGB Red Banner Institute-trained manipulator, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Still, no one can legitimately accuse Trump of being foolish in the face of Putin’s nuclear weapons threat to the United States. Flight tracking websites show that at least two aircraft transited this month from a nuclear weapons storage base in New Mexico to the Royal Air Force Lakenheath base in England. The aircraft were carrying B61-12 nuclear bombs. RAF Lakenheath is owned by the RAF but operated by the U.S. Air Force. It hosts two USAF F-15E squadrons and two F-35A fighter squadrons. All these aircraft can employ the B61-12. The transport aircraft kept their transponders activated to show their route, indicating that the Defense Department sought to send a message to Russia with these deliveries. This weapons deployment was necessary as global nuclear threats rise. Today, Russia has more than 4,300 nuclear warheads in service or reserve. China has around 600 warheads but is rapidly expanding its stockpile. North Korea has around 50 warheads. The U.S. has around 3,700 warheads. But while numbers matter, the centerpiece of effective nuclear deterrence is the ability to deter and defeat an adversary across the spectrum of prospective threats. The B61-12 addresses the specific threat of a Russian nuclear weapons attack against U.S. or allied targets in Europe using a small-yield nuclear weapon. This isn’t the first time Trump has strengthened the U.S.’s nuclear deterrence against Russia. During his first term, Trump abandoned former President Barack Obama’s appeasement-minded approach by authorizing the Navy’s deployment of a new nuclear warhead, the W76-2, on its nuclear ballistic missile submarines. These weapons have a small yield of 5-7 kilotons and are designed for missions that do not necessitate the use of larger yield strategic nuclear weapons. Trump’s forceful stance here is overdue.

AP [7/31/2025 7:06 PM, Edith M. Lederer, 37958K] reports Canada and Malta announced Wednesday they will recognize the state of Palestine in September, joining France and the United Kingdom in stepping up pressure to end the nearly 80-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made the announcement after a Cabinet meeting. Christopher Cutajar, the permanent secretary at Malta’s Foreign Ministry, made his country’s announcement earlier at the U.N. General Assembly’s meeting on a two-state solution to the conflict which was extended to a third day because of the high number of countries wanting to speak. Cutajar said Malta has long supported self-determination for the Palestinian people, and "as responsible actors, we have a duty to work to translate the concept of a two-state solution from theory into practice.” "It is for this reason that the government of Malta has taken the principled decision to formally recognize the state of Palestine at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in September," he said. Carney said Canada will also make its announcement at the annual gathering of world leaders which starts Sept. 23. He said the intention is predicated on the Palestinian Authority "holding general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made those promises in a June 10 letter and it’s unclear what more Carney is seeking. Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela earlier announced the decision by his country, a former British colony, to recognize a Palestinian state on Facebook, saying it is part of the nation’s efforts "for a lasting peace in the Middle East.” The Mediterranean island nation and European Union member will join more than 145 countries, including over a dozen European nations, in recognizing the state of Palestine. French President Emmanuel Macron announced ahead of this week’s meeting that his country will recognize the state of Palestine at the annual gathering of world leaders at the 193-member General Assembly which starts Sept. 23. United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine before September’s meeting, but would refrain if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and long-term peace process in the next eight weeks.

AP [7/30/2025 6:01 AM, Elaine Kurtenbach, 24051K] reports China’s top leaders have pledged to help companies slammed by higher U.S. tariffs but held back on major moves after trade talks with the U.S. this week kept businesses and planners in limbo. At their summer economic planning meeting, the powerful Politburo of the ruling Communist Party pledged to stabilize foreign trade and investment. "We must assist foreign trade enterprises that have been severely impacted, strengthen financing support, and promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade," the official Xinhua News Agency said in reporting the closed door meeting. It mentioned export tax rebates and free trade pilot zones but gave no other specifics. The inconclusive outcome of two days of trade talks in Stockholm, Sweden, leaves open the question of higher tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said the two sides had agreed to work on extending a deadline for higher tariffs. The U.S. side said the extension was discussed, but not decided. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after the talks that President Donald Trump would decide whether to extend the Aug. 12 deadline for reaching an agreement or to let tariffs that have been paused for 90 days to "boomerang" back to a higher level. "We haven’t given the sign-off," Bessent said, though he emphasized that the talks had been "very constructive.” China remains one of the biggest challenges for the Trump administration after it has struck deals over elevated tariff rates with other key trading partners — including Britain, Japan and the European Union. Many analysts had expected that the Stockholm talks would result in an extension of current tariff levels, which currently stand at a U.S. tariff of 30% on Chinese goods and a Chinese tariff of 10% on U.S. products, far lower than the triple-digit percentage rates raised in April. The truce in the tariffs war to allow time for talks, agreed on in early May to allow time for negotiations, allowed exporters and other traders to ramp up shipments in hopes of beating any higher tariffs that might follow. The meeting headed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping mostly reiterated Beijing’s priorities for the year, including a need to "unleash domestic demand" which has lagged, leading to a surge of exports by industries unable to find growth at home. It also stressed the need to promote jobs and prevent a "large scale relapse into poverty.” The economy "has demonstrated strong vitality and resilience," the Xinhua report said. But it acknowledged many risks and challenges. That includes reining in brutal competition that has led to damaging price wars among automakers and some other manufacturers and managing excess capacity in some industries, it said. China’s economy expanded at a 5.2% annual pace in April-June, slowing slightly from the previous quarter. But analysts have said actual growth may have been significantly slower. Even with the hiatus in higher tariffs, companies are feeling a pinch. Industrial profits in China fell 1.8% in the first half of the year and 4.3% in June, according to data released earlier this week. It’s unclear what level of tariffs might eventually be imposed on Chinese exports to the United States.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [7/30/2025 6:29 AM, Elaine Kurtenbach, 2106K]

AP [7/31/2025 12:02 AM, Erika Kinetz and Elsie Chen, 31733K] reports stealth submarines fitted with space-shooting lasers, supply-chain sabotage and custom-built attack satellites armed with ion thrusters. Those are just some of the strategies Chinese scientists have been developing to counter what Beijing sees as a potent threat: Elon Musk’ s armada of Starlink communications satellites. Chinese government and military scientists, concerned about Starlink’s potential use by adversaries in a military confrontation and for spying, have published dozens of papers in public journals that explore ways to hunt and destroy Musk’s satellites, an Associated Press review found. Chinese researchers believe that Starlink — a vast constellation of low-orbit satellites that deliver cheap, fast and ubiquitous connectivity even in remote areas — poses a high risk to the Chinese government and its strategic interests. That fear has mostly been driven by the company’s close ties to the U.S. intelligence and defense establishment, as well as its growing global footprint. “As the United States integrates Starlink technology into military space assets to gain a strategic advantage over its adversaries, other countries increasingly perceive Starlink as a security threat in nuclear, space, and cyber domains,” wrote professors from China’s National University of Defense Technology in a 2023 paper. Chinese researchers are not the only ones concerned about Starlink, which has a stranglehold on certain space-based communications. Some traditional U.S. allies are also questioning the wisdom of handing over core communications infrastructure — and a potential trove of data — to a company run by an unpredictable foreign businessman whose allegiances are not always clear. Apprehensions deepened after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine made clear the battlefield advantages Starlink satellites could convey and have been exacerbated by Musk’s proliferating political interests.

{End of Report} RETURN TO TOP