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 AP [6/26/2025 8:35 PM, Rebecca Santana and Christopher Sherman, 56000K] reports Guatemala and Honduras have signed agreements with the United States to potentially offer refuge to people from other countries who otherwise would seek asylum in the United States, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday at the conclusion of her Central America trip. The agreements expand the Trump administration’s efforts to provide the U.S. government flexibility in returning migrants not only to their own countries, but also to third countries as it attempts to ramp up deportations. Noem described it as a way to offer asylum-seekers options other than coming to the United States. She said the agreements had been in the works for months. with the U.S. government applying pressure on Honduras and Guatemala to get them done. "Honduras and now Guatemala after today will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well," Noem said. "We’ve never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the United States.” Both governments denied having signed third safe country agreements when asked following Noem’s comments. Guatemala’s presidential communications office said the government did not sign a safe third country agreement nor any immigration related agreement during Noem’s visit. They reaffirmed that Guatemala would receive Central Americans sent by the United States as a temporary stop on the return to their countries. Noem had said Thursday that "politically, this is a difficult agreement for their governments to do.” Both countries have limited resources and many needs making support for asylum seekers from other countries a tougher sell domestically. There are also the optics of two left-of-center governments appearing to help the Trump administration limit access to U.S. asylum. Noem said that during her Guatemala meeting, she was given the already signed agreement. While later there was a public signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding that establishes a Joint Security Program that will put U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the Guatemalan capital’s international airport to help train local agents to screen for terrorist suspects. Honduras’ immigration director Wilson Paz denied such an agreement was signed and its Foreign Affairs Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 10:47 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K] reports that the U.S. has a similar standing agreement with Canada that allows it to declare some asylum-seekers ineligible to apply for U.S. protection and permits it to send them to countries deemed "safe." President Donald Trump signed safe third-country agreements with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala during his first term. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed deals with El Salvador and Guatemala in February to allow migrants from other nations to be sent there. The U.S. also has similar agreements with Panama and Costa Rica. Mexico has refused to sign a safe third-country agreement, though it has accepted more than 5,000 migrants from other countries deported by the Trump administration since the start of his second term.

FOX News [6/26/2025 8:59 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uncovered and killed a multimillion-dollar program enacted by the Biden administration that pushed for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and "inclusive environments in schools." The Invent2Prevent program was originally designed to provide students with tools to prevent terror and violence in their communities. However, the Biden administration’s DHS contracted with mainly far-left organizations, which curved the curriculum to focus on a DEI and LGBTQ agenda. Estimates from DHS project that cutting the program will save the agency more than $1.5 million. "President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to eliminate wasteful government spending, and that is exactly what we are doing," Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, told Fox News Digital. "This program was not only wasteful, it was also using public money to support an openly partisan and political organization. "Politicized NGOs like Eradicate Hate have been siphoning away taxpayer dollars for far too long. We are ending the grift." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Washington Examiner [6/27/2025 3:36 AM, Staff, 1934K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in a press release on Thursday that she was terminating the ideologically driven "Invent2Prevent." According to DHS, the program cost taxpayers $1,523,146.24. "Today, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that she terminated the DHS "Invent2Prevent" program – a wasteful and highly politicized initiative that cost the American taxpayer over $1.5 million…," read the release. "Despite its high cost, the program accomplished very little towards its apparent mission: preventing terrorism," noted the release. "Instead, it funneled taxpayer money into a highly politicized organization called ‘The Eradicate Hate Global Summit,’ which promoted DEI and LGBTQ ideology at K-12 schools.” Invent2Prevent was a Biden administration endeavor that debuted in 2021. It was initially described as a means for college and high school students to develop plans to "prevent targeted violence and terrorism through the development and deployment of innovative initiatives that produce measurable results.” "Invent2Prevent provides them with a practical and hands-on chance to proactively do something about the issues impacting their schools and local communities," read a statement in an advertisement for the program. Noem’s predecessor, former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, touted ISP as a way for younger people today to "understand the threats faced by individual communities.” "The Invent2Prevent program gives some of our nation’s most talented young people an opportunity to play a pivotal role in the prevention process and help us better understand the threats faced by individual communities," Mayorkas said in 2023. "Teams were challenged to consider not only how they might counter targeted violence, terrorism, and acts of hate, but also how to empower initiatives that advocate for community connectedness and inclusivity, mentorship, and the accessibility of pro-social activities. The winners and finalists rose to that challenge, and the work they are doing is vital to safeguarding our future.” Under Noem’s leadership, however, DHS exposed the ideological indoctrination included in the program. The release from the agency stressed that I2P was used to promote "DEI and expose grade school children to sexualized topics like LGBTQ issues.” Moreover, this was advanced throughout high schools and universities "under the guise of counterterrorism.” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin justified the program’s elimination because of its ideological indoctrination.

FOX News [6/26/2025 3:33 PM, Ashley Oliver, 46878K] reports the Supreme Court installed a tighter timeline for removable migrants to challenge their deportations as part of its decision on Thursday in a case involving a Jamaican immigrant who had tried to avoid being sent back to his home country. The Supreme Court found that once migrants receive a final order of removal, a 30-day window for them to seek review of that order is triggered. The ruling was roughly 5-4, with the three liberal justices dissenting and Justice Neil Gorsuch joining most of the dissent. Pierre Riley, the Jamaican national at the center of the case, had followed the law and challenged his final removal order in the immigration court system. But when he attempted to seek review from the appellate court of the immigration court findings, the appellate court said its hands were tied because it had been more than a year since Riley had received his initial removal orders. Riley came to the United States on a six-month visa three decades ago. He never left, was arrested and convicted of drug felonies, and served in prison until 2021. Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to deport him to Jamaica in January that year, kicking off the weedy legal process involving Riley challenging his removal. The chain of events that ensued showcases how migrants facing removal can end up going down a windy due process road in the immigration and federal courts. In this case, Riley argued to an immigration court that although he was removable, returning to Jamaica would put his life at risk, because a drug kingpin there had killed two of his cousins and would likely go after him, too. Riley invoked what is known as a "convention against torture" rule, which migrants can use to contest being deported to a country. An immigration judge, who is an administrative judge working within the Department of Justice, granted Riley "withholding of removal" to Jamaica, meaning he could be deported, just not to Jamaica. The government appealed the immigration ruling to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which overturned the immigration judge’s finding, meaning Riley could once again be deported to Jamaica. Migrants’ next avenue of appeal is to ask a federal circuit court to review their deportation order, and Riley did this. But upon reviewing Riley’s case, the appellate court found Riley was too late. The appellate court said that it had no jurisdiction to help him because the original removal orders he received in January 2021, more than a year ago, are what set off the 30-day clock to seek review of his deportation. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito acknowledged the "legitimate practical concerns" of Riley’s case but said the law assumed immigration cases would be handled expeditiously and that the 30-day deadline being triggered right at the time a migrant is ordered removed should, in theory, be a non-issue.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [6/26/2025 12:13 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K]
Washington Times [6/26/2025 10:57 AM, Stephen Dinan, 2106K]

ABC News [6/27/2025 5:05 AM, Luke Barr, 31733K] reports the Trump administration is looking to speed up its ability to fine those in the United States illegally -- up to $1,000 per day -- according to a rule set to be published Friday in the Federal Register that was obtained by ABC News. Currently, the government can alert those in the U.S. illegally 30 days before it starts issuing fines. The rule proposed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security allows the government to immediately start fining those in the U.S. illegally. "DHS believes that the nature of the failure-to-depart and unlawful entry penalties supports the need for more streamlined procedures," the proposed rule says. The new process will apply to those who enter the U.S. illegally, ignore final orders of removal, and those in the U.S. illegally who do not comply with a judge’s voluntary departure order. Fines will range from $100 to $500 per illegal entry into the U.S., up to almost $10,000 for failure to voluntary deport after a judge orders it, and up to $1,000 per day for those who do not comply with a removal order. Fining migrants illegally in the U.S. started during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and was stopped during the Biden administration. Trump started it again after he took office in January. "The law doesn’t enforce itself; there must be consequences for breaking it," said Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday. "President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem are standing up for law and order and making our government more effective and efficient at enforcing the American people’s immigration laws. Financial penalties like these are just one more reason why illegal aliens should use CBP Home to self-deport now before it’s too late.” Those who use the Customs and Border Protection’s CBP Home app to self-deport will have any fines levied against them waived, according to the DHS. As of June 13, DHS has issued 10,000 fine notifications.

New York Times [6/26/2025 11:59 PM, Edward Wong, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hamed Aleaziz, and Minho Kim, 153395K] reports U.S. diplomats in several overseas missions received an urgent cable from Washington this spring. They were told to ask nine countries in Africa and Central Asia to take in people expelled from the United States who were not citizens of those nations, including criminals. It was a glimpse into President Trump’s wide campaign to get countries to accept America’s deportees. American diplomats are reaching out to countries in every corner of the globe, even some shattered by war or known for human rights abuses. U.S. officials have approached Angola, Mongolia and embattled Ukraine. Kosovo has agreed to accept up to 50 people. Costa Rica is holding dozens. The U.S. government paid Rwanda $100,000 to take an Iraqi man and is discussing sending more deportees there. Peru has said no so far, despite having been pressed repeatedly. The administration recently planned to fly citizens of mainly Asian and Latin American countries to war-torn Libya and South Sudan, until a U.S. district court blocked those expulsions. Libya was one of the nine countries mentioned in the cable, which has not been reported previously. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration has the right to expel people to countries other than their own, possibly paving the way for the deportation flight to South Sudan and similar moves across the globe. “Fire up the deportation planes,” Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokeswoman, wrote on social media. For years, both Republican and Democratic administrations have asked countries to take back some of their own citizens. Mr. Trump is doing the same, but is also trying to set up a network of nations that accept people from anywhere in the world and put them in prisons, camps or other facilities. In some cases, the foreign governments could allow the people to apply for asylum or try to send them back to their countries of origin. The Trump administration has spoken to at least 29 nations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, according to a review by The New York Times of U.S. government documents, including previously undisclosed diplomatic cables, and interviews with officials. Beyond that, the State Department has asked diplomats overseas to approach at least another 29 countries, most of them in Africa, for a total of at least 58. Seven have agreed to the administration’s request, and the other conversations are ongoing.

The New York Times [6/26/2025 6:49 PM, Alan Feuer, 138952K] reports less than three weeks after Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was brought back from a wrongful deportation to El Salvador to face criminal charges in the United States, the Trump administration indicated on Thursday that it planned to deport him again — this time to a different country. Jonathan Guynn, a Justice Department lawyer, acknowledged to a judge that there were “no imminent plans” to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia. Still, the assertion that the administration intends to re-deport a man who was just returned to the country after being indicted raised questions about the charges the Justice Department filed against him. It was a surprising development when Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on June 6 that officials were bringing Mr. Abrego Garcia back to the United States after weeks of insisting that the Trump administration was powerless to comply with a series of court orders — including one from the Supreme Court — to “facilitate” his release from Salvadoran custody. The administration’s stated reason for doing so was equally surprising: so that Mr. Abrego Garcia could stand trial, Ms. Bondi said, on serious charges of taking part in a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the United States. Mr. Guynn’s admission that the administration intends to expel Mr. Abrego Garcia, who is from El Salvador, to a third country raised the possibility that he could be deported before going on trial. His remarks came as the judges overseeing his separate criminal and civil deportation cases struggled to figure out what the government planned to do with him. Shortly after this article was published, a White House spokeswoman posted a message on social media describing news accounts of Mr. Guynn’s statements as “fake news.” Reuters [6/27/2025 12:51 AM, Andrew Goudsward, 24051K] reports that the deportation will not happen until after Abrego is tried in federal court on migrant smuggling charges, a White House spokesperson said. "He will face the full force of the American justice system - including serving time in American prison for the crimes he’s committed," the spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, wrote in a post on X. A lawyer for Abrego, a Salvadoran national, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier on Thursday, Justice Department lawyer Jonathan Guynn said during a hearing in federal court in Maryland that the United States does not have "imminent plans" to remove Abrego from the United States. If deported, Abrego would be sent to a third country and not El Salvador, Guynn said. He did not name the country. Abrego was deported and imprisoned in El Salvador in March despite a 2019 judicial decision barring him from being sent there because of a risk of persecution. The Trump administration brought Abrego back to the United States this month to face federal criminal charges accusing him of transporting migrants living illegally in the United States. He has pleaded not guilty. Abrego’s lawyers have asked that he be kept in Maryland and that the Justice Department, which is prosecuting the criminal case, and the Department of Homeland Security, which handles immigration proceedings, ensure he is not deported while the criminal case is pending. Robert McGuire, the top federal prosecutor in Nashville, Tennessee, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes at a hearing in the criminal case on Wednesday that he would coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security as best as he could but ultimately could not control their decisions about where to house Abrego and whether to deport him. CBS Miami [6/26/2025 7:42 PM, JT Moodee Lockman and Jake Rosen, 51860K] reports that a Tennessee judge ordered him to be released pre-trial last weekend, but he will remain in jail until at least Friday. At a hearing in Maryland federal court on Thursday, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn said that once Abrego Garcia is released from detention, Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to begin removal proceedings to send him to a "third country," rather than El Salvador. Guynn said, however, that there are "no imminent plans" to remove him from the U.S., and did not provide specifics of when the administration would seek to deport him. Also in Thursday’s Maryland court proceedings, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys requested that he be protected from another deportation and returned to the state. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland scheduled a hearing for July 7 to review Abrego Garcia’s arguments. The judge will also review the government’s motion to dismiss Abrego Garcia’s civil lawsuit over his earlier deportation, which has played out in Xinis’ courtroom. Meanwhile, in Abrego Garcia’s criminal court proceedings in Tennessee on Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ordered that Abrego Garcia remain in custody at least until Friday, as lawyers debate whether the Justice Department can stop him from being deported after he is released from jail. Prosecutors argue that if Abrego Garcia is released and then arrested again on immigration grounds, the Justice Department would lose a "meaningful opportunity" to try its case because he could be deported. His lawyers called the concerns "a possible self-inflicted injury," due to the Department of Homeland Security’s desire to deport him. The Daily Wire [6/26/2025 12:49 PM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports Abrego Garcia, infamously referred to as a "Maryland man" by Democrat politicians despite being an illegal alien, was deported to El Salvador before being brought back to the United States to stand trial for federal human trafficking charges, with prosecutors alleging that he trafficked minors and MS-13 members across the United States. A judge presiding over the case ruled that Abrego Garcia must be released while he awaits trial despite acknowledging that the man would likely be arrested by ICE. It was further confirmed on Thursday that the illegal alien would be taken back into custody upon his release. "Our plan is that he will be taken into ICE custody and removal proceedings will be initiated," said Jonathan Guynn, the deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice’s civil division. Guynn confirmed that Abrego Garcia is expected to be sent to a third country rather than back to El Salvador. The Trump administration won a key victory in the Supreme Court just this week that paves the way for Abrego Garcia’s impending deportation from the United States. The ruling affirmed the administration’s legal right to send illegal aliens to willing "third countries," allowing the Executive branch to deport people to nations other than their nation of origin. That decision is expected to enable thousands of deportations, including the second deportation of Abrego Garcia. The Department of Homeland Security has remained firm in its position that Abrego Garcia will not go free, issuing a swift response to the judge who ordered his release. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asserted that "Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal illegal alien," who "will never go free on American soil.” DHS has not, however, provided details on Abrego Garcia’s impending deportation. "Due to operational security, ICE does not confirm future removal operations until they have landed in respective countries," a DHS spokesman stated.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [6/26/2025 3:43 PM, Ashleigh Fields and Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K]
ABC News [6/26/2025 5:01 PM, Ely Brown, 31733K]
CNN [6/26/2025 4:48 PM, Katelyn Polantz, Devan Cole]
FOX News [6/26/2025 3:46 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K]
Blaze [6/26/2025 5:19 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1805K]
(B) NBC News Daily [6/26/2025 2:17 PM, Staff]

The AP [6/26/2025 5:39 PM, Ben Finley] reports the Justice Department said Thursday that it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges in Tennessee before it moves to deport him to a country that is not his native country of El Salvador. Gilmartin made the statement in the hours after a federal prosecutor told a federal judge in Maryland that President Donald Trump’s administration plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that’s not his native El Salvador after he’s released from jail in Tennessee. Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn said the removal proceedings would be to a "third country." But the prosecutor also said there are "no imminent plans" to deport Abrego Garcia and the U.S. government would comply with all court orders. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers had filed an emergency request for Xinis to order the government to take Abrego Garcia to Maryland when he is released in Tennessee, an arrangement that would prevent his deportation before he stands trial. Xinis, however, said she could not move as quickly as Abrego Garcia’s attorneys would like. She said she had to consider the Trump administration’s pending motions to dismiss the case before she could rule on the emergency request. The judge scheduled a July 7 court hearing in Maryland to discuss the emergency request and other matters. It was unclear whether the government would seek to deport Abrego Garcia before he stands trial in the U.S. on criminal charges unsealed earlier this month. Guynn told the judge during Thursday’s call that "there’s no timeline." The Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 6:01 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1934K] reports the Trump administration may attempt to deport Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country as early as this weekend, according to concerns raised by the defendant’s attorneys on Thursday during an emergency court call.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo [6/26/2025 6:39 PM, Staff, 3352K]

Axios [6/26/2025 7:30 PM, April Rubin, 13599K] reports the White House has called "fake news" a report that quotes prosecutors saying Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, would be sent to an unnamed third country. The Trump administration has included deportations to non-origin countries in its immigration policy, and has obtained permission from the Supreme Court to do so. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson, responding to an AP report on what prosecutors said about deporting Abrego Garcia again, posted on X: "This is fake news." "Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States to face trial for the egregious charges against him," she wrote. "He will face the full force of the American justice system — including serving time in American prison for the crimes he’s committed." "We have said it for months and it remains true to this day," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Axios. "Due to operational security, ICE does not confirm future removal operations until they have landed in respective countries," a DHS spokesperson added. A Justice Department spokesperson also said Abrego Garcia "will not walk free in our country again." Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said they were concerned that the U.S. Marshals Service could release him from Tennessee on Friday and then Immigration and Customs Enforcement would remove him over the weekend.

Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 1:07 PM, Kaelan Deese and Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports the Salvadoran man at the center of a high-profile deportation and human smuggling case under the Trump administration, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is asking a federal judge in Maryland to intervene and block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from removing him from the United States while his criminal trial proceeds. In an eight-page emergency motion filed Thursday, attorneys for Abrego Garcia urged U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to order his return to Maryland from Tennessee, where he has been jailed, and to prohibit ICE from transferring or deporting him once he is released from criminal custody. "If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland," the attorneys wrote, claiming that ICE intends to deport Abrego Garcia, a suspected member of MS-13, to El Salvador a second time despite a standing 2019 order prohibiting his removal to his home country over his fears of being targeted by a rival gang. The request comes as legal tensions tighten between the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. of Tennessee ruled that Abrego Garcia could be released with conditions as he awaits trial on federal smuggling charges. He set a July 16 hearing to review the government’s bid to reverse a magistrate judge’s June 22 order that found Abrego Garcia could not be jailed pending his criminal trial on human smuggling charges tied to a December 2022 traffic stop. But the judge also acknowledged he would likely be taken into ICE custody immediately, possibly creating a standoff between the two agencies.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [6/26/2025 11:19 AM, Breanne Deppisch, 46878K] r

The AP [6/27/2025 12:48 AM, Hallie Golden, 31733K] reports a mother and her two young kids are fighting for their release from a Texas immigration detention center in what is believed to be the first lawsuit involving children challenging the Trump administration’s policy on immigrant arrests at courthouses. The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the family’s arrests after fleeing Honduras and entering the U.S. legally using a Biden-era appointment app violate their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizure and their Fifth Amendment right to due process. “The big picture is that the executive branch cannot seize people, arrest people, detain people indefinitely when they are complying with exactly what our government has required of them,” said Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, one of the lawyers representing the family. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Starting in May, the country has seen large-scale arrests in which asylum-seekers appearing at routine court hearings have been arrested outside courtrooms as part of the White House’s mass deportation effort. In many cases, a judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings and then U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will arrest the person and place them on “expedited removal,” a fast track to deportation. Mukherjee said this is the first lawsuit filed on behalf of children to challenge the ICE courthouse arrest policy. The government has until July 1 to respond. There have been other similar lawsuits, including in New York, where a federal judge ruled earlier this month that federal immigration authorities can’t make civil arrests at the state’s courthouses or arrest anyone going there for a proceeding. The Texas lawsuit was filed using initials for the children and “Ms. Z” for the mother. Their identities have not been released because of concerns for their safety. For weeks in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the mother has watched her 6-year-old son’s health decline, Mukherjee said. He recently underwent chemotherapy treatment for leukemia and because of his arrest missed his check-in doctor’s appointment, Mukherjee said. “He’s easily bruising. He has bone pain. He looks pale,” Mukherjee said, adding that he has also lost his appetite. “His mom is terrified that these are symptoms that his leukemia situation might be deteriorating.” The Los Angeles Times [6/26/2025 10:26 PM, Andrew J. Campa, 14672K] reports that the Honduran mother is being represented by several groups, including attorney Kate Gibson Kumar of the Texas Civil Rights Project, the San Antonio-based Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service and the immigrant advocacy group Raices Texas. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Antonio on Tuesday. An after-hours email to the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately answered. One of the focal points of the lawsuit is the fate of the woman’s son. The youth was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 3 and has undergone chemotherapy treatments, including injecting chemotherapeutic agents into his cerebrospinal fluid, according to court documents. He began treatment in Honduras and completed two years of chemotherapy, at which point the mother believes he no longer has leukemia cells in his blood, according to court documents. The son, however, needs regular monitoring and medical care for his condition, according to court documents. Last year, the family fled to the United States to "seek safety" after they were subject to "imminent, menacing death threats" in Honduras, according to court documents.

Reuters [6/26/2025 12:09 PM, Joyhn Kruzel and Andrtew Chung, 51390K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its final rulings of its current term on Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts said. It has yet to resolve several important cases, including one involving President Donald Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship as well as others involving Obamacare, age verification for online pornography and LGBT story books in elementary schools. Due to the unusual procedural nature of the birthright citizenship case, which was brought to the court on an emergency basis but was argued before the justices, a decision in that case could be among the court rulings issued on Friday. Trump signed an executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year in the United States. Federal judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts blocked Trump’s order, finding it likely violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment citizenship language. The administration is seeking to broadly enforce the directive. The court also could act at any time in other pending disputes on its emergency docket including Trump’s bids to carry out mass job cuts at federal agencies and gut the Department of Education. Other cases awaiting rulings include ones involving preventive care under the Obamacare law, opting children out of certain classes in a Maryland school district when with LGBT characters are read, Louisiana electoral districts and the Federal Communications Commission’s mechanism to fund a multi-billion dollar effort to phone and broadband internet access.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [6/26/2025 11:25 AM, Lawrence Hurley, 44540K]

Breitbart [6/26/2025 9:35 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 3077K] reports Border Czar Tom Homan spoke to the importance of the border security provisions in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" during an event centered around the legislation at the White House Thursday. Trump invited Homan up to speak during his remarks in the East Room of the White House, where workers from around the country, who stand to benefit from the legislation, were in attendance and supporting the president. Homan urged lawmakers to pass the bill due to the border security provisions in it, which include finishing Trump’s border wall and measures to help carry out at least a million deportations annually. "Look, I think this issue with the Big Beautiful Bill should be nonpartisan…What the hell is the matter with everybody up in Congress? People are dying every day. ICE is arresting three times as many criminals that [sic] the Biden administration did," Homan said. He emphasized what the legislation could accomplish in terms of border security: We got over 600,000 illegal aliens with criminal histories walking the streets of this country. We got less than 5,000 deportation officers. This should be a no brainer. The more resources we get, we get this bill passed, we got more agents on the road. We buy more beds, we get more transportation flights, more agents mean more bad guys arrested, taken off the streets of this country every single day. Homan emphasized he is "sick of meeting Angel moms and dads" whose children were murdered by illegal aliens. "You want to talk about family separation? They buried their children. So this, I’ve done this since 1984. I’ve worked for six different presidents. No one has had the success of the Trump administration," Homan said. He added that more border wall is needed to deter illegal immigration and smuggling: We got the most secure border in the history of this nation, today. But we need more border wall. Border wall saves lives. Women and children can’t get over that wall, which means they go to a place where there’s not a wall and what’s waiting on them? The men and women of the border patrol who take care of the humanitarian needs and save their lives. He added that fentanyl seizures should be down "100 percent," stating: We already got fentanyl seizures down half….We should have zero fentanyl come in this country. We need money to help secure that border at a higher level. Stop the fentanyl from coming in…Stop the sex trafficking of women and children. Stop the known, suspected terrorists coming across that border.

CBS News: Lawsuit challenges new Idaho

FOX News [6/26/2025 5:06 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46878K] reports a bill to deport illegal immigrants convicted of driving while under the influence (DUI) netted the support of 37 House Democrats on Thursday. The bill was introduced by conservative Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., and passed by a 246 to 160 vote. No Republican voted against the bill, and it was opposed by 160 Democrats. Democrats who voted for the legislation include Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as moderate Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Jared Golden, D-Maine, Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., Don Davis, D-N.C., and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., among others. "Today’s vote in the House sends a clear message: if you are a guest in this country, and you break our laws and put American lives at risk by driving under the influence, there will be consequences," Moore said. The bill is named after Jeremy and Angel Seay, a couple from Moore’s own community who were killed by an illegal immigrant who was found to have been drunk driving, Moore said. It’s also named after slain Arizona police officer Brandon Mendoza, who was killed by an illegal immigrant found to have been driving under the influence. Democrats who opposed the bill argued it was an attempt at fearmongering.

Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 3:32 PM, Jack Birle, 1934K] reports the Justice Department made an unusual move Tuesday evening by filing a lawsuit against every judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland over an order stalling the Trump administration’s ability to deport illegal immigrants. The lawsuit against the 15 judges, the court clerk, and the court itself challenges a May standing order by the judicial district’s chief judge, George Russell. The order granted an automatic two-day pause on a deportation if the illegal immigrant in question files a habeas corpus petition challenging their detention in court. The Justice Department claimed in its filing Tuesday evening that Russell’s standing order is an action "forbidden" by Supreme Court precedent and that the court does not have the jurisdiction to interfere in such immigration matters. The DOJ further accused the federal court in Maryland of unlawfully interfering with the executive branch. Because the Justice Department is taking the unusual step of suing the entire bench in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the department asked in a subsequent motion for all of the judges to recuse themselves from taking the case and assign it to a judge in a different judicial district or move the case entirely to a different district. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the order by the federal district court in Maryland, which is at the center of the lawsuit, part of "judicial overreach" aimed at undermining President Donald Trump.

Reported similarly:
Axios [6/26/2025 12:00 PM, Avery Lotz, 13599K]
Blaze [6/26/2025 8:27 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1805K]

Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 12:46 PM, Jack Birle, 1934K] reports U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer will proceed with evaluating Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) claims that President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in Los Angeles violated a federal law preventing troops from being used for regular law enforcement activities, despite an appeals court ruling that Breyer could not pause the use of the troops. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit blocked Breyer’s previous pause on Trump’s federalization of the National Guard after Breyer said the president unlawfully took over it. After the appeals court took jurisdiction over those claims, Breyer requested briefs from California officials and the Justice Department on whether they believed he could still rule on Newsom’s claims that the deployed troops violated the Posse Comitatus Act by engaging in civilian law enforcement activities. In an order filed late Wednesday evening in California, Breyer ruled that he has that authority and ordered some discovery to be permitted in the case. "Both parties posit that the Court does retain that jurisdiction," Breyer wrote in his order. "Upon review, the Court agrees. The Court may proceed with the case, including by hearing arguments on the propriety of a preliminary injunction on Posse Comitatus Act grounds and by allowing discovery." Breyer said he would consider a preliminary injunction on Newsom’s allegations that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act following a timeline requested by California officials. Their briefing requested responses and depositions be completed by July 11 and a supplemental briefing be filed by July 15.

Breitbart [6/26/2025 5:18 PM, Neil Munro, 3077K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is displaying more of the criminal migrants that ICE is carefully extracting from the Democrats’ protective "Sanctuary Cities." "As bad-faith politicians attempt to demean and vilify our brave law enforcement, we will only double down and ramp up our enforcement actions against the worst of the worst criminals," said a statement from Tricia McLaughlin, the agency’s assistant secretary for public affairs. Many of the foreign criminals have been living in California for more than a decade with tacit and direct support from city and state governments. During those years, most have likely committed many additional crimes against Americans than the crimes listed by DHS on their rap sheets. Their departure will likely drop the crime rates, much to the benefit of Americans’ neighborhoods.

FOX News [6/26/2025 10:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports members of the White House and Trump administration are hitting back hard against "false reporting" from the mainstream media outlet, the Miami Herald, which alleged that the administration was targeting migrant foster children for deportations. In a Wednesday article by the Miami Herald titled "Trump administration targets Florida foster kids, migrant youth for deportations," the Miami Herald reported that the "Trump administration’s mass-deportation campaign is encircling vulnerable children who were previously off-limits — and squeezing the social welfare agencies tasked with caring for them." The outlet said that "since Donald Trump began his second term, his administration has directed immigration agents to target unaccompanied minors, moved to cut contracts that fund their legal representation and sent Homeland Security agents to homes where unaccompanied children are released to conduct welfare checks." The outlet also reported that the Trump administration is fast tracking deportations for minors who are documented victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment. However, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, quickly shot back against the Miami Herald’s accusations, saying, calling the story an "absolute embarrassment to journalism." "This story is completely false," said McLaughlin. Contrary to the Miami Herald’s reporting, McLaughlin said DHS was "leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure they are safe and not being exploited." She said that President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem "take the responsibility to protect children seriously and are working with law enforcement to reunite the hundreds of thousands of migrant children the Biden Administration lost." Trump border czar Tom Homan also weighed in, posting on X that "under Joe Biden’s watch, hundreds of thousands of migrant kids were trafficked across the border, many turned over to pedophiles and forced labor." "We are rescuing the children Joe Biden condemned. The Miami Herald should report on that," added Homan. Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called the story "disgusting and false reporting." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] DailySignal [6/26/2025 2:45 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 558K] reports that Press secretary Karoline Leavitt sharply criticized The Miami Herald for publishing an article claiming the Trump administration is targeting migrant foster children. Leavitt said she was "aghast" at the headline: "Trump administration targets Florida foster kids, migrant youth for deportations." "It’s egregious to accuse this administration of trying to target foster children," Leavitt told The Daily Signal at Thursday’s press briefing. "That is not at all what is happening at the Department of Homeland Security, and I learned that the Department of Homeland Security actually tried to work in good faith with this reporter to get this story right, to explain that this administration is trying to protect foster children." On average, 11,132 unaccompanied children were encountered at the southern border monthly under the Biden administration, according to a DHS official. The Biden administration lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who crossed the border without their parents. "We are trying to keep children out of harm’s way, even if that means their parents are not law-abiding citizens," Leavitt continued. "We want to protect children, unlike the previous administration, which allowed children to be trafficked and raped, and in some cases killed, because of the open-border policies." The Miami Herald "degraded" itself with the false report, Leavitt said.

NBC News [6/26/2025 10:37 AM, Ronny Rojas, 44540K] reports that Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered the government of Rodrigo Chaves to release Asian migrants deported by the Trump administration who have been held in a temporary shelter in the Central American country since February. In a 4-3 vote, the justices found that the Costa Rican government had violated the migrants’ rights by failing to provide them with "timely and sufficient information" about their immigration status or give them access to legal counsel. "Nor was free contact with the media permitted, nor was there any information from the outset about the possibility of requesting asylum," the court said in a statement. The judges gave the government 15 days to release the deported migrants and ordered it to determine their immigration status "individually" and based on the law. In February, the Trump administration sent 200 Asian migrants to Costa Rica on two deportation flights, including nearly 100 children. The deportees came from countries such as China, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Russia and Uzbekistan. More than 70 were minors. The agreement between the two countries was reached as Costa Rica feared that President Donald Trump would retaliate if it refused to accept the migrants, according to statements made to the press by the president and the foreign minister. The Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 5:00 PM, Brady Knox, 1934K] reports that the court ruled that the Costa Rican government had violated the group’s rights by failing to provide them with "timely and sufficient information" about their immigration status or give them access to legal counsel, NBC News reported. The government was given 15 days to release the remaining migrants. The government reacted with outrage. Of the original group, 107 were sent back to their countries of origin, 35 left on their own, and 30 requested asylum in Costa Rica. The 28 remaining deportees, including 13 minors, hailed from Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Costa Rica on Wednesday and met with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chávez Robles. She then visited the Los Lagos Detention Center and met with members from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Joint Security Program.

Blaze [6/26/2025 11:00 AM, Paul Gottfried, 1805K] reports the New York Post last week chided President Trump for not "getting it right" on deportations. But its real target wasn’t Trump. It was Stephen Miller, the president’s longtime immigration adviser and current White House deputy chief of staff. The Post’s editorial board warned that Miller’s plan to apprehend 3,000 illegal aliens per day is "asking for trouble.” The Post argued the number is unrealistic. Even if Immigration and Customs Enforcement focuses on "the worst of the worst," the roundup will still trigger media-fueled hysteria and nationwide riots. Mass arrests, it claimed, carry the "highest risk public-opinion-wise.” The Post envisioned a wave of anti-ICE demonstrations, media pearl-clutching, and chaos. It feared ICE would be stretched too thin trying to hit its daily targets. Worse still, agents might apprehend illegal immigrants who entered before Biden — or even before Obama — and have "put down some roots." That, we’re told, would create "economic problems," particularly for agriculture. The solution? The Post recommended a "scalpel, not a hammer." Encourage illegal immigrants to self-deport. Offer incentives. Go soft. Supposedly, a million have already left on their own. And if Trump continues gently urging them out, the paper claims, many more will go peacefully. The problem? We don’t even know if that number is real. The Department of Homeland Security doesn’t systematically track self-deportations. It’s possible some of the exits happened during the Trump years or even before. Regardless, they’ve hardly made a dent in the 11 million people Homeland Security says are here illegally. But more troubling than the questionable data is the message Trump would send if he adopted the Post’s approach: that he’s willing to pull back on deportations — not because it’s the right policy, but because it might provoke the left. It would mean ICE can’t arrest even violent felons if it risks upsetting the street mobs funded by Democrats. And because the left treats all illegal immigrants as future voters, that would effectively shut down enforcement altogether. As a historian, I’ll offer a provocative but fitting comparison: Today’s leftist thugs resemble the Nazi brownshirts of the Weimar era. Back then, many thought the nationalists could harness the street violence for political gain. They were wrong. The brownshirts brought chaos, not order. I see nothing morally or politically superior about the rioters in Los Angeles. They may call themselves anti-fascists. But their behavior — and their impact — is the same.

San Diego Union Tribune [6/26/2025 5:34 PM, Rafael Perez, 1611K] reports There’s a video going around social media of a man named Narciso Barranco being beaten while pinned on the ground by Border Patrol agents in Orange County. The 48-year-old father of three Marines was working a landscaping job when he was approached – before officers subdued Barranco and punched him multiple times in the back of the head, footage shows Barranco running while holding a weedwacker. On Twitter, the Department of Homeland Security alleged that Barranco swung the weedwacker at agents – of the several angles available of Barranco holding the machine, none show him swinging it or assaulting border agents. Perhaps if we had footage of the entire encounter, it would show Barranco being more of a threat to the agents. What the videos do show is that at least four agents directly holding the roughly 5 ‘6’’ Barranco down on the ground wasn’t enough for them to consider him neutralized – they also had to beat him in the back of the head. That’s "dad strength" for you I suppose. This is far from an isolated instance of ICE and border patrol agents treating people inhumanely. In March, ICE jailed green-card holder Fabian Schmidt for two months. Schmidt claims he was strip searched and violently interrogated. ICE abuses in the field and within their detention facilities have been going on for years. According to secret internal DHS reports acquired by NPR via a Freedom of Information request, "In examining more than two dozen facilities across 16 states from 2017 to 2019, these expert inspectors found "negligent" medical care (including mental health care), "unsafe and filthy" conditions, racist abuse of detainees, inappropriate pepper-spraying of mentally ill detainees and other problems that, in some cases, contributed to detainee deaths.” Apart from the physical abuse, several stories have appeared of ICE and other federal agents arresting and detaining US citizens and simply choosing to ignore their proof of citizenship. All of this demonstrates that DHS, ICE, and Border Patrol have been operating without accountability, free to treat people like animals and violate the rights of illegal immigrants, legal residents, and US citizens as they see fit. The Department of Homeland Security’s utter lack of respect for human rights and the rule of law now extends to undermining Congress’ oversight powers – several members of Congress have been denied entry into ICE detention centers. A spokeswoman for DHS indicated that federal officials should give at least a week’s notice to be allowed entry. Federal laws clearly state that members of Congress have the authority to inspect these sites without prior notice.

The Hill [6/26/2025 1:30 PM, Jay A. Soled and Timothy M. Todd, 18649K] reports that Congress designed the tax code to raise revenue and to foster various policy goals. In doing that, it should not discriminate against its own people. But when it comes to employment hiring decisions, it does exactly that — it incentivizes employers to employ immigrants over equally qualified U.S. citizens and resident counterparts. How is this possible? A common experience shared by U.S. citizens and residents is seeing sizable portions of their paychecks taken out in the form of employment taxes to fund Social Security and Medicare. In addition, their employers must separately pay these taxes too (and federal unemployment tax to boot). The combination of employment taxes is not insignificant, taking a steep percentage out of workers’ paychecks and similarly reducing business profitability. Perhaps surprisingly, the situation is wholly different with respect to foreign students coming to the nation’s shores. The tax code exempts workers on student visas and their employers from employment taxes. In the past, the cost in foregone tax revenue associated with the student visa tax exemption was likely meager. The number of foreign students was negligible, and it was perhaps expected that many would return to their home countries. Yet in today’s global environment, and given the broad desire for U.S.-based education and work experience, the number of foreign students attending U.S. universities has dramatically increased over the last half century. This fundamental transformation is one that Congress likely neither accounted for nor contemplated, and it is costing billions in foregone tax revenue.

The Hill [6/26/2025 2:00 PM, Reps. Rick Larsen and Greg Stanton, 18649K] reports that Hurricane season is here, and according to government forecasts it’s shaping up to be brutal. And then comes wildfire season, which is growing more destructive in the West. The U.S. just faced the worst tornado season in more than a decade. You wouldn’t know it by the Trump administration’s approach to disaster preparation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in disarray, and President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kirsti Noem want to dismantle the disaster response agency altogether at the end of this year, leaving states to fend for themselves. It’s eerily reminiscent of the summer of 2005, when hasty organizational changes, brain drain and unqualified leadership plagued FEMA in the lead up to its catastrophic response to Hurricane Katrina. The images we saw along the Gulf Coast then shocked the nation, and communities are still recovering to this day. As we approach the 20-year anniversary of that catastrophe, this administration seems dead set on repeating history’s mistakes. Storms — and other dangerous weather events — are getting more frequent and more destructive, and the Trump administration is leaving America dangerously unprepared for the challenges ahead. Since taking office, the Trump administration has implemented drastic changes — without the consent of Congress — that significantly weaken FEMA’s ability to respond to hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods, heat-induced blackouts and other disasters.

FOX News [6/26/2025 11:55 AM, Cameron Arcand, Bill Melugin, and Jasmine Baehr, 46878K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 130 Iranian nationals throughout the United States in the last week, and 670 Iranian nationals are in ICE detention, as the Trump administration continues to increase arrests of Iranian nationals in the country illegally amid security concerns. Multiple federal sources confirmed the numbers, as administration officials and national security experts have warned about the possible risk of sleeper cells being activated, as well as those who may be inspired to retaliate domestically after the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program sites. "The presence in this country of undocumented migrants or Iranian nationals who have links to Hezbollah, IRGC, is, in my judgment, a domestic law enforcement concern of the highest magnitude," former Obama-era Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on "Fox & Friends." The border crisis under the Biden administration, which resulted in millions of people entering the country illegally, also underscored the concerns. "We don’t know who they are, where they came from, why they’re here," border czar Tom Homan said last week. "This is the biggest national security vulnerability we’ve ever seen." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

News Nation [6/26/2025 2:48 PM, Ali Bradley and Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports as Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to target what federal officials have deemed the “worst of the worst” migrants who entered the United States illegally, the agency is reporting an uptick in the arrests of Iranian nationals. ICE has arrested 130 Iranian nationals living illegally in the United States in the past week alone as concerns grow about possible sleeper cells, NewsNation has confirmed. In addition to the recent arrests, Department of Homeland Security sources confirmed to NewsNation that 670 Iranian nationals are currently being held in ICE detention centers. The announcement comes after ICE said that it had arrested 11 Iranian nationals who were living illegally in the United States over the weekend. Among those arrested over the weekend at multiple locations around the United States were a former Iranian army sniper and another Iranian national who DHS officials claim has admitted ties to Hezbollah. ICE Director Todd Lyons told NewsNation in an exclusive interview that while ICE is taking a holistic approach to apprehending migrants with prior criminal convictions, the recent U.S. attack launched on Iranian nuclear sites has increased the spotlight on migrants from Iran who have made their way into the United States. “We’ve always done targeted enforcement, we’ve always focused on high-risk countries – including Iran,” Lyons told NewsNation. Lyons acknowledged that ICE officials know of a large population of known and suspected terrorists that he says were allowed into the United States under the Biden administration. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has instructed ICE to encounter known migrant “gotaways” and known suspected terrorists “before something bad happens.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [6/26/2025 6:30 PM, Staff, 1805K] reports the number of Iranian nationals arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been steadily climbing since President Trump’s strike on Iranian nuclear sites — but former immigration Judge Andrew Arthur warns it’s not going to die down anytime soon. A press release from the Department of Homeland Security confirmations that "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 11 Iranian nationals illegally in the United States over the weekend.” "ICE also arrested a U.S. citizen who threatened to kill ICE law enforcement while harboring an illegal alien from Iran. The weekend arrests reflect the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) commitment to keeping known and suspected terrorists out of American communities," the press release continued. "It’s important to note the fact that under the Biden administration between February 2021 and November 2024, which is the last report, we have 1,750 different Iranians were apprehended entering the United States illegally. There were more than 7,000 who were stopped at the ports of entry," Arthur tells BlazeTV host Jill Savage and Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford. "Those apprehensions represent a 20-fold increase over the seven-year-period prior to President Biden taking office. So we saw a huge number of Iranians come to the United States," he continues, "but here’s the much more important danger.”

NewsNation [6/26/2025 3:22 PM, Ali Bradley, 18649K] reports under the Trump administration, immigration enforcement and deportations have been a high priority, even as the administration has faced protests over mass deportations. Recently, there has also been a focus on arresting foreign nationals with suspected terrorist ties. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons told NewsNation that while there have been recent headlines focusing on those suspected of connections to terrorism, including Iranian nationals, it doesn’t mean there has been a shift in priorities. "What you’re seeing is ICE doing their mission as a whole," he said. "We’ve always done targeted enforcement, and we’ve always focused on high-risk countries, you know, not just Iran, but, you know, People’s Republic of China, Syria, various countries on the African continent.” Lyons attributed the number of suspected terrorists in the country to the Biden administration. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently told governors that there is a heightened threat level following the U.S. strike on Iran, and it’s critical to go after these suspects. "The only way ICE is going to do that is if we treat every immigration violator the same and we take action on them," Lyons said. Lyons said he couldn’t put a number on how many of those suspected terrorists were Iranian, but the focus has been on identifying people who are national security threats and detaining them. "I think Americans should be confident that under this administration, under the leadership of Secretary Noem, you have federal law enforcement agencies that are out there every day protecting the homeland," Lyons said. "I think the American public needs to be aware. They just need to be cautious, but they need to go on living their lives because they wake up in the greatest country every day.” ICE agents have faced protesters in cities where increased immigration raids have occurred, including Los Angeles. The situation there prompted President Donald Trump to federalize California’s National Guard. Despite the opposition, Lyons said morale is high among agents, in part due to the backing from Trump and Noem.

Bloomberg [6/26/2025 9:06 AM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 88K] reports that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is streamlining civil monetary penalties for immigration law violations, including unlawful entry and failure to depart after a removal order. The agency is updating the process in an interim final rule, allowing changes to take effect immediately when it’s published in the Federal Register on Friday. The new process is intended to allow the Department of Homeland Security to impose more penalties, more quickly, and deter future unlawful entry, the agency said. Current procedures "have the potential to become unnecessarily burdensome and cause unnecessary delay as DHS expands its use of the failure to depart and unlawful entry civil monetary penalties," it said in the rule released Thursday. Among changes adopted, ICE will be able to serve immigrants with penalties via routine, rather than certified, mail and appeals will be handled by DHS rather than the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals. It’s also shortening the appeal period from 30 to 15 days. Monetary penalties for failing to voluntarily depart the country can range between $1,992 and $9,970. Immigrants who enter the US unlawfully can be charged penalties between $100 to $500 for each entry. As of June, ICE had issued almost 10,000 fine notices for failure to depart penalties, it said.

Blaze [6/26/2025 4:00 PM, Cortney Weil, 1805K] reports a radical Democrat congresswoman who staunchly advocates for so-called "abortion rights" may have accidentally undermined them when she attempted to run interference for a recently deported immigrant accused of heinous crimes. There seems to be no form of abortion Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) doesn’t like. She has called abortion "health care" and a "human right," vowed "to protect and expand" so-called "reproductive care" under Trump’s second term, and even admitted that she has had at least one abortion herself. Because of her long-standing history of defending abortion, Jayapal surprised many when she lamented the recent loss of another woman’s unborn "baby.” "A pregnant woman lost her baby after ICE refused to give her prenatal care," Jayapal wrote on social media on Tuesday, perhaps not realizing that babies are persons who cannot legally be killed. "If true, this is very sad. Tragic even. And the fact that it’s sad is clear evidence that your position on abortion is both inhumane and barbaric," Not the Bee shot back in the comments. "Interesting that it’s a baby when you want to dunk on ICE but it’s just a clump of cells when you want to kill it," added Kangmin Lee, a popular Christian influencer with nearly 160,000 followers. In her social media post, Jayapal also shared an article from the Nashville Banner about the apparent stillborn child and his mother, Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus, a native of Guatemala who reportedly stole into the U.S. in 2018. In the article, Monterroso-Lemus painted such a harrowing tale of her experiences in ICE custody that independent journalist Andy Ngo characterized her allegations as "cinematic.” Monterroso-Lemus also claimed that overly vigilant guards kept her "shackled" to a bed while she delivered the stillborn baby boy. "When I was delivering my baby, they didn’t even give me a little privacy," she said. "One time, they even shackled my feet because they thought I might escape. Like I was some kind of criminal. I told them, ‘What you’re doing to me isn’t right.’". Because Jayapal’s tweet drew such attention to Monterroso-Lemus’ case, the Department of Homeland Security issued a press release directly disputing most, if not all, of Monterroso-Lemus’ claims. According to DHS, Monterroso-Lemus: "had a bed in her cell" and was never forced to sleep on the floor; received "appropriate dietician cleared menus" every day in keeping with the standards of all ICE detainees in New Orleans; received extensive prenatal and other medical care, including a fetal doppler ultrasound, an "OB-GYN visit, dental care, and medication." She was also taken to a hospital and seen by "multiple nurses"; and was given "immediate medical assistance" on April 29, when she reported distress and was taken to the hospital. DHS also insists it has no record that Monterroso-Lemus ever filed a grievance about alleged "mistreatment and mocking from guards.” In a statement to Blaze News, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed: "This reporting is absolutely FALSE. Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus had FULL medical, prenatal care. We have documentation to show it.”

FOX News [6/26/2025 1:20 PM, Preston Mizell, 46878K] reports that Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, sent letters to two key agency heads with a plan to "swiftly" remove roughly 1.4 million illegal immigrants currently receiving Medicaid in the US. "While Democrats in Congress continue to peddle falsehoods and fear-mongering over so-called ‘Medicaid cuts,’ they conveniently ignore a staggering truth: over 1.4 million illegal aliens are receiving Medicaid benefits, an unsustainable burden on the American taxpayer," Hunt told Fox News Digital. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz were both recipients of Rep. Hunt’s letter this week, which proposed a task force to "identify" and remove the illegal migrants on Medicaid. "I’ve formally requested the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a task force to identify those unlawfully exploiting our healthcare system and ensure they are swiftly removed from our country," Hunt added. The Texas Congressman’s comments come as President Donald Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill," which includes a provision stripping illegal migrants from taxpayer-funded healthcare, faces last-minute changes in the Senate.

Newsweek [6/26/2025 1:27 PM, Mandy Taheri, 54790K] reports that Milad Aspari, a green card holder from Iran, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) after mistakenly crossing into Canada and was arrested upon reentry. Advocates warn that his potential deportation to Iran could endanger his life, given his Kurdish identity. Newsweek reached out to Aspari’s attorney, ICE, and USCIS for comment via email on Thursday. Aspari’s detention comes amid an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration and inflamed U.S. relations with Iran. His legal team argues that his Kurdish ethnic and religious minority identity will complicate his security matters even more after President Donald Trump struck three of the country’s nuclear sites, Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz, on Saturday. Iran later struck a U.S. base in Qatar. The Trump administration has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. In addition to people residing in the country illegally, immigrants with valid documentation, including green cards and visas, have been detained and face legal jeopardy. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said in a June 24 press release about the arrest of 11 Iranian nationals: "Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise. "We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland."

Los Angeles Times [6/26/2025 8:41 PM, Melissa Gomez, 14672K] reports that, as federal immigration raids continue to upend life in Los Angeles, Asian American leaders are rallying their communities to raise their voices in support of Latinos, who have been the primary targets of the enforcement sweeps, warning that neighborhoods frequented by Asian immigrants could be next. Organizers say many Asian immigrants have already been affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants working in the country without documentation. Dozens of Southeast Asian immigrants in Los Angeles and Orange counties whose deportation orders had been on indefinite hold have been detained after showing up for routine check-ins at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, according to immigration attorneys and advocacy groups. In recent months, a number of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese immigrants whose deportation orders had been stayed — in some cases for decades — have been told that those orders will now be enforced. The Asian immigrants being targeted are generally people who were convicted of a crime after arriving in the U.S., making them subject to deportation after their release from jail or prison. In most cases, ICE never followed through because the immigrants had lived in the U.S. long enough that their home countries no longer recognized them as citizens. "Our community is much more silent, but we are being detained in really high numbers," said Connie Chung Joe, chief executive of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California. "There’s such a stigma and fear that, unlike the Latinx community that wants to fight and speak out about the injustices, our community’s first reaction is to go down and get more and more hidden.” On Thursday, more than a half-dozen leaders representing Thai, Japanese and South Asian communities held a news conference in Little Tokyo urging community members to stand together and denounce the federal action as an overreach. President Trump came into office in January vowing to target violent criminals for deportation. But amid pressure to raise deportation numbers, administration officials in recent months have shifted their focus to farmworkers, landscapers, street vendors and other day laborers, many of whom have been working in the country for decades. While an estimated 79% of undocumented residents in L.A. County are natives of Mexico and Central America, Asian immigrants make up the second-largest group, constituting 16% of people in the county without legal authorization, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Across the U.S., Indians make up the third-largest group of undocumented residents, behind Mexicans and Salvadorans.

Washington Post [6/26/2025 6:00 AM, Daniel Wu, 32099K] reports immigrant rights groups sued a Long Island county Tuesday over an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allows local police to carry out immigration enforcement. Nassau County in February became the first county in New York to make a deal with ICE since President Donald Trump was inaugurated. The program — known as a 287(g) agreement after the federal law that authorizes such partnerships — allows law enforcement agencies to partner with ICE as a “force multiplier” to make immigration arrests. Advocates and community groups, including the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, the Central American Refugee Center and the Haitian-American Family of Long Island, said in their lawsuit that the partnership exceeds Nassau police’s authority under state law and allows a police agency already dogged by accusations of racial profiling to discriminate against the immigrant community. The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, names the county and its police department as defendants. The Trump administration has increasingly leaned on local law enforcement agencies to bolster its immigration crackdown. There were 135 active 287(g) agreements when President Joe Biden left office. That has surged to 719 in the months since Trump was inaugurated. "Allegations that 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement encourage ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting and categorically FALSE," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. She said the program is "critical to having the enforcement we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country." The lawsuit is the latest in a procession of legal challenges against the 287(g) program on similar grounds. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania sued to stop an ICE partnership with the Bucks County sheriff in June. The ACLU has also challenged 287(g) agreements in Maryland and Colorado. In 2011, a Justice Department investigation caused the Department of Homeland Security to suspend an agreement with Maricopa County in Arizona after finding that it led to racial profiling of Latino residents.

Washington Post [6/26/2025 9:00 AM, Stephen Yang and Arelis R. Hernández, 32099K] reports New York City officials have closed the historic Manhattan hotel that sheltered thousands of migrant families arriving with little more than the clothes in their backpacks after long treks from the southern border. The Roosevelt Hotel, dubbed the city’s “Little Ellis Island,” shuttered its doors to migrants on Tuesday. The early-20th-century hotel once served as the backdrop to dozens of Hollywood films and closed after a series of financial losses in 2020. But the city reopened it in May 2023 as an “arrival center” for the scores of migrants taking buses and trains from Texas. Inside the Roosevelt’s cavernous lobby, city workers devised a processing system that converted the front desk into a registration area. Asylum seekers from as far away as China were medically screened for physical and psychological maladies, and nurses administered vaccines. Beneath the ceiling’s yellowing depiction of a blue sky and puffy white clouds, exhausted families waited to learn where the city would place them. While some were given a room at the Roosevelt, others were sent to different hotels, emergency shelters and living spaces. New York City officials reasoned that if they did not offer migrants a place to sleep, they would camp out on the streets instead. Ultimately more than 230,000 asylum seekers filed through the hotel as they began their New York journeys. Border crossings subsided a year after opening. But demand for housing persisted as migrants waited for work permits and struggled to get their footing financially in a new country.

New York Post [6/26/2025 5:32 PM, Alex Oliveira, 49956K] reports migrants detained by ICE are being held in the same controversial Brooklyn jail where Sean "Diddy" Combs and alleged healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione are locked up, according to officials. The jail, MDC Brooklyn in Sunset Park, began housing illegal immigrants recently after the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) opened up several of its facilities across the country for use by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a BOP spokesperson told The Post. It remains unclear how many illegal immigrants are being held at MDC Brooklyn or how long they’ll be there, but they’ll be joining a storied cast of inmates who have called the jail home over the years. Seven other BOP detention centers are being used by ICE to house illegal immigrants, including FCI Atlanta, FCI Lewisburg, FCI Leavenworth, FCI Berlin, FDC Philadelphia, FDC Honolulu and FDC Miami, according to the Bureau.

New York Post [6/26/2025 7:13 PM, Brandon Cruz, 49956K] reports Nassau County’s top elected official promised to move forward with plans to deputize 10 detectives to work with ICE, brushing off a new lawsuit that claims the move is illegal under the state’s sanctuary policies. County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R) said he is "not concerned at all" about the new litigation from the New York Civil Liberties Union and defiantly said the team will move forward regardless of who tries to get in the way. "We will vigorously defend our right to partner with ICE," Blakeman said outside of the county legislature Wednesday. "We’re confident that all measures taken to protect communities in Nassau County are legal and properly authorized.” The NYCLU and several immigrant rights groups argue in the suit that the agreement between Nassau police and ICE violates state orders by allowing local officers to act as federal immigration agents. The lawsuit is the first of its kind in New York State, and attacks the agreement between the county and the federal government — saying it undermines protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The litigation also argues that allowing detectives to target, arrest, and help deport undocumented immigrants not only violates state law, but will lead to racial profiling by allowing cops to "stop, question, and arrest Nassau County residents — anywhere in the community — based solely on the officer’s ‘belief’ that they may be in the United States in violation of law.”

The Hill [6/26/2025 12:27 PM, Tara Suter, 18649K] reports President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan slammed New York state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani after the projected victory of the democratic socialist in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. "New York’s in trouble," Homan said while discussing the apparent victory of Mamdani on John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby’s radio show Wednesday. "I mean, President Trump’s made it clear we’re going to hammer — we’re going to double and triple down on sanctuary cities. So, what you see in New York City today, double it," he added later. Mamdani unexpectedly beat 10 other candidates in Tuesday’s New York mayoral Democratic primary, according to unofficial results, shocking political observers. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was on a path to a second-place finish. Mamdani immigrated to the U.S. from Uganda as a child and has spent most of his life in the nation’s biggest city. If he clinches New York City’s top job in November, he would be its first Muslim and Asian mayor. In a Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump called Mamdani "a 100% Communist Lunatic.” "It’s finally happened, the Democrats have crossed the line. Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous," Trump said in the post.

The Hill [6/26/2025 5:04 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) on Wednesday addressed fears stemming from federal charges tied to her visit to a New Jersey detention facility operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The lawmaker is facing 17 years for forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers on three counts after she tussled with law enforcement while exiting the facility. The lawmaker has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains that she will be proven innocent in court. Trump administration officials have slammed McIver for inappropriate behavior they say was caught on camera. "We will not tolerate assault against our ICE law enforcement agents. By members of Congress or anyone else," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a post on the social media platform X following the incident. Her post shows a close-up clip of McIver being swallowed by the crowd outside of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, N.J., while elbowing law enforcement officers.

Telemundo Washington DC [6/26/2025 5:14 PM, Rosbelis Quiñonez, 56K] reports a Salvadoran father who was arrested by Alexandria police and handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) broke his silence after spending nearly two months in a detention center. The 27-year-old Salvadoran, who preferred not to be identified, said his ordeal began in the Alexandria prison. He was arrested by police officers in late May while helping with a move. The young man’s lawyers told Telemundo 44 that the incident stemmed from what they described as a mistake. According to Fairfax court documents, a domestic case was closed. However, when he failed to appear for a hearing, the judge issued an arrest warrant instead of rescheduling the hearing, as his lawyer says is done in these cases. The Alexandria Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Telemundo 44 that, following protocol, they handed the young man over to immigration authorities, who transferred him to the Farmville detention center. After weeks of immigration court hearings, the Salvadoran was released on bail. However, he now awaits a new immigration court date in October, but the fear has not yet subsided.

Axios [6/26/2025 6:22 AM, Sabrina Moreno, 13599K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are arresting immigrants in courthouses across Virginia, in some cases moments after their hearings end. The courthouse crackdown is part of a sweeping Trump administration effort to fast-track removals and increase the number of deportations this year — a strategy that’s dramatically expanding who gets targeted and how, Axios’ Alayna Alvarez and Brittany Gibson report. The latest of these reported Virginia incidents took place in Chesterfield this past week, when ICE agents detained at least 14 people at the county courthouse, per Chesterfield’s Sheriff’s Office. County Sheriff Karl Leonard said in a statement that ICE arrested all of them post-court appearances. He also told RTD on Wednesday that he’s asked agents to operate more discreetly and use side rooms instead of public hallways. The Chesterfield arrests have led to protests and pushback from Democratic lawmakers. Virginia is already a hot spot for immigration enforcement. But the recent ramp-up follows a January policy shift allowing ICE to target courthouses for the first time in years — a move advocates say is quietly upending the legal process for immigrants.

Telemundo Washington DC [6/26/2025 3:55 PM, Catalina Pérez de Armiñán, 56K] reports a Honduran resident of Charles County faces deportation to Mexico and has been detained for the past five weeks, according to his attorneys. Ángel Servellón Girón was arrested in May in Baltimore by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to his lawyers, family, and friends. His loved ones said officers told Servellón they were arresting him to "meet a quota," but gave no other explanation. Servellón is originally from Honduras. According to his attorney, he was able to remain in the United States thanks to a withholding of removal order that allowed him to remain in the country and work legally. That was until last month, when, according to his family, he showed up for a regular immigration checkpoint at a Baltimore courthouse and was detained by ICE agents. His legal team said their client was informed he would be deported to Mexico and was not given a timeframe.

The Hill [6/26/2025 12:38 PM, Shaquira Speaks, 18649K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said a raid on a Kings Mountain factory Wednesday afternoon was part of an investigation into identity theft. That blitz involved ICE agents taking workers at Buckeye Fire Equipment into custody. Eric Pinon shot video, and he and his coworkers gathered in one spot at Buckeye Fire. In the video, men in large vests and badges are seen standing behind the workers. He was able to grab this video before any agents stepped in to stop him. "I was trying to record, and he told me, ‘No recording, put your phone up.’ He grabbed my phone, and like, that’s when he took the record off, and he turned off my phone. He was like, ‘Everybody turn off your phones now. It’s not. You’ll be detained,’ Pinon said. Pinon, a U.S. citizen, said once everyone’s phones were turned off, what appeared to be immigration agents led them to a small room for at least an hour before individual interrogations outside. "That’s when they were checking all of us. They were asking questions like, "Are you a U.S. citizen? Anybody in there? You a citizen or not? You a citizen?" Or if, like, anybody that’s working without papers or under a different name," he said. ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams said agents were executing a warrant for aggravated identity theft and other crimes, which include potentially employing people illegally.

Telemundo [6/26/2025 8:02 AM, Staff, 4K] reports authorities in DeKalb County, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, announced Wednesday that they have dropped charges against journalist Mario Guevara, who was arrested on June 14 while covering a protest against President Donald Trump and immigration enforcement. “After carefully reviewing the evidence, including the video of his arrest, I have determined that while there was probable cause to warrant the initial stop, the evidence is not sufficient to support prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt,” said DeKalb County Attorney General Donna Coleman-Stribling. Guevara was charged with unlawful assembly, obstructing an officer, and being a pedestrian in the roadway, which led to his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his release from the DeKalb jail.

Breitbart [6/26/2025 1:32 PM, Bob Price, 3077K] reports that an identity theft investigation led to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raid at a fire equipment factory in North Carolina on Wednesday. The operation led to the arrest of at least 30 people, according to a local news report. ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents and deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service conducted a workplace enforcement operation at the Buckeye Fire Equipment Company in King Mountain, North Carolina, on Wednesday. The operation followed an investigation by the HSI into allegations of identity theft. ICE officials told Queen City News they visited the plant as part of an investigation into identity theft and other crimes. "Allegations of identity theft and you should take seriously. Would you want your identities used for someone else to work or do whatever they’re going to do with them? So its a serious federal crime," ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams told the local news outlet. "There have been some folks detained where somewhere in the dozen or so range, but that number may increase as we continue." Officials later confirmed they had placed at least 30 people into custody. They expect that number to increase as the investigation continues. ICE officials told local NBC affiliate WCNC that agents executed a criminal search warrant related to allegations of identity theft to hire people who aren’t authorized to work in the U.S.

AP [6/26/2025 6:20 PM, Staff, 11859K] reports a Canadian man being held by immigration officials in South Florida has died in federal custody, officials said. Johnny Noviello, 49, died Monday afternoon at the Bureau of Prisons Federal Detention Center in Miami, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release said. The cause of death was under investigation. Noviello was being detained pending removal from the U.S., officials said. He entered the U.S. in 1988 on a legal visa and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991. He was convicted of drug trafficking and other charges in 2023 and sentenced to a year in prison, officials said. Noviello was picked up by ICE agents at his probation office last month and charged with removability because of his drug conviction, authorities said. Seven other immigration detainees have died in federal custody this year, with 11 deaths reported in 2024.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo51 [6/26/2025 2:47 PM, Staff, 177K]

CNN [6/26/2025 8:45 PM, Emma Tucker, 21433K] reports Canadian consular officials are pressing for more information from the United States government after a Canadian citizen died while in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Florida detention center this week. Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old lawful permanent resident of the US, was being detained at the Federal Detention Center in Miami while facing deportation over a 2023 conviction for racketeering and drug trafficking, according to ICE. He was found unresponsive and pronounced dead by the Miami Fire Rescue Department Monday afternoon, according to ICE. The cause of his death is still under investigation, the agency said. "Medical staff responded immediately and began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation, automated external defibrillator shock and called 911," ICE said. CNN has reached out to the Miami Fire Rescue Department for additional information. Noviello was arrested by ICE at a probation office on May 15 and issued a notice to appear for removal proceedings, "having been convicted of a violation of any law or regulation … relating to a controlled substance," ICE said in a news release. The arrest came amid the Trump administration’s expanding deportation campaign that has spotlighted the capture of immigrants convicted of crimes. The Canadian government was notified of Noviello’s death on Thursday, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said in a statement. "Canadian consular officials are urgently seeking more information from US officials," the statement said, adding further details will not be provided to respect the family’s privacy. Global Affairs Canada said consular officials are in contact with US authorities to gather more information about Noviello’s death. Noviello became a lawful permanent US resident in October 24, 1991, after entering the US in January 1988 with a legal visa, ICE said. He was convicted in Volusia County, Florida, in October 2023 for racketeering, trafficking Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, and sentenced to 12 months in county jail, court records show. Noviello only served around 125 days of his sentence with credits for good behavior and time served, said Daniel Leising, an attorney who represented Noviello in the criminal case. The attorney added the last he’d heard from Noviello was in February when a judge granted him community service. ICE in its statement noted that detained migrants have access to 24-hour emergency care while in custody and said it’s "committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments.” The agency has reported seven in-custody deaths in 2025 as of May 5, according to ICE’s website.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [6/27/2025 1:42 AM, Kelsey Ables, 32099K]

CBS Miami [6/26/2025 7:32 PM, Joan Murray, 51860K] Video: HERE reports construction is nearly complete on "Alligator Alcatraz," a controversial migrant detention center deep in the Florida Everglades. But while the state moves forward, opposition from environmental groups, Indigenous tribes and local residents continues to mount. DeSantis defends site: "We aren’t adding anything". Gov. Ron DeSantis has maintained that the facility, being built on a little-used runway, will not harm the environment and is necessary to support immigration enforcement efforts. "This is already built. We aren’t adding anything," DeSantis said. "It’s opposed by people against deportation.” The governor has said the Everglades site is part of a broader plan to house 10,000 migrants statewide, including at a designated site in North Florida and a possible future location in Okeechobee County. DeSantis says these facilities will ease the burden on local jails, noting that Broward County currently holds 212 migrant detainees in custody. Not all Floridians were aware of the project’s location or scope. Vincent Cuchel, who often fishes in the Everglades, said he was surprised by the news. "I wonder about the construction. We will have to wait and see," Cuchel said. For many critics, the opposition is about more than immigration policy. Indigenous leaders have voiced deep concern over the facility’s placement in a culturally and environmentally sensitive area.

Breitbart [6/26/2025 12:34 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 3077K] reports “Alligator Alcatraz” is the “perfect location” for detaining criminal illegal migrants — many of whom have committed crimes against children — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily. Uthmeier discussed his proposal to turn the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility into “Alligator Alcatraz” to detain illegal migrants. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has since approved of this immigration detention center. He explained that Florida has led the way assisting President Donald Trump with federal immigration law enforcement. “We’ve got the best law enforcement in the country, and all of our sheriffs and state law enforcement have been deputized by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and Homeland Security to enforce, to help detain and deport, and they’re really becoming a victim of their own success,” he said, noting that sheriffs are making “thousands” of arrests across the state which has led to jail space capacity issues. “I know the federal government has looking for more been looking for more capacity, as they do work across the country. So we offered to step up here in Florida, put together some temporary detention facilities that will help as we’re processing detainees, to help get them out of the country and back where they belong,” he said.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [6/26/2025 4:27 PM, James Morley III, 4622K]

Univision [6/26/2025 4:01 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports moments of tension and confusion erupted Thursday among participants in the Miami-Dade County Commission session, where a vote was expected to ratify the prison agreement with ICE signed by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office officers forcibly removed and arrested 36-year-old activist Camila Ramos, who now faces charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence. According to authorities, the reason the activist was detained and subsequently arrested was that she violated the rules while speaking in the chamber. The confusion arose because not all of the people who were scheduled to speak on Thursday would be able to speak again when the discussion resumed on a different day. The discussion was postponed to another date that has not yet been determined. Miami -Dade County approved its jail system’s cooperation agreements with ICE in early 2025, and a vote on this amendment regarding reimbursement for inmates when their deportation is requested is expected this Tuesday. These agreements with ICE are required by Florida law. Several South Florida cities, as well as the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, have already approved 287(g) collaborative agreements with ICE.

FOX News [6/26/2025 5:05 PM, Greg Wehner, 46878K] reports a federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment against 24-year-old Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was residing in Perrysburg, Ohio, where he also attended high school claiming to be a teenager until last month. The grand jury returned the indictment this week, charging Labrador Sierra with possession of a firearm by an alien who is in the U.S. unlawfully, making a false statement while purchasing a firearm, and making or using false documents, the DOJ said in a news release. The indictment alleges that Labrador Sierra submitted a false date of birth to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on federal applications to acquire Temporary Protective Status and Employment Authorization Documents in 2024 and 2025. The suspect also allegedly possessed a Taurus G3C 9mm semiautomatic pistol, which he was not allowed to have, since he was in the U.S. illegally, and the DOJ alleges that Labrador Sierra submitted false information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to purchase the firearm. He allegedly provided false statements on a federal form to purchase the firearm and made statements to deceive the licensed firearms dealer at the point of sale. For example, the indictment alleges that Labrador Sierra said he was not a U.S. citizen or national; was not illegally or unlawfully in the U.S.; and was not an alien who entered the U.S. under a non-immigrant visa. If Labrador Sierra is convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison for possessing a firearm as an illegal alien. He could also face 10 years in prison for making a false statement while purchasing a firearm and up to five years in prison for making or using false documents or writings. Detectives worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and it was discovered that Labrador was a 24-year-old from Venezuela.

FOX News [6/26/2025 10:56 AM, Audrey Conklin, 46878K] reports Ohio authorities have arrested and charged an illegal immigrant from Mexico after he allegedly peeped on a 13-year-old girl in Hamilton. The Butler County Sheriff’s Office on June 11 received a report that Jose Juarez Vilches, 38, "had been observed looking through a window at a 13-year-old female while making sexual gestures," the sheriff’s office said in a press release. "It was further reported Vilches requested the juvenile share social media access to send sexually explicit videos," the sheriff’s office said. Officials began investigating the incident and, with assistance from ICE, served warrants Tuesday for criminal trespass and voyeurism at a location on S. 13th Street in Hamilton, a northwest suburb of Cincinnati, police said. There, they located Vilches, who "attempted to flee but was taken into custody shortly thereafter," the sheriff’s office said. While arresting the suspect, officials located four other individuals at the residence, whom ICE detained because they were residing in the United States illegally, police said. Those individuals were transported to the Butler County Jail, where they are being held on ICE detainers.

NBC News [6/26/2025 5:50 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44540K] reports attorneys are pleading for the release from immigration detention of a 6-year-old boy treated for cancer of the blood and bone marrow, who is being held in Texas with his mother and sibling. The boy, his mother and his 9-year-old sibling, originally from Honduras, were seized after the three attended their May 29 immigration hearing in Los Angeles last month. Attorneys say the family could be deported within days because their attempt to secure asylum in the U.S. was cut short. Their arrest is one of many carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at immigration courts to shuffle more immigrants into a sped-up removal from the country known as expedited removal. Many are like the mother and her children and were granted legal entry to the U.S. under the Biden administration. The Trump administration has directed judges to dismiss the cases of immigrants who have been in the country less than two years, so ICE can more quickly remove them from the country. As attorneys try to free the family from detention and get medical care for the child with cancer, they also are challenging the Trump administration’s growing practice of making arrests at immigration courts. Attorneys believe this is the first case to challenge the administration’s use of this tactic on children. In an email, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said the "minor child has not undergone chemotherapy in over a year, and has been seen regularly by medical personnel since arriving" at Dilley. McLaughlin said that detained individuals are at no time denied emergency care and any implication that ICE would deny a child needed medical care is "flatly FALSE" and "an insult to federal law enforcement officers." "ICE always prioritizes the health, safety and well-being of all detainees in its care," McLaughlin stated.

FOX News [6/26/2025 5:32 PM, Louis Casiano, 46878K] reports a previously deported Iranian man living in the United States illegally was arrested this week in Texas, federal prosecutors said. Jamil Bahlouli was found at an Austin home where deportation officers attempted to arrest him as part of a 2020 removal order after he skipped out on an appointment at an immigration office, the Justice Department said. When authorities found Bahlouli in the doorway of his home, he "refused to be arrested and took an action designed to prevent or hamper his deportation and departure pursuant to the outstanding final order of removal by slamming the door on the deportation officers," court documents state. He is charged with failure to deport. Bahlouli self-deported to Canada on Oct. 14, 2021 following the removal order. However, he re-entered the U.S. illegally at some point and was found around Dec. 15, 2023, authorities said. The 2020 removal order used to deport him the first time was then reinstated, the Justice Department said. He was charged with illegal re-entry and information with illegal entry, for which he was convicted in Montana on Jan. 5, 2024, according to court documents.

Houston Chronicle [6/26/2025 10:05 AM, John Wayne Ferguson, 1982K] reports a man who allegedly posed as an ICE agent while robbing another man in west Houston has been charged with two felonies. Guliano Thomson, 37, of Houston, on Wednesday was charged with impersonating a public servant and robbery, according to Harris County court records. Thomson allegedly used his a car to block in another driver in the 6400 block of Skyline, in west Houston, on Monday morning, according to police. After that, he approached the man and identified himself as an ICE agent. He then took $1,800 and a Guatemalan ID from the driver, officials said. The victim told officers that the man who robbed him had a badge, according to police. Thomson was arrested during a traffic stop on Tuesday. Thomson is accused of causing the man to "submit to his pretended official authority and to rely on his pretended official acts," according to the charging documents. It’s not the first time Thomson has been arrested. In 2019, he and his brother were charged with arson and endangering a child after he allegedly lit a woman’s wheel well on fire with a 3-year-old in the car. Lighting fire to the car was a part of a scam to convince the woman that she needed urgent repairs to her vehicle, police said at the time. He pleaded guilty to the arson charge in 2022 and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. Thomson got credit for spending more than 600 days in jail before he was sentenced. He was released on parole in July 2024, according to public records.

Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 11:39 AM, Christopher Tremoglie, 1934K] reports an activist organization dedicated to helping illegal immigrants evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly warned an illegal immigrant convicted of raping a child of the federal agency’s presence in the area, which allowed him to elude its agents. Jose Reyes Leon-Deras was apparently on ICE’s radar when the Colorado Rapid Response Network, or CORRN, alerted him of the agency’s presence, according to a press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS said, due to the group’s alleged intervention, the convicted child rapist, who was in the country illegally, was able to escape. "After an anti-ICE activist group helped Jose Reyes Leon-Deras, a convicted child rapist, evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security is warning the public to be on the lookout for this criminal illegal alien," the release said. "On June 20, 2025, ICE attempted to arrest Leon-Deras, and members of the Colorado Rapid Response Network alerted Leon-Deras of ICE’s presence and facilitated his escape," DHS noted. "The Colorado Rapid Response Network is known for protesting with bullhorns to warn illegal aliens and shouting profanities at ICE law enforcement officers attempting to arrest dangerous criminal illegal aliens.” According to its website, CORRN is "committed to responding to raids, deportation, and any Immigration Customs Enforcement activity happening across the state in our communities." "The Colorado Rapid Response Network and its 760 members disrupt ICE operations targeting dangerous criminal illegal aliens. In this case, they helped Jose Reyes Leon-Deras, an international fugitive, and convicted child rapist, flee law enforcement — this dangerous monster is on the loose on American streets and could harm more innocent children," said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS.

Reported similarly:
Blaze [6/26/2025 1:40 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K]

Axios [6/26/2025 5:46 PM, Alayna Alvarez, John Frank, 13599K] reports Colorado Gov. Jared Polis hasn’t ruled out pressing other state workers to comply with an ICE subpoena for personal data about undocumented children and their sponsors. A judge on Wednesday blocked Polis from ordering senior state official Scott Moss and his staff to comply with an ICE subpoena for personal data about undocumented children and their sponsors. The ruling was narrow, however, meaning the governor could still direct other state employees with access to the same data to cooperate with ICE. The judge’s preliminary injunction cracked the door for further legal challenges. Any state employee asked to comply could follow in the footsteps of Moss — who sued and won — and potentially see a similar outcome thanks to the precedent now set.

USA Today [6/26/2025 12:53 PM, Jimmy Jenkins and Christopher Cann, 75552K] reports a federal judge granted a request allowing immigration officials to force-feed an Iranian asylum seeker on hunger strike while in detention in Arizona. Mehrad Asadi Eidivand, who was living in the U.S. on a work permit, was arrested outside his Phoenix home in May and taken to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Florence, Arizona. In protest of his detainment, the avid bodybuilder went on an initial hunger strike that left him diagnosed with acute kidney injury, court records say. Asadi Eidivand soon began a second hunger strike, leading officials on Monday to ask a federal judge’s permission to monitor his health, administer intravenous fluids and medicines, and insert a feeding tube through his nose without consent. U.S. District Judge Steven Logan granted the request the same day, writing Asadi Eidivand was at risk of organ failure. His attorney, Rebecca Cheaves, decried the government’s request and the continued detainment of Asadi Eidivand as an "abuse of authority." She said he is being wrongfully detained and pledged to fight his detention in court. She has also come out against the recent arrests of Asadi Eidivand’s brother and sister-in-law, whom she believes were targeted for helping in their relative’s case. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest of 11 Iranian nationals illegally living in the U.S., including Asadi Eidivand’s brother, Mehrzad. The Department of Homeland Security said Mehrzad faces a charge of illegally possessing a firearm. Mehrzad’s wife, Linet Vartanians, a U.S. citizen, was also taken into custody and charged after she allegedly threatened to shoot immigration officials if they entered their home. Attorneys for the couple could not be reached for comment.

FOX News [6/26/2025 3:41 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports multiple people have been arrested following a violent riot outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, that involved knife-throwing and explosives. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital that one of the rioters had tried to fire a ‘Roman Candle’ firework at law enforcement. The same person allegedly threatened officers with a large knife by swinging it and then throwing it at them, the spokesperson said. No law enforcement officers were seriously injured during the attack, according to officials. While the suspects’ identities have not yet been released, DHS confirmed there have been three arrests. "Unfortunately, these violent attacks are becoming more and more common," the spokesperson said. "Our ICE law enforcement is now facing a 500% increase in assaults while carrying out enforcement operations. "Secretary [Kristi] 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. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be fully prosecuted by the law."

New York Post [6/26/2025 11:20 PM, Daryl Khan, 49956K] reports a "serial criminal" and "coward" was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail at a hotel where more than two dozen Department of Homeland Security agents were staying as violent anti-ICE riots held the city hostage. Eric Anthony Rodriguez, 39, who hails from California, allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, where 15 agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and 12 Customs and Border Protection agents were staying, early Saturday, officials told The Post. The Los Angeles Police Department received a call about an "incendiary device investigation" early Saturday after witnesses said that a male suspect had lit and launched a Molotov cocktail toward the hotel. The device landed harmlessly in some bushes, and a hotel employee was able to put out the fire, according to Officer David Cuellar, an LAPD spokesman. No one was injured in the attack. "This coward threw a Molotov cocktail at a hotel in Los Angeles where 27 DHS law enforcement officers were staying," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release. A joint investigation between the LAPD’s Major Crimes unit and the Los Angeles Fire Department’s arson investigators zeroed in on Rodriguez, Cuellar said. He was nabbed Tuesday morning without incident near the scene of the initial attack, Cuellar said. "Anyone who threatens the lives of federal officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law — and that is exactly what will happen to Rodriguez," McLaughlin said. "If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you.” The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged Rodriguez with one count of possession of a destructive device and one count of arson, Cuellar said. "Anthony Rodriguez is a serial criminal who will face justice for threatening the lives of federal law enforcement," McLaughlin said. "Dangerous rhetoric by sanctuary politicians has fanned the flames of violence against federal law enforcement — and it has led to a 500% increase in assaults against ICE," she added. Rodriguez has a criminal record going back more than two decades, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case. He was convicted of a felony in 2004 for receiving stolen property.

Univision [6/26/2025 2:59 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Andrea Vélez, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested for “assaulting an ICE agent and interfering with a federal operation.” “Secretary Noem has been clear: if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McLaughlin said from DHS headquarters. “Our ICE agents are now facing a 500% increase in assaults against them during operations.” The official statement, however, has been questioned by Vélez’s family, who still do not know the whereabouts of the woman, who was detained Tuesday morning while on her way to work at a shoe company in downtown Los Angeles, where an immigration operation was reported. According to witnesses and family members, Vélez was arrested by armed men with no visible identification, and no explanation was given. The family’s attorney, Luis Carrillo, said he has visited several federal detention centers in Los Angeles, including the Metropolitan Detention Center, but authorities have not confirmed Vélez’s whereabouts. DHS has not provided details about Vélez’s location or the formal charges she faces.

Reuters [6/26/2025 9:53 PM, Sandra Stojanovic, 51390K] reports Pastor Ara Torosian received a distressed phone call from two Iranian members of his Farsi-speaking church on Tuesday -- U.S. federal immigration officers were at their Los Angeles home to arrest them. It was the second such call he received this week. On Monday, an Iranian couple with a 3-year-old was detained at a routine immigration appointment, Torosian said. Both families were recently arrived asylum seekers, who had entered the United States at the U.S.-Mexico border after making an appointment, he said. The appointment system, known as CBP One, was launched by former U.S. President Joe Biden to promote orderly border crossings. President Donald Trump ended the program when he took office, as part of his aggressive crackdown on immigration. Torosian said when he arrived at the couple’s home on Tuesday he saw an "army" of federal law enforcement officers and began filming on his cell phone as officers stopped him from getting close to his church members. As officers restrained the woman being detained she started to have a panic attack and began convulsing on the floor, he said. "She’s sick! Call 911!" Torosian is heard shouting on the video. "Why are you guys doing this?". Torosian said the couple fled religious persecution in Iran. In a statement on X, the Department of Homeland Security said that it detained two Iranian nationals in Los Angeles on Tuesday, who had been flagged for national security reasons. It said the woman was taken to hospital, but was later discharged and both are now in immigration custody. The arrests came after U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities in the early hours of Sunday morning local time. In a press release on Tuesday, the DHS said it had arrested 11 Iranians in the country illegally over the weekend. Iran doesn’t accept deportees from the United States, but on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport migrants to countries other than their own, without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face there. Torosian said his congregation has between 50 and 60 members, most of whom have been in the country for less than two years. He said he is telling them to stay home rather than come to church. "In a million years, a million years, I never imagined, one day I can call my members and tell them that better not to come to the church, because as I know, America is a free country, but they’re afraid," Torosian said. "Some of them lock themselves in their house.” Torosian himself is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He said the arrest he witnessed was traumatic. "When I was seeing the masked soldiers put down a woman, a female, on the ground, it triggered me," he said. "I’m on the street of Los Angeles or the street of Tehran? So that was what made me very sad and I cried a lot.”

(B) Today [6/26/2025 10:56 AM, Staff] reports that new data is shining a light on the number of people who have been detained during immigration raids in southern California. The Department of Homeland Security is reporting more than 1600 immigrants have been arrested in southern California this month. They have not said if any of those arrested had criminal histories. But according to a Los Angeles Times analysis, 69% of the people detained in the LA region had never been convicted of a crime and 58% had never been charged with one.

Breitbart [6/26/2025 8:00 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 3077K] reports the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is being forced to deny that it helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a raid after police officers held back an angry mob trying to interfere. As a so-called "sanctuary city," L.A. prohibits local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration law enforcement. Amnesty activists are trying to stop ICE raids through physically confronting ICE agents. As local ABC affiliate KABC-7 reported, LAPD officers responded to a report of a "kidnapping" in downtown L.A., but arrived to find an ICE raid in progress instead, surrounded by an unruly mob trying to stop it. The LAPD released a statement that said officers were simply there after responding to a call of a possible kidnapping in progress, but once they realized it was an immigration operation, they began assisting with crowd control. LAPD said they did not arrest anyone. "Initial comments of the call indicated that several individuals were attempting to detain people without identifying themselves, prompting concerns from bystanders," the statement read. "Upon arrival, the officers and supervisor saw that the crowd was growing increasingly agitated and spilled into the street, creating a volatile situation and a significant public safety hazard due to traffic and congestion in the busy downtown corridor," the statement continued. "Officers requested additional units to manage the escalating scene and ensure the safety of pedestrians, drivers, and those involved in the operation. At one point, a partially handcuffed woman approached and stood near a LAPD officer. After several minutes, a Federal agent approached and assumed control of the woman. LAPD was not involved in her detention or arrest.”

Federalist [6/26/2025 7:28 AM, M.D. Kittle, 1142K] reports boy, it seems you can’t swing a dead cat these days without hitting an idiot in liberal politics. And the biggest idiots often are the most highly educated. Take Cudahy, Calif. Vice Mayor Cynthia Gonzalez, for example. Excuse me. Dr. Cynthia Gonzalez. It’s clear from her bio that she’s very proud of her Ed.D. — her doctoral degree in education. Gonzalez is drenched in education. California education, which, as we have learned, can be a special kind of education. The Cudahy City Council member’s bio boasts a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California Santa Barbara. "She earned two master’s degrees in education from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and her Educational Leadership Doctorate from UCLA’s ELP program. In addition to her degrees, she has also earned her administrative credentials from UCLA and UC Berkeley." So with all that education, why did Gonzalez allegedly do something so incredibly stupid? Perhaps because of that special California education. On Wednesday, calls were reportedly growing for Gonzalez to resign her council position in the small southeast Los Angeles County community after she apparently decided it was a good idea to post a now-deleted video calling on street gangs to defend their turf against U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents. "I wanna know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles. 18th Street, Florencia. Where’s the leadership at? … Now that your hood is being invaded by the biggest gang there is, there ain’t a peep out of you," Gonzalez allegedly says in the TikTok video, which, of course, has been captured for eternity. "Don’t be trying to claim no block, no nothing if you’re not showing up right now trying to help out and organize," Gonzalez said in the now-deleted TikTok video. Clearly, the vice mayor’s expensive education didn’t belabor the importance of good grammar. The Department of Homeland Security called Gonzalez’s comments "despicable." "She called for criminal gangs — including the vicious 18th Street gang — to commit violence against our brave ICE law enforcement," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to The Federalist. "This kind of garbage has led to a more than 500 percent increase in assaults against our ICE law enforcement officers. Democrats must stop comparing ICE to the Gestapo and calling for violence against our law enforcement."

CBS News [6/27/2025 1:50 AM, Tom Wait, 51860K] Video HERE reports federal authorities on Thursday released the Cal Poly Pomona graduate who was arrested during an immigration enforcement operation downtown Los Angeles earlier this week. Andrea Guadalupe Velez, who is a U.S. citizen, expressed her relief after spending the past two days in a federal detention facility. "It’s been hard," Velez said. "I didn’t know all this media coverage was happening and I’m just relieved that I’m outside." Velez’s mother and sister recorded federal agents carrying Velez away during an immigration enforcement operation. Her family had just dropped her off at the shoe store and had barely even driven a block before the arrest began. Velez said she remembered masked men suddenly surrounding her. "It was just a day of work and everything happened so fast," Velez said. "They didn’t identify themselves, so I was kind of scared. I was like ‘what’s going on?’ ... I wasn’t doing anything crazy. I was just going to follow orders, and they decided to pick me up, and that was kind of shocking." On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Velez "was arrested for assaulting an ICE enforcement officer." In the criminal complaint against Velez, a federal agent said, "he saw a woman (later identified as Velez) step into his path and extend one of her arms in an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending the male subject he was chasing." Velez denied the claim. She added that she did not know the man and believes she was profiled. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [6/26/2025 8:44 PM, Staff, 51860K] reports Andrea Velez, a Cal Poly Pomona grad, was taken into custody while being dropped off at work by family members. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Velez "was arrested for assaulting an ICE enforcement officer." Jasmine Viel sits down with Velez’s family. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/26/2025 5:03 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions on Thursday that he called "necessary" to "deter and dismantle" the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States. The new policy imposes new visa restrictions on family members and close personal and business associates of foreign drug traffickers. Speaking with reporters Thursday afternoon, State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said that this move "will not only prevent them from entering the United States, but also serve as a deterrent for continued illicit activities." In a statement released by the State Department, Rubio stressed the importance of further expanding sanctions to stop the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the country. "Today’s action expands upon existing tools," he said, adding that the State Department "will use all necessary tools to deter and dismantle the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs from entering the United States and harming U.S. citizens."

Reported similarly:
Reuters [6/26/2025 2:11 PM, Ryan Patrick Jones and Bhargav Acharya, 51390K]

Reuters [6/26/2025 4:11 PM, Wa Lone, 51390K] reports Harvard University and the University of Toronto have unveiled a contingency plan that would allow select Harvard graduate students to continue their studies in Canada if U.S. visa restrictions prevent them from re-entering the United States. It is the first international student backup strategy announced since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security moved last month to strip Harvard of its ability to enroll international students. A federal judge has since blocked the government’s move. In response to potential U.S. visa challenges, students at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government who are unable to return to the United States will have the option to continue their studies through a visiting student program at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. The contingency plans are being announced to ease student uncertainty, but will only be implemented if there is enough demand from those unable to enter the U.S. due to visa or entry restrictions, the statement said.

Telemundo [6/26/2025 6:53 PM, Marina E. Franco, 3352K] reports Angel Aguiza was about to finalize his plans for what clothes to wear and how to get with a group of friends to this year’s Michelada Fest, to be held on July 19 and 20 in Chicago, when a warning came out that the entire event was going to be cancelled. "Yes it was very sad because there were many artists on the poster I wanted to see," says Aguiza, an Ecuadorian-American and social media content creator who posts about musical events in his city. "But at the same time I understand why the festival decided to do this," he adds. The organizers of Michelada Fest, a celebration organized since 2019 in honor of different genres of Latin and Mexican American music, said this month that it was necessary to cancel due to uncertainty about artists’ visas and the changing political environment. In recent weeks, several artists have reported unexpected cancellations of their work visas, sometimes just days before they traveled to the United States for a concert, as happened to the interpreter of the northerner Julión Álvarez in May. "We come from the fact that the collaboration between artists from different genres of Latin music and their general popularity had never been so strong, and it has really been a very proud time for Latinos in the United States and around the world," says Vanessa Díaz, a professor at Loyola Marymount University who teaches a seminar on Bad Bunny. "And to see now that such popular artists are in danger of being denied their visa feels like a punch to that cultural movement so strong, against how we can come together through music, art and culture," he adds.

The Hill [6/26/2025 6:02 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) suggested New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani should be deported and denaturalized ahead of the November election. "Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York," Ogles wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X. "He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings," he added. The Tennessee lawmaker attached his letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in the post, urging her to denaturalize Mamdani citing a chapter from the U.S. Code that outlines the revocation of citizenship for individuals who willfully misrepresent or conceal material support for terrorism. "According to public reports, including a June 21, 2025 New York Post article, Mr. Mamdani expressed open solidarity with individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses prior to becoming a U.S. citizen. Specifically, he rapped: ‘Free the Holy Land Five / My guys,’" Ogles wrote in the letter. The Holy Land Foundation is a U.S.-based Muslim charity. Five of its leaders were convicted of funneling money to Hamas in support of Palestine in 2008. "Publicly praising the Foundation’s convicted leadership as ‘my guys’ raises serious concerns about whether Mr. Mamdani held affiliations or sympathies he failed to disclose during the naturalization process," Ogles wrote. "While I understand that some may raise First Amendment concerns about taking legal action based on expressive conduct, such as rap lyrics, speech alone does not preclude accountability where it reasonably suggests underlying conduct relevant to eligibility for naturalization.” Mamdani’s campaign team and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. However, the New York City mayoral candidate did speak to the weaponization of antisemitism throughout his campaign and division during his victory speech. "This has been a historically contentious race. One that has filled our airwaves with millions in smears and slander," Mamdani told voters.

FOX News [6/26/2025 5:22 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46878K] reports a federal immigration officer was recently arrested after being accused of promising adjustments to immigrants’ status in exchange for bribes over the span of nearly a decade. Amara Dukuly, 43, of Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, an immigration officer employed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is charged with bribery of a public official, arising from his alleged solicitation of a bribe in exchange for official acts. Since 2015, Dukuly is accused of using his status as a USCIS employee to extract payments from individuals in exchange for promises to help them obtain adjustments to their immigration status, such as a green card, work authorization documents, or visas, according to a criminal complaint. Given the scope of his job duties, Dukuly did not have the authority to fulfill any of his promises to the individuals, according to court documents. After seeking, receiving and accepting money in return for being influenced while performing an official act, Dukuly converted the monies he obtained from the bribes for his personal benefit, according to a statement from United States Attorney David Metcalf. It is unclear how many immigrants Dukuly is accused of accepting bribes from. The case is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 10:26 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K]

Daily Signal [6/26/2025 5:00 AM, Virginia Allen, 558K] reports a Texas congressman is aiming to reform the Temporary Protected Status program for migrants and to end the abuses of the program. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, on Thursday will introduce a bill that, if passed and signed into law, would grant Congress, not the president, authority to designate a foreign country under U.S. Temporary Protected Status. "Temporary Protect Status has been used and abused for decades by both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations," Roy told The Daily Signal. The Department of Homeland Security has the authority to designate nationals from a specific country eligible for TPS due to safety concerns that prevent them from returning to their home country, or other circumstances that prevent a nation from being able to handle the return of its citizens. The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security may designate a nation for TPS if that country is experiencing an "ongoing armed conflict," such as a civil war; is suffering from an "environmental disaster … or an epidemic"; or for other "extraordinary and temporary conditions," according to the DHS. Under the leadership of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the previous administration "quadruped the TPS population from 410,400 to 1.5 million in four years, shielding hundreds of thousands of economic illegal aliens from removal while providing them with work permits, serving as another ‘pull factor’ for illegal immigration," Roy said, adding: No more. The United States cannot, and should not, reward immigration lawbreakers with amnesty through the TPS program. "It’s time Congress end this abuse by taking away the TPS designation authority from the executive by having members of Congress introduce legislation—and vote on—issuing and terminating TPS designations," Roy said.

CBS News [6/27/2025 12:23 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports an Idaho doctor and four residents are challenging a new state law that halts some of the few public benefits available to people living in the U.S. unlawfully, including a program that provides access to life-saving HIV and AIDS medication for low income patients. The ACLU of Idaho filed the federal lawsuit Thursday night on behalf of Dr. Abby Davids and four people with HIV who are not named because they are immigrants without lawful permanent residency. The complaint says the new law is vague, contradicts federal law and makes it impossible for health care providers to determine exactly what kind of immigration status is excluded and how to verify that status for patients. They want a judge to grant them class-action status, expanding any ruling to other impacted people. Dozens of patients treated by one Boise-area clinic stand to lose access to HIV and AIDS medication under the law, according to the complaint, including several cared for by Davids. "Withdrawing HIV treatment from her patients will not only have devastating consequences on their health, it raises the public health risk of increased HIV transmission," the ACLU wrote in the lawsuit. "When her patients are undetectable, they cannot transmit the virus. Without HIV treatment, however, they cannot maintain an undetectable viral level and therefore are able to transmit the virus to others.” The new Idaho law takes effect July 1, and appears to be the first limiting public health benefits since President Trump ordered federal agencies to enhance eligibility verification and ensure that public benefits aren’t going to ineligible immigrants. The law requires people to verify that they are legal U.S. residents to receive public benefits like communicable disease testing, vaccinations, prenatal and postnatal care for women, crisis counseling, some food assistance for children and even access to food banks or soup kitchens that rely on public funding.

Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 4:35 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports the House has passed legislation to require the federal government to make public the number of illegal immigrants from "special interest" countries arrested at U.S. borders. Lawmakers voted 231-182 Thursday afternoon to pass the Special Interest Alien Reporting Act of 2025, legislation that would force the Department of Homeland Security to be transparent with the public about immigrants who illegally enter the country. The effort is the latest by the GOP-controlled chamber to impose harsher immigration policies. The bill, introduced in January by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), would require DHS-agency U.S. Customs and Border Protection to release statistics monthly on the number of illegal immigrants from certain countries that pose national security threats to the United States, as well as the area of the border where they were apprehended. The DHS would also be required to publish monthly "special interest alien" statistics as early as January 2021, when Biden took office.

The Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 3:12 PM, Elaine Mallon, 1934K] reports the Department of Defense is establishing two new military zones along the U.S.-Mexico border to support enforcement efforts against illegal border crossings. The initiative marks the latest step in the Trump administration’s strategy to enhance military involvement in border security operations, amid a notable decline in illegal migrant crossings in recent months. The two new areas, designated as National Defense Areas, will be located in Arizona and Texas. The Arizona zone will become an extension of the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, while the Texas zone will be integrated into Joint Base San Antonio. These zones will allow U.S. troops to detain people crossing into these secured areas temporarily until Border Patrol agents take the migrants into custody. Together, these developments underscore an expanding defense perimeter now encompassing four new military-controlled border areas. NewsMax [6/26/2025 3:16 PM, Solange Reyner, 4622K] reports that a Defense Department official confirmed the report to The Hill, saying Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the heads of the Air Force and Navy "to take necessary action to establish National Defense Areas along the U.S.-Mexico border." A new "National Defense Area" will be created covering about 250 miles of the Rio Grande River in Texas and administered as a part of Joint Base San Antonio, according to the Air Force. The U.S. officials said the other military zone would be administered as a part of Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. The zones are intended to allow the Trump administration to use troops to detain migrants without invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that empowers a president to deploy the U.S. military to suppress events such as civil disorder.

FOX News [6/26/2025 8:30 AM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 46878K] reports the Pentagon announced Wednesday that it is establishing an expansive new military buffer zone in Texas aimed at bolstering border security as illegal crossings continue to plummet to record lows. The zone, known as a National Defense Area (NDA), will span 250 miles along the Rio Grande River through Cameron and Hidalgo counties with temporary barriers and signage being set up to secure the area. Members of the Joint Task Force-Southern Border, under the direction of NORTHCOM will operate the zone and they will be responsible for monitoring and carrying out patrols. They will not carry out law enforcement duties but do have the authority to detain border and transfer them to Border Patrol. The zone sits on land transferred from the International Boundary and Water Commission and will fall under the administration of Joint Base San Antonio, the Air Force announced. The designation marks the latest in a series of NDAs established to strengthen interagency coordination and bolster security operations along the U.S. southern border, the Air Force said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The AP [6/26/2025 8:38 PM, Morgan Lee, 56000K] reports that the newly designated national defense area on land and water along the Rio Grande spans two Texas counties and runs alongside cities including Brownsville and McAllen. It will be treated as an extension of Joint Base San Antonio. The Air Force said it’s prepared to install warning signs immediately against entry to the area. The military strategy was pioneered in April along a 170-mile (275-kilometer) stretch of the border in New Mexico and expanded to a swath of western Texas in May. Hunters, hikers and humanitarian aid groups fear that they will no longer have access. In the newest national defense area, military responsibilities include “enhanced detection and monitoring” and “temporarily detaining trespassers until they are transferred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities,” the Air Force said in a statement.

Washington Times [6/26/2025 6:23 PM, Stephen Dinan, 2106K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is suddenly reporting a massive surge in the number of terrorism suspects detected crossing the southern border, averaging more than 280 encounters monthly in April and May, according to government data. Experts told The Washington Times that terrorists are unlikely to suddenly be rushing into the U.S. Instead, they said, the numbers are likely a reflection of the Trump administration’s designation of a half-dozen Mexican cartels and two international gangs, MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations. People who used to cross the border without a terrorist designation are now being tallied. "It’s not a secret Iranian army trying and failing to infiltrate," said Simon Hankinson, a border expert at The Heritage Foundation. However, the numbers show the frequency of crossings of people associated with dangerous cartels. The numbers come from the Terrorist Screening Database, usually called the government’s terrorist watch list. It contains names of people designated as known or suspected terrorists, based on government agencies’ judgment of their activities and associations. The Border Patrol detected no migrants on the watch list sneaking across the southern border in February and March, the first full months under President Trump, but found a total of 26 in April and May. Customs and Border Protection officers at the official border crossings reported an even bigger jump. Through the first six months of the fiscal year, they had detected 29 migrants on the watch list, or about five monthly. In April and May, the number was 537, or more than 268 monthly. Victor Manjarrez, a former senior Border Patrol official now with the University of Texas at El Paso, said the increase in terrorist suspects nabbed by the Border Patrol is primarily from MS-13 and Tren de Aragua members. The increase at the ports of entry, meanwhile, reflects Mexican cartel family members who, he said, had "crossed previously without much fanfare" but now trigger the terrorism database.

AP [6/27/2025 12:03 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports two smugglers convicted of federal charges in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022 face up to life in prison when they are scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega are to be the first of several defendants sentenced in the San Antonio tragedy, which remains the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. A jury convicted the men in March of being part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury. Prosecutors described Orduna-Torres as the leader of the smuggling operation inside the U.S. and Gonzales-Ortega as his top assistant. The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case. They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio. As the temperature rose inside the trailer, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman. Investigators said the Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers. Orduna-Torres provided the address in Laredo where they would be picked up, and Gonzalez-Ortega met them there. Five other men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. Zamorano faces up to life in prison when sentenced in December. The other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced later this year. The incident is the deadliest among tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.

FOX Business [6/26/2025 8:45 AM, Danielle Wallace, 9940K] reports a federal judge in Texas granted temporary relief to two small money service businesses operating along the U.S.-Mexico border from having to enforce a Trump administration policy intended to disrupt clandestine financial laundering operations by cartels. In March, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a "Geographic Targeting Order" that lowered the required reporting threshold on cash transactions from $10,000 to just $200 in certain ZIP codes along the southern border in Texas and California. Two businesses – Valuta Corporation, Inc., and Payan’s Fuel Center, Inc. – sued in the Western District of Texas in June, claiming the policy was driving them out of business and spooking customers skeptical of having to submit Social Security numbers and other personal information for lower sums of cash. U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower – an appointee of former President Joe Biden – issued a brief order on Wednesday, marking the third time federal courts have rejected the policy.

The Washington Post [6/26/2025 3:20 PM, Marie-Rose Sheinerman, 32099K] reports a Russian-born researcher at Harvard University accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States faced new criminal charges as she was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on Wednesday. Kseniia Petrova, a scientist conducting cancer research at Harvard Medical School on a J-1 visa since 2023, was indicted on one count of concealment of a material fact, one count of false statement and one count of smuggling goods. She was first charged with smuggling in a criminal complaint filed May 12. Petrova was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in February. She was held in detention until a judge ordered her released on bail earlier this month as she awaits trial. If convicted on the felony smuggling charge, Petrova could face up to 20 years in prison and be fined as much as $250,000. The new charges related to false statements are punishable by up to five years in prison and another $250,000 fine. In addition to her criminal case, Petrova has two pending immigration cases — one in Vermont federal court, in which she is challenging the revocation of her visa and the resulting detention, and a deportation case in which she is seeking asylum due to her fear of persecution in Russia, according to Romanovsky. FOX News [6/26/2025 11:13 AM, Julia Bonavita, 46878K] reports that the researcher was arrested after she was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Boston Logan International Airport while returning from a vacation to France in February. Petrova told officers she had picked up a package of superfine sections of frog embryos while on her trip with the intention of using the samples for research. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

UPI [6/26/2025 6:57 PM, Staff, 3077K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have seized a cache of counterfeit Rolex watches and designer sunglasses with a street value of more than $573,000, the agency announced Thursday. The items were headed to Pittsburgh and were intercepted by local CBP agents there. "The international trade in counterfeit consumer goods is illegal," a release from the CBP said. "It steals trademark holders and tax revenues from the government, it funds international criminal organizations, and the unregulated products can threaten the health and safety of American consumers.” The label on the shipment, from the United Arab Emirates, was marked "Empty Poly Bag Ladies Hand Bags," but instead contained a half dozen counterfeit Rolex Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona watches, a pair of counterfeit Rolex Diamond iced-Out watches and counterfeit Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Miu and Valentino sunglasses. Agents suspected that the watches and sunglasses were counterfeit and detained them for further inspection when they arrived in Pittsburgh. CBP sent photos and documentation to the Center of Excellence and Expertise and worked with trademark holders, which determined that the items were counterfeit and subject to immediate seizure by Border Patrol agents.

Washington Examiner [6/26/2025 5:42 PM, Elaine Mallon, 1934K] reports a 70-year-old Egyptian man pleaded guilty to federal charges for kicking a Customs and Border Protection agriculture detector dog at Washington Dulles International Airport earlier this week. Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to a charge of harming a federal law enforcement animal. The incident occurred on Tuesday when CBP canine Freddie, a 5-year-old beagle trained to detect agricultural products, alerted officers to a suitcase belonging to Marie, who arrived from Cairo. As Freddie’s handler began questioning the traveler, Marie responded by kicking Freddie "so hard that the dog was lifted off the ground," the affidavit said. A subsequent inspection of Marie’s luggage uncovered over 100 pounds of undeclared and prohibited food items, including 55 pounds of beef, 44 pounds of rice, 15 pounds of vegetables, 2 pounds of corn seeds, and a pound of herbs. CBP agriculture specialists seized all items, citing possible threats to U.S. agriculture and food safety. CBP officers quickly restrained and detained Marie before transferring him to Homeland Security Investigations agents for prosecution. Freddie was later examined by a veterinarian, who reported contusions to the dog’s right front rib area. The court sentenced Marie to time served, ordered him to pay for the dog’s veterinary care, and directed him to report to CBP immediately for removal from the country. He was deported to Egypt on a flight departing on Thursday.

Detroit Free Press [6/26/2025 4:32 PM, Nour Rahal, 4241K] reports as boaters prepare to converge on Lake St. Clair’s Gull Island on Friday, June 27, for the 51st annual Jobbie Nooner, federal officials are warning Canadian attendees to follow international border crossing laws or risk serious consequences. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is reminding boaters arriving from foreign ports such as Canada to report their arrival immediately upon entering U.S. waters. Failure to do so could result in fines, prosecution or vessel seizure. Despite the event’s informal nature, marine patrols and emergency responders increase their presence each year to manage the crowds and ensure safety.

Telemundo Amarillo [6/26/2025 5:41 PM, Staff, 4K] reports two undocumented immigrants managed to escape from a clandestine house in Zapata after being held against their will. On Wednesday, June 18, the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office helped rescue two undocumented immigrants from Guatemala who were being held captive by their caretakers at a residence in the 2000 block of Redwood Drive in Zapata. The kidnappers demanded a ransom for the release of the immigrants, and during the investigation, authorities identified Mexican citizen and undocumented immigrant Nadia Valdez-Valdez as the operator of the stash house. Fortunately, the victims were able to escape and find help at a nearby residence, and law enforcement was immediately contacted. Valdez-Valdez was arrested and charged with operating a stash house after an investigation in which she waived her Miranda rights and confessed to the crime. The two Guatemalan citizens have been detained by the Border Patrol.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [6/26/2025 1:29 PM, Claudia Moreno, 9K] reports that a woman of American origin, identified as Michelle G., was arrested and handed over to U.S. authorities for the crime of human smuggling. Through institutional collaboration, the fugitive from American justice was arrested by FEOE (Federal Electoral Commission) ministerial agents on Rodolfo Ogarrio Street in the Obrera neighborhood of Ciudad Juárez. Following her capture, the 23-year-old woman was taken to the Lerdo-Stanton International Bridge, where she was handed over to authorities of the U.S. Marshal’s Office. Through the ongoing operations carried out by police officers, the public’s peace of mind is ensured and the frontal fight against crime is continued with the arrest of offenders.

The Hill [6/26/2025 1:57 PM, Jeremy Tanner, 18649K] reports that with the Fourth of July falling on a Friday, experts at auto club AAA are expecting a record-setting 72.2 million Americans to take a domestic trip over the long weekend, packing the nation’s highways, rails and airports. As for road trips, AAA is forecasting that a record 61.6 million people will travel by car – a 2.2% increase, or 1.3 million additional travelers, over last year. "Summertime is one of the busiest travel seasons of the year, and July 4th is one of the most popular times to get away," said Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel "Following Memorial Day’s record forecast, AAA is seeing strong demand for road trips and air travel over Independence Day week. With the holiday falling on a Friday, travelers have the option of making it a long weekend or taking the entire week to make memories with family and friends." According to transportation data provider Inrix, July 2 and July 6 are expected to be the busiest driving days. The Transportation Security Administration says it is prepared for the holiday rush at the nation’s airports, but warns air travelers that they should expect the busiest day to be Sunday, July 6, when passenger volume is forecast to reach 2.9 million. "We are deploying technologies and procedures to improve security and enhance the passenger experience, including for families," TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said in a press release. "We ask travelers to pack their patience, especially during peak travel days, as we work to provide maximum hospitality to our customers."

NPR [6/26/2025 5:38 AM, Rebecca Hersher, 37958K] reports President Trump says the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, should be eliminated, and that states should take on more responsibility for responding to and preparing for extreme weather and other disasters. That would mean big changes for the millions of Americans who rely on FEMA after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods and other weather disasters every year. The cost of weather disasters in the U.S. has skyrocketed in the last decade, as climate change causes more intense weather and populations grow in areas that are at high risk for hurricanes, wildfires and other destructive events. FEMA currently works with states to prepare for disasters, provides on-the-ground help during emergencies and pays out billions of dollars for repairs. Emergency management experts and state disaster response officials say that FEMA plays a crucial role that state governments cannot handle on their own. FEMA has a long history of failing to serve those who need help the most after disasters. Under the Biden administration, the agency was taking steps to address those problems. For example, the agency simplified paperwork, expanded on-the-ground help after disasters and made it easier for survivors to get money for diapers, food and other immediate needs. The Trump administration is taking a different approach. The president has repeatedly suggested that FEMA is hopelessly flawed. At the first meeting of the FEMA Review Council, the council’s co-chair, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said, "The president and I have had many, many discussions about this agency. I want to be very clear. The President wants it eliminated as it currently exists. He wants a new agency."

New York Times [6/27/2025 3:16 AM, Emily Cochrane and Allison Joyce, 330K] reports they were just drills, but each felt urgent and real. A group of volunteers searched a wooded area for someone who had been injured and stranded, ready to provide aid. Then they practiced a river rescue, attaching a rope near the bank to help pull the victim to shore. This was Rescue HQ, a gathering in rural Tennessee last month where the founding members of several newly formed disaster response groups ran through emergency scenarios and discussed how to better coordinate in the chaotic aftermath of a storm or a flood. Groups like this are growing in number — a new model of disaster response taking shape outside of government channels. Many volunteers are deeply religious and have military backgrounds. They’re an unequal match for what the government can do, especially when it comes to long-term rebuilding efforts after natural disasters. But with the Trump administration pulling back staffing and funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and even pledging to eliminate it — communities may soon rely far more on volunteer help. “The bigger the gap is in terms of what the government isn’t doing, the more we’re going to expect from nonprofits and the larger their role is going to be,” said Daniel Sledge, a professor at the University of Oklahoma who has studied disaster relief. “Whether nonprofits actually have the capacity or the ability to step in and fill in the gaps that, in all likelihood, we’re going to be creating is a completely different question.” Mr. Trump said this month that he wanted to phase out FEMA after this year’s hurricane season, which ends on Nov. 30, and shift much of its responsibilities to the states. Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA as the homeland security secretary, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, are overseeing a group that will submit recommendations in the coming months about how to reshape or sharply scale back the agency. Ms. Noem argued recently that the changes would “empower governors to go out and respond” to emergencies. FEMA, she said, “has failed thousands, if not millions, of people, and President Trump does not want to see that continue into the future.” Asked what role outside groups should play in disaster relief moving forward, a spokesperson for FEMA said in an email, “Together with federal, state, tribal, local and territorial agencies, we’re strengthening and enhancing partnerships.” Already, FEMA has lost at least a quarter of its full-time staff since Mr. Trump took office in January, according to a former senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to not jeopardize a new job. That number includes career officials who helped coordinate immediate disaster response and leaders who oversaw the most hurricane-prone regions in the country.

New York Times [6/26/2025 6:58 PM, Mark Walker, 138952K] reports the authorities in northern West Virginia have recovered the bodies of the three people reported missing after flash floods tore through the region earlier this month, raising the confirmed death toll to nine, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday. The Sheriff’s Office identified the victims on Thursday as Sandra Parsons, 83, and Jesse Pearson, 43, both of Triadelphia, and Connie Veronis, 71, of Moundsville. The recovery of the bodies brought an end to a search that gripped Triadelphia, a town of about 900 people, in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, according to census data. Seven of the nine people killed were from there, Sheriff Nelson Croft of Ohio County said in an interview. The flooding began on June 14 about 8 p.m., when a powerful rainstorm swept across Ohio County, about 50 miles west of Pittsburgh. About 2.5 to four inches of rain fell in just 30 minutes, quickly overwhelming the region’s narrow valleys, according to the Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. All the deaths happened near U.S. Route 40, also known as National Road, where several small streams run through the area, Sheriff Croft said. “It’s a densely populated area in a narrow valley,” Sheriff Croft said. “We had so much loss because the water had nowhere to go.” Among the dead were Ms. Veronis and her husband, Michael Veronis, 74, of Moundsville. The couple had been visiting Triadelphia when their vehicle was overwhelmed by rising water. Mr. Veronis was found days later inside the vehicle. Mrs. Veronis had been swept away, and it took the authorities longer to locate her body, Sheriff Croft said.

Axios [6/26/2025 3:34 PM, Lucille Sherman, 13599K] reports North Carolina lawmakers sent a nearly $1.4 billion package for Hurricane Helene recovery to the governor’s desk Thursday. It’s one of the last bills to make it across the finish line before lawmakers recessed for the summer. The fate of additional Helene recovery funds has been in question for months, with the Republican-led House and Senate sparring over what to include in the legislation. Meanwhile, the western part of the state is still reeling from the devastation left in Helene’s wake. The chambers came to an agreement in the final hours of the last day of session, with both the House and Senate unanimously passing a bill that puts $700 million in new state funding toward Helene recovery efforts. It also allocates an additional nearly $700 million in federal funding to repair drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. The bill will now go to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who is expected to sign it. If he does, that will bring the state’s Helene-related allocations to $2.1 billion.

Los Angeles Times [6/26/2025 11:09 AM, Hayley Smith, 14672K] reports as California braces for a potentially dangerous fire season, Gov. Gavin Newsom says critical firefighting crews from the state’s National Guard are operating at just 40% of capacity following President Trump’s order to divert them to Los Angeles in response to federal immigration action. Eight of the California National Guard’s 14 firefighting crews — known as Task Force Rattlesnake — have been deployed to L.A. as part of Trump’s federalization of the Guard, Newsom said this week. Task Force Rattlesnake is made up of more than 300 members of the California National Guard who work at the direction of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Only six crews are left to prepare for and potentially respond to fires, down from nine just a week ago, according to the governor. "With peak fire season well underway across California, we need all available resources to protect communities," Newsom said in a statement. "President Trump: rescind your illegal order and get the Guard back to the critical firefighting and prevention work that actually keeps communities safe." The president has also made sweeping changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including canceling grants and cutting staff, and has suggested disbanding the agency altogether as soon as this fall. When asked about the CalGuard deployments, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Times "President Trump is showing [what] a real leader looks like." "President Trump has had to step in and save Californians from Gavin Newsom’s incompetence twice so far during the last six months," Jackson said. "First, when Newsom was chronically unprepared to address the January wildfires, and just recently when Newsom refused to stop violent, left-wing rioters from attacking federal law enforcement.”

HSToday [6/27/2025 3:55 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the Himalaya Road Fire burning in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska. The state of Alaska’s request for a declaration under FEMA’s Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) program was approved by FEMA Region 10 Deputy Acting Administrator Anthony J. Morea on Monday, June 23, 2025, at 8:19 p.m. PT. He determined that the Himalaya Road Fire threatened to cause such destruction as would constitute a major disaster. This is the second FMAG declaration in 2025 to help fight Alaska wildfires. At the time of the state’s request, the wildfire threatened homes in and around the communities of Himalaya, Haystack, Hayes Creek, and Fox. The fire also threatened powerlines, cell towers, watersheds, fishing streams, spawning sites, wildlife, cultural resources, and part of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. FMAGs make funding available to pay up to 75 percent of a state’s eligible firefighting costs for fires that threaten to become major disasters. Eligible items can include expenses for field camps, equipment use, materials, supplies and mobilization and demobilization activities attributed to fighting the fire. These grants do not provide assistance to individual home or business owners and do not cover other infrastructure damage caused by the fire.

DefenseScoop [6/26/2025 2:30 PM, Mark Pomerleau, 150K] reports during its most recent capstone exercise, U.S. Cyber Command created a joint task force with the Coast Guard to defend ports against cyberattacks. Cyber Guard, the command’s premier annual exercise, integrated with Pacific Sentry. As cyber has matured within the Department of Defense, leaders have sought to integrate it deeper with other defense functions, using real-world exercises to game out how it can support others. “When I was a young officer, we would deploy and we would do an exercise in [Indo-Pacific Command] or [European Command]. And it was a Eucom exercise[or] it was an Indo-Pacom exercise. Very stovepiped … But today, the chairman is driving the joint force to exercise together to ensure that when time comes, we can operate seamlessly at the highest level,” Rear Adm. Dennis Velez, acting deputy commander of Cybercom, said Thursday at HammerCon, hosted by the Military Cyber Professionals Association. “Cyber Guard this year was part of the Pacific Sentry exercise … to ensure that we could put it all together and really operate again at the highest levels as the joint force.” The exercise, which encompassed several combatant commands, sought to execute a defense of Taiwan scenario against China.

New York Times [6/26/2025 9:39 PM, Aishvarya Kavi, 138952K] reports in June 1950, a four-engine, propeller-driven passenger plane headed from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Minneapolis encountered a violent storm over Lake Michigan and crashed into the turbulent waters below. “If all aboard are lost, the crash will be the most disastrous in the history of American commercial aviation,” an article on the front page of The New York Times on June 25 reported about Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501. The search turned up no survivors and no plane, only small pieces of the wreck. All 58 people on board were declared dead. The few human remains that the Coast Guard skimmed off the lake’s surface were buried in an unmarked mass grave. Newspapers were quickly distracted by the beginning of the Korean War. Until a team led by local explorers set out in 2004 to find the plane, the mystery of Flight 2501 was little more than fodder for conspiracy theorists. But more than 20 years later, that search has been called off. While it turned up no physical remains, explorers say, the effort revived the memory of the crash and honored the victims. On Tuesday, the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the crash, Valerie van Heest, a local maritime history enthusiast who helped revive the search, told surviving family members of the victims that, after scanning the last of the 700-square-mile section of Lake Michigan where researchers suspected the wreckage had settled, she had determined that the plane had shattered upon piercing the surface of the lake and that time had buried the remnants too deep to detect. “We believe that the debris that would be on the bottom has sunk into the muck over 75 years, and would now be completely covered, and the sonar would not be able to pick it up,” Ms. van Heest said in an interview. Still, the search, which she estimated had taken nearly 10,000 hours and cost roughly $500,000 — largely from Clive Cussler, a famed author and adventurer who hired experts to partner with them — drew the attention of residents in the region, the news media and the families of those killed in the crash. “I didn’t really care very much about them finding the plane,” Bill Kaufmann, 81, said in an interview. His mother, Jean Parker Kaufmann, had died in the crash. But he and his sister, along with other families of survivors, attended two memorials that Ms. van Heest helped organize. One memorial was held after Ms. van Heest and the organization she helped found, the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association, unearthed the forgotten gravesite at Riverview Cemetery in Michigan, where the remains that were retrieved in 1950 were buried. She raised money for a stone engraved with the names of the victims to be placed there in 2008.

DefenseScoop [6/26/2025 2:06 PM, Mark Pomerleau, 260K] reports that during its most recent capstone exercise, U.S. Cyber Command created a joint task force with the Coast Guard to defend ports against cyberattacks. Cyber Guard, the command’s premier annual exercise, integrated with Pacific Sentry. As cyber has matured within the Department of Defense, leaders have sought to integrate it deeper with other defense functions, using real-world exercises to game out how it can support others. "When I was a young officer, we would deploy and we would do an exercise in [Indo-Pacific Command] or [European Command]. And it was a Eucom exercise[or] it was an Indo-Pacom exercise. Very stovepiped… But today, the chairman is driving the joint force to exercise together to ensure that when time comes, we can operate seamlessly at the highest level," Rear Adm. Dennis Velez, acting deputy commander of Cybercom, said Thursday at HammerCon, hosted by the Military Cyber Professionals Association. "Cyber Guard this year was part of the Pacific Sentry exercise … to ensure that we could put it all together and really operate again at the highest levels as the joint force.” The exercise, which encompassed several combatant commands, sought to execute a defense of Taiwan scenario against China.

Reuters [6/26/2025 6:30 PM, Staff, 51390K] reports Hawaiian Airlines said on Thursday that some of its IT systems were disrupted by a hack, adding its flights were operating as scheduled. In a statement, Hawaiian Airlines said "some of our IT systems" had been affected by a "cybersecurity event." The nature of the event was not disclosed, but that kind of language is typically used in cases of ransomware incidents, where digital extortionists paralyze a victim’s computer network until a cryptocurrency ransom is paid. The airline, which is owned by Alaska Air Group (ALK.N), said it had "taken steps to safeguard our operations, and our flights are operating safely and as scheduled.” Reuters could not immediately ascertain the extent of the disruption at Hawaiian, but a representative responded using a Gmail address when contacted to seek further details. The Federal Aviation Administration said its safety office responsible for airline oversight is in contact with Hawaiian Airlines. "There has been no impact on safety, and the airline continues to operate safely. We are monitoring the situation," the agency said in a statement.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [6/26/2025 6:02 PM, Kathleen Wong, 75552K]

Politico [6/26/2025 7:58 PM, Shia Kapos, 2100K] reports major cities are again receiving counter-terrorism funding and reimbursement for security at major events that had been withheld by the Trump administration to punish local governments run by Democrats. The Department of Homeland Security has restored payments to Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco and other cities that had sued DHS to restore the funding, officials said. “Citizens all over the country will benefit as a consequence of that initial filing because those releases are now beginning to trickle out,” Mary Richardson-Lowry, Chicago’s corporation counsel, said Thursday. The restoration of the funds from the Securing the Cities program comes as communities around the country increase security as a precaution following the U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Chicago had filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in May, claiming the funds that Congress had allotted for the city were being illegally withheld by DHS. San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Boston joined in the lawsuit when their funds were also cut. Richardson-Lowry’s office said Seattle and San Francisco have begun receiving their funding and Boston’s payment is in process. The mayor’s office in Denver did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chicago was awaiting reimbursement of about $1.2 million for expenses that included the purchase of equipment to detect a nuclear event. “We need that equipment to ensure our citizens have every opportunity to be safe in this current environment,” said Richardson-Lowry. DHS did not immediately return a request for comment about the funding.

NBC News [6/26/2025 10:02 AM, Matt Lavietes, 44540K] reports the man suspected of using a "makeshift flamethrower" on demonstrators marching in Boulder in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas has been charged with 12 federal hate crimes. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, of El Paso County, was previously charged with attempted first-degree murder and one hate crime count in federal court in the June 1 attack that injured eight people. The added hate crimes filed Tuesday were expected. The new indictment lays out evidence officials gathered to argue that Soliman targeted the group of demonstrators, "Run for Their Lives," because of their national origin or perceived national origin. While being interviewed by detectives upon his arrest, Soliman also said that he viewed "anyone supporting the exist of Israel on our land" to be "Zionist," according to the indictment. Soliman added that "he "decide[d] to take [his] revenge from these people" and "search[ed] the internet looking for any Zionist event," the indictment says. He also told detectives he hoped he "burned them all. I killed them all. This was my dream," according to the indictment. Officials additionally found a handwritten note in Soliman’s car that described Israel as a "cancer entity," the indictment says. A few days after Soliman’s arrest, immigration authorities apprehended his wife and five children — who are Egyptian nationals — for what the White House called "expedited removal." According to the Department of Homeland Security, the family came to the United States in 2022 and applied for asylum shortly afterward. Their visas expired in February 2023.

CBS News [6/26/2025 5:47 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports a former Venezuelan spymaster who was close to the country’s late President Hugo Chávez pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug trafficking charges a week before his trial was set to begin in a Manhattan federal court. Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal was extradited from Spain in 2023 after more than a decade on the run from U.S. law enforcement, including a botched arrest in Aruba while he was serving as a diplomat representing current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Carvajal pleaded guilty in court to all four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism, in an indictment accusing him of leading a cartel made up of senior Venezuelan military officers that attempted to "flood" the U.S. with cocaine in cahoots with leftist guerrillas from neighboring Colombia.

The Los Angeles Times [6/26/2025 4:04 PM, Richard Winton, 14672K] reports a Washington state man facing terrorism charges related to the bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs died after jumping off a balcony inside a federal detention facility in Los Angeles, according to sources familiar with the incident. Daniel Park, 32, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, officials said. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has yet to announce a determined cause of death. Two sources, not authorized to discuss the death, told The Times that information gathered shows Park climbed onto a surface and then jumped off a high balcony, fatally injuring himself. TMZ.com first reported the cause of death. No one else was injured and no further details on the cause of death were immediately available. Park had been in federal custody since his arrest at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York this month and was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist. He was accused of helping Guy Edward Bartkus secure 270 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor that can be used to construct homemade bombs. Bartkus, 25, is suspected of detonating a bomb at American Reproductive Centers on May 17, killing himself and injuring four people. The blast created a debris field across 250 yards. NBC News [6/26/2025 7:49 PM, Phil Helsel, 44540K] reports Daniel Park, 32, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and pronounced dead at a hospital, the U.S. Justice Department said. The medical examiner’s office listed the manner of death Thursday as suicide and the cause as blunt force trauma. A spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office said it could not provide more details about how Park died, because the medical examiner’s investigation is ongoing and a report is not finished. The federal Bureau of Prisons, which is the law enforcement agency investigating Park’s death, said it did not have any additional information to share Thursday. Park was arrested on June 3 on allegations that he supplied materials used by another man to make a car bomb that was detonated outside an American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic on May 17. The bomber, Guy Edward Bartkus, died in the blast. Park had been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles after he was arrested in Poland, where he fled after the bombing, and flown back to the United States. He was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. The FBI called the bombing an act of terrorism. Bartkus is believed to have been motivated by an "anti-natalism" ideology, officials have said. Anti-natalism refers to the belief that no one should have children.

FOX News [6/27/2025 4:00 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46878K] reports that, in light of the arrests of two Chinese nationals who are accused of smuggling a crop-killing fungus across the border, one expert warns that agroterrorism from foreign adversaries could cause a "severe disruption" to the United States. "Agroterrorism is any attempt to bring items into the United States intentionally that would impact our food supply," Kristofor Healey told Fox News Digital. "So this would be biological organisms like we saw in this case in Michigan. A specific lab-grown organism that is intended to attack items that are key to our agricultural survival as a nation.” Healey worked for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for 15 years, first in an immigration enforcement role and then in counter-corruption operations. Now, he is a private investigator and expert witness. "Obviously, we’re an agricultural-based economy in many ways, so anything that’s attacking our wheat, our barley, the basic standard of what goes into so many of our food products that’s being introduced intentionally, that’s being introduced by a foreign threat to cause disruption," Healey said. "It’s the same as any sort of other type of terrorism that’s attacking a civilian population. It’s just attacking it from that agricultural standpoint.” Chinese nationals Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, were arrested earlier this month by the FBI for allegedly smuggling Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. and studying it in labs over a two-year period. Jian was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan whose research was funded in part by the People’s Republic of China. Fusarium graminearum is a toxic fungus that causes a crop-killing "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice that "is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year," according to the Department of Justice. It is also toxic to humans and can cause vomiting, liver damage and "reproductive defects in humans and livestock.” "I don’t think Americans really understand or really recognize the threat that the [Chinese Communist Party] actually holds, and how much our economy is built into the CCP-run economy," said Healey. He said that if a major event, like a war over Taiwan, were to occur, the United States would not be prepared for the wrath that China could unleash on America’s crops and other critical infrastructure. "[Agriculture] is a very vulnerable part of our nation’s infrastructure if you have individuals who are coming into this country, as was the case in Michigan, who are coming to study, who have a lab background, who have a background in this sort of development of these sort of organisms, studying or working with these sorts of organisms," Healey said. "If they have ill-intent, that’s the sort of thing that could cause severe disruption to our food safety, that could cause severe destruction to… what essentially goes into keeping America running." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [6/26/2025 1:20 PM, Justin Wise Benn Penn, 1707K] reports that a senior counterintelligence official is leaving the Justice Department in the latest departure by a high-ranking national security attorney in the early months of the Trump administration. Jennifer Gellie, who served as chief of the counterintelligence and export control section, will be exiting, according to people familiar with the matter and an email invite to a July 16 "farewell" event seen by Bloomberg Law. She’ll leave a vacancy in a role with outsize significance addressing threats from bad actors supporting Iran, China, and Russia. The move comes amid significant turnover inside the national security division, which in recent months has lost several senior officials that oversaw areas including counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and policy. It also comes as the FBI redirects more of its focus away from immigration and to counterterrorism in wake of US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. As the counterintelligence chief, Gellie had responsibilities over issues including covert foreign influence and transnational repression. She also led a section that pursued high-profile cases in recent years under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a lobbying transparency law. The Justice Department didn’t immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

Bloomberg [6/26/2025 12:01 PM, Malcolm Scott, Yoshiaki Nohara, Shruti Srivastava, and Philip Heijmans, 19320K] reports that Tariff negotiations with the Trump administration are running into roadblocks, as partners including Japan, India and the European Union balk at signing deals without knowing how badly they’ll be hit by separate levies on exports including chips, drugs and steel. The US Commerce Department is set within weeks to announce the outcomes of its investigations into sectors deemed vital to national security, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical minerals. The probes are widely expected to result in levies applied under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act on a range of foreign-made products in those industries. Problem is, governments seeking agreements to whittle down country-by-country tariffs President Donald Trump announced on April 2, and then suspended till July 9, have no idea where those sectoral levies will land. For many, industry-specific tariffs may be more damaging than the broader levies.

Trumponomics Podcast: Can the World Count on TACO Anymore? A cautionary tale for many countries is the partial deal Britain accepted. That pact left key details about bilateral steel trade subject to further negotiation on a quota system and stronger origin requirements. In the meantime, the Trump’s tariffs of UK steel remain at 25% — failing to meet the British government’s goal of lowering them to zero. “There is no clarity in how all of these tariffs would interplay, which is also causing major concerns among our partners,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade negotiator who’s now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Blaze [6/26/2025 2:15 PM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1805K] reports that FBI Director Kash Patel announced earlier this month that the bureau located an intelligence report from August 2020 that detailed "alarming allegations" regarding an apparent Chinese communist plot to interfere in the presidential election for the benefit of then-candidate Joe Biden. Such allegations, if brought to light at the time, would have vindicated the concerns about voter fraud and foreign election interference then expressed by President Donald Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr, which were written off by election officials, Democrats, and the liberal media as "unfounded" and "preposterous." Instead, elements of the intelligence community apparently covered up the alleged foreign election interference campaign. "Former FBI leadership withheld the facts and misled the public on China’s 2020 election interference," Patel stated on Thursday. "And they did so for political gain.” Patel noted in a separate message, "We’re restoring trust — through transparency, not politics." Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, sent a criminal referral for former FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Department of Justice on Thursday, seeking accountability not only for Wray’s alleged role in the apparent cover-up but for his alleged false or misleading statements to Congress regarding the infamous FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics.

Los Angeles Times [6/26/2025 5:46 PM, Patrick J. McDonnell, 14672K] reports President Trump’s vow to "wage war" on drug cartels has resulted in bombshell accusations of money laundering against three Mexican financial institutions — allegations that produced a defiant pushback from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. "There’s no proof, just words," a clearly agitated Sheinbaum told reporters on Thursday. "There has to be proof to know if there was money laundering or not. Therefore, we don’t deny it or accept it." A day earlier, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued what it called "historic" sanctions against CiBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa. The department accused the three of laundering millions of dollars in narco-cash to facilitate the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids into the United States. The Treasury Department move would largely prohibit U.S. financial institutions from dealing with the three sanctioned entities, effectively shutting them out from access to the world’s largest market.

Reuters [6/26/2025 9:56 PM, Staff, 24051K] reports Mexico’s banking regulator said on Thursday it will temporarily step in to manage two banks, CIBanco and Intercam Banco, sanctioned by the U.S. for alleged involvement in money laundering linked to organized crime. The banking and securities commission said the move was aimed at protecting the banks’ creditors and depositors. It comes a day after the U.S. Treasury prohibited certain transactions with the banks, as well as brokerage firm Vector Casa de Bolsa, under new fentanyl-related sanctions. All three firms deny the allegations. The sanctions effectively cut the institutions off from the U.S. financial system and could have a significant impact on Mexican banking, given the interconnectedness between lenders and close trade ties with the U.S., experts said. Luis Manuel Perez de Acha, a tax lawyer and money laundering expert in Mexico City, said the move by the regulator means it can put its own people in charge or hire others to assume operations at the banks. He said the impact of the sanctions -- and the takeover by the commission -- depends on the fate of the banks. "If two medium-sized banks go under there will be a systemic effect without a doubt," he said. Mexico has so far rebuffed the allegations from the U.S., saying the Treasury has not provided Mexico with proof to back up declaring these institutions "as primary money laundering concerns.” "There is no evidence," Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters earlier on Thursday. "We will collaborate and coordinate (with U.S. authorities), but we will not bend to them," she added. "We are no one’s piñata.”

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [6/26/2025 10:16 PM, Anthony Harrup and Santiago Pérez, 646K]

AP [6/26/2025 6:53 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on Tuesday unveiled prototypes for armed drones and a robot dog, which they say will better position them against the heavily armed drug cartels vying for control of their border with Guatemala. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [6/26/2025 8:18 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports NATO’s decision to increase defence spending will not significantly affect Russia’s security, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5% of gross domestic product over the next decade, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience. "As for the impact of this 5% goal on our security, I don’t think it will be significant," Lavrov told a press conference. "We know what goals we are pursuing, we don’t hide them, we openly announce them, they are absolutely legal from the point of view of any interpretation of the principles of the U.N. Charter and international law, and we know by what means we will always ensure these goals.”

New York Times [6/26/2025 5:43 PM, Matthew Cullen, 138952K] reports the Pentagon’s top leaders held a news conference today to celebrate the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said it took 15 years of planning to execute the strikes, which were carried out by pilots in seven B-2 bombers that launched 30,000-pound weapons down Iran’s ventilation shafts. When asked whether the military believed that the nuclear sites had been obliterated, as President Trump has repeatedly claimed, Caine said he would leave that to the intelligence community. Standing beside Caine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth emphasized that the initial assessment from his department’s intelligence agency, which suggested that Iran’s program was set back only a few months, was a “low confidence” report. Hegseth instead highlighted comments from the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, who said that the centrifuges at the Fordo uranium enrichment plant in Iran are “no longer operational.” In a video message that appeared to be his first public statement since the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, congratulated Iranians for what he called a victory over Israel and the U.S. Khamenei, 86, had not been heard from publicly in a week, raising questions about his health and whereabouts.

Washington Post [6/26/2025 2:23 PM, Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton, 32099K] reports the Pentagon’s top officials on Thursday revealed new details about the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities and subsequent defense of a military installation in Qatar that faced a retaliatory attack, describing both as intricate operations with little margin for error while largely sidestepping lingering questions about the fate of Tehran’s uranium stockpile. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that Sunday’s aerial raid on Iran — Operation Midnight Hammer — was the culmination of a secret project that traces to 2009 and a small team within the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agencypeople involved, he said, spent the ensuing years studying how Tehran was building an underground lair to enrich uranium — and how the U.S. military might dismantle it should Iran attain the ability to weaponize it. "You do not build a multilayered underground bunker complex with centrifuges and other equipment in a mountain for any peaceful purpose," Caine said.

NewsMax [6/26/2025 12:01 PM, Sam Barron, 4622K] reports that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains in place following strikes by the U.S. on Saturday, two officials told the Financial Times. Iran had distributed its stockpile of 408kg of uranium to another site before the attack on Fordo, according to the reported. President Donald Trump has insisted the attacks obliterated Iran’s nuclear program. "The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts," Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. "Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!" European officials are awaiting a full intelligence report on the extent on the damage but sources told the Financial Times, Fordo sustained "extensive damage, but not full structural destruction." The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said the strikes by both Israel and the U.S. had "set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years." Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, echoed Trump’s claims that Iran’s nuclear sites have been destroyed. "New intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do," Gabbard said on Wednesday in a post on X.

NPR [6/26/2025 9:57 AM, Greg Myre and Tom Bowman, 37958K] reports striking a combative tone, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lambasted the media Thursday, saying it was more focused on "cheering against" President Trump than covering a "historically successful attack" on Iranian nuclear sites. "President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history," Hegseth declared at a Pentagon news conference. "It was a resounding success resulting in a ceasefire agreement" in the 12-day war involving Iran, Israel and the U.S. He aggressively condemned the leak of a preliminary report by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, shared Tuesday with news organizations, including NPR. The DIA is part of the Pentagon, which Hegseth oversees. The report, based on the available information just a day-and-a-half after the U.S. attack, described the damage as "limited" and said the strike may have set back the Iranian nuclear program by just a matter of months. Hegseth said the document itself noted this was a "preliminary, low-confidence report that will continue to be refined." Trump has responded angrily to media stories citing that report and has claimed repeatedly that the Iranian program was "totally obliterated." Trump has not cited evidence for this claim, but Hegseth and other top administration officials have stepped in to back the president.

Breitbart [6/26/2025 11:13 AM, Nick Gilbertson, 3077K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that establishment media outlets "cheer against the efficacy of" the strikes on Iran because they do not want to see Trump succeed. Hegseth blasted reporters at a press conference at the Pentagon Thursday morning, on the heels of a report from CNN that questioned the effectiveness of the strikes based on anonymously-sourced descriptions of an "early US intelligence assessment." "Because you want him not to be successful so bad you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes, you have to hope ‘maybe they weren’t effective, maybe the way the Trump administration is representing them isn’t true,’" he said. Hegseth, who went through a litany of intelligence reports from American and Israeli intelligence officials about the effectiveness of the strikes, added that the establishment press has spun "half-truths" and "leaked information" in every way possible in an effort to "cause doubt and manipulate … the public mind over whether or not our brave pilots were successful.”

ABC News [6/26/2025 12:52 PM, Alexandra Hutzler, 31733K] reports that President Donald Trump on Thursday offered enthusiastic praise of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s briefing at the Pentagon, where he provided more information about the U.S. strikes on Iran and defended the president. "One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen! The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!" Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform, where earlier he had encouraged followers to tune in. Hegseth’s news conference came amid a full-court press from Trump’s top officials disputing a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that said the bombings may have only set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months. "You want to call it destroyed. You want to call it defeated. You want to call it obliterated. Choose your word. This was an historically successful attack and we should celebrate as Americans," a defiant Hegseth said from the podium as he railed against the news media coverage of the events and the leaked initial intelligence assessment. "This is preliminary but leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful," Hegseth said. "Classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad," he added. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/26/2025 8:37 AM, Rachel Wolf, 46878K] reports Iranians are experiencing internal turmoil as authorities intensify a domestic security crackdown following the 12-day war in which three major nuclear sites were effectively destroyed. There have been reports of mass arrests and executions in the country. Authorities in Iran began the crackdown following Israel’s June 13 airstrikes. It started with widespread arrests and an intensified street presence, according to Reuters, which cited activists and officials. The harsh measures have dampened hopes—among some in Israel as well as Iranian dissidents—that the country could see an uprising and regime change. However, no significant demonstrations have taken place yet, Reuters reported. The outlet also noted that some on the ground expressed frustration with the Islamic Republic’s policies, which they believe led to the war against the U.S. and Israel. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Monday that 705 individuals had been arrested in Iran on "political or security-related charges." This report was echoed by Islamic Republic-run Fars News Agency, which said that 700 were detained for allegedly working with Israel. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

{End of Report} RETURN TO TOP