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.

Bloomberg [6/3/2025 4:45 PM, Bob Van Voris and Myles Miller, 19320K] reports the wife and five children of the man charged with fire-bombing 12 people at a Colorado event in support of Israeli hostages have been arrested by US immigration authorities and are being processed to be deported. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that federal officials are looking into whether the family of the suspect, Mohamed Soliman, was involved in the June 1 attack. They are being processed for expedited removal, according to Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson at the agency. The agency is “investigating to what extent his family knew about this horrific attack, if they had any knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” Noem said in a video posted on social media. Soliman, 45, has been charged with throwing two Molotov cocktails into a pro-Israel crowd and using a makeshift flamethrower at the event in Boulder. The suspect yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, according to law enforcement. He faces a federal hate crime charge and dozens of state charges of attempted murder and attempted use of incendiary devices. A Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent involved in the case said the suspect told investigators he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.” Homeland Security said Monday that Soliman applied for asylum in September 2022, the month after he arrived on a tourist visa. As part of the application process he was approved for a work permit in March 2023, the same month his tourist visa expired. The department declined to provide the status of his asylum case or whether he had previously faced deportation. The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment on where his wife and children would be sent. The Wall Street Journal [6/3/2025 5:44 PM, Jack Morphet and Victoria Albert, 646K] reports Soliman told investigators he concealed his plans for the attack from his family. After his arrest, his wife brought a phone to local police that she said was his, investigators said in a court document. An attorney who represented Soliman at a hearing on the state charges Monday didn’t respond to a request for comment. Soliman said he was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving with his wife and children to Colorado Springs, Colo., according to court documents. Homeland Security said he entered the U.S. in August 2022 on a B2 visa, which is typically used for tourism. The following month, he applied for asylum. The agency didn’t provide information about the immigration statuses of Soliman’s family members, but said they were being processed for expedited removal. The White House said on X that the family was in ICE custody for expedited removal, a process that allows the government to quickly deport some immigrants without a court hearing. The Washington Post [6/3/2025 7:37 PM, Marianne LeVine, María Luisa Paúl, and Maria Sacchetti, 32099K] reports that on its X account, the White House wrote that the family had been placed in expedited removal proceedings and that “THEY COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT.” Immigration and criminal defense lawyers struggled Tuesday to recall similar examples of entire families being detained for deportation proceedings immediately after a relative was charged with a crime. And some immigration experts questioned the legality of deporting Soliman’s family members under expedited removal, a fast-track deportation process created in 1996 that does not allow immigrants to have a hearing before an immigration judge. They are also not entitled to a lawyer. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said Tuesday that the State Department had revoked the family’s visitor visas. The New York Post [6/3/2025 2:03 PM, Jennie Taer and Ronny Reyes, 49956K] reports that the relatives, who were stripped of their visa status, are currently being held at a Dilley detention facility in southern Texas, where officials intend to deport the family using expedited removal, sources told The Post.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [6/3/2025 7:00 PM, Hamed Aleaziz, 138952K]
The Hill [6/3/2025 3:42 PM, Tara Suter, 18649K]
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Breitbart [6/3/2025 3:57 PM, John Binder, 3077K]
Reuters [6/3/2025 4:40 PM, Brad Brooks and Joseph Ax, 51390K]
AP [6/3/2025 1:03 AM, Colleen Slevin, Jesse Bedayn and Rebecca Santana, 56000K]
ABC News [6/3/2025 3:24 PM, Kevin Shalvey, Emily Shapiro, and Luke Barr, 31733K]
ABC News [6/3/2025 2:38 PM, Staff, 31733K]
Axios [6/3/2025 5:35 PM, Avery Lotz and Alayna Alvarez, 13599K]
CBS News [6/3/2025 7:28 PM, Graham Kates, 51860K] Video HERE
NBC News [6/3/2025 2:47 PM, Marlene Lenthang, 44540K]
CNN [6/3/2025 5:54 PM, Holmes Lybrand, Priscilla Alvarez, and Danya Gainor, 875K]
(B) CNN News Central [6/3/2025 3:07 PM, Staff]
Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 4:09 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K]
Blaze [6/3/2025 2:21 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1805K]

Blaze [6/3/2025 5:30 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports an arrest warrant revealed additional details about the Boulder, Colorado, terror suspect and his alleged nefarious plot against a pro-Israel group. The suspect was accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn participants in the "Run for Their Lives" group, an organization that meets weekly to advocate for the hostages held captive by Hamas since October 2023. The hateful attack, which occurred on Sunday, reportedly caused injuries to 12 victims. Two individuals remain hospitalized, including one victim who is in critical condition. No fatalities have been reported. The district attorney’s affidavit for arrest, obtained by Blaze News, revealed that Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, is facing several charges in connection with the brutal attack, including eight counts of "First Degree Murder (after deliberation) - Criminal Attempt" and eight counts of "First Degree Murder (extreme indifference) - Criminal Attempt." He is also charged with first-degree assault and possession of an incendiary device. The arrest warrant stated that the suspect carried out the assault "as vengeance for ‘his people,’" whom he described as Palestinians. Law enforcement authorities learned that Soliman had allegedly meticulously planned out the Sunday attack for a year, waiting for his eldest daughter to graduate from high school before carrying it out. She reportedly graduated last week. Soliman insisted to law enforcement that he acted alone and no one knew about his plan. In addition, Soliman was also charged with a federal hate crime, according to the FBI’s arrest affidavit. On Tuesday afternoon, Fox News reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations arrested Soliman’s wife and children. Their immigration status is unclear at this time. When reached for comment, the DHS referred Blaze News to Secretary Kristi Noem’s Tuesday post on X. She wrote, "Today, @DHSgov and @ICEGov are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado terrorist, and illegal alien, Mohamed Soliman, into ICE custody." "This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it," Noem continued. "I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served.” Univision [6/3/2025 6:09 AM, Staff, 4992K] reports the suspect in the attack that wounded 12 people during a demonstration in Boulder calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza had planned to kill everyone present, but apparently backed out at the last minute, authorities said. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, had 18 Molotov cocktails with him, but threw only two during the attack Sunday while shouting “Free Palestine!” According to a police affidavit, he did not execute his full plan because he “got scared and had never hurt anyone before.” Although only two incendiary devices were thrown at a group of about 20 people, more than half of them were injured. The victims range in age from 52 to 88 years old, with injuries ranging from minor to severe. Six were hospitalized and four had already been discharged by Tuesday. “During the interrogation, he stated that he wished they were all dead, that he had no regrets and that he would do it again,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado J. Bishop Grewell said at a news conference Monday. According to an FBI affidavit, Soliman confessed that he acted out of a desire to “kill all the Zionists,” a reference to the movement that seeks to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel. Mohamed Sabry Soliman was living illegally in the United States after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on the social platform X. The Federalist [6/3/2025 9:18 AM, Abigail Nichols, 1142K] reports "[I]t is clear that this is a targeted act of violence, and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism," the FBI said in a Sunday press conference with Boulder police. "This is an example of how perpetrators of violence continue to threaten communities across our nation." Eight confirmed victims between the ages of 52-88 were hospitalized after the attack, according to a press release from the city of Boulder. Two victims were reportedly airlifted to a local burn unit. On Sunday night, National Correspondent for Fox News Bill Melugin revealed that "Three senior DHS sources" told the outlet Soliman "is an Egyptian national in the U.S. illegally as a visa overstay" and that he "entered the U.S. during the Biden administration." On Monday morning, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Soliman entered the country in August 2022 using a B2 tourist visa that expired in February 2023. But following revelations of the suspect’s immigration status, corporate media outlets downplayed both the reports of Soliman’s illegal presence in the country and the obvious motives behind the attack. NBC News [6/3/2025 3:20 PM, Patrick Smith and Morgan Chesky, 44540K] reports the man accused of launching an "antisemitic attack" that injured at least 12 protesters with a "makeshift flamethrower" and Molotov cocktails in downtown Boulder on Sunday had "no regrets" and wanted his targets to die, Colorado officials said. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, posed as a gardener to get closer to the group of Jewish protesters, police and prosecutors said at a news conference Monday as the city’s Jewish community reels from the attack. The city of Boulder said in a statement Monday night that it was a "targeted, antisemitic attack." Authorities said eight of the victims, ranging in age from 52 to 88, were admitted to the hospital with burns. One is a Holocaust survivor, according to a local rabbi. None have been identified publicly. Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder after deliberation; attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference; first-degree assault, including against an at-risk victim older than 70, and possession of an incendiary device. He remains in custody on a $10 million bond. The suspect has also been federally charged with a hate crime for targeting a religious or ethnic group. If convicted on all the charges, he faces up to 192 years in prison. The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that Soliman legally entered the country on a B2 visa, normally issued to tourists, in August 2022 and filed for asylum in September 2022. While his visa expired in February 2023, Soliman had not yet exhausted all legal options to stay in the U.S.

ABC News [6/4/2025 2:29 AM, Jeffrey Cook and Jon Haworth, 31733K] reports the suspect in Sunday’s attack in Boulder attempted in November to purchase a handgun, but was denied, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, the suspect, attempted to purchase the weapon on Nov. 22, 2024, but was denied based on National Instant Criminal Background Check System, according to the bureau. The reason for his denial wasn’t disclosed. He didn’t appeal the denial, the bureau said. About a month later, on Dec. 30, 2024, CBI denied his application for a concealed handgun permit. Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime and state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, according to court documents. He appeared in court virtually on Monday. He has yet to enter a plea. His wife and children are in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the family is being processed for expedited removal, according to the Department of Homeland Security. "We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it," Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Tuesday. "I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served.” Soliman -- who was arrested after allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails in an "act of terrorism" during a demonstration advocating for hostages being held in Gaza on Sunday on Sunday -- has been in the U.S. on an expired tourist visa, officials said. The father of five was granted a work permit, but that had also expired in March. Soliman was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago, court documents said. Soliman allegedly said he had been planning Sunday’s attack for one year but waited until his daughter graduated from high school last Thursday to carry it out, state and federal documents said. Sixteen unused Molotov cocktails were within "arm’s reach" of the suspect when he was arrested, FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said on Monday. The unlit Molotov cocktails were "comprised of glass wine carafe bottles or Ball jars containing clear liquid and red rags hanging out of the bottles," court documents said. Police also found a "backpack weed sprayer, potentially containing a flammable substance. The clear liquid in the glass bottles and weed sprayer was determined to be 87 octane gasoline, which was determined to contain xylene.”

AP [6/4/2025 12:02 AM, Elliot Spagat, 56000K] reports the Egyptian man charged with injuring a dozen people in Boulder, Colorado, in an attack on demonstrators seeking the release of Israeli hostages is among hundreds of thousands of people known to overstay their visas each year in the United States. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was born in Egypt and moved three years ago to Colorado Springs, where he lived with his wife and five children, according to state court documents. He lived for 17 years in Kuwait. Soliman entered the country in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, according to Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. She said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that also expired. The department did not respond to requests for additional information. Federal immigration authorities took Soliman’s wife and children into custody Tuesday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said authorities were investigating whether his family knew about his plan. There were 565,155 visa overstays from October 2022 through September 2023 among visitors who arrived by plane or ship — more than the population of the metro areas of Reno, Nevada, or Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to Homeland Security’s most recent annual report. The total number of overstays is much larger but has not been quantified because it does not include how many people arrive and leave by land. The cost and technological hurdles to develop a checkout system at congested land crossings are enormous. The overstay rate for Egyptians on business or tourist visas was 4% in 2023, well below some of the biggest offenders such as Chad (49%), Laos (34%) and Sudan (26%). Historically, academics have estimated that roughly 40% of people in the United States illegally stayed past their visas, but reliable numbers are difficult to come by. In 2016, Homeland Security published the number of overstays for the first time in at least two decades.

AP [6/3/2025 6:02 PM, Colleen Slevin and Olga R. Rodriguez, 56000K] reports the man charged for injuring a dozen people in Boulder, Colorado in an attack on a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza went disguised as a gardener and told police his initial plan was to kill them all. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces hate crime charges in federal court and attempted murder and other charges in state court. Soliman — whose first name also was spelled Mohammed in some court documents — had 18 Molotov cocktails but threw just two during Sunday’s attack in which he yelled “Free Palestine,” police said. He didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an affidavit. The two incendiary devices he did throw into the group of about 20 people were enough to injure more than half of them, and authorities said he expressed no regrets about the attack. Soliman was being held Tuesday on a $10 million, cash-only bond, according to prosecutors. He’s due back in a Boulder County courtroom Thursday. More charges are possible in federal court, where the Justice Department will seek a grand jury indictment. Public defender Kathryn Herold is representing Soliman. She declined to comment after Monday’s hearing where he officially was charged. He was living in the U.S. illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on the social platform X. Soliman’s wife and five children were taken into custody Tuesday by federal immigration authorities and were being processed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a DHS official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Federal officials are investigating whether Soliman’s family knew about his plan, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a post on X. Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his plans, according to court documents. The Los Angeles Times [6/3/2025 11:10 AM, Colleen Slevin and Olga R. Rodriguez, 14672K] reports twelve people were injured and the FBI described the violence as a "targeted terror attack." The suspect, identified by the FBI as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, yelled "Free Palestine" during the attack Sunday, according to Mark Michalek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office. Authorities believe Soliman acted alone. He has been charged with multiple state counts and a federal hate crime. Soliman participated in a brief court hearing Monday afternoon via video from the Boulder County jail. He is charged federally with commission of a hate crime, which carries a sentence of life in prison when the charge includes attempted murder. Colorado state charges include 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of using an incendiary device and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device. A judge set a $10 million cash-only bond on the state charges. Additional charges are possible in federal court. The Justice Department plans to seek a grand jury indictment. The Department of Homeland Security said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and has been living in the U.S. illegally since his visa expired in February 2023. (B) Wisconsin News Now at 11 am [6/3/2025 12:02 PM, Staff] reports that he faces 16 counts of attempted murder and a federal hate crime. At least twelve people were hurt, including some in their 80’s and a Holocaust survivor. Authorities are calling it an antisemitic terror attack. Officials say Soleimani is in the US on an expired work visa. He previously tried to purchase a firearm but could not because he was not a legal citizen. In an intelligence bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security says it is concerned attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict will continue to inspire violent extremists to mobilize to violence in the US. FOX News [6/3/2025 2:00 PM, Peter D’Abrosca and Audrey Conklin, 46878K] reports the Egyptian national suspected of injuring 12 people in a firebombing during a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday worked in the healthcare industry and as a rideshare driver before committing the heinous act. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, first came to the United States on a non-immigrant visa in August 2022. When that visa expired in February 2023, he remained in the country. The following month, he was granted a work visa, which was valid through March of this year. Fox News Digital has learned that Soliman worked in accounting at a medical practice called Veros Health, headquartered in the Denver suburb of Centennial, for a brief period at the beginning of his lawful work stay in the country. "We can confirm that Mohamed Soliman worked with Veros from May 2023 to August 2023," a company spokesperson said. "He was hired in our accounting department. He went through a hiring process with ADP, our employer [Professional Employer Organization]. At the time of hire, he was confirmed to have a valid work visa, which was noted to expire in March 2025."

FOX News [6/3/2025 1:40 PM, Diana Stancy, 46878K] reports that the White House is pinning the blame on the Biden administration for Sunday’s terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, that left a dozen people injured — including a Holocaust survivor. The suspect involved in the attack, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, first entered the U.S. under the Biden administration and had overstayed his visa, multiple Department of Homeland Security sources first told Fox News. "This tragedy is a sobering reminder of the consequences of the Biden administration’s failed policies," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a White House press briefing Tuesday. "He overstayed, filed an asylum claim and was given a work authorization by the Biden administration," Leavitt said. "Instead of deporting this heinous individual, Joe Biden’s administration allowed him to stay in our country and to work. President Trump sounded the alarm over these reckless Biden policies for years because this is the predictable result of letting anti-American radicals and illegal immigrants pour into our country." A spokesperson for former President Joe Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Furthermore, Soliman remained U.S. illegally after his visa expired, three Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sources told Fox News. Soliman first came to the U.S. in 2022 on a nonimmigrant visa, and eventually received work authorization to stay. However, that authorization expired in March. FBI officials are coordinating with local law enforcement to investigate the attack, according to FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. "We are investigating this incident as an act of terror, and targeted violence," Bongino said in a Sunday post on X.

FOX News [6/3/2025 4:43 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports permissive laws in deep blue Colorado created an environment in which last weekend’s antisemitic attack could occur, a local district attorney told Fox News Digital. In an interview with Fox News Digital, George Brauchler, a Republican district attorney for Colorado’s 23rd district, said that the state government, which is dominated by Democrats, has been intentionally creating a lax, sanctuary-type environment regarding immigration enforcement. This, he said, emboldens illegals, such as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect accused of firebombing pro-Israel activists on Sunday, to act with impunity. A DHS spokeswoman has said Soliman, an Egyptian national, was living in the country illegally at the time of the attack. He entered the United States in August 2022 with a visa that expired in February 2023, the spokeswoman said, noting he applied for asylum during that time. Soliman allegedly injured eight adults, including a victim who was 88 years old, at an outdoor mall in Boulder, according to the FBI. The suspect was witnessed shouting "Free Palestine" during the attack and using a makeshift flamethrower to target the crowd, the FBI said. Police said the victims were hospitalized with burn wounds. In response to the attack, Brauchler said he expects the Trump administration may assume control of the case and "make an example" of the perpetrator.

DailySignal [6/3/2025 4:45 PM, Tyler O’Neil, 558K] reports a long train of policy failures allowed Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in Sunday’s terrorist attack on pro-Israel marchers in Boulder, to remain in the U.S., and in Colorado specifically, critics say. The Centennial State has enacted a broad swath of "sanctuary" policies in recent years, preventing state and local law enforcement from alerting Immigration and Customs Enforcement about illegals’ immigration status and allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses and state benefits. Critics say this lax enforcement created an atmosphere that enabled Soliman to overstay his work permit. Soliman faces a federal hate crime charge and 16 state counts of attempted first-degree murder after he allegedly used a "makeshift flamethrower" and Molotov cocktails to attack citizens who were marching in honor of the hostages Hamas militants kidnapped from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He reportedly shouted, "Free Palestine!" amid the attack. The attack injured twelve people, many of whom are still recovering in the hospital.

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Blaze [6/3/2025 6:00 AM, Glenn Beck, 1805K]

FOX News [6/3/2025 9:37 AM, Gabriel Hays, 46878K] reports that an FBI official responded sharply to CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem after she bashed the agency for quickly calling Sunday’s anti-Israel firebombing attack in Colorado an act of terrorism. "The guy shouted ‘Free Palestine’ while throwing firebombs at a crowd of Jewish people. We correctly referred to an investigation of terrorism, will continue to do so, and we have zero interest in what either [of] these CNN guests have to say. Kick rocks," assistant director for public affairs at the FBI Ben Williamson posted on X in response to Kayyem’s comments. Williamson’s response was shared by FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on his personal account. Kayyem slammed FBI Director Kash Patel’s decision to label the firebombing of people who were rallying to support the release of Israeli hostages as a "terror attack," saying it made the FBI look "juvenile." "It makes law enforcement look disorganized, and it makes the FBI look so juvenile, like, why are you getting ahead of the police chief who says, ‘I don’t know what this is,’" Kayyem said on CNN Sunday. The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is an Egyptian national who overstayed his travel visa but was subsequently granted a work visa by the Biden administration that expired in March, Homeland Security officials told Fox News.

NewsMax.com [6/3/2025 5:04 PM, Mark Swanson, 4622K] reports the Department of Homeland Security announced a revamp of its Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line in the wake of the attacks in Colorado over the weekend allegedly committed by an illegal migrant. Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem is adding resources and more manpower to the 24-hour tip line, according to Monday’s announcement. On Sunday, 12 people were injured in Boulder, Colorado, when police say Mohamed Sabry Soliman, in the country illegally, allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices on a group that had gathered to bring attention to the Israeli hostages in Gaza. The FBI called it a terrorist attack. "Yesterday’s terrorist attack by a suspect illegally in our country, underscores the importance of getting these illegal aliens out of our country," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Secretary Noem is revamping ICE’s illegal alien tip line to devote more resources and personnel to help remove these criminal illegal aliens from our country. To report suspicious criminal activity, call 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) — help President Trump, Secretary Noem and our brave law enforcement remove these public safety threats from our communities and to make America safe again.” The DHS said the tip line is for the public as well as law enforcement agencies on the more than 400 laws enforced by ICE.

Breitbart [6/3/2025 2:10 PM, Sean Moran, 3077K] reports Senate Republicans plan to attack Senate Democrats for blocking legislation that would have deported the Boulder, Colorado attacker. "Joe Biden let an illegal alien stay in the United States, and that illegal alien attacked Americans. Senate Democrats are complicit—they’ve repeatedly blocked Republican efforts to stop illegal alien crime like this. Democrats should abandon their insane policies and put Americans’ safety first," Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) said in a statement to Breitbart News. Senate Republicans plan to highlight how Senate Democrats have blocked Republican legislation that could have deported the alleged Boulder, Colorado, attacker Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an "Egyptian national in the U.S. illegally," who had overstayed his visa after entering the United States under the Biden administration. Senate Republicans will highlight through social media posts the Democrat obstruction of Republican efforts to combat visa overstays and share examples of how Democrats block these immigration enforcement measures. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) offered to include his Secure the Border Act in the March 2024 continuing resolution (CR). The legislation would punish visa overstays, reform immigration parole and asylum, and prevent uncontrolled alien flows into the United States. Democrats blocked the motion.

Blaze [6/3/2025 12:45 PM, Julio Rosas, 1805K] reports Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said President Donald Trump was wrong to bring up the issue of immigration in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Jewish protesters allegedly perpetrated by an immigrant reportedly in the U.S. illegally. Mohamed Sabry Soliman — a 45-year-old Egyptian national in the United States illegally, according to the DHS — has been charged with the arson attack on pro-Israel protesters who had gathered in Boulder, Colorado, to advocate the release of the hostages who remain in Hamas custody. Soliman overstayed his visa issued under the Biden-Harris administration. He filed for asylum in 2022 and was given a work permit. In response to the attack, Trump said the suspect had come into the United States "through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. ... This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland." When asked by CNN about Trump bringing up how Soliman entered the country, Crow asserted it had "nothing to do with the border." "Well, President Trump routinely just attacks his opponents when terrible things happen. And that’s not leadership. That’s not the type of leadership that the president needs. Of course we need answers. We need answers about the visa overstay, and a visa overstay is not — has nothing to do with the border," Crow explained. The Boulder attack bolsters the Trump administration’s position of cracking down not only on people who crossed the border illegally, but people who have overstayed their visas, even if they do not have criminal records. From day one, administration officials like border czar Tom Homan have said anyone who is in the country illegally is subject to deportation.

CNN [6/4/2025 4:56 AM, Taylor Romine, 21433K] reports two Chinese researchers were charged with smuggling a biological pathogen that they planned to study at a University of Michigan lab, a complaint filed Tuesday says. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements and visa fraud for bringing in the fungus Fusarium graminearum from China, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Fusarium graminearum is described as “a potential agroterrorism weapon” that can cause disease in certain plants like corn, rice and barley, and is “responsible for billions of dollars in economic loss worldwide each year,” an FBI affidavit in support of the complaint says. The charges come as the Trump administration is looking to revoke visas for Chinese students, especially those with alleged “connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week. The State Department has zeroed in on any potential wrongdoing from academics across the country in the last several months, including a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryo remains. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that the case is “a sobering reminder that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences.” The affidavit doesn’t specify what Jian and Liu’s intentions were in studying the fungus. CNN reached out to the Federal Community Defender of the Eastern District of Michigan, who represents Jian, for comment. Jian, who was arrested by the FBI, remains in custody. Liu is not currently in the US, said Gina Balaya, public information officer for the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Liu, who is a researcher at Zhejiang University in China, tried to bring in multiple samples of the fungus during a trip with a tourist visa in July 2024 and hadn’t applied for a permit to bring it in, the affidavit says. Jian, his girlfriend, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory at the University of Michigan, and previously worked at a university in Texas since August 2022, the affidavit says. Authorities found evidence that during her time at the two universities, the Chinese government funded her research on Fusarium graminearum at Zhejiang University, the affidavit says. FOX News [6/3/2025 4:37 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports that the investigation is being conducted by the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The couple are accused of smuggling a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a "potential agroterrorism weapon," according to the Justice Department. According to the criminal complaint, Jian, 33, allegedly received Chinese government funding for her work on the pathogen in China. Federal prosecutors say Jian’s electronics contain information "describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party." The New York Times [6/3/2025 3:04 PM, Devlin Barrett, 138952K] reports that the fungus can be particularly damaging to winter wheat crops. Ms. Jian was arrested and booked in the federal courthouse in Detroit; Mr. Liu is believed to be in China. The criminal charges come as tensions mount between the United States and China over the Trump administration’s vow to “aggressively” revoke student visas for Chinese nationals. Such students, the administration says, risk siphoning off sensitive technology or trade secrets from American labs for the benefit of their home country. For decades, U.S. national security officials have worried about — and sometimes arrested — Chinese academics suspected of stealing scientific data from American universities and businesses. The Trump administration’s new push goes further by stripping an unspecified number of students of visas. Some experts say such a heavy-handed approach is likely to cause more harm than good to U.S. scientific advances, by preventing or dissuading some of the roughly 277,000 Chinese students who arrive in the United States each year to advance their studies. The new case is distinct from most past national security cases related to Chinese students. Ms. Jian and Mr. Liu are accused not of taking material out of the United States, but of bringing it in. And charging papers specifically cite Ms. Jian’s written pledge of loyalty to the Communist Chinese Party.

Reported similarly:
AP [6/3/2025 5:18 PM, Ed White]
Reuters [6/3/2025 7:24 PM, Jasper Ward, 51390K]
NBC News [6/4/2025 3:39 AM, Tom Winter, 44540K]
NewsMax [6/3/2025 12:59 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4622K]
Daily Wire [6/3/2025 8:04 AM, Zach Jewell, 3816K]
Blaze [6/3/2025 5:15 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K]

NewsMax [6/3/2025 6:43 PM, Michael Katz, 4622K] reports civilian employees within the Pentagon will soon be deployed to the Department of Homeland Security to assist with border security efforts, as well as immigration enforcement within the country. The move was disclosed in a memo issued Monday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to senior Pentagon leadership, defense agency and Pentagon field activity directors and military commanders but did not provide specifics regarding job duties and missions in which the employees would participate. The memo did state that "detail assignments may be either reimbursable or non-reimbursable," meaning paid or unpaid. Unpaid assignments would be authorized "where the expected benefit of a detail would be comparable to training or development programs that otherwise would be conducted at a DoD Component’s expense." "Protecting our homeland from bad actors and illegal substances has been a focus of the President and of the Secretary of Defense since Day 1 of this administration," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. "Whether on the border or in our communities, allowing qualified DoD civilian employees to support DHS will accelerate the progress already made by service members in achieving our national security goals." Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Defense One that the jobs likely will be largely administrative. Although the memo suggests the civilian employees might support Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, they, like service members, are not used for law enforcement activities. Federal law prohibits uniformed troops from acting as police, and DOD policy applies the same guidelines to civilians, according to Defense One.

Washington Reporter [6/3/2025 6:02 PM, Matthew Foldi] reports as the first year of the second Trump administration continues forward, we have seen dramatic decreases in illegal immigration and the flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl into America. After four years of chaos at the southern border, we are finally seeing a fix to the broken border left by President Joe Biden and his administration. This charge has been led by President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, as well as their crack teams making the gears turn. As the changes unfurl and America becomes more secure, one of Noem’s heaviest hitters, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin spoke with the Washington Reporter about the secretary’s recent overseas trips and their work to keep America safe.

Washington Times [6/3/2025 5:40 PM, Stephen Dinan, 2106K] reports the Trump administration says it can use a speedy deportation policy to boot out hundreds of thousands of migrants whose Biden-era "parole" protections have been canceled, meaning they won’t get a full immigration court hearing. The process, known as expedited removal, is generally used only for new arrivals near the border. It allows them to be ousted within hours or days, as soon as the government can arrange transportation. The Department of Homeland Security said the process also can be used for nearly a half-million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are losing their legal status. The Supreme Court last week gave tacit approval for Secretary Kristi Noem to revoke their paroles. The department said parole is a sort of grace period exception from immigration laws. "When parole is canceled, an alien reverts to his previous status. For most of these aliens, that status would be an applicant for admission, which means that he or she would be subject to expedited removal," a Homeland Security official told The Washington Times. In layman’s terms, it’s as if the migrants were back at the border, having just shown up at a crossing point. Their months spent deep in the interior of the U.S. are erased, and their legal status is the same as a fresh arrival with no visa, meaning they have few rights to "due process" to delay or defeat their deportations. Andrew "Art" Arthur, a former immigration judge and now legal fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said it’s the difficult price the migrants pay for trusting President Biden’s legally questionable parole promise. "The Biden administration left these people as de facto legal hemophiliacs," he said. "They were utterly vulnerable to any future administration with a different plan." Expedited removal could boost the Trump administration’s deportation numbers, but it’s not without controversy.

The New York Times [6/3/2025 6:43 PM, Mitch Smith and Dan Simmons, 138952K] reports the allegation was chilling. An undocumented immigrant, the Department of Homeland Security said last week, had threatened in a letter to kill the president and then “self deport myself back to Mexico.” “Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said in a news release that included photos of the immigrant and of the letter, handwritten in blue ink. Not long after the announcement, the government’s story began to look shaky. Lawyers for the Mexican man, Ramon Morales Reyes, held a news conference proclaiming his innocence. And as detectives in Wisconsin, where Mr. Morales Reyes lived, began looking deeper, they came to believe he had been framed. By this week, Milwaukee County prosecutors had filed identity theft and witness intimidation charges against another man, a lifelong Wisconsin resident. They said that man, Demetric D. Scott, had written several threatening letters that included Mr. Morales Reyes’s name in the return address. Prosecutors said it was an attempt to catch the attention of the Trump administration and weaponize the threat of deportation against Mr. Morales Reyes, who was scheduled to testify against Mr. Scott at a robbery trial next month. Homeland Security officials did not directly answer questions about whether they still believed their allegations that Mr. Morales Reyes had threatened the president. In an unsigned statement, the department said Monday night that “the investigation into the threat is ongoing” and that “over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally” and “had a criminal record,” though details of that record could not be immediately verified. A spokesman for the Secret Service, which investigates threats against the president, declined to comment when asked which version of events that agency believes. NBC News [6/3/2025 5:21 PM, Marlene Lenthang, 44540K] reports that the letters allegedly sent by Scott in Morales Reyes’ name were received on May 21 by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office, the Milwaukee Police Chief and Milwaukee Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office. The letters were handwritten and all about "immigration policy and threatening to kill ICE agents of Donald Trump," according to the criminal complaint. Morales Reyes, 54, was then arrested on May 22 because his name was on the return address of those letters, the complaint said. The Department of Homeland Security had posted about his arrest in May, with Secretary Kristi Noem saying, "Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars." The news release included a photo of Morales Reyes and a photo of the handwritten letter that threatened to shoot Trump at one of his "big" rallies. However, things didn’t add up — the investigating detective found that Morales Reyes doesn’t read write or speak English fluently and needed translation assistance. A writing sample also showed Morales Reyes’ handwriting was different from the one used in the letters, authorities said. A senior Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News that Morales Reyes will remain in custody. The Wall Street Journal [6/3/2025 3:01 PM, Joseph De Avila, 646K] reports Scott appeared in court Tuesday for the latest charges. An attorney for Scott didn’t respond to a request for comment. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Morales Reyes on May 22 after the agency received a letter written in his name threatening to assassinate Trump at a rally. The agency said at the time that it intended to deport Morales Reyes to his home country of Mexico. “Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said after his arrest. However, it became apparent after the arrest that Morales Reyes couldn’t have written the threatening letter. A detective with the Milwaukee police interviewed Morales Reyes with translation assistance because he doesn’t read, write or speak fluent English, according to the criminal complaint. Morales Reyes will pursue any legal options available for him to remain in the U.S. and will be seeking release on bond while his deportation hearings advance, Oulahan said. “We also believe that the Department of Homeland Security should issue a public statement acknowledging their error and calling for a stop to any threats against him and his family,” Oulahan said. ABC News [6/3/2025 10:43 AM, Luke Barr, 31733K] Video HERE reports that during an interview with officials, Morales-Reyes said the "only person who would want to get him in trouble, was the person who had robbed him and who law enforcement knows to be the defendant, Demetric D. Scott." Demetric Deshawn Scott, 52, was charged Monday with identity theft, felony intimidation of a witness and two counts of bail jumping.

Reported similarly:
AP [6/3/2025 1:52 PM, Staff, 56000K]
CNN [6/3/2025 1:13 PM, Holmes Lybrand, 875K]
FOX News [6/3/2025 4:17 PM, Rachel Wolf, Cameron Arcand, Bill Melugin, 46878K]

FOX News [6/3/2025 12:00 PM, Deirdre Heavey and Elizabeth Elkind, 46878K] reports that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter Tuesday requesting House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to condemn the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for "forcefully" entering Rep. Jerry Nadler’s congressional office and handcuffing a member of his staff. The letter, sent by Nadler and fellow House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., disputes DHS’ claim that agents were doing a "security check" at Nadler’s office. "We therefore urge you to bring the Secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, before our Committee immediately to answer our questions about her agency’s irresponsible and dangerous actions," the House Democrats said in the letter. Nadler and Raskin said the video released from the incident reveals agents handcuffed a staffer and demanded access to "non-public areas" inside Nadler’s office without "asking about the safety and security of his staff." "These types of intimidation tactics are completely unwarranted and cannot be tolerated. The decision to enter a congressional office and detain a congressional staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries," Nadler and Raskin said. The House Democrats are urging Jordan to condemn the incident and requesting DHS Secretary Noem testify before the House Judiciary Committee. Politico [6/3/2025 12:04 PM, Hailey Fuchs, 2100K] reports DHS claimed the aide, who was never arrested, was briefly detained as part of a larger security check to protect federal employees. But in their letter to Jordan Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin — the top current ranking member of the Judiciary Committee — and Nadler argued the staffer’s detainment followed a pattern of threatening actions by the Trump administration and urged Jordan to call DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before the committee regarding her agency’s posture. “These types of intimidation tactics are completely unwarranted and cannot be tolerated,” the lawmakers wrote to Jordan. “The decision to enter a congressional office and detain a congressional staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries. We call on you, as Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, to condemn this aggressive affront to the separation of powers and the safety of Members of Congress, our staff, and our constituents.” A spokesperson for Jordan did not return a request for comment. A DHS spokesperson in a statement reiterated that its officers were “concerned about the safety of the federal employees in the office” and Nadler’s aide was detained so that agents could conduct their security check. “DHS responds to official correspondence through official channels,” the spokesperson added.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [6/3/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K]
Axios [6/3/2025 12:00 PM, Andrew Solender, 13599K]
NewsMax [6/3/2025 7:24 PM, Jim Thomas, 4622K]

Breitbart [6/3/2025 4:30 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) is introducing legislation to criminalize overstaying a visa in the wake of the Boulder, Colorado, terrorist attack where an Egyptian illegal alien, who overstayed his visa, is charged with trying to murder supporters of Israel. On Tuesday, Banks introduced the "Visa Overstay Penalties Act" to have the federal government finally crack down on hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who overstay their visas every year. Banks’s legislation would classify overstaying a visa as a criminal offense, akin to crossing United States borders illegally, and impose up to six months of jail time for first-time offenders and two years of jail time for repeat offenders. In addition, under the bill, those who overstay their visas would have to pay civil fines as high as $1,000, which would double for repeat offenders. Banks said the bill would treat visa overstays as a national security threat. Annually, anywhere from 550,000 to nearly 800,000 foreign nationals overstay their visas, making them illegal aliens in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has long estimated that about half of the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal alien population is from overstaying visas.

The Hill [6/3/2025 12:07 PM, Ella Lee, 18649K] reports Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka (D) on Tuesday sued interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba in her personal capacity over his arrest last month outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility he was visiting with three Democratic members of Congress. The lawsuit includes claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation, and accuses Habba of acting as a "political operative, outside of any function intimately related to the judicial process." "Defendant Habba has made her biased political goals explicit," the complaint read, pointing to political remarks Habba made before and after she was sworn in such as her goal to "turn New Jersey red." The suit also names Ricky Patel, the Homeland Security Investigations agent in charge in Newark, in his personal capacity. Baraka was charged with a single misdemeanor trespassing charge last month after accompanying three members of the New Jersey congressional delegation — Bonnie Watson Coleman (D), Rob Menendez (D) and LaMonica McIver (D) — to the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark. Habba’s office later moved to dismiss the count after charging McIver with assaulting law enforcement while at the facility. But Baraka alleged in the lawsuit that the arrest was baseless and targeted. The mayor said in the complaint that he was invited inside Delaney Hall’s gates by a guard who worked for the private company that owned the facility. Patel ordered Baraka to leave the grounds, despite the guard’s invitation. Baraka said he complied, but minutes later he was "descended on" by armed and masked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. Patel ordered the other DHS officers to "take him down." The complaint alleges that before he was transported from Delaney Hall, Habba had posted on her personal social media account that the mayor "committed trespass" and had "willingly chosen to disregard the law." Reuters [6/3/2025 7:00 PM, Andrew Goudsward, 51390K] reports Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: "The American people saw with their own eyes his actions that put the safety of our law enforcement agents and the staff at Delaney Hall at risk.” Prosecutors dropped the case against Baraka 10 days after his arrest. Habba said the decision was made "for the sake of moving forward" but offered no further explanation. The Wall Street Journal [6/3/2025 7:05 PM, Corinne Ramey, 646K] reports that on May 9, Baraka said he arrived at the detention center after being invited by members of Congress who were there to inspect it. He spoke to members of the public outside its gates, and a guard at the center then invited him inside, according to the lawsuit. He said Homeland Security official Ricky Patel, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, then asked him to leave. Baraka in his lawsuit accused Habba of defamation for what he said were false comments she made about him on social media and on television, including accusing him of grandstanding and saying that he willingly chose to disobey the law. He accused Patel and Habba of false arrest and malicious prosecution. Asked for comment on Patel’s behalf, a Homeland Security spokeswoman said Baraka was “trying to rewrite history with this frivolous lawsuit.”

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg Law News [6/3/2025 5:57 PM, Justin Wise and Jacklyn Wile, 88K]
NBC News [6/3/2025 12:49 PM, Rebecca Shabad, 44540K]
Daily Caller [6/3/2025 2:44 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K]

FOX News [6/3/2025 5:58 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports the White House is pushing back against Newark Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka, who has hit interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba with a lawsuit this week after he was arrested and briefly charged with criminal trespassing last month outside an ICE facility. Baraka, who is one of the leading Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Habba, accusing her of "false arrest and malicious prosecution" in connection with his May 9 arrest and charges outside a federal immigration center. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, accuses Habba of acting politically in Baraka’s May 9 arrest outside the Delaney Hall detention center, near Newark Liberty International Airport. Baraka was arrested during a protest outside the facility after being accused of trespassing and ignoring warnings from law enforcement officials to leave. He was held in custody for several hours before being released. The civil lawsuit filed by Baraka’s attorneys seeks damages for what they described as his "false arrest and malicious prosecution," as well as the allegedly defamatory remarks Habba made about his case, including on social media.

The Hill [6/3/2025 6:31 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is launching an investigation into the charges filed against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) and the mayor of Newark, N.J., saying the moves appears to violate Justice Department policy. McIver was charged last month after a scuffle with Department of Homeland Security officers outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after they began to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D). Alina Habba, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey and former personal attorney to President Trump, charged McIver with assaulting law enforcement, saying she used her forearms to push back against agents. Habba’s office has already moved to dismiss the trespassing charges initially filed against Baraka, earning a reprimand from the judge in the case who cited an "apparent rush in this case, culminating … in the embarrassing retraction of charges." "Ms. Habba’s unprecedented charging decision is a blatant attempt to intimidate Members of Congress and to deter us from carrying out our constitutional oversight duties. It appears Ms. Habba brought these charges in violation of long-standing Department of Justice (DOJ) policies designed to prevent exactly this type of politically motivated abuse of prosecutorial power," Raskin wrote.

Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 5:58 PM, Paul Bedard, 1934K] reports the number of "sanctuary" jurisdictions for illegal immigrants has tripled since President Donald Trump won his first election in 2016, and they are now in all but three states. In a shocking and extensive new report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, shared Tuesday afternoon with Secrets, the number of sanctuary cities and states has grown from about 300 in 2016 to 1,003. While most are towns, cities, and counties that have passed legislation to block local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the protection zones also include 17 states and Washington, D.C. Three states, Arkansas, Montana, and West Virginia, have laws banning sanctuaries. FAIR plans to turn its list over to the Justice Department, which is compiling its own list. The report, over 357 pages, documents every example of sanctuaries, right down to individual police stations.

Los Angeles Times [6/3/2025 6:00 AM, Gustavo Arellano, 14672K] reports the Department of Homeland Security’s "sanctuary jurisdiction list" has more holes than the plot for the latest "Mission Impossible" film. All you need to know about its accuracy is how my native Orange County fared. The only O.C. city on the list is Huntington Beach — you know, the ‘burb with an all-Republican council that’s suing California for being a sanctuary state, declared itself a "non-sanctuary" community in January and and plans to place a plaque outside the city’s main library with an acrostic "MAGA" message. Missing from the list? Santa Ana, long synonymous with undocumented immigrants, which declared itself a sanctuary city all the way back in 2016 and has a deportation defense fund for residents. More laughable errors: Livingston, the first city in the Central Valley to declare itself a sanctuary for immigrants in 2017, isn’t on the list. Yet Santee in San Diego County, so notorious for its racism that people still call it "Klantee," is. There’s even Represa. Ever heard of it? Me, neither. Turns out it’s not a city but the name of the post office for two places not exactly known as sanctuaries: Folsom State Prison and California State Prison, Sacramento. Within hours of his inauguration, Donald Trump signed an executive order tellingly titled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion" that, among other things, stated that sanctuary jurisdictions should no longer receive federal funds. But the May 29 list laying out the jurisdictions that are supposedly subject to the penalty was so flawed that it was taken off the Homeland Security website within days. It’s still not back up. The effort seemed cobbled together by someone who typed "sanctuary" and a city’s name into Google and swallowed whatever the AI spat up without even bothering to cross-check with Wikipedia. Deportation rates are rising, but still not to the levels seen in some years of the Biden and Obama administrations, and not even close to Operation Wetback, the Eisenhower-era program that deported over a million Mexican nationals. Trump’s deportation dream team — Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — has berated ICE officials for not doing more to comply with Trump’s wishes. The sanctuary list embodies all of this. Who cares if the wreckage involves human lives, or the Constitution? The cruelty is the point. Homeland Security didn’t answer my request to explain the flaws in its sanctuary jurisdiction list and why it was taken down. Instead, a spokesperson emailed a statement saying "the list is being constantly reviewed and can be changed at any time and will be updated regularly." The decision whether to include a place, the statement said, "is based on the evaluation of numerous factors."

Reuters [6/3/2025 5:59 PM, Daniel Wiessner, 51390K] reports a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived a challenge by a union representing immigration court judges to a policy issued during President Donald Trump’s first term that restricts the judges from speaking publicly about their work. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the usual administrative channels that the National Association of Immigration Judges would be required to pursue before going to court are not currently available after Trump in January fired two federal labor officials. The union is challenging a U.S. Department of Justice policy that requires immigration judges, who are employed by the department, to seek permission before speaking publicly about their work. A Virginia federal judge in 2023 said the union’s challenge belonged at the Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears federal workers’ appeals when they are disciplined. Trump in January fired Cathy Harris, a Democratic member of the merit board, and Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, which acts like a prosecutor and can bring certain cases to the board on behalf of federal workers. The three-member board was left without enough members to decide cases after Harris was removed and another Democrat’s term expired in February. The 4th Circuit on Tuesday said the board and the special counsel’s office were designed to be free from political influence, and that the removal of Dellinger and Harris had called their ability to operate into question. "We cannot allow our black robes to insulate us from taking notice of items in the public record, including, relevant here, circumstances that may have undermined the functioning of the [administrative] scheme," wrote Circuit Judge Nicole Berner, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden. The court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to reconsider whether she has jurisdiction over the union’s lawsuit.

New York Times [6/3/2025 11:38 AM, Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, 138952K] reports in case after case, the Trump administration has taken a similar approach to the numerous legal challenges that have emerged in recent weeks to President Trump’s aggressive deportation plans. Over and over, officials have either violated orders or used an array of obfuscations and delays to prevent federal judges from deciding whether violations took place. So far, no one in the White House or any federal agency has had to pay a price for this obstructionist behavior, but penalties could still be in the offing. Three judges in three different courthouses who have been overseeing deportation cases have said they are considering whether to hold the administration in contempt. All of this first came to the fore when Judge Paula Xinis opened an investigation in mid-April into whether Trump officials had violated her order to “facilitate” the release of a Maryland man who had been wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador.

Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 9:13 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1934K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading negotiations with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele regarding efforts to bring back a Venezuelan man. Rubio’s new responsibility is no guarantee that the Trump administration will bring back the man known in court documents as Cristian, who was deported despite court-ordered protections in the United States. Court filings on Monday said Rubio, who has taken on an increasingly important role in the administration, would take charge due to his existing relationship with Bukele. "Based on his deep diplomatic experience with El Salvador and the secretary’s familiarity with political and diplomatic sensitivities in that country, he is personally handling the discussions with the government of El Salvador regarding persons subject to the court’s order detained in El Salvador," the State Department said in a statement included in the filing. The court filing notes that Rubio has "read and understands this court’s order and wants to ensure the court he is making prompt and diligent efforts" to comply with it.

The Hill [6/3/2025 2:18 PM, Brooke Migdon, 18649K] reports that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) may not enforce parts of a sweeping executive order President Trump signed on his first day back in office instructing it to cease treatment for transgender inmates’ gender dysphoria, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked the BOP from enforcing Trump’s order while a legal challenge against it continues. The Jan. 20 order, which proclaims the U.S. recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and broadly prohibits federal spending on "gender ideology," tasks Attorney General Pam Bondi with barring the BOP from expending funds "for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex." It directs Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to ensure "that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers." In a separate ruling, Lamberth blocked the administration in February from moving three trans women to men’s facilities. The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment on Lamberth’s ruling.

The Hill [6/3/2025 9:51 AM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 18649K] reports that Harvard University is moving for a decisive decision from a federal judge to unfreeze the around $2.5 billion in federal funds the Trump administration took away from the university. On Monday, Harvard filed a request for summary judgment, which means the judge would make a decision without a full trial. "The necessity of an injunction is demonstrated by the Government’s continued attempt to punish Harvard’s during the pendency of this case by whatever mechanisms it can," the university’s lawyers wrote in the filing. The next hearing for the case is set for July 21 and Harvard is asking for a summary judgment by Sept. 3, which is the deadline Harvard has from the federal government to liquidate some financial obligations from federal grants. In the filing, the lawyers detailed the risk of cutting off funding to projects related to public health and national security concerns. "The government’s rush to freeze and terminate billions of dollars in current and future federal funding to Harvard for critical research lacks the basic requisites of reasoned decision making," Harvard’s lawyers wrote. The request to speed up the timeline in this case comes after Harvard won a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration in its lawsuit against the federal government’s attempt to block Harvard from admitting and keeping its foreign students. The Trump administration has used various other tactics to go get Harvard to cave, such as threatening to revoke its tax-exempt status and launching multiple investigations into the university.

CNN [6/3/2025 6:00 AM, Andy Rose, 21433K] reports when the president of Harvard University gave his charge to this year’s graduating class, he spoke from experience. "My hope for you, members of the class of 2025, is that you stay comfortable being uncomfortable," Alan Garber said last week. Uncomfortable situations have hung over Garber for much of the year, as the Trump administration has targeted Harvard for special scrutiny – while also sowing doubt the school could ever satisfy its mounting demands. Since its initial criticism of Harvard as a place where antisemitism was condoned or ignored during last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests, the government’s list of complaints about the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university has grown by the day. While some grievances – expressed in a mixture of open letters, court filings, social media posts, TV interviews and off-the-cuff remarks – have aligned with the school’s own concerns, the university says others have been trivial and unsupported. Across the board, the demands have been cheered by conservative figures and organizations who see elite US institutions of higher learning as home to radical ideas and anti-Jewish bias and thus easy and deserving targets. The government’s biggest body blow to Harvard came May 22, when the Department of Homeland Security announced it was revoking the university’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, making it impossible for international students to continue their studies there. "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," wrote Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Harvard responded the next day with a second lawsuit against the Trump administration. If Harvard thought addressing antisemitism and DEI would alleviate the government’s concerns, Noem’s announcement about the eviction of international students suggested the White House had much more on its mind. The Department of Homeland Security missive bullet-pointed a dozen grievances, including claims based on a letter from Republican members of Congress that research collaborations with Chinese universities were "contributing to the military capabilities of a potential adversary." An agency statement – with a title that began "Secretary Noem Doubles Down and Escalates Action Against Harvard" – went further, categorizing Harvard as "coordinating with Chinese Communist Party officials on training that undermined American national security."

Daily Wire [6/3/2025 7:23 AM, Mary Margaret Olohan, 3816K] reports that a nationally recognized crime analyst says 2025 may see the lowest murder rate ever recorded, and the White House is touting the news as evidence of President Donald Trump’s tough-on-crime policies. "Since President Trump took office, murder rates have plummeted across the entire United States," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday morning. "American families were promised their communities would be safer and President Trump swiftly delivered by vocally being tough on crime, unequivocally backing law enforcement, and standing firm on violent criminals being held to the fullest extent of the law," she added. Her remarks come after analyst Jeff Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics, found more than a 20% decrease in murders from 2024, including murders down 31.6% in Baltimore, 34.5% in St. Louis, 36.8% in Cleveland, 63% in Denver, 30.6% in New Orleans, 26.8% in New York, and 23.7% in Chicago. Asher hedges that the trend could "regress back towards a more normal rate of decline," but he still argues that "it’s fairly clear that a decline in the direction we’re currently seeing would safely give 2025 the title of lowest US murder rate ever recorded."

NewsMax [6/3/2025 1:20 PM, Michael Reagan, 4622K] reports that the "America Last" cadre that’s been running the U.S. State Department for the last 40 or so years may have to find a new base of operations. It’s becoming ideologically inhospitable. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio are completely reorienting the mindset there. In the past a foreigner who landed a U.S. visa to come here as a student was essentially given a free pass. The foreigner’s last contact with a State Department official was when the visa was handed over, Emailed, or showed up in a text message. After that it was "Let the Good Times Roll!" "Students" were essentially free to break the law, overstay their visa or otherwise display their ingratitude with no consequences from State. Universities liked the system because most of these imports paid full price for their education and best of all they weren’t white American citizens. The foreigners liked being treated with kid gloves in the Land of the Guilty White Leftwing. The only losers were, as usual, citizens who didn’t get admitted to college and their parents. Now the State Department is doing something unheard of during the Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden administrations. "The State Department coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security, using their databases to cross-check student visa holders’ information with existing law enforcement records, according to the [New York] Post.”

USA Today [6/3/2025 2:25 PM, Rex Huppke, 75552K] reports that so David Richardson, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he only recently learned there’s such a thing as hurricane season. That’s like the manager of a Red Lobster restaurant saying he only recently learned about "Lobsterfest," with the important caveat that a dumb Red Lobster manager’s ignorance is less likely to result in widespread death in America’s coastal regions. Welcome to the Trump administration, where a person like Richardson who has no experience in emergency management can ascend to the top job at FEMA by checking President Donald Trump’s three key boxes: white, male and radically unqualified. Richardson’s apparent lack of basic meteorological knowledge brings into question his ability to do his job, given that hurricane season, which is, in fact, real, started June 1 and lasts through November. How is it possible that a fully grown, human American has never heard of hurricane season? There’s a Jimmy Buffett song titled "Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season" for Pete’s sake. As news of Richardson’s comment spread, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement claiming it was "a joke.". That doesn’t help much because: a) If it was a joke, it was a very dumb joke, Dave!; and b) It probably wasn’t a joke, since Richardson seems like the type who would proudly conclude, "Hurricanes can’t hurt us if we don’t believe in them!". The truth, I’d posit, is closer to this: The entire Trump administration is a joke and Americans are the punchline. Hurricane season is here, and FEMA doesn’t have a disaster plan.

USA Today [6/4/2025 4:31 AM, Nicole Russell, 75552K] reports as a mom of four, I cannot fathom the pain of a parent who must bury a child. So I grieve with a Texas family who recently lost 18-year-old Ava Moore, who was killed in Grapevine, which is about 40 minutes from where I live. Why is this tragedy national news? Moore was badly injured − and later died − when a jet ski plowed into her kayak. Police say the driver of the jet ski is an illegal immigrant who fled the scene of the fatal accident on May 25. A second illegal immigrant has been charged with helping the jet ski driver leave the scene. The jet ski driver, Daikerlyn Alejandra Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 22, entered the United States illegally from Venezuela in 2023. Her alleged accomplice, Maikel Coello Perozo, 21, entered the country separately that same year. Both were arrested when they crossed the border, but they were released on their own recognizance with a notice to appear in court when summoned. Two years later, they are both in custody, and a talented young woman with a promising career in the U.S. Air Force is dead. Ava Moore had recently graduated from the Air Force Academy Preparatory School and was visiting her family when the fatal crash occurred over Memorial Day weekend − a weekend to honor fallen soldiers. Her family is now suffering because of a tragedy that should have been prevented. Under former President Joe Biden, our southern border was an open door that allowed millions of people from all over the world to enter our country without permission or even a cursory background check. It’s not surprising that some of them were and are dangerous. Although President Donald Trump has instilled more order at the border and migrant crossings have decreased substantially, the consequences of Biden’s immigration policies are still being felt. Illegal immigration is a human rights issue, not only for Moore and her family but also for other victims like Laken Riley, a young nursing student who was murdered in 2024 by an illegal immigrant. Biden’s disastrous border policies are still hurting Americans.

The Hill [6/3/2025 8:30 AM, Gabriel Noronha, 18649K] reports Republicans and Democrats have rung alarm bells for years about Beijing’s efforts to infiltrate America’s industrial base, warning not just about the threats of espionage and sabotage that follow their investment, but also of the human rights abuses linked to Chinese companies. Just last month, Reuters reported that rogue cellular radios and communications devices were found in Chinese batteries, electric vehicle chargers and solar panels that are already in the U.S. Despite those warnings, China, with help from the Biden administration, Democratic governors and members of Congress, has established footholds in America’s emerging electric vehicle battery sector. Gotion, a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has begun building plants in Michigan and Illinois despite strong local pushback. Last year, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Gotion plants "would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing." CATL — a company designated by the Pentagon as a "Chinese military company" — is working with Ford in Michigan, and also has footprints in several other states. Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio previously sought to block CATL’s Michigan plant, writing that the facility will "only deepen U.S. reliance on the Chinese Communist Party for battery tech." He also highlighted the company’s "ties to forced labor and to Xinjiang" and urged the Department of Homeland Security to add CATL to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List which would blacklist its products in the United States. President Trump and Secretary Rubio are right, but even with Republicans in control of Washington, these malicious actors continue to operate in the U.S. Troublingly, the reconciliation legislation, deemed The One, Big, and Beautiful Bill, which recently passed in the House, fails to fix loopholes created by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 5:09 PM, Elaine Mallon, 1934K] reports the FBI has been involved in the arrests of 10,553 illegal immigrants since the start of the second Trump administration. The data, which was first shared with Fox News, coincide with FBI Director Kash Patel’s efforts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security in achieving President Donald Trump’s goals of curbing illegal immigration, an agenda that emphasizes aggressive deportation tactics and high-profile crackdowns on gang activity, particularly involving MS-13. Since the start of the Trump administration, approximately one-third of FBI employees, 13,192 in total, have been engaged in immigration enforcement. Historically, the FBI has had limited direct engagement with immigration enforcement, leaving that responsibility primarily to agencies such as ICE and Customs and Border Protection. However, under Trump-era directives, the FBI began increasing its coordination with these agencies, particularly in joint operations targeting transnational gangs. FOX News [6/3/2025 11:30 AM, Ashley Oliver, 46878K] reports that recent arrests involving the FBI have included, for instance, an operation at the end of May on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The FBI aided ICE in arresting about 32 people on the two islands, including an alleged member of the MS-13 gang and a man named Luciano Pereira Deoliveira, who had pending child rape and pornography charges, according to the data. Patel has also periodically highlighted these arrests on social media, including the FBI’s capture of Harpreet Singh in April. The FBI’s Sacramento field office investigated Singh, who was wanted in India for alleged ties to terrorism and whom authorities say entered the U.S. illegally in 2022. The data comes as Patel has faced media scrutiny for the dramatic shakeup at the bureau during the past four months, which has involved ousting senior officials and other employees or attempting to relocate them to new field offices. Some reports say many agents and employees have been reassigned at times to help the DHS with immigration enforcement.

ABC News [6/3/2025 9:50 AM, Luke Barr, 31733K] Video HERE reports as top Trump administration officials press for more deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it had deported 142 migrants in the Houston, Texas, area illegally in the United States and convicted of crimes to Mexico, over a two week period. From May 19 to 30, ICE says the agency removed eight gang members from the United States, 11 convicted individuals who committed crimes against children and a man who entered the U.S. illegally 21 times. In total, the migrants were convicted of 473 criminal offenses and entered the United States 480 times, according to ICE. ICE says there were also 30 who were convicted of robbery and grand larceny, 43 who were convicted of aggravated assault and 48 who were convicted of drug crimes they removed. "Unfortunately, this is not an anomaly," said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. "For the past few years, there was virtually no deterrent to illegally entering the country. As a result, millions of illegal aliens poured into the country including violent criminal aliens, child predators, transnational gang members and foreign fugitives." Bradford said that "many of these dangerous criminal aliens went on to prey on law-abiding residents in local communities right here in Southeast Texas and we’re laser focused on identifying them and removing them from the country before they harm anyone else. This is just a small snapshot of those efforts as it only focuses on deportations to one country over the course of a two-week period, but it gives you an idea of how big this problem really is." It comes as in mid-May, Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff at the White House, was at ICE headquarters alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and urged senior leaders at ICE and Homeland Security Investigations to step up their deportation efforts, according to sources familiar with the meeting. The meeting was attended by senior ICE leaders and the special agents in charge of Homeland Security Investigations. Border czar Tom Homan was absent from the meeting. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 7:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports federal immigration authorities plan to crack down on illegal immigrants who legally entered the United States but failed to leave when their documents expired, a move that comes in the aftermath of the terrorist attack by an Egyptian visa overstayer in Boulder, Colorado. Todd Lyons, acting director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, revealed in the hours after an Egyptian national used a flamethrower to torch Jewish residents in Boulder on Sunday afternoon that the Trump administration had moved to target visa overstayers. "There’s a big push right now at ICE to identify all these individuals that have overstayed their visas. We have millions that have come in, you know, all across the last administration that have overstayed their visas and overstayed their welcome," Lyons said during an interview on Fox News Monday. "One of the main missions of ICE is to go ahead and arrest anyone that we can take an enforcement action [against], that has violated immigration immigration law." The move breaks with the type of immigrant population that the Trump administration has focused its efforts on during its first four months in office, arresting and deporting immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, not on visas. "We want to go ahead and make sure we take these bad actors out of the country before anything like this could happen," said Lyons. "We don’t know the intent of what a lot of these people came for. A lot come here to commit crime, terrorist acts, or just not be the person we want in our neighborhood. So ICE is focused on finding these individuals and removing them quickly." The White House maintained that targeting all illegal immigrants was a priority going forward.

The Hill [6/3/2025 5:15 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 18649K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized Defense Department (DOD) civilian employees to aid Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operations at the southern border and with “internal immigration enforcement,” in some cases for no pay, according to a new memo released Monday. DOD civilians can now travel to support DHS with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, though it is unclear whether they would volunteer for such roles or be assigned to DHS activities. The memo did not specify what types of jobs they would be doing. But Hegseth made clear that some individuals might not be paid for their work, noting that assignments “may be either reimbursable or non-reimbursable.” The document, dated June 1, noted that the under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness would provide further guidance.

NewsMax [6/3/2025 9:00 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Todd Lyons defended the use of masks worn by his officers during operations to apprehend illegal migrants. While leaving a Monday press conference to announce the results of a major Massachusetts operation, reporters yelled questions about ICE agents wearing masks. Lyons bolted back to the podium and spoke about a recent operation in Los Angeles, California, where "ICE agents were doxed." "People are out there taking photos of the [officers’] names, their faces, and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves," an obviously agitated Lyons said in Boston. "So, I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is. "They are wearing those masks because we ran an operation with the Secret Service. We arrested someone that was going online, taking their photos, posting their families... their kids’ Instagram, their kids’ Facebooks... and targeting them. "So, let me ask, is that the issue here, that we’re just upset about the masks, or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?"

Breitbart [6/4/2025 1:38 AM, Jeff Poor, 3077K] reports that, during Tuesday’s broadcast of FNC’s "The Ingraham Angle," Trump border czar Tom Homan said Democrat rhetorical attacks against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could trigger deadly consequences. Homan called it disgusting, then noted statistics backing up the Trump administration’s success. "It is disgusting," Homan said. And, a lot of our congressional representatives who are vilifying ICE and the Border Patrol every day — they’re driving this hate. And, I’m telling you, it’s only a matter of time before there’s an incident where an ICE agent is going to have to take a life or an ICE agent is going to lose a life. I mean, here’s the truth: Under President Trump, since he’s been back, let me tell you what ICE and the Border Patrol has done. They gave us the most secure border in the history of this nation. Fentanyl trafficking is down over 50%, which means we’re saving lives from overdose deaths. Sex trafficking in women and children is down significantly. Migrant death, over 4,000 aliens died making the journey. They’re not dying because they’re not coming.” "Again, fentanyl is under half of what was coming across," Homan added. "President Trump is saving lives. The men and women of ICE are saving lives every day. If you look at the numbers, the number don’t lie. The majority of people ICE is arresting are criminal illegal aliens — public safety threats. And the non-criminals — most of them are scooped up in sanctuary cities. And you’re right, the world is upside-down when the guy that carries the badge and gun is the bad guy and the ones who break the law are the victims. It’s terrible. It’s just upside-down. It’s incredible.”

NPR [6/4/2025 5:00 AM, Meg Anderson, 37958K] reports the federal government is holding more than 48,000 people in immigration detention, about a 20% increase since January. That is already thousands beyond what Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is funded for, yet the administration has signaled its work is far from over. President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has said he wants to see 100,000 in detention. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently confirmed that the administration doubled the arrest quotas immigration officers must meet – from 1,800 to 3,000 each day. With that demand, the government is intensifying its hunt for more space. Nearly 90% of people in ICE custody are held in facilities run by for-profit, private companies. Two of the largest, Geo Group and CoreCivic, are working to increase their ability to meet the administration’s demand. Even before Trump returned to office in January, a spokesperson for GEO Group told NPR it was investing $70 million toward housing, monitoring and transporting immigrant detainees. Since then, the two companies have announced the addition of more than 6,000 beds across the country — in Texas, Ohio, Nevada, Oklahoma, Mississippi, New Jersey and Michigan, among others. That includes reopening old prisons and jails, like the Delaney Hall facility owned by GEO Group in Newark, N.J. CoreCivic has indicated that it is preparing many of its idle facilities to be available quickly, though some communities have strongly opposed those plans. Immigrant rights advocates have raised concerns about conditions at detention centers run by private prison companies. "A for-profit company, by definition, is trying to make money on this whole process. And that means that if there’s any place where they can save money, they’re going to," says Laura St. John, legal director at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona. St. John says her clients, many of whom are being held at facilities run by CoreCivic, are seeing deteriorating conditions because of the higher numbers of people being held, including medical neglect and detainees not receiving enough food. In a statement, CoreCivic spokesperson Brian Todd refuted those allegations, saying the company follows all ICE standards. "We have a long-standing, zero-tolerance policy not to advocate for or against any legislation that serves as the basis for — or determines the duration of — an individual’s detention," Todd said. "Our responsibility is to care for each person respectfully and humanely while they receive the legal due process that they are entitled to.” Todd added that CoreCivic operates its facilities "with a significant amount of oversight." However, in March, the Trump administration made sweeping cuts to the watchdog agencies that provided oversight of immigration detention.

Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 1:31 PM, Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Monday rebuffed allegations that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handcuffed children as they targeted illegal immigrants for deportation. Last week, migrant advocates in San Antonio, Texas reported that during an operation focused on detaining illegal immigrants, ICE used zip ties to handcuff at least one minor. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center shared a video of ICE agents taking a family into custody at the San Antonio Immigration Court. In the video, a young male appeared to be detained through the use of zip ties. DHS said the subject in the video was 18 years old. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin criticized characterizations that ICE is handcuffing children as “categorically false” in a statement that suggested the male in question was not a minor. “During a recent encounter and arrest of an 18-year-old illegal alien, he was photographed alongside minor children in immigration court in San Antonio, Texas,” McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. “ICE officers do not restrain minors.” “The Department of Homeland Security maintains a clear stance that individuals without lawful immigration status may face arrest and removal, and that self-deportation is a safer and more efficient alternative,” her statement continued. Some protestors outside the courthouse claimed they saw multiple children in zip ties.

NBC News [6/4/2025 5:00 AM, Julia Ainsley, Ryan J. Reilly, Allan Smith, Ken Dilanian and Sarah Fitzpatrick, 44540K] reports that, in mid-May, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, frustrated over what he saw as numbers of arrests and deportations of unauthorized immigrants that were too low, berated and threatened to fire senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials if they did not begin detaining 3,000 migrants a day, according to two sources who spoke to attendees. Miller also threatened to fire leaders of field offices posting the bottom 10% of arrest numbers monthly, the two sources said. Weeks later, ICE is launching the Trump administration’s largest immigration crackdown. "Operation At Large," a nationwide, ICE-led plan already underway to ramp up arrests of unauthorized immigrants, includes more than 5,000 personnel from across federal law enforcement agencies and up to 21,000 National Guard troops, according to an operation plan described to NBC News by three sources with knowledge of the personnel allocations who detailed the previously unreported plans. Drawing those numbers from other law enforcement agencies, though, has been a source of tension among some officials, who feel they have been taken off other core national security missions, according to three additional law enforcement and military officials. It is the latest example of how President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations is reshaping federal law enforcement as officials shift resources toward immigration-related cases — including nonviolent administrative offenses — leaving less time and attention for other types of criminal investigations. The plan calls for using 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from Homeland Security Investigations, which generally investigates transnational crimes and is not typically involved in arresting noncriminal immigrants; 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration; and 500 employees from Customs and Border Protection. It also includes 250 IRS agents, some of whom may be used to provide information on the whereabouts of immigrants using tax information, while others would have the authority to make arrests, according to the operation plan. The Department of Homeland Security has also requested the use of 21,000 National Guard members to provide support in ICE operations, according to two additional sources familiar with the request, though that number has yet to be approved by the Defense Department or by governors who would be deploying their state’s units, multiple sources cautioned. The White House referred questions about Miller’s meeting with ICE leaders and about the ICE operation to DHS. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Under Secretary Noem, we are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe.”

(B) NBC News Daily [6/3/2025 2:32 PM, Staff] reports that during a meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, top Trump aide Stephen Miller said he wants to set a quota of 3,000 undocumented migrants arrests per day, according to two people who spoke with attendees of that meeting. According to the latest data from Customs and Border Protection, there were an average of 279 apprehensions per day in April. Experts and former DHS officials say it would be difficult to get up to that 3,000 number no matter how much money ICE is given.

CBS News [6/3/2025 11:25 PM, Ken Molestina, Lexi Salazar, 51860K] reports that, as the Trump administration continues to adopt new tactics to reform the U.S. immigration system, conditions have grown increasingly inhospitable for migrants in the country illegally, even those in court proceedings to earn legal status. It’s led some asylum-seekers to reconsider whether they want to continue with their court cases or voluntarily leave. A young Venezuelan mother attending a check-in at Dallas’ immigration court Monday said her fear right now is that she’ll be deported, and her five-year-old son will be left to fend for himself. " The judge said that my next court date is October 1, 2025 and that I will come alone. If I am ordered to be deported on that day, where will my son be, in whose hands? "The judge said my next court date is the first of October 2025, and to come by myself," she said in Spanish. "If that day I’m ordered deported, where will my son stay, in whose hands?". As she walked into the courtroom on Monday, the woman was stopped by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in plainclothes. He was there as part of an operation to detain two other migrants that morning, not her. But the experience still left her nervous and validated her growing fear that coming to this country the way she did wasn’t worth it. " It is better not to come. We all hope to have better luck, but we can’t all come. It’s too complicated "It’s better not to come," she said. "We all hope for better luck, but we can’t all come. It’s too complicated". When her court date arrives in four months, she said she plans to have already self-deported. Two weeks ago, the Trump administration began carrying out its latest tactic aimed at fast-tracking deportations and clearing the immigration court backlog. Under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE attorneys are now dropping cases against some migrants who have arrived in the U.S. in the past two years, removing their temporary protected status, and making them immediately eligible for arrest and deportation. The migrants are then arrested as they leave their hearings and detained for expedited removal from the U.S. While expedited removals are nothing new, some legal experts said this way of carrying them out is. "This is really unprecedented that you have this coordination between the immigration court, between the ICE attorneys, between ERO to dismiss these cases for the purpose of putting people in expedited removal procedures and removing them quickly," said immigration attorney Paul Hunker, who formerly served as chief counsel for ICE in Dallas.”

AP [6/3/2025 7:13 PM, Holly Ramer and Leah Willingham, 56000K] reports crowds wearing white packed the stands of a Massachusetts high school gymnasium Tuesday to support an 18-year-old volleyball player detained by federal immigration authorities. “Our game on June 3rd will be played in honor of Marcelo. We will continue to pray and fight for our brother,” the Milford High School boys volleyball team said in an Instagram post, hours before the game. Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a junior born in Brazil, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Saturday on his way to volleyball practice. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said Monday that agents were looking for the teenager’s father, who owns the car Gomes da Silva was driving at the time. “Like any local law enforcement officer, if you encounter someone that has a warrant or … he’s here illegally, we will take action on it,” he said when reporters asked about the teen. Asked why ICE would detain an 18-year-old with no criminal record, Lyons answered, “I didn’t say he was dangerous. I said he’s in this country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from anybody.” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said ICE officers were targeting a “known public safety threat” and that Gomes da Silva’s father “has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour through residential areas.” “While ICE officers never intended to apprehend Gomes da Silva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest,” she said in a statement.

New York Times [6/4/2025 3:00 AM, Ana Ley, 138952K] reports officials with the federal Environmental Protection Agency have admonished their workers not to interfere with arrests by immigration officers in a downtown Manhattan building where the agency has offices, underscoring tension among federal employees as President Trump escalates his crackdown on immigrants. A spokeswoman for the E.P.A. said an email was sent on Monday to regional employees after agency workers had asked questions about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers inside the federal building at 290 Broadway, which also houses a Department of Justice immigration court. Immigration agents in recent days have been arresting migrants after their court hearings if they have been ordered deported or if their cases have been dismissed, a tactic that represents an aggressive new approach by ICE as part of Mr. Trump’s effort to boost deportation numbers. A union representative for workers at the E.P.A. said that some employees had been pushed out of the way in elevators and had felt threatened coming to and from work since the ICE agents started appearing in the lobby of the building. In the memo sent on Monday by an E.P.A. security official, employees were urged to identify themselves as federal staff by wearing their work badges to “significantly reduce the likelihood of employees being engaged by law enforcement.” The memo also ordered E.P.A. employees not to hinder ICE operations. “The advice in this note reflects our priority, which is the safety of our employees,” said Mary Mears, an E.P.A. spokeswoman. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and ICE did not respond to questions about the email. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. Suzy Englot, president of Local 3911 of the American Federation of Government Employees and an E.P.A. staff member who works in the building on Broadway, said that many workers have been unsettled by the detention activities they have witnessed in the past two weeks. Ms. Englot said that some workers have been concerned about the welfare of the migrants, while others have been worried that agents might confuse them for the people they are there to arrest. “Several members of our union have witnessed people being detained as they exit elevators, put in handcuffs, taken away somewhere,” Ms. Englot said. “Generally, people have started to feel unsafe.”

NPR [6/3/2025 6:17 PM, Sofi Gratas, 37958K] Audio HERE reports a 19-year-old immigrant from Mexico without legal status was detained by immigration enforcement in Georgia after a traffic stop. Now, her lawyers say she may have a chance at a visa to stay in the U.S. because police admitted the traffic stop was a mistake. Sofi Gratas from Georgia Public Broadcasting reports. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

The Blaze [6/3/2025 12:00 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement led an operation on Sunday in Charleston, South Carolina, that resulted in the arrest of a suspected terrorist and captured dozens of illegal aliens. A Department of Homeland Security press release, obtained by Blaze News, stated that Homeland Security Investigations Charlotte led an operation alongside local law enforcement that targeted "an underground illegal nightclub" called the Alamo. The press release claimed the unlicensed establishment was operated by "a suspected member of the Los Zetas Cartel," formally known as Cártel del Noreste, which President Donald Trump previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization. According to the press release, ICE received a tip indicating that the Alamo was a hub for widespread illegal activities, including weapons, narcotics, and human trafficking. ICE’s operation resulted in the arrest of 72 illegal aliens and the recovery of six children, who were then transferred to social services to ensure their safety and well-being. The arrests are still being processed, the agency noted. Federal immigration authorities also seized cash, narcotics, and firearms during Sunday’s raid. FOX News [6/3/2025 4:43 PM, Michael Dorgan, 46878K] reports that teens as young as 13 were found drinking inside the club, local law enforcement said. The club’s owner, Benjamin Reyna-Flores, is a suspected member of the Los Zetas Cartel — now known as Cártel del Noreste (CDN) — which was formally designated a terrorist organization by the Trump Administration in February, Homeland Security said. He now faces both state and federal charges. The raid was part of a months-long investigation into the establishment, which officials said was a hotbed for narcotics, weapons and human trafficking. The investigation was code-named "Operation Last Stand," and around 200 law enforcement personnel across 14 agencies were on the ground. In total, 80 arrests were made. One of the most high-profile arrests was that of Sergio Joel Galo-Baca, a Honduran illegal alien and foreign fugitive with an active INTERPOL Red Notice for homicide in Honduras. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Charlotte led the operation with local law enforcement. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin praised the results of the raid. The Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 2:59 PM, Elaine Mallon, 1934K] reports "Day in and day out, the brave men and women of ICE are working with local law enforcement to keep American communities safe," Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Tuesday statement announcing the operation. "The successful operation that took place in the Charleston area resulted in more than 70 arrests of illegal aliens—including an international murder suspect and the dismantling of a nightclub run by a suspected cartel member where drug, weapon, and human trafficking were taking place." The operation led to the apprehension of Sergio Joel Galo-Baca, an illegal immigrant from Honduras with an active INTERPOL Red Notice for homicide in his home country.

Reported similarly:
(B) Good Morning America [6/3/2025 8:27 AM, Staff]

AP [6/3/2025 4:15 PM, Jonathan Mattise] reports Congressional Republicans are investigating Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s response to federal immigration arrests during hundreds of traffic stops over several days in May. Rep. Andy Ogles is leading the charge, pitting the Republican who represents part of the Democratic-leaning city against a progressive mayor who has criticized immigration officials after they arrested nearly 200 people in the greater Nashville area. The dayslong presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent chills through well-known Nashville immigrant neighborhoods. Many Republicans, meanwhile, applauded ICE’s enforcement focus in the city.

Telemundo [6/3/2025 7:55 AM, Staff, 4K] reports federal agents carried out a raid Monday outside a Home Depot in metro Atlanta, Georgia. The operation took place in the store’s parking lot in Riverdale, Clayton County, shortly after South Fulton police conducted another raid, also at a Home Depot store. In Riverdale, officers handcuffed several people and transferred the detainees to an unmarked white van. It appears that they were day laborers who were in the parking lot of the business. The officers were masked and wearing DEA and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) vests, according to images captured by our colleagues at Atlanta News First. Multiple reports of federal raids in various parts of metro Atlanta are coming into our newsroom, including one at another Home Depot store. The South Fulton Police Department confirmed Monday that an operation was conducted at the Home Depot on Cascade Road near the exit to Interstate 285. HSI subsequently arrested seven of the eight individuals on federal charges.

(B) Good Morning America [6/3/2025 8:56 AM, Staff] reports that a letter threatening to assassinate the president is being called a hoax and a case of witness intimidation. The man who admitted to writing the letter did it to frame an undocumented migrant to help him get deported so he cannot testify in a separate case. Demetric Scott will make his first court appearance today. There was no response this morning from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who praised Morales Reyes’ arrest. Morales Reyes is still in ICE custody and the Dodge County Jail. He has an immigration heading tomorrow.

Breitbart [6/4/2025 3:38 AM, Randy Clark, 3077K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers deported 142 criminal illegal aliens to Mexico within the last two weeks. The group of criminal aliens arrested in the Houston metro racked up 473 separate criminal convictions. Together, the group had entered the United States illegally 480 times. Houston-based ICE ERO officers carried out deportations of serious criminal offenders as the agency has ramped up mass deportation efforts nationwide. According to ICE, the removals that took place between May 19 and May 30 included eight documented gang members, 11 previously convicted child predators, and a criminal alien responsible for entering the United States illegally more than 20 times. In a Tuesday press release, ICE identified several of the aliens deported and their previous criminal convictions. Among the criminal offenses that the group had been convicted of were 11 child sex offenses, 21 weapons violations, 48 drug trafficking or drug-related offenses, 30 for burglary and theft-related crimes, three for child cruelty, 43 aggravated assault/domestic violence-related convictions, and others. As reported by Breitbart Texas, the increase in arrests has led to protests organized by migrant rights groups and other activist organizations that include the Party for Socialism and Liberation. A Monday afternoon protest near the federal immigration courthouse in San Antonio drew a meager crowd of protesters, some of whom held signs comparing ICE to the Gestapo and in support of pro-Palestine protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil. The increase in immigration enforcement activity in Texas and elsewhere comes after Trump administration officials called for an increase in ICE arrests, setting 3,000 per day as the latest goal. Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.

Breitbart [6/3/2025 8:28 AM, Randy Clark, 3077K] reports more than a hundred protestors showed up just outside the federal immigration courtroom in downtown San Antonio to demand an end to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in the city. Breitbart Texas observed the protest, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), where participants blasted ICE for the increase in illegal alien arrests. The mid-afternoon protest on Monday began with a press conference where speakers from the PSL and several immigrant rights groups lambasted the increase in illegal alien arrests by ICE in the Alamo City. Speakers criticized some of the arrests that had recently taken place on the federal immigration court grounds. Attendees carried signs, including some comparing ICE to the Gestapo. They called for the release of Mahmoud Khalil. In March, ICE arrested Khalil, a student activist and leader of pro-Hamas protests on the Columbia University campus. Other signs called for the abolishment of ICE altogether. Some proudly waved the Mexican flag as speakers addressed the crowd outside the federal immigration courthouse. Several protesters wore keffiyeh scarves as part of their attire during the protest. Several members of the San Antonio PSL distributed flyers in Spanish that warned migrants about to attend court hearings of their possible arrests. The flyer warned migrants who have been in the United States for less than two years to be cautious if an immigration judge accepts a motion to dismiss filed by DHS attorneys, advising the migrants to oppose such action. The flyer advised migrants that ICE could immediately arrest them if the case is dismissed and could subject them to Expedited Removal from the United States if such an action takes place.

FOX News [6/3/2025 5:46 PM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46878K] reports the 18-year-old Air Force cadet candidate who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant in a jet ski accident was honored by the military branch during her Saturday funeral. Ava Moore, 18, was set to begin cadet training at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in a few weeks, but was tragically killed while kayaking on Lake Grapevine in Texas over Memorial Day weekend. Moore was laid to rest with full military honors, according to The Dallas Morning News. Full military funeral honors are bestowed upon those who die while on active duty, among others, according to the military’s official website. Air Force Academy cadets are considered to be active-duty military members. Full military funeral honors consist of a minimum of a two-person military service detail who provide three core elements: playing Taps, the folding of the flag, and the flag presentation to family members of the deceased. Moore was hit by a jet ski while kayaking on the lake over Memorial Day weekend. The suspected driver of the jet ski and a man who allegedly helped her flee, both illegal immigrants from Venezuela, were arrested in Dallas last Tuesday. The pair reportedly had suitcases packed when they were captured by authorities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed detainers on both of them, meaning that when their criminal proceedings and punishments have concluded in the United States, they will be deported. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS San Francisco [6/4/2025 1:34 AM, Jose Fabian, 51860K] reports San Jose Police confirmed there were ICE agents in the city on Tuesday afternoon conducting an operation. The agents were conducting an operation near Snell Avenue and Blossom Hill Road, police said. During the operation, ICE agents contacted the San Jose Police and told them they needed assistance due to protesters yelling. San Jose Police said a lieutenant was sent to make sure that no other crimes were occurring and to remind them that they do not get involved in immigration enforcement. Police said no crimes occurred, and the lieutenant left the scene not long after. Video posted to Instagram by channel408_bayarea shows what appears to be ICE agents on Blossom Hill Road. According to their post, the agents were there sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Police have not said how many protesters were in the area.

Telemundo 48 - Area de la Bahia [6/3/2025 4:41 PM, Marian Caraballo, 57K] reports the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network confirmed the presence of federal immigration agents in San Jose on Tuesday. Officers were seen around 9:37 a.m. in the Blossom Hill Road area where network observers were present until 12:07 p.m. to monitor the situation. Additionally, the network reported that agents made arrests at an immigration office located in the aforementioned area, but clarified that the detained individuals had deportation orders.

Daily Wire [6/3/2025 10:08 AM, Spencer Lindquist, 3816K] reports that an illegal alien who authorities say shot at a police chopper has been arrested and is being held on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer. Authorities say Nelson Garcia-Arevalo, 17, fired a stolen rifle at a Metro Nashville Police Department helicopter out of the window of a stolen car. He had allegedly used the stolen car to rob a gun store, where he obtained the stolen rifle and four handguns. He has been charged with two counts of felony reckless endangerment. Garcia-Arevalo was with two 15-year-olds who have been charged with vehicle theft, unlawful gun possession, and evading arrest. Video from Nashville police shows the three suspects fleeing law enforcement after they vacated the stolen vehicle. The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed to The Daily Wire that ICE filed a detainer request to gain custody of Garcia-Arevalo, and that it would comply with the federal law enforcement agency’s request. A spokesperson with the department said they did not know Garcia-Arevalo’s country of origin. Tensions grew after O’Connell’s office doxxed the names of ICE agents when it released data on interactions between the federal law enforcement agents and city employees. "They claimed it was a mistake. There’s zero chance it was a mistake and there will be repercussions," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "He’s essentially handing over intelligence to these criminal gangs so they can target our ICE enforcement officers."

San Diego Union Tribune [6/3/2025 11:38 AM, Alex Riggins and Alexandra Mendoza, 1611K] reports that an immigration raid during dinner Friday at Buona Forchetta in South Park stemmed from a nearly five-year-old complaint accusing the restaurant of knowingly employing 10 or more undocumented workers in violation of federal law, according to a search warrant unsealed Monday. The warrant, filed in federal court in San Diego, states that an updated complaint received in January also alleged that the popular Italian restaurant, with several locations in San Diego and Orange counties, employed undocumented immigrants and people without authorization to work in the United States who used false names and immigration documents. The warrant shows that immigration officials began an investigation in February that included requesting immigration documents from restaurant employees. Federal agents concluded that many of the documents, submitted by an attorney representing the restaurant, were fake or forged, according to the warrant. This led to Friday’s raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which resulted in the arrest of four workers and the alleged handcuffing of others as a large group of outraged community members gathered to protest in the street outside Buona Forchetta and its nearby sister restaurant, Enoteca Buona Forchetta. "On May 30, while executing two criminal search warrants at businesses that knowingly hired undocumented immigrants in San Diego, more than 250 protesters verbally harassed ICE agents, banged on vehicle windows, and even blocked roads to impede ICE’s departure," said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "Agents took appropriate measures and followed their training to use the minimum force necessary to resolve the situation, ensuring the success of the operation and prioritizing the safety of the public and our agents."

CBS News [6/3/2025 5:14 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51860K] Video HERE reports the Trump administration is considering a regulation that would prevent most asylum-seekers from getting work permits, potentially upending longstanding U.S. immigration policy, two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News. A proposal by officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would amount to an indefinite pause on the U.S. government’s decades-old policy of allowing migrants with pending asylum claims to work in the country lawfully while their cases are decided, the DHS officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The proposed changes — which have not been previously reported — would add yet another layer to President Trump’s government-wide immigration crackdown, targeting a massively backlogged asylum system that his top aides have argued is being systematically exploited by economic migrants. But a halt to work permits for asylum-seekers would also trigger concerns among advocates that it could prevent migrants from supporting themselves and their families, and drive them to work illegally in the underground economy. It’s unclear when the regulation may be publicly announced, or if it will be altered before being finalized. Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, said it does not comment on the "deliberative process or possible decision making.”

Daily Wire [6/3/2025 7:29 AM, Luke Rosiak, 3816K] reports that a 37-year-old illegal immigrant man was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing at least one teen girl who the federal government sent to live with him as part of the Biden administration’s scheme to place "unaccompanied alien children" in the homes of unrelated, loosely-vetted "sponsors." Wilson Manfredo Lopez-Carillo was arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office in Florida on May 22 and charged with three counts of sexual assault on a minor. Police said in charging documents that the victim arrived in the United States in August 2023 as a 16-year-old, and was placed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the home of several people, whose names are redacted but appear to include Lopez-Carillo. The victim "reported three instances of sexual battery by [redacted] all occurring in February 2024. [Redacted] stated that [redacted] was not present during these incidents, as she would be out with her children selling tamales to support the family. She explained that [redacted] took advantage of [redacted’s] absence to abuse her," a document said. Lopez-Carillo is being held without bail in a Palm Beach County, Florida, jail, and a judge has determined that he is an illegal alien, according to court records.

Telemundo51.com [6/3/2025 5:41 PM, Alejandro Isturiz, 177K] reports with a simple form, the Mexican Consulate in Miami offers immigrants the protection of their children so they can be placed in the care of a guardian. Immigration court proceedings, which until recently were routine, are becoming increasingly delicate and dangerous, according to immigration attorneys, who say there are cases of immigrants arrested or deported even though they entered the country legally. For this reason, the Mexican Consulate in Miami offers Mexicans a service that is absolutely free: a power of attorney for the care of minor children in the event of immigration detention or deportation, which is a kind of preventive protection that the Consulate offers to Mexicans. This document is not valid for a permanent period and is used for specific topics, such as education, school programs, medical services, for example.

Washington Post [6/3/2025 6:00 AM, Patrick Marley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, 32099K] reports a bid in Texas to establish one of the most unwieldy voting laws in the nation flamed out this week, but a broader effort backed by President Donald Trump to demand that voters throughout the country provide proof of citizenship is hardly dead. Not only could the Texas bill resurface, but three other states over the past nine months have adopted similar laws requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship, and a raft of others are considering them. Across the country, only citizens can vote in state and federal elections, and voting by noncitizens is rare. Most states require people to sign statements swearing they are citizens when they register to vote, and they can be criminally charged and deported if they falsely sign them. The recent legislation goes further by requiring voters to prove they are citizens by providing a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers. Supporters saw Texas as an important place to lay a marker because it is controlled by Republicans, shares a border with Mexico and has the second-largest population in the country — including 18.6 million registered voters. Republicans called the legislation a common-sense way to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots, while Democrats and voting rights advocates said it risked preventing eligible citizens from getting on the rolls because of missing paperwork, database errors, or a lack of time or resources to track down documents. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), a Trump ally, made proof-of-citizenship legislation a priority, and the state Senate approved it in April. But it didn’t get through the Texas House before the legislative session wrapped up Monday. The bill’s sponsors and legislative leaders did not cite a specific issue that doomed the measure. But it was competing with other Republican priorities, including legislation to create a school voucher program, cut property taxes, ban THC and display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

AP [6/3/2025 9:49 AM, Christina A. Cassidy and Nadia Lathan, 56000K] reports President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have made it a priority this year to require people to prove citizenship before they can register to vote. Turning that aspiration into reality has proved difficult. Trump’s executive order directing a documentary, proof-of-citizenship requirement for federal elections has been blocked by a judge, while federal legislation to accomplish it doesn’t appear to have the votes to pass in the Senate. At the same time, state-level efforts have found little success, even in places where Republicans control the legislature and governor’s office. The most recent state effort to falter is in Texas, where a Senate bill failed to gain full legislative approval before lawmakers adjourned on Monday. The Texas bill was one of the nation’s most sweeping proof-of-citizenship proposals because it would have applied not only to new registrants but also to the state’s roughly 18.6 million registered voters. “The bill authors failed spectacularly to explain how this bill would be implemented and how it would be able to be implemented without inconveniencing a ton of voters,” said Anthony Gutierrez, director of the voting rights group Common Cause Texas.

ABC News [6/4/2025 1:03 AM, Leah Sarnoff, 31733K] reports a 4-year-old girl receiving "lifesaving medical treatment" in the United States was granted humanitarian parole for one year, allowing her and her mother to remain in the country, the child’s attorneys announced on Tuesday. The child and her mother, Deysi Vargas, have been living in the U.S. since 2023, but received three letters from the Department of Homeland Security in April saying their humanitarian parole was being terminated. The young girl -- who is identified by her lawyers under the pseudonym "Sofia" -- suffers from "short bowel syndrome," which prevents her from being able to properly absorb nutrients and fluid from food on her own. Vargas received official notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Tuesday that she and her daughter were granted humanitarian parole. The parole period will last for exactly one year, expiring on June 1, 2026. The legal victory came after Vargas brought Sofia for a biometrics appointment at a USCIS field office in Bakersfield, California, on May 30. "We are profoundly grateful that USCIS acted swiftly to grant Sofia and her mother one year of humanitarian parole. By moving quickly, the agency has ensured that a four‑year‑old girl can continue receiving her life-saving medical treatment. We commend USCIS for its responsiveness and for recognizing the urgency of this situation," her lawyers at Public Counsel said in a statement. In their statement on Tuesday, Sofia’s attorneys said, "While we celebrate this victory, we cannot ignore the systemic challenges that brought Sofia to the brink. Her parole was terminated without warning, and for weeks there was no functional avenue to alert USCIS that a child’s life was in danger. It took an international outcry and pressure from elected officials to get a response -- something that used to take a single phone call.” The Los Angeles Times [6/3/2025 5:11 PM, Andrea Castillo, 14672K] reports that the girl and her parents, who are from Mexico, originally received temporary permission to enter the U.S. legally through Tijuana in 2023. The Trump administration had rescinded the legal protections of S.G.V. and her parents, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. Her doctor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said she could die within days of losing her medical care for short bowel syndrome, a condition that prevents her body from completely absorbing nutrients from food. "Without action, S.G.V. will die," the lawmakers wrote May 29 to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. "We urge a prompt response from your Department and a swift decision to extend this family’s legal status in the U.S." The lawmakers wrote that the family’s situation "clearly meets the need for humanitarian aid." In a letter Monday to the family and their attorney, acting field office director Carmen Paniagua of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote: "This is to advise you that effective June 2, 2025, you have been granted Humanitarian Parole for a period of one year.” The AP [6/3/2025 9:29 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports The girl’s family said they were notified in April and May that their humanitarian parole was being revoked and they would be subject to potential deportation. The family’s attorneys from Public Counsel said in a statement that while they were grateful the administration “acted swiftly” to ensure the girl could continue her life-saving treatment, they hoped the case highlighted the need for better communication with federal immigration officials.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [6/3/2025 4:07 PM, Didi Martinez, 44540K]

Reuters [6/3/2025 5:53 PM, Staff, 51390K] reports U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced visa restrictions for several unnamed Central American government officials he said were connected to Cuban medical mission programs that include elements of forced labor and the exploitation of Cuban workers. Rubio did not name the officials nor the countries they are from. "These steps promote accountability for those who support and perpetuate these exploitative practices," he said in a statement. "The Cuban labor export program abuses the participants, enriches the corrupt Cuban regime, and deprives everyday Cubans of essential medical care that they desperately need in their homeland.” Cuba’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Havana has for decades rejected such accusations.

New York Post [6/3/2025 3:45 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K] reports the number of illegal migrants caught trying to sneak into the US increased 20% in May — but crossings still pale in comparison to the record-highs seen during the Biden administration. Border Patrol agents intercepted roughly 10,000 illegal migrants last month, according to the latest federal data obtained by The Post. The figure is up 20% from the approximately 8,300 migrants encountered in April. However, crossings are still down a whopping 91% from a year ago. In May 2024, under former President Joe Biden, more than 117,000 migrants were caught crossing the southern border illegally, according to federal data.

AP [6/3/2025 1:41 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports a strong Canada means strong borders. Today, the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety introduced the Bill, the Strong Borders Act to strengthen our laws and keep Canadians safe. The Bill will keep Canadians safe by ensuring law enforcement has the right tools to keep our borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl, and crack down on money laundering. It will bolster our response to increasingly sophisticated criminal networks, and enhance the integrity and fairness of our immigration system while protecting Canadians’ privacy and Charter rights. The Strong Borders Act is a key component of our plan to build a safer and more secure Canada. Further action will be announced over the coming months to keep our communities safe, get guns off our streets, and make bail harder to get for repeat offenders charged with car theft, home invasions, human trafficking and drug smuggling.

CBS News [6/3/2025 6:56 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports three suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Mexican musicians in Tamaulipas state along the Texas border were arrested during a series of raids, officials said on Monday. The five members of local band Fugitivo had been hired for a weekend performance in the crime-wracked northeastern city of Reynosa, but arrived to find a vacant lot. Their bodies were found several days later after their families reported receiving ransom demands. "An operation was carried out on three properties" in Reynosa, the public security office said in a statement, adding that the three suspects had been arrested there. Investigators said the musicians had been kidnapped on May 25 while driving to a private event. Nine alleged cartel members were arrested last week, with authorities announcing another sting on Monday. Prosecutors said the nine people arrested last week were believed to be part of a faction of the Gulf Cartel, which has strong presence in the city, but they did not indicate if the three new suspects arrested had the same links. During the newest operation, weapons, weapons cartridges, cocaine and methamphetamines were also seized, the ministry added.

FOX News [6/3/2025 12:42 PM, Audrey Conklin, 46878K] reports that one of two suspects charged in Jocelyn Nungaray’s murder is now accused of raping an American woman in Costa Rica, according to former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. Two Venezuelan illegal immigrants who may have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang — Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21 — are charged in the 12-year-old’s June 2024 murder. They allegedly sexually assaulted and strangled the pre-teen to death, leaving her body tied up in a bayou in Houston. Ogg told FOX 26 Houston last week that she learned over the course of her investigation as DA, before her successor Sean Teare took office last year, that Pena Ramos had been involved in a prior sexual assault in Costa Rica involving an American woman who was apparently on vacation at the time. "It happened in Costa Rica. It happened to an American citizen who came forward with that information after their pictures were shown on national television," Ogg told the outlet. "When she reported it to the authorities in Costa Rica, they did nothing. Imagine the frustration of that individual. I don’t want that to be swept under the carpet." The victim is not from Texas but felt compelled to come forward when Nungaray’s murder made national headlines and she saw the suspects’ photos on the news. Pena Ramos illegally crossed into El Paso, Texas, in May 2024, sources with the Department of Homeland Security previously confirmed to Fox News. He was caught by Border Patrol agents and was released into the U.S. with a Notice to Appear in court. Rangel Martinez also crossed illegally into El Paso in March and was caught by Border Patrol. He was released into the U.S. on an unknown basis.

Federal News Network [6/3/2025 5:49 PM, Justin Doubleday, 2346K] reports a federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to notify Transportation Security Administration airport screeners that their collective bargaining agreement is effective again. The directive was included in a Monday ruling from District Court Judge Marsha Pechman that temporarily blocks DHS from dissolving TSA’s union. The preliminary injunction comes after the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions sued DHS to prevent it from cancelling a collective bargaining agreement that covers approximately 47,000 transportation security officers. Pechman ruled the plaintiffs "are likely to succeed on the merits" of claims that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS violated both First and Fifth Amendment Rights, as well as the Administrative Procedures Act. "The Noem determination appears to have been undertaken to punish AFGE and its members because AFGE has chosen to push back against the Trump Administration’s attacks to federal employment in the courts," Pechman wrote. She also criticized Noem’s "threadbare" reasoning for cancelling the union contract, compared to the 2022 directive that granted TSA workers expanded collective bargaining rights. Pechman directed Noem, DHS and TSA to "immediately" notify TSO’s in the union that the collective bargaining agreement "remains applicable and binding." However, a TSA employee told Federal News Network said that as of late Tuesday afternoon, airport screeners had not received any communication from leadership about the court ruling.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [6/3/2025 10:33 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K]

ABC News [6/3/2025 2:14 PM, Luke Barr, 31733K] Video HERE reports Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Richardson told staff in an all-hands meeting that he was unaware hurricane season had started, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Hurricane season started on Sunday, June 1, and goes through Nov. 30. It is unclear if Richardson, who has led the agency since mid-May, was joking in the Monday meeting, but a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson argued he was. When asked by reporters Tuesday during a White House press briefing whether President Donald Trump is "still comfortable" with Richardson following his remarks, press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed concerns and said FEMA is taking hurricane season "seriously, contrary to some of the reporting we have seen based on jokes that were made and leaks from meetings." Reuters first reported on Richardson’s comments. Richardson’s comments follow an internal review indicating FEMA is "not ready" for the 2025 hurricane season in mid-May. The DHS spokesperson denied FEMA is unprepared, saying, "Despite meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy, there is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season.” "FEMA is laser-focused on disaster response and protecting the American people," the spokesperson added. "It’s not a secret that under Secretary Noem and acting Administrator Richardson, FEMA is shifting from bloated, D.C.-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens," the spokesperson added. "The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades.” However, sources in the meeting said Richardson is sticking with the original plan, made during the Biden administration, in order to avoid getting in the way of FEMA’s Review Council, which was established by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 3:44 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports that recent media reports have suggested FEMA is in uncharted waters as it wades into hurricane season without an official response plan. Agency leadership has scrapped a special, new plan for handling storm response. Instead, FEMA recently decided to return to the old game plan, which included going door to door to residents’ homes. FEMA has shuttered the programs, and much of the workforce is required to return to the old way of operations, according to a Wall Street Journal report on comments made to staff on Monday by David Richardson, the senior official performing the duties of FEMA administrator.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [6/3/2025 9:14 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 18649K]
NBC News [6/3/2025 10:20 AM, Gab Gutierrerz and Zoe Richards, 145K]
FOX News [6/3/2025 2:46 PM, Staff, 46878K]
NewsMax [6/3/2025 1:55 PM, Staff, 4622K]

Reuters [6/3/2025 4:21 PM, Leah Douglas, Ted Hesson and Nathan Layne] reports staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were left baffled on Monday after the head of the U.S. disaster agency said he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to four sources familiar with the situation. The remark was made during a briefing by David Richardson, who has led FEMA since early May. It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally, as a joke, or in some other context. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA’s parent agency, said the comment was a joke and that FEMA is prepared for hurricane season. The spokesperson said under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Richardson "FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens." Richardson said during the briefing that there would be no changes to the agency’s disaster response plans despite having told staff to expect a new plan in May, the sources told Reuters. Richardson’s comments come amid widespread concern that the departures of a raft of top FEMA officials, staff cuts and reductions in hurricane preparations will leave the agency ill-prepared for a storm season forecast to be above normal. FOX News [6/3/2025 3:19 PM, Greg Norman, 46878K] reports the White House insisted Tuesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is taking hurricane season "seriously" while criticizing the media following reports claiming its director was unaware of such a time period. During a recent meeting, acting FEMA administrator David Richardson told staff he was unaware the U.S. had a hurricane season, Reuters and the New York Times reported Monday, citing people familiar with the remarks. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security later told Reuters that the comment was a joke and that FEMA is ready for the season, which began on June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.

Reported similarly:
(B) ABC 11 Eyewitness News at Noon [6/3/2025 12:04 PM, Staff]

CNN [6/4/2025 5:00 AM, Gabe Cohen, 21433K] reports that, in early April, President Donald Trump approved millions of dollars in assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Virginia, which was reeling from devastating winter storms and flooding. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, issued a news release touting the president’s decision to sign his disaster declaration request, and local news outlets began reporting that funding would soon be flowing to the state. But a key partner hadn’t been notified: FEMA. Leaders at the disaster relief agency, which is tasked with delivering that aid, were caught off guard when they eventually saw the smattering of headlines, FEMA officials told CNN, given such news would almost always come directly from the White House. It wasn’t until at least four days later that official word reached FEMA – an alarming delay in an otherwise urgent process. The breakdown in communication forced hard-hit Virginia communities to wait an extra week or so for critical assistance, agency officials said. The sources said this reflects a troubling pattern in Trump’s second term. It’s among several concerns raised by current and former FEMA officials about the White House’s approach to disaster relief as forecasters are already keeping a close eye on potential storms at the start of hurricane season. Typically in presidential administrations, including Trump’s first, FEMA advises the White House on which disasters warrant federal assistance. The president then either approves or denies the aid, and once he signs a state’s disaster declaration FEMA is quickly notified so relief efforts can promptly begin. FEMA officials are usually responsible for notifying state leaders that help is on the way. But amid mounting turmoil at the agency, communication and coordination between the Trump administration and FEMA leadership has dwindled, creating confusion and delays as federal emergency managers work to deliver assistance to impacted states. "This is more than just who gets to tell who. There are regulatory timelines, especially for individual assistance, that are in play, and these delays do affect the delivery of assistance," a longtime FEMA official, speaking anonymously out of fear of professional reprisals, told CNN. "It is very frustrating to the state and local partners because they think we should be doing things, but without the paperwork we cannot execute on the declaration.”

AP [6/3/2025 9:49 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports one of the steps taken by President Donald Trump toward fiscal reform was the signing of an executive order establishing a Review Council for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This new oversight body, tasked with issuing a report within 180 days of its first meeting, creates an unprecedented opportunity to address one of the federal government’s most inefficient programs: the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP has operated at a chronic loss for decades, plagued by outdated pricing models and politically motivated subsidies. Even with the adoption of Risk Rating 2.0, the program remains grossly underfunded. Since 2005, the NFIP has averaged $2 billion in annual losses, and storms like Helene and Milton are expected to deepen its deficit by another $2 billion. Despite these losses, the NFIP continues to offer below-market renewal rates, undermining the growth of the private flood insurance market and distorting consumer expectations of flood risk. The cost to U.S. taxpayers is staggering: an additional $96 billion in projected losses over the next 12 years, with a projected $36 billion in losses coming from rates that are inadequate to keep up with increases in building costs alone—unless reform occurs.

New York Times [6/3/2025 4:52 PM, Aishvarya Kavi and Adeel Hassan, 138952K] reports more than two million people in Kansas and Missouri were under a flash flood warning on Tuesday as storms threatened the Kansas City metropolitan area with tornadoes and dropped several inches of rain, trapping people in their cars in Wichita. A large area across the Great Plains and the Midwest was at risk of severe storms on Tuesday. The National Weather Service expected the most severe weather through the evening in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri, with the risk for tornadoes increasing later in the day. A tornado watch was in place for eastern Kansas and western Missouri until 8 p.m. local time, and forecasters warned of the risk for large hail and damaging wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. (Warnings are issued after a radar or a trained spotter finds a tornado, while watches mean the conditions to form a tornado are in place.) While floodwaters around Wichita, Kan., 200 miles away, kept rescuers busy, a tornado warning went into effect for nearly 350,000 people in Kansas City, Mo., and surrounding cities. The warning will remain in effect through the evening.

USA Today [6/3/2025 12:23 PM, Jeanine Santucci, 75552K] reports smoke from wildfires raging in Canada has drifted into the United States, affecting air quality as far south as Florida and creating a "very unhealthy" situation in parts of Minnesota on June 3, according to forecasters. The smoke is expected to waft across the country, causing a moderate air quality level over much of the East Coast by the end of the day, according to the air quality forecast at AirNow.gov. The entire state of Minnesota is under an air quality alert through midweek, with parts of the state seeing unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality levels from smoke particulates. A gray haze from the smoke could be seen in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 2, the Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. There are over 200 wildfires burning in Canada as of June 3, with over 100 classified as "out of control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. The fires have forced thousands to evacuate. On June 2, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, announced that 150 federal firefighting personnel from the United States are headed across the border to help fight fires in the provinces of Alberta and Manitoba.

The New York Times [6/3/2025 4:26 PM, Alexandra E. Petri and Amy Graff, 138952K] reports smoke from wildfires raging across Canada is expected to shroud parts of the Northeast on Wednesday, creating airborne pollution and hazy skies that had passed through sections of the Upper Midwest on Tuesday. The National Weather Service issued air quality alerts for New York City for Wednesday and many of the surrounding suburbs, including those in New Jersey and most of southern Connecticut. It advised vulnerable groups to stay indoors or limit long stretches of outdoor activity and monitor their health from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and parts of Nebraska and Michigan were under air quality alerts on Tuesday. While smoke was blanketing the air in the upper Midwest on Tuesday, it covered at least a third of the United States. The smoke was expected to push into New England later Tuesday, likely reaching Vermont by this afternoon and Boston near sunset. Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, said satellite imagery showed smoke stretched from the Dakotas, across the Midwest, into the Ohio Valley and as far north as New York and as far south as north Florida on the East Coast. Reuters [6/4/2025 2:44 AM, Erica Dischino, Patrick Wingrove, and Amanda Stephenson, 51390K] reports smoke from wildfires burning in three Canadian provinces is spreading into the U.S. Upper Midwest, stirring memories of the severe pollution that drifted south from Canada two years ago during that country’s worst fire season on record. The particulate matter pollution caused by the smoke is already drifting into Minnesota and neighboring states. It is expected to make its way to New York and other East Coast cities in coming days, posing a health risk to the tens of millions who live in those regions. Scores of wildfires have swept across Canada since the start of May, forcing thousands of evacuations and disrupting crude oil production in the country. There were more than 200 active fires as of Monday, 106 of which were out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. So far, 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) have burned, mostly in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Still, the current crisis does not yet come close to rivaling 2023, when 17 million hectares burned. One of the worst spots in the U.S. for air quality on Tuesday morning as a result of the fires was Ely, Minnesota, near the Manitoba border. It registered a "hazardous" air quality index reading of 336, according to IQAir, a website that monitors air quality around the world.

CBS News [6/3/2025 11:44 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports a Romanian man has pleaded guilty to leading an extensive plot to use swatting calls and bomb threats to intimidate dozens of people, including a former United States president and multiple members of Congress, authorities announced on Monday. The allegedly years-long scheme involved bogus police emergencies and false reports of violent incidents at government buildings, churches and private residences, including some senior government officials’ homes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. Thomasz Szabo, 26, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23 by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. capital, after he was extradited from Romania in November 2024, court records show. "This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. "This case reflects our continued focus on protecting the American people and working with international partners to stop these threats at their source." Szabo was charged with Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats. The two men targeted roughly 100 people with swatting calls to instigate an aggressive response by police officers at the victims’ homes, a federal indictment alleges. A U.S. Secret Service agent’s affidavit doesn’t name the former U.S. president or any other officials identified as victims of the hoax calls.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [6/3/2025 4:48 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 18649K]

The New York Post [6/3/2025 7:31 PM, Joe Marino, Samuel Chamberlain, and Victor Nava, 49956K] reports a 23-year-old man was nabbed by Secret Service agents early Tuesday after hopping the wall around President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, telling officers he wanted to "spread the gospel" to Trump and wed his 18-year-old granddaughter, Kai. Anthony Thomas Reyes was busted just after midnight and confessed to arresting officers that he had scaled the wall surrounding the Palm Beach, Fla., property. Wednesday marked at least the second time Reyes had been caught trying to get inside the exclusive club, with the previous instance occurring on New Year’s Eve. Reyes was initially charged by state authorities with trespassing, though federal charges are likely to follow. Trump, 78, was in Washington at the time of the incident. "The President is aware of this incident and has been briefed," a White House spokesperson told The Post. The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mar-a-Lago is a federally protected area, and all guests are subject to security screenings prior to entering the property, which has numerous signs posted warning people not to trespass. The club was not accepting visitors or guests, and gates guarded by Secret Service personnel were closed at the time Reyes scaled the wall. It’s unclear if Kai, the daughter of the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife Vanessa, was at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the incident. NBC News [6/3/2025 6:21 PM, Anthony Cusumano and Zoë Richards, 44540K] reports Secret Service said that they found Reyes on the property and that he told them "he had jumped over the wall to get into property," according to the arrest report. Reyes had not been permitted to enter the protected site, police said. He was previously arrested for allegedly trespassing on the property on New Year’s Eve last year, the police report said. Reyes was booked at the Palm Beach County Jail with a bond set at $50,000 with a series of conditions, including no contact with Trump or any of his family members (including Kai Trump), court records show. He pleaded not guilty. The Washington Examiner [6/3/2025 10:58 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K] reports "Shortly after midnight, the individual scaled a perimeter fence and triggered alarms. U.S. Secret Service personnel detained him without incident at the scene," they added. "Palm Beach Police officers responded to the scene and took the individual into custody, charging him with occupied trespassing. We appreciate the continued partnership and swift response of the Palm Beach Police Department. No Secret Service protectees were present at the time of this incident.”

NBC News [6/3/2025 6:21 PM, Anthony Cusumano and Zoë Richards, 44540K] reports a Texas man was arrested Tuesday and accused of trespassing on President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, club, according to an arrest report obtained by NBC News. Palm Beach police said they responded at the Mar-a-Lago resort shortly after midnight and were met by Secret Service agents who had detained Anthony Reyes, 23, who said that he had climbed a wall surrounding the property to "spread the gospel" to Trump and "marry Kai." Secret Service said that they found Reyes on the property and that he told them "he had jumped over the wall to get into property," according to the arrest report. Reyes had not been permitted to enter the protected site, police said. He was previously arrested for allegedly trespassing on the property on New Year’s Eve last year, the police report said. Reyes was booked at the Palm Beach County Jail with a bond set at $50,000 with a series of conditions, including no contact with Trump or any of his family members (including Kai Trump), court records show. He pleaded not guilty.

Los Angeles Times [6/3/2025 10:23 PM, Andrew J. Campa, 14672K] reports Yucca Valley resident Thomas Eugene Streavel, 73, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three felony counts of making threats on Facebook against then-President-elect Donald Trump. He could face up to 15 years in prison. He openly advocated for the death of then-President-elect Donald Trump, hailing himself as an "assassin" and threatening to shoot the would-be 47th commander-in-chief shortly after the election, prosecutors say. Those words, left on Facebook posts, are at the center of a federal grand jury indictment. On Tuesday, Yucca Valley resident Thomas Eugene Streavel, 73, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of making threats. The San Bernardino County man was arrested Monday just before 11 a.m. by United States Marshals and arraigned the next day inside Central District Court in Riverside. He’s out on a $10,000 bond and is expected back in court July 28. Streavel could serve up to 15 years in prison if found guilty on all counts. "This defendant is charged with threatening the life of our President — a man who has already survived two deranged attempts on his life," said U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in a statement. "The Department of Justice takes these threats with the utmost seriousness and will prosecute this crime to the fullest extent of the law.” A number listed for Streavel was not answered, and no attorney was listed for him in court documents. His actions were detailed in a grand jury indictment from May 29 that was unsealed Tuesday. Streavel posted a variety of threats in the days after Trump’s electoral victory in November, according to the Justice Department. "[T]rump is a dead man walking for the time being until a patriot like myself blows his [expletive] brains out in the very near future," Streavel posted on Nov. 6., according to court documents. Six days later, Streavel posted on Facebook that he was "willing to make America great again and blow his [expletive] brains out," the indictment says. There were similar Facebook rants on Nov. 19 and on 28. In the earlier instance, he wrote, "Let me put a bullet right between the ears of your president-elect…That’s my purpose for living," according to the indictment. He later posted, "I’m praying for a successful assassination of your president-elect." He then added, "my life’s mission is killing the worthless LOSER [expletive] and my mission starts tonight so watch yourself trump [sic], you are a dead [expletive] and I am your assassin," court documents show. Streavel’s posts extend to before the election, when on Oct. 15 he wrote, "today is the perfect day to blow his brains out and I’d love to be the one to pull the trigger.” The Secret Service is also investigating the matter.

Reuters [6/4/2025 2:51 AM, Shubham Kalia and Rajveer Singh Pardesi, 51390K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday it was responding to a fire on board a 600 foot (183 m) cargo ship near Alaska, but added that no injuries had been reported. The ship, Morning Midas, had 22 people on board and was located 300 miles (482.8 km) southwest of Adak in Alaska. The ship’s crew was actively fighting the fire, the coast guard said. The Liberia-flagged cargo ship’s destination was set for Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico, according to LSEG data. The coast guard said that aircrews and a cutter ship were en route to assist with the situation, and three vessels were already on scene. The U.S. Coast Guard and the ship’s owner Hawthorn Navigation Limited did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

MeriTalk [6/3/2025 12:04 PM, Weslan Hansen, 99K] reports four Senate Democrats are asking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to revive the agency’s Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) that was disbanded at the beginning of the second Trump administration. The CSRB was created in February 2022 following an executive order from President Joe Biden to analyze major cybersecurity incidents and provide actionable recommendations through a public-private partnership. DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) component was charged with managing, supporting, and funding the board. That board was dismissed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second administration in January, along with all other members on advisory committees within the department. DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar said during a February nomination hearing that the agency planned to reinstate CSRB “at the right time,” but DHS has been quiet on the matter since then. “As we have said before, inadequate cyber security practices put our economy, our national security and even lives at risk,” wrote Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a May 29 letter to Noem. “The January dismissal of CSRB members, and continued uncertainty about the future role of the Board, has undermined cyber defense preparations for public and private entities across the United States.” “In this age of great innovation, we cannot afford to see our private or public systems compromised by malicious actors. You have had more than four months to reestablish this Board to conduct this critical work – DHS leadership and CISA must work together to immediately reinstate the Board as a crucial part of America’s cyber defense infrastructure,” the senators said.

Axios [6/3/2025 12:34 PM, Sam Sabin, 13599K] reports roughly 1,000 people have already left the nation’s top cybersecurity agency during the second Trump administration, a former government official tells Axios — cutting the agency’s total workforce by nearly a third. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is also facing a potential 17% budget cut under the president’s proposed budget — raising fears that power grids, water utilities, and election systems could be left without a well-equipped federal partner as cyber threats mount. Trump officials are actively pursuing plans to increase offensive cyber operations against adversarial nations like China — and experts warn those nations are bound to respond in-kind to those strikes.

CyberScoop [6/3/2025 11:55 AM, Tim Starks] reports President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as national cyber director was endorsed by a collection of cyber experts days before a Senate panel will consider his nomination. The 24 people who signed the letter endorsing Sean Cairncross include former government officials and current industry leaders, many who served in Republican-led administrations but some who also served under Democrats — including the first national cyber director, Chris Inglis. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on Cairncross’ nomination Thursday, and at the same time consider fellow Sean Plankey to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The experts sent their letter about Cainrcross to the leaders of the committee Monday. Cairncross — a former White House and Republican National Committee official and the former CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal foreign aid agency — has minimal cyber experience compared to his predecessors, but the letter from the experts emphasized other qualities they said would make him worthy of the role.

CyberScoop [6/3/2025 3:57 PM, Matt Kapko] reports Google’s June security update for Android devices contains 34 vulnerabilities, all of which the company designates as high-severity defects. The company didn’t disclose any actively exploited vulnerabilities. Attackers could exploit the most serious flaw — CVE-2025-26443 affecting the Android system — to achieve local escalation of privilege with no additional privileges required. Google said exploitation of the vulnerability requires user interaction. Google’s security update includes one high-severity vulnerability in Android Runtime, 11 high-severity defects affecting the Android framework and four high-severity vulnerabilities affecting the Android system. The vulnerabilities, if exploited, could allow attackers to achieve escalation of privileges, remote code execution, denial of service and information disclosure. The company did not address a trio of Qualcomm component zero-days — CVE-2025-21479, CVE-2025-21480 and CVE-2025-27038 — the chipmaker disclosed in a separate security bulletin Monday. Qualcomm said Google’s Threat Analysis Group determined the three memory-corruption flaws “may be under limited, targeted exploitation.”

Reuters [6/3/2025 11:16 AM, Staff, 51390K] reports Cartier, the luxury jewellery company owned by Richemont had its website hacked and some client data stolen, it told customers, according to an email seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The attack is the latest case of a company being targeted by cyber criminals, with several retailers including Marks & Spencer and Victoria’s Secret disclosing similar incidents. "Limited client information", such as names, e-mail addresses and countries, had been obtained, Cartier said in the email. "The affected information did not include any passwords, credit card details or other banking information," it said, noting it had since contained the issue.

The company said it had further enhanced the protection of its systems and data, as well as informed the relevant authorities, and was also working with "leading external cybersecurity experts." Cartier did not respond to a request for comment. Julius Cerniauskas, CEO of web intelligence firm Oxylabs, said the breach showed no brand is safe from cybercrime.

ABC News [6/3/2025 3:30 PM, Bill Hutchinson, 31733K] reports as law enforcement agents investigate Sunday’s fiery attack on a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, crime data shows the rampage came amid a dramatic increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes across the nation, suggesting further that the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists continues to spill into the U.S. The suspect in the Boulder attack, 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman, allegedly yelled "Free Palestine" while targeting the pro-Israel demonstrators with a "flamethrower" fashioned from a commercial backpack weed sprayer and Molotov cocktails at a pedestrian mall, authorities said. Soliman entered the United States in August 2022 on a B2 tourist visa, which expired in February 2023, according to Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. He filed for asylum in September 2022, McLaughlin said. According to an audit issued in April by the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents, including assaults and vandalism, has jumped 344% over the past five years and increased 893% over the past 10 years. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents have been reported in the United States alone, according to the ADL. Islamophobic attack have also been on the rise, according to a report issued in March by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. CAIR reported that it received more than 8,650 complaints in 2024, the highest number the group has ever gotten.

New York Times [6/3/2025 6:58 AM, Jonathan Weisman, 138952K] reports three times in as many months, people who claim to fight for Palestinian rights have attacked Jews on American soil. Sunday’s Molotov cocktail assault in Boulder followed the killing in May of two young Israeli embassy aides in Washington, D.C., and the April firebombing of the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, Pa., where Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were celebrating Passover. This is what a resurgence of violent antisemitism looks like. The attacks were also acts of anti-Zionism — a clear response to the war in Gaza. There is a useful distinction between the clear bigotry of Jew hatred and the political and historical debate over Zionism — the support for a Jewish state. But, partly in response to the Oct. 7 war, the categories are collapsing. Salvos against Israel are colliding with longstanding prejudice, sometimes with deadly effect.

CNN [6/3/2025 4:06 PM, Chelsea Bailey, Danny Freeman] reports Jewish leaders have been alarmed by the historic rise in antisemitic threats since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023. That fear has only heightened this week with the attack in Boulder, the third violent attack on the Jewish community in the last two months. The attack on Sunday came during a peaceful demonstration aimed at raising awareness of the remaining hostages in Gaza. Twelve people were injured, and two remain hospitalized, officials said. The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, told investigators he "wanted to kill all Zionist people" and had planned the attack for a year, according to an affidavit. He was captured on video by bystanders yelling "Free Palestine" before police arrested him. Soliman now faces a federal hate crime charge and state charges of attempted murder. Antisemitism has surged globally, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and rose after the start of the war in Gaza. Threats to Jews in the United States tripled between October 7, 2023 and September 2024, the organization said.

ABC News [6/3/2025 12:05 PM, Donald J. Mihalek and Richard Frankel, 31733K] Video: HERE reports New Orleans, Harrisburg, Washington D.C., and now Boulder -- four attacks, all carried out by radicalized individuals targeting soft civilian locations. These tragedies have left communities grieving and the nation once again asking: why? Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the threat landscape in the U.S. has evolved dramatically. That coordinated attack involved complex planning, training and support networks. Nearly a quarter century later, terrorist groups have adapted. Instead of highly organized cells, they now often rely on so-called "lone wolves" -- people radicalized in isolation who require little to no external coordination. These actors can strike without warning, making prevention increasingly difficult. The 2025 Department of Homeland Security Threat Analysis highlights this shift. "Lone offenders and small groups continue to pose the greatest threat of carrying out attacks with little to no warning," it said. "Violent extremist responses to domestic sociopolitical developments -- especially the 2024 election cycle -- and international events are likely to inspire attacks in the Homeland." This observation aligns with the findings of the 2015 study "Lone Wolf Terrorism in America," which defined lone wolf terrorism as politically motivated violence carried out independently, without direct command or ties to established groups. The radicalization of these individuals, the study found, often follows a pattern: personal and political grievances, online affinity with extremist sympathizers, identification of an enabler, broadcasting of intent and a final triggering event. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/3/2025 6:00 AM, Audrey Conklin, 46878K] reports the Sunday terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, two weeks after two Israeli Embassy employees were killed in Washington, D.C., highlights a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents that have occurred in the United States since 2020. "The explosion of antisemitism after [Oct. 7, 2023] indicated that it was … bubbling beneath the surface," Ruthie Blum, senior contributing editor at Jewish News Syndicate and former adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News Digital. "There was always some kind of a ... flare-up of antisemitic, anti-Israel rhetoric on college campuses, et cetera. But this was an explosion, and it was happening, surprisingly, all over the United States." Blum added that recent antisemitic events are "a sign of a decaying society." Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces a federal hate crime charge and state charges of attempted first-degree murder, crimes against at-risk adults/elderly, assault, criminal attempt to commit class one and class two felonies and use of explosives or incendiary devices during a felony in connection with Sunday’s attack, which left eight people dead. He allegedly threw explosives into a crowd Sunday in Boulder as a pro-Israel group, "Run for Their Lives," participated in a gathering on Pearl Street advocating for Hamas to release Israeli hostages. While Jewish Americans make up only 2% of the total U.S. population, reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 15% of all hate crimes and 68% of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2023, which is consistent with patterns from prior years, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). However, data shows a significant recent increase in antisemitic terrorist plots or attacks targeting Jewish people, Zionists or Jewish institutions. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/3/2025 8:11 AM, Diana Stancy, 46878K] reports lawmakers and intelligence experts have been sounding the alarm about potential terrorism threats stemming from those in the U.S. illegally long before Sunday’s terrorist attack injured eight people in Boulder, Colorado. Fox News first reported that the suspect involved in the attack originally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration and had overstayed his visa. However, various officials have long cautioned about the risk of terrorism due to lax border security. For example, then-House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., raised concerns in August 2024 after a report from House Judiciary Committee Republicans found that the Biden administration released nearly 100 illegal immigrants into the U.S. Meanwhile, the FBI has previously issued similar concerns about foreign terrorists entering the U.S. and conducting attacks against American citizens. "I have warned for some time now about the threat that foreign terrorists may seek to exploit our southwest border or some other port of entry to advance a plot against Americans," former FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Judiciary Committee in April 2024. "Just last month, for instance, the Bureau and our joint terrorism task forces worked with ICE in multiple cities across the country as several individuals with suspected international terrorist ties were arrested using ICE’s immigration authorities." Meanwhile, Democrats have claimed that U.S. citizens are primarily responsible for conducting terrorist activity in the U.S. For example, House Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., pointed to a study by the Cato Institute that found that no people were murdered by a foreign-born terrorist who entered the U.S. illegally between 1975 and 2022. "Most terrorist activity is conducted by U.S. citizens," Correa said in September 2024. "Again, zero Americans have been injured or killed by terrorist attacks perpetrated by undocumented immigrants who entered through the southwest border. However, DHS and the FBI regularly tell us that one of the greatest terrorist threats to our homeland is domestic terrorism." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/3/2025 5:41 AM, Landon Mion, 46878K] reports a naturalized U.S. citizen who pleaded guilty to receiving military training from the Islamic State in Syria was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in federal prison. Lirim Sylejmani, 49, who was born in Kosovo and moved to Chicago about 25 years ago, engaged in at least one battle against U.S.-led coalition forces after he entered Syria a decade ago, according to prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., handed down Sylejmani’s prison sentence, which will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Sylejmani pleaded guilty in December to one count of receiving military training from a foreign terrorist organization. "This defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country," wrote the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, also a former Fox News host. "Anyone thinking that ISIS is the answer to their questions, best think again," she continued. "We will go to any lengths to root out subversive individuals who want to overthrow the government and harm its citizens.”

New York Times [6/4/2025 12:31 AM, Ana Swanson and Ian Austen, 138952K] reports U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports doubled on Wednesday, as President Trump continued to ratchet up levies on foreign metals that he claims will help revitalize American steel mills and aluminum smelters. The White House called the increased tariffs, which rose to 50 percent from 25 percent just after midnight Eastern time, a matter of addressing “trade practices that undermine national security.” They were announced during Mr. Trump’s visit to a U.S. Steel mill last week, and appear to be aimed at currying favor with steelworkers and the steel industry, including those in swing states like Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is based. The higher levies have already rankled close allies that sell metal to the United States, including Canada and Europe. They have also sent alarms to automakers, plane manufacturers, home builders, oil drillers and other companies that rely on buying metals. In an executive order, Mr. Trump said the higher tariffs would “more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminum in the United States market and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminum industries.” Kevin Dempsey, the president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, an industry group, praised the move. He said China and other countries oversupplied the international market, making it harder for U.S. producers to compete. “Given these challenging international conditions that show no signs of improvement, this tariff action will help prevent new surges in imports that would injure American steel producers and their workers,” Mr. Dempsey said. But companies that use steel and aluminum to make their products criticized the tariffs, saying they would add costs for American consumers. Robert Budway, the president of the Can Manufacturers Institute, said doubling the steel tariff would further increase the cost of canned goods at the grocery store. “This cost is levied upon millions of American families relying on canned foods picked and packed by U.S. farmers and can makers,” he said.

Reuters [6/3/2025 6:02 PM, David Shepardson, 51390K] reports that new tariffs on imported commercial aircraft, jet engines and parts could put air safety and the supply chain at risk or trigger other unintended consequences, groups representing global aerospace companies and U.S. airlines warned on Tuesday. The industry already faces 10% tariffs on nearly all imported planes and parts after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping duties on trade partners in April. Last month, the Commerce Department opened an investigation known as Section 232 looking at risks to U.S. national security from imported goods, which could be used as a basis for even higher tariffs on imported planes, engines and parts. The Aerospace Industries Association, which represents Boeing (BA.N), Airbus (AIR.PA), RTX (RTX.N), GE Aerospace (GE.N), and hundreds of other companies, urged the Commerce Department in a filing to extend the public comment period on Section 232 by 90 days and impose no new tariffs for at least 180 days. The group also urged further consultation with industry on "any Section 232 tariffs to ensure they accurately reflect national security concerns and do not put the supply chain and aviation safety at risk." "It may take up to 10 years to establish a new domestic supplier and ensure they meet necessary, rigorous safety certifications," the group wrote. Airlines for America, the trade group representing American Airlines , United Airlines (UAL.O), Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), and other major carriers warned tariffs could hike plane tickets and shipping rates.

The Hill [6/3/2025 1:46 PM, Zach Schonfeld, 18649K] reports that a federal judge in Washington, D.C., extended a pause on his order invalidating the bulk of President Trump’s tariffs until an appeals court can resolve the case. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras had already agreed to put his ruling on hold for two weeks when he issued it, but Tuesday’s extension lasts indefinitely until the appeals court rules. It’s the latest development in what has been a whirlwind week for the legal battle surrounding Trump’s tariffs. Two federal courts found Trump’s use of an emergency law to justify tariffs unlawful, but neither ruling is currently in effect. In response to a lawsuit filed by two education businesses, Contreras on Thursday invalidated Trump’s reciprocal "Liberation Day" tariffs and those he recently imposed on China that cited fentanyl trafficking. The ruling landed hours after the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked those tariffs and ones Trump imposed on Canada and Mexico. That ruling came in response to suits filed by another group of businesses and a coalition of Democratic-led states. The Trump administration quickly brought the legal battle to the appeals courts and asked to immediately halt the injunctions, warning that allowing them to take effect would curtail Trump’s leverage to make trade deals with other countries. The two appeals are taking place in separate courts.

CNN [6/3/2025 5:37 PM, Alayna Treene and Josh Campbell,, 875K] reports Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who once posted a video claiming 9/11 was an "inside job," was back at the White House complex Tuesday morning, where she met privately with Vice President JD Vance, three sources familiar with the meeting tell CNN. The sources would not share the substance of the one-on-one closed-door meeting, which occurred in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or what was discussed. Loomer did not meet with President Donald Trump and has since departed the White House complex, one of the sources said. After Loomer’s last known visit to the White House in April, the White House fired several National Security Council staffers whom she labeled as disloyal. The administration also fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency. Loomer, who has a loyal online following, has been an influential figure in the Trump administration. She has a direct line to the president and has been known to influence personnel decisions, though she has not been able to secure a White House press credential.

Reuters [6/3/2025 1:33 PM, Ted Hesson, 51390K] reports that a visiting senior Cuban official on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of ratcheting up tensions between Washington and Havana and expressed concerns that the U.S. was trying to provoke a military confrontation. Speaking to reporters at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, Johana Tablada, deputy director for U.S. affairs in Cuba’s foreign ministry, said an armed clash between the two old Cold War rivals was "not a good idea" and that the Cuban government was trying to ease the situation but that the U.S. appeared determined to further damage relations. Tablada said new Trump administration measures targeting Communist-ruled Cuba intend to "dynamite our relation(ship) to really provoke a rupture of relation, and even to create conditions, in my opinion, for, if necessary, a military confrontation." Republican U.S. President Donald Trump and his top officials have taken a hardline approach to Cuba since he took office in January, returning longtime foe Cuba to a U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, tightening rules on remittances, and shutting off migration programs that allowed some Cubans to work in the U.S. legally. Trump officials have not publicly threatened any military action. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Breitbart [6/3/2025 12:33 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 3077K] reports a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded a six-day safety review of El Salvador’s site selection process for its first nuclear power plant, the agency announced on Monday. The report of the review, conducted by a mission of IAEA’s Site and External Events Design Review Service (SEED), will be delivered to the Salvadoran government within three months. President Nayib Bukele announced in March 2024 that his administration had initiated the process to gain the IAEA’s approval for the use of nuclear energy. Following an initial May 2024 draft assistance meeting with IAEA representatives, El Salvador passed a Nuclear Energy Law in October for the peaceful application of nuclear technologies and fuel. In February, during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s official visit, El Salvador signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on nuclear energy in which the U.S. committed to help El Salvador "in the development and implementation of energy solutions that will contribute to energy security in El Salvador and favor mutual cooperation in areas such as national security, nuclear energy, advanced technology, and radioactive waste disposal.” As part of IAEA’s framework, a SEED mission travelled to El Salvador at the request of its government and held a six-day review of the country’s site-selection process between May 26-31, marking the first mission of its kind to visit the country.

Wall Street Journal [6/3/2025 12:45 PM, Alexander Ward, Michael R. Gordon, and Matthew Luxmoore, 646K] reports Ukraine’s weekend attacks against military airfields deep inside Russia signal the long-stalemated war is entering a perilous phase, with both sides seemingly intent on escalation and prospects for a U.S.-brokered peace deal receding. Only a day after the Ukrainian drones dealt a blow to Russia’s bomber fleet in a brazen attack that stunned Moscow, the two sides met for a second round of talks in Istanbul after President Trump declared again that he wanted a quick deal to halt the fighting. The meeting lasted barely an hour, producing an agreement to exchange prisoners but nothing more. Instead of cooling off, the grinding 40-month war seems to be growing even hotter—with minimal pushback from Trump. Russia has struck Ukraine with an avalanche of missiles and drones in recent weeks, hitting a range of civilian targets and killing or wounding many civilians. It is likely to intensify those attacks in response to Kyiv’s drone strikes ahead of a summer offensive now in the planning stages. Ukraine said its Sunday attack damaged or destroyed more than 40 aircraft, while experts have documented about 14 strikes on Russian bombers—a huge setback for Moscow either way. On Tuesday, Kyiv followed up that success with an attack on the Kerch Bridge, which connects occupied Crimea with Russia. Ukrainian agents mined the supports of the bridge, according to the SBU, the country’s main security and intelligence agency. The mines detonated early Tuesday morning and Ukrainian officials claim they severely damaged the bridge’s underwater supports. “The Crimean Bridge is an absolutely legitimate target, especially considering that the enemy used it as a logistical artery to supply its troops,” Vasyl Malyuk, head of the SBU, said on Tuesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack. Traffic on the bridge has resumed after being suspended earlier, the Russian Ministry of Transport said. The ministry said the closure didn’t cause any serious difficulties for drivers.

New York Times [6/3/2025 7:06 PM, Farnaz Fassihi, David E. Sanger, and Jonathan Swan, 138952K] reports that Trump administration is proposing an arrangement that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium at low levels while the United States and other countries work out a more detailed plan intended to block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon but give it access to fuel for new nuclear power plants. The proposal amounts to a diplomatic bridge, intended to maneuver beyond the current situation, in which Iran is rapidly producing near-bomb-grade uranium, to reach the U.S. goal of Iran enriching no uranium at all on its soil. But it is far from clear that the Iranians will go along. Under the proposal, the United States would facilitate the building of nuclear power reactors for Iran and negotiate the construction of enrichment facilities managed by a consortium of regional countries. Once Iran began receiving any benefits from those promises, it would have to stop all enrichment in the country. The outline of the potential deal, which was described on the condition of anonymity by Iranian and European officials, was handed to Iran over the weekend. Officials in Tehran indicated on Monday that a response would come in several days.

AP [6/3/2025 3:40 PM, Jon Gambrell, 56000K] reports the outline of the U.S. offer to Iran in their high-stakes negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program is starting to become clearer — but whether any deal is on the horizon remains as cloudy as ever. Reaching a deal is one of the several diplomatic priorities being juggled by U.S. President Donald Trump and his trusted friend and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. An accord could see the United States lift some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for it drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium. But a failure to get a deal could see tensions further spike in a Middle East on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Iran’s economy, long ailing, could enter a free fall that could worsen the simmering unrest at home. Israel or the U.S. might carry out long-threatened airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. And Tehran may decide to fully end its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog and rush toward a bomb. That makes piecing together the U.S. offer that much more important as the Iranians weigh their response after five rounds of negotiations in Muscat, Oman, and Rome.

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