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

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

The Hill [6/16/2025 3:18 PM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 18649K] reports a federal judge in Boston ruled on Monday to extend the pause on the Trump administration’s order to take away Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. Judge Allison Burroughs’s ruling, which extends her pause until June 23, builds on a decision made at the end of May after Harvard requested an emergency hearing when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it would no longer allow the school to enroll any more foreign students and that the current international ones would have to transfer. "This lawsuit seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," said Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin. "The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side," she added. In its court filings, Harvard said some individuals with visas connected to the university were getting extra security screenings at airports and others were looking to transfer, while schools in other countries are trying to recruit Harvard’s students. The AP [6/16/2025 2:33 PM, Kimberkee Krueski and Collin Binkley, 56000K] reports U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston extended a temporary restraining order on Trump’s proclamation until June 23 while she weighs Harvard’s request for a preliminary injunction. Burroughs made the decision at a hearing over Harvard’s request, which Trump’s Republican administration opposed. Burroughs granted the initial restraining order June 5, and it had been set to expire Thursday. Trump moved to block foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard earlier this month, citing concerns over national security. It followed a previous attempt by the Department of Homeland Security to revoke Harvard’s ability to host foreign students on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Burroughs has temporarily blocked that action, too, and is weighing whether it should remain on hold until the case is decided. Ian Gershengorn, a lawyer for Harvard, told Burroughs on Monday that Trump was “using Harvard’s international students as pawns” while arguing the administration has exceeded its authority in an attempt to retaliate against the school for not agreeing to the president’s demands. “I think there is no finding that Harvard is dangerous,” he said. Foreign students were brought into the battle in April, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded that Harvard turn over a trove of records related to any dangerous or illegal activity by foreign students. Harvard says it complied, but Noem said the response fell short, and on May 22 she revoked Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. NewsMax [6/16/2025 1:28 PM, Eric Mack, 4622K] reports that "A federal judge extended her halt on Donald Trump’s entry ban on holders of Harvard-sponsored visas until June 23 and said she expects to rule on a preliminary injunction within a week," The Harvard Crimson’s X account posted. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned about foreign student visa holders potentially representing threats to U.S. national security and has sought to pause Harvard’s foreign student visas in order to undergo tough vetting. Harvard filed a legal challenge this month against the Trump administration’s block on the school’s foreign student visas, asking for a judge to block the order and calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands for cracking down on antisemitic and anti-American speech. Burroughs has issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, saying Harvard demonstrated it would sustain "immediate and irreparable injury." Last month, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork to them for their visas, only to have Burroughs block the action.

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ABC News [6/16/2025 3:23 PM, Nadine El-Bawab, 31733K]
FOX News [6/16/2025 3:19 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 46878K]

CBS News [6/16/2025 9:07 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51860K] Video: HERE reports President Trump on Sunday night directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. In a Truth Social post, the president called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials "to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History." He added that to reach the goal officials "must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.” "These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens," the president wrote. Mr. Trump’s declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of the president’s immigration policies, said ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Mr. Trump’s second term. At the same time, the Trump administration has directed ICE to halt arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels amid concerns that the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration is hurting key industries, two sources familiar with the abrupt policy change told CBS News. The pause on worksite immigration enforcement operations applies to the agricultural, hospitality and restaurant industries, which rely in large part on labor from immigrants, many of whom are in the U.S. unlawfully, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal actions. ABC News [6/16/2025 2:01 PM, Alexandra Hutzler, 31733K] reports that as he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday, Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement should turn its attention to New York and Chicago in addition to Los Angeles. "I want them to focus on the cities because the cities are where you really have what’s called ‘sanctuary cities,’" Trump told reporters. "And that’s where the people are." The comments came after Trump’s lengthy social media post on Sunday in which said he was ordering ICE to do "all in their power" to oversee the largest mass deportation program in history. "In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities," Trump wrote. The president said those cities are "the core of the Democrat Power Center" and accused Democrats of using illegal immigration to influence elections -- despite the fact that noncitizens can’t vote in federal or state elections and instances where it occurs are rare. He also claimed without evidence that illegal immigrants were being used to "grow the Welfare State." "To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE!" Trump wrote in the post. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Blaze [6/16/2025 11:30 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1805K] reports "We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets," stated Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the DHS, which reportedly confirmed the guidance.

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Los Angeles Times [6/16/2025 5:40 PM, Hannah Fry, Grace Toohey and Richard Winton, 14672K]
Bloomberg [6/16/2025 12:11 PM, Josh Wingrove, 88K]
AP [6/16/2025 6:18 PM, Sophia Tareen and Dorany Pineda]
(B) The Situation Room [6/16/2025 11:30 AM, Staff]

Politico [6/16/2025 3:33 PM, Samuel Benson, Myah Ward and Jake Traylor, 16523K] reports President Donald Trump’s vow to focus mass deportations in Democrat-led cities reveals a crack in his plans to fulfill his top campaign priority. For months, the president has promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants across the country. But last week, as immigration enforcement hit rural communities — with raids at farms in California, a meatpacking plant in Nebraska, a dairy in New Mexico, and elsewhere — he was faced with rare criticism from Republican lawmakers and a spooked agriculture sector already reeling from economic headwinds, trade uncertainty and labor shortages. The president is juggling a highly combustible combination of political pressures and policy problems, as the White House’s efforts to ramp up deportations spark anger from GOP allies, farmers and ranchers in the nation’s agricultural areas, which overwhelmingly voted for Trump and yet heavily rely on foreign workers for its food supply. Trump allies acknowledge Republicans are divided on how to handle undocumented labor in the agriculture industry — and the president himself has listened to both sides of the argument. “He’s willing to listen to everybody,” said a person close to the administration, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamic. “They’re having a debate on it, and there’s pushback.” The person added: “This is something that I do believe is a soft spot for Trump.” For now, Trump appears to be siding with the farmers. He responded last week with a vague Truth Social post acknowledging that his immigration policy was hurting farmers and vowed that “change was coming.” He followed with another post late Sunday, directing immigration officials to “FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role. You don’t hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!” At the G7 summit Monday, Trump explained, “That’s the focus. Biden allowed 21 million people to come into our country.” “Of that, vast numbers of those people were murderers, killers, people from gangs, people from jails — they emptied their jails out into the U.S. Most of those people are in the cities, all blue cities,” he said.

Breitbart [6/16/2025 12:27 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports the vast majority of the illegal aliens arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s presidency were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified on Monday. DHS responded to a CNN report suggesting that a very small percentage of illegal aliens taken in by ICE had "serious criminal convictions," citing internal data. "FAKE NEWS. Secretary Noem has unleashed @ICEgov to target the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, and rapists," DHS said in response. "In President Trump’s first 100 days, 75% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges," it added. That has remained the messaging of DHS throughout the deportation operations: They are going after the worst of the worst criminals. That reality was directly seen in the recent ICE operations in Los Angeles, which sparked widespread outrage and protests, as Mexican flag rioters took to the streets.

CNN [6/16/2025 8:00 AM, Casey Tolan, Curt Devine, Priscilla Alvarez, et al., 21433K] reports as the Trump administration has ramped up raids in Los Angeles and around the country, top officials have highlighted the capture of immigrants convicted of crimes like murder, assault and rape — describing them as "barbaric" criminals who "reigned terror" on American communities. But internal government documents obtained by CNN show that only a fraction of migrants booked into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since October have been convicted of serious violent or sexual crimes. More than 75% of people booked into ICE custody in fiscal year 2025 had no criminal conviction other than an immigration or traffic-related offense, according to ICE records from October through the end of May. And less than 10% were convicted of serious crimes like murder, assault, robbery or rape. Public ICE data released by the administration shows that most immigrants currently in the agency’s custody do not have a prior criminal conviction. But the internal data reviewed by CNN goes deeper, making clear that even among those convicted of crimes, a substantial percentage faced only relatively minor charges. The internal data covers the more than 185,000 immigrants who have been booked into ICE custody during the last months of the Biden administration and first months of the Trump administration, including those detained by ICE agents and those detained by Customs and Border Protection who were then placed in ICE custody. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security challenged the premise of CNN’s questions and referenced data limited to ICE arrests in a shorter timeframe. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE targets "the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, and rapists. In President Trump’s first 100 days, 75% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.” McLaughlin did not respond to a request to clarify the nature of those convictions or pending charges. "In L.A., what we have been going after is the worst of the worst," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week on Fox News. "They are murderers. They are people who have been perpetuating assault and trafficking human beings."

FOX News [6/16/2025 4:37 PM, Staff, 46878K] Video: HERE reports DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses President Donald Trump directing his administration to expand deportation efforts in Democratic cities on ‘The Story.’

NewsMax [6/16/2025 11:36 AM, Eric Mack, 4622K] reports the Department of Homeland Security called out "disgusting" and "categorically false" reports as "smears" from the Los Angeles Times that claim DHS agents are racially profiling. "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically false," the DHS X account’s statement Monday read, linking to the LA Times’ report from Sunday headlined: "Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens. "These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement.” The LA Times report outlined an instance of an American being detained for questioning in the case of a protest-related assault of an officer, according to DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence," DHS’ Monday statement, attributed to McLaughlin by the report, continued. "We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability. "We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets." The LA Times reached out to the White House for comment and received similar rejection of the line of questioning of law enforcement efforts. FOX News [6/16/2025 2:19 PM, Alex Nitzberg, 46878K] reports that skin color is not a factor in who DHS targets, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asserted in a statement to Fox News Digital. "DHS targets have nothing to do with an individual’s skin color. What makes someone a target is if they are in the United States illegally. These types of disgusting smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. This kind of garbage has led to a more than 400 percent increase in the assaults on ICE officers," she said. "Politicians and activists must turn the temperature down and tone down their rhetoric." "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability," she continued. "We will follow the President’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets."

FOX Business [6/16/2025 11:02 PM, Staff, 10702K] reports Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin discusses the clashes that erupted at the ‘No Kings’ rallies across the country on ‘The Evening Edit.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [6/16/2025 9:43 PM, Carol D. Leonnig, Natalie Allison, Marianne LeVine and Lauren Kaori Gurley, 32099K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Monday told staff that it was reversing guidance issued last week that agents were not to conduct immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants — a decision that stood at odds with President Donald Trump’s calls for mass deportations of anyone without legal status. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants, according to two people familiar with the call. The new instructions were shared in an 11 a.m. call to representatives from 30 field offices across the country. ICE and HSI field office supervisors began learning about a likely reversal of the exemption policy Sunday after hearing from DHS leadership that the White House did not support it, according to one person with knowledge of the reversal. An official from DHS had sent an email Thursday telling agents to "hold on all worksite enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels." That message went out hours after Trump suggested he was sympathetic to concerns raised by farmers and hospitality executives about his deportation plan. Washington Post spoke with four people who confirmed that a call was held Monday with the agency’s leadership. "There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts," Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for DHS, said Monday. "Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.” ICE has been under significant pressure from White House officials to ramp up arrests in an effort to fulfill Trump’s goal of enacting the largest domestic deportation operation in history. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said last month that the administration wants ICE to make a minimum of 3,000 arrests a day. In an interview last week, Trump border czar Tom Homan told The Post that arrests had increased to around 2,000 a day. Trump had been pulled in two directions on the issue, recently coming under pressure from executives in the agriculture and hospitality industries to loosen up on a sweeping deportation policy that was costing them migrant workers. The president on Thursday wrote on social media that "changes are coming" to help "protect our Farmers" from losing workers, though a White House official told The Post at the time that no actual policy changes were being proposed by the White House. Miller, an architect of much of Trump’s aggressive immigration policy, had privately opposed carving out exceptions for certain industries that rely heavily on workers without legal status, according to two people with knowledge of his advocacy in recent days against the measure. Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, meanwhile was on the opposite side of the issue, stressing to Trump the concerns that those in the farming industry had raised about losing workers.

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Daily Wire [6/16/2025 10:53 AM, Zach Jewell, 3816K]
Telemundo [6/16/2025 4:38 PM, Staff, 3352K]

Washington Times [6/16/2025 5:01 PM, Stephen Dinan, 2106K] reports that President Trump has issued new orders to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to give the "heartland" a break while concentrating on cities to carry out his demand for mass deportations. He said the need to boot illegal immigrants is not as urgent in the heartland as it is in cities. The president made the announcement Sunday night, and the White House promoted it, days after Mr. Trump said he would rescue American farmers. He said they are feeling the pinch of labor as illegal immigrants, who make up a significant share of farmworkers, fear going to work. Mr. Trump said he is still committed to the "single largest mass deportation program in history," but he laid out parameters for how he wants it to be handled. "In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside," he said on Truth Social. "And that is why I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role. You don’t hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!" Late last week, New York Times reported that ICE had issued a directive pausing worksite enforcement on agriculture, restaurants and hotels. The announcements were met with praise by some immigration groups but skepticism from others.

NBC News [6/16/2025 4:52 PM, Staff, 44540K] reports that NBC News Senior Homeland Security Correspondent Julia Ainsley and NBC News Chief Justice Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell discuss the Trump administration’s latest guidance for ICE raids at certain workplaces and President Trump’s call for increased immigration enforcement in Democratic-led cities. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/16/2025 1:37 PM, Staff, 9940K] reports that Former Trump economic advisor Stephen Moore discusses commodity prices and President Donald Trump weighing exemptions from immigration enforcement. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [6/16/2025 9:43 PM, Carol D. Leonnig, Natalie Allison, Marianne LeVine, and Lauren Kaori Gurley, 32099K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Monday told staff that it was reversing guidance issued last week that agents were not to conduct immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants — a decision that stood at odds with President Donald Trump’s calls for mass deportations of anyone without legal status. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants, according to two people familiar with the call. The new instructions were shared in an 11 a.m. call to representatives from 30 field offices across the country. ICE and HSI field office supervisors began learning about a likely reversal of the exemption policy Sunday after hearing from DHS leadership that the White House did not support it, according to one person with knowledge of the reversal. An official from DHS had sent an email Thursday telling agents to “hold on all worksite enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.” That message went out hours after Trump suggested he was sympathetic to concerns raised by farmers and hospitality executives about his deportation plan. The Washington Post spoke with four people who confirmed that a call was held Monday with the agency’s leadership. “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for DHS, said Monday. “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.” ICE has been under significant pressure from White House officials to ramp up arrests in an effort to fulfill Trump’s goal of enacting the largest domestic deportation operation in history. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said last month that the administration wants ICE to make a minimum of 3,000 arrests a day. In an interview last week, Trump border czar Tom Homan told The Post that arrests had increased to around 2,000 a day.

Federalist [6/16/2025 1:42 PM, Brianna Lyman, 1142K] reports that in recent days President Donald Trump announced what amounts to an amnesty-like program for illegal aliens working in the agriculture and hospitality industries. But by protecting those who broke the law, Trump’s decision would undercut and threaten the businesses that do play by the rules and hire legal workers. "Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!" He later doubled down on the comments during a press briefing. "[Farmers] have very good workers; they’ve worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be, you know, great. … We can’t take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don’t have, maybe, what they’re supposed to have, maybe not." The Washington Post reported on Friday, however, that "no such policy changes are underway, according to three people with knowledge of the administration’s immigration policies." Both border czar Tom Homan and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated immigration enforcement operations would continue, according to NPR.

The Hill [6/16/2025 2:54 PM, Jorge Vela and Addy Bink, 18649K] reports that farmers in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley say they are feeling the pinch of workers failing to show up due to the ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Farmer Nick Billman of Donna told Nexstar’s KVEO that the raids are keeping employees from coming to work, leaving farmers without any help. He said things started getting worse just weeks ago. "I would say within the last three weeks, it started to slow, but this last week has been huge," Billman said. "That is when it has been zero people wanting to come out and be exposed, to be able to be picked up, whether they are legal or illegal." However, there is some optimism as President Trump acknowledged that his immigration policies are affecting U.S. farmers, prompting him to say he’s considering an executive order to help farmers stay afloat. Last week, the Trump administration directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants, and hotels, an official confirmed. This as Billman reported having zero workers on his farm for the past week. "One hundred percent. One hundred percent don’t want to come out of fear of being picked up even if they are doing it the right way," Billman said. Billman was left alone, cleaning up debris from a storm that moved through on Thursday. While storm debris cleanup is easy, Billman told KVEO that he believes the country’s food supply could be impacted if the pressure on farms continues.

Wall Street Journal [6/16/2025 6:17 PM, Arian Campo-Flores, Rebecca Picciotto, Patrick Thomas, and Tarini Parti, 646K] reports when federal agents raided Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, Neb., last Tuesday, they arrested about 75 of the meat processor’s workers, roughly half of the production line. The following day, the plant was operating at about 15% of capacity, and a skeleton crew strained to fill orders. Chief Executive Gary Rohwer can’t see a future that doesn’t include immigrant workers. “Without them, there wouldn’t be an industry,” he said. President Trump’s aggressive deportation push has slammed into an economic reality: Key industries in the U.S. rely heavily on workers living in the U.S. illegally, many of them for decades. That presents a major challenge for the administration unfolding in real time, with business leaders urging a softer approach while anti-immigration hard-liners demand more deportations. The conflict could be difficult to untangle—and public signs are emerging of a clash within the administration. The Department of Homeland Security late last week directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, stressing that sweeps should focus on people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal backgrounds. “Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans,” wrote Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on X Sunday. “It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out.” At the same time, DHS appeared to walk back its own directive from last week. In a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem doubled down on the administration’s efforts to deport millions of people living in the country illegally. “[W]e must dramatically intensify arrest and removal operations nationwide,” she wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “This is a nonnegotiable national priority.” ICE agents will be judged “every day by how many arrests you, your teammates and your office are able to effectuate,” she wrote, adding, “Failure is not an option.” She also said worksite enforcement—the types of raids that had been exempted for some industries in guidance issued days earlier—remained “a cornerstone” of the president’s deportation plan: “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts.” A Homeland Security spokeswoman said on Monday that ICE isn’t ruling out worksite enforcement at farms, restaurants, and hotels, and will give priority to places that are thought to be employing people with criminal records. A White House official said the administration is expanding deportation efforts in major cities, but added that “anyone present in the United States illegally is at risk of deportation.”

New York Post [6/16/2025 3:39 PM, Ryan King, 49956K] reports Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to cut funding from “rogue state actors” that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts after President Trump announced a crackdown on Democrat-run big cities and other jurisdictions with so-called “sanctuary” policies. Duffy had issued the warning after Trump declared Sunday that his team will embark upon the “single largest Mass Deportation Program in History” with a particular emphasis on Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and other big cities. Trump has also repeatedly warned sanctuary states — which limit their cooperation with the feds on immigration issues — that his team was looking to withhold federal funding unless they change course.

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Breitbart [6/16/2025 3:42 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K]
NewsMax [6/16/2025 3:16 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4622K]
Washington Examiner [6/16/2025 4:00 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 1934K]

USA Today [6/16/2025 8:57 PM, Anthony Robledo, 75552K] reports New Jersey officials have located two of the four detainees who escaped from an immigrant detention facility last week, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Monday, June 16. DHS said four "dangerous criminal illegal aliens" broke out of Delaney Hall in Newark on June 12, including Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez from Honduras and Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada from Colombia. A search for all four ensued, with officials announcing a $10,000 reward for information leading to their arrest. DHS has confirmed that both Sandoval-Lopez and Castaneda-Lozada were located separately on June 13. Sandoval-Lopez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), FBI officials and local police in Passaic, New Jersey, according to DHS. Officials said he resisted arrest by kicking and threatening to kill authorities. Meanwhile, Castaneda-Lozada attempted to turn himself in at the New Jersey State Police Bridgeton Station, where officials refused to take him into custody because their sanctuary policies prohibited them from working with ICE. DHS said he later surrendered himself to FBI and ICE agents in Milleville, New Jersey. Sandoval-Lopez’s criminal record includes unlawful possession of a handgun and aggravated assault, while Castaneda-Lozada’s includes burglary, theft and conspiracy to commit burglary, according to DHS. DHS continues to search for the remaining two escapees: Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes from Honduras and Andres Pineda-Mogollon from Colombia. Bautista-Reyes entered the U.S. illegally in 2021 and was arrested on May 3, 2025 in Wayne Township, New Jersey on aggravated assault, terroristic threats, attempt to cause bodily injury and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, DHS said. Pineda-Mogollon entered the U.S. in 2023 after on a tourist visa that DHS says he overstayed. Police in New York City arrested him on April 25 for petit larceny and New Jersey police arrested him on May 21 for residential burglary, conspiracy residential burglary and possession of burglary tools, the department said. DHS continues to offer $10,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the two men.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [6/16/2025 9:42 AM, Jenny Goldsberry, 1934K]

NewsMax.com [6/16/2025 4:40 PM, Mark Swanson, 4622K] reports wages are on the rise thanks to the nearly 1 million illegal migrants who have taken advantage of the Trump administration’s self-deportation program, according to the nonpartisan research organization Center for Immigration Studies. CIS put the number of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. under the Biden administration at a conservative 15.4 million. While the Trump administration has followed through on its promise of mass deportations, the self-deportation program implemented by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February is "cheaper for taxpayers and arguably much more effective," wrote CIS fellow in law and policy Andrew Arthur. First, The Wall Street Journal calculated that the immigration population has fallen by 773,000 since the outset of President Donald Trump’s second term. The Washington Post reported its analysis showed that "more than a million foreign-born workers have exited the workforce since March." The Post also reported that average hourly wages accelerated by 0.4% in May, leading Arthur to contend that "with fewer illegal immigrants, businesses have had to raise wages to attract workers." But a self-deportation program is only as good as the threat of arrest and deportation if illegal migrants choose to stay, Arthur wrote. DHS has reported 207,000 deportations as of June 11.

Breitbart [6/16/2025 10:50 AM, Warner Todd Huston, 3077K] reports that the Trump administration and GOP legislators are using their authority to track the government and private funding that supports the pro-migrant mobs in Los Angeles. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that she is working with the Internal Revenue Service to track the funding for riots. During a press conference, Noem noted: “We also have the IRS here that’s helping us track how these violent protesters are funded. What NGOs, what unions, what other individuals may be funding these violent perpetuators that are in these protests that take people who may be wanting to come and be peaceful, but instead turn these into very violent activities that go after law enforcement. It’s just simply not acceptable.” Meanwhile, California Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley has introduced legislation to cut off the hundreds of millions in federal tax dollars that flow into the hands of NGOs such as Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Immigrant Legal Resources Center (ILRC), the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), and many others, including Catholic Charities, that use hundreds of millions of tax dollars to import, transport, and care for illegals. "The violence we have witnessed in Los Angeles is a threat to the safety of our communities and federal officers, and it undermines democracy by obstructing the policies of a duly elected President from being implemented." Rep. Kiley said in a statement. "We need better tools to deter and punish this lawless and anti-democratic behavior."

NewsMax.com [6/16/2025 4:31 PM, Jim Mishler, 4622K] reports farmers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley are reporting a shortage of farm labor, and some attribute that to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions. KVEO in Brownsville reported that the shortage of farmworkers began developing about three weeks ago. Farmer Nick Billman of Donna, Texas, told the television station that immigration raids have created a situation where farm workers don’t want to get caught up in enforcement sweeps. The station reported that some farmers there seem optimistic after President Donald Trump commented that he had plans to help farmers. Trump reportedly ordered a halt to immigration enforcement at farms and several other types of businesses. But that won’t solve their immediate problem. Migrants help with the heaviest work at Billman’s farm. But he’s also worried about his standing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if agents pay a visit.

Los Angeles Times [6/16/2025 11:21 AM, Augusta Saraiva and Alicia A. Caldwell, 14672K] reports President Trump’s immigration crackdown threatens to shrink the workforce for one of America’s fastest growing jobs: Home health and personal care aides. Demand for such care is expected to swell as the U.S. population ages, and the industry has increasingly relied on immigrants to fill home health positions. Foreign-born people comprise roughly 1 in 5 U.S. workers, yet they account for more than 40% of home health aides and nearly 30% of personal care employment, according to U.S. government data. Trump’s push to strip hundreds of thousands of foreign workers of work authorizations, ramp up deportations and curb immigration has providers and industry experts worried about their ability to hire and retain workers. "The sector has been struggling to retain the workforce outside of immigration," said Jeanne Batalova, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. "The impact will be felt in some cities and states very quickly with people losing their status." The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that over half a million parolees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela were being notified that their status was being terminated. The government has encouraged those people to leave the U.S. on their own. "There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "President Trump’s agenda to create jobs for American workers represents this administration’s commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential while delivering on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws." The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects home health and personal care aides, which is already the most common occupation in the country, will also be one of the fastest growing professions over the next decade — soaring 21% by 2033. That depends on workers wanting the job. Hospitals, nursing homes and other providers are still scrambling to fill nearly 1.5 million open positions. And nearly two-thirds of home care workers leave their job within the first year of employment, an industry survey found.

Daily Caller [6/16/2025 6:02 PM, Adam Pack and Andi Shae Napier, 1010K] reports House Speaker Mike Johnson is touting various provisions in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that he argues delivers on Republicans’ campaign promises to put Americans first. House GOP leadership has gone to the mat to defend the House-passed version of the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which they argue makes historic investments in border security and contains the largest reduction to mandatory spending within a budget bill in American history. The president’s landmark bill is currently under consideration in the Senate as Republicans are hurrying to send the budget bill to the White House for signature by a July 4 deadline. The House-passed One, Big Beautiful Bill Act enhances border security by funneling $150 billion into immigration enforcement and fast-tracking the president’s deportation agenda. This funding includes resources to hire up to 3,000 new Border Patrol agents and 5,000 new Office of Field Operations customs officers, according to information provided to the DCNF by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office. The president’s landmark bill will aid the president’s deportation efforts by providing funding to hire roughly 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Homeland Security criminal investigators, according to immigration-related provisions in the bill. The bill also provides for roughly $12 billion in reimbursements to border states that footed the bill for their own security efforts amid former President Joe Biden’s failure to stem the influx of illegal immigration into the United States. The president’s budget bill carries out America First policies by cracking down on taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal immigrants, including a provision to penalize states who offer Medicaid coverage to noncitizens through state funds. The bill also enacts a 5% fee on money transfers from noncitizens in the United States to individuals in other countries, which the U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation has projected will generate more than $20 billion in revenue over a decade. The remittance tax will help pay for the president’s tax relief priorities and help deter illegal immigration, according to the provision’s proponents. The House Republicans’ product would also impose additional fees on foreign nationals seeking various forms of legal status, which would raise an estimated $77 million through a ten-year budget window. The provisions include a $1,000 fee to process an asylum claim and sponsorship fees for migrant children of up to $8,500.

FOX News [6/16/2025 8:37 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports that, over 200 House and Senate Democrats signed a letter condemning what they called an "unprecedented incident" in which Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a Homeland Security press conference last week. Signed by 188 House members of Congress and 35 senators, the letter accuses the Trump administration of a "potential violation of separation of powers" and said the incident "raises alarming questions about the conduct of federal law enforcement agencies, the coordination of protective services, and the administration’s posture toward congressional oversight.” Padilla was handcuffed and briefly detained by officers as he aimed to speak out in opposition to Trump administration immigration raids that sparked unrest in Los Angeles and smaller protests across the country this month. Videos of the incident showed Padilla attempting to walk up to Noem while she was speaking at a podium and trying to shout over the secretary, but law enforcement stepped in and forcefully stopped Padilla’s advance. Padilla was eventually taken out of the room, brought to the ground and handcuffed, the videos showed. Fox News reporters who were present at the news conference said Padilla appeared to be detained for a period of time. Padilla has claimed, "I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful or disruptive, and I don’t think I was" and "I was simply asking a question just as the members of the press corps ask questions, members of the Congress, members of the Senate ask questions to do our job to hold the administration accountable.” The letter, sent by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and joined by hundreds more other lawmakers, was sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Monday. The letter was signed by the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "We write to express our profound concern regarding the shocking and deeply troubling mistreatment of United States Senator Alex Padilla," the lawmakers said in the letter. The letter states that "Senator Padilla clearly identified himself and was acting within his rights as a Member of Congress," and that "this unprecedented incident is not simply an affront to security protocol—it is a constitutional issue—as these actions may constitute an assault on a sitting senator.” Responding to the letter, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, told Fox News Digital that "this letter won’t fool anyone.” "Padilla lunged towards Secretary Noem’s podium in the middle of a press conference, resisted law enforcement, and didn’t immediately identify himself," she said. "Democrats are so desperate to talk about anything other than their supporters violently rioting in L.A. that they’re trying to make a martyr out of a senator who acted like a kindergartner throwing a temper tantrum.”

The Hill [6/16/2025 3:24 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is calling on Republican leadership to "uphold the dignity and authority of Congress" after Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was handcuffed after interjecting at a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday. Padilla was blocked by security as he advanced toward the front of the room, identifying himself and saying he had a question. He was then pushed out of the room by security, forced to the ground and handcuffed. The incident is sparking concern among Democrats who see his treatment as a crackdown on the party’s pushback on the administration. More than 180 Democrats signed on to a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) calling the episode "shocking and deeply troubling mistreatment." Johnson’s office pointed to earlier remarks from the Speaker, including his backing of censuring Padilla over the move. Thune said he plans to "gather all the relevant information" about what happened.

Axios [6/16/2025 2:48 PM, Nadia Lopez, 13599K] reports millions of protesters gathered from New York to Texas to California during the weekend to protest President Trump’s deportation raids. Disagreements over U.S. immigration policies have become a flashpoint in the country’s politics. Roughly 5 million people took part in Saturday’s "No Kings" demonstrations in more than 2,100 cities and towns. Tens of thousands of San Franciscans took to the streets, and a few hundred gathered at Ocean Beach to create a massive human banner. While demonstrations across the city were largely considered peaceful, a driver in the Mission District struck four protesters in a hit-and-run that police are investigating as "a possible intentional act."

Washington Times [6/16/2025 12:49 PM, Stephen Dinan, 2106K] reports that National Guard troops have been riding along on "most" of the immigration arrest operations ICE has attempted in Los Angeles over the last week, a top Homeland Security official said Monday, defending President Trump’s call-up of the National Guard. Ernesto Santacruz Jr., director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Los Angeles office, said the troops also are still defending federal buildings in the city from daily protests, and they are crucial to ICE being able to carry out the orders Mr. Trump has given. He said the additional personnel has been instrumental in allowing ICE to do its job, and can’t be replaced by police. "If these resources were not at my disposal, our immigration enforcement mission would be greatly impacted. The safety of our continued operations would be in doubt, placing both federal employees and the general public at an unnecessarily greater risk," Mr. Santacruz said. He said local police are working hard, but the National Guard assistance is "unparalleled.” His declaration came as Justice Department lawyers defended Mr. Trump’s troop deployment to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the judges to block a lower-court ruling that ordered Mr. Trump to relinquish control of the National Guard troops back to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who wants them to stand down. The court is scheduled to hear oral argument Tuesday.

CBS News [6/16/2025 10:19 PM, Jack Fink and S.E. Jenkins, 51860K] Video HERE reports after the credible threat at the Texas Capitol this weekend and the assassinations of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said those things can never be allowed to happen in Texas. Abbott said the Texas Department of Public Safety is on heightened alert after a man was arrested following a threat to a lawmaker who was going to appear at a No Kings rally at the Capitol Saturday. According to DPS, a concerned citizen reported that a man was on his way to the protest Saturday, planning to harm state lawmakers. The Texas State Capitol and grounds were evacuated at 1 p.m. Texas DPS said that the evacuation was out of an abundance of caution. Texas DPS said that as the investigation was underway, the suspect was found driving on SH-71 in Fayette County. Around 1:30 p.m., troopers stopped the suspect vehicle for speeding. During the traffic stop, the suspect, who DPS has not identified at this time, told the trooper he had a handgun in the vehicle. He was arrested on a misdemeanor traffic charge and taken into custody for further questioning about the threat. The gun was also seized. "There was a person on the Capitol grounds with a gun who seemingly had the intent to do harm to a legislator. No more defined than that," Abbott said Monday. "If you’re on the Capitol grounds with a gun conveying that type of message, that’s a credible threat. That has to be taken seriously. You obviously saw what happened in Minnesota. We need to all make sure nothing ever like that happens in the state of Texas." At this time, no charges related to the alleged threat against state lawmakers have been filed, according to DPS, and the investigation is ongoing. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [6/16/2025 7:26 PM, Doc Louallen, 31733K] reports Salt Lake City police are investigating the roles of two self-described "peacekeepers" following a fatal shooting at Saturday’s protest that left one person dead and another injured, raising questions about unauthorized security at public demonstrations. The two men, who were wearing yellow "high visibility" vests during the incident, were questioned and released as investigators work to determine whether they were appointed by protest organizers, volunteered or were self-appointed. Neither individual has current or former law enforcement experience, according to the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD). The incident occurred during a "No Kings Day" protest that drew an estimated 10,000 people to Pioneer Park. According to Salt Lake City Police, the violence erupted when two men, identified as "peacekeepers" by police, confronted 24-year-old Arturo Roberto Gamboa after spotting him allegedly pulling out and "manipulating" a rifle near 151 S. State Street around 8 p.m. "Witnesses say Gamboa raised the weapon in a firing position and began running toward the crowd," Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said Sunday at a news conference. One of the peacekeepers opened fire, striking both Gamboa and an innocent bystander, Arthur Folasa "Afa" Ah Loo, 39. Ah Loo was killed in the incident, while Gamboa was wounded and later arrested, according to police. The protest was organized by 50501, a grassroots political group known for organizing rallies and protests nationwide. According to police, there was no record in the event’s permit indicating the presence of organized or armed security, and investigators are still working to determine the total number of "peacekeepers" present at the rally. The shooting prompted a swift reaction from state leadership. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called the incident "a deeply troubling act of violence" that "has no place in our public square" in a statement Saturday night. After speaking with Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Cox later posted on X: "My heart is broken for everyone impacted tonight.” While Utah law allows for firearm possession and use under certain circumstances, police say the legality of any individual’s actions will depend on the specific details of the case.

Blaze [6/16/2025 1:25 PM, Julio Rosas, 1805K] reports that while most attention was on the No Kings march in Seattle on Saturday, a different crowd had gathered at a Department of Homeland Security building 15 minutes outside the city. The group of around 100, mostly dressed in black bloc, had spilt into two groups to physically block the north and south driveways to prevent government vehicles from leaving. Not only were Antifa agitators using their bodies to block the driveway, they had created makeshift barricades out of traffic signs and random materials found nearby. At first, only three officers with the Federal Protective Service were outside keeping watch over the crowd on the south end of the building, with the Antifa crowd heckling them for hours. Suddenly, members of the Tukwila Police Department arrived on scene to order the gathering to move from the driveway. The Antifa mob, who was facing the DHS building, turned around and refused to move. The Tukwila officers went into the crowd, firing crowd-control munitions to force the unruly throng off of the driveway. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents came out of the building to support the local police, moving in from behind to clear the road. At least one rioter was arrested by federal agents. "Four officers were injured. Secretary Noem’s message to the rioters is clear: you will not stop us or slow us down. ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law. If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," DHS said on X.

Wall Street Journal [6/16/2025 4:57 PM, Tali Arbel, C. Ryan Barber, Andrew Tangel, and
Alyssa Lukpat, 646K] reports federal authorities said the man accused of shooting two state Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota had visited two other elected officials’ homes that night as part of what they described as a chilling, carefully planned campaign of political violence. Prosecutors outlined new details of the allegations against Vance Luther Boelter, 57 years old, on Monday as they unveiled federal charges of murder and stalking. He is already facing second-degree murder charges in state court, and prosecutors said they intend to seek to upgrade those to first-degree murder. Authorities captured Boelter on Sunday following an intensive two-day manhunt, the largest in Minnesota history, which left the state on edge. Boelter is suspected of fatally shooting state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband on Saturday and wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. attorney in Minnesota, said Boelter went to the homes of at least four elected officials with the intent to kill them. He declined to identify the other elected officials allegedly targeted by Boelter. Boelter appeared in a federal courtroom in St. Paul wearing a bright orange shirt and pants during a brief hearing on Monday afternoon. He said he couldn’t afford an attorney, telling the court he made $540 a week in weekly income from a part-time job and had a fully paid-off home and between $20,000-$30,000 in savings. He also said he had seven cars in his name, some used by his children. During much of the hearing he sat, unshackled, and stared straight ahead. He politely answered a magistrate judge’s questions, addressing him as “sir” and “your honor.” Asked how to pronounce his name, he replied: “the ‘o’ is silent.” Asked if he understood the charges against him, he said, “Yes, I do.” Magistrate Judge John Docherty set a detention hearing for June 27 and ordered Boelter held until then.

Wall Street Journal [6/16/2025 3:45 PM, Xavier Tianyang Wang, 646K] reports federal authorities charged Vance Luther Boelter with murder charges for allegedly shooting two state Democratic lawmakers and their spouses. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [6/16/2025 8:24 PM, Deirdre Walsh, Claudia Grisales, 37958K] reports members of Congress are reassessing their own security coverage following the Saturday attacks in Minnesota where a gunman shot two Democratic lawmakers, killing one and wounding the other. Top leaders in Washington condemned the attacks in their immediate wake before turning to assess the security of federal politicians. The suspected shooter, Vance Boelter, had a "hit list" of 45 elected Democrats. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., and Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, have all said publicly that they were on that list. Scholten cancelled a planned townhall in her district on Monday, saying, "Out of an abundance of caution and to not divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public at this time, this is the responsible choice.” Senators will receive a briefing Tuesday morning from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms Office. The briefing comes at the request of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY. "I say to my colleagues, now is the time to speak with moral clarity," Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor. "Every single one of us must condemn political violence no matter where it comes from and to work together to eradicate its root causes. We cannot be silent because silence only serves to enable more violence.” Schumer added that he requested additional security support for both senators from Minnesota as well as Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. Padilla was in a physical altercation with Department of Homeland Security staff last Thursday after he attempted to ask questions of DHS Sec. Kristi Noem at a press conference in Los Angeles. Padilla identified himself as a senator and tried to ask about mass-deportation actions occurring in Los Angeles before being restrained and later tackled and handcuffed. Padilla told reporters he has spoken to Thune and plans to have further conversations with the Senate leader and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. He declined to agree with some arguments that the tactics used on him has emboldened attacks on Democrats, like Saturday’s shooting. "I’ll have more to say in the coming days," Padilla said. Some lawmakers expressed skepticism about the calls for increased security. South Dakota GOP Sen. Mike Rounds, noted that those who were shot on Saturday were state legislators. He also noted that he served in the statehouse for 10 years and said it wasn’t feasible to have security at all times. "My question would be how far do you go and at what point?" he said. Rounds pointed out that the U.S. Capitol Police authorize additional security for House members and Senators "when there is a known threat.” Rounds said he supported increased investigations of online threats against lawmakers. He said social media pushes some people to escalate the tone of their rhetoric. "Once you get to the point of threatening that’s when maybe someone needs to have a visit with them," Rounds said.

CNN [6/17/2025 1:51 AM, Karina Tsui, Michelle Watson, 875K] reports that, after a 43-hour manhunt and intense search, authorities arrested a Minnesota man accused of shooting two state Democratic lawmakers and their spouses. Vance Boelter, 57, now faces both federal and state charges in connection with the killings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. He is also accused of shooting Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who both survived the attack. Boelter is also accused of going to the homes of two other unnamed state lawmakers that morning "with the intent to kill them," according to authorities. He was apprehended Sunday night in a wooded area near where he lives, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference. Authorities deployed hundreds of detectives and 20 SWAT teams to assist with his arrest and capture. "This is a great example of coordination and collaboration," Walz said. "Multiple agencies, federal, state and local coordinating together in a way to protect the public and close this hunt around.” Boelter, an outspoken evangelical Christian who questioned American morals of sexual orientation, appeared in federal court Monday wearing an orange jumpsuit and slippers. He was unshackled while sitting next to a defense attorney in court. He will remain in custody until his next court hearing, scheduled for June 27. Here’s what we know about the crimes he is accused of committing on June 14: Boelter worked for a security company that advertised a fleet of "police type vehicles," and other equipment that could potentially have aided him in appearing to be law enforcement. A longtime friend told CNN on Saturday that Boelter was a conservative who strongly opposed abortion rights but never mentioned any anger with the lawmakers who were shot. "It wasn’t the thing that defined him," David Carlson said of Boelter’s religious and political beliefs. Carlson added, "He wasn’t a hateful person. But he needed help.” Boelter largely shied away from political posts on his publicly available social media accounts and did not discuss abortion rights in any religious speeches reviewed by CNN. In one talk he gave in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, he appeared sharply critical of LGBTQ rights. "There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are, they don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul," he said in a sermon at a Pentecostal church in eastern DRC.

The Hill [6/16/2025 9:55 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 18649K] reports the suspect charged in connection to the shootings of two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses this weekend is said to have left behind notebooks filled with dozens of lawmakers’ names — in what observers are now referring to as a "hit list.” Authorities say that Vance Boelter, 57, shot and killed former Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at their home early Saturday and injured state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette, in a shooting at their home about 8 miles away earlier the same morning. Boelter faces a stalking charge for each lawmaker he shot, murder charges for the killings of Hortman and her husband and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence. According to a newly unsealed affidavit, Boelter left behind his SUV when fleeing the Hortmans’ home, and police discovered several notebooks with names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials. Police also found five firearms and a "large quantity" of ammunition. The notebooks also contained lists of internet-based search engines to query people’s addresses, according to the affidavit. "This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service," Alvin Winston, special agent in charge at the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, said at Monday’s press conference. The lists included the names of numerous federal lawmakers, several of whom have publicly stated that the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) informed them that their names were on the list. Names of both U.S. senators from Minnesota — Democrats Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar — were included on the list, according to local news outlets, which reported that other names of Minnesota lawmakers, as well as abortion providers, were included on the list. Minnesota Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison said they were included on the list, Axios reported. The list reportedly named several Michigan Democrats, as well. A spokesperson for USCP declined to say which lawmakers were named on the list but said, "Since we were notified of the violence targeting lawmakers in Minnesota, we have been working around the clock with our Congressional, federal, state and local partners to ensure that the Members of Congress impacted by this terrible event have a strong security plan.” "We continue to closely coordinate with the House and Senate Sergeant at Arms to enhance security for Members of Congress. Their partnerships, along with assistance from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies across the country, are extremely important to keep everyone safe," the spokesperson continued. "For safety and security reasons, we will not discuss those details, but we will continue to focus on continuing intelligence sharing with our partners and providing proactive enhancements," the spokesperson added.

Washington Examiner [6/16/2025 12:38 PM, Elaine Mallon, 1934K] reports that Minnesota authorities arrested Vance Boelter, the suspect in the assassination of Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and the failed assassination attempt of Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, on Sunday afternoon after a daylong manhunt. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley called it the "largest manhunt in state history" that required the response of multiple response teams and a state patrol helicopter. "Where he was ultimately taken into custody was in a field," Bruley said. Boelter, 57, is married with five children and lives in Green Isle, a rural community southwest of Minneapolis. He was also renting a small room inside a shared home from a friend due to his late shifts working between two funeral services companies, at which he removed dead bodies from homes and nursing homes. From 2023 to 2024, Boelter attended Des Moines Area Community College, taking classes in the school’s mortuary science program, a school spokesperson told the New York Times. On Boelter’s LinkedIn, he is listed as the CEO of the Red Lion Group, the operations of which are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company’s website is no longer accessible, but an archived version stated its mission was to create "good jobs for local people." Boelter, a self-proclaimed Christian, has delivered sermons in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including one in which he criticized gay and transgender people. He became an ordained minister in 1993. The AP [6/16/2025 11:36 AM, Jim Mustian and Michael Biesecker, 1611K] reports that the man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House held deeply religious and politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a "bad place" where most churches didn’t oppose abortion. Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was captured late Sunday following a two-day manhunt authorities described as the largest in the state’s history. Boelter is accused of impersonating a police officer and gunning down former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home outside Minneapolis. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz described the shooting as "a politically motivated assassination." Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were shot earlier by the same gunman at their home nearby but survived. Friends and former colleagues interviewed by AP described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for President Donald Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota where voters don’t list party affiliation. Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said at a briefing on Sunday that Boelter is not believed to have made any public threats before the attacks. Evans asked the public not to speculate on a motivation for the attacks. "We often want easy answers for complex problems," he told reporters. "Those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our investigation." Friends told the AP that they knew Boelter was religious and conservative, but that he didn’t talk about politics often and didn’t seem extreme. "He was right-leaning politically but never fanatical, from what I saw, just strong beliefs," said Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years.

New York Times [6/16/2025 7:04 PM, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, 138952K] reports that When the gunman in the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers approached their homes early on Saturday morning, he was armed with not just a handgun but also a wealth of other gear: a black tactical vest, a badge, a flashlight, a Taser. He arrived in a black S.U.V. with flashing police lights. “No question, if they were in this room, you would assume they were a police officer,” Mark Bruley, the police chief of Brooklyn Park, Minn., said not long after the shootings, as officers searched for a suspect. On Monday, state and federal authorities investigating the case filed murder and other charges against Vance Boelter, a Minnesota resident who was in the process of starting his own private security company. The killings were the latest in a long history of crimes committed by people who won the trust of victims by posing as law enforcement officers. Among the more well-known cases was a prank caller who posed as a police officer to convince a McDonald’s manager in Kentucky to strip search an employee in 2004, and a man who was convicted of murdering a Long Island man in 2005 after pulling him over on the road with flashing lights on his S.U.V. And this year, amid high-profile immigration raids conducted by federal authorities, several people have been arrested and accused of impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to threaten and intimidate others.

Detroit Free Press [6/16/2025 12:21 PM, Arpan Lobo and Todd Spangler, 4241K] reports that the suspected gunman arrested in the shooting of two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota had a list of names in one of his vehicles that included the names of Michigan officials, according to law enforcement. Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested after state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot multiple times and wounded in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, two neighboring suburban cities 10 to 20 miles outside Minneapolis, USA Today reported. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder, according to a criminal complaint. Minnesota law enforcement officials said June 14 a list of individuals, potentially targets, was found in one of Boelter’s vehicles, NPR reported. At a press conference, officials said the names on the list were largely in midwestern states, including Michigan. "We are in coordination with our federal partners and our fusion centers in those states to coordinate with local law enforcement and the FBI in those states ... to be able to provide that information and notify those individuals," Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said June 15 after Boelter was arrested. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [6/17/2025 12:26 AM, Mary Clare Jalonick and Joey Cappelletti, 3077K] reports members of Congress will attend emergency briefings this week after the murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker brought renewed fears — and stoked existing partisan tensions — over the security of federal lawmakers when in Washington and at home. The suspect in the attack had dozens of federal lawmakers listed in his writings, in addition to the state lawmakers and others he allegedly targeted. The man is accused of shooting and killing former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs and wounding another lawmaker and his wife at their home. The shootings come after credible threats to members of Congress have more than doubled in the last decade, the troubling tally of an era that has been marked by a string of violent attacks against lawmakers and their families. In 2011, Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot and wounded at an event in her Arizona district. In 2017, Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot and wounded as he practiced for a congressional baseball game with other GOP lawmakers near Washington. In 2022, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was attacked in his home by a man who broke into their San Francisco home. And in 2024, two different men tried to assassinate Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. All four survived, some with serious injuries. But those attacks, among others and many close calls for members of both parties, have rattled lawmakers and raised recurring questions about whether they have enough security — and whether they can ever be truly safe in their jobs. “I don’t have a solution to this problem right now,” said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a friend of Hortman’s who received increased security after the attack. “I just see so clearly that this current state of play is not sustainable.” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said lawmakers are “clearly at the point where we have to adjust the options available to us.” The U.S. Capitol Police’s threat assessment section investigated 9,474 “concerning statements and direct threats” against members of Congress last year, the highest number since 2021, the year that the Capitol was attacked by Trump’s supporters after he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat. In 2017, there were 3,939 investigated threats, the Capitol Police said.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [6/16/2025 10:28 AM, Emily Hallas, 1934K]

NPR [6/16/2025 12:52 PM, Michel Martin and Destinee Adams, 37958K] reports that Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is calling for fellow lawmakers and the general public to tone down incendiary rhetoric, while hailing a slain Democratic state lawmaker as "one of the most consequential speakers in Minnesota history." "This is an ongoing threat to elected officials overall," Klobuchar told Morning Edition. "We in Washington, throughout our country, people who are engaging in this rhetoric that has inflamed an already difficult time in our country have to look in the mirror." The man wanted in the attack, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, is in custody after a statewide manhunt that involved hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement after the shooting deaths of Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. Officials say the couple were shot and killed early Saturday in their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park by a man impersonating a police officer. Another Democratic state lawmaker, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife were shot and wounded. NPR’s Michel Martin spoke with Klobuchar about Horton and the impact of her killing. Klobuchar: This is an ongoing threat to elected officials overall, not this particular man. One of the things that came out yesterday is there actually were multiple lists. It wasn’t just one list. We learned from federal law enforcement, for instance, that I was on another list with lawmakers whose names haven’t been made public. I know NPR has not been calling this a manifesto, probably for a good reason. It was a collection of documents which contained multiple lists and other things about issues. We also know abortion providers like Planned Parenthood were on the list.

USA Today [6/17/2025 5:07 AM, Will Carless, 75552K] reports just as politically motivated attacks by so-called "lone actors" surge across the country, the administration of President Donald Trump is dismantling the very office that oversees efforts to identify and stop such violent extremists before they strike. In the four months since Trump took office, his administration has shrunk the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, or CP3, from dozens of analysts and supervisors to fewer than 10 people, led by a 22-year-old recent graduate with no law enforcement or homeland security experience. Indeed, less than 24 hours before a man shot two Minnesota legislators and their spouses, killing one couple and critically injuring the other, the CP3 office reassigned the last of its senior advisors, said Bill Braniff, who used to lead the center but quit in protest in March. “The office is being incrementally dismantled,” said Braniff, who is now executive director of the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University. “They explicitly say that they’re terminating the office – it’s not like this is innuendo.” In a statement, a DHS official pushed back on claims that dismantling the CP3 program is putting American lives at risk, saying it "plays an insignificant and ineffective role in the broader efforts." "The Department of Homeland Security has a robust counterterrorism program," the official said in a statement. "Unfortunately, under the Biden administration, CP3​ was weaponized against political opponents and its main purpose was to funnel money to progressive groups. It should be no surprise to anyone that the Trump Administration is making a diligent effort to end waste, fraud, and abuse – this office is just another example.” DHS did not respond to detailed questions about the program and its effectiveness. National security experts, including one who ran counter-terrorism efforts under Trump in his first term, told USA TODAY the dismantling of the CP3 office is dangerous and counter-productive, especially given the steady drumbeat of politically motivated killings that has marked the first half of 2025.

Wall Street Journal [6/16/2025 5:34 PM, Staff, 646K] reports is cruelty part of the White House strategy for mass deportation? Sometimes it appears so, and a case in point is the legal ambush to deny in-state tuition to the so-called Dreamers. These are the adults who were brought to the U.S. illegally while they were children. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, championed a 2001 state law that granted those children the in-state tuition rate at state colleges rather than the higher rate charged to non-residents. The students must have lived in the state for at least three years prior to graduating from high school and a year before enrolling in college to qualify. The idea is to make it easier for these children to attend college since noncitizens don’t qualify for federal loans. Their future economic contributions could more than pay for the tuition subsidy. Some two dozen states have followed the Texas example. Immigration restrictionists claim the tuition break encourages illegal migration and results in undocumented students taking the admissions slots of citizens. But Dreamers have to meet the same admission standards as state residents, and the tuition discount encourages assimilation and academic achievement. Do they really think child migrants have rushed across the border so they can pay a lower cost to attend a Texas public college?

Wall Street Journal [6/16/2025 5:37 PM, Staff, 646K] reports how much does it cost to secure a border that President Trump has already closed? The Administration wants to maximize spending on border measures that aren’t likely to cut illegal migration any further. But Congress can strike a better balance between security and fiscal responsibility. The Senate Homeland Security Committee released text Thursday for the border section of the reconciliation bill, and its plans curb the excesses of the version the House passed last month. The biggest loser is the border wall, which would have its new funding slashed to $6.5 billion from $46.5 billion in the House bill. The Senate proposal devotes $39 billion to the border compared with the $62 billion approved in the House. These lower funding levels are a better match for the current state of the border. Fewer than 13,000 illegal migrants have been apprehended while crossing the border in each of the past three months, compared with a peak of more than 300,000 in a single month under President Biden. President Trump halted illegal migration by pausing new asylum claims, which didn’t require tens of billions of dollars for new barriers and surveillance. Yet the White House wants to mark its agenda with a big dollar figure, and it’s preparing to steamroll Senate opponents. When Sen. Rand Paul, who leads the Homeland Security Committee, described his spending plans on X last week, Trump adviser Stephen Miller accused him of “trying to cut funding” for border security. It’s usually a Democratic tactic to blast smaller spending increases as “cuts,” but Mr. Miller used the line to lobby GOP Senators during a visit to Capitol Hill. The standoff is a shame, because the slimmed down plan would still achieve President Trump’s border goals. “Current estimates are that a 1,000 miles of wall can be built for about $7 billion,” Sen. Paul said last week, adding that other parts of the bill devote $68 billion to detention, border patrol and immigration judges. The Kentucky Senator is famous for fiscal stubbornness, but his proposal wouldn’t shortchange security.

New York Times [6/16/2025 1:52 PM, Binyamin Appelbaum, 138952K] reports that no one has ever campaigned on a platform calling for the United States to maintain a permanent underclass of illegal workers. America’s immigration mess isn’t the expression of a coherent ideology. We are stuck in this unpalatable reality because no one has mustered sufficient support for mass deportation or for legalization. President Trump presented his election as an end to the stalemate — a mandate for deportation. But he is learning the hard way that he is also subject to the competing forces that have long prevented any significant change in the status quo. Last week Trump suspended a key part of his deportation campaign, instructing federal immigration agents to pull back from raids on farms, hotels and restaurants in pursuit of people who do not have permission to work in the United States. The president tellingly attributed the shift to complaints from employers, many of whom depend on the labor of workers who aren’t allowed to work here. Trump quickly sought to reassure supporters by declaring that the government would expand immigration raids in cities. But the reality is that he is caught in a trap of his own making. The president has built political support for deportations by demonizing immigrants, and many Americans have been receptive to his arguments in the abstract. They have been all too willing to believe that the immigrants they don’t know are bad people. The problem Trump now faces is that the people he’s trying to round up and deport are not gang members. They’re farmworkers and restaurant cooks.

The Hill [6/16/2025 1:00 PM, Harlan Ullman, 18649K]Israel’s strikes against Iran, launched in the early hours on Friday, followed up by attacks against Iran’s natural gas facilities, raise an important question: What could go wrong? The consequences of these attacks, which could also cripple Iranian air and other defenses, and which Israel says will continue until Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon over the short and possibly medium term, will be profound and unpredictable. Whether this escalates further and leads to the overthrow of the ayatollahs or a negotiation is among the possible outcomes. As with Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web, these attacks demonstrate operational brilliance of the first order. One wonders if the U.S. and NATO could show this level of innovative thinking and planning. Still, the conflict in Gaza is burning. And the war in Ukraine shows no sign of abating — quite the opposite, given the likelihood of an ongoing Russian summer offensive. Events at home are equally volatile and unpredictable. The National Guard and a battalion of U.S. Marines have been deployed to deal with the protests and violence taking place in Los Angeles over immigration policies and the role of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in arresting migrants accused of illegally entering the U.S. and who, in some cases, have committed serious crimes. While this violence could spread across the nation, the parade in Washington marking the Army’s 250th birthday, as well as President Trump’s 79th birthday, was relatively protest-free, despite the "No Kings" protests taking place in several cities the same day.

FOX News [6/17/2025 5:00 AM, Simon Hankinson, 46878K] reports would you let absolutely anyone in your house, with no conditions? Of course not. If even an invited guest got rowdy, trashed your kitchen, took over your bathroom, insulted your religion, or invited their friends to set up tents on your lawn, you’d send them packing. By the same token, no nation should be forced to admit people who hate that country and its values. Visas are a privilege, not a right. Furthermore, foreigners visiting, studying, or working here have fewer rights and more limited "due process" than citizens – as they should. The rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship should be held to a much higher standard, not watered down and "given" to those with lesser immigration status or skin in the game. I was a U.S. Foreign Service officer from 1999-2022, and my first tour was to our Embassy in New Delhi, India. We officers on the "visa line" did around 150 interviews a day to determine whether Indian applicants were qualified to come to the U.S. We used a two-page paper form that had little information, which we checked against a criminal and terrorist records database that was not as comprehensive as today’s. If the communications systems went down, we had to rely on CDs that were weeks old to check the names. All the September 11, 2001, hijackers were in the United States on non-immigrant visas; mostly tourist/visitor visas, although there was at least one holding a student visa. The world became a lot riskier, and the U.S. needed to adapt the way we admitted foreigners. The massive 9/11 Commission Report detailed inefficiencies and loopholes in the way U.S. intelligence and national security agencies worked with the Department of State to check the names, dates of birth and other personal information of applicants before issuing them visas. In response, the State Department added forms and took more information from each applicant, so we knew as much as possible about who wanted to come to our country and why. State also improved the way that information was shared and vetted by the rest of the U.S. government so that everything we collectively knew about any John Q. Foreigner was considered before we let him into the country. The change in process slowed things at first, but then we adapted and increased efficiency. The entire application process is now done online, where entered data is combined with a photo and fingerprints for each person. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [6/16/2025 5:28 PM, Joseph Cella, 2106K] reports that Michigan has become ground zero for Beijing’s efforts to undermine America from within. Its target method? Economic incursions in the form of investments and partnerships. Although less overt than traditional warfare, Beijing’s economic warfare is designed to increase U.S. reliance on China and serve as footholds for espionage and even potential sabotage on U.S. soil. The Senate is considering President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the House of Representatives. The legislation includes provisions that attempt to address this national security threat. Although the House-approved version offers some guardrails, it allows U.S. companies that rely on Chinese technology to receive the Section 45X advanced manufacturing production tax credit for two years. To correct this major weakness, the Senate must close this gap and ensure that no tax credits or incentives in this legislation benefit Beijing for any period. Two high-profile examples in Michigan highlight the stakes: an electric vehicle battery plant in Big Rapids developed by Gotion and an EV battery plant in Marshall developed by Ford and Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. Gotion and CATL are Chinese companies closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party. These projects are not merely commercial; they are Trojan horses designed to expand China’s strategic entanglement in the U.S. under the guise of global commerce. Assertions that these partnerships are peaceful investments are naive. Under Chinese law, there is no such thing as a private company. All Chinese companies are required to assist in intelligence-gathering.

Reuters [6/16/2025 6:40 PM, Kanishka Singh, 51390K] reports that a congressman from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party has raised concerns with the Trump administration about the U.S. detention of Venezuelan activist Gregory Sanabria Tarazona, who had been seeking asylum in the United States. The activist previously participated in demonstrations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and had fled Venezuela after "being arbitrarily detained and tortured by Maduro’s government," according to Amnesty International. He had applied for asylum in the U.S. and was scheduled to appear at his preliminary asylum hearing on July 1, Washington Post reported. The activist was taken into custody on Thursday when he was checking in with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston, Republican U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "I sent a letter to DHS raising serious concerns about its recent detainment of Gregory Sanabria, a brave political prisoner who spent more than three years imprisoned - including in Maduro’s infamous torture center, El Helicoide," the lawmaker said on social media. "Sanabria must not be returned to his oppressors," the lawmaker said, referring to a potential deportation of the activist. Amnesty International separately demanded that the activist be granted international protection and that his right to seek asylum be upheld. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, had no immediate comment. A senior Homeland Security Department official told the Miami Herald that the activist would remain in ICE custody pending a decision by an immigration judge. "All of his claims will be heard by the judge," the official was quoted as saying. Maduro’s government has denied accusations of torture.

CNN [6/16/2025 7:36 PM, Gloria Pazmino, 875K] reports lawyers for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil renewed requests to have the pro-Palestinian activist released on bail or transferred from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to New Jersey, where he can be closer to his family and his counsel, according to court documents filed on Monday. Lawyers for Khalil submitted renewed motions in response to a federal judge’s decision to continue holding Khalil in custody after lawyers for the Department of Justice argued that Khalil’s failure to provide information on his permanent residence application was sufficient to prevent his release. "This is just another cruel attempt by the government to punish Mahmoud for his protected speech," Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil’s attorneys, said in a statement. "Detaining someone on a charge like this is highly unusual and, frankly, outrageous.” Last week, Judge Michael Farbiarz said a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student’s presence in the country had "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States" was likely unconstitutional and ordered Khalil’s release. The government swiftly appealed. In their request, lawyers for Khalil described his ongoing detention as "extraordinary" and said he is entitled to bail, noting he is not a flight risk or a danger to the community. Khalil, a lawful permanent resident – who is married to a US citizen – remains at a Louisiana ICE detention center, where he has been held for more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University’s campus in March. He has missed out on key milestones due to his detainment: notably the birth of his first child in April and his Columbia graduation.

Axios [6/16/2025 6:35 AM, Brittany Gibson, 13599K] reports President Trump’s immigration crackdown is burning through cash so quickly that the agency charged with arresting, detaining and removing unauthorized immigrants could run out of money next month. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already $1 billion over budget by one estimate, with more than three months left in the fiscal year. That’s alarmed lawmakers in both parties — and raised the possibility of Trump clawing funds from agencies to feed ICE. Lawmakers say ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is at risk of violating U.S. law if it continues to spend at its current pace. That’s added urgency to calls for Congress to pass Trump’s "Big Beautiful Bill," which could direct an extra $75 billion or so to ICE over the next five years. It’s also led some lawmakers to accuse DHS and ICE of wasting money. "Trump’s DHS is spending like drunken sailors," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the DHS appropriations subcommittee. If Trump’s big bill isn’t passed soon, he could use his authority to declare a national emergency to redirect money to ICE from elsewhere in the government — similar to what he did in 2020 to divert nearly $4 billion in Pentagon funds to his border wall project. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Axios that "Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, DHS is rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and is reprioritizing appropriated dollars." "President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is critical to ensure we have the funding to secure our homeland for generations and deliver on the American people’s mandate for safety and security," McLaughlin said.

AP [6/16/2025 12:16 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports that the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) National President Mathew Silverman condemned the response to recent public remarks by elected officials that have endangered the safety and integrity of federal law enforcement personnel. Silverman expressed serious concern over statements made by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for wearing protective masks during enforcement operations. In his remarks, Leader Jeffries stated, “Every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will, of course, be identified.” According to Silverman, these comments are irresponsible and dangerous, particularly as federal agents are already facing unprecedented levels of harassment and threats. ICE agents have adopted face coverings in the field as a safety precaution in response to a dramatic increase in doxxing and violence. The Department of Homeland Security reports that assaults against federal officers have surged by more than 400%. “Masking identities is not a tactic of concealment. It is a measure of protection for the agents and their families,” said Silverman. “For an elected official to call for the exposure of their identities, despite the known risks, reflects a serious lapse in judgment and leadership.”

Free Beacon [6/16/2025 12:45 PM, Chuck Ross, 773K] reports that Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is seeking taxpayer funds for a left-wing group facing a congressional investigation for advising illegal aliens how to evade federal immigration agents. The New York Democrat requested $600,000 for the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), a New York City-based nonprofit, as part of the congressionally directed spending program, according to documents his office released last week. Members of Congress submit the spending requests each year for causes "reflecting their federal funding priorities," according to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Schumer’s request for CPC comes as Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee are investigating the organization as part of a probe "into the potential use of federal funds by NGOs to facilitate illegal immigration." Reps. Mark Green (R., Tenn.) and Josh Brecheen (R., Okla.) launched the investigation in April after an undercover video showed CPC chief policy officer Carlyn Cowen advising a group of illegal aliens how to evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Cowen advised attendees of the March 8 training session on "hardening your physical space," "identifying a list of individuals authorized to respond if ICE comes to the door," and "training everybody who’s going to be involved," according to the video, which was released by the Oversight Project. Cowen advised restaurant workers to use an electronic alert system to inform other employees of the presence of "La Migra," or immigration agents.

NewsNation [6/16/2025 8:18 PM, Ashley N. Soriano, 5801K] reports once the face of war posters, Uncle Sam has symbolized American patriotism for more than a century. Now, the Department of Homeland Security has used the iconic imagery to urge Americans to report what the Trump administration calls “illegal aliens.” The agency posted a cartoon graphic on its official page on the social platform X, depicting Uncle Sam nailing a poster that reads “Help Your Country… and Yourself…” The image also reads, “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS” with the phone number for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The DHS wrote in the caption, “Help your country locate and arrest illegal aliens.” The post received both support and criticism in the comments. “This is America. We won’t apologize for making America great again. Don’t like the poster? Time to leave America,” one user wrote. “I will report and help remove illegals.” Another user responded, “Nazis had similar posters for the Jews.”

Boston Herald [6/16/2025 7:08 AM, Matthew Medsger, 1200K] reports federal immigration officials blasted Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for touting ‘lawlessness’ in the aftermath of a wave of immigration enforcement in the state. The statement from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons made direct criticism of Healey and Wu following the release of a Milford teen arrested on his way to volleyball practice by immigration officers looking for his dad. Healey invited the teen, Marcelo Gomes da Silva, to the State House on Friday where she gave him a rosary she received at the Vatican. "Politicians like Mayor Wu and Governor Healey have loudly touted lawlessness over law and order. Their prioritization of criminal aliens in communities across the state should speak volumes to their constituents. As these elected officials welcome those flouting national laws, ICE’s brave law enforcement officers protecting public safety will continue to perform the job they refuse to do," Lyons said in a statement Sunday. Healey returned the criticism. "As a former Attorney General, public safety is always a top priority for me. ICE should be focusing on those with criminal backgrounds, like they said they were going to do," Healey said in a statement to the Herald Sunday. "Instead, they’re doubling down on their arrest of Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, a high school student who came here when he was 6 years old, has been a model member of his community, and has no criminal record. It just doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t make anyone safer," she continued. Wu last week signed an executive order demanding details of individuals arrested by ICE, something Lyons said the agency would be happy to comply with. "We look forward to showing the great work of ICE and the criminal illegal aliens that the city is harboring," Lyons told the Herald. The Trump administration late last week directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after President Donald Trump expressed alarm about the impact of aggressive enforcement, an official said Saturday. Tatum King, an official with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, wrote regional leaders on Thursday to halt investigations of the agricultural industry, including meatpackers, restaurants and hotels, according to The New York Times. "We will follow the President’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets," Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, said when asked to confirm the directive.

New York Post [6/16/2025 4:21 PM, Carl Campanile, 49956K] reports State Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a misconduct probe of New York local law enforcement authorities helping the Trump administration crack down on illegal immigration, The Post has learned. The AG’s office asked Oswego County Sheriff Don Hilton for documents outlining any cooperation between local law enforcement officials and federal agencies, including Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security. A letter from the office asked Oswego County Sheriff Don Hilton to turn over any agreements between the office and any federal agency "concerning the enforcement of federal immigration law" – and it also asks for documentation about cops receiving training on enforcing federal immigration. The letter cited a section of state law on official misconduct — and asked for any training on immigration enforcement and a list of all traffic stops involving the office. The AG demands that the sheriff turn over any documents or information about ICE detainer requests and the detection, apprehension, or detention of people who have "allegedly violated immigration law." All communications between or among any member of the sheriff’s office and any member of Homeland Security or its sub agencies — including CBP, and ICE at traffic stops is also requested.

Daily Caller [6/16/2025 12:01 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports a watchdog group is challenging the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit that’s raked in cash from Chinese government-linked sources. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed a complaint Monday with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), expressing concerns over the Chinese-American Planning Council’s (CPC) tax-exempt status, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively learned. The complaint marks the latest speed bump for the CPC, a New York City nonprofit organization, after undercover video footage appeared to show one of its seminars teaching audience members how to avoid deportation officers. “We have several concerns regarding CPC’s compliance with federal law regarding tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) including but not limited to coaching illegal immigrants on how to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehension and assisting in the facilitation of illegal immigration,” James Fitzpatrick, director of CASA, wrote to the Acting IRS Commissioner Michael Faulkender Monday. “We are also concerned that CPC is using Chinese government-linked sources to assist in the funding of these potentially illegal activities,” Fitzpatrick continued. “Given the severity of our concerns and the potential violation of federal law, a thorough investigation into CPC’s potential violations of federal law and their ties to Chinese government-linked funding sources to assist in the execution of these potentially illegal activities is warranted.” The CPC did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

FOX News [6/16/2025 11:37 AM, Taylor Penley, 46878K] reports New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned anti-ICE protesters they will not be allowed to impede law enforcement in the Big Apple, as activists work to disrupt the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. The Democrat-turned-independent warned against impeding ICE operations in America’s most populous city as he made his re-election pitch to "Fox & Friends" viewers on Monday. "You’re not going to impede federal authorities from taking their actions, and that’s just what we were able to accomplish," he said. "So if you were those who were sitting in the roadway, blocking trucks, blocking pedestrians, or blocking parents from wanting to go to the job…. it’s not going to happen in the city. "We took the right actions throughout this entire initiative. I communicated with the governor and the administration to say, in New York City, we have the manpower to handle this problem.” To showcase how the city successfully mitigated mass protests over the weekend, Adams pointed to the lack of violent incidents in the Big Apple during "No Kings Day" demonstrations, which were organized across the U.S. in response to the Trump administration’s policies and actions. He told the "Fox & Friends" hosts few arrests were made, and they were "disorderly conduct-type crimes.” New York City has been the subject of national attention in recent years due to a mass influx of illegal immigrants, many of whom were being housed in hotels

CBS New York [6/16/2025 8:54 PM, Elijah Westbrook, Marcia Krame and Tim McNicholas, 51860K] reports President Trump is now directing federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from New York and other Democratic-run cities. Mayor Eric Adams said city leaders will be seeking more information. Mr. Trump’s order follows Saturday’s nationwide "No Kings" protests. Writing on the social media site Truth Social, Mr. Trump is calling for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct the largest mass deportation program in history. "In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport illegal aliens in America’s largest cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where millions upon millions of illegal aliens reside," the president wrote. This latest move comes after the Trump administration announced that ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests per day, up from around 650 a day during the first five months of Mr. Trump’s second term. Adams said Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will be talking with the federal government to find out exactly what will take place. "The federal government is in charge of immigration enforcement, but we are not gonna collaborate with civil enforcement, and we’re gonna encourage people to not live in fear and go on with their lives," Adams said. The mayor also said the city will always collaborate with criminal enforcement, such as helping federal authorities catch gang members. Mr. Trump’s order also follows Saturday’s nationwide "No Kings" protests in response to the recent immigration raids, which Adams said remained peaceful in New York City. "We saw what’s best about our city. One, our police commissioner and the men and women of the law enforcement community, the job well done," Adams said. "At the same time, we saw New Yorkers who came out, 50,000-plus, several different marches in the city and in the outer boroughs, they did it in a peaceful way.” However, the mayor did confirm that at least 14 people were arrested at demonstrations in the city. In an interview with CBS News New York, Adams added the NYPD is in communication with federal authorities on ongoing protests over immigration enforcement. He said the city has no need for National Guard troops to respond.

CBS New York [6/16/2025 6:08 PM, Carolyn Gusoff, 51860K] Video: HERE reports a Long Island community is rattled after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained the manager of a bagel shop. Schmear Bagel and Cafe in Port Washington is usually full of good vibes as manager Fernando Mejia serves up smiles. But there were tears Monday after ICE picked him up in the parking lot when he arrived for work. Mejia allegedly overstayed a visa 20 years ago, which led to ICE taking him into custody last week. "They love him. All the parents trust him with their kids. He’s even cooked, many people have hired him into their own home," George Tsikis, the bagel shop’s owner, said. Mejia’s father, in the U.S. from El Salvador to help his son with health problems, was allowed one 30-second phone call with him, he said. "He came to look for the American dream and this is what America gave him," a woman at the bagel shop said. Mejia’s detainment came amid a recent flurry of ICE activity on Long Island. Earlier this week, video surfaced allegedly showing ICE agents taking a Hispanic U.S. citizen into custody in Westbury during another incident in June. Meanwhile, Schmear Bagel and Cafe patrons said they were surprised Mejia was targeted because they had the impression ICE was after violent criminals. "Does the government see that he did something wrong? Hand him a ticket. Hand him a summons. You got to be in court, and so on. You just can’t make people disappear. This is not East Germany," Jeff Siegel said. "Upset. Mad. Hurt. He’s a great guy. He gets up everyday, works, pays his taxes, and he works to take care of his family. He has no criminal record. There’s no reason for this," one of Mejia’s coworkers said. CBS News New York reached out to ICE about Mejia’s case and is waiting for a response. The Port Washington community has raised thousands to hire a lawyer for him. ICE has stated in general terms that it is "removing criminals who threaten public safety and national security. Three in four arrests were criminal illegal aliens, putting the worst first.” Immigration attorney Ala Amoachi said ICE also detained Nuvia Ventura, a mother of five disabled children in Brentwood. Ventura was detained after showing up for an asylum hearing last week, she said. "For them, all immigrants are criminals. It’s not about having a criminal record. It’s not about being a suspected gang member," Amoachi said.

New York Post [6/16/2025 6:50 PM, Reuven Fenton and Chris Nesi, 49956K] reports that it was business as usual on crime-ridden Roosevelt Avenue Monday — despite ICE ramping up immigration enforcement raids and President Trump’s promise of an even tougher crackdown on Democrat-run cities. A smattering of sex workers and knockoff goods-peddlers working the seedy stretch of Queens told The Post they were afraid of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hitting the area, but not enough to keep them from plying their trades. "I don’t want to be here. I’m scared. I watch every minute to see if ICE shows up and I’m ready to run," said Martina, a street walker who came to the US from Venezuela about two years ago. "This has been every day. First I was scared of the police and now I’m scared of ICE. But what can I do? I have babies at home and I have no husband to provide for us," she continued. "If ICE takes me, I don’t know what happens to them," she said. Locals earlier this year penned a letter to Trump border czar Tom Homan asking for federal assistance to deal with the rampant street crime they claimed was being spurred by homeless illegal immigrants. The street was also once a breeding ground for sex-trafficking being perpetrated by gangs like Tren de Aragua, according to law-enforcement sources. Advocates told The Post last year the vicious gang targeted women in city migrant shelters and forced them into sex work. Gov. Kathy Hochul sent in hundreds of state troopers last fall to take control of the area. Trump, on Truth Social Sunday, announced plans to bring sweeping changes to big US cities known as hotbeds for unchecked illegal immigration — primarily Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. He vowed to unleash ICE agents to carry out "the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History." "In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside," Trump wrote. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [6/16/2025 10:23 AM, Jonathan Dienst, Chris Glorioso, and Jennifer Millman, 44540K] reports federal officials continue Monday to search for two detainees who went missing from an immigration detention center in New Jersey last week and are offering a reward up to $10,000 for the arrest of each. A total of four initially escaped Newark’s Delaney Hall facility, where ICE has been holding individuals facing possible deportation, on Thursday. One was captured in Passaic on Saturday, by the FBI and ICE, and a second was taken into custody Sunday. Franklin Norberto Bautista Reyes, 20, and Andres Felipe Pineda Mogollon, 24, both of whom federal authorities described as public safety threats, remain at large. Local and state authorities are assisting with the investigation. "Additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees and a BOLO [be on the lookout] has been disseminated," DHS has said in a statement. "We encourage the public to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE if they have information that may lead to the locating of these individuals."

CBS Baltimore [6/16/2025 6:35 PM, Christian Olaniran and Dennis Valera, 51860K] Video: HERE two immigration rights organizations have asked a judge to halt what they allege are "inhumane conditions" at a Baltimore Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. In their class action lawsuit, the Amica Center for Immigration Rights and the National Immigration Project (NIP) alleged that ICE "fails to meet basic human needs" for detainees. The lawsuit claims the agency is breaking its own rules. On Thursday, the groups requested a preliminary injunction. If granted, a judge would order ICE to strictly follow its holding cell policies, according to a spokesperson with the Amica Center. A decision on the motion is expected in mid-July. Lawsuit details conditions at ICE Baltimore holding center. The lawsuit stems from the case of two women who were held at the facility earlier this year. In May, a federal judge suspended their deportation after attorneys argued the longtime Maryland residents were in the United States legally. According to attorneys, the women were kept in small holding rooms at the George Fallon Federal Building in downtown Baltimore for a prolonged period of time. They were eventually moved to other facilities in New Jersey and Denver, Colorado. One of the women was held for 60 hours, the other for 48 hours, before being moved. The deportation of the two women will remain paused for as long as the case goes on. Staffers for U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks (both D-Md.) also visited the ICE holding facility in March. After their visit, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons, addressing reports about the conditions detainees have experienced in the holding rooms at the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations in the Baltimore Field Office.

Univision [6/16/2025 5:45 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports journalist Mario Guevara will remain in jail until ICE authorities review his case. He faces three charges following his arrest last Saturday while covering a protest against immigration raids in the Atlanta metropolitan area. A DeKalb County Sheriff ‘s spokeswoman confirmed to Univision that ICE has ordered a hold on the Salvadoran-born journalist. Guevara has been in the county jail since June 14, when he was arrested by Doraville police officers. The charges against the Salvadoran-born journalist are obstructing law enforcement officers, pedestrian walking on or along a roadway, and unlawful assembly. The latter was added on Monday, June 16.

Telemundo Amarillo [6/16/2025 5:25 PM, Staff, 4K] reports a multi-agency operation involving federal and Alabama authorities resulted in the arrest of dozens of people, most of them undocumented immigrants, at a cockfighting venue in Blount County last Saturday. Several law enforcement agencies executed search warrants related to the ban on animal fighting, the presence of undocumented immigrants, and the prohibition of illegal gambling. The Department of Homeland Security reported that a total of 60 people were arrested, including 55 undocumented immigrants and five U.S. citizens who were charged. Four of the undocumented immigrants are accused of re-entering the country illegally after being deported. Authorities said they also seized $100,000 in cash and two firearms.

Axios [6/16/2025 6:20 AM, Sommer Brugal, 13599K] reports the city of Miami weighs ICE agreement - Axios Miami.

Newsweek [6/16/2025 8:41 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that federal agents received a tip ahead of an enforcement operation that led to a supporter of President Donald Trump losing a third of his workforce. Five workers for a roofing company in Florida were apprehended by federal immigration agents in the Lower Keys on May 27 after being stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. "ICE received a tip about A-plus Roofing’s employment of illegal aliens in Key West, Florida," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek. DHS agents conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle displaying the company’s decal and discovered five employees inside who lacked legal immigration status. ICE and Border Patrol agents confirmed that none of the five individuals had valid documentation to be in the United States and subsequently took them into federal custody, according to DHS. DHS argued that worksite immigration enforcement helps protect all workers from exploitation and trafficking, adding that many undocumented individuals are brought into the U.S. under coercive conditions, face unsafe labor environments, and are taken advantage of by employers. "Often times, these workers are trafficked into the U.S, forced to work in unsafe conditions, and exploited by employers. These operations protect not only American workers but also illegal aliens. President Trump will not allow criminals to abuse and exploit workers for profit," McLaughlin said. The employer in question initially backed the President’s core immigration policy before it landed on his doorstep. "It’s going to be really hard to replace those guys," Vincent Scardina, the owner of the roofing company, told NBC South Florida. McLaughlin told Newsweek: "ICE and Border Patrol agents confirmed all five illegal aliens had no valid documentation to be in the United States and arrested the individuals.

Axios [6/16/2025 6:18 AM, Sam Allard, 13599K] reports the Geauga County Jail in Chardon has held an average of 43 detainees per day who have been rounded up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to recent federal data. There are six Ohio facilities used by the federal government for ICE detention during the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration. The Northeast Ohio Correctional Facility in Youngstown has held the largest average daily population of these with 71. ICE was holding more than 43,000 in detention nationwide as of May 27, according to the data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Last month, the ACLU of Ohio sued the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office for refusing to release its contracts with ICE to house detainees. The sheriff’s department countered that federal law prohibits the release of contract details, and that records should be sought directly from ICE.

CBS Chicago [6/16/2025 7:14 PM, Sabrina Franza, 51860K] Video: HERE reports Chicago organizers have been working to try to protect undocumented immigrants who have been subject to surprise ICE check-ins that sometimes lead to detentions and deportations. At 21st Street and Michigan Avenue in the South Loop Monday, a father and his two daughters paced up and down the street outside an ICE check-in site as organizers said they waited for their wife and mother inside. She had received a text similar to others CBS News Chicago has seen that tell recipients to report to a Chicago immigration field office and that a failure to do so will constitute a violation. The texts are sent to immigrants who have already given their information to federal officials as they work toward some sort of legal documentation. They report knowing agents also have their home addresses. "What we’ve seen change in the last few weeks is people are being sent last-minute text messages, asked to come in for an appointment that’s out of regular schedule, and then a couple of weeks ago we saw large numbers of people detained at their appointments," said Tovia Siegel, director of organizing for the Resurrection Project. Siegel said that after multiple people were detained at a South Loop immigration facility earlier in June, her group has been out offering advice and support ahead of check-ins. "Yeah, I want them to focus on the cities because the cities are where you really have what’s called sanctuary cities, and that’s where the people are," Trump said Monday. "I look at New York, I look at Chicago, I mean you got a really bad governor in Chicago and a bad mayor, but the governor’s probably the worst in the country, Pritzker. But I look at how that city has been overrun by criminals. And, uh, you know, New York and LA.” As of late Monday, nobody had been detained at the South Loop check-in site. Siegel said she did not know the basis of why no one was detained or how ICE made decisions on the subject.

AP [6/16/2025 8:47 AM, Heather Hollingsworth and John Hanna, 56000K] reports Leavenworth, Kansas, occupies a mythic space in American crime, its name alone evoking a short hand for serving hard time. The federal penitentiary housed gangsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly — in a building so storied that it inspired the term “the big house.” Now Kansas’ oldest city could soon be detaining far less famous people, migrants swept up in President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations of those living in the U.S. illegally. The federal government has signed a deal with the private prison firm CoreCivic Corp. to reopen a 1,033-bed prison in Leavenworth as part of a surge of contracts U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued without seeking competitive bids. ICE has cited a “compelling urgency” for thousands more detention beds, and its efforts have sent profit estimates soaring for politically connected private companies, including CoreCivic, based in the Nashville, Tennessee, area and another giant firm, The Geo Group Inc., headquartered in southern Florida. That push faces resistance. Leavenworth filed a lawsuit against CoreCivic after it tried to reopen without city officials signing off on the deal, quoting a federal judge’s past description of the now-shuttered prison as “a hell hole.” The case in Leavenworth serves as another test of the limits of the Republican president’s unusually aggressive tactics to force migrant removals.

NBC News [6/16/2025 5:35 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 44540K] reports questions are surfacing about the immigration detention of a 19-year-old college student from Utah after a traffic stop in Colorado this month. Caroline Dias Goncalves, a student at the University of Utah, was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5 when a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over. The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office did not say why. Relatives told The Salt Lake City Tribune the deputy claimed she was driving too close to a semi-truck. The stop lasted less than 20 minutes, and "Dias Goncalves was released from the traffic stop with a warning," the sheriff’s office said in a news release Monday. Then, shortly after she exited the highway, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to an immigration detention center. Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. Dias Goncalves was born in Brazil and was brought to the United States as a 7-year-old. She has lived in Utah since she was 12 and has an asylum case pending. Friends and relatives question how immigration authorities were alerted to her location. As part of an ongoing "full administrative review," the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office determined that the deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was part of a communication group that included local, state and federal law enforcement partners participating in "a multi-agency drug interdiction effort focusing on the highways throughout Western Colorado." Online records show that Dias Goncalves remains in ICE custody at the Denver Contract Detention Facility.

(B) CBS 2 News This Morning [6/16/2025 7:11 AM, Staff] reports that in Portland, police arrested three people at a riot outside an ICE facility. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLauglin says a mob of people launched fireworks, smoke grenades, and threw rocks at federal law enforcement agents at the facility. The riot happened as 50000 demonstrators gathered for the city’s No Kings protest on Saturday. Mayor Keith Wilson says the two were unrelated, noting that the riot happened miles away from the planned demonstration route.

AP [6/16/2025 8:00 PM, Olga R. Rodriguez, 875K] reports local, state, and federal law enforcement officers who cover their faces while conducting official business could face a misdemeanor charge in California under a new proposal announced Monday. If approved, the bill would require all law enforcement officials to show their faces and be identifiable by their uniform, which should carry their name or other identifier. It would not apply to the National Guard or other troops and it would exempt SWAT teams and officers responding to natural disasters. The Department of Homeland Security called the proposal "despicable" in a post on X, saying ICE officers are facing a "more than 400 percent increase in assault.” State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat representing San Francisco, and State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, a Democrat representing Berkeley and Oakland, said the proposal seeks to boost transparency and public trust in law enforcement. It also looks to protect against people trying to impersonate law enforcement, they said. "We are seeing more and more law enforcement officers, particularly at the federal level, covering their faces entirely, not identifying themselves at all and, at times, even wearing army fatigues where we can’t tell if these are law enforcement officers or a vigilante militia," Wiener said. "They are grabbing people off our streets and disappearing people, and it’s terrifying," he added. In Los Angeles, a series of immigration raids June 6 by federal officers, some with face coverings, triggered days of turbulent protests across the city and beyond and led President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troopsand Marines to the LA area. More than 100 people were detained during those raids and immigrant advocates say they have not been able to contact them. The state senators said that in recent months, federal officers have conducted raids while covering their faces, and at times their badges and names, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Concord, Downey and Montebello. "Law enforcement officers are public servants and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are. Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability," Wiener said. Videos of raids showing masked officers using unmarked vehicles and grabbing people off the streets have circulated on social media in recent weeks. DHS defended the officers’ wearing of masks in its post on X. Besides an increase in assaults, DHS says people have launched websites to reveal the identifies of ICE officers. "While ICE officers are being assaulted by rioters, a sanctuary politician is trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers," the statement says. Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, has defended his officers using facemasks, saying they wear them to protect themselves from death threats and online harassment. "I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is," he said at a news conference earlier this month in Boston to announce nearly 1,500 arrests in the region as part of a monthlong "surge operation.”

Axios [6/16/2025 6:43 PM, Nadia Lopez, 13599K] reports California is challenging President Trump’s masked immigration raids with a bill banning law enforcement officers from operating anonymously. The proposal responds to a surge in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps amid the federal administration’s aggressive deportation push. SB 627, introduced by state Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D- Oakland) on Monday, would require local, state and federal officers in California to reveal their identities — via nametags, badge numbers or other visible markers — and prohibit face coverings. "They’re grabbing people off of our streets and disappearing people and it is terrifying," Wiener said at a Monday press briefing. "This law is really rooted in two principles: to protect the safety of California’s communities and ensure that there’s transparency and accountability for law enforcement," added Arreguín. The bill follows reports of federal agents conducting masked raids in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, often without disclosing their agency or purpose. Violations would be criminalized as a misdemeanor. SWAT teams and officers wearing medical or smoke-protection masks under health or emergency protocols would be exempt, as would military personnel such as the National Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles. Law enforcement contractors must comply. The bill could very likely face opposition from law enforcement and has already drawn the ire of some Republicans, including U.S. Justice Department attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who said that "states can’t regulate what federal law enforcement wears.”

Breitbart [6/16/2025 9:03 AM, Bob Price, 3077K] reports a multi-agency task force assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with the arrest of a Guatemalan criminal alien during a targeted enforcement operation in Los Angeles. The criminal alien was deported from the United States after being sentenced to 36 months in prison for sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, officials stated. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks announced the arrest in Los Angeles of Guatemalan national Roberto Mateo. The Guatemalan man is illegally present in the United States after being deported from the U.S. in 2017. It is not clear when or where he reentered the U.S. but the federal task force located him in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles. In a social media post, Chief Banks wrote, "He returned and thought he could hide in a ‘sanctuary city.’ We are here to send a clear message to criminals: We don’t care where you hide- We will locate, arrest, and remove you."

Reported similarly:
CBS Austin [6/16/2025 2:46 PM, Ryan Minnaugh, 558K] r

FOX News [6/16/2025 5:55 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says an illegal immigrant with a past robbery conviction, and who was previously arrested on murder and assault charges, was arrested after spitting on an agent last Tuesday. Omar Pulido Bastida, 41, is facing a federal assault charge for allegedly spitting on an ICE agent while they were trying to arrest him for illegally returning to the United States, as he’s been deported before. "Despite the Los Angeles riots, ICE law enforcement officers arrested Omar Pulido-Bastida. This criminal illegal alien has been convicted of robbery and has arrests for murder and assault," Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital about the Mexican national. Pulido Bastida resides in South Central Los Angeles, and he could face eight years behind bars if convicted of assault.

Telemundo52 [6/16/2025 6:25 PM, Raymond Mesa and Elizabeth Chavolla, 103K] reports several day laborers in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Upland were targeted by ICE agents Monday morning, where another raid allegedly took place. President Donald Trump said this weekend that Democratic states and sanctuary cities will remain a priority for meeting immigration detainer quotas. This morning, a woman, who did not want to be identified out of fear, said she recorded a brief exchange she had with federal agents. A conversation that ends with the uniformed officers walking away. "A Latina girl, a woman, was able to run at the migra yelling at them outside the Home Depot and that was able to buy some compas time," said Alexis Teodoro, labor rights director for the Pomona Day Labor Center. This distraction, say other workers who did not want to give their names, prevented some comrades from being detained. "At that moment, a friend of mine ran over there and they wanted to grab him, but he ran away. I don’t know what happened to my friend," said Salvador. There are many in the community who show their support, and give them food and something to drink. "What can we do? Just give them what we can and they have every right to look for work, to get ahead," said Luz America Sanchez, who supports the day laborers. Most of those who remain there said they do not have their documents in order, but they were still questioned. "I was stopped by immigration there at the little tree here at the Home Depot and he asked me, he said, ‘good morning, identification’ and I already showed him my license, and he said, ‘Do you have any other identification?’ And I took out my Green Card and he said, ‘Have a nice day, sir,’" Salvador said. Over the weekend, President Trump posted a very clear message on his "Truth Social" social platform: "agents are ordered to do everything in their power to achieve the goal of achieving the largest mass deportation in history." To achieve this, he stated that the effort to detain 3,000 undocumented people per day will focus on the cities with the highest concentration of immigrants; Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [6/16/2025 5:01 AM, Miriam Jordan, Soumya Karlamangla, Shawn Hubler, Emily Baumgaertner Nunn, Orlando Mayorquín, and Matt Stevens, 153395K] reports it was the morning shift at Ambiance Apparel, a clothing wholesaler on the edge of Los Angeles’s fashion district, and along with a crowded showroom of mannequins and women’s skirts was a sprawling warehouse, where immigrant workers were bustling about. On any other day, the inventory would have flowed smoothly, from folded piles to cardboard boxes stacked on wooden pallets to be loaded onto trucks. But on June 6, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swarmed the premises, dozens of employees at the warehouse and at a second facility nearby fled their workstations, ducking between shelves and inside boxes. They couldn’t hide for long. One of the workers, Tomas Anastacio, 55, who has three U.S.-born, college-educated children and has lived in Los Angeles for three decades, texted his son Carlos at around 10 a.m. “Ca,” he wrote, “Immigration is at work.” Carlos responded, “Oh no, I love you very much.” When Carlos arrived at the downtown warehouse a few minutes later, Mr. Anastacio was already gone. Carlos stood in disbelief as his father’s co-workers were hauled away and their loved ones screamed, cried and bid them goodbye. By the end of the day, about 40 people had been taken into custody, and hundreds of protesters were clashing with the police in downtown Los Angeles. It was the opening salvo in days of turmoil that have upended parts of the nation’s second-largest city and touched off protests across the country. The day after the raid, as scattered protests grew, President Trump ordered thousands of National Guard and Marine Corps troops to Los Angeles in an extraordinary, and to many excessive, show of force. That Los Angeles struck the match that led thousands of Americans to take to the streets came as little surprise. The city, in the largest blue state, is home to the country’s largest undocumented population. It seemed an inevitable target for Mr. Trump’s plan to conduct mass deportations. In fact, it appears that all sides — the Trump administration; Gov. Gavin Newsom and his lawyers; activists; and immigrants themselves — had spent months preparing for this moment. ICE officials emphasized that most of their arrest targets had been people with criminal records, but that others present during their operations might also face immigration charges. “These rioters in Los Angeles are fighting to keep rapists, murderers and other violent criminals loose on Los Angeles streets,” Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement on Sunday. “Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer.”

The Hill [6/16/2025 5:17 PM, Dominick Mastrangelo, 18649K] reports a press freedom group is suing the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the city itself over what the organization says is mistreatment of journalists covering the civil unrest there in response to President Trump’s immigration initiatives. As part of a lawsuit filed Monday, the Los Angeles Press Club argued police officers trying to contain demonstrations across the city have "responded with excessive force against both the press and public." Cameras have caught tense interactions among press, protesters and police in recent days, including the brief handcuffing of a CNN reporter and video showing an Australian news reporter apparently being struck by a rubber bullet. The suit comes just days after the First Amendment Coalition, Freedom of the Press Foundation and National Press Club wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, expressing "alarm that federal officers may have violated the First Amendment rights of journalists covering recent protests and unrest," in the area.

Univision [6/16/2025 2:54 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted an operation at one of Southern California’s most popular Hispanic exchange markets. Immigration officers entered the premises, asking both vendors and customers for identification, while being supported by a helicopter and U.S. Navy personnel. Witnesses reported that officers searched the entire premises, even entering the restrooms to forcefully remove several people. Other attendees managed to flee the market without being arrested. Despite the heavy deployment, only two people were reported arrested, apparently a Colombian woman and man; however, other unconfirmed reports indicate more arrests. The incident comes after President Donald Trump ordered ICE to prioritize deportations in cities like Los Angeles, "to achieve the goal of the largest mass deportation program in history."

Univision [6/16/2025 5:40 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports the family of Jesús Martínez Quiroz, one of the immigrants detained by ICE agents last week in Downey, has finally received news of his whereabouts. His wife confirmed that the 42-year-old man, originally from Mexico, is being held in a detention center in Texas after being arrested on Wednesday, June 11, while working on a construction site. The simultaneous ICE raids in Downey that day sparked outrage and fear in the local community. Particularly controversial was the operation carried out at the Downey Memorial Christian Church. At that location, parishioners claimed that federal agents refused to identify themselves or show warrants. Two other operations occurred less than a mile from the church: one at a car wash and another in an area where two gardeners were working. The gardeners were intercepted and detained within seconds. Meanwhile, the exact number of people arrested that day remains unknown, although dozens of families continue to seek information about the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Los Angeles Times [6/16/2025 1:54 PM, Julia Wick, 14672K] reports that as a community and cultural center of Boyle Heights, Mariachi Plaza would be an obvious place for families to gather on Father’s Day. But the normally bustling plaza was all but deserted when Mayor Karen Bass visited Sunday morning. More than a week after President Trump’s immigration raids first instilled terror in Los Angeles communities, the federal sweeps have had a profound chilling effect in the overwhelmingly Latino, working-class neighborhood just east of downtown. "Mariachi Plaza was completely empty. There was not a soul there," Bass recalled a few hours later. "One restaurant, there were a handful of people. The other restaurant, there was literally nobody there." Bass visited a number of small businesses in Boyle Heights with Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), including Casa Fina, Distrito Catorce, Yeya’s and Birrieria De Don Boni, as well as the Estrada Courts public housing project, where Bass and Gonzalez both said residents were reluctant to come outside of their homes for a Father’s Day celebration. "It’s the uncertainty that continues that has an absolute economic impact. But it is pretty profound to walk up and down the streets and to see the empty streets, it reminded me of COVID," Bass told The Times on Sunday afternoon. Bass said restaurant operators in Boyle Heights told her current circumstances were actually worse than what they had faced during COVID-19, because unlike during the pandemic, there had been no ensuing bump in to-go orders.

Yahoo News [6/16/2025 10:36 PM, Anastasia Van Batenburg, 59943K] reports Mayor Karen Bass released a statement announcing a new curfew would be taking effect Monday in Downtown LA, reducing the restricted hours to 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. This adjustment follows an earlier order issued Tuesday, which had set the curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in response to a week of demonstrations. The initial measure was intended "to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting.” Mayor Bass instituted this curfew with support from elected officials, law enforcement and business leaders. In wake of the nationwide “No Kings Day” protests on Saturday, the volatility within Los Angeles appears to be easing. The LAPD reported that Sunday night marked the first night with no overnight arrests in Downtown L.A. since the beginning of anti-ICE protests. Acknowledging this shift, Bass commented, “This adjusted curfew reflects the progress we’ve made in reducing crime and vandalism within the curfew zone.” Mayor Bass emphasized her priority to the people of Los Angeles, specifically small businesses, who may be vulnerable to crime associated with the unrest. “As the curfew is narrowed, we’re continuing to ensure residents and businesses in the affected areas have the support they need,” said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who represents communities within the curfew area. “We remain focused on protecting immigrant communities, supporting small businesses, and defending the constitutional rights of all Angelenos.” The curfew area covers Downtown Los Angeles, bounded by the 5, 10 and 110 freeways. While no end date has been set, Mayor Bass indicated that the adjustment signals meaningful progress. “Pushing the curfew start time is a step in the right direction,” she said, citing the continued presence of government troops as a reason for caution.

Telemundo52 [6/16/2025 1:04 PM, Karma Dickerson, 103K] reports that on the morning of June 6, it became clear that this was no ordinary Friday in Los Angeles. Federal agents arrested people in and around downtown Los Angeles. Some of those detained were day laborers near a Home Depot in Westlake, and workers in the Fashion District at the Ambience clothing store. The following day, reports of immigration raids near a Home Depot in Paramount, a community in southern Los Angeles County, drew hundreds of protesters. The FBI shared a video of someone throwing rocks at cars. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it arrested 118 people during immigration operations last week, including arrests for drugs and assault. Protests continued into the evening in downtown Los Angeles. Monday: ICE raids continue, protests expand. Immigration enforcement continued throughout the region, including in Santa Ana, where day laborers were arrested. The federal government confirmed the deployment of 1,700 National Guard members to the Los Angeles area and the activation of 700 Marines to support the protection of federal agents and property. California sued the Trump administration for what it called an illegal federalization of the California National Guard. Sunday, June 16, 2025: Trump orders expanded ICE deportations. President Donald Trump ordered federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities following mass protests against the administration’s immigration policies. In a social media post, Trump urged ICE officials to "do everything possible to achieve the important goal of implementing the largest mass deportation program in history."

Univision [6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Marcos Martínez Chacón, 4992K] reports Mexican governors have announced legal assistance plans for undocumented immigrants amid intense ICE raids in the United States amid President Donald Trump’s detention and deportation machine. Authorities in the states of Puebla, Tabasco, San Luis Potosí and Jalisco announced legal support schemes in the United States through networks of lawyers authorized to represent immigrants before U.S. courts. They were announced after the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles, California, which unleashed a wave of protests in rejection of the operations in that city. ICE operations and protests have spread to other regions of the United States, including New York, New Jersey, Washington, Texas, Colorado and Chicago. White House officials have said they are seeking to raise the number of daily deportations to 3,000. But the figure in May hovered around 737 daily deportations on average, according to data from Syracuse University’s TRAC, an organization that collects official data through public information requests. The current average number of daily deportations under Trump is slightly below the average for the same period last year under Democrat Joe Biden.

Breitbart [6/16/2025 4:18 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports President Donald Trump’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has initiated deportation proceedings against more than 26,000 migrants, many of whom arrived in the United States under former President Joe Biden, in fewer than four months. USCIS officials announced that since February 28, when the agency issued new guidance regarding Notices to Appear (NTAs), the agency has started deportation proceedings against about 26,700 migrants who have no legal basis to be in the United States. The Trump administration’s new guidance has led to about 1,840 NTAs issued per week. Compared to the Biden administration, USCIS has overseen a more than 2,800 percent increase in fraud-related NTAs issued monthly, including about 500 asylum-related NTAs per week and about 100 NTAs related to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) per week. "This update has helped USCIS enforce existing immigration laws by once again issuing NTAs to removable aliens in the United States," USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement. "Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, we have returned to commonsense NTA policies and, since February 2025, have issued tens of thousands of NTAs to restore integrity and ensure the security of our nation’s immigration system," Tragesser said.

Reuters [6/17/2025 5:44 AM, Humeyra Pamuk, 49956K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering significantly expanding its travel restrictions by potentially banning citizens of 36 additional countries from entering the United States, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters. Earlier this month, the Republican president signed a proclamation that banned the entry of citizens from 12 countries, saying the move was needed to protect the United States against "foreign terrorists" and other national security threats. The directive was part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members, as well as efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students from U.S. universities and deport others. In an internal diplomatic cable signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department outlined a dozen concerns about the countries in question and sought corrective action. "The Department has identified 36 countries of concern that might be recommended for full or partial suspension of entry if they do not meet established benchmarks and requirements within 60 days," the cable sent out over the weekend said. The cable was first reported by Washington Post. Among the concerns the State Department raised was the lack of a competent or cooperative government by some of the countries mentioned to produce reliable identity documents, the cable said. Another was "questionable security" of that country’s passport. Some countries, the cable said, were not cooperative in facilitating the removal of its nationals from the United States who were ordered to be removed. Some countries were overstaying the U.S. visas their citizens were being granted. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] NPR [6/16/2025 3:02 PM, Tovia Smith, 37958K] reports that, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the memo, first reported by The Washington Post, says the 36 countries have been identified as having "vetting and screening information [that] is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension" of entry of their citizens to the U.S. It’s the latest move in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown that has included mass deportations of immigrants accused or convicted of criminal activity and others. The memo says, some of the nations are designated as state sponsors of terror, or some of their citizens have been "involved with acts of terrorism in the United States." Some lack a credible "government authority to produce reliable identity documents," keep unreliable criminal records, or are beset by "widespread government fraud," according to the memo. Other concerns include claims that the countries have high rates of citizens overstaying visas, or citizens who have been "involved in antisemitic or Anti-American activity in the United States." Countries that do not address concerns could be recommended for a travel ban as soon as August. Limiting entry of individuals from those countries "will help secure the American homeland and make our communities safer," said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to NPR. The memo also cites requirements that foreign governments be "fully cooperative" in removing foreign nationals when it is "vital to U.S. national security." And any specific concerns that the U.S. may have with a specific country could be "mitigated," the memo says, if that country is willing to accept deportees from the U.S. who cannot be sent back to their country of origin. "This is a necessary step to garner cooperation from foreign governments to accept deportation flights of their own citizens, strengthen national security, and help restore integrity to the immigration system," McLaughlin said.

National Review [6/16/2025 10:16 AM, Jason Richwine, 109K] reports President Trump wants to deport illegal immigrants, but, paradoxically, he doesn’t want certain industries to lose illegal immigrant labor. As a result, DHS recently decided it would not conduct worksite investigations or operations on the agriculture, restaurant, and hotel industries. The new policy is a form of “administrative amnesty” for illegal workers in those industries. As with any amnesty, the recipients are allowed to remain in the U.S. for now. However, their new status comes not from Congress changing the law, but from the administration declaring it will not enforce the law against them. How large is this amnesty? Having recently written a report on the illegal immigrant presence in each census-identified occupation, I reran the numbers based on the industries that Trump selected for protection. The results show that about 12.5 percent of illegal immigrants are covered. Since the Center for Immigration Studies estimated that there were 15.8 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. in January, that implies 2 million amnesty recipients. As large as that number sounds, it only begins to measure the damage to immigration enforcement. For one thing, the amnesty signals to illegal immigrants that self-deportation is irrational. Because DHS manpower is limited, meaningful reductions in the illegal population require voluntary returns as a complement to direct removals. Illegal immigrants may indeed leave voluntarily if they believe their employment opportunities have diminished and their chances of forcible removal have increased. Administrative amnesty teaches them the opposite — if they find a job in a favored industry, the authorities won’t bother them. The same logic applies to potential illegal immigrants who are considering a visa overstay or an unauthorized border crossing. Tough talk about enforcement may have deterred them before, but now they know that, once here, they can stay as long as they find a protected job.

Miami Herald [6/16/2025 5:35 PM, Verónica Egui Brito and Syra Ortiz Blanes, 3805K] reports a federal lawmaker from Miami is urging the Trump administration to stop the deportation of a former Venezuelan political prisoner who was recently detained by U.S. immigration authorities. U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) penned a letter for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem raising "serious concerns" about the detention of Gregory Antonio Sanabria Tarazona, who was jailed for more than three years by Venezuelan authorities and reportedly tortured for his participation in nationwide anti-Maduro protests in 2014. The letter from Diaz-Balart is the latest example of Miami Republicans pushing back against Trump’s immigration agenda, the goal of which is mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Caught in the crosshairs are immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti — among South Florida’s largest immigrant communities — many of whom have asylum petitions that claim they would face persecution should they be deported back home. A senior DHS official told the Miami Herald that Sanabria Tarazona would remain in ICE custody pending a decision by an immigration judge.

CBS News [6/16/2025 8:34 PM, Marissa Armas, 51860K] Video: HERE reports President Trump’s immigration crackdown has impacted restaurants in North Texas; however, the administration has announced a pause on raids targeting farms, hotels, and eateries—and the Texas Restaurant Association is applauding the news. At Café y Tequila Mexican restaurant in Irving, the kitchen is a little quieter than usual. The owner, Jesus Sagrero, said the current immigration policies are taking a toll on his business. Sagrero said they used to have several Central American and Mexican workers looking for jobs, but that’s slowed down since the beginning of this year, and even more so, over the last few weeks. He said not only is it hard to find employees, but clientele is down, too, by about 45%. "There would be a lot of calls, people coming in, leaving their phone numbers, but ultimately, it’s gone down a lot... those people aren’t coming anymore asking for jobs," said Sagrero. "I imagine a lot of these employees and clients are not coming in because of the immigration raids that are happening across the country.” Café y Tequila Mexican is just one of several restaurants in the metroplex facing a labor shortage. The Texas Restaurant Association said 47% of Texas restaurant operators currently have job openings that are difficult to fill, and 21% of those restaurants don’t have enough employees to support the demand. "As we talk with restaurant owners in every corner, the word is fear. So, no matter your status, you may be afraid to come to work. That means you’re not earning a paycheck. You’re not contributing to the economy, we’ve seen along some of our border communities where we have restaurants that can’t open because they don’t have staffing," said Emily Williams Knight, the Texas Restaurant Association CEO and President. "You have to remember, if people stop going to work in restaurants, that means restaurants can’t serve their community. That means the dollar that restaurants put into each community, for a dollar spent, goes away, and then those workers are also not spending.” Because of recent protests and backlash, the Trump administration recently announced it would halt immigration enforcement in key industries, including at restaurants, which Williams Knight said they support.

NBC News [6/16/2025 2:13 PM, Ronny Rojas, 44540K] reports that despite a more than 90% drop in the number of migrant apprehensions at the border since President Donald Trump took office, people continue to try to reach the United States — and smugglers are taking them along more dangerous routes, according to authorities and groups assisting migrants. In recent months, human smugglers have adopted another method to bring migrants into the country via the southern border: They are sending them alone through inhospitable terrain while guiding them remotely using cellphones, Jesus Vasavilbaso, a Border Patrol agent in Tucson, Arizona, told Noticias Telemundo. An increasing number of people are being found by law enforcement in the desert without a "coyote," or smuggler, he said. They’re dehydrated, dressed in camouflage and with pieces of carpet stuck to the soles of their shoes in an attempt to hide their tracks on the sand. The clothing is part of a crossing package that coyotes sell them, the Border Patrol agent said. "If you don’t buy that kit, they won’t let you cross. It comes with camouflage, with those mats you put under your shoes, and a backpack with supplies, whether it’s water, IV drip, tortillas, or canned food. And that also includes your cellphone," Vasavilbaso explained. Between February and April, 24,000 apprehensions were recorded along the southwest border, the majority in the El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors in Texas, the Arizona desert and the San Diego sector in California, according to federal data.

New York Post [6/16/2025 6:09 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K] reports Texas cops discovered 25 illegal immigrants — including an 11-year-old — "crammed" inside a box truck in the sweltering Texas heat last week — and the alleged smuggler behind the wheel said she was just hauling mattresses, dramatic bodycam footage showed. Officers opened the locked truck and moved 30 mattresses out of the way before discovering the group inside a crawl space within the box truck wall, where there was "little-to-no ventilation," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement. More than two dozen illegal immigrants could be seen walking out, including a dozen women and an 11-year-old child. They hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, India, Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. The belly-baring truck driver, who has been identified as Silvia Patricia Santamaria, 43, was seen in the video telling a state trooper that she had come from the border town of Alton, Texas, where she had picked up "some mattresses" and was heading north to Houston. Santamaria was quickly cuffed. She is charged with 25 counts of human smuggling. The illegal immigrants were handed over to Border Patrol.

NewsNation [6/16/2025 6:36 PM, Ali Bradley, Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports President Donald Trump’s mission of achieving the largest mass deportation in history has been snagged by disappointing migrant apprehension numbers, leading to not only a shift in where the operation will focus, but also, in one case, which federal immigration agency is running point, NewsNation has learned. Multiple sources within Customs and Border Protection tell NewsNation that the U.S. Border Patrol has been designated as the lead agency for the Department of Homeland Security’s operations in Los Angeles. Sources said that Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino is now running point on the ground amid migrant arrest numbers that have proven disappointing to the Trump administration. Bovino will report to the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that both the Border Patrol and ICE fall under. However, the shift in Los Angeles is significant as Border Patrol has never had removal authority as ICE has. Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller announced last month that he was calling for 3,000 arrests from ICE daily. However, statistics show the agency was averaging about 1,600 apprehensions per day, which in part led to the change in focus in Los Angeles.

Bloomberg [6/16/2025 8:54 AM, Lauren Rosenthal and Brian K Sullivan, 19320K] reports the US National Weather Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency — depleted by Trump administration cuts — are bracing for a wave of extreme weather over the summer and autumn. The strain will be particularly severe when deadly events strike at the same time: A tropical cyclone spinning off the coast of Florida could draw away weather service staff from regions like the Southwest, creating potential gaps in coverage if extreme weather simultaneously hits another part of the US. That’s going to result in a dangerous game of “whack-a-mole,” according to Rick Spinrad, former chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the NWS. “Somebody’s going to lose in that game,” he said. “It’s a gamble. You could deploy people from Phoenix and do just great, or deploy people from Phoenix and all of a sudden it’s 105F and you’re not getting heat warnings out.” Summer is always a busy time for extreme weather in the US, but the risks extend well into the fall. That’s usually the peak of both the hurricane season in the US Southeast and fire season in Southern California. Since January, the NWS lost 566 of its 4,300 staff to early retirements, voluntary departures, firings and attrition, according to statistics provided by Senator Maria Cantwell’s office. Cantwell — the ranking Democrat on the committee that oversees NOAA — attributes almost all of those departures to the Trump administration’s push to reduce the size of the government. Still, staffing may soon inch up. Despite a federal hiring freeze, the NWS told Bloomberg that it will replace some of the workers it lost, and it plans to shuffle the remaining staff to cover some vacancies. The agency is offering short-term temporary assignments and permanent reassignments to forecasters “to fill roles at NWS field locations with the greatest operational need,” spokesperson Erica Grow Cei said in a statement.

CBS News [6/16/2025 5:21 PM, Michael Kaplan, John Kelly, Maurice DuBois, Hannah Marr, 51860K] reports a lifelong resident of Louisiana, Wade Evans has learned a lot about floods, including this: the water doesn’t care about your politics. The mayor of Central -- a community of about 30,000 outside of Baton Rouge -- Evans and his family were forced to evacuate their home by boat in 2016 when flooding from torrential rains destroyed 60% of the structures in town. "Flood water doesn’t discriminate," said Evans, a Republican and supporter of President Trump. ‘"Any person that flooded is shocked that it would be considered politics to do flood mitigation." So when he received word in April that FEMA was canceling a grant program that would provide nearly $40 million for a new flood control system in Central, he was angry. In a press release, FEMA said the program, which provided funding for infrastructure projects in storm-prone communities, was "wasteful" and had become "more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans recover from natural disasters." "To me, it’s a brilliant business decision," said Evans, who said the drainage project in Central would have saved money in the long run by protecting houses that routinely sustain flood damage FEMA ultimately ends up covering. "And then they pulled the rug out from under us." Evans and Central aren’t alone. Amid the avalanche of cuts made in the first five months of the Trump administration, none may have red state politicians more up in arms than the cancellation of the infrastructure program, which is formally known as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC for short. The $4.6 billion initiative was launched under the first Trump administration, and a CBS News analysis of FEMA data revealed that two-thirds of the counties awarded grants voted for President Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. Trump administration officials said they will claw back about $3.6 million that has already been awarded but not yet spent, sending it back to the U.S. Treasury. Projects that are now stalled as a result range from a plan to elevate six buildings on the main street in Pollocksville, North Carolina -- population less than 300 -- to a $50 million project to prevent flash flooding in New York City. "Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, we are ending non-mission critical programs," a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News, writing that the BRIC program was "wasteful and ineffective" and "more concerned with climate change" than providing help to Americans affected by storms. "We are committed to ensuring that Americans in crisis can get the help and resources they need," the spokesperson wrote. The data suggests the elimination of the BRIC program will especially deprive vulnerable communities across the Southeast. In Florida, 18 of the 22 counties that stood to benefit from nearly $250 million in grants voted for Mr. Trump. Elsewhere in North Carolina, grants were canceled in areas ravaged by Hurricane Helene last year.

CBS Miami [6/16/2025 6:16 PM, Larry Seward, 51860K] Video: HERE reports hundreds of thousands of South Florida homes already vulnerable to flooding are now left even more exposed after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) abruptly canceled $150 million in grants meant to upgrade aging flood infrastructure. FEMA’s decision to terminate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and revoke all pending grant applications from fiscal years 2020 to 2023 has halted flood control upgrades in several communities. The agency called the move an effort to reduce waste and realign with executive priorities. "The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program," a FEMA spokesperson said in an April statement. "It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters. Under (United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi) Noem’s leadership, we are committed to ensuring that Americans in crisis can get the help and resources they need.” The canceled funding included $148 million allocated to the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to improve three canal basins plagued by flooding. All three have spillways deemed inadequate by the district’s engineering reports, with upgrades planned to better manage stormwater, improve water quality, and protect homes. Without the upgrades, SFWMD research warns that flooding and erosion could imperil vast stretches of Miami-Dade and parts of Broward County, including neighborhoods such as Miami Shores, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Little Haiti, Opa-Locka, Hialeah, Miami Springs and Miami Gardens. "I’m worried," said Mary Charlsmith, a North Miami resident. "Where I live in North Miami when it rains a lot, there’s a lot of flooding in the street. I have concern, of course.” Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson, who represents a portion of the affected area, criticized the FEMA decision as dangerous and politically motivated. "This administration couldn’t care less about the safety of our families," she said. "Slashing funds for flood mitigation and hurricane prep isn’t just reckless: it’s life or death for South Florida. Sea levels are rising. Flooding is getting worse.” Wilson added: "Only Congress has the power of the purse, not the Executive Branch. Congress must act now to ensure FEMA BRIC funding and flood mitigation programs get every dollar they were promised.” In a statement to CBS News Miami, a SFWMD spokesperson said the agency remains committed to its projects despite the setback. "No immediate decisions are needed at this time because we are still designing the projects and have not started construction," the statement read. "The South Florida Water Management District will continue to work closely with our local, state and federal partners to provide flood control in these communities.”

Washington Examiner [6/16/2025 3:36 PM, Barnini Chakraborty, 1934K] reports California, still recovering from January’s catastrophic wildfires that caused between $250 and $275 billion in total damage and economic loss, is bracing for more destructive weather this summer. The summer is typically the worst for wildfires, and this year could be one of the most brutal yet, according to weather forecasters. The news came amid politically charged anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles. Already, forecasters have said they are seeing troubling signs that the pattern of rising temperatures, dry air, and parched plant life could be more intense than in previous years. Several small fires have already raced across northern California, where the grass crop has dried out. Cuts in funding to federal agencies that assist with firefighting, as well as fire prevention and recovery, including the National Weather Service, the Forest Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will hinder response times and what the state and its partners can do when blazes break out.

New York Times [6/16/2025 9:38 AM, Amy Graff, 138952K] reports that With Los Angeles still recovering from the devastating fires that killed at least 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes, California’s residents are being warned that the summer, typically the worst season for wildfires, could be especially brutal this year. Every summer across the state, the atmosphere dries up and the temperatures turn warm, sucking moisture from the landscape and turning the parched vegetation into kindling, ready to burn under the right conditions. This year, forecasters are already seeing signs that the pattern could be more intense than usual. The snow in the Sierra Nevada, the frozen reservoir that moistens the landscape through the spring, is nearly gone; it melted off earlier than normal. This year’s grass crop is plentiful, especially in Northern California, which received more rain than the southern part of the state, and it’s already fueling fires as it dries out. And forecasters predict the summer will be exceptionally hot. All of this adds up to a higher probability of more large wildfires than usual this summer, with the possibility that even the smallest spark could explode into a significant wildfire if not stopped quickly. In addition to a tough weather forecast, firefighting efforts face a new challenge this year: cuts to the federal agencies that assist with firefighting, prevention and recovery, including the National Weather Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

AP [6/17/2025 1:59 AM, Audrey McAvoy, Kathy McCormack, Mark Thiessen and Aurey McAroy, 56000K] reports a fast-moving Hawaii brush fire fueled by fierce winds forced the evacuation of about 50 Maui residents on the opposite side of the same island where a devastating blaze killed over 100 people two years ago. The fire started Sunday in a sparsely populated area with land set aside for Native Hawaiians. The Kahikinui was initially estimated at 500 acres (202 hectares), but aerial surveys overnight put the estimate at about 330 acres (134 hectares), Maui’s fire department said. The fire is 85% contained. The remote, challenging terrain made it difficult to estimate the fire’s size, the department said in a statement. A police drone showed hot spots, but none flared overnight. No injuries or structural damage was reported. Weather conditions were mostly sunny Monday with a high of 67 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius) and east winds of about 15 mph (24 kph), gusting up to about 25 mph (40 kph). Authorities conducted door-to-door evacuations and part of a highway remains closed.

FOX News [6/16/2025 8:40 PM, Andrea Margolis, Jake Gibson, 46878K] reports a former Coast Guard lieutenant was recently arrested for allegedly making threats to kill President Donald Trump, according to court documents obtained by Fox News. The suspect, Virginia resident Peter Stinson, served as an officer in the United States Coast Guard from 1988 to 2021. He was a sharpshooter as well as a FEMA instructor during that time. In an affidavit filed on Friday, a task force officer from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed details about the myriad of online threats that Stinson allegedly made. In one instance, Stinson reportedly wrote that Trump needed to be "[L]uigied," on May 9. The post was a reference to Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year. Stinson allegedly made graphic threats against Trump involving guns, poisoning and even knives on multiple social media platforms. Stinson also allegedly referenced "not having the necessary skills," to successfully complete an assassination, but also eerily suggested that he wasn’t being entirely truthful. The document also alleges that Stinson made several references to 8647, which government officials say "is likely in reference to an Instagram post made by former FBI Director James Comey.” "The post by Comey was interpreted in the news media as a violent threat to President Trump and prompted an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service. STINSON has since made 13 additional posts on Bluesky including the text, ‘8647’," the document states. The affidavit also alleges that Stinson "has self-identified as a member of ANTIFA.” On Feb. 2, Stinson allegedly posted on his X account, "Sure. This is war. Sides will be drawn. Antifa always wins in the end. Violence is inherently necessary.” The most recent post referenced in the document was published on BlueSky on June 11, when Stinson allegedly wrote, "When he dies, the party is going to be yuge.” Stinson was charged with making threats to kill the president and is slated to make an initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
ABC News [6/16/2025 7:57 PM, Alexander Mallin, 31733K]
CBS News [6/16/2025 7:00 PM, Scott MacFarlane, 51860K]

FOX News [6/16/2025 12:18 PM, Paul Steinhauser, 46878K] reports Republicans in swing state New Hampshire are criticizing the move by a Democratic congressional candidate to post a photo of herself next to an "86 47" sign, which some in the GOP see as a shorthand message suggesting violence against President Donald Trump. Maura Sullivan, a former Marine Corps officer who deployed in the Iraq War and later served at the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration under former President Barack Obama, attended a "No Kings" protest this past weekend in her hometown of Portsmouth, N.H. Demonstrators at thousands of rallies nationwide on Saturday protested what they call the president’s anti-democratic actions and authoritarian tendencies. Sullivan, while at the rally, posted on social media a photo of herself standing next to a fellow veteran who was holding a sign that read "Veterans for Democracy." But the sign also included the phrase "Foxtrot Delta Tango," as well as the message "86 47." "Foxtrot Delta Tango" is a military-style phrase in the NATO phonetic alphabet that spells out the letters "FDT," which is seen as a derogatory term towards Trump. And of late, some Republicans perceive it as a message to have Trump eliminated. The Secret Service continues to investigate former FBI director James Comey after he earlier this year posted on social media an image of seashells arranged to spell "86 47." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [6/16/2025 12:16 PM, Alan Wooten, 1934K] reports that legislative attorneys are meeting with the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives to determine the next steps for a lawmaker who promoted a sign reflecting pursuit of the decapitation of President Donald Trump. Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, spoke about the acts by Wake County Democratic Rep. Julie von Haefen in a statement Sunday evening. Members of Congress from coast to coast also weighed in as the news went viral. "Her disgraceful behavior fails to meet the standards expected from House members and sets a dangerous precedent in an already volatile political climate," Hall said in part. "I am examining next steps with our legislative attorneys to ensure this behavior does not continue." The state’s first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, the North Carolina Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee remained silent Monday morning, about 48 hours since the post first appeared. The Center Square reached out to von Haefen’s office on Sunday at 2:51 p.m. At 3 p.m., she posted an explanation to her Facebook page. Increasing calls for her resignation followed, including the House speaker’s statement about three hours later. U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., says von Haefen "calls for the beheading of the U.S. president. These libs have lost their mind. The nation is not behind them."

Yahoo! News [6/16/2025 2:15 PM, Riley Ceder, 47007K] reports that a U.S. Navy destroyer handed off 245 kilograms of illegal goods recovered by the Royal Canadian Navy to the U.S. Coast Guard on June 11, according to a Navy release. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Cole retrieved the illicit materials — approximately 539 pounds — from the Royal Canadian Navy’s Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessel William Hall on June 9 in the Caribbean Sea. "The Reliance-class U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Cutter Vigorous (WMEC 627) accepted the contraband from the Cole’s embarked USCG Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET)," the release said. The U.S. Coast Guard’s LEDET program, established in 1982, operates under U.S. Northern Command, enforcing the law to uphold national security, specifically through waterborne drug interdiction. LEDET personnel "perform vessel boardings, searches, and seizures in U.S. and international waters, targeting drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and transnational crime with a nexus to the U.S. southern border," the release said. Joint Interagency Task Force South, which works with partner nations to monitor and intercept the movement of illegal drug trafficking, initially detected the transportation of the contraband. The release did not specify the contents of the contraband. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the unlawful operation is underway.

CBS Miami [6/16/2025 7:16 PM, John MacLauchlan and Hunter Geisel, 51860K] Video: HERE reports a Lauderhill father who tried to save his daughters from drowning Sunday night near a Fort Lauderdale hotel has died, officials said. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said around 7:20 p.m. Sunday they received 911 calls reporting an ocean drowning near the B Ocean Resort on Fort Lauderdale Beach. The call came in about 20 minutes after Ocean Rescue lifeguards had gone off duty, FLFR said, but Ocean Rescue lieutenants heard it as they were wrapping up their day and rushed to the scene. Antwon Wilson, 33, went into the water after two of his children appeared to be in distress, according to FLFR. When the Ocean Rescue lifeguards arrived, one of Wilson’s daughters was "struggling in the water" and he was trying to help her. Another adult was there trying to help the duo, but became "overwhelmed" and exited the water. Both children were ultimately rescued. A few minutes later, Wilson was found underwater and brought to shore, where paramedics began lifesaving measures. FLPD is conducting a death investigation, however, they said at this time it appears to be an accidental drowning.

National Fisherman [6/16/2025 11:20 AM, Staff, 33K] reports that the Coast Guard with federal and state agencies interdicted and detained 13 Mexican fishermen engaged in illegal fishing and seized approximately 1,500 pounds of fish in federal waters off southern Texas, Friday. A Coast Guard Station South Padre Island boat crew in coordination with Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, Coast Guard Cutter Daniel Tarr, Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi Command Center watch standers and Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi aircrews, detected and interdicted the fishermen north of the international Maritime Boundary Line. Coast Guard crews took the fishermen into custody, brought them ashore, and transferred them to U.S Homeland Security Investigations personnel for processing. Coast Guard personnel also seized approximately 1,500 pounds of red snapper, along with fishing gear and equipment. Lanchas are fishing skiffs used by Mexican fishermen, typically 20 to 30 feet long, with a slender profile, one outboard motor. Capable of speeds exceeding 30 mph, lanchas are frequently used to illegally fish in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near the U.S.-Mexico border. "The illegal harvest and trade of red snapper and other fish species is often a revenue stream for criminal organizations," according to the Coast Guard, adding that "lanchas may also be used to move illicit drugs and aliens into the United States."

AP [6/16/2025 3:41 PM, Matthew Leonard, 56000K] reports a helicopter that crashed on Kauaʻi in July, killing the pilot and two passengers, broke up in-flight after it hit turbulence causing the main rotor blades to strike its airframe, National Transportation Safety Board investigators found. The conclusion was made without data revealing the helicopter’s final moments because it wasn’t carrying a flight recorder that would have shown its altitude, airspeed and the last actions taken by the pilot. But the final report contains new details of the high winds around the accident area that day and includes dramatic video footage capturing the weather front that rolled in just before the aircraft went down. The wreckage was recovered by the U.S. Coast Guard in 80 feet of water, but only one body was ever found — that of Amy Quintua, a Kentucky woman who was on the tour with her husband James. An inspection of the wreckage did not show any mechanical irregularities, the NTSB accident investigators said, but they did find evidence that the main rotor blades had hit the airframe — a condition known as “mast bumping.” The 69-year-old pilot who died in the Kauaʻi accident, Guy Croydon, had completed a Robinson Helicopter Pilot Safety Course in 2011, was an experienced certified flight instructor and had passed his last flight review two weeks prior to the accident, the report said. His body was not recovered, however, so a toxicology report could not be conducted. Investigators pointed to the likelihood of weather as a contributing factor in their preliminary report last year, and the detailed study found the weather in the area on July 11 was conducive to the development of strong downdrafts.

Federal News Network [6/16/2025 6:58 PM, Justin Doubleday, 2346K] reports the Trump administration is taking a step back on governmentwide software security requirements and setting up an industry consortium to develop guidance around the implementation of secure software development practices. President Donald Trump’s new cybersecurity executive order maintained Biden-era requirements for government contractors to sign off on a self-attestation software security compliance. The security standards are based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Secure Software Development Framework. But Trump’s order stripped a section from Biden’s January cyber EO that directed the development of new Federal Acquisition Regulations that would have required software vendors to submit proof that they comply with the NIST framework. In a fact sheet, the White House said Trump was taking steps to address "problematic and distracting issues" in Biden’s January order, including "unproven and burdensome software accounting processes that prioritized compliance checklists over genuine security investments.” Instead of new contract requirements, Trump directed NIST to set up an industry consortium by Aug. 1. The consortium will help NIST develop guidance that "demonstrates the implementation of secure software development, security, and operations practices" in the SSDF. In a blog, lawyers with WilmerHale wrote the change "appears intended to put industry more in the lead in developing software validation practices rather than the federal government.” Peter Jackson, counsel in Los Angeles law firm Greenberg Glusker, said Trump’s EO "severs the effort to force developers to show that the software they provide to the government has security and integrity.” "While developers will still certify under a souped-up standard, some software will still be delivered with the kinds of low-hanging flaws and errors the attestation process might have caught," Jackson said in an emailed statement. "Let’s actually bring transparency and accountability in these software supply chains by having companies show us proof that they tested their software, they’ve addressed vulnerabilities," then-Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger told reporters at the time.

Federal News Network [6/16/2025 11:53 AM, Terry Gerton, 2346K] reports that guest: John Miller. Title: Senior Vice President of Policy and General Counsel, Information Technology Industry Council Summary: The law that established our current system for sharing information about cyber threats is coming up on its tenth birthday, and its reauthorization deadline. Much has changed since the law was enacted and this could be a chance to update key provisions. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CyberScoop [6/16/2025 10:53 AM, Matt Kapko] reports as spring gives way to summer, a wave of cybercrime crackdowns has taken root, with law enforcement and private security companies directing a surge of takedowns, seizures, indictments and arrests. Prolific infostealers, malware loaders, counter antivirus and crypting services, cybercrime marketplaces, ransomware infrastructure and DDoS-for-hire operations have all been seized, taken offline or severely disrupted by global coordinated campaigns over the past six weeks. “It’s been really energizing to see the volume and velocity of these takedowns in such a short period of time,” Flashpoint CEO Josh Lefkowitz told CyberScoop. “I can’t think of such a flurry and rapid succession — and then magnified by complementary takedowns by Europol and international partners,” he added. “It’s been a great couple of weeks for the good guys, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more around the horizon.” The scale of infrastructure disrupted by law enforcement and cybersecurity companies in the past few weeks is vast, spanning tens of thousands of malicious IP addresses and domains, and command-and-control systems and accounts used by cybercriminals to advertise and initiate their illicit activities.

Politico [6/16/2025 10:00 AM, Dana Nickel, 2100K] reports a recent spike of cyberattacks against major retailers in the U.S. and abroad is stoking fears that these breaches could seriously disrupt services and lead to less access to necessities like food or clothing. Last week, United Natural Foods Inc., one of the country’s top food distributors and one of Whole Foods’ largest partners, experienced a major cyberattack. In a filing with the SEC, the company stated that the attack affected its “ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders,” leaving some store shelves temporarily barren. This attack on UNFI is just the latest in a string of attacks against the retail sector. Last week, Victoria’s Secret announced that it had restored all of its systems after a cyberattack in May forced the company to pause online orders and temporarily take its website down. The North Face announced a breach earlier this month that had compromised thousands of customer accounts. In the U.K., retailer Marks & Spencer was hit with a cyberattack in May that hindered online shopping, and a cyberattack on grocery store chain Co-op led to empty shelves in some locations. Retailers are prime targets for hackers due to the trove of valuable personal and financial data collected on customers. “Retailers collect and store vast amounts of valuable personal and financial data, such as credit card numbers, payment details, home addresses and phone numbers,” said Fletcher Davis, senior security research manager at cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust. “One breach can often yield a large amount of records that can be sold on dark web markets.” And similar to hackers targeting other areas like health care and education, these retail attacks are often carried out by ransomware gangs seeking a payout.

CyberScoop [6/16/2025 4:50 PM, Matt Kapko] reports Scattered Spider, the loose-knit cybercrime collective that recently ran roughshod over U.K.- and U.S.-based retailers, has pivoted once again, setting its sites on insurance companies, according to Google Threat Intelligence Group. Google previously warned that the financially motivated threat group, which it tracks as UNC3944, was pivoting to U.S. retailers following a wave of ransomware and extortion attacks on retailers and grocery stores in the U.K. in April. Multiple U.S.-based insurance companies have been impacted by attacks that share common circumstances and characteristics of known Scattered Spider activities, security specialists said Monday. “Google Threat Intelligence Group is now aware of multiple intrusions in the U.S. which bear all the hallmarks of Scattered Spider activity. We are now seeing incidents in the insurance industry,” John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group, said in an email Monday. “Given this actor’s history of focusing on a sector at a time, the insurance industry should be on high alert, especially for social engineering schemes which target their help desks and call centers,” Hultquist added. If the pattern of recent Scattered Spider activities holds, reports of cyberattacks causing or leading to operational disruptions across the insurance sector would emerge in short order.

Daily Signal [6/16/2025 6:51 PM, Tyler O’Neil, 558K] reports a left-wing activist group known for putting its political opponents on a "hate map" with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan advised Justice Department prosecutors at a "hate crimes symposium," newly unveiled documents show. America First Legal obtained the documents via a Freedom of Information Act request, and provided them first to The Daily Signal. "All Americans should be shocked, appalled, and terrified that the Biden Justice Department was taking advice from a hate-filled, morally bankrupt organization like the Southern Poverty Law Center," Ian Prior, senior counselor at America First Legal, told The Daily Signal in a statement Monday. "The SPLC’s agenda is anti-American to its core, and we must ensure that the SPLC never regains the power that it was so wrongly granted by the woke bureaucrats who ran this country until this past January.” On Oct. 27, 2023, Robert Moossy Jr., deputy assistant attorney general at the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent an email to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Civil Rights Division. His email referenced a "Hate Crimes Symposium" at the National Advocacy Center at the National District Attorneys Association in Columbia, South Carolina on Nov. 7-9, 2023. The Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section "will hold a hate crimes symposium focusing on the investigation and prosecution of federal hate crimes.” "More than 100 [assistant U.S. attorneys] and [criminal division] trial attorneys are anticipated to attend as well as agents from the FBI’s Hate Crimes/Domestic Terrorism Fusion Cell," the email noted. "While the presenters will primarily involve [criminal division] attorneys, [assistant U.S. attorneys], attorneys from the National Security Division, and staff from the SPLC will also present.” The Justice Department repeatedly engaged with the SPLC during the Biden administration. DOJ staff seemed receptive to meeting with the SPLC shortly after the group put the parental rights group Moms for Liberty on the "hate map" in 2023. Clarke appears to have met with the SPLC in March 2023. The FBI’s Richmond office cited the SPLC in its since-rescinded memo on "radical traditional Catholics.” The SPLC gained its reputation by suing Ku Klux Klan groups into bankruptcy in the 1980s, but by the 2000s, it had weaponized this history against conservatives. The SPLC publishes a "hate map" that plots mainstream conservative and Christian groups alongside Klan chapters, suggesting that the same kind of hatred and potential for terrorism drives conservatives. The "hate map" includes parental rights groups like Moms for Liberty; religious freedom law firms like Alliance Defending Freedom; conservative Christian think tanks like the Family Research Council; pro-enforcement immigration groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform; and more.

CBS Los Angeles [6/16/2025 4:43 PM, Julie Sharp, 51860K] reports former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Brian K. Williams pleaded guilty on Monday to a felony charge of threats regarding fire and explosives involving a fake phoned-in bomb threat to City Hall last year. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Oct. 6 and he faces up to 10 years in federal prison. In a May 22 plea agreement, the 61-year-old admitted to allegations that he fabricated a bomb threat while serving as the city’s Deputy Mayor of Public Safety, and while he was at work. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Williams was participating in a virtual meeting in an official capacity when he used Google Voice to call his city-issued phone on Oct. 3, 2024. He then called the Los Angeles Police Department, claiming that a man threatened to bomb City Hall. Williams lied to city officials, including Mayor Karen Bass, telling them that the man who called in the threat said he was "tired of the city support of Israel," leading to a bomb being placed in City Hall’s rotunda, prosecutors said. This led to an LAPD bomb investigation, where nothing was found. Prosecutors said he then showed officers his phone records, which displayed a recent call from a blocked number. It was later revealed that the call came from his personal phone to his city-issued phone, via Google Voice. "Mr. Williams, the former deputy mayor of public safety for Los Angeles, not only betrayed the residents of Los Angeles, but responding officers, and the integrity of the office itself, by fabricating a bomb threat," Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement. At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat, his plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court states.

San Diego Union Tribune [6/16/2025 7:59 PM, Alex Riggins, 1611K] reports that days after Mexican police sparked an international incident by crossing the Guatemalan border during a shootout with suspected criminals, federal prosecutors in San Diego unsealed an indictment revealing one of four people killed in the controversial gun battle was an alleged cartel boss and the lead defendant in a cocaine-trafficking prosecution in San Diego. Guatemalan national Baldemar "Don Valde" Calderon-Carrillo, 67, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Diego in 2019 along with 12 other Guatemalan defendants, including at least two of his sons, on charges of operating a criminal conspiracy to traffic cocaine from Guatemala into Mexico and the United States. San Diego-based federal prosecutors revealed Friday in a motion to unseal the indictment that Calderon-Carrillo, who they allege was a founding leader of the Chiapas-Guatemala cartel, was killed in the controversial firefight that erupted June 8 along the Mexico-Guatemala border. During that incident, police officers from the Mexican state of Chiapas drove armored vehicles into Guatemala and engaged in a shootout near a busy border crossing, apparently without permission from Guatemalan authorities. The Guatemalan government condemned the incident, parts of which were captured on video and circulated on social media. Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued its neighbor a formal apology. Guatemala’s president has since announced that his government is working with the Mexican government to address the situation.

Reuters [6/16/2025 11:17 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports G7 leaders are set to reaffirm a joint commitment that they agreed to a year ago to prevent and counter migrant smuggling, and will explore using sanctions to target criminals involved in smuggling, according to a draft outcome document seen by Reuters on Monday. "Migrant smuggling often has links to other serious criminal offences, including money laundering, corruption and trafficking in persons and drugs, that threaten the safety of our communities," the document said. The document, one of seven being prepared for consensus among the world leaders, tasked interior and security ministers with doubling down on efforts to follow the money trail of smuggling groups, boosting prevention with countries of origin and transit, collaborating with social media companies and engaging with transport operators to prevent the facilitation of irregular migration. "We will explore, consistent with our legal systems, the potential use of sanctions to target criminals involved in migrant smuggling and human trafficking operations from countries where those activities emanate," the document said.

Wall Street Journal [6/17/2025 12:17 AM, Vipal Monga, Natalie Andrews, and Brian Schwartz, 646K] reports President Trump left the Group of Seven summit in Canada a day early without new trade deals, after signing onto a joint statement that calls for peace and stability in the Middle East. “We, the leaders of the G7, reiterate our commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East,” the statement reads. “In this context, we affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself.” It also called for the protection of civilians, as Israel widened strikes against Iran Monday. “I have to be back,” Trump told reporters. “You probably see what I see, and I have to be back as soon as I can.” He said world leaders at the G-7 summit in Canada “got a lot done,” adding, “I wish I could stay for tomorrow, but they understand.” In leaving early, Trump abandoned several conversations on trade and global security, aimed at easing tensions over tariffs and other issues. In meetings early in the day, Trump resisted a statement that the Canadian delegation had been working up related to Iran. People familiar with the talks said the European leaders supported the statement, which called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, according to drafts reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Canadian government officials said later in the day that Prime Minister Mark Carney persuaded Trump to sign onto the statement, which also added that the G-7 leaders “have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

NewsMax [6/16/2025 11:12 AM, Sam Barron, 4622K] reports amid the conflict between Israel and Iran, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier changed course Monday, departing the South China Sea toward the Middle East, Newsweek reported. The battleship was set to make a port call in central Vietnam, Newsweek said. A formal reception in Da Nang this coming Friday was canceled because of "an emergent operational requirement," the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said. The Nimitz had been doing maritime security operations in the South China Sea, Newsweek said. Thirty U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling tanks are heading east from American bases to the Atlantic, though officials said this is part of routine NATO exercises in Europe, according to Newsweek. The State Department has denied any U.S. involvement in Israel’s airstrikes against Iran, Newsweek said, emphasizing its support remains limited to defensive measures. Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, killing at least five people, while Israel claimed it achieved air superiority over Tehran and could fly over the Iranian capital without facing major threats.

CBS News [6/16/2025 7:16 PM, Staff, 51860K] Video: HERE reports new reporting from ProPublica finds Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s top aides blocked the extraditions of MS-13 leaders to the U.S. because his allies allegedly believed those gang members could be witnesses in a long-running U.S. investigation into Bukele. Sebastian Rotel, one of the authors of the piece, joins "The Takeout" to discuss his findings.

AP [6/17/2025 2:34 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports a top Russian security official traveled to Pyongyang for the second time this month for another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian state media reported Tuesday, the latest display of the countries’ deepening ties amid President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Russia’s Tass news agency said Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu arrived in the North Korean capital on an unspecified “special” mission from Putin and was expected to meet with Kim. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit. Kim has supplied Russia with thousands of troops and large shipments of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to support its military operation in Ukraine. Washington and Seoul have expressed concern that, in return, Kim may seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by his nuclear-armed military. In April, Pyongyang and Moscow officially confirmed North Korean troops’ deployment to Russia for the first time, saying that soldiers of the two countries were fighting alongside each other to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region. Putin then thanked North Korea’s participation in the war and promised not to forget their sacrifices. In their previous meeting on June 4, Kim told Shoigu that his government would “unconditionally support” Russia over the war in Ukraine and other critical international issues as they discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between their countries, according to North Korean state media. Tass then reported that Shoigu and Kim also discussed prospects for rebuilding the Kursk region and outlined steps to commemorate the combat contributions of North Korean soldiers.

AP [6/17/2025 3:53 AM, Joseph Krauss, Jon Gambrell, Natalie Melzer and Melanie Lidman, 3077K] reports Israel appeared to be expanding its air campaign on Tehran five days after its surprise attack on Iran’s military and nuclear program, as U.S. President Donald Trump posted an ominous message warning residents of the city to evacuate. “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” Trump wrote Monday night before returning to Washington early from a Group of Seven summit in Canada. “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” he added. Trump later denied reports that he had rushed back to Washington to work on a ceasefire, saying his early departure “has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that,” without elaborating. Earlier, the Israeli military had called for some 330,000 residents of a neighborhood in the city center to evacuate. Tehran is one of the largest cities in the Middle East, with around 10 million people, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Israel. People have been fleeing since the hostilities began. Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon. The strikes have killed at least 224 people since Friday. Iran has retaliated by launching more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded. The Israeli military said a new barrage of missiles was launched on Tuesday, and explosions could be heard in northern Israel. Downtown Tehran appeared to be starting to empty out early Tuesday, with many shops closed. The city’s ancient Grand Bazaar was also closed, something that has only happened in the past during anti-government demonstrations or at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. On the roads out of Tehran to the west, traffic stood bumper to bumper. Many appeared to be heading to the Caspian Sea area. Long lines also could be seen at gas stations in Tehran. Authorities within Iran’s government continued to insist everything was under control and did not offer any guidance for the public on what to do. The Israeli military meanwhile claimed to have killed someone it described as Iran’s top general in a strike on Tehran. Iran did not immediately comment on the reported killing of Gen. Ali Shadmani, who had just been named as the head of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, part of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Iran has named other generals to replace the top leaders of the Guard and the regular armed forces after they were killed in earlier strikes.

AP [6/17/2025 3:47 AM, Aamer Madhani, 3077K] reports President Donald Trump in about eight hours Monday went from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained “achievable” to urging Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his visit to an international summit to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team. He was expected to arrive at the White House early Tuesday at a moment of choosing in his presidency. Israel, with five days of missile strikes, has done considerable damage to Iran and believes it can now deal a permanent blow to Tehran’s nuclear program — particularly if it gets a little more help from Trump. But deepening American involvement, perhaps by providing the Israelis with bunker-busting bombs to penetrate Iranian nuclear sites built deep underground or offering other direct U.S. military support, comes with enormous political risk for Trump. He appears to be gradually building the public case for more direct American involvement. “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign,” Trump posted on social media shortly before the White House announced Trump was cutting short his visit to the Group of Seven summit in the Canadian Rockies. “What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Later, he insisted French President Emmanuel Macron was wrong to say the U.S. was working on a ceasefire. Trump posted the reason for his return to Washington was “Much bigger than that.” Trump’s shift in tone comes as the U.S. has repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region to respond if the conflict between Israel and Iran further escalates. The Israelis say their offensive has eviscerated Iran’s air defenses and they can now strike targets across the country at will. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli bombardment will continue until Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missiles are destroyed. So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear program sites but has not been able to destroy Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility. The site is buried deep underground — and to eliminate it, Israel may need the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. But Israel does not have the munition or the bomber needed to deliver it — the penetrator is currently delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber.

NewsMax [6/16/2025 11:30 AM, Staff, 4622K] reports the Israel Defense Forces is "on the way to victory" over the threats posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday afternoon. "We are on the path to achieving our two goals: eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat," the premier said during a tour of the Tel Nof Airbase near Rehovot, speaking alongside Defense Minister Israel Katz. "The Israeli Air Force controls the skies over Tehran. This is a game changer in the entire campaign," Netanyahu continued. "We are on the way to victory, and this is made possible thanks to our heroic pilots. "When we control Tehran’s skies, we strike these [nuclear and military] targets — regime targets — unlike the criminal Iranian regime, which targets our civilians and comes to kill children and women.” "Thank you, and with God’s help — we will act, we will succeed, and you will continue until victory," Netanyahu told the pilots and ground crews. Katz continued, "When the prime minister, the government and I had to make the decision whether to strike in Iran — and such decisions are not simple — we knew one thing, and that was the decisive factor: that when the decision is made, we have someone that we can rely on — you. "Seeing what you are accomplishing together, and what is happening over the skies of Tehran, so we see that we were right."

ABC News [6/16/2025 12:35 PM, Jonathan Karl and Oren Oppenheim, 31733K] reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would end, not escalate, the ongoing fight between Israel and Iran that erupted late last week. When asked by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl about reports from ABC News and other outlets that President Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, concerned that it would escalate the conflict, Netanyahu said, "It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict." "We’ve had half a century of conflict spread by this regime that terrorizes everyone in the Middle East; has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia; is spreading terrorism and subversion and sabotage everywhere," Netanyahu said. "The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing this, bringing an end to this aggression, and we can only do so by standing up to the forces of evil." Asked if Israel would target the supreme leader, Netanyahu said that Israel was "doing what we need to do." "I’m not going to get into the details, but we’ve targeted their top nuclear scientists," Netanyahu said. "It’s basically Hitler’s nuclear team." Netanyahu said it in America’s interest to support Israel as it seeks to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. "Today, it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it’s New York. Look, I understand ‘America First’. I don’t understand ‘America Dead’. That’s what these people want. They chant ‘Death to America.’ So we’re doing something that is in the service of mankind, of humanity, and it’s a battle of good against evil. America does, should, and does stand with the good. That’s what President Trump is doing, And I deeply appreciate his support," he told Karl. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [6/16/2025 9:17 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51860K] reports that the State Department on Monday raised its travel advisory for Israel to Level 4, the highest level, and warned U.S. citizens not to travel to the country due to "armed conflict, terrorism and civil unrest." The escalated warning from the State Department comes on the fourth day of attacks exchanged between Israel and Iran, which has launched retaliatory strikes against Israel after its sweeping attacks targeting military and nuclear infrastructure late last week. Tehran said at least 224 people have been killed in the assault since last Friday. At least 24 people in Israel have died in Iranian ballistic missile launches that have managed to make it through Israeli air defenses, Israel’s military said. "The security situation in Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is unpredictable, and U.S. citizens are reminded to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness as security incidents, including mortar and rocket fire and armed UAV intrusions and missiles, can take place without warning," the State Department said in its travel advisory. The department also warned Americans against traveling "for any reason" to the West Bank due to "terrorism and civil unrest" and to Gaza because of "terrorism and armed conflict." It told those who decide to go to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to take certain precautions, including drafting a will and securing food, supplies and medicine for an "extended or indefinite period" because of closed border crossings with Israel and Egypt.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [6/16/2025 1:49 PM, Jim Mishler, 4622K]

Reuters [6/17/2025 2:51 AM, Jana Choukeir, 51390K] reports Israel’s military said on Tuesday it had killed Ali Shadmani, who it identified as Iran’s wartime chief of staff and said was the most senior military commander.

CNN [6/16/2025 2:21 PM, Mohammed Tawfeeq, 21433K] reports Iran has demanded immediate action from the United Nations Security Council following what it calls “Israeli regime’s deliberate attacks” on its nuclear facilities, warning that continued aggression threatens global security. In a letter, published on Iran state-run IRNA news, and addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the Security Council, Iran’s UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani accused Israel of violating international law and cited “UNSC Resolution 487 (1981),” which condemned Israel’s strike on Iraq’s Osirak reactor in 1981.

Breitbart [6/16/2025 12:49 PM, Sean Moran, 3077K] reports that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) on Monday proposed a war powers resolution that would block American support for war with Iran without congressional authorization. "It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict," the Democrat senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee, said in a written statement. The American people have no interest in sending servicemembers to fight another forever war in the Middle East. This resolution will ensure that if we decide to place our nation’s men and women in uniform into harm’s way, we will have a debate and vote on it in Congress. War powers resolutions are privileged, meaning that Congress’s upper chamber is required to promptly consider and vote on the resolution. The resolution would reaffirm that Congress has the sole power to declare war, per the Constitution. "The resolution requires that any hostilities with Iran must be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force, but would not prevent the United States from defending itself from imminent attack. The resolution will ensure a public debate and vote in Congress as intended by the framers of the Constitution," the press release from Kaine’s office stated.

Breitbart [6/16/2025 1:09 PM, Frances Martel, 3077K] reports multiple Iraqi militias known to serve as proxies for the Iranian terror regime issued statements this weekend threatening the United States in response to the ongoing military campaign against Iranian leaders by the nation of Israel. Among those issuing threats were the Hezbollah Brigades or Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH), which lost its leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in an American airstrike in 2020, also eliminating one of Iran’s most powerful terror masterminds, Qasem Soleimani. President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike on Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, in January 2020 after Iran-backed militias in Iraq attacked America’s embassy in Baghdad, leaving graffiti on the premises reading, "Soleimani is our commander.” "Duty requires the Iraqi government, the brothers in the Coordination Framework, and the sincere leaders to bear responsibility and take a courageous stance to prevent the expansion of the war zone," KH said in a statement on Sunday, "by closing the embassy of the great Satan [US] and expelling the American occupation forces from the country.” The KH statement reportedly added that it would attack American military bases and other stops in the region if it considered that America had "intervened" in the conflict. "If America intervenes in the war, we will act without any hesitation against its interests and bases in the region," the statement read. KH is part of a broader coalition of militias known as the "Popular Mobilization Forces" (PMF) which were active against the Islamic State prior to the fall of that group’s "caliphate" in 2017. Since then, they have been integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, but many remain active terrorist organizations.

Wall Street Journal [6/16/2025 11:53 PM, Amrith Ramkumar and Liza Lin, 646K] reports Commerce Department officials weighed new export limits on critical technology going to China ahead of recent trade talks in London, adding to the Trump administration’s arsenal if tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate again. The Commerce Department unit overseeing export controls in recent weeks weighed tougher limits on semiconductors, including cutting off sales to China of a wider swath of chip-manufacturing equipment, people familiar with the matter said. Such a move would have covered equipment used to make everyday semiconductors, expanding beyond existing export limits on equipment for producing advanced chips. The decision could have roiled supply chains for chips needed to make everything from smartphones to cars, while threatening billions of dollars in sales for leading equipment companies such as Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA. The restrictions were discussed as an option if trade talks didn’t go well and are no longer actively being considered, a White House official said. The official declined to say whether they might still be an option down the road. In London last week, the U.S. and China agreed to reinstate a recent truce they had reached cutting sky-high tariffs. The detente involves U.S. access to Chinese rare-earth materials and allowing Chinese students to continue studying at U.S. universities. Even so, tensions continue. China is putting a six-month limit on the sales of rare earths to U.S. carmakers and manufacturers, giving Beijing leverage if the trade conflict flares up again, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Ahead of the London talks, the U.S. hit companies in industries from jet engines to chemicals with export limits.

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