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.

New York Times [3/14/2025 5:03 PM, Troy Closson, 145325K] reports a second person who took part in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University has been arrested by U.S. immigration agents, after overstaying a student visa, federal officials said on Friday, the latest turn in the crisis engulfing the Ivy League institution. The person, identified by the authorities as Leqaa Kordia, is Palestinian and from the West Bank. She was arrested in Newark on Thursday, officials said. Her student visa was terminated in January 2022, and she was arrested by the New York City police last April for her role in a campus demonstration, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. The agency also released a video on Friday that it said showed a Columbia student, identified as Ranjani Srinivasan, preparing to enter Canada after her student visa was revoked. The announcements, by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, reflected an escalation of the Trump administration’s focus on Columbia, where protests over the war in Gaza last year ignited a national debate over free speech and antisemitism, and prompted similar demonstrations at dozens of other campuses. The actions came during a tumultuous week at the university, which has experienced a series of escalating controversies since the arrest by federal immigration agents last weekend of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate and prominent figure in pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations. On Friday, more than 200 students gathered outside Columbia’s main campus gates to protest the university’s handling of Mr. Khalil’s arrest. Demonstrators wore kaffiyehs, waved Palestinian flags and carried banners with slogans like “Free Mahmoud,” “I.C.E. off our campuses” and “Columbia You Can’t Hide.” The protest unfolded less than 24 hours after homeland security agents entered the campus with federal warrants and searched two dorm rooms. No one was detained and nothing was taken, according to the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong. Social media posts by Ms. Noem on Friday appeared to signal that Columbia continued to be a subject of Trump administration scrutiny. Ms. Noem posted a video on the social media platform X that appeared to show a woman walking through LaGuardia Airport with a small suitcase. Ms. Noem identified the woman as Ms. Srinivasan and said she had used a U.S. Customs and Border Protection app to notify the government of her intention to self-deport. Ms. Srinivasan’s dorm room was one of those searched, according to her lawyer and roommate.

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Bloomberg [3/14/2025 8:19 AM, Nacha Cattan and David Voreacos, 16228K]
The Hill [3/14/2025 2:04 PM, Lexi Lonas and Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K]
AP [3/14/2025 2:46 PM, Larry Neumeister]
CBS Austin [3/14/2025 7:09 PM, Kayla Gaskins, 602K]
FOX News [3/14/2025 4:12 PM, Cameron Arcand]
Newsweek [3/14/2025 2:29 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K]

USA Today [3/14/2025 6:04 PM, Trevor Hughes, Josh Meyer, Eduardo Cuevas, 75858K] reports a pro-Palestinian college student charged following last year’s protests in New York City has "self-deported" to Canada, federal officials said as they shared surveillance video of the woman rushing to catch a flight at LaGuardia Airport. The student’s hurried departure comes as federal officials consider whether to bring terrorism charges against people who participated in last year’s sit-ins and encampments that began at Columbia University but spread nationally. "It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a social media post Friday. "I’m glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self deport." Homeland Security officials identified the woman in Noem’s X post as Ranjani Srinivasan, and said she was a citizen and national of India who was recorded on video at LaGuardia airport in New York on March 11 racing to catch an Air Canada flight to Toronto. Officials said other video and records confirmed she left the United States. DHS officials said Srinivasan most recently entered the U.S. on a valid F-1 non-immigrant student visa on Jan. 19, 2025, as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University and a teaching fellow at Barnard College. Officials said she had received two protest-related court summonses; the disposition of those charges was not immediately available Friday. Federal officials said she failed to disclose those charges on her most recent visa application, and her visa was revoked by the State Department on March 5. Federal officials on Friday said they had also detained a pro-Palestinian student protester, Leqaa Kordia for overstaying her student visa. Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was previously arrested for her participation in last year’s protests, and her visa was terminated in January 2022 for lack of university attendance, officials said.

The Hill [3/14/2025 5:56 PM, Julia Manchester, 12829K] reports the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday released the full video of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest last weekend as outrage grows over his detention by immigration officials. Khalil was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday after playing a leading role in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last year. The roughly eight-minute video, which was taken by Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla, shows ICE agents handcuffing him and leading him out of his university-owned apartment. Abdalla then calls his lawyer and follows the agents outside. He was taken to a detention center in New Jersey on Saturday before being transported to a facility in Louisiana. When asked for comment on the video, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told The Hill in a statement, "It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America." "When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked and should not be in this country," McLaughlin added. More than 100 House Democrats sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding an explanation for Khalil’s arrest.

Reuters [3/14/2025 11:00 AM, Luc Cohen, 41523K] reports that the Trump administration’s policy of deporting some foreign nationals who participate in pro-Palestinian protests is unconstitutional, lawyers for a detained Columbia University student said. In their first filing since U.S. authorities articulated the legal basis for arresting Mahmoud Khalil, his lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan to immediately release him from immigration detention because his free speech rights were violated. “The government’s unlawful policy of targeting noncitizens for arrest and removal based on protected speech is…viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment,” Khalil’s lawyers, led by Amy Belsher of the New York Civil Liberties Foundation, wrote in a Thursday night court filing. A spokesperson for the Justice Department, which is representing the government in court, said in a statement, "Being in the United States as a non-citizen is a privilege, not a right ... Mahmoud won’t be missed.”

CNN [3/14/2025 3:34 PM, Hannah Rabinowitz] reports the US Justice Department is investigating whether individuals involved in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year violated federal anti-terrorism laws, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Friday. The DOJ is looking into "whether Columbia’s handling of earlier instances violated civil rights laws that included terrorism crimes," Blanche said in an address to department employees ahead of President Donald Trump’s scheduled speech Friday afternoon. His comments come amid a crackdown from the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies on antisemitism – some of which have sparked uproar both at Columbia and civil rights organizations across the country, particularly over the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian refugee whose green card was revoked over his involvement in the protests against the Israel-Hamas war at Columbia last spring. The department is also investigating whether Columbia University was harboring or concealing immigrants who are in the United States illegally, Blanche said. Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security were at on Columbia’s campus in New York Thursday night, CNN reported, serving search warrants to look through two student rooms. The university’s interim president said that "No one was arrested or detained. No items were removed, and no further action was taken."

The New York Times [3/14/2025 3:19 PM, Abbie VanSickle, 145325K] reports the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon requested responses from states and groups that have challenged the constitutionality of the president’s order ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and foreign residents. The move is a signal that the justices will consider a request by the Trump administration asking the court to lift a nationwide pause on the policy as the underlying court challenges proceed. Should the justices side with the administration, the policy could go into effect in the 28 states, plus U.S. territories, that have not been named as challengers to the order. Even if the justices reject the Trump administration’s request to allow the policy to go into effect in parts of the country, the justices may ultimately consider the core of the case — whether the Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship — after litigation has proceeded through the lower courts. The Washington Examiner [3/14/2025 6:13 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K] reports that the Trump administration filed a trio of legal appeals regarding birthright citizenship to the country’s highest court on Thursday. The emergency petitions asked the Supreme Court to narrow lower court orders halting President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. While it had the option of rejecting the request, the Supreme Court signaled it would consider the president’s appeal by ordering responses from states and organizations that have challenged the constitutionality of Trump’s order to be submitted by April 4. Before ruling on the matter, the justices will deliberate on responses from those opposing the elimination of birthright citizenship. Rather than asking the Supreme Court to uphold the president’s original executive order, Trump’s legal team is requesting that court rulings in three different states be narrowed so that a judge’s order in one state does not have the authority to overturn the executive order nationwide.

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CNN [3/14/2025 3:42 PM, John Fritze, 22131K]

Los Angeles Times [3/14/2025 4:51 PM, David G. Savage, 52868K] reports Trump administration lawyers sent the Supreme Court an emergency appeal this week with a "modest" procedural request, not to uphold new limits on birthright citizenship but rather to narrow the scope of rulings that blocked the limits from taking effect. It’s a move that surprised and puzzled many legal experts. They questioned the practicality and the fairness of having a citizenship rule that applied at least temporarily in some parts of the country but not others. But Trump administration lawyers argued that district judges should not be allowed to issue rulings that apply nationwide. And they said the court should act now to rein in these judges. The justices, however, signaled they are not ready to move quickly. They set April 4 as a deadline for responses from the lawyers who won the rulings blocking Trump’s order on birthright citizenship.

New York Times [3/14/2025 10:26 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 145325K] reports a federal judge on Friday rejected for now efforts to block the Trump administration from sending migrants to the American military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, declaring that because the government had emptied the wartime prison of those detainees, the petitions were moot. Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia expressed doubts toward those bringing challenges on behalf of the migrants, a potentially favorable sign for the administration as it seeks to use the base in President Trump’s deportation campaign. Mr. Trump has said he wants to use Guantánamo’s 30,000 beds “to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.” He issued an executive order in January to expand the Migrant Operations Center there “to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens.” The administration has sent two groups of migrants to Guantánamo, but it is not clear how many were considered dangerous criminals. Days before the hearing on Friday, the Trump administration abruptly returned a group of migrants it had sent to Guantánamo to the United States, without indicating why. It was the second time federal officials had suddenly cleared the base of migrants who had been flown there. In late February, the government repatriated all but one of 178 detained migrants to Venezuela after they spent just a few weeks at the facility. One migrant was brought back to the United States. Judge Nichols on Friday considered two challenges brought by migrants and advocacy groups on their behalf. Less than 30 minutes after the lawyers finished their arguments, he said the plaintiffs had “failed to established they are suffering irreparable harm” that warranted a temporary order to halt the administration’s policies. Judge Nichols said that if the government sent any of the migrants in question to Guantánamo, he would be prepared to consider issuing an emergency order. Lawyers for the Trump administration said they would notify the judge if any plaintiffs were sent there, and were instructed to inform the court by Wednesday of how early in the relocation process they would do so. But Judge Nichols expressed doubts that the plaintiffs would succeed on the merits of the cases, when no migrants remained at Guantánamo.

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The Hill [3/14/2025 5:46 PM, Ella Lee, 12829K]
Telemundo [3/14/2025 5:42 PM, Staff, 2454K]

AP [3/14/2025 7:20 PM, Rebecca Santana, 5269K] reports a federal judge ruled Friday against immigration and civil rights advocates attempting to help migrants who had been sent to the Guantanamo Bay military base — and trying to prevent further transfers — days after the Trump administration transferred all migrants out of the facility in Cuba. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols refused to preemptively block a transfer of 10 migrants to the military base, and rejected a separate claim that migrants held at Guantanamo deserved access to attorneys. The judge’s ruling in a Washington courtroom largely hinged on the fact that at the current time, there are no migrant detainees being held at the military base, which Nichols said undercut legal arguments that migrants being kept there or sent there would suffer irreparable harm. President Donald Trump has said he wants to send the worst criminal migrants to Guantanamo Bay as his administration attempts to ramp up mass deportations and expand immigrant detention capacity. But civil rights groups have sued in two cases that the judge combined. In one case, the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center argued that migrants detained at Guantanamo had to have access to legal representation. In the second case, lawyers representing ten migrants sued, saying they fit a profile of people the government had already sent to Guantanamo and asking the judge to prevent them from being held there. Lawyers representing the migrants have argued that people were being held in brutal conditions and some have attempted suicide. But the judge rejected both efforts.

Univision [3/14/2025 4:13 PM, Patricia Clarembaux, 5325K] reports about 40 immigrants who had been held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have been sent to an immigration detention center in Louisiana, the U.S. Southern Command confirmed to the Associated Press. Other U.S. media outlets also independently confirmed the report. The transfer comes as a Washington, D.C., court considers a second lawsuit seeking to prevent the government from transferring more people to this extreme isolation center in Cuba. Forty immigrants—whose names and nationalities are unknown—were transferred to Louisiana on Tuesday, the Command reported. Two officials told the AP on condition of anonymity that although these immigrants were transferred to the United States, the government has not yet decided whether to continue using the Naval Base to arrest more people, arguing that they are "dangerous criminals."

AP [3/14/2025 6:53 PM, Hannah Fingerhut, 12335K] reports that the Trump administration on Friday moved to dismiss lawsuits against Iowa and Oklahoma brought by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, which challenged the states’ immigration laws making it a crime for someone to be in the state if they are in the U.S. illegally. Republican governors and lawmakers across the country had accused then-President Joe Biden of failing to enforce federal immigration law and manage the southern border. In response, Iowa and Oklahoma enacted similar laws that let state and local officials arrest and charge people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously were removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Both laws followed one enacted in Texas. The Biden administration sued Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma over the respective laws. Texas’ more expansive law was in effect for only a few confusing hours last March before a federal appeals court put it on hold. The Iowa and Oklahoma laws have themselves been on hold while courts consider whether they unconstitutionally usurp federal immigration authority.

FOX News [3/14/2025 4:30 PM, Alec Schemmel, 46189K] reports the Senate passed a bipartisan bill Friday that will permanently classify fentanyl-related substances, also known as fentanyl analogs, as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act. The HALT Fentanyl Act passed with overwhelming support, earning 84 Senate votes while 16 opposed it. The bill aims to close loopholes exploited by drug traffickers who smuggle substances with chemical compositions similar to fentanyl but are different enough to evade legal penalties. The HALT Fentanyl Act does not create any new mandatory minimum sentencing, but it puts fentanyl-related substances under the same sentencing guidelines used for fentanyl itself. Other potential measures to combat the fentanyl crisis, including efforts to bolster law enforcement’s drug interdiction efforts and legislation to go after the veterinary drug xylazine, which is being added to fentanyl to make it more addictive, are among additional efforts being considered on Capitol Hill. The New York Times [3/14/2025 3:20 PM, Maya C. Miller, 145325K] reports Several Democrats joined all Republicans in approving the bill, which because of minor changes now must pass the House again before it goes to President Trump’s desk. The bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 84 to 16, is just the second legislative victory for the new G.O.P.-controlled Congress. It would permanently list fentanyl analogues — copycat drugs that are chemically similar to fentanyl but different enough to sidestep current federal laws — as Schedule I controlled substances, a designation that mandates severe prison sentences for highly addictive, nonmedicinal chemicals like heroin and L.S.D.

CBS Austin [3/14/2025 6:08 PM, Cory Smith, 602K] reports the U.S. government is casting a net across 30 ZIP codes in California and Texas to catch cash transactions connected to Mexican cartels. The Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a temporary, geographically targeted order this week that requires all "money services businesses" to notify the government of cash transactions that are at least $200. Under the Bank Secrecy Act, financial institutions must report cash transactions over $10,000 or when they believe there’s suspicious activity in order to stop money laundering, tax evasion or other crimes. The new FinCEN order applies to only a slice of the financial services sector. While the order temporarily lowers the threshold from $10,000 to just $200, it applies to just the 30 counties in two border states. And banks are not included within the definition of money services businesses. The order applies to check cashers and businesses that exchange foreign currency. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a news release that the order "underscores our deep concern with the significant risk to the U.S. financial system of the cartels, drug traffickers, and other criminal actors along the Southwest border.". FinCEN said it’s part of a whole-of-government approach to combatting cartels and stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S.

New York Times [3/15/2025 4:52 AM, Katherine Rosman, 330K] reports the Trump administration on Thursday demanded that Columbia University make dramatic changes in student discipline and admissions before it would discuss lifting the cancellation of $400 million in government grants and contracts. It said the ultimatum was necessary because of what it described as Columbia’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment. The government called for the university to formalize its definition of antisemitism, to ban the wearing of masks “intended to conceal identity or intimidate” and to place the school’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership.” “We expect your immediate compliance,” officials from the General Services Administration, Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services said in a letter. They said that since the Trump administration had announced it was cutting the funding, “your counsel has asked to discuss ‘next steps.’” The administration demanded a response to its letter within a week as “a precondition for formal negotiations regarding Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.” The Trump administration’s move to cut Columbia’s grants and contracts represented an extraordinary escalation of the government’s actions against the university. Columbia, it said, “has fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment.” A Columbia spokeswoman said Thursday evening that the school was “reviewing the letter" from the three government agencies, adding, “We are committed at all times to advancing our mission, supporting our students, and addressing all forms of discrimination and hatred on our campus.”

New York Times [3/14/2025 9:55 AM, Jenny Gross, 145325K] reports that Department of Homeland Security officials searched two dorm rooms at Columbia University, days after the immigration authorities arrested and moved to deport a pro-Palestinian activist and recent graduate of the university. Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said in a note to students and staff late Thursday that the officials had presented federal search warrants for private areas of the university. She added that no one was detained and nothing was taken, and did not specify the target of the warrants. “I am writing heartbroken to inform you that we had federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) in two university residences tonight,” Dr. Armstrong wrote. She added that Columbia made every effort to ensure the safety of its students, faculty and staff. The search occurred after the Trump administration said that Columbia would have to make major changes in its student discipline and admissions processes before it would begin talks on reinstating $400 million in government grants and contracts that it canceled last week. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. Columbia declined to comment beyond Dr. Armstrong’s letter.

CBS 58 [3/14/2025 8:30 PM, Staff, 257K] reports there was a protest on Friday, March 14 outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee. The demonstration was a response to the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian refugee helped lead Columbia University’s encampment protest last year. Right now, he is being detained by ICE and has had his green card revoked. This, as the White House cracks down on recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, something critics say is an attempt to silence protesters. "This really sets a very, very dangerous precedent," said Janan Najeeb, Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine. "But this is not going to phase us we’re going to continue to come out, we’re going to continue to march, and we are going to protect our democracy and our rights." The Trump administration is also accusing more than 60 universities of failing to address antisemitism during last year’s pro-Palestinian encampments. That includes UW-Madison, which could be targeted by federal funding cuts in response.

New York Times [3/14/2025 9:55 PM, Mitch Smith, 145325K] reports the Justice Department moved on Friday to dismiss its Biden-era challenge of an Iowa law that made it a state crime for some undocumented immigrants to enter the state, a victory for Iowa Republicans as the Trump administration pursues an aggressive campaign against illegal immigration. The short filing submitted by Justice Department lawyers in Federal District Court in Des Moines did not provide any reasoning for seeking the dismissal, and it did not immediately remove judicial blocks on Iowa enforcing its law. A similar filing on Friday sought the dismissal of a Justice Department challenge to an Oklahoma immigration law that had also been blocked. Justice Department officials did not respond on Friday evening to questions about whether the Iowa filing signaled a broader policy shift on state-level immigration enforcement, which it had opposed during Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency. Attorney General Brenna Bird of Iowa, whose office has defended her state’s law in court, celebrated the dismissal motion and linked it to President Trump’s approach to immigration. “When the Biden administration failed to do its job and secure our borders, Iowa stepped up. And we never backed down — even when Biden sued us for it,” Ms. Bird, a Republican, said in a statement. “Today, President Trump, again, proved that he has Iowa’s back and showcased his commitment to Making America Safe Again by dropping Biden’s ridiculous lawsuit.” Yaakov M. Roth, an acting assistant attorney general, was one of the Justice Department lawyers who asked for the dismissal of the Iowa case. No similar dismissal motion appeared on Friday evening on the public docket for a challenge to a similar Texas law that Mr. Biden’s Justice Department also sued to block. A federal district judge blocked Iowa from enforcing its law last year in separate challenges from the Justice Department and an immigrant rights group, the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit kept in place the injunction in the Justice Department’s challenge in a January ruling. The panel was composed of jurists appointed by Republican presidents.

FOX News [3/14/2025 3:29 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46189K] reports a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to nix Chile’s status on the visa waiver program (VWP) amid a major gang burglary risk. Reps. Young Kim, Derek Tran, Dave Min and Mike Levin of California sent a letter to DHS asking that Chile be taken off the list, which allows citizens from certain countries to visit the U.S. for roughly three months without a visa, until steps are taken to ensure that people robbing homes and businesses after they come to the country are stopped. The practice of "burglary tourism" has become a relatively common occurrence in communities throughout the country, including affluent areas such as Orange County, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

CNN [3/14/2025 5:27 PM, Haley Britzky, Priscilla Alvarez, and Annie Grayer, 908K] reports that President Donald Trump’s high-profile effort to transfer migrants from the United States to the Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is being buffeted by concerns inside and outside his administration over living conditions there and the arduous, expensive process of making it a suitable site for deportees. Last month, the administration took the unprecedented step of sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay on US military aircraft, sparking fierce backlash from immigrant advocates and prompting a lawsuit from immigrant advocacy groups. The last flight by military aircraft to Guantanamo Bay was March 1, a US official told CNN, and there are no DOD flights to the base expected in the coming days. As of Thursday, there were no migrants detained at the Naval base, and 40 people were flown back to the US this week, the official said. CNN reported in February that plans to house migrants in tents were being halted amid concerns the structures didn’t meet detention standards required by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Friday, a federal judge will hear a case concerning the use of the facility, stemming from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, along with other immigrant advocacy groups.

Wall Street Journal [3/14/2025 5:33 PM, Shelby Holliday, Tarini Parti and Nancy A. Youssef] reports that, about two months after President Trump announced he would send up to 30,000 migrants to Guantanamo Bay, an expansive tent city on the naval base sits vacant. Hundreds of troops are still deployed to the base to guard the facilities and prepare them for use, even though the nearly 300 migrants who were briefly detained on the island in two separate structures are now gone. Mired in operational and legal challenges, the president’s plan to send the “worst criminal illegal aliens” to Guantanamo Bay is unraveling. U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for military operations at the base, has started making plans to draw down from the roughly 1,000 military personnel deployed there in the coming weeks, a defense official said. The operation has so far cost at least $16 million, according to lawmakers who recently toured the naval base. The defense official added that the administration is planning to repurpose 195 large tents, which are each lined with about a dozen or more cots, since they have sat unused for weeks. The small groups of migrants who were flown to the island on costly military aircraft and chartered civilian planes were moved only weeks later, two U.S. officials said, adding that no more flights were currently scheduled to carry migrants to the naval base. The Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security have struggled to come to an agreement on the division of their responsibilities on the base, people familiar with the operations say, setting the stage for finger pointing as the administration struggles to fulfill Trump’s stated vision for Guantanamo. From the start, the plan faced a hurdle that officials have been unable to overcome. The tents were incompatible with the government’s standards for migrant detention, according to lawmakers who toured the facilities and another defense official. The tents are open to the elements, lack air conditioning, smell of mold and sit atop grass and dirt with no flooring, the lawmakers and another person familiar with the conditions said. They cost $3.1 million to get out of storage and set up, the lawmakers were told.

Miami Herald [3/14/2025 9:59 PM, Jacqueline Charles, 3973K] reports nine Haitians, a powerful labor union and a Protestant group are suing President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over their decision to cut short more than a half-million Haitians’ legal immigration protections in the United States by six months. The lawsuit alleges that the end of the deportation protection, known as Temporary Protected Status or TPS, was done in violation of U.S. immigration law and without the proper periodic review that the statute requires. The suit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of New York late Friday, also says the decision was driven by Trump’s "racial animus towards non-white immigrants.". The 45-page suit highlights a number of disparaging comments that Trump and members of his administration have made about non-white immigrants, and Haitians in particular. They include comments about immigrants "poisoning the blood" of America, repeated slurs from Trump that Haitians "probably have AIDS," and the false claims that he and Vice President JD Vance repeatedly made during the recent presidential campaign about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, eating their neighbors’ pets. These claims suggest "a discriminatory animus against Haitians in particular, and nonwhite immigrants generally based on their perceived race, ethnicity, and national origin," the suit says. The suit also highlights other public statements that have been made by Trump’s surrogates, including his Homeland Security secretary, and political allies. The comments are evidence "that, as in the first Trump administration, the decision to end Haiti’s TPS designation was a preordained decision rather than a product of the statutorily mandated review process," the suit claims.

Federal News Network [3/14/2025 3:45 PM, Michael McLaughlin, 1089K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency must refocus its mission to sharpen its core capabilities and expand its authority, moving away from bureaucratic distractions such as disinformation monitoring. CISA’s primary mission is to secure federal networks and critical infrastructure, yet recent years have seen the agency’s focus drift into areas like policing social media. Simultaneously, overlapping regulations from other federal agencies have added unnecessary complexity for businesses, diluting CISA’s effectiveness. By adopting a comprehensive approach, the Trump administration can significantly enhance CISA’s capabilities and strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity posture. Rooted in collaboration and innovation, refocusing CISA’s efforts promises to defend against current threats while anticipating and mitigating future challenges, securing America’s cyber future.

FOX News [3/14/2025 11:18 AM, Adam Shaw, 46189K] reports that the Trump-endorsed bill to avert a government shutdown includes hundreds of millions of dollars to allow for arrests and deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The bill was passed in the House on Tuesday along partisan lines and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. It must be signed by President Donald Trump on Friday before midnight to avoid a partial shutdown. The bill includes $485 million to address shortfalls in ICE funding for immigration detention beds, transportation and deportations. Funding has long been an issue for ICE, and the pressures have increased with the new push for additional arrests and deportations by the Trump administration. Officials said on Wednesday that, so far, agents were on track to have arrested more illegal immigrants in the first months of the Trump administration than in all of fiscal year (FY) 2024. In FY 2024, ICE enforcement removal operations made 33,242 arrests. For comparison, officials say that ICE made 32,809 arrests from January 20 to March 10, meaning they would surpass the FY 2024 number this year. Of those arrests, 14,111 were convicted criminals, and 9,980 have pending criminal charges. Over 1,150 were suspected gang members, two and a half times the 483 arrested in the same period last year.

FOX News [3/14/2025 3:55 PM, Louis Casiano, 46189K] reports a Mexican woman who has been previously deported from the U.S. four times and has six convictions each for driving while intoxicated and theft was returned to her country again on Thursday. Leticia Caballero Guadarrama, 53, was taken from the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, to the Laredo Port of Entry where she was released into Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Friday. Guadarrama entered the U.S. illegally at least six times before voluntarily returning to Mexico in 2002, ICE said. While in the U.S., Guadarrama racked up a lengthy criminal history, being convicted six times for DWI, as well as six more times for theft. She also has two convictions for refusing to show identification to authorities.

The Texas Tribune [3/14/2025 10:55 PM, Kate McGee, 1487K] reports Houston police are being instructed to call federal immigration authorities if they come across an individual who has deportation orders listed in the national crime database. The new guidance to law enforcement in Texas’ largest city comes after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials added 700,000 individuals with deportation orders to the National Crime Information Center database, which is used widely by local law enforcement across the country to track warrants, missing persons, stolen property and other criminal records. The Houston Chronicle first reported on the guidance Friday, citing an email from Executive Chief Thomas Hardin. According to the Chronicle, the email said officers must call federal authorities when they discover a hit in the federal system. Hardin told officers to consult with federal authorities on how to handle the situation, including remaining at the scene for ICE to arrive. "If that is not feasible or offered, our officers will select whatever option does not involve transporting the individual," Hardin wrote in the email, according to the Chronicle. The updated guidance comes after Houston police recently called ICE on an undocumented immigrant motorist after stopping him for a cracked windshield, bringing renewed attention to local law enforcement’s involvement in immigration enforcement. There are more than 1.4 million people with active deportation orders across the country. ICE’s inclusion of individuals with deportation orders to the crime database broadens the ability for local law enforcement to identify undocumented immigrants. Previously, local law enforcement across the country did not have access to such administrative warrants. "We’ve never seen ICE detainers before. They were just never in our system," Doug Griffith, spokesperson for the Houston Police Officers’ Union, told The Houston Landing on Friday. "Now the feds have put that into the system. So if we stop somebody and they show an ICE detainer, we have to contact ICE or whatever agency they have the warrant out of.”

Reported similarly:
Houston Chronicle [3/14/2025 5:45 PM, Matt deGrood, Tanya Babbar, 1769K]

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 5:05 PM, Joe Gorman, 52868K] reports a man who an affidavit said was cited by Campbell police for letting a dog run loose earlier this month may now be deported. Dino De Laurentis Rivera-Lopez, no age given, was taken into custody earlier this week by members of the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency on a charge of reentry into the United States after deportation. A criminal complaint was filed against him this week in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio. He was arrested Tuesday at Campbell Municipal Court, where he was to appear for his ticket and is being held in federal detention at the Mahoning County Jail following his arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen E. Henderson. An affidavit accompanying his criminal complaint said Rivera-Lopez first entered the country illegally in February 1999 from Honduras, was caught in Texas and ordered deported in February 2000. He was deported that month and returned to the United States illegally in March of 2000, the affidavit said.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 6:39 PM, Ashley Eberhardt, 52868K] reports a suspected cartel member has been arrested by multiple law enforcement agencies in Colorado Springs, after re-entering the U.S. multiple times following deportation. According to the FBI Denver, its agency partnered with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, Pueblo Police Department, Colorado Springs Police Department, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest 48-year-old Omar Valdez-Lerma on a federal warrant. The FBI said Valdez-Lerma, a Mexican national, had a violent criminal history dating back to 2006, and had illegally re-entered the U.S. after deportation in 2018 and 2021. The FBI said Valdez-Lerma is thought to be a member of a cartel that was recently named a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The FBI said Valdez-Lerma is charged with illegal re-entry after deportation and is currently in the custody of ICE.

KLAS [3/14/2025 4:27 PM, David Charns] reports law enforcement officials with the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an MS-13 gang member at Harry Reid International Airport on Friday. A photo the FBI provided shows law enforcement walking the person out of a jetbridge from an arriving flight from New York. The man’s name was not provided nor had prosecutors filed a case against him in federal court as of Friday afternoon.

Newsweek [3/14/2025 1:22 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports that a Canadian actor and entrepreneur said she has been held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over 10 days after she tried to enter the country with a new visa request. Jasmine Mooney, who appeared in the American Pie movie franchise, said she was held in chains and had to sleep on a mat at the San Luis Detention Center in Arizona following her arrest while trying to cross the United States-Mexico border as she tried to renew her documentation. An ICE spokesperson told Newsweek that individuals who break immigration law will be detained, regardless of nationality. The Canadian government told Newsweek that it cannot intervene on behalf of Canadian citizens in other countries’ immigration regulations. The conditions highlighted by Mooney come as ICE detention facilities across the country have passed capacity amid efforts by the Trump administration to detain as many illegal immigrants as possible. Cases of those without criminal histories also being arrested have become more common in recent weeks. Speaking to news station KGTV from the Arizona detention facility, Mooney said that she was first arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last Monday at the border near San Diego. The former actress-turned-entrepreneur from British Columbia obtained a three-year work visa for the U.S. last spring and was living and working in Los Angeles, her mother told CBC. Mooney said she had returned to the border in Mexico with a new job offer and her visa paperwork, but because she had already been flagged, CBP officers did not allow her to go back to Mexico. She was detained instead.

CBS News [3/14/2025 6:32 PM, Ahmad Mukhtar, 51661K] reports a Canadian woman who had appeared in an "American Pie" movie was detained for several days by U.S. immigration officials while attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the U.S. to renew her work visa, according to her mother. The woman’s father expects his daughter to be able to return to Canada as early as Friday. Jasmine Mooney, a 35-year-old business consultant who appeared in several TV and movie roles including 2009’s "American Pie Presents: The Book of Love," was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 3, her mother Alexis Eagles said Wednesday on Facebook. Mooney attempted to cross the border with her visa paperwork and a job offer from a company in the U.S. Mooney was crossing the border to apply for a temporary visa known as a TN visa, which she had previously obtained successfully, according to Canadian broadcaster Global News. Her visa was denied, and she was held at the San Ysidro border crossing in Southern California for three nights, according to Eagles. She was then transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego and held for another three nights. On Sunday, an online detainee locator system showed that Mooney had been released, according to Eagles, but 24 hours later, there was still no sign or communication from her, leaving her family and friends in a state of uncertainty and worry.

Univision [3/14/2025 2:48 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports since the beginning of this week, there have been reports of Cubans with I-220As who have been detained at their ICE appointments, even though, according to their families, they have no criminal record. Noticias 23 spoke with the families of Laura de la Caridad González, Yadira Cantallops, and Denice Reyes, three Cuban women who found themselves in this situation and are now awaiting answers from a detention center in Miramar.

Reuters [3/15/2025 2:14 AM, Humeyra Pamuk, 41523K] reports the Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters. The memo lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea among others, would be set for a full visa suspension. In the second group, five countries -- Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan -- would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions. In the third group, a total of 26 countries that includes Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan among others would be considered for a partial suspension of U.S. visa issuance if their governments "do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days", the memo said. A U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity cautioned there could be changes on the list and that it was yet to be approved by the administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The move harkens back to President Donald Trump’s first term ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats. That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 21 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their "vetting and screening information is so deficient.”

Washington Post [3/15/2025 6:00 AM, Teo Armus, Maria Sacchetti and Steve Thompson, 31735K] reports the Venezuelan couple — exhausted after a six-week journey north through an unforgiving jungle and gritty cities — waded across the southern border in Texas with their three children in 2022, part of a historic wave of migrants seeking refuge from economic and political turmoil who are now seeing the ground shift beneath them in the United States. The couple, who Washington Post is identifying only by their middle names Cesar and Norelia, and their three children were allowed in the country by Border Patrol. Later, the Department of Homeland Security granted them temporary protected status — a legal promise of security against being deported to the country they fled. They settled in a D.C. neighborhood with their children — ages 4, 9 and 13 — received social security numbers, a driver’s license for Cesar and new jobs cleaning hotels. They gave immigration officials their address. Then on Monday, every legal safeguard they thought was in place was seemingly upended. With two of their children looking on, screaming and crying, the Border Patrol arrested the couple in D.C., removing them from their home in handcuffs on a misdemeanor charge of illegally crossing the border more than two years ago, according to court records, a video capturing a portion of the arrests, and interviews with them and their family. The family was apart for three days. By Thursday evening, the couple was back in their home with an order to appear in an El Paso federal court in 30 days to answer for the illegal border crossing. The arrests, weeks before temporary protected status is set to expire for several hundred thousand Venezuelans, immediately raised alarms among immigrant advocates that the Trump administration is undertaking a new strategy as it seeks to execute mass deportations. Advocacy groups say they are investigating whether the government is violating a 2023 court settlement that prohibits separating children from their parents based on illegal border crossings, the same minor crime the first Trump administration used in 2018 to justify separating families at the southern border under a “zero tolerance” policy. It was unclear Friday why this couple was targeted for arrest and what it might mean for others who have temporary protected status after they, too, crossed illegally.

Vermont Public [3/14/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 195K] reports a New Hampshire man with a green card was detained by immigration officers at Logan Airport and is being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Donald W. Wyatt detention facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Fabian Schmidt’s family said they are unsure of why he is being held. They said he has a recently renewed green card, and no active issues in court. Schmidt had been visiting Luxembourg and flew back to the U.S. on Friday. His partner had gone to pick him up at Logan Airport, and waited four hours before calling authorities. Senior described Schmidt being "violently interrogated" at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair. She said Schmidt told her immigration agents pressured him to give up his green card. She said he was placed on a mat in a bright room with other people at the airport, with little food or water, suffered sleep deprivation, and was denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression. He was transported by ambulance to Mass General Hospital. He didn’t know it at the time, but he also had influenza. On Tuesday, Schmidt was transported to the regional headquarters for ICE in Burlington, Massachusetts, and then transferred to the Wyatt facility. The family, including his partner, who is a cardiologist in Nashua, have acquired attorneys and been working with the German consulate in hopes to have him released on bail.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 5:15 PM, Greg Haas, 52868K] reports a Las Vegas man indicted Wednesday on charges of trafficking and forced labor involving three Cuban immigrants faces a May 19 trial, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Rafael Juan Mitjans, 50, is accused of confiscating passports, immigration documents and other identification from three victims "with the intent to restrict the victim’s ability to move and travel in order to maintain the labor and services of the victims," according to a Friday news release. Mitjans is also accused of lying to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services "that he would provide the victims with basic living needs, including money each month, a room with a bed, television, desk, and laptop, clothing, shoes, hygiene products, and three meals per day. He knew the statements on the immigration forms were false.". Few other details were available about the allegations of "domestic servitude" or the identities of the victims. The incident occurred starting around Sept. 20, 2023, until July 31, 2024. Metro police and Clark County School District police were involved in the investigation, according to the news release.

NBC News [3/15/2025 5:00 AM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44742K] reports that, well before President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown further opened the door for agents and officers to question people about their citizenship and legal status, the Border Patrol had been doing exactly that at checkpoints flanking roadways within the United States. It was at such an inland checkpoint that on Feb. 4 Border Patrol apprehended the parents of five children, four of them U.S. citizens. They were en route from Rio Grande City, Texas, to Houston for emergency medical care for their 10-year-old daughter who has brain cancer, NBC News reported, when they arrived at the Falfurrias checkpoint. Rio Grande City is about 360 miles southwest of Houston, and about an 85-mile to 104-mile drive from the checkpoint, depending on the route taken. The parents, who did not have documentation showing they were citizens or had legal status, were deported. Seeing no other options, they took their five children with them to Mexico, uncertain how they’d get their daughter the care she needs. Located up to 100 miles from the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, Border Patrol checkpoints have long dotted U.S. arteries, serving as something of a secondary border — or tertiary when considering areas where border wall and fencing has been built. In a 1976 decision, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Border Patrol’s routine stops and brief questioning at checkpoints that are "a reasonable distance from the border" do not violate Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure. The federal government has defined reasonable distance as within 100 air miles (about 115 miles) or shorter distance, as set by the Customs and Border Protection chief or Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent for a specific sector or district. That 100 air-mile limit creates a boundary that covers every U.S. land border or water boundary. The up to 100 miles from the nation’s land and water boundaries takes in all of Florida and a number of major cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, New York and Houston. Not everyone in those cities passes through checkpoints unless they travel to the land borders or live behind them. But for a large swath of the U.S. population, checkpoints are a regular part of life, where they must affirm — some more than others because of race — that they are citizens or have legal residency in the U.S. and they aren’t shuttling contraband or human cargo deeper into the country.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 6:54 PM, Joseph Trevithick, 52868K] reports U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin has confirmed that U-2 Dragon Lady spy planes have been flying missions around the border with Mexico. The service’s top officer has also confirmed the use of RC-135V/W Rivet Joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft and drones, which TWZ has reported on previously, as part of still-increasing U.S. military support for southwestern border security efforts under President Donald Trump. "As most of us head into the weekend, I want to thank our U-2, RC-135 & RPA [remotely piloted aircraft; drone] crews who are tirelessly providing unrivaled ISR support for @USNorthernCmd [U.S. Northern Command] at the border to restore sovereignty and protect American communities," Allvin wrote in a post today on X, a screen shot of which is seen below. "Stay safe and thank you!". CNN was first to report the use of U-2s in support of current operations along the southwestern border back in February, but citing unnamed officials. That story followed news that RC-135V/Ws, as well as U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes, were also flying surveillance missions around Mexico, including sorties over the Gulf of California. "At this time, we are not commenting about any specific ISR platforms related to southern border missions," a NORTHCOM spokesperson told TWZ on Wednesday. "We do acknowledge that there is ISR supporting the mission, but again, we are not going to be specific about platforms.". "We don’t discuss specifics on how we are using ISR assets to support DoD’s mission at the southern border," the same spokesperson added today in response to a follow-up after Gen. Allvin made his post on X.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 6:39 PM, Corey Arwood, 52868K] reports an arrest Thursday followed a two-month federal and local law enforcement operation targeting drug transactions made from a city residence by a man in the country illegally, according to law enforcement records. During the SWAT unit raid on the residence, at least six other men who lived in the home without local criminal histories were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for deportation because of their undocumented immigration status, an Indian River County Sheriff’s Office official said. Lt. Kevin Jaworski said the operation was a "narcotics-related investigation" and the agency’s vice detectives were "solely going after the subject we arrested.". Jaworski. "This was not an immigration investigation. That was a secondary result, if you will.". The men were immediately taken away by immigration authorities because they had no local criminal charges, he said. He said he could not comment on whether any person among the six was suspected of involvement in narcotic-related activity at the home. Beginning in January, federal immigration and drug enforcement agents, along with local law enforcement, began targeting the 39-year-old for "selling cocaine from his residence" in the 1600 block of 40th Avenue, according to law enforcement records. A report with details of the operation states that in January, Felipe Campos-Santamaria was developed as a target for "selling cocaine" by Indian River County Sheriff’s Office detectives and U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

CBS 7 [3/14/2025 6:53 PM, Staff, 4K] reports the U.S. Department of Defense is sending military personnel to Border Patrol stations in Alpine, Van Horn and Presidio in the Big Bend Sector. The military will assist agents with surveillance, intelligence gathering and logistical support. The Department of Defense and U.S. Customs and Border Protection believe their presence will bolster the sector’s ability to detect, identify and mitigate anyone and anything illegally crossing the U.S. Border. "The deployment of military personnel will enhance our operational effectiveness and provide valuable support to our agents in the field," said Lloyd M. Easterling, Chief Patrol Agent of the Big Bend Sector. "Collaboration with our federal, state and local partners is essential in maintaining border security and ensuring the safety of our communities.".

CBS 7 [3/14/2025 7:20 PM, Lauren Munt, 4K] reports that, recently, members of the Texas National Guard have been deputized and given the ability to serve the United States Border Patrol Big Bend sector. The U.S-Mexico border is roughly 2,000 miles, and agents with the big bend sector are responsible for 517 of those miles. Protecting that much land requires a lot of resources. Those agents are also utilizing noninvasive technology, like mobile cameras, which allows them to do their job without damaging the Big Bend’s natural beauty. That increased use of technology has led to a decrease in Illegal immigration in the Big Bend. The Trump administration has made it clear that border security is a top priority.

FOX News [3/14/2025 10:00 AM, Michael Lee, 52868K] reports that a group of U.S. military veterans that formed to respond to the crisis at the southern border has continued its work, even as President Donald Trump has largely followed through on promises to stem the flow of illegal crossings. "As a country, we were going quietly into the night," Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran who became the founder of Border Vets, a group of U.S. military veterans who have given their own time and money to patch up holes in the border barrier in Southern California, told Fox News Digital. "It’s not as difficult to secure the nation as people might think.". The comments come as the group that Monroe founded, Border Vets, has continued its work to patch up potential weak points on the U.S. border with Mexico in Southern California. At issue is a gap in the barrier where the fencing erected by the U.S. government meets a hilly rock formation, leaving a tiny pathway into the country for thousands of migrants who knew where to look. While members of the Border Vets patched the hole with razor wire last year, the group returned to the spot to make improvements to the barrier and extend it further up the hill in an attempt to dissuade illegal crossings. But things have changed at this spot since the Border Vets initially volunteered their own time and money to patch the hole, with illegal crossings now coming to a near standstill in the area since Trump took office in January. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Government Executive [3/14/2025 4:48 PM, Erich Wagner, 819K] reports the American Federation of Government Employees accused the Trump administration of retaliating against the labor group over their efforts to block the mass firing of probationary workers across government. The nation’s largest federal employee union on Thursday sued the Trump administration seeking to reverse the decision to revoke the collective bargaining rights of airport screeners at the Transportation Security Administration. The American Federation of Government Employees filed the legal challenge in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Adam Stahl, a senior official performing the duties of the Transportation Security administrator. At issue is TSA and DHS’ announcement last week that management would strip TSA workers of their collective bargaining rights and unilaterally repudiate the union contract signed just last May.

Newsweek [3/14/2025 11:41 AM, Joe Edwards, 52220K] reports that the National Weather Service (NWS) issued Red Flag Warnings for ten states across the Midwest and South on Friday, with meteorologists warning that any fires started could spread rapidly. Red Flag Warnings are issued when conditions suit wildfire ignition and rapid spread. "A Red Flag Warning means that extreme fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and dry vegetation can contribute to extreme fire behavior," said the NWS. Affected states included Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. The NWS said that parts of north central Texas, central Oklahoma, and southeastern Kansas were facing "extreme" conditions on Friday. Surrounding areas, including portions of New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, and Colorado faced "critical" fire weather conditions, a forecast graphic from the weather service showed. Low relative humidity and high winds were contributing factors to the warnings. Residents in the affected areas are advised to exercise extreme caution with any activities that could potentially ignite fires.

ABC News [3/14/2025 8:58 PM, Meredith Deliso, 34586K] reports several wildfires have broken out in Texas and Oklahoma, prompting evacuations, amid extreme fire weather conditions on Friday. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warned of "near historic" fire conditions in the Plains. Red flag and high wing warnings were in effect for several states in the Plains and Midwest on Friday. Very dry, warm and windy conditions made for extreme fire weather conditions across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. "Several large wildfire complexes" were burning Friday evening across central, northern, and western Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Norman said. The NWS advised residents to evacuate due to a "complex of extremely dangerous fires is located along the southern and eastern parts of Lake Carl Blackwell.” In Texas, the Windmill Fire ignited in Roberts County, growing to an estimated 11,000 acres, Texas A&M Forest Service said. It was 50% contained as of Friday evening, with forward progression stopped, it said. Parts of Gray County, Texas, were temporarily under a mandatory evacuation due to the Rest Area Fire, the Texas A&M Forest Service said. The fire has burned an estimated 3,000 and was 30% contained as of Friday evening, it said. Dust storms were also reported in Texas and Oklahoma amid the strong winds in the region. Several crashes were reported in northwest Texas on Friday amid low visibility from blowing dust, the Texas Department of Public Safety said while warning of "dangerous conditions.” The NWS in Norman also warned of low visibility in parts of northwest Oklahoma due to a dust storm. CBS News [3/14/2025 6:03 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports that tornado threats loomed for the Mississippi Valley into the night and the Deep South on Saturday. The Texas Department of Public Safety reported three deaths Friday in three separate car crashes due to the low visibility, high winds and dirt. The department said there were around 24 crashes Friday. An approaching wildfire fueled by dry grasses and spread by strong winds prompted emergency officials to urge residents to evacuate Leedey, Oklahoma, a town of about 400 people. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma State Patrol said in a social media post that dusty winds toppled several tractor-trailers. The National Weather Service predicted extreme weather across a vast swath of the U.S. with a population exceeding 100 million people. Powerful winds gusting up to 80 mph were forecast from the Canadian border to Texas. Forecasters say the severe storm threat will continue into the weekend, with a high chance of tornadoes and damaging winds Saturday in Mississippi and Alabama. Heavy rain could bring flash flooding to some parts of the East Coast on Sunday.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [3/14/2025 4:49 PM, Edgar Sandoval and Amy Graff, 145325K

NBC News [3/14/2025 7:05 PM, Dennis Romero, 44742K] reports High winds are whipping up wildfires in Texas on Friday as a roiling low pressure system moves east and threatens to land powerful tornadoes in the Plains and beyond. An estimated 138 million people are at risk of severe storms in the nation’s midsection throughout the weekend. Strong nighttime tornadoes at EF2 on the tornado strength scale, defined by sustained winds of 113 to 157 mph, are possible from southern Iowa to Jackson, Mississippi. The worst of the system is also threatening damaging winds and hail Friday into Saturday. The storm on Friday is churning in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and beyond, and is expected to produce more forceful winds through at least Saturday morning. The biggest cities at risk for tornadoes include St. Louis and Memphis, they said. Widespread gusts of 60 to 100 mph and large hail are forecast. Early Friday evening, the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings, which alert residents when a tornado is imminent and they should take cover, for multiple communities east and northeast of Springfield, Missouri, through 7:15 p.m. CT. A tornado watch, which alert communities when a tornado is possible, was issued for parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi until 10 p.m. CT. Electricity outages are affecting 96,000 utility customers in Texas, 73,000 in Oklahoma, 23,000 in Kansas, and 21,000 in Missouri on Friday evening, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.

New York Times [3/15/2025 5:43 AM, Judson Jones, 145325K] reports severe storms left about 300,000 customers without power in parts of the Midwest and the South on Saturday, as forecasters warned that intense, long-lasting storms at a level typically experienced only once or twice in a lifetime could sweep across a vast swath of the South on Saturday. The Weather Service also issued the highest risk alert for tornadoes in some areas of the Midwest starting Friday night. “Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter,” the Weather Service warned residents in parts of western Illinois. “Damage to roofs, windows and vehicles will occur.” An “extremely dangerous” tornado moving at 55 miles per hour was confirmed in eastern Missouri, the Weather Service said. Storms had caused widespread damage in the state, in particular in the city of Rolla, state emergency officials said late Friday night. Tornado warnings were in effect into Saturday in many parts of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee, according to the Weather Service. By around 5 a.m. Eastern time, power outages had spread to more than 156,000 customers in Missouri, about 69,000 in Illinois, close to 50,000 in Indiana and around 24,000 in Arkansas, according to PowerOutage.us, a tracking website. These storms are all connected to the intense system wreaking havoc across the Central United States, which over the past day has brought tornadoes across the Midwest and dust storms and wildfires to the Plains. Saturday’s storms are forecast to move extremely fast and may catch people off guard. They have the potential to form numerous significant tornadoes, some of which could be potentially violent, damaging hurricane-force (greater than 74 miles per hour) winds and golf-ball- or even baseball-size hail.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 5:11 PM, Jessica Phillips, 52868K] reports more than $1 million in federal disaster assistance was approved in West Virginia for those affected by flooding in February 2025. According to a press release from Governor Patrick Morrisey, more than 1,334 households in West Virginia received approval for more than $1 million in federal disaster assistance. Thanks to state efforts and the hard work of FEMA and the Trump administration, over $1 million in individual assistance has already been approved for West Virginians affected by the floods. I encourage those in the designated counties to continue to apply for assistance and connect with the Disaster Recovery Centers for any help needed through the process. People can go to Disaster Recovery Center’s (DRC’s) to apply for FEMA assistance, update their application, or find out about other available resources. Local, state, and federal agency staff members at DRC’s can help disaster survivors with questions about FEMA applications and additional resources and support. Reaching this milestone has been a team effort. FEMA is here and working side-by-side with our West Virginia partners to ensure our mission is done quickly and efficiently. I want to thank our state and local partners, because FEMA could not have reached this milestone without them. We will continue to push forward and support the people of West Virginia who were impacted by the February 15 storm. Disaster Recovery Centers can be found in Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming, and Mingo counties, and the press release stated that Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA) teams are in communities affected by the flooding to walk door-to-door to help residents with FEMA assistance applications and information.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 5:25 PM, Belle Johnson, 52868K] reports Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn gave an update about what she and her team are doing to find out how FEMA checks are going missing. These checks were supposed to be delivered to victims of Hurricane Helene but never arrived. As previously reported by News Channel 11, some victims saw their checks had been deposited in banks around the state and even around the country. "We get very frustrated with FEMA when they start slow walking the response to Hurricane Helene victims," Blackburn said. "We have tried repeatedly to work with FEMA to have them move forward more quickly and the stolen checks is one of those issues.". Blackburn said she has caseworkers in her East Tennessee office and also sent a letter to FEMA. She is working with the department to get answers. "We want to know exactly how many stolen checks have been reported to them and if they are working with local, state and federal agencies to figure out what happened and where these checks went and then where they are in that process.". Blackburn said she has also investigated how many requests FEMA has received regarding reissued checks and whether they have followed up on these requests. "If we can get some answers to this, we’ll be able to make certain that everyone who was promised funds from FEMA that they are going to get what they were supposed to get and that they are made whole through this situation.". Along with getting Helene’s victims their checks, Blackburn’s goal is to find and stop the people stealing them.

Newsweek [3/14/2025 3:43 PM, Hannah Parry, 52220K] reports that an entire Texas town has been evacuated due to multiple wildfires erupting across the northern region of the state. Multiple volunteer fire departments are working to battle the blazes in Gray County, east of Amarillo, on Friday. The U.S. Drought Monitor has warned that much of Texas is currently suffering from drought conditions, with 8.65 percent of the state in extreme drought, 19.81 percent in exceptional drought, 13.49 percent in severe drought, 20.77 percent in moderate drought and 26.72 percent abnormally dry. The National Weather Service has also issued a red flag warning for much of the state on Friday, which means that a combination of low humidity, warm temperatures and strong winds in the area has formed critical fire weather conditions. The red flag warning for Amarillo will remain in place until 7 p.m. CDT. A high wind warning is also in place, meaning that existing fires may be spread much faster. At least 1,000 acres have already been engulfed by the fires, which have been 0 percent contained, as today’s strong winds of 35 to 50 mph, with gusts up to 80 mph, fan the flames of several grass fires throughout the Panhandle.

CBS Austin [3/14/2025 7:03 PM, Tara Brolley, 602K] reports a wildfire burning on the north side of Llano has grown to approximately 48 acres as of Friday evening, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The agency announced it is responding to a request for assistance from local firefighters battling the blaze, named the Red Rock Creek Fire. As of 6 p.m., officials reported the fire was 50% contained. "Fire activity has diminished and is burning in heavy vegetation and snags," Texas A&M Forest Service said in an update. Fire danger has been elevated in parts of Central Texas due to dry conditions and seasonal winds.

NPR [3/14/2025 4:57 PM, Rachel Osier Lindley, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports it’s now been one year since the start of the largest wildfire in Texas’ history. Residents of hard-hit Canadian, Texas, say the heartbreak lingers on and recovery will take years.

Yahoo! News [3/15/2025 6:05 AM, Jana Hayes and Josh Kelly, 52868K] reports wildfires swept through several parts of Oklahoma on Friday, driven by powerful winds that sent plumes of dust and smoke across the region, knocked down power lines and sparked evacuation orders as fast-moving flames threatened residential areas. Gusts of up to 70 mph were part of a "monster" storm that was raging across the United States, expected to bring blizzard conditions to the northern Plains, wildfires to the southern and central U.S. and tornadoes in the South. The high winds and fire weather conditions were expected to continue into the evening. A near-critical fire threat was expected to continue into Saturday. Windows rattled, roof shingles and broken branches ripped through the air, and sirens could be heard throughout the day in Oklahoma City and other areas as fire crews raced to numerous hot spots as they sprouted up. There were eight fire warnings issued by the National Weather Service and Oklahoma Forestry Services as of 3:40 p.m. As of Friday afternoon, nearly 75,000 Oklahomans were without power, the majority of outages being in central Oklahoma. A power outage in Oklahoma City temporarily shut down the high school state basketball tournaments at the State Fair Arena. Grass fires broke out across the state, with one caused by downed power lines threatening the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Hope in Oklahoma City before being put out by fire crews. Blowing dust was causing low visibility Friday afternoon, as little as a quarter mile in western Oklahoma. As numerous accidents occurred due to the extreme wind, the National Weather Service in Norman advised to only travel when necessary and give high-profile vehicles a wide berth. Residents in the western town of Leedey, Oklahoma, were advised to evacuate just before 1 p.m. to the town of Hammon at the Oklahoma FEMA Gymnasium for safety. About an hour later, some Norman residents were asked to evacuate to the Little Axe Recreation Center or Cross Point Church. Residents living along and east of 108th Avenue and 132th Avenue, and north of Post Oak Road to State Highway 9, were issued the evacuation notice. There were as many as four fires burning in east Norman near Lake Thunderbird on Friday afternoon, the local National Weather Service office said.

Washington Examiner [3/14/2025 11:56 AM, Luke Gentile, 2296K] reports that the United States Secret Service announced Friday that its new fleet of black cruisers represents an "era of excellence." "A new era of excellence has arrived from the Uniformed Division," the agency said in a promotional video showcasing the new black cruiser with gold trim driving around Washington. "Bold. Sleek. Commanding. The new black cruiser is a perfect blend of style and functionality built to keep our officers ready for anything." The Secret Service commonly employs modified versions of American SUVs, and the decision to switch from white to black vehicles for the Uniformed Division took place before President Donald Trump was inaugurated. The Secret Service said in January that the decision to move to black and gold would ensure consistency between the marked fleet and the protected fleet. "Designed for those who stand ready, this cruiser isn’t just a vehicle," Friday’s promotional video said. "It’s a statement. With its all black exterior, it moves with precision and purpose, embodying the strength and discipline of the Uniformed Division." "Our Uniformed Division’s mission is to protect facilities and venues secured for U.S. Secret Service protectees," the website says. "Throughout its history, the Uniformed Division has accomplished this mission through individuals who embody honor, integrity and a commitment to excellence."

WSOC [3/14/2025 4:50 PM, Staff] reports Shamario Bethea, 42, wanted for murder, was apprehended by a Violent Criminal Apprehension Team detective. He was taken into custody on October 9, 2024. Bethea had fled Charlotte and was initially located in Laurinburg, NC, before being tracked down in Hickory with the assistance of the FBI, Secret Service, SBI, and local law enforcement. The arrest was made without further incident, showcasing the effective collaboration between multiple law enforcement agencies.

South Carolina Daily Gazette [3/14/2025 4:05 PM, Skylar Laird] reports a man charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump might be able to await trial on home detention, a federal judge decided Friday. Travis Lang, a 47-year-old from Irmo, pleaded not guilty last week to sending a message saying he would kill Trump. In federal court Friday, a Secret Service agent detailed Lang’s history of threatening politicians in local, state and federal offices of both parties, dating back to at least 2020. The threats continued even after agents visited his home and warned him to stop, according to testimony in court. Lang’s bond to get out of the Lexington County jail was set at $25,000. But when that might happen and where he would go next is not yet known. Before paying bond, Lang must complete a mental health evaluation in state court. That will determine whether Lang is released to his apartment or to a mental health treatment facility, his attorneys said. If released to go home, Lang will be subject to tracking on a GPS monitor, and officers will install software on his electronic devices to monitor his social media usage. He will not be allowed to contact any public officials, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett said.

Yahoo! News [3/14/2025 12:40 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports that deputies are searching for a man accused of using fake money at a Girl Scout cookie booth. The crime happened on March 1, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Further information was not provided by the sheriff’s office. Deputies ask anyone who can recognize the man pictured to call Detective Jonathan Petry at 937-432-2766.

USA Today [3/14/2025 3:44 PM, Taylor Ardrey, 75858K] reports footage shows the gripping rescue of a 71-year-old woman whose car became stuck in a turbulent river in Oregon. The vehicle crashed into the McKenzie River near Springfield last week on March 5, and multiple agencies responded to the scene, according to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office. Upon arrival, officials said the woman was pinned inside her vehicle. During the mission, deputies contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance. In the video, a rescue swimmer, identified by local news as Tyler Gantt, lowers from a helicopter, extracts the woman from the vehicle, and gets her to safety. According to officials, the woman was taken to a local hospital, and the incident is under investigation.

CyberScoop [3/14/2025 12:00 PM, Matt Bracken] reports small water and wastewater utilities would get a boost to their cybersecurity defenses under a bipartisan Senate bill that a pair of lawmakers re-introduced Thursday. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., are taking another swing at the Cybersecurity for Rural Water Systems Act after the legislation stalled out in the 118th Congress. The bill would update and expand the Department of Agriculture’s Circuit Rider Program, which provides technical assistance to rural water systems. The lawmakers’ legislation calls on the program to develop protocols to bolster water systems’ cyber defenses and provide additional aid to improve protections. According to a press release announcing the bill, just 20% of water and wastewater systems across the country have basic cyber protections. “As our near-peer adversaries continue to utilize cyberattacks, we must have cybersecurity safeguards in place to protect our critical infrastructure such as water systems,” Rounds said in a statement. “Our legislation would modernize and expand the Circuit Rider Program, providing cybersecurity-related technical assistance to rural water and wastewater systems.” A year ago, the Biden administration issued warnings to U.S. governors about “disabling” cyberattacks that targeted water systems throughout the United States, while pushing local authorities to devote more resources to protecting the utilities. Just over six months later, the New Jersey-based American Water Works Company was hit with a cyberattack, though there was no impact to water services. The bill from Cortez Masto and Rounds is supported by the National Rural Water Association, Rural Community Assistance Partnership and Cyber Solarium 2.0. “These water systems face real and immediate threats from both criminals and nation state actors that can have consequences on national security, economic productivity and public health and safety,” Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, said in a statement. “The existing circuit rider program that this leverages is a proven vehicle for delivering security solutions.”

AP [3/14/2025 12:04 PM, David Klepper, 24727K] reports that Elon Musk met this week with the leader of the National Security Agency, suggesting the nation’s spy services won’t escape the billionaire’s scrutiny as he looks to slash spending and personnel across the federal government. Musk met Wednesday with Gen. Timothy Haugh, who directs the NSA as well as U.S. Cyber Command, which coordinates the Pentagon’s cybersecurity work, the NSA said Friday. In a statement, the NSA said the meeting was intended to ensure both organizations are "aligned" with the new administration’s priorities. The meeting with Haugh was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Musk, leading the new Department of Government Efficiency, has roiled the federal government by slashing personnel and budgets at dozens of agencies. America’s spy services have largely escaped the deep cuts, such as those at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Education, but recent announcements suggest that may be about to change. Like the CIA, the NSA has offered buyout proposals to some employees. The CIA said earlier this month that it has begun reviewing the employment of recently hired officers and plans to lay off an unknown number of them.

Reuters [3/15/2025 6:10 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports Ecuadorean officials have told allies of U.S. President Donald Trump that they are interested in hosting a U.S. military base in the South American country, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The officials also said they were interested in inking a free trade deal with the United States, which has eluded the Andean nation, even as neighboring Colombia and Peru have had bilateral accords with the U.S. for over a decade, said the sources, who requested anonymity to describe private conversations. The expressions of interest were delivered in recent weeks to Republican lobbyists in Washington close to the Trump administration, the sources said. It is unclear if the administration is itself aware of or interested in the proposals, and the White House National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment. The military base pitch is the latest unconventional plan advanced by the administration of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa, who is trying to tamp down on crime and strengthen ties with Trump associates heading into a competitive April election. On Wednesday, Noboa announced a "strategic alliance" with Erik Prince - a prominent Trump supporter and founder of controversial private military firm Blackwater - to take on crime and narcoterrorism in the country of 17 million. Noboa, the 37-year-old heir to one of the country’s biggest business fortunes, has publicly argued for bringing foreign military bases to Ecuador. The Ecuadorean legislature is in the early stages of a legislative process that could eliminate a constitutional ban on such facilities instituted in 2008 with the support of leftist former President Rafael Correa. The U.S. government had a military base on the environmentally sensitive Galapagos Islands during World War II and a separate base used largely to combat narcotics trafficking on the mainland until 2009, at which point Correa forced Washington to abandon the outpost. Several other small and medium-sized nations have been exploring unconventional ways of building ties with Washington, some of which appear designed to take advantage of Trump’s transactional foreign policy impulses and willingness to entertain unconventional policy ideas.

Washington Post [3/14/2025 8:37 PM, Karen DeYoung, 31735K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday declared Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, persona non grata, saying “he is no longer welcome in our great country.” Calling Rasool “a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS,” referring to President Donald Trump, Rubio said in a social media post that “we have nothing to discuss with him.” The immediate cause of Rubio’s ire appeared to be a speech Rasool delivered virtually to a Johannesburg think tank Friday in which he said Trump was “mobilizing” white supremacy in the United States and “abroad as well,” according to a Breitbart News article cited by Rubio’s post. Rasool made particular mention of Vice President JD Vance’s support for Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany political party, and the prominence within the Trump administration of Elon Musk, a White South African who has also supported conservative political movements in other countries. In his post on X, the Musk-owned social media site, Rubio repeated Breitbart’s misspelling of Rasool’s first name, which he corrected in a subsequent post. The move against the ambassador follows a series of Trump criticisms against the South African government, including an executive order last month denouncing new legislation that established a program for expropriation of unused agricultural land that White owners refused to sell to Black purchasers. Trump ordered the cancellation of all U.S. assistance programs to South Africa and offered U.S. admission and resettlement “for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.” Afrikaners are an ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 17th century. Beginning in the late 1940s, the ruling minority Afrikaner political party enacted white supremacist racial laws, known as apartheid, against the Black majority population. The U.S. government levied economic sanctions in the 1980s against the Afrikaner-led government, which ultimately helped to end South Africa’s racist regime with the country’s first multiracial election in 1994. Since that time, the country has been ruled by the electorally dominant African National Congress party, which rode to victory led by Nelson Mandela. Rasool was not immediately reachable, and it was not clear whether he was in Washington when he delivered the virtual address. In its own post on X, South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said: “We have noted the tweet by the US Secretary of State Mr. Marco Rubio. We will engage through the diplomatic channel.”

Reported similarly:
VOA News [3/14/2025 10:05 PM, Staff, 2913K]

New York Times [3/15/2025 4:52 AM, Aaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon, 330K] reports the White House accused Hamas of dragging its feet on engaging with the latest U.S. cease-fire proposal for Gaza and demanded the immediate release of Edan Alexander, an American Israeli soldier held in Gaza for more than a year. Earlier on Friday, Hamas officials said they were ready to negotiate Mr. Alexander’s release along with the return of the remains of four other American Israeli hostages. But Israel immediately cast doubt on the proposal’s viability, suggesting a deal wasn’t imminent. The office of Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, said Mr. Witkoff had presented Hamas with a new cease-fire proposal on Wednesday night that aimed to extend the ongoing truce and secure the release of more hostages held in Gaza. “Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent cease-fire,” Mr. Witkoff’s office said in a joint statement with the National Security Council. The United States would “respond accordingly” if Hamas did not meet the White House’s deadline for carrying out the agreement, the statement said, without saying when that was or what the consequences might be. A senior Hamas official said the group’s offer stipulated that Israel release some Palestinian prisoners, restore aid to Gaza and enter talks on the cease-fire’s next phase in exchange for Mr. Alexander — believed to be the last surviving captive with American citizenship — and the remains of four others. Hamas was willing to discuss the number and identities of the prisoners, the Hamas official said, as long as Israel accepted the principle of the offer for the five Americans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

AP [3/14/2025 1:40 PM, Julia Frankel, 34586K] reports that Palestinian militant group Hamas said Friday that it has accepted a proposal from mediators to release one living American-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four dual nationals who had died in captivity. The Israeli prime minister’s office cast doubt on the offer, accusing Hamas of trying to manipulate talks underway in Qatar on the next stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Hamas, which rules over what remains of the Gaza Strip, didn’t immediately specify when the release of soldier Edan Alexander and the four bodies would take place — or what it expected to get in return. Alexander was 19 when he was abducted from his base on the border with Gaza in southern Israel during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked the war, which has been the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas. It wasn’t clear which mediators proposed what Hamas was discussing. Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. have been guiding negotiations, and none had confirmed making the suggestion as of Friday night.

The Hill [3/14/2025 7:03 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12829K] reports Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy for negotiations, presented the proposal, which reportedly includes Israel lifting a blockade on humanitarian aid entering the Strip. A source familiar with the negotiations told CNN the Witkoff proposal includes a monthlong ceasefire to secure the release of a handful of alive hostages. The exact number of living hostages to be released and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are part of ongoing negotiations. The ceasefire extension would run until the end of Passover on April 20, and renew humanitarian aid deliveries through the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israel accepted the framework but is convening a Saturday night meeting to receive a detailed report from negotiators before deciding on the next steps for the release of the hostages, according to a statement from the office of the Israeli prime minister. Hamas holds 59 hostages, about half of whom are believed to be alive. The group kidnapped them from southern Israel as part of its attack launched Oct. 7, 2023, when it killed about 1,200 people.

CNN [3/15/2025 3:39 AM, Mary Kay Mallonee and Edward Szekeres, 22131K] reports US forces working with Iraqi intelligence and security services killed a high-profile leader of the Islamic State in an airstrike in western Iraq, according to officials from the two countries. Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias ‘Abu Khadijah,’ was known as the “deputy caliph” of the militant group and “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X. President Donald Trump posted on social media Friday night, saying “the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” The “Global ISIS #2 leader, Chief of Global Operations and the Delegated Committee Emir” was killed alongside another ISIS operative in a precision strike on Thursday in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The US and Iraqi troops found the two ISIS members dead at the site of the strike. Both were “wearing un-exploded ‘suicide vests’ and had multiple weapons,” according to the CENTCOM statement. They identified Abu Khadijah “through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where Abu Khadijah narrowly escaped,” the statement said. As an ISIS leader in Iraq and Syria, Abu Khadijah was responsible “for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by ISIS globally,” CENTCOM said. He also directed a significant portion of finance for the group’s global organization. In his statement on X, Iraq’s PM al-Sudani said that “the Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism.” Before a series of defeats by a US-led coalition nearly six years ago, ISIS – also known as the “caliphate” – held sway over much of Syria and northern Iraq while spawning affiliates throughout Africa and Asia. It organized a series of deadly terror attacks in European cities and remains active as a terror group in more than a dozen countries, inspiring and supporting individuals and cells in Europe and Russia in recent years.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [3/15/2025 2:34 AM, Kelsey Ables, 31735K]

Washington Examiner [3/14/2025 11:08 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump hailed the death of ISIS chief Abdallah Maki Mosleh al Rifai on Friday. Iraqi security forces, along with U.S.-led coalition forces, killed ISIS leader "Abu Khadija" in an airstrike. "Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed," Trump said in a Truth Social statement reacting to the news. "He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!". Khadija, who led one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world, was confirmed dead Friday after an airstrike Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

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