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

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

The AP [6/6/2025 6:11 PM, Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Ben Finley And Lindsay Whitehurst] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement, was returned to the United States on Friday to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally. The development occurred after U.S. officials presented El Salvador President Nayib Bukele with an arrest warrant for federal charges in Tennessee accusing Abrego Garcia of playing a key role in smuggling immigrants into the country for money. He is expected to be prosecuted in the U.S. and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country of El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said Friday. The indictment, filed last month and unsealed Friday, lays out a string of allegations that date back to 2016 but are only being disclosed now, nearly three months after Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported and following the Trump administration’s repeated claims that he is a criminal. It accuses him of smuggling throughout the U.S. thousands of people living in the country illegally, including members of the violent MS-13 gang, from Central America and abusing women he was transporting. A co-conspirator also alleged that he participated in the killing of a gang member’s mother in El Salvador, prosecutors wrote in papers urging the judge to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial. The indictment does not charge him in connection with that allegation. The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver’s license, according to the DHS report. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work. Axios [6/6/2025 4:21 PM, Staff, 13599K] reports that the indictment alleged that Abrego Garcia made more than 100 trips transporting undocumented immigrants between Texas and Maryland, among other states. According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, citing co-conspirators’ testimony, Abrego Garcia also allegedly abused undocumented immigrant women and solicited nude photographs and videos from a minor. If convicted, Abrego Garcia will be prosecuted and sentenced, then returned to El Salvador after completion of his sentence, Bondi added. In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called Abrego Garcia "a known MS13 gang member, human trafficker, and serial domestic abuser." Politico [6/6/2025 7:04 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 16523K] reports that Abrego Garcia’s return follows months of extraordinary brinkmanship between the Trump administration and federal courts, a Supreme Court rebuke, diplomatic intrigue and a domestic political crisis over the episode. Abrego Garcia, who allegedly entered the U.S. illegally more than a decade ago, had been living in Maryland when the Trump administration arrested him, put him on a plane and deposited him at a notorious Salvadoran prison on March 15. The deportation violated a 2019 immigration-court order that barred the U.S. from sending him to El Salvador because he was at risk of being targeted by a local gang. The Supreme Court and other judges said he was illegally denied due process, and in court papers, a Justice Department lawyer acknowledged that the deportation was an error — a position that the administration soon renounced. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return. For months, the administration publicly resisted that order. At times, Trump and his top aides suggested Abrego Garcia would never return to the United States. “There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last month during a hearing before a Senate appropriations panel. The administration’s reversal comes with a significant cost for Abrego Garcia: federal criminal charges that could result in decades in prison. “The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order. Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him,” his attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement. “This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after.” The New York Times [6/6/2025 10:31 PM, Christina Morales, 138952K] reports Mr. Abrego Garcia appeared in federal court in Nashville on Friday evening. He was detained and is expected to return to court on June 13. In court papers seeking his pretrial detention, prosecutors said Mr. Abrego Garcia had played “a significant role” in smuggling immigrants, including unaccompanied minors. A federal indictment unsealed on Friday also accused him of transporting firearms and narcotics purchased in Texas for resale in Maryland. He appeared in Federal District Court in Nashville on Friday wearing a short-sleeved, white, button-down shirt, The Associated Press reported. Through an interpreter, he said he understood the charges. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each person he transported, the pretrial detention papers said, a penalty that would go “well beyond the remainder of the defendant’s life.”

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FOX News [6/6/2025 5:00 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 46878K] reports Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national deported earlier this year, is now back on U.S. soil — but this time, in handcuffs. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that Abrego Garcia, 29, has landed in the United States and is set to face federal charges for human smuggling and conspiracy. According to the indictment, Garcia played a "significant role" in a human smuggling ring operating for nearly a decade. Bondi described him as a full-time smuggler who made more than 100 trips, transporting women, children, and MS-13 gang-affiliated persons throughout the United States. The grand jury also heard allegations that Garcia trafficked firearms, narcotics, and solicited explicit images of a minor. He is even accused by a co-conspirator of being involved in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother. He will be prosecuted and, if convicted, serve his sentence in the U.S. before being returned to El Salvador, officials confirmed. The Daily Caller [6/6/2025 4:31 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports while Democrats continue to decry Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation, newly obtained police records show that the suspected human smuggler is connected to another individual ticketed for cramming around 10 people in a car on a cross-country border trip. Abrego Garcia — a deported Salvadoran illegal migrant who has since been brought back to the U.S. to face smuggling charges — was once pulled over with the same vehicle and license plate driven by another man more recently caught driving about 10 people from Texas to Maryland, according to police and court records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Democrats have pulled out all the stops for Abrego Garcia — going as far as traveling to El Salvador and protesting his deportation from a cushy five star resort. “Kilmar Abrego Garcia was not a ‘Maryland man,’ but likely an illegal alien gang member transporting other aliens from Texas to Maryland as part of a human trafficking operation,” Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), told the DCNF. “The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a previous statement. “He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug.” Despite mounting accusations of gang affiliation and domestic abuse, Democrats remain steadfast in their demands to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.

New York Post [6/6/2025 4:06 PM, Deirdre Bardolf, Josh Christenson and Joe Marino, 49956K] reports MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back on US soil from El Salvador to face charges of trafficking thousands of illegal migrants — his "full-time job" for years, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday. "He was a smuggler of humans and children and women" — including members of the murderous prison gang he belonged to, the AG said at a press conference announcing the federal charges. A federal grand-jury indictment was handed up May 21 in Tennessee charging Abrego Garcia, 29, with participating in a conspiracy to move illegal migrants from countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador through Mexico and into Texas, where they would then be smuggled to Maryland and other states. Co-conspirators also alleged that Abrego Garcia solicited nude photos of a minor, abused women he was transporting — and was involved in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother, Bondi said. Those allegations as well as others she cited were contained in an additional court filing calling for Abrego Garcia’s detention. Abrego Garcia’s charges partly involve a 2022 vehicle stop in Tennessee.

CNN [6/6/2025 11:09 PM, Priscilla Alvarez and Kaanita Iyer, 875K] reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case started quietly, boiling down to a clerical error that moved him up on a list to land on a deportation flight destined to El Salvador in March. And then a court filing from the Trump Justice Department acknowledging the mistake brought it to the national forefront – culminating in a fraught legal battle and heated political debate. On Friday, the Trump administration announced that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had resided in Maryland until he was mistakenly deported to his home country, landed in the United States, and was facing criminal charges. It was an extraordinary development in a case that’s come to define the president’s hardline immigration policies and a striking about-face from the Trump administration, which had maintained he would not return to the US. At the start of the legal battle, nearly three months ago, both sides agreed that Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador – and subsequent imprisonment in the country’s notorious mega-prison – was a mistake. In 2019, an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia withholding of removal, meaning he couldn’t be removed to El Salvador over fear of persecution. A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official called his removal an "administrative error" in a March court declaration, appearing to mark the first time the administration had conceded an error over the controversial flights to El Salvador that resulted in the detention of hundreds of migrants in the CECOT prison. But then, Trump administration officials publicly abandoned that position and called Abrego Garcia "a terrorist," because they allege he is a member of MS-13, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization. His attorneys and family maintain that he was not a member of MS-13 and have argued that he is still entitled to due process. Here’s how Abrego Garcia’s case played out over the last few months. Abrego Garcia, who came to the United States illegally in 2012, first had an encounter with immigration authorities in 2019 after an arrest. At the time, the government similarly argued that Abrego Garcia was a gang member while he made the case that he feared a possible return to El Salvador. The immigration judge presiding over the case sided with Abrego Garcia and ruled that he may not be deported back to El Salvador. Years later, on March 12, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement pulled over Abrego Garcia and arrested him, which came as the Trump administration continued its aggressive crackdown on immigration. Abrego Garcia was then mistakenly put on a deportation flight three days later and sent to CECOT. Judge ordered Abrego Garcia’s return while the Supreme Court stopped short of requiring it.

FOX News [6/6/2025 7:56 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump responded to the sudden return of Salvadoran illegal and alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying, "he’s a bad guy" and that the courts will "show how horrible this guy is." Trump appeared unbothered by Abrego Garcia’s return on Friday afternoon, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that the Department of Justice made the decision and that soon the world will see how "horrible" a person he is. Trump expressed confidence in the DOJ and its case against Abrego Garcia. "The DOJ made a decision," he said, adding, "I think their decisions have been very, very good." "Maybe they just said, ‘Look, all of these people, these judges, they want to try and run the country.’ A local judge trying to run the country," said Trump. "The man has a horrible past, and I could see a decision being made, bring him back, show everybody how horrible this guy is." The president said, "Frankly, we have to do something because the judges are trying to take the place of a president that won in a landslide. That’s not supposed to be the way it is. So, I can see bringing him back. I could see. He’s a bad guy." The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old illegal alien who was living in Maryland, to a high-security prison in his home country back in March on the grounds that he is a member of the violent MS-13 gang. Soon after his deportation, Democrats jumped to advocate for Abrego Garcia’s release and return to the U.S., arguing that he was a wrongly deported "Maryland man." Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that Abrego Garcia, 29, has landed in the United States and is set to face federal charges for human smuggling and conspiracy. "Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice," Bondi said. "A grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned a sealed indictment charging him with alien smuggling and conspiracy." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [6/6/2025 10:21 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18649K] reports Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) celebrated the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported and detained in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, calling it "a victory" for the rule of law. The Trump administration doubled down on the deportation, accusing Abrego Garcia, who illegally immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011 but was later protected from removal to his home country, of having gang ties. His legal team has denied these allegations and urged for his return to the U.S. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi, after months of fighting against Abrego Garcia’s return in court, announced that he was transported back to U.S. soil to face criminal charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. "This is a victory for due process. It’s a victory for the Constitution. It should not have taken this long. I mean … the Trump administration dragged its feet for a very long time and ignored a 9 to 0 order from the Supreme Court," Van Hollen said during a Friday appearance on MSNBC. "But it’s important that Abrego Garcia now come home and have his due process rights upheld in a court of law," he added. The Maryland lawmaker visited Abrego Garcia while he was detained overseas to check on his well being and champion his release from El Salvadoran custody, which White House officials originally said would never happen. Van Hollen on Friday said that the court battle Abrego Garcia will now face should have been launched prior to his removal. "If they’re now going to take this case into the courts, as they should have, you know, from the beginning, before they just took him off the streets of Maryland and deposited him in a gulag in El Salvador, then that is — that is the due process that we’ve been fighting for," he said. "And, again, not just for his case, but for others. And — and I think that Americans understand that everybody deserves to have their rights, you know, respected. That’s what the Constitution is for.”

FOX News [6/7/2025 6:00 AM, Rachel del Guidice, 46878K] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called out Democrats and the media for defending illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia Friday. Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March to an El Salvador mega prison, was returned to the U.S. Friday to answer federal charges for human smuggling and conspiracy. "The Justice Department’s Grand Jury Indictment against Abrego Garcia proves the unhinged Democrat Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools," Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News. "Abrego Garcia was never an innocent ‘Maryland Man’– Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker who has spent his entire life abusing innocent people, especially women and the most vulnerable," Leavitt added. She also called out Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who traveled to El Salvador in April "to show solidarity" with Abrego Garcia. "Abrego Garcia will now return to the United States to answer for his crimes and meet the full force of American justice," Leavitt said. "The Democrat lawmakers, namely Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen, and every single so-called ‘journalist’ who defended this illegal criminal abuser must immediately apologize to Garcia’s victims. The Trump Administration will continue to hold criminals accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Abrego Garcia previously lived in Maryland before the administration deported him to the Central American country’s mega prison. According to Abrego Garcia’s indictment, he played a "significant role" in a human smuggling ring operating for nearly a decade, and Bondi described him as a full-time smuggler who made more than 100 trips, transporting women, children and MS-13 gang-affiliated persons throughout the United States.

NPR [6/6/2025 12:43 PM, Tom Bowman and Ximena Bustillo, 37958K] reports that National Guard troops would be used in immigration-enforcement activities, including in "night operations and rural interdiction," as well as "guard duty and riot control" inside detention facilities, according to a memo from the Department of Homeland Security obtained by NPR. DHS officials requested 20,000 National Guard troops three weeks ago, but this memo details what duties those troops will be asked to perform. The memo, dated May 9, from Andrew Whitaker, the executive secretary at DHS, says the department will need up to 3,500 Guard personnel for its requirement to "Attempt to Locate — Fugitives." Another 2,500 Guard soldiers would be needed for detention support. The memo says up to 10,000 troops would be needed for transportation support, including "intra-and inter state transport of detainees/unaccompanied alien children." And another 1,000 troops would be used for such duties as document translation and interview assistance. The Pentagon has not yet approved the request. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NPR: "DHS requested 20,000 National Guard members to help carry out the President’s mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens. The Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to get criminal illegal aliens including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and other violent criminals out of our country. The safety of American citizens comes first." NBC News [6/6/2025 11:48 PM, Sarah Fitzpatrick, Courtney Kube and Gordon Lubold, 44540K] reports a Department of Homeland Security request for 21,000 National Guard troops to support "expansive interior immigration enforcement operations" includes a call for troops to search for unaccompanied children in some cases and transport them between states, three sources briefed on the plan tell NBC News. Having National Guard troops perform such tasks, which are not explained in detail in the DHS request, has prompted concern among Democrats in Congress and some military and law enforcement officials. The tasks are laid out in a May 9th Request for Assistance from the Department of Homeland Security to the Pentagon. The document states that, “this represents the first formal request by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the deployment of National Guard personnel in support of interior immigration enforcement operations.” The request calls for National Guard troops to be used for “Search and Rescue for UACs [Unaccompanied Alien Children] in remote or hostile terrain,” and “Intra- and inter-state transport of detainees/ unaccompanied alien children (UACs)," without clearly explaining what that would entail. Most of the troops, about 10,000, would be used for transporting detained individuals, the DHS said. Roughly 2,500 troops would be used for detention support but the document does not specify where. Another 1,000 troops would be assigned to administrative support, such as processing detainees. The request also asks for up to 3,500 troops to “Attempt to Locate — Fugitives” and to conduct “surveillance and canvassing missions,” as well as “night operations and rural interdictions.” It also asks for support for ICE in “joint task force operations for absconder/fugitive tracking,” according to the three sources familiar with the plans. The Pentagon is also being asked by DHS to pay the full cost of deploying the 21,000 National Guard troops. That comes amid growing tension between the Pentagon and DHS over the cost of border and other immigrant-related operations. The DHS request for National Guard troops arrives when the Pentagon is already footing a $23-million-a-month bill to hold as many as 2,500 undocumented immigrants in a military facility in Texas. Defense officials say they are frustrated that the camp is holding far fewer individuals than they were told to expect and they would like a reprieve. The Defense Department is in a contract with the DHS to help support DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers who are under pressure from Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to arrest 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day.

Wall Street Journal [6/6/2025 8:05 PM, Tarini Parti, Scott Patterson, and Siobhan Hughes, 646K] reports the Trump administration closed a controversial program that used undercover U.S. air marshals on flights to surveil passengers, and removed a government official who took responsibility for putting Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in the program. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called for an investigation into the program as she announced its closure on Thursday. DHS said the program cost taxpayers $200 million a year and “failed to stop a single terrorist attack.” In a recent meeting, administration officials confronted leadership at the Transportation Security Administration over what they said was politically motivated use of the Quiet Skies program under the Biden administration, according to people familiar with the matter. Corey Lewandowski, who has been serving as a special government employee at DHS, asked TSA staff who had been responsible for putting Gabbard in the program, some of the people said. Stacey Fitzmaurice, the executive assistant administrator for operations at TSA, took responsibility, some of the people said. Fitzmaurice was subsequently put on leave and escorted out of the building, the people said. “Any notion that Corey Lewandowski fired these individuals is categorically false. Stacey Fitzmaurice was placed on administrative leave for mismanagement of the Quiet Skies program,” a DHS spokeswoman said Friday: “The program, under the guise of ‘national security,’ was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies of the Biden Administration. The Trump Administration is returning TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public,” she said, adding: “We will continue to actively identify individuals who do not fulfill TSA’s core mission.” The clash over Quiet Skies, a program that has long been a cause for concern for civil liberties advocates, is the latest example of the Trump administration accusing career officials of political weaponization.

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FOX Business [6/6/2025 11:11 PM, Staff, 10702K] reports DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses the Department of Homeland Security canceling the Quiet Skies program on ‘The Bottom Line.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Federalist [6/6/2025 12:57 PM, Brianna Lyman, 1142K] reports that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday that the "Quiet Skies" surveillance program was dismantled. It’s a good first step — but it’s just that: a first step. It’s time to dismantle the entire surveillance regime that grew out of post 9/11 panic. The "Quiet Skies Program" was launched in 2010 with the goal of identifying potential threats among domestic air travelers who might not be on the terror watchlist but who supposedly exhibited suspicious behavior. In reality, it became another tool to monitor American citizens. But as Noem said in a press release Thursday, the program "has failed to stop a single terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers $200 million a year.” Worse still, the program has been used to target political opponents, like Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard, a vocal critic of America’s intelligence agencies, was allegedly targeted by the U.S. Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS), according to a whistleblower complaint shared by the non-profit watchdog group Empower Oversight. The complaint alleged that Gabbard was placed under federal surveillance by the FAMS Quiet Skies program "one day after she criticized the Biden administration in an interview with Laura Ingraham," as reported by Tristan Justice.

NBC News [6/6/2025 1:38 PM, Vaughn Hillyard and Alexandra Marquez, 44540K] reports that Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Friday defended President Donald Trump’s attacks on elite universities like Harvard and Columbia, while saying that she is seeing "progress" from the institutions on the administration’s demands. "I have seen progress. And you know why I think we’re seeing progress? Because we are putting these measures in place, and we’re saying we’re putting teeth behind what we’re looking at," McMahon said in an interview with NBC News at her office in Washington. Still, McMahon said Harvard still needs to do more to combat antisemitism on campus and vet international students. "It’s very important that we are making sure that the students who are coming in and being on these campuses aren’t activists, that they’re not causing these activities," the education secretary said. "Students should not come on campus and be afraid to be there and not feel safe to be on campus," McMahon added.

The Washington Post [6/7/2025 2:27 AM, Kelsey Ables, 32099K] reports multiple ICE raids in Los Angeles on Friday set off a wave of protests that were met with a show of force by officers in tactical gear, as the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigration escalates. Aerial video footage from local media showed officers outside clothing wholesaler Ambiance Apparel, one of the reported locations of the raids, putting handcuffed individuals into white vans, with protesters trying to stop them from leaving. Later footage shows officers in tactical gear riding armored vehicles as stun grenades go off throughout the crowd. Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said at a news conference that as of Friday afternoon, there were seven raids happening throughout the city, including at two Home Depots, a doughnut shop and the clothing wholesaler. She said the organization had confirmed that more than 45 people were detained in the operations, which she described as “random sweeps” that appeared to be carried out without a warrant. Washington Post could not independently confirm the nature of the raids. “This has to stop. Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now,” Salas said. Photos from Friday show police wearing riot gear and holding shields, batons, guns that shoot pepper balls, and zip ties, as well as chaotic scenes with tear gas going off and demonstrators running away. In a video captured by local media, one protester tries to stop one of law enforcement’s SUVs and is knocked down when the vehicle keeps moving forward. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to request for comment. Among demonstrators detained Friday was David Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California, the state’s largest public-sector union, who was injured at one of the ICE raids and treated in custody. SEIU California is calling for his immediate release. Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, a Trump appointee, responded to Huerta’s arrest on social media, writing, “Federal agents were executing a lawful judicial warrant” when Huerta “deliberately obstructed their access.” “I don’t care who you are — if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted,” Essayli said. CBS News [6/6/2025 5:44 PM, Julie Sharp and Dean Fioresi, 51860K] reports dozens of people were arrested Friday in multiple immigration enforcement operations involving Homeland Security Investigations, the DEA and the FBI that took place across Los Angeles. The arrests prompted citywide protests. The raids occurred in the Westlake District, downtown L.A., and South L.A., CBS News Los Angeles learned. Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told CBS News Los Angeles in a statement that about 44 people were arrested in the operations. "ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles," O’Keefe said. "Approximately 44 people were administratively arrested and one arrest for obstruction. The investigation remains ongoing, updates will follow as appropriate." The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, a nonprofit immigrant rights advocacy group, also estimated that at least 45 people had been taken into custody. And in a previous statement, O’Keefe said federal agents were executing search warrants in downtown L.A. related to the "harboring of people illegally in the country." Witness video and SKYCal aerial footage showed federal agents detaining people outside a Home Depot in the Westlake District, as well as outside a business in downtown LA. During one of Friday’s operations, Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West says its president, David Huerta, was taken into custody. In a press release, the union said that he was injured during the arrest and treated at Los Angeles General Hospital before being discharged and taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA. "What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger. This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals," Huerta said in a statement afterwards. "We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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AP [6/7/2025 1:15 AM, Staff, 56000K]

CNN [6/6/2025 7:43 PM, Karina Tsui, 875K] reports protests against immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles Friday intensified into the evening – prompting authorities in riot gear to deploy tear gas and flash bangs to disperse crowds. Police on Friday night issued a citywide tactical alert nearly two hours after declaring protests across the downtown area unlawful assemblies. "The use of less lethal munitions has been authorized by the Incident Commander," LAPD’s Central Division wrote in a post on X. The protest came after at least 44 people were arrested by federal immigration agents earlier in the day, the Associated Press reported, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers executed search warrants at three locations, according to a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations. CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for further information. One of the raids that took place on Friday was in the city’s Fashion District, where agents served a search warrant after a judge determined a business was allegedly using fictitious documents for some of its workers, US Attorney’s office spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy told CNN. David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California was arrested by federal agents after allegedly attempting to obstruct their access at a worksite, US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in a post on X. "Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted," Essayli said. After being treated for injuries from his arrest, Huerta released a statement condemning the citywide raids. "Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals," he said. "We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.” "No one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement responding to Huerta’s arrest, describing the union president as a "respected leader, a patriot and an advocate for working people.” Protesters gathered outside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles at roughly 4 p.m., CNN affiliate KABC reported. At one point, hundreds of activists began marching toward a detention facility on Temple Street. One video obtained by CNN shows protesters retreating from the building’s entrance after coming face-to-face with the police guarding it. Several projectiles are thrown at officers equipped with body armor and protective shields. In response, the police are seen throwing smoke bombs to disperse protesters and pinning at least one person to the ground. Other videos show the detention center sprayed with graffiti, with some protesters blocking LAPD vehicles close by.

New York Post [6/7/2025 12:21 AM, Victor Nava, 49956K] reports several Trump administration officials fired back at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Friday after she pledged to oppose federal efforts to nab illegal immigrants — as cops in her city had to use flash bangs to disperse the violent mob of protesters who descended on the arrest sites. "We will not stand for this," Bass said in a statement released after federal immigration authorities arrested 44 people in raids across Los Angeles. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," the Democrat mayor fumed, noting that her office "is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller quickly dismissed Bass’ declaration. "You have no say in this at all," Miller shot back on social media. "Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced," he noted on X. Miller was one of several Trump administration officials that took issue with Bass’ statements. "They’re Illegals. Not ‘immigrants.’ One just tried to burn Americans alive in Boulder," White House adviser Sebastian Gorka wrote on X, referring to Colorado terror suspect Mohamed Soliman. The Egyptian national overstayed his tourist visa before allegedly firebombing a peaceful march for Israeli hostages still held by Hamas on Sunday in a heinous antisemitic attack. "If you’re aiding and abetting them you’re a criminal too," Gorka said in response to the LA mayor’s comments. "Are you ready to be treated as a criminal? "Because we are ready to treat you as one if you commit a crime," he warned. Justice Department official Harmeet K. Dhillon was stunned by Bass’ understanding of the law. "It’s amazing the number of elected officials who don’t grasp the basics of federalism, or federal sovereignty over immigration issues, or the First Amendment," Dhillon tweeted. The Los Angeles immigration raids sparked protests at the arrest sites, and at least one person was taken into custody for allegedly obstructing federal law enforcement. "Federal agents were executing a lawful judicial warrant at a LA worksite this morning when David Huerta deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle," US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. "He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday.” "Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are — if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted.” Huerta is president of the California branch of the influential Service Employees International Union. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin decried the city’s response to protesters’ clashes with federal agents – which escalated hours after the raids. "Assaulting ICE enforcement officers, slashing tires, defacing buildings. 800 protestors have surrounded and breached the first layer of a federal law enforcement building in LA," McLaughlin wrote on X. "@LAPD has not responded.” Richard Grenell, President Trump’s envoy for special missions, blamed Bass for the unrest. "Karen Bass whipped all of this up. She attacked the rule of law. She undermined democracy," Grenell wrote on X, sharing images of protesters attempting to block federal law enforcement vehicles. "The @MayorOfLA is creating chaos in LA," he fumed.

Telemundo52 [6/6/2025 9:54 PM, Gabriel Huerta and Clara Ramirez, 103K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the arrest of 45 people after a day of immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles. According to the statement sent by Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, ICE spokesperson, four federal search warrants were conducted at three downtown locations. "Approximately 44 individuals were administratively arrested and one was arrested for obstruction. The investigation remains ongoing; information will be updated as appropriate," said Pitts O’Keefe. One of the raids this morning took place at the Ambiance facility in South Los Angeles. There, immigrant activists say at least 20 workers were arrested. "Federal agents carried out an operation where they arrested 20 or 30 people from inside, they had no warrants, no permits," said Martha Arévalo, director of Carecen. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli confirmed Friday that federal agents were executing a search warrant in the Los Angeles Fashion District for allegedly fictitious employee documents. It was around noon when FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents arrived at the company’s facility, located at the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and 15th Street. As soon as the operation began, activists from different organizations arrived on the scene to try to prevent the arrests. "When we verified that immigration was here, our volunteers, including SEIU union leader David Huerta, came to monitor and witness what was happening," said Angelica Salas, executive director of Chirla. Footage recorded by a witness shows union leader David Huerta as he fell to the ground, apparently pushed by a federal agent. He suffered a blow to the head and had to be taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Following the raid, family members of allegedly detained workers arrived at the scene to obtain information and try to recover the belongings of their loved ones. "The FBI and homeland security were making a felony criminal arrest, and someone misinformed that they were making immigration arrests, which is not true," said Lt. Lilian Carranza of the Los Angeles Police Department. "The LAPD does not collaborate with federal authorities to make immigration arrests," Carranza said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [6/6/2025 8:20 PM, Orlando Mayorquín and Jesus Jiménez, 138952K] reports federal agents in tactical gear armed with military-style rifles threw flash-bang grenades to disperse an angry crowd near downtown Los Angeles on Friday as they conducted an immigration raid on a clothing wholesaler, the latest sign of tensions between protesters and law enforcement over raids carried out at stores, restaurants and court buildings. The operation was one of at least three immigration sweeps conducted in Los Angeles on Friday. In the other one, federal agents converged at a Home Depot where day laborers regularly gather in search of work. The raid at the clothing wholesaler began about 9:15 a.m. in the Fashion District, less than two miles from Los Angeles City Hall. It was an extraordinary show of force. Dozens of federal agents wearing helmets and green camouflage arrived in two hulking armored trucks and other unmarked vehicles, and were soon approached by a crowd of immigrant activists and supporters. Some agents carried riot shields and others held rifles, as well as shotguns that appeared to be loaded with less-than-lethal ammunition. Agents cleared a path for two white passenger vans that exited the area. A short time later, as officers boarded their vehicles to leave, a few agents lobbed flash-bang grenades at groups of people who chased alongside the slow-moving convoy. Some protesters had thrown eggs and other objects at the vehicles. At one point, the vehicles snagged and crushed at least two electric scooters that protesters had used. The operation drew immediate criticism from officials in Los Angeles, a Democratic-led city in a county where more than 30 percent of residents are immigrants. “As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said in a statement, adding: “My Office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.”

New York Times [6/7/2025 3:54 AM, Stephanie Saul and Andrés R. Martínez, 330K] reports a federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s latest effort to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students, stalling President Trump’s first bid to directly use the power of the presidency against the university. Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts also extended for about two weeks her previous order from May that prevented the Trump administration from blocking Harvard from issuing certain types of student visas. The orders from Judge Burroughs were victories, if perhaps temporary ones, in Harvard’s battle with Mr. Trump, for whom the university has become a focal point in the administration’s effort to make higher education conform to his political agenda. The White House proclamation blocked on Thursday had been issued just the day before. It was the third time in the past month that the Trump administration has tried to use its power to ban international enrollment at Harvard in what the university has said is a violation of its First Amendment rights. But it was the first to rely directly on Mr. Trump’s executive power rather than agency rules and actions, a sign of how personal the effort to inflict distress on the Ivy League university has become for him. Judge Burroughs acted hours after Harvard asked her to block the order on Thursday evening. In its request, part of an ongoing lawsuit, the university also filed a new claim against the administration. In court papers, Harvard accused the White House of trying to circumvent an earlier court order that had blocked the Department of Homeland Security from banning international enrollment at Harvard. The university said Mr. Trump had violated the law again by invoking the executive power of the presidency against the school when the agency’s efforts had failed. Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, issued a statement shortly after the court filing saying that Harvard’s international office was reaching out to students and scholars who might be affected by the White House action. He added that the university was developing “contingency plans” to ensure that international students and scholars could continue to pursue their work at Harvard this summer and through the coming academic year. Harvard had yet to comment on the late-Thursday ruling. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wall Street Journal [6/6/2025 2:14 PM, Khadeeja Safdar, 646K] reports five members of the Proud Boys, once convicted of masterminding the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, are accusing the federal government and FBI employees of violating their rights in connection with their prosecutions in a new lawsuit. Top leaders of the far-right group were either pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Trump earlier this year. On Friday, they filed a lawsuit in a Florida federal court claiming that the FBI agents and prosecutors were motivated by personal animus against them and their beliefs. The suit seeks $100 million in punitive damages. Representatives for the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. In 2023, Enrique Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Dominic Pezzola were convicted for their involvement in the Capitol breach. Federal prosecutors at the time said they had directed, mobilized and led the mob. The men, except Tarrio, were present on Jan. 6 but denied being behind the attack. Jurors found them guilty and Tarrio, the group’s chairman, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. The group of self-described “Western chauvinists” rose in prominence after violent clashes with left-wing protesters. Trump drew national attention to the Proud Boys when he referred to the group in a 2020 presidential debate. The group lost members after Jan. 6, 2021, but in the lead-up to Trump’s 2024 election win, members have again coalesced. The lawsuit claims prosecutors used a new legal theory to hold them accountable for the actions of the crowd on Jan. 6. The suit says that the government lacked probable cause to raid their homes after they turned themselves in and that FBI employees reviewed communications protected by attorney-client privilege. They said a confidential FBI informant was spying on their legal teams. The issue of the informant was raised by defense lawyers during the trial. Prosecutors said the FBI’s informant was never asked about the trial defense. The trial judge allowed the case to continue, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the government. The new lawsuit also claims the government used a document titled “1776 Returns” that the suit says was planted in Tarrio’s email inbox and provided a basis for its argument on seditious conspiracy. The lawsuit says the government knew Tarrio didn’t compose, read or share the document. The suit also highlights their prison conditions during their prosecutions. They say they were subjected to prolonged pretrial detention without bond and held in solitary confinement without cause.

San Francisco Chronicle [6/6/2025 9:00 AM, Brooks D. Simpson, 4120K] reports the principle of habeas corpus, a legal phrase, is a simple one: Translated from the Latin as "produce the body," it provides that a judge may compel prosecutors to supply evidence to determine whether someone has been legally detained or arrested. In the U.S., a detained or arrested individual, or their legal representative, may ask a judge to decide based on the evidence presented whether the detainee has been legally confined. That process is termed "seeking a writ.” Suspending the privilege of the writ, also known as "suspending the writ," denies that individual or their representation from making that request or a judge from honoring it. The "privilege" in that phrase is a right of the accused. In the past few months, members of the Trump administration have raised the issue of the president’s power to suspend the privilege of habeas corpus. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in May 2025 shared with the media the news that administration officials were exploring the possibility of suspending the privilege of the writ to help the administration deport immigrants quickly. Eleven days later, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem declared at a congressional hearing that habeas corpus "is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country," a misunderstanding of this foundational legal right immediately challenged by New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan. Article I of the U.S. Constitution declares that "the Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." Suspension is thus a grave and serious matter. This is not the first time that Americans have debated which branch of government – the executive branch or Congress – has the power to suspend the privilege of the writ and under what circumstances it may do so.

Wall Street Journal [6/6/2025 5:51 PM, Jan Wolfe, 646K] reports the Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for members of the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting group once led by Elon Musk, to access sensitive Social Security Administration records. Granting an emergency request by the Trump administration, the justices lifted a lower court order that for now had barred DOGE employees or affiliates from accessing the agency’s systems and directed them to delete personal information they already had gathered. “We conclude that, under the present circumstances, SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work,” the court said in a brief unsigned order. The court’s three liberal justices objected. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the majority shouldn’t have rushed to the administration’s aid before the courts have time to determine whether DOGE’s access is lawful. “Once again, this Court dons its emergency-responder gear, rushes to the scene, and uses its equitable power to fan the flames rather than extinguish them,” she wrote in dissent. In a second action Friday, the Supreme Court set aside a lower-court order that allowed a watchdog group to obtain records about DOGE’s status within the government. The justices sent the matter back for more legal proceedings. The court’s three liberals again objected. The Trump administration has said the data will help DOGE, created by a Jan. 20 executive order, streamline government and ferret out fraud. The injunction was issued by U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland, who said that DOGE failed to justify its need for sweeping access to the personal information of tens of millions of Americans, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, income and assets, citizenship status, medical information and disability status. Hollander did allow DOGE team members access to some redacted or anonymized information, so long as they completed training and background checks comparable to those typically required for SSA employees.

Wall Street Journal [6/6/2025 5:31 PM, Staff, 646K] reports does the Trump Administration want to stop illegal immigration, or nearly all legal immigration, including foreign students? The evidence is growing that it wants the latter, which will sharply reduce the human capital the U.S. needs to prosper. The President on Wednesday suspended foreign nationals from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard. His proclamation invokes a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that lets the president suspend entry of any class of aliens that would be detrimental to the U.S. This is the same law he used to impose his first-term travel ban. But the vast majority of foreign students at Harvard don’t pose a national security threat. Just the opposite. Many assist with research that is a national asset. While the Administration is clearly trying to use every lever it has to punish Harvard for not surrendering to its sweeping demands, the ban is also part of its broader attack on foreign talent. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week said the Administration will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students” and “enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications.” The State Department didn’t elaborate on the reasons other than potential espionage, which is a legitimate issue. But JD Vance hinted at the larger motivation in a Newsmax interview last week in which he disputed that restrictions could slow U.S. innovation. “This idea that American citizens don’t have the talent to do great things, that you have to import a foreign class of servants and professors to do these things, I just reject that,” he said. “We should invest in our own people” and restricting student visas is “an opportunity for American citizens to really flourish.” This is a classic false choice. Of course the U.S. has talent and should invest in it. But welcoming foreign students doesn’t hinder Americans. The cold, hard numbers show that too few Americans are pursuing STEM fields to meet the future needs of business and government. Of all U.S. bachelor’s degrees, biology and engineering fields make up about 13%. The paucity of U.S. grads pursuing advanced STEM degrees leads universities to fill their graduate programs with foreigners. Universities typically cover tuition in return for assistance with research. More than 70% of full-time graduate students in computer science and engineering are international students.

The Hill [6/6/2025 9:00 AM, Chris Truax, 18649K] reports as the Trump administration pushes for more mass deportations, law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security are suddenly everywhere. In San Diego, Homeland Security officers conducted a SWAT-style raid on a restaurant, handcuffing 19 employees over an hour and slamming the manager against a wall in the process. Eventually, they arrested four people. The raid was so heavy-handed that the officers had to deploy flashbang grenades to escape from the angry crowd that gathered in response. Even members of Congress aren’t safe. Last week, Homeland Security officers forced their way into Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D) New York office without a warrant. When one of the staffers protested, she was handcuffed and detained. The cases you hear about are only the tip of the iceberg. Federal officers are fanning out across the country, conducting raids, traffic stops, even scooping people up at courthouses when they appear for immigration hearings and carting them away in leg irons and shackles — harsh treatment that you seldom see even when felons are arrested. This heavy-handedness and cruelty isn’t a glitch — it’s intentional, as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, attempt to frighten immigrants into leaving the country. Even legal residents and American citizens are getting caught up in the crackdown. And the worst part is, while things like barging into a congressman’s office and detaining his staffers aren’t legal, there is nothing anyone can do about it. If Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents force their way into your house without a warrant, slap you around and detain your family at gunpoint while conducting an illegal search, you have no way of getting your constitutional claims into federal court. As a practical matter, these agents are above the law and cannot be held accountable for violating your constitutional rights. Why this is true is yet another example of our system of checks and balances failing to appreciate the risk of a president deciding to simply the the law.

Washington Post [6/6/2025 7:15 AM, Dana Milbank, 32099K] reports There is no sanctuary from Trump administration buffoonery. On May 29, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem released a “comprehensive list of sanctuary jurisdictions.” She was “exposing these sanctuary politicians” because they are “endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens.” But it immediately became clear that the list of more than 500 states, counties and cities was riddled with errors: misspellings, cities and counties mistaken for each other, and places that don’t exist. Cincinnati became “Cincinnatti,” Campbell County (Kentucky) became “Cambell” County, Greeley County (Nebraska) became “Greenley” County, Takoma Park (Maryland) became “Tacoma” Park, while “Martinsville County” (Virginia) was invented. And so on. Worse, scores of the "sanctuary politicians" she called out turned out to be leaders of MAGA counties and towns with no sanctuary policies on their books. Complaints poured in from Trump allies across the country. "You don’t have that many mistakes on such an important federal document," said Pat Burns, the Trump-backing mayor of the right-wing stronghold of Huntington Beach, California, mislabeled as a sanctuary city. He told the Associated Press that "somebody’s got to answer" for this "negligent" behavior. Good luck with that. The only answer was to disappear the list this week, leaving behind a "Page Not Found" error. Such a massive screwup hadn’t happened since … well, the previous week, when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went to the White House and released his ballyhooed "Make America Healthy Again" report full of citations of studies that don’t exist, the product of AI hallucinations. This, in turn, was reminiscent of President Donald Trump’s "Liberation Day" tariff rollout, which targeted an island full of penguins and other unpopulated or sparsely populated corners of the globe — and raised taxes on most of the world based on a math error. And these, of course, were on top of the "mistakes" that led Trump officials to share war plans with a journalist, to deport people protected by court order, to launch a destructive fight with Harvard University, to fire and then attempt to rehire thousands of crucial federal workers, to cancel and then reinstate various vital government functions, and to misstate, often by orders of magnitude, the alleged savings from its cost-cutting attempts. But nobody has fumbled as frequently as Noem in recent days. Officially, she is in charge of protecting us from terrorists and planning for natural disasters. In practice, she has been on a months-long cosplay adventure: riding a camel and wearing a headscarf in the Middle East; posing in full tactical gear while pointing an M4 muzzle at the head of an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent; displaying her Rolex while standing in front of deported prisoners in El Salvador; joining an immigration raid in ICE hat and bulletproof vest; wearing firefighting gear and carrying a hose; donning an aviator jacket and sitting at the controls of a C-130; wearing a cowboy hat while on horseback at the border; and so on.

San Diego Union Tribune [6/6/2025 8:00 AM, Staff, 1611K] reports on May 31, a large team of masked, armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executed a dramatic raid on sister restaurants Buona Forchetta and Enoteca Buona Forchetta in South Park. This spectacle on a busy Friday afternoon led a crowd to gather, with some denouncing the show of force and impeding the ICE operation. But according to the National Tactical Officers Association, what happened next —agents using flash-bang grenades — was unwarranted. The association’s guidelines make clear that such devices should only be used after a thorough risk assessment, typically only in cases involving armed hostage-takers or barricaded suspects where lives are at risk. This guidance may explain why other law enforcement agencies didn’t come to ICE’s defense in the raid’s aftermath. The operation wasn’t by the book — and those in law enforcement know it. No wonder many San Diegans saw the military tactics as being about intimidation. Yet ICE was not acting in a vacuum. According to a search warrant unsealed Monday, federal authorities had received two tips, the most recent in January, that the restaurants’ owner knowingly employed undocumented workers. ICE said 19 employees had presented green cards suspected of being fraudulent. Four were arrested during the raid. The agency also said many of the immigration documents submitted by an attorney on behalf of the restaurant were fake or falsified. The warrant noted that despite having the opportunity to use E-Verify — a free government tool to confirm employment eligibility — the business didn’t do so, which suggests at the least an intent to evade or ignore federal law. This doesn’t justify ICE’s gross mistakes. But it does show what happened May 31 was not based on a whim. San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera may regret calling the raid domestic "terrorism" when he realizes it’s already being seized on by those who hope to discredit all of those who believe the Trump administration’s immigration approach is often cruel and counterproductive — a group that includes The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board.

Blaze.com [6/6/2025 2:59 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1805K] reports one of the most shocking and horrifying scandals of the Biden administration was its botched handling of unaccompanied minor migrants who flooded into the country amid former President Joe Biden’s open border chaos. Government whistleblowers sounded the alarm that the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, under the prior administration’s leadership, failed to thoroughly vet sponsors, ushering children into unsafe homes. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed those findings on Thursday. The agency issued a press release announcing that it discovered "widespread abuse" and "exploitation" of some of the children whom the ORR placed with "improperly vetted sponsors." President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security launched a nationwide effort in February to locate unaccompanied minors whom the ORR placed with sponsors. As part of this effort, agents from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations are conducting welfare checks to ensure that children are safe from trafficking, exploitation, and abuse. They are also visiting the children and their sponsors to verify that they are receiving proper care, attending school, and complying with immigration proceedings. While these welfare checks are not focused on immigration enforcement, in situations where ICE agents encounter illegal aliens, they are taking them into custody. ICE stated that agents have already uncovered "alarming" cases, such as sponsors who had committed serious crimes, including hit-and-run, aggravated assault, larceny, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, prostitution, attempted murder, and possession of child sexual abuse material. Additionally, some sponsors reportedly forced children into labor and subjected them to unacceptable living conditions. ICE also indicated that sponsors paid smugglers to bring children into the United States and falsely claimed to be related to the children. ICE spokesperson Laszlo Baksay said that agents are working tirelessly to locate the children.

NewsMax [6/6/2025 8:57 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4622K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested more than 100,000 illegal migrants in the first 5 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, CBS News reported. The milestone was reached this week after ICE recorded more than 2,000 arrests on both Tuesday and Wednesday, reported CBS News, citing internal government data. During Trump’s first 100 days back in office, ICE averaged 660 arrests per day. The recent increase, though, remains short of an administration goal, which reportedly is 3,000 arrests per day. The stepped-up ICE goals were laid out by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a "tense" May 21 meeting at ICE’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, sources told Axios. ICE detained roughly 54,000 migrants in facilities across the country on Thursday, according to the data. The administration is seeking funding and staffing to hold 100,000 individuals at any given point, CBS News report.

Breitbart.com [6/6/2025 4:14 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 3077K] reports several groups, including one in North Carolina that has taken federal funding in the past, have been monitoring neighborhoods and reporting on social media the exact locations of ICE agents in an effort to disrupt immigration enforcement. The group in Asheville, North Carolina, calling itself Mountain Immigrant Comrades in Action (CIMA), for instance, posts its warnings, often in Spanish, to Facebook, where they also share video and photos of ICE officers in action. CIMA recently joined other far-left non-profits in efforts to "train" local businesses in Asheville to oppose immigration officials and to prevent what the group calls "unconstitutional ICE operations." Similar efforts have been occurring across the nation as small non-profits and groups of activists for illegals organize to spread the word about ICE activity with an eye toward disrupting federal law enforcement putting ICE agents in danger. Trump border czar Tom Homan was infuriated by these congressmen who hope to endanger the lives of federal law enforcement.

FOX News [6/6/2025 3:00 PM, Marc Tamasco, 46878K] reports Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons slammed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on "Fox & Friends" on Friday for their "disgusting" rhetoric about the department, which he felt put him and his agents in danger. Wu compared ICE agents wearing masks to members of the neo-Nazi group the Nationalist Social Club-131 (NSC-131) during a press conference on Wednesday, amid government claims that ICE agents have faced a 413% increase in assaults. "I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks," Wu said on Wednesday. "NSC-131 routinely wears masks." When someone asked Wu whether she was comparing ICE to a neo-Nazi group, the mayor replied, "What I said is that Boston police, and no police department that I know of at the local level, routinely wears masks." Jeffries declared on Tuesday that all ICE agents who perpetrate "aggressive overreach" and attempt to conceal "their identities from the American people, will be unsuccessful in doing that." They will all be identified "no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes," he asserted, saying that is what the law requires. Lyons expressed his outrage over Wu and Jeffries’ "disgusting" comments to Fox News’ Lawrence B. Jones. "I used to say I was pretty disheartened by the political rhetoric, but I’ve totally changed to it’s outright disgusting," he asserted. "What Mayor Wu said is completely disgusting. She actually compared us to a neo-Nazi group. And here I am on [June] 6 where many of the men of ICE —brave men and women that were veterans — on the great day in military history when we defeated the Germans and the Nazi Party, we have elected officials comparing the brave men and women in law enforcement to Nazis. It’s completely disgusting." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [6/6/2025 9:32 PM, Martin Kaste, 37958K] reports that, over the past several days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents around the country have contended with angry crowds protesting their actions in cities from Minneapolis to Chicago to Los Angeles. This most recent spate of encounters has become heated. "It got out of control because of the way that they showed up," says San Diego council member Sean Elo-Rivera, referring to ICE agents conducting a raid on a local Italian restaurant. Members of the public surged around the agents, at one point surrounding their cars. The immigration authorities discharged flash-bangs, leading to a chaotic scene. Elo-Rivera posted a photo of federal agents dressed in tactical gear outside the restaurant, with the word "TERRORISTS" written over it. It drew an angry reaction from the Trump administration, but he says he believes the operation was meant to be intimidating. "They wanted to make a show of it, so they did it on Friday night at dinnertime. They wanted to make a show of this so they showed up with assault rifles. They wanted to make a show of this so they showed up in far more numbers than they needed to," Elo-Rivera says. "And the use of masks I think is incredibly concerning.” ICE agents, as well as other federal agents delegated to work with ICE, are increasingly wearing masks during operations, something many people find objectionable. But at a press conference on Monday, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said agents had good reasons to do so. "People are out there taking photos of [agents’] names, their faces and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves," Lyons says. "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 and their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is.” At the same press conference, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge for New England Michael Krol cautioned those who "impede or obstruct operations or those who dare to threaten or assault our law enforcement officers," and he warned of potential investigations and prosecutions. But civil rights groups say bystanders have the right to observe, protest and shout questions. Kate Evans, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Duke Law, says ICE agents don’t necessarily have to answer questions from bystanders, but those questions can still be important. "They’re essentially functioning as kind of Fourth Amendment observers and informing the people who are actually the subject of the seizure — the arrest — that they have the right to request a warrant," Evans says. She says one thing an observer can point out is that ICE agents need to show a judicial warrant — one signed by a judge, not just an ICE official — in order to enter a private space without permission.

Los Angeles Times [6/6/2025 12:00 PM, Carlos De Loera and Andrea Flores, 14672K] reports last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers tried to execute two raids in San Diego. San Diego fought back. It all started on May 30 when heavily armed ICE agents showed up at the Italian eateries Buona Forchetta and Enoteca Buona Forchetta in the South Park neighborhood of the SoCal border city, as The Times’ Ruben Vives reported. A spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch within ICE, said the agents were executing search warrants related to alleged "violations of hiring and harboring illegal aliens and false statements." But as ICE members were making arrests, San Diego community members came out to defend those targeted and push back the agents. "Shame! Shame! Shame!" hordes of San Diegans yelled at the gun-wielding, protective vest-wearing agents while forcing them to move away from the restaurants, social media video showed. Other videos revealed that ICE used flash-bang grenades against the protesters who interfered with the raids. Ultimately, four people living in the country illegally were taken into custody, HSI claimed. A federal search warrant, obtained by several San Diego news outlets, claimed that the restaurant owners were "knowingly employing both illegal immigrants and individuals not authorized to work in the United States." Additionally, it stated that HSI initially received tips about the restaurants’ alleged activities in 2020 and a follow-up tip on Jan. 31 of this year.

NBC News [6/6/2025 11:42 AM, Chloe Atkins and Minyvonne Burke, 44540K] reports Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student detained in March by immigration agents, responded for the first time to the charges against him and described the "irreparable harm" his arrest has had on him and his family. "I have suffered—and continue to suffer—as a result of the government’s actions against me," he said in a declaration included in a letter his legal team filed on Thursday in support of his bid for a preliminary injunction in his federal case. "The most immediate and visceral harms I have experienced directly relate to the birth of my son, Deen. Instead of holding my wife’s hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone," Khalil said. "I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son’s first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep." His wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, was eight months pregnant when Khalil was arrested March 8 at his New York apartment building. She said she had requested his presence at the birth but was denied by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Khalil said that not being able to see his family has been "devastating." In his declaration, he condemned the White House and President Donald Trump over the "grotesque and false" claims made against him. Khalil was targeted for deportation after he helped organize pro-Palestinian rallies on the university’s campus. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement that "it is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America.”

FOX News [6/6/2025 1:53 PM, Greg Norman, 46878K] reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News on Friday that Democrats pushing for ICE agents to unmask themselves are the same "people who mandated mask wearing for years in America" during the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson was asked by Fox News for his reaction as "some Democrats, including [House Minority] Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries, have suggested that the ICE agents who are arresting some of these migrants should not be wearing masks." "From the people who mandated mask wearing for years in America. It’s absurd. They need to back off of ICE and respect our agents and stop protesting against them," Johnson said. "They’re trying to uphold the rule of law, and they don’t want to be targeted by Democrat activists. So I’m in favor of whatever protocol." Jeffries said Tuesday that ICE agents who attempt to conceal "their identities from the American people, will be unsuccessful in doing that" and they will all be identified "no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes." Johnson was then asked Friday "so you’re okay with these agents sort of not identifying themselves when they’re arresting migrants?" "Why? So that they can target them?" he responded. "So they can put their names and faces online and dox them? That’s what these activists do. So we have to protect those who protect our communities.

Daily Caller [6/6/2025 5:08 PM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports a series of milestones indicate that the Trump administration is delivering on its goal of dramatically boosting the federal government’s immigration enforcement apparatus. In just the few months since President Donald Trump re-entered office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has supercharged its arrest and detention numbers, and the U.S.-Mexico border has reached historically low levels of activity, according to information shared by the White House. The latest data mark a sharp contrast from the border crisis of the Biden era. ICE arrests surged to 2,200 in a single day on Tuesday, according to the White House — marking a dramatic uptick in the number of daily arrests from the week prior. The agency has notched more than 100,000 illegal migrant arrests since Trump began his second term. Customs and Border Protection now touts “total control” of the southern border, with daily border encounters down 93% and encounters with “gotaways” — illegal migrants that avoid apprehension and considered to be a top safety threat — down 95%, according to data released after the administration’s first 100 days in office. Migrant crossings altogether have fallen by 99.99%. There are now roughly 53,000 foreign nationals in detention preparing for deportation, according to the White House.

Breitbart.com [6/6/2025 5:12 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested close to 1,500 illegal aliens across the sanctuary state of Massachusetts, thanks to "Operation Patriot," including convicted killers, rapists, child sex predators, and domestic abusers, among others, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. The ICE sting, reported days ago, took custody of hundreds of convicted criminal illegal aliens as well as those with pending criminal charges. Of the 245 convicted criminals arrested in the operation, 34 had drunk driving convictions, 19 had assault and battery convictions, 17 had aggravated assault convictions, 15 are drug traffickers, 10 are domestic abusers, 9 are rapists including rape of children, 6 are burlgars, 2 are murderers, 2 have assaulted pregnant women, and 2 are child abusers, among other convictions. Meanwhile, of the 545 illegal aliens with pending criminal charges, 94 are accused of aggravated assault, 70 are accused of assault and battery, 62 are accused of drunk driving, 27 are accused of domestic violence, 21 are accused of drug trafficking, 11 are accused of rape, 7 are accused of burglary, 5 are accused of shoplifting, and 5 are accused of hit-and-run, among other charges. Several cases revealed to Breitbart News detail horrifying cases of child rape, production of child pornography, kidnapping, and murder.

ABC News [6/6/2025 2:11 PM, Meredith Deliso, 31733K] reports that Marcelo Gomes da Silva, the 18-year-old Massachusetts high school student who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on his way to volleyball practice last week, said following his release that he wants to help those still detained in the facility where he was held for nearly a week. "I would have to watch people cry, people with kids," the teen said during a press briefing in Burlington, Massachusetts, on Thursday after a judge granted him bond. "No one deserves to be down there." Gomes da Silva, a Brazilian national who is a junior at Milford Public High School, was arrested on Saturday, according to a court filing from his attorney. He said he wasn’t able to shower for six days and would sleep on a concrete floor while being held at a facility in Burlington. The teen said he would share his limited food with the other men detained and often acted as their translator because he speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish. Gomes da Silva, who was driving his father’s car at the time of his arrest, was pulled over and detained even though the father was the target of the operation. ICE officials defended the arrest during a briefing on Monday. "When we go out into the community and we find others who are unlawfully here, we are going to arrest them," ICE acting Field Director Patricia Hyde said at a press briefing on Monday. "We’ve been completely transparent with that. He’s 18 years old. He’s unlawfully in this country." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo [6/6/2025 10:58 PM, Melissa Colorado, 145K] reports another New York City high school student was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following a routine immigration appointment, according to a state lawmaker. The 11th grader attends Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, state Sen. Michael Gianaris stated in a post on X. "Detaining minors in courthouses and separating them from their families is unacceptable, and I join the school in calling for their release," the lawmaker tweeted. The state senator called attention to the student, who was detained after showing up for a routine immigration check on Wednesday with his family. Gianaris said the family was separated and ordered to different rooms. All except the high school student were released. "Imagine a family that doesn’t know where their teenage son is, he was just taken from them, God only knows where they’re holding him," Gianaris said. "He’s from South America, but the family is shielded from the details because they are afraid." Gianaris said the high school faculty informed him about the arrest of the student, who has not been identified. The details of the teen’s detention by ICE are very similar to those of another New York City high school student detained in May. This student, a 20-year-old Venezuelan, became the first New York City public school student detained by ICE since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. That arrest also did not occur on school grounds, but after a scheduled court appearance in Manhattan, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which confirmed the student’s detention. His defenders have reportedly stated that the student has no criminal record. His lawyer claimed that his client had entered the United States legally under policies in place during the administration of former President Joe Biden. The city argued in court that the 20-year-old is being held without just cause and in violation of his right to due process. The Department of Homeland Security indicated that the student was placed in expedited removal proceedings. NBC News reports that he is currently in a processing center in Pennsylvania. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsNation [6/6/2025 5:31 PM, Sierra Campbell, 5801K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 72 people at a nightclub that the agency claims is run by a cartel member in Charleston, South Carolina. The Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying that the club was run by "a suspected member of the Los Zetas Cartel." Los Zetas, which is now recognized as Cártel del Noreste, was named a terrorist organization by the Trump administration in February. Before the arrests, which took place last Sunday, ICE had received a tip that the underground nightclub called "The Alamo" had weapons and narcotics. The information also claimed human trafficking was taking place at the club. ICE was able to seize cash, narcotics and firearms during the arrests. Law enforcement ended up arresting 72 individuals who had "serious prior convictions," according to DHS. They also found six juveniles, whom they turned into state social services. DHS said that one of the people arrested was Sergio Joel Galo-Baca, a Honduran national who had an active Interpol Red Notice for homicide in Honduras. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "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." She also said, "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, fugitives and law breakers are on notice: Leave now or ICE will find you and deport you." Homeland Security Investigations Charlotte led the operation along with local law enforcement.

Washington Post [6/6/2025 5:39 PM, Douglas MacMillan, 32099K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving forward with a plan to build the nation’s largest immigrant detention facility in southeast Georgia, according to Buddy Carter, a Republican who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. ICE has issued a modification to its contract with private prison firm Geo Group Inc. that will combine the company’s Folkston detention center, an active facility that can hold up to 1,100 detainees, with D. Ray James, an idle former prison located on an adjacent property that can hold around 1,870 detainees, Carter said in a press release Friday. The decision to expand the contract is a reversal from earlier this week, when ICE informed local officials that the plan could not move forward absent a “federal policy change,” County Administrator Glenn Hull said at the time. The $47 million contract had been flagged for review under a policy that requires all Department of Homeland Security contracts worth more than $20 million to be reviewed by DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, The Washington Post reported. It’s unclear what led to the contract’s approval.

Telemundo Amarillo [6/6/2025 11:36 AM, Staff, 4K] reports that a raid by federal agents and police at a home resulted in the arrest of seven undocumented immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Atlanta, Georgia, reported Friday. "In response to allegations of human trafficking and sexual servitude, HSI and Cobb County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a residence in Mableton," the agency said in a post on social media. "Seven undocumented immigrants were arrested for assault, obstruction of justice, and immigration violations." Cobb police explained that they received "a tip" from HSI about possible human trafficking activity at a residence located at 5908 Pisgah Road and that uniformed officers responded to the area and spoke with an adult woman who claimed to have run away from the home. According to the report, she told officers she was being forced to engage in sexual acts. Following her complaint, several people were arrested after a confrontation with officers, prompting the SWAT team to be deployed and a search warrant obtained. "During the execution of the search warrant, several people were detained and questioned. Following these interviews, it was determined that there was no criminal activity as alleged by the complainant, and the execution of the warrant was suspended," police reported. Authorities said the woman was subsequently evaluated by a crisis team and transported to a hospital for medical treatment. ICE spokesperson in Atlanta, Lindsay Williams, told this outlet that these types of operations will continue in Georgia.

Univision [6/6/2025 2:39 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports inmates at the Krome immigration prison in southwest Miami-Dade County gathered yesterday in the prison yard to ask for help, forming a line that spelled out the acronym SOS, as a way of asking for help in the desperate situation they are experiencing there. Noticias 23 spoke exclusively with a Venezuelan immigrant who just left this center and told us about his experience. In recent months, relatives have denounced the inhumane conditions in which prisoners are held, including overcrowding and poor hygiene. According to some activists, Krome has a long history of all kinds of abuses and human rights violations due to the harsh conditions in which detainees are held. In addition, some thirty detainees at Krome contacted Noticias 23 to report the unsustainable overcrowding at the immigration detention center.

Washington Examiner [6/6/2025 11:22 AM, Emily Hallas, 1934K] reports Florida authorities charged Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez with racketeering after he was arrested in connection with a sprawling criminal gambling operation in the Sunshine State. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) issued an executive order suspending Lopez from his position on Thursday after the sheriff was accused of being involved in a massive illegal gambling operation and public corruption scheme that generated over $21 million in profits. "This is a solemn day for Florida and our law enforcement community. We put great trust in our constitutional officers, especially those who are our communities’ first line of defense," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said. "However, the law must be applied equally, regardless of position, power, or branch of government.” "Public servants should never exploit the public’s trust for personal gain. Our Statewide Prosecutors will hold Sheriff Lopez, his associates, and all lawbreakers accountable," the attorney general continued. Lopez was charged with one count of racketeering and one count of conspiracy to commit racketeering, both first-degree felonies under Florida law. In a press release Thursday, Uthmeier said a joint federal and state investigation uncovered the criminal gambling scheme operating in central Florida two years ago. The attorney general’s office said the organization generated more than $21.6 million in illicit proceeds. The state accused Lopez of "advancing the interests" of the illegal gambling enterprise and collecting profits in reward for his involvement after he was elected sheriff in 2020. Lopez unlawfully engaged in the operation for campaign contributions and personal payments, according to the Florida attorney general, using the sheriff’s office "to shield the enterprise from law enforcement.” The Department of Homeland Security, which was involved in the investigation, posted a video of Lopez’s arrest to social media.

Chicago Tribune [6/6/2025 12:00 PM, Alice Yin, 3987K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoenaed the Chicago City Clerk’s Office in April for the personal information of applicants to a municipal ID program popular with immigrants, an apparent new tactic in Republican President Donald Trump’s plan to target Chicago as he seeks to ramp up deportations. The clerk’s office received the summons on April 17 requiring the city to turn over the past three years of CityKey records, according to a copy obtained by the Tribune in a Freedom of Information Act request. The program was launched in 2017 by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city Clerk Anna Valencia as part of a stand against Trump. Asked whether the city complied with the subpoena, Law Department spokesperson Kristen Cabanban indicated some type of response but would not directly confirm whether it turned over documents to ICE, which demanded several years worth of data. "We were responsive, within the bounds of the law and consistent with our Welcoming City Ordinance," Cabanban said Friday. While Emanuel and Valencia trumpeted the safety of the CityKey application during its inception, promising that federal officials would not be able to track down applicants because the city wouldn’t keep identifying documents, the situation has recently changed. After being overwhelmed by demand for the IDs by Venezuelan migrants at in-person events in fall 2023, Valencia started offering an online application in December 2024. To meet state document requirements, the Clerk’s Office has kept application materials for more than 2,700 people who used the online CityKey system since then, according to Diana Martinez, a spokesperson for Valencia.

Univision Chicago WGBO [6/6/2025 1:48 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports Mariana López Pérez, an immigrant from Guatemala, is one of the migrants who ended up arrested at a Chicago immigration office on Wednesday, June 4. The lawyer explains that Mariana was deported at the border in 2014 after requesting asylum, allegedly because she couldn’t communicate well. She returned in 2015, her son was granted asylum, and she obtained a work permit valid until 2026. In response to Univision Chicago, an ICE spokesperson stated, “Those arrested had final removal orders issued by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.” The agency also explained that the individuals were part of the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, designed to monitor non-detained immigrants while they face immigration proceedings or prepare to leave the country.

Univision [6/6/2025 12:09 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Houston Homeland Security Investigations office, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, and the Houston Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested three undocumented immigrants on June 3. These arrests were made while federal agents executed a search warrant in the 600 block of Rosedale Street in La Marque, Galveston County, for alleged child sexual abuse material at a residence. Following the search, Edgar Javier Escobedo Castillo, 18, of Mexico, was arrested for possession of child sexual abuse material (children under 10 years old). His bail was set at $40,000. Javier Escobedo Rangel and Nieves Castillo Guzmán, 49, of Mexico, were arrested for administrative immigration violations. Following an immigration status check conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Galveston, it was determined that the three adults were in the United States illegally. The search is part of an ongoing joint child exploitation investigation between HSI’s Houston office in Galveston and the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office. This began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted authorities to suspicious online activity related to social media accounts linked to Escobedo Javier.

CBS Colorado [6/6/2025 11:18 AM, Jennifer McRae, 51860K] reports immigration advocates rallied outside U.S. District Court in Denver on Thursday, calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stay out of Denver’s courthouses. CBS Colorado has talked to advocates who learned that one family was detained by immigration agents after the family attended their scheduled immigration hearing. Arresting people at courthouses is a new ICE tactic to detain and expedite the removal process for more migrants, amid the Trump Administration’s latest quota to arrest over 3,000 migrants a day. Local immigration advocacy groups claim that at least eight people have been detained in the past week. Demonstrators said that those people who have been detained at the courthouse are following the rules of law and doing what they are supposed to do to stay in the U.S. "Now having people who are fighting all of the things, and doing all of the things, and paying all of the fees, and they are still being taken away," said Andrea Loya, Casa de Paz Executive Director. The Department of Homeland Security gave CBS Colorado a statement that reads in part, "Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals... ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been.".

Bloomberg [6/6/2025 3:55 PM, Rachel Adams-Heard and Elena Mejía, 19320K] reports New Mexico’s senior US senator is once again calling for the closure of one of his state’s most notorious immigration detention facilities, citing a recent tour he said confirmed that conditions there had deteriorated. Democrat Martin Heinrich said his staff visited the Torrance County Detention Facility in late May, two weeks after Bloomberg published a story that detailed a series of problems at the facility, which primarily detains people on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It is clear that conditions at TCDF have not improved and remain inadequate and inappropriate for detention purposes,” Heinrich wrote in a letter to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons on Thursday. When Heinrich’s staff visited one of the facility’s pods, they found “backed-up sinks, a drain in the middle of the common area backing up with sewage water, and non-functioning tablet devices” that people in detention use to access legal services, according to the letter. They also heard at least 10 detainees file complaints with an ICE official “of verbal and physical abuse, a lack of access to laundry services and being forced to wear old, dirty, and tattered clothing, and a lack of access to medical services.” After hearing those complaints, Heinrich’s staff was prevented from visiting other sections of the pod, he wrote in the letter. Under President Donald Trump, ICE detention oversight is being rolled back. In February, border czar Tom Homan said the administration was working to reduce federal inspections of local jails and prisons that detain people for the agency. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, has since moved to dismantle its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties as well as the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, two branches that have documented past problems at the Torrance County Detention Facility.

FOX News [6/6/2025 10:22 PM, Greg Wehner, Landon Mion, 46878K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out operations at businesses across Los Angeles on Friday, sparking protests and clashes outside at least one location, which resulted in authorities throwing flash bangs in an effort to disperse the crowd. The Associated Press reported that immigration advocates confirmed nearly 45 people were arrested across seven locations. The locations included two Home Depot stores, a store in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, according to Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), who spoke at an afternoon news conference to denounce the actions. David Huerta, the president of SEIU California, a major labor union, was arrested and charged for impeding a federal agent while protesting, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. "Let’s be clear: ICE injured and detained the president of SEIU California for peacefully observing," SEIU California wrote on X. "ICE picked the wrong side. The wrong state. The wrong person. and the wrong union. David Huerta stood up. And 750,000 SEIU workers are standing with him." California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, responded that Huerta is a "respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people" and that "no one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action." Videos of the operations taken by bystanders and TV news crews showed people being escorted across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents. The videos also captured clashes between protesters and federal agents at detention sites. KTLA shared aerial footage of agents outside a clothing store in the fashion district escorting individuals out of a building and toward two large white vans. The individuals were detained and had their hands tied behind their backs. Before being placed into the vans, agents were seen patting the detained individuals down. One man has already been sent back to Mexico after being picked up at a Home Depot on Friday morning, Yliana Johansen-Mendez, chief program officer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told The Associated Press. The man’s family contacted the organization, and one of their attorneys was waiting for hours to speak to him inside the detention center. Authorities later said he had already been removed, and the man contacted his family to say he was back in Mexico. Agents executing the operations wore vests bearing FBI, ICE and HSI (Homeland Security Investigations).

Los Angeles Times [6/7/2025 1:25 AM, Rachel Uranga, Rebecca Ellis, Clara Harter, Ruben Vives and Seema Mehta, 14672K] reports a series of surprise U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in downtown Los Angeles on Friday prompted fierce pushback from elected officials and protesters, who decried the enforcement actions as "cruel and unnecessary" and said they stoked fear in the immigrant community. Tensions remained high in downtown into the evening. The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly and ordered about 200 protesters who remained gathered by the Los Angeles Federal Building to disperse around 7 p.m. The use of so-called less-lethal munitions was authorized at 8 p.m. following reports of a small group of "violent individuals" throwing large pieces of concrete at officers, police said. A citywide tactical alert was issued shortly thereafter. Chaos erupted earlier in the day in the heart of the Fashion District after federal immigration authorities detained employees inside a clothing wholesaler, and used flash-bang grenades and pepper spray on a crowd protesting the raid around 1:30 p.m. Hundreds of people then rallied outside the Los Angeles Federal Building at 4 p.m., condemning the crackdown and demanding the release of Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta, who was injured and detained while documenting a raid, according to a statement from the labor union. "Our community is under attack and has been terrorized," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, told the crowd of protesters. "These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers.” Forty-four people were administratively arrested and one person was arrested for obstruction during Friday’s immigration action, said Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE. Federal agents executed four search warrants related to the suspected harboring of people illegally in the country at three locations in central Los Angeles, she said. Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles, said his team has identified at least 11 Mexican nationals who were detained during raids across the Southland. The office is offering them legal services, and he said he is monitoring detention conditions. "The detention center seems to be at full capacity," he said. "Every cell seems to be occupied.”

Univision [6/6/2025 3:35 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports the city of Glendale has been accused of illegally collaborating with federal immigration authorities and violating California’s sanctuary laws. Activists and advocates claim that such cooperation represents a direct violation of Act 54, which limits local agencies’ involvement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to recent reports, undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE agents have been housed in the 96-bed Glendale Municipal Jail. This makes Glendale one of the few jurisdictions in California that continues to facilitate immigration enforcement operations, in clear contradiction to state law. The Los Angeles Times confirmed that at least two people were transferred last week by immigration authorities to the custody of local police.

Univision [6/6/2025 2:39 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports immigration lawyers estimate that dozens of immigrants who showed up this week for routine check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were detained and locked in the basement of the building in Los Angeles, California, CBS News reports. It is unknown how many people were detained, but lawyers told the network it could be in the hundreds, and that dozens were taken to basement rooms with a capacity of about 30 people. The immigrants affected by these detentions are those under ICE’s Intensive Supervision Presentation Program (ISAP), which has been in operation since 2004 and allows individuals to continue their immigration proceedings in freedom, but with periodic in-person check-ins with agency officials.

CBS Los Angeles [6/6/2025 5:29 AM, Nidia Cavazos, 51860K] reports many undocumented immigrants who went to their Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in appointments at a federal building in Los Angeles this week were taken into custody and brought to the basement and held there, some overnight, according to immigration lawyers and family members. It was unclear how many people were affected, but the attorneys told CBS News hundreds of immigrants were detained — dozens in the basement in rooms that could fit up to 30 at a time. CBS News reached out to the representatives of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for comment. One attorney, Lizbeth Mateo, said ICE officials slated several of her clients for check-ins at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A. but when they showed up on Tuesday, they were detained and immediately escorted to the basement. Mateo said a couple and their two children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, spent the night in a room with no beds and limited access to food and water. Mateo said the father had previously been issued a stay of removal, barring him from deportation but he and his family were detained anyway. His wife was released Wednesday evening along with their children since she needed medical attention due to a high-risk pregnancy. He was still being detained early Friday, Mateo said. "This is something I’ve never seen before," she added. "Under the first Trump administration, I represented clients with very difficult cases, but never anything like this. Under any other circumstance, he would have been released." On Thursday evening, CBS News spoke to people waiting outside the building who claimed they had relatives in the basement who were texting them. "We are telling them that we are waiting for them outside and to remain calm," a woman using the name Maria to protect her identity told CBS News. "We just want to make sure their children, my nieces, have food."

San Diego Union Tribune [6/6/2025 8:00 AM, Michael Smolens, 1611K] reports not long after President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term, there was plenty of advice from law firms and analysts on how businesses should prepare for increased immigration raids. Among the highlights: recheck employee documents, advise workers of their rights and tell them who to notify should immigration enforcement officials show up. One thing that didn’t appear on many lists: Get ready for a SWAT-like operation. That’s what the raid at South Park’s Buona Forchetta restaurant seemed like at times last Friday, judging from interviews with witnesses, employees and viral videos. Amid the confusion, angst and anger that still lingers a week later, one important aspect of this incident hasn’t gotten much attention. This was really bad government work. It’s hard to do, but put aside, even if just for a moment, the immorality of a full-on raid by 20 or so officers, some in military tactical gear, that resulted in the shackling of restaurant workers — targeted or not. The result so far has been the arrest of four people who Homeland Security Investigations officials said were in the country illegally, though other than their immigration status there was no indication that they had criminal records. But then, the notion advanced by the Trump administration that it would be focused on hardened criminals is a ruse, as relatively unthreatening undocumented immigrants — some with legal standing to be in the country — have been targeted from early on. In short, the operation was tremendously inefficient and a waste of valuable resources that could have been directed toward catching dangerous criminals. Further, the operation nearly triggered a violent confrontation in a quiet neighborhood. It was probably a coincidence, but the South Park raid came at a time when things have not been going well for Trump’s efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement and deportations. The administration released a list of immigrant "sanctuary" jurisdictions last week that appeared to be riddled with inaccuracies, including naming some cities that actually had voted to support Trump’s policies. The list was removed from the Department of Homeland Security website, at least temporarily. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently demanded that immigration agents increase immigration arrests to 3,000 people a day, more than twice the previous quota, according to NBC and other news organizations.

Breitbart [6/6/2025 11:31 AM, John Nolte, 3077K] reports that for the third month in a row, remittances from Mexican workers to their native country dropped sharply. Compared to April of 2024, per the Bank of Mexico, April remittances dropped 12.1 percent, which is the biggest year-over-year drop in 13 years. Remittances to Mexico in April still totaled a staggering $4.76 billion, but that is down $380 million from the previous month’s $5.14 billion. Throughout 2024, Mexico received $64.7 billion in overseas remittances, most of it from the United States (specifically Texas and California). That $64.7 billion represents about four percent of the overall Mexican GDP. "The April remittance data is terrible," Banco Base economic analysis director Gabriela Siller said on X. She blamed both "the deterioration of the labor market in the U.S. and U.S. migrants’ fear of going out to work and sending their remittances, for fear of being deported." Yeah, well, the labor market is not deteriorating, sweetheart. Far from it. On the horizon is a 3.5 percent tax on these remittances in President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. This tax is expected to bring $22.2 billion into the U.S. Treasury between 2026 and 2034. Those opposed to the tax laughably claim the tax will increase illegal immigration.

New York Times [6/7/2025 3:54 AM, Mattathias Schwartz, Abbie VanSickle, Hamed Aleaziz and Eric Schmitt, 330K] reports that, somewhere inside Camp Lemonnier, an American military base in the East African nation of Djibouti, eight men, all convicted of serious crimes in the United States, are under the guard of officers from the Homeland Security Department. The Trump administration had planned to send the men, who had come to the United States years ago as immigrants from across the world, on to the war-torn country of South Sudan, an extraordinary gambit and part of President Trump’s broader plan for mass deportations. Then an order from a federal judge, on the other side of the planet in Boston, put a halt to the plan, at least for now. And so for the past 16 days, the men have been in limbo, living and sleeping inside a modular, air-conditioned container that the military usually uses as a conference room. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have the detainees under “constant surveillance,” accompanying them on their trips to the bathroom and then searching them for contraband when they return, a D.H.S. spokeswoman said. The detainees’ fate has emerged as a key test in the constitutional battle over the scope of due process. The White House is making a bold claim, arguing that handing immigrants a one-page document is sufficient to deport them to a dangerous country to which they have no previous connection. A reconstruction of the men’s surreal journey from South Texas to Camp Lemonnier reveals a chaotic effort by the Trump administration to make an example of a group of immigrants the administration has termed “the worst of the worst.” At first, the detainees were told that they were going to be sent to South Africa, but hours later were told it would be South Sudan instead. What was to happen to them next — whether they were to have been imprisoned or set free — is unclear. The judge, Brian E. Murphy of the District of Massachusetts, found that D.H.S. had given the men less than 24 hours’ notice before they were deported, in violation of a court order that migrants in their position be given a “meaningful opportunity” to voice a reasonable fear of torture.

NPR [6/6/2025 8:06 PM, Ximena Bustillo and Bill Chappell, 37958K] reports a group of deported migrants is living in a converted shipping container at a U.S. military base in Djibouti, a country in East Africa, where they are guarded around the clock by a small team of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to a Thursday court filing. Several migrants have been stuck at the base for more than two weeks, after the airplane they were on, which was originally bound for South Sudan, was rerouted mid-trip due to a federal judge’s ruling. The court ruling came after multiple people facing deportation fought the Trump administration’s effort to send them to South Sudan. Now, their case has reached the Supreme Court, which could issue a ruling at any time. It’s the latest example of migrants being caught in the legal crosshairs between Trump’s efforts to streamline deportations and the courts’ push for due process. Since the flight landed in Djibouti, ICE officers have been left with limited resources, and the migrants have been held with very limited communication with their families and no communication with their lawyers, according to the court filings. On Wednesday, lawyers for the migrants said some of the detainees were able to make contact with family members for the first time since being put on the flight on May 20. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the officers and migrants were still in Djibouti. In the Thursday court filing, Mellissa Harper, acting deputy executive associate director at ICE, said that the migrants are being held in a conference room in a converted Conex shipping container at Camp Lemonnier, a U.S. Naval Base. She said the ICE contingent includes 11 officers assigned to guard the deportees, and two officers to support medical staff. The ICE personnel are working 12-hour shifts and Harper noted they "do not have the capacity to maintain constant surveillance, custody, and care of the aliens for prolonged periods of time.” Harper said in a sworn declaration that the daily temperature where the migrants are being held has exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The conference room where deportees are housed is "not equipped nor suitable for detention of any length" and ICE officers are sharing a small sleeping space with only six beds. Harper described a series of additional concerns including exposure to malaria and close proximity to "burn pits" — a method of disposing trash and human waste in the country, she wrote. She said the pits "create a smog cloud" that causes throat irritation and difficult breathing. She also said ICE officers and detainees complained of feeling ill within three days of their arrival to the base. Some officers have slept wearing N-95 masks, but access to medication is limited, she said. "ICE officers continue to feel ill with symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, and achy joints," Harper said in her declaration. "These symptoms align with bacterial upper respiratory infection, but ICE officers are unable to obtain proper testing for a diagnosis.”

AP [6/6/2025 4:28 PM, Matthew Lee, 56000K] reports the State Department instructed U.S. embassies and consulates on Friday not to revoke visas previously issued to people from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries now under President Donald Trump’s new travel ban, which goes into effect next week. In a cable sent to all U.S. diplomatic missions, the department said “no action should be taken for issued visas which have already left the consular section” and that “no visas issued prior to the effective date should be revoked pursuant to this proclamation.” However, visa applicants from affected countries whose applications have been approved but have not yet received their visas will be denied, according to the cable, which was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting on Monday. Still, the cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, suggests there should be no issue for current visa holders from the affected countries entering the United States after the restrictions take effect on June 9 at midnight ET.

CNN [6/6/2025 3:17 PM, Kyle Feldscher, 21433K] reports President Donald Trump’s latest travel limitations may keep fans from the 19 named nations from seeing their athletes compete in some of the globe’s most important sporting events in the next several years, even if the on-field competition won’t be affected. The president’s proclamation does not appear to have a major immediate impact on planning for the World Cup, 2028 Summer Olympics or other major international sporting events scheduled for his second term in office as athletes, coaches, support staff and immediate family members will still be able to enter the country. But fans from those nations now face an even more uphill battle to see games in person, despite members of the Trump administration encouraging the world to come to the US for these global events. But there are exceptions carved out in the proclamation, including for athletes, coaches, important staffers and immediate family for athletes traveling to the US for the World Cup, Olympics and "other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State." The proclamation also states that people who have existing visas to be in the United States will not have their visas revoked as a part of the travel ban.

Washington Post [6/6/2025 6:00 AM, Gaya Gupta, Danielle Paquette, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Reis Thebault, Teo Armus, and Júlia Ledur, 32099K] reports ommigrants from the dozen countries targeted by President Donald Trump’s travel ban have put down roots in all 50 states, many escaping violence or political instability in their homelands. They left spouses, children and friends behind, hoping one day to be reunited. Overnight, those hopes have been shattered. Even plans for visits to or from relatives — for graduations, weddings or funerals — are now very uncertain. “There’s already this heightened awareness and heightened atmosphere of fear,” said Amaha Kassa, executive director of the nonprofit African Communities Together. In his executive order, Trump said the ban was based on “foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism goals.” Yet immigrants like Roozbeh Farahanipour, who left Iran in 2000 and now owns three restaurants in Los Angeles, said Trump’s action will punish individuals and families who pose no threat to the United States. Farahanipour was fielding calls Thursday from fellow Iranians in his community and back home, who are terrified about what the ban means for their future. His own story, he said, reflects a quintessential American success story.

New York Post [6/6/2025 2:49 PM, Natalie O’Neill, 49956K] reports that the green card husband of the presumed-missing Hawaiian photographer whose bizarre case captivated the country last year spoke out for the first time Friday — slamming her as a "terrible person." Alan Cacace, a citizen of Argentina, revealed details of an immigration scam that may have prompted Hannah Kobayashi’s mysterious disappearance and return in December, according to the Daily Mail. "That girl is sick," Cacace told the outlet — explaining that she offered him $15,000 to keep the scheme a secret, then failed to pay up. "I thought that after everything that had happened, she was going to do things correctly, but she lied to me once again," he said. "She’s a terrible person." Kobayashi, 31, triggered a nationwide search in November after she suddenly vanished while she was supposed to be boarding a flight to New York — only to be found safely traveling alone in Mexico weeks later. Kobayashi had been flying with Cacace and her possibly "jealous" ex-boyfriend, Amun Muniz-Miranda, along with the ex’s alleged own green card wife, when she inexplicably left Los Angeles International Airport and went missing, sources have said. In December, the FBI began looking into the case as a potential green card visa scam gone wrong after the dynamics of the group reportedly soured. Cacace said he paid Kobayashi $15,000 for a fake marriage in Maui that was meant to get him the green card, according to the Daily Mail.

New York Times [6/7/2025 5:00 AM, Robert Draper, 138952K] reports that, over lunch at the University of Texas at Austin, a professor from China and two Chinese students spoke dispiritedly this week of the directive issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese nationals studying in “critical fields.” They also talked about a Republican bill in Congress that would ban Chinese student visas to the United States. Even if such matters never come to pass, said Xiaobo Lü, a professor of government at the university in Austin, “the damage is already being done.” “Chinese students are practical,” he said. “They now have to consider whether, if they come to America, their studies will be disrupted. There’s no removing that uncertainty. That ship has sailed.” The two students accompanying Dr. Lü to lunch, who asked not to be named for fear that their visa status might be at risk, described several recent conversations with Chinese friends. One had decided to turn down offers at two prestigious American journalism schools and had opted instead for the program at the University of Hong Kong. Another said no to a coveted slot at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in favor of a modest local government job. A third Chinese friend, currently studying at Johns Hopkins University, is mulling whether to pack his bags and finish his degree back home. Their accounts align with sentiments shared by a senior academic official at the University of Texas, who said that several excellent graduate school candidates from China had withdrawn their applications. The official added that a number of Chinese students on the Austin campus were afraid to criticize the measures. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he shared those fears. There are about 1,400 Chinese students on the Austin campus. A spokesman for the university said that its administrators would have no comment. The chilling effect that has overtaken some Chinese nationals in the United States on student visas comes as the Trump administration and its allies have suggested that their presence constitutes a national security threat. Such assertions, combined with the continuing trade war with China, represent an increasingly strident anti-China sentiment among conservative officials, even as their states wrestle with the benefits and drawbacks of having Chinese students in their colleges and universities.

NPR [6/7/2025 6:30 AM, Jaclyn Diaz, 37958K] reports President Trump signed a proclamation this week suspending visas for new students from overseas who planned to attend Harvard University in the fall -- a move that a judge quickly blocked for the time being. It’s a dramatic escalation of the conflict between the White House and the country’s oldest and most elite school. The White House says it’s taking these actions due to national security, crime and civil rights concerns. The proclamation also calls on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review visas issued to other foreign nationals at Harvard and whether those students "meet the criteria" laid out in the president’s action. Trump’s recent move targets Harvard, but it’s just the latest in a string of immigration actions that have placed international students across the United States in the government’s crosshairs. Earlier this week, the White House announced a new travel ban and other restrictions for people from 19 countries starting June 9. And just last month, the State Department announced it halted scheduling new visa interviews for foreign students. As a result, uncertainty and fear are widespread and rising among international students hoping to attend American universities in the fall. Trump’s actions are already having an impact. Early data from education application portals show the number of prospective students searching for U.S. universities has already declined sharply. Smaller numbers of international students coming to the U.S. for an education can create major problems for the many schools that rely on these students for tuition as well as social, cultural and academic and research contributions, according to an economist and the head of an international educators association. "Universities understand the value of those students and their contributions culturally, socially, strength of research, all of those things," Fanta Aw, executive director of NAFSA: Association of International Educator, told NPR. And schools are deeply concerned about the message and chilling effect that the White House’s immigration policies are having, she said.

Axios [6/6/2025 6:18 AM, Martin Vassolo, 13599K] reports Haitian and Venezuelan community leaders in Miami called President Trump’s travel ban xenophobic as South Florida’s immigrant communities face further restrictions. Trump’s order fully bans Haitian citizens from traveling to the U.S. and partially bans entry for Venezuelans and Cubans, among a total of 19 nations impacted. Greater Miami is home to the largest Venezuelan, Haitian and Cuban diasporas in the U.S. The Trump administration has already revoked the legal status of many immigrants from these countries through restrictions on humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status. The order suspends the issuance of most immigrant and non-immigrant visas for Cubans and Venezuelans, while fully banning entry from Haitians, the Miami Herald reports. Trump writes in the order that Venezuela "lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures." For Haiti, he noted a 31% visitor visa overstay rate and said mass migration from Haiti creates "acute risks of increased overstay rates, establishment of criminal networks, and other national security threats." There are exemptions for current visa holders, green card holders, dual citizens, persons seeking visas through U.S. citizen family members and refugees granted asylum, per the New York Times.

Houston Chronicle [6/6/2025 3:30 PM, Samantha Ketterer, 1982K] reports Houston-area universities are awaiting the resumption of student visa interviews as a federal pause threatens the enrollment of a large international population. It’s unclear when the pause will lift, but processing times stand to be affected. The Trump administration halted new student visa interviews last week as officials decide whether to require social media vetting for all foreign students. The latest developments have amplified international students’ confusion and fears as they determine their next steps at their universities in the U.S., Banks said. Banks said that colleges have not received much guidance from the government. U.S. State Department officials have not clarified how any changes might differ from past requirements, or what topics the they might screen for in expanded social media vetting.

Washington Post [6/7/2025 6:00 AM, María Luisa Paúl, 32099K] reports Deysi Vargas’s 4-year-old daughter was fussy on Wednesday as she carried her into their Bakersfield, California, home after a dental procedure. In a few hours, Vargas would have to prepare the girl’s next feeding — washing her hands thoroughly, measuring formula and flushing her daughter’s gastric tube. It was a routine Vargas had perfected through fear. Missing even one step could mean disaster, she said. But for the first time in months, she felt like she could finally breathe. Vargas and her family, who hail from Mexico, could stay in the United States, the only country where her daughter can receive the complex and specialized treatment that keeps her alive. The girl has short bowel syndrome, a condition where the body cannot absorb enough nutrients from food. The relief that washed over Vargas had come after nearly two excruciating months, she said. In April, the government had abruptly revoked the family’s humanitarian parole without giving them a reason. The move triggered swift international outrage and prompted 38 Democratic members of Congress to send a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem urging her to reverse the decision. Then on Tuesday, Vargas received a notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: The family had been granted another year of parole. "I felt more than tranquility — peace," Vargas, 28, told Washington Post. "These moments of not knowing whether we’d be deported or allowed to stay were beyond overwhelming. It was horrible knowing that my daughter’s ability to stay alive depended on this humanitarian parole.” In a statement Friday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the family was approved to stay in the United States. The agency did not respond to questions about why their parole had been revoked after initially being granted until July. Vargas’s attorney, Gina Amato Lough, said the family fit into two categories of people who have seen their status canceled amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration: people with parole and those who entered the country through the Biden administration’s CBP One app. The Trump administration has also rolled back humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants.

NBC News [6/6/2025 2:08 PM, Albinson Linares, 44540K] reports that Aracely Serrano Ayala said she felt her world was ending several times in the last three months. After living and working in the U.S. for more than a decade, the 35-year-old resident of Plainfield, New Jersey, and her partner, Marcos Guardado, began to live in fear because they were undocumented immigrants. The Salvadoran couple never started the process of seeking a green card. As the Trump administration increased its deportation efforts, in March they decided to embark on a journey to Canada with their two daughters and apply for asylum there, where Serrano’s brother is a citizen. "We wanted a better future, to legalize our status and continue working," said Serrano, "but the United States gave us no hope." Serrano said nothing prepared her and her family for being turned away twice at the Canadian border, detained by U.S. immigration authorities and separated from her husband for several weeks, after he was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Serrano and her family are now living legally in Canada, but their story illustrates the complexities of the immigration and the asylum process, both in the U.S. and Canada.

Telemundo52 [6/6/2025 4:06 PM, Elizabeth Chavolla, 103K] reports the Honduran Alliance of Los Angeles called on the Trump administration on Friday to maintain and not cancel Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduran citizens. The U.S. government granted TPS to citizens of Honduras and Nicaragua in 1999 following the destruction left by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The program has since been renewed, but the program’s expiration date is July 5, 2025. So far, more than 54,000 Hondurans are protected under TPS, but nearly 76,000 could be eligible.

Breitbart [6/6/2025 7:02 AM, Staff, 3077K] reports mehria had been losing hope of getting a visa to emigrate to the United States but her spirits were crushed when President Donald Trump raised yet another hurdle by banning travel for Afghans.Trump had already disrupted refugee pathways after he returned to power in January but a sweeping new travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, will go into effect on Monday. The ban changes little for most Afghans who already faced steep barriers to travel abroad, but many who had hung their hopes on a new life in the United States felt it was yet another betrayal. "Trump’s recent decisions have trapped not only me but thousands of families in uncertainty, hopelessness and thousands of other disasters," Mehria, a 23-year-old woman who gave only one name, said from Pakistan, where she has been waiting since applying for a US refugee visa in 2022. "We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives and came here on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another," she told AFP. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have applied for visas to settle in the United States, either as refugees or under the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme reserved for those who aided the US government during its war against the Taliban. Afghans with SIV visas and asylum cases will not be affected by Trump’s new order but family reunification pathways are threatened, the Afghan-American Foundation said in a statement condemning the ban. Some 12,000 people are awaiting reunification with family members already living in the United States, according to Shawn VanDiver, the president of the AfghanEvac non-profit group. "These are not ‘border issues’. These are legal, vetted, documented reunifications," he wrote on social media platform X. "Without exemptions, families are stranded." "We feel abandoned by the United States, with whom we once worked and cooperated," said Zainab Haidari, another Afghan woman who has been waiting in Pakistan for a refugee visa. "Despite promises of protection and refuge we are now caught in a hopeless situation, between the risk of death from the Taliban and the pressure and threat of deportation in Pakistan," said Haidari, 27, who worked with the United States in Kabul during the war but applied for a refugee visa.

AP [6/7/2025 6:20 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports a top Taliban official said on Saturday that all Afghans who fled the country after the collapse of the former Western-backed government are free to return home, promising they would not be harmed if they come back. Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund made the amnesty offer in his message for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice.” The offer comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a sweeping travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The measure largely bars Afghans hoping to resettle in the United States permanently as well as those hoping to go to the U.S. temporarily, such as for university study. Trump also suspended a core refugee program in January, all but ending support for Afghans who had allied with the U.S. and leaving tens of thousands of them stranded. Afghans in neighboring Pakistan who are awaiting resettlement are also dealing with a deportation drive by the Islamabad government to get them out of the country. Almost a million have left Pakistan since October 2023 to avoid arrest and expulsion. Akhund’s holiday message was posted on the social platform X. “Afghans who have left the country should return to their homeland,” he said. “Nobody will harm them.” “Come back to your ancestral land and live in an atmosphere of peace,” he added, and instructed officials to properly manage services for returning refugees and to ensure they were given shelter and support. He also used the occasion to criticize the media for making what he said were “false judgements” about Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and their policies. “We must not allow the torch of the Islamic system to be extinguished,” he said. “The media should avoid false judgments and should not minimize the accomplishments of the system. While challenges exist, we must remain vigilant.” The Taliban swept into the capital Kabul and seized most of Afghanistan in a blitz in mid-August 2021 as the U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. The offensive prompted a mass exodus, with tens of thousands of Afghans thronging the airport in chaotic scenes, hoping for a flight out on the U.S. military airlift. People also fled across the border, to neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Among those escaping the new Taliban rulers were also former government officials, journalists, activists, those who had helped the U.S. during its campaign against the Taliban.

FOX News [6/6/2025 11:47 AM, Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cleared waivers allowing for 36 more miles of border wall construction in Arizona and New Mexico. The waivers curb environmental regulations that the construction would be subjected to legally build more quickly. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement that "DHS has been working at a neck-breaking speed to secure our border" and remove "criminal illegal aliens out of our country." The waivers cover several projects, including filling gaps in the Yuma Sector and making developments on the wall in the El Paso Sector, according to a news release. In addition, 24 miles will be part of the Tucson Sonoita Project. These projects already had funds allocated in 2020-21 appropriations for Customs and Border Protection, the release from CBP added. "Today’s news is welcome here in Yuma, Arizona, where our community is still grappling with the consequences of the Biden-Harris Administration’s four years of open-border policies," Jonathan Lines, a Yuma County Supervisor and Chairman of the Border Security Alliance, stated. "We applaud President Trump’s commitment to border security, and we look forward to the completion of the wall across the entire southern border. The border crisis is not yet over, and our federal government must continue to equip the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents with the tools, technologies, and resources necessary to provide adequate national security to keep America safe," Lines added.

FOX News [6/6/2025 10:48 AM, Julia Bonavita, 46878K] reports six alleged drug traffickers accused of using "narco subs" and aircraft to transport large quantities of cocaine were slapped with U.S. sanctions earlier this week, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Two Colombians – Manuel Salazar Gutierrez and Yeison Andres Sanchez Vallejo – and four Guyanese nationals – Randolph Duncan, Himnauth Sawh, Mark Cromwell and Paul Daby Jr. – have been sanctioned for allegedly trafficking tons of cocaine from South America to the United States, Europe and the Caribbean, according to officials. "Under President [Donald] Trump, this administration has achieved the most secure border in modern history," Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender said in a statement. "The Treasury Department continues to bring our unique tools and authorities to the fight against cartels and their affiliates." Officials allege that Daby Jr. and Duncan are responsible for operating the largest drug trafficking organizations throughout Guyana, relying on semi-submersible narco submarines and aircraft to transport cocaine while bribing local government officials. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsNation [6/6/2025 6:54 PM, Jeff Arnold, Ali Bradley, 5801K] reports a special tactical unit of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is being credited with helping capture fugitive Grant Hardin, the so-called "Devil in the Ozarks" who escaped from an Arkansas prison on May 25. Multiple sources tell NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley that three agents from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) apprehended Hardin on Friday. Federal officials said BORTAC agents out of the Rio Grande Valley Sector had been assigned to search for Hardin. Details were still emerging about Hardin’s capture, which was announced Friday by the Stone County, Arkansas, Sheriff’s Office. CBP said BORTAC agents have "advanced search capabilities" and extensive training in navigating complex terrain such as the region into which Hardin disappeared. Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said the unit’s "unique capabilities and training are well-suited for the demands of this critical mission."

Reported similarly:
AP [6/6/2025 6:46 PM, Jeff Martin, 56000K]
ABC News [6/6/2025 6:21 PM, Jack Moore and Meredith Deliso, 31733K]

Reuters [6/6/2025 1:47 PM, Heather Schlitz, 51390K] reports that a biological sample that a Chinese researcher was accused of smuggling into the United States and that prosecutors cast as a "dangerous biological pathogen" is a common type of fungus already widespread in U.S. crop fields that likely poses little risk to food safety, experts said. On Tuesday, U.S. federal prosecutors accused two Chinese researchers of smuggling samples of the fungus Fusarium graminearum into the U.S., describing it as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon. Yunqing Jian, 33, a researcher at the University of Michigan’s Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology has been charged in connection with allegations that she helped her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, smuggle the pathogen into the U.S. However, agriculture experts interviewed by Reuters this week said the fungus has been in the U.S. for more than a century, can be prevented by spraying pesticides, and is only dangerous if ingested regularly and in large quantities. "As a weapon, it would be a pretty ineffective one," said Jessica Rutkoski, a crop sciences professor, wheat breeder and geneticist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rutkoski and other researchers said extensive testing for the fungus’ toxin, widespread use of fungicides and the difficulty of intentionally creating an infection with the pathogen would make it a clumsy weapon. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI declined Reuters’ request for comment.

CBS Austin [6/6/2025 12:36 PM, Staff, 558K] reports the United States is in a constant battle in the war on drugs, now Mexican Drug Cartels are teaming up with China to make and distribute meth to Americans. Border Patrol Police intercepted 50,000 kilos of an important chemical used for making Methamphetamines at the Port of Long Beach, California. The seller happens to be China and it was intended for delivery to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. "For far too long, the Mexican drug cartels have raked in billions of dollars at the expense of our local communities leaving nothing but addiction, death and despair in their wake," said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz. "This initiative provides HSI with a game-changing method to stay one step ahead of the cartels by disrupting the flow of chemicals that they depend on to produce illicit narcotics.” Since the initiative first launched in 2019, it has led to the interception of more than 1,700,000 kilograms of chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamines and fentanyl. The goal is to identify suspicious shipments of precursor chemicals from China, India and other countries that are destined for Mexican Drug Cartels.

Washington Examiner [6/6/2025 11:41 AM, Brady Knox, 1934K] reports a Peruvian migrant charged with illegally entering a military zone after crossing the border from Mexico into Texas was acquitted in another legal blow to the Trump administration. Adely Vanessa De La Cruz-Alvarez, 21, was detained by soldiers on May 12 after being found in a newly designated military zone and then was arrested by a Border Patrol agent. She was charged with entering the country illegally, violating national defense property, and trespassing onto a military base — all misdemeanors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Enriquez found her guilty of the first count but acquitted her on the latter two. Though she will likely face deportation, the failure of the trespassing charges is a significant blow to the Trump administration’s new strategy — to boost penalties against illegal immigrants by designating vast swaths of the border a military zone. "Hopefully, this sets the tone for the federal government," Veronica Teresa Lerma, one of De La Cruz-Alvarez’s defense attorneys, told the Texas Tribune, adding, "So they know what the El Paso community will do with these charges." The Peruvian migrant was the subject of the first trial of an immigrant on military trespassing grounds. U.S Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas was unperturbed, saying the Trump administration would continue prosecutions based on trespassing charges. He found a silver lining in the ruling.

FOX News [6/6/2025 6:23 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports senior CBP advisor Ron Vitiello joins ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the importance of bolstering border wall construction and the latest on a major drug bust in Texas. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [6/7/2025 5:28 AM, Jane Ross and Steve Gorman, 51390K] reports helmeted police in riot gear turned out on Friday evening in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were reported to be taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. An LAPD spokesperson, Drake Madison, told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city’s Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump’s extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. One organized labor executive, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was injured and detained by ICE at one site, according to an SEIU statement. The union said Huerta was arrested "while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.” No details about the nature or severity of Huerta’s injury were given. It was not clear whether he was charged with a crime. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta’s detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.”

New York Post [6/7/2025 12:09 AM, Brie Stimson, 49956K] reports the Transportation Security Administration clarified this week that a Costco membership card is not sufficient to present at airport security. "We love hotdogs & rotisserie chickens as much as the next person but please stop telling people their Costco card counts as a REAL ID because it absolutely does not," the TSA wrote on Facebook Wednesday. The reminder comes less than a month after the US began requiring a REAL ID driver’s license when flying domestically May 7. Aside from REAL IDs, which have enhanced federal standards, domestic flyers can also use their passports or another federally-approved form of identification like Defense Department-issued IDs (but not a Costco card). "Department of Defense IDs for active and retired military continue to be an acceptable form of ID at TSA checkpoints following the implementation of REAL ID last month," the TSA wrote on Facebook Thursday. REAL IDs were available for years before the requirement went into effect after a 2005 law was passed based on recommendations from the 9/11 Commission report. With many procrastinating until shortly before the deadline, DMV centers were inundated with long lines in April and early May, and there was confusion about what forms of identification, such as a passport, birth certificate or Social Security card, were acceptable at a DMV to secure a REAL ID.

Bloomberg [6/6/2025 11:45 AM, Lauren Rosenthal and Zahra Hirji, 19320K] reports the Atlantic hurricane season started June 1 and is predicted to be more active than usual this year. A busy hurricane season would test the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s dramatic cuts to its disaster programs. FEMA — the nation’s top agency for response and recovery work — has endured significant upheaval since Trump’s return to the White House, including firings, voluntary staff departures, grant freezes and canceled initiatives. Instead of nominating a full-term administrator to lead FEMA, which sits under the Department of Homeland Security, Trump has selected a rotating cast of interim chiefs with little disaster response experience. Trump’s moves are intended to shift more disaster management away from the federal government. “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,” an agency spokesperson said, adding that “FEMA is fully activated in preparation for hurricane season.” Trump’s moves are intended to shift more disaster management away from the federal government. “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,” an agency spokesperson said, adding that “FEMA is fully activated in preparation for hurricane season.”

Washington Post [6/6/2025 12:18 PM, Matthew Cappucci, 32099K] reports that a multiday stretch of severe weather, with the potential for significant tornadoes, continues Friday across the southern Plains and the mid-South. Damaging winds will accompany several sprawling storm complexes that could reach all the way east to the Tennessee Valley and the Appalachians, while the Texas and Colorado High Plains will deal with rotating supercell thunderstorms and a few tornadoes. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported west of Lubbock, Texas, on Thursday, along with hail as big as large grapefruits and winds gusting over 100 mph. The town of Smyer, west of Lubbock, logged winds gusting to 109 mph. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported west of Lubbock, Texas, on Thursday, along with hail as big as large grapefruits and winds gusting over 100 mph. Multiple windy storm complexes could also pass over the same parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee two or three days in a row. It’s an extremely active severe weather pattern that will continue without much relief until mid to late next week. A second area of storms has been forming each day over the High Plains of Texas, New Mexico, southeast Colorado, southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. There, storms have been blossoming along the dry line, where dry desert air clashes with moisture-rich gulf air to the east, producing giant hail and tornadoes. Otherwise, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the northern parts of Mississippi and Alabama might see windy squall lines.

FOX News [6/6/2025 9:47 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump will be hosting a military parade next Saturday honoring military veterans and active-duty service members to commemorate the U.S. Army’s birthday. The parade is scheduled for June 14, the 250th birthday of the United States Army, Flag Day, and Trump’s birthday. Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) announced the airport is expected to halt flights during the parade. "To accommodate aircraft flyovers along the parade route, followed by a fireworks display, the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to suspend airline operations at DCA – affecting scheduled flights," reads an airport press release. The airport cautions that "customers with flight reservations for the evening of June 14 should check the status of their flights directly with their airline." An FAA spokesperson told Fox News Digital the agency is working with the Department of Defense to finalize a flyover plan detailing the number and types of aircraft involved. Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) for the Washington, D.C., area will be issued in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security "to ensure safety and security during the celebration." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Houston Chronicle [6/6/2025 4:12 PM, John Wayne Ferguson, 1982K] reports a man, who last year faked a drowning in Galveston by making a false distress call and causing a frantic coastline search, was sentenced to three years probation and order to pay more than $135,000 for the hoax. Joseph Grams, 48, of Reagan, was sentenced Friday by U.S. Judge George Hanks. Grams is already serving a 12-year sentence in a Texas prison on unrelated charges. The probation, and his payments, are scheduled to begin when his state sentence ends. Grams pleaded guilty to committing a saving life and property hoax in March. The charge carried a potential sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Authorities in Central Texas last year alleged that Grams, a felon who had been under indictment on an assault charge and who was accused of missing court dates, tried to fake his death. A federal grand jury indicted Grams on the hoax charge in January, according to court records. The one-count indictment accuses Grams of knowingly communicating a false distress message to the Coast Guard and knowingly causing an attempt to save lives and property when no help was needed.

Reuters [6/6/2025 6:35 AM, Kirsty Needham, 51390K] reports China is taking further steps towards high seas boarding of fishing boats in the Pacific for the first time, risking tensions with Taiwanese fleets and U.S. Coast Guard vessels that ply the region, Pacific Islands officials told Reuters. The Chinese Coast Guard demonstrated the capabilities of one of its largest ships, used to enforce maritime law in the Taiwan Strait, to Pacific Island ministers last week. It is also actively involved in debates on the rules of high seas boarding, according to documents and interviews with Pacific fisheries officials. The fisheries officials said it was anticipated China will soon begin patrols in a "crowded" fisheries surveillance space. "Hosting the leaders, demonstrating their capabilities in terms of maritime operations, those kind of things are indications they want to step into that space," said Allan Rahari, director of fisheries operations for the Forum Fisheries Agency, in an interview with Reuters. The agency runs enforcement against illegal fishing for a group of 18 Pacific Island countries, with assistance from navy and air force patrols by Australia, the United States, France and New Zealand.

CyberScoop [6/6/2025 6:09 PM, Tim Starks] reports resident Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that the White House says promotes developing secure software, adopting the latest encryption protocols, securing internet routing and rolling back parts of two executive orders from the Biden and Obama administrations. “Cybersecurity is too important to be reduced to a mere political football,” a fact sheet on the executive order reads, criticizing President Joe Biden for attempting “to sneak problematic and distracting issues into cybersecurity policy” in an executive order just before he left office. The White House didn’t release the text of the document but the fact sheet took on some of Trump’s favorite political topics, saying that it prevents misuse of sanctions “against domestic political opponents and clarifying that sanctions do not apply to election-related activities,” while also saying that “it refocuses artificial intelligence (AI) cybersecurity efforts towards identifying and managing vulnerabilities, rather than censorship.” It’s unclear from the fact sheet which domestic political opponents the White House alleges sanctions have been used against; congressional Republicans released a report claiming the Biden administration used AI to promote censorship, which the executive order might be referencing. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “President Trump has made it clear that this Administration will do what it takes to make America cyber secure — including focusing relentlessly on technical and organizational professionalism to improve the security and resilience of the nation’s information systems and networks,” the fact sheet states. The administration has triggered bipartisan concern about cuts to the budget of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

DailySignal.com [6/6/2025 3:40 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 558K] reports President Donald Trump on Friday moved to ensure American airspace dominance and protect the U.S. from foreign threats from above. Trump signed three executive orders, "Unleashing American Drone Dominance," "Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty," and "Leading the World in Supersonic Flight," The Daily Signal has learned. The drone order expands commercial drone operations, secures supply chains, and boosts U.S. manufacturing. It launches initiatives to secure the drone supply chain, reducing reliance on hostile foreign manufacturers. The order also prioritizes American-made drones in federal procurement and enables the export of U.S. drones. The "Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty" creates a federal task force to modernize drone regulation and respond to security threats. It directs the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to integrate counterdrone efforts into Joint Terrorism Task Forces. It also directs the Federal Aviation Administration to expedite rules restricting drone flights over sensitive or critical areas. The "Leading the World in Supersonic Flight" order promotes U.S. leadership in supersonic aviation by repealing regulations that the administration thinks have blocked commercial supersonic flight. The order instructs the FAA to set new noise certification standards for supersonic aircraft and aims to allow coast-to-coast U.S. travel in less than four hours.

CBS News [6/6/2025 12:31 PM, Nicole Sganga, 51860K] Video HERE reports Federal law enforcement agencies have issued a new intelligence bulletin, obtained by CBS News, warning that recent attacks in Boulder, Colorado, at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., and at the Pennsylvania governor’s residence "could motivate others to conduct violence against Israeli and Jewish institutions, or their supporters." The memo was issued by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center to law enforcement nationwide Wednesday, voicing concern that "some individuals online are sharing the manifesto of the alleged Capital Jewish Museum attacker, praising their actions, and calling for additional violence." "We advise security partners to remain vigilant for threats of targeted violence against Jewish and Israeli communities, and their supporters," the memo says. The law enforcement bulletin said intelligence analysts assess that "online messaging promoting violence by foreign terrorist organizations, their supporters, and other threat actors particularly messaging that highlights successful attacks –- could compel threat actors motivated by various ideologies to engage in violence." The law enforcement agencies also warned that foreign terrorist organizations have pushed content encouraging violence regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, "and the online messaging is one of many factors that has influenced the radicalization of violent extremists.”

ABC News [6/6/2025 10:43 AM, Luke Barr and Emily Shapiro, 31733K] reports the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are warning of an "elevated threat" facing the Jewish community in the wake of two attacks: Sunday’s Molotov cocktail assault in Boulder, Colorado, and last month’s killing of two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington, D.C. The Israel-Hamas conflict "may motivate other violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators with similar grievances to conduct violence against Jewish and Israeli communities and their supporters," the FBI and DHS said in a public service announcement issued Thursday night. "Foreign terrorist organizations also may try to exploit narratives related to the conflict to inspire attacks in the United States." The public should "remain vigilant" and "report any threats of violence or suspicious activity to law enforcement," the agencies said.

NewsMax [6/6/2025 2:13 PM, Sam Barron, 4622K] reports that a teenager in Columbia County, Oregon, was arrested by the FBI and local law enforcement after he conspired to conduct an improvised explosive attack and mass shooting at a mall in Washington. The teen was arrested on Thursday, May 22, after his threats against the Three Rivers Mall, the FBI Portland Field Office said. The FBI said it first learned of the teen’s attack plans on Monday, May 19. The juvenile was identified as a person who shared nihilistic violent extremist ideology and the plans in online chats. The suspect was placed under court-authorized surveillance for public safety concerns, and a federal search warrant was planned and executed prior to their arrest, the FBI said. The teenager had a map of the mall, a route the shooter would follow, and a plan to use a chlorine bomb to cause panic and then shoot mall patrons as they were exiting the movie theatre, the FBI said. The suspect’s plans included committing suicide at a predetermined location in the mall, according to the FBI. Three pistols, four knives, and various types of ammunition were seized as part of the search warrant, authorities said. The teen had been planning the attack since the beginning of the year, law enforcement said at a press conference. "This plot was as serious as it gets," said FBI Portland Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson.

NBC News [6/6/2025 2:35 PM, Viola Flowers, 44540K] reports that what began as a fist fight at a high school graduation in Michigan on Tuesday could have become a mass shooting, officials said. Oakland County authorities now have two suspects in custody in connection with the attempt at the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac (ATAP) graduation, officials said on Friday. Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced in a press conference Friday afternoon authorities were searching for 20-year-old Jamarion Jaryante Hardiman, who is currently on probation for a weapons offense. Hardiman has since been located. Another 19-year-old suspect is in custody, whose identity is not being released until charges are filed. Bouchard said the 19-year-old suspect also has a criminal history involving weapons. Neither suspect has been charged yet. Oakland County Sheriff deputies were initially dispatched at 6:40 p.m. to the graduation held at the United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) sports complex for a fight. A person approached deputies at the scene and informed them a family member had seen a threat posted on Snapchat to shoot up the ceremony, Bouchard said. Authorities are not sure of the post’s specific wording, as it has been taken down, but witnesses said it was along the lines of "was going to shoot up the crowd," Bouchard said. The two suspects, both Pontiac residents, were identified as individuals who were part of the fight and had been seen putting packages under cars in the parking lot when authorities arrived, according to Bouchard. ABC News [6/6/2025 1:30 PM, Emily Shapiro, 31733K] reports that the apparent plot was revealed after authorities responded to a fight that broke out during the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac graduation, which was held Tuesday at a business in Pontiac, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "A person approached our deputies and gave them information that a family member had told them that they had seen on Snapchat a threat to shoot up this graduation ceremony," Bouchard said at a news conference Friday. Authorities kept investigating and recovered two loaded guns with high-capacity magazines from under cars in the parking lot, the sheriff said. Law enforcement "probably prevented a mass shooting," the sheriff said. One suspect, 19-year-old Deahveon Shamar-James Whaley, has been arrested, Bouchard said. Authorities are searching for a second suspect, 20-year-old Jamarion Jaryante Hardiman, the sheriff said. Hardiman and Whaley were not students at the K-12 charter school but were connected via "friends and relatives," the sheriff said, and they appeared to have "ongoing disputes with individuals in the community."[Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
NBC News [6/6/2025 7:41 PM, Staff, 44540K] Video: HERE

CBS Austin [6/6/2025 7:33 AM, Yami Virgin, Michael Guerrero, and Chris Lollis, 558K] reports a teen accused of terrorism and a high-profile arson case was back in court Tuesday—this time accompanied by his attorneys and his grandmother. Judge William "Cruz" Shaw of the 436th Juvenile District Court began the hearing by reminding the teen of his rights. "You have the right to remain silent. You also have a right to an attorney," Shaw said. The court hearing was held to determine whether the teen would be released into the custody of his grandmother or remain in juvenile detention. The teen, who exercised his right to remain silent, was arrested on a terrorism charge after allegedly arriving at Rhodes Middle School in tactical gear. He’s facing a state terrorism charge. Prosecutors noted that since his last hearing, the teen has not exhibited any behavioral issues and has been attending regular counseling sessions. "We don’t feel that he’s allowing himself to be adequately supervised, and he may be a danger to himself or others," prosecutors said during the hearing. "He would like me to report that he would like to be released into the custody of his grandmother with the assistance of a GPS monitor.” However, Judge Shaw ruled the teen would remain in custody. "At this time the court is ordering he remains detained," Judge Shaw said. "He won’t allow himself to be adequately supervised and he may be a danger to himself or others." Judge Shaw said the teen is a danger to the public. Just last year, the teen was in court, charged with arson in a 2023 apartment building fire that displaced several families. That trial ended in a mistrial and is currently being appealed by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. Sources tell FOX SA that the teen has been on the radar of the Bexar County Fire Marshal since he was 10 years old. The D.A.’s office now has 30 days from the date of the teen’s most recent arrest to file a formal terrorism charge. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [6/6/2025 11:21 AM, Brooke Williams and Vicente Arenas, 18649K] reports over 100 charges have been formally filed against the suspect in the Boulder, Colorado, terror attack that injured 15 people on Sunday. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces 118 charges. He is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails into a group of people who were holding a peaceful gathering at the Pearl Street Mall. Soliman also faces a federal hate crime charge. Charges were filed by the 20th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Thursday.

Soliman, from Egypt, overstayed his tourist visa and was living in the country illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security. His wife and five children were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). An FBI affidavit said Soliman confessed to the attack and allegedly told the police he would do it again. According to the criminal complaint, the suspect told police he had been planning the attack for a year and waited until after his daughter’s graduation to attack. He told investigators he researched and specifically targeted a "Zionist group.”

USA Today [6/6/2025 5:37 PM, Jeanine Santucci and Michael Loria, 75552K] reports the suspect in a Boulder, Colorado, attack on a gathering to support Israeli hostages in Gaza made an initial appearance on June 6 in federal court where he was formally charged with a hate crime. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is accused of targeting the group at a pedestrian mall with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower on June 1, according to a criminal complaint. He threw the makeshift firebombs at the Jewish demonstrators while he was shouting "Free Palestine," according to federal court filings detailing the suspected hate crime. Officials said 15 people between the ages of 25 and 88 were injured with burns. A judge ordered Soliman back in court on June 18 for a hearing where prosecutors will begin presenting evidence, according to court filings. Soliman appeared in court with an Arabic translator. Soliman, an Egyptian native who authorities said overstayed a tourist visa to the United States, also appeared in a state courtroom on June 5, where he was charged with another 118 criminal counts, including attempted murder, using explosive devices, attempting to use an incendiary device, assault on someone over the age of 70 and other charges. He’s expected back in court for the state charges in July. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the attack was antisemitic. In a federal criminal complaint, authorities said Soliman admitted to investigators that "he wanted to kill all Zionist people" and wanted to stop them from taking over "our land," referring to Palestine. Soliman entered the United States in August 2022 on a B-2 tourist visa that expired over two years ago, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. An affidavit said he was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado. McLaughlin said Soliman applied for asylum in September 2022.

Daily Caller [6/6/2025 12:14 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 1010K] reports House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is leading a Republican-led investigation into the suspected illegal immigrant linked to the recent terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado. Jordan will send letters obtained by the Daily Caller to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, expressing concern over federal immigration enforcement. Specifically, the Ohio congressman sharply criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of visa vetting, using the case of Mohammed Sabry Soliman as a key example. Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, entered the U.S. during the Biden administration and remained in the country after overstaying his visa, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF). He faces charges for allegedly attacking several people at a demonstration supporting the 58 hostages of Hamas with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails. “The issuance of Soliman’s visa and his admission into the United States raise serious questions about the Biden-Harris Administration’s application of federal immigration law and the adequacy of visa vetting procedures more generally. The Trump-Vance Administration, by contrast, has applied increased scrutiny to aliens seeking to obtain a visa or other immigration benefit,” Jordan wrote in the letter. “Soliman’s antisemitic attack also comes in the wake of oftentimes violent anti-Israel protests and harassment across the United States, including on college campuses.”

CNN [6/6/2025 2:48 PM, Hanna Park and Rebekah Riess, 21433K] reports an Oregon teen has been arrested in connection with an alleged mass shooting plot targeting the Three Rivers Mall in Kelso, in southwestern Washington, officials said. The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed due to their age, allegedly planned to detonate a chlorine bomb to create chaos and panic before shooting fleeing patrons exiting a movie theater, the FBI Portland Field Office said in a statement. The Columbia County, Oregon, Sheriff’s Office arrested the suspect on May 22, the FBI said. The suspect currently faces charges of attempted murder in the second degree, attempted assault in the first degree, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, tampering with physical evidence, disorderly conduct and two counts of unlawful possession of firearms according to the Columbia County district attorney and the charging document. The suspect is expected to appear in court for an arraingment hearing Friday afternoon. "This plot was as serious as it gets," FBI Portland Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson said in the statement. "An alarming amount of indicators of a cogent path to violence were met – at no point in this plan did it seem like the suspect wouldn’t follow through with their plans," the statement said.

Wall Street Journal [6/6/2025 4:59 PM, Heather Somerville, 646K] reports President Trump issued executive orders to ease restrictions on U.S. drones and take other steps to bolster an industry struggling with competition from China. One of the orders issued Friday directs the Federal Aviation Administration to speed the development of a new rule to allow operators to fly drones even if they are out of sight. It also encourages the federal government, local police and other first responders to use only American-made drones. In addition, an order establishes a federal task force to find new ways to take down rogue drones and empower law enforcement to prosecute offending drone operators. And the president said the Commerce Department should take steps to protect the drone supply chain from any national security risks presented by use of Chinese components. Taken together, the orders aim to boost struggling American drone makers, wean the U.S. off Chinese drones and defend the country against small aircraft that are playing increasingly important roles in business, public safety and military operations. “This is a clear recognition by the federal government of the importance the drone industry has to the future of our security and our economic well-being,” said Lisa Ellman, chief executive of the Commercial Drone Alliance, a trade group. The orders are the first presidential directives aimed at the drone industry. In calling for more innovation at home and pushing for widespread adoption of made-in-America aircraft, they acknowledge the fragile state of the U.S. drone industry, which has struggled to produce large numbers of capable and affordable drones.

AP [6/6/2025 6:36 PM, Josh Funk and Didi Tang] reports President Donald Trump wants to counter the threats drones pose to national security under new rules released Friday, while also aiming to make it easier for Americans to fly faster than the speed of sound and expedite the development of the flying cars of the future. The three executive orders will encourage the Federal Aviation Administration to expedite rules to allow companies to use drones beyond their operators’ line of sight, while also imposing restrictions meant to help protect against terrorism, espionage and public safety threats. The orders direct the FAA to expedite a new rule restricting drone flights over sensitive sites and work with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to better enforce laws on illegal drone use. One of Trump’s orders directs the FAA to eliminate the 1973 speed restriction that prohibits flights over Mach 1 and replace it with a noise standard. The executive orders don’t ban Chinese-made drones, including those by DJI that are popular in the U.S., but the Trump administration said it will prioritize American-made drones in federal procurement programs and open up grants to help state and local first responders buy U.S. drones. The administration also is mandating national security reviews of some Chinese drone makers.

AP [6/6/2025 7:31 PM, Tara Copp, 2346K] reports that the Pentagon’s watchdog is looking into whether any of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter, according to two people familiar with the investigation and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The inspector general’s request focuses on how information about the March 15 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen was shared on the messaging app. This comes as Hegseth is scheduled to testify before Congress next week for the first time since his confirmation hearing. He is likely to face questions under oath not only about his handling of sensitive information but also the wider turmoil at the Pentagon following the departures of several senior aides and an internal investigation over information leaks. Hegseth already has faced questions over the installation of an unsecured internet line in his office that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols and revelations that he shared details about the military strikes in multiple Signal chats.

The Hill [6/6/2025 1:18 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 18649K] reports that the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he could be "on the hook" for hundreds of millions of dollars for having accepted a luxury jet from the Qatari government. In a letter sent Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) argued that Hegseth’s formal acceptance of the Boeing 747 jetliner last month — a move made so the Air Force can upgrade its security measures so it may eventually be used as Air Force One — violates the Constitution Emoluments Clause. The rule bars federal officials from accepting financial benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval. "I write now to urge and advise you to promptly mitigate these violations—and your own personal legal exposure—by either returning the plane to the Qatari government or promptly seeking Congress’s consent to accept it," Raskin wrote. The Pentagon announced on May 21 it officially accepted the 13-year-old luxury jet previously used by the Qatari royal family, a supposed "free," gift that could be used to supplement the aging Air Force One fleet, according to President Trump. The transfer has been criticized by U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who say it raises ethical and corruption questions in addition to costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit the plane into a secure and working Air Force One. Others have focused on the national security risks of such a gift, saying the aircraft would have to be swept for listening devices. Some have worried that in Trump’s push to use the plane before he leaves office, the Air Force will rush security upgrades and cut corners on protection systems.

Wall Street Journal [6/6/2025 3:13 PM, Alex Leary, 646K] reports President Trump is planning to give TikTok another lifeline. With a mid-June deadline approaching and trade talks with China in limbo, Trump is expected to sign an executive order staving off enforcement of a law banning or forcing the sale of the app, according to people familiar with his plan. It would be the third extension since Trump took office in January. The current one expires June 19. The White House had been facilitating a deal for investors to take ownership of an American-operated TikTok, but it got tangled in Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs on Chinese imports in early April. That same framework is on the table, but until tensions with Beijing are settled, a deal isn’t likely to proceed, administration officials said. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. The New York Post earlier reported that Trump was likely to extend the deadline. Trump on April 4 signed an executive order granting a 75-day extension allowing TikTok to operate in the U.S., having already directed the Justice Department not to enforce the 2024 law passed with bipartisan support over national security concerns. U.S. officials said TikTok’s China-based ownership potentially gives Beijing a way to collect data on Americans and influence public opinion. TikTok owner ByteDance has said it hasn’t received any such requests and wouldn’t comply if it did.

FOX News [6/7/2025 4:00 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46878K] reports that, after the pattern of recent covert communist Chinese infiltrations of the U.S. continued with the arrest of two suspected "bioterrorists" in Michigan this week, one expert said it’s time to sever relations with China completely. "The only way to stop this is to sever relations with China," attorney and Chinese Communist Party expert Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital. "And I know people think that’s drastic, but we are being overwhelmed, and we are going to get hit. And we are going to get hit really hard. Not just with COVID, not just with fentanyl, but perhaps with something worse." Chang was responding to recent news of Chinese nationals Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, who, over a two-year period, were allegedly smuggling Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. and studying it in labs. Jian was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, whose research was funded in part by the People’s Republic of China. Fusarium graminearum is a toxic fungus that causes a crop-killing "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice that "is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year," according to the Department of Justice. It is also toxic to humans, and can cause vomiting, liver damage and "reproductive defects in humans and livestock." "This couple should be sent to Guantánamo," Chang said. "This Chinese government has declared a ‘People’s War’ on us." A "People’s War" is a military strategy developed by brutal former Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, who died in 1976, known for killing tens of millions of Chinese people via starvation and political persecution. Such a war calls for a protracted military and political onslaught meant to exhaust the enemy. Jian and Liu were arrested earlier this week and charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud. "We’re Americans, so we think we’re entitled to ignore the propaganda of hostile regimes," Chang said. "But for a communist party, [a People’s War] has great resonance, and what they’re doing with their strident anti-Americanism is creating a justification to strike our country." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [6/6/2025 9:52 PM, Greg Wehner, 46878K] reports President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to start sending rare earth minerals to the U.S. after halting the shipments in April. Trump held a gaggle on the presidential jet Friday evening, and one reporter asked him just before landing if Xi had agreed to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets to the U.S. "Yes, he did," Trump replied. "We’re very far advanced on the China deal.” The news comes about a month and a half after China effectively halted exports of seven precious minerals, vital for assembling cars, robotics and defense systems, to the U.S. in a direct strike on America’s manufacturing and defense supply chain. Overseas deliveries of magnets stopped April 4, when new licensing rules took effect, according to New York Times. Companies are only allowed to export rare earth materials if they obtain special export licenses, which take 45 days to receive. The halt also threatened to undercut Trump’s tariff strategy because China produces about 60% of the world’s critical mineral supply and processes even more, up to 90%. China’s mineral halt to the U.S. Defense Department came after Beijing had already imposed sanctions on multiple U.S. military contractors late last year, according to Reuters. Chinese entities were prohibited from engaging or cooperating with them in response to an arms sale to Taiwan, the outlet reported. Trump and Xi had a lengthy call Thursday amid economic and national security friction regarding trade between the U.S. and China. "I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal," Trump said Thursday in a Truth Social post. "The call lasted approximately one and a half hours and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.” Trump said the conversation focused mostly on trade. The call came nearly a week after Trump condemned China for violating an initial trade agreement that the U.S. and China hashed out in May and a day after Trump said Xi was "extremely hard to make a deal with" in a Truth Social post.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [6/7/2025 3:54 AM, Keith Bradsher, 330K]

CNN [6/7/2025 3:33 AM, Nectar Gan, 21433K] reports US President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has agreed to restart the flow of crucial rare earth materials, after announcing a new round of US-China trade talks will be held in London on Monday. Trump made the comments a day after holding his long-awaited phone call with Xi, during which the two leaders agreed to resume negotiations stalled over mutual accusations of violating the truce reached in Geneva last month. For Washington, a major sticking point has been China’s export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets, which are essential for everything from cars to fighter jets, and critical to American industries and defense. In the weeks since the fragile detente, Washington has accused Beijing of slow-walking approvals for rare earth exports and reneging on its promise made in Geneva, with Trump expressing increasing urgency to speak to his Chinese counterpart to iron things out. After a 90-minute call on Thursday, Trump said he and Xi had "straightened out" some points related to rare earth magnets, describing it as "very complex stuff." But he did not specify what exactly had been agreed upon. Asked Friday if Xi had agreed to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets, Trump told reporters abroad Air Force One: "Yes, he did." He did not further elaborate on how fast that would happen, or the volume of the materials that would be released. The Chinese readout of the call did not mention rare earths. Instead, it quoted Xi as saying that China had "seriously and earnestly" complied with the trade truce agreement. Asked about it at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily briefing on Friday, a spokesperson sidestepped the question, saying it was a matter for other agencies to address. China, which controls 90% of the global processing of rare earths, imposed export restrictions on some minerals and magnets on April 4 at the height of the tariff war, after Trump slapped "reciprocal" levies on Chinese goods. The new system does not ban exports outright, but requires government approval for each shipment. Chinese scholars who advise the government suggested on Thursday that Beijing is not ready to give up the powerful leverage bestowed by its dominance on the rare earth supply chain – and may seek to use it to get Washington to ease its own export controls aimed at blocking China’s access to advanced US semiconductors and technologies. While American businesses are likely to see more shipments approved in the next couple of weeks, the export licensing regime is here to stay, said Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. He noted that, according to official rules set by China’s Commerce Ministry, applications for export licenses can take up to 45 working days to be approved.

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