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

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

The Washington Examiner [3/16/2025 3:01 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 2296K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Sunday that more border wall will be erected in Arizona. Following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the number of people crossing illegally has dropped dramatically. As of February, there have been just over 8,300 encounters with migrants at the southwest border since the start of the year. This follows three years that saw upwards of 150,000 attempting to cross monthly. "As of today, we’re starting seven new miles of construction," Noem said in a video from Arizona where the border wall ends. "We’re going to continue to make America safe again.” Arizona’s border with Mexico has some 50 miles without a border wall. When President Joe Biden took office, he thwarted Trump’s efforts to build the wall at the southern border. All the unused parts of the wall, which were slated for Arizona, went to storage in the Southwest for $130,000 daily. It cost $47 million a year over the nearly first three years Biden was in office before he opted to sell the material. Prior to Biden leaving office, his administration began auctioning off portions of the border wall from Arizona last year. However, those buyers have since reached out to Trump’s border czar Tom Homan. According to Homan, they are willing to sell back the wall portions for exactly what they paid for them. CBS Miami [3/16/2025 3:59 PM, Emily Mae Czachor, 51661K] reports that the contract tasks Granite Construction Co., a California-based company that has worked on government projects before, with building approximately seven more miles of the wall on a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in Hidalgo County, Texas. Border Patrol announced the contract Saturday, saying it aims to "close critical openings" in the wall only partially built under Mr. Trump’s direction during his first presidency. Former President Joe Biden froze funding for the border wall program when he took office. "Completing the border wall in these locations will support the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug- and human-smuggling activities of cartels," said Border Patrol. The agency described the section of the Rio Grande Valley where construction will get underway as a common entry point for undocumented crossings that also "experiences large numbers of individuals and narcotics being smuggled into the country illegally.” Border Report [3/17/2025 1:05 AM, Staff, 117K] reports that the secretary visited Nogales, Ariz., on Saturday to assess the border situation firsthand as illegal crossings hit their lowest levels since 1967. Noem’s message was clear: People should not come to the U.S. illegally. "Just recently, we saw less than 200 encounters in a day. That’s remarkable," Noem said. "Now our agents can get back to doing their jobs and enforcing the law instead of processing.” Noem attributed the decrease to stricter enforcement policies under President Donald Trump’s administration, including resumed border wall construction. She said that cartels are becoming "more desperate" in response to increased border security. "They recognize that we’re enforcing our federal laws, that we’re not letting people just walk across the border anymore," Noem said. "We are building a wall, we are securing our borders, and we’re not going to let this illegal activity continue.” According to Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested more than 32,000 individuals since Trump took office in January. Noem said all ICE arrests made in 2024 under the Biden administration came up to over 33,000. Noem said the administration is specifically targeting Tren de Aragua (TDA), which she described as "an extremely dangerous gang from Venezuela" with thousands of members in the United States. She indicated that Guantanamo Bay is being used as a detention facility for individuals deemed especially dangerous.

The AP [3/17/2025 4:43 AM, Nicholas Riccardi and Regina Garcia Cano, 117K] reports the Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday temporarily blocking the deportations, but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement Sunday, responded to speculation about whether the administration was flouting court orders: “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.” The acronym refers to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump targeted in his unusual proclamation that was released Saturday In a court filing Sunday, the Department of Justice, which has appealed Boasberg’s decision, said it would not use the Trump proclamation he blocked for further deportations if his decision is not overturned. Trump sidestepped a question over whether his administration violated a court order while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. “I don’t know. You have to speak to the lawyers about that,” he said, although he defended the deportations. “I can tell you this. These were bad people.” Asked about invoking presidential powers used in times of war, Trump said, “This is a time of war,” describing the influx of criminal migrants as “an invasion.” The Wall Street Journal [3/16/2025 6:26 PM, Jan Wolfe, Laura Kusisto and Josh Dawsey] reports U.S. District Judge James Boasberg early Saturday evening blocked President Trump from using the law known as the Alien Enemies Act to deport noncitizens held in U.S. custody. Government lawyers said Trump was using the law to target members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang whose members have reached the U.S. in recent years. During Saturday’s hearing, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt told Boasberg that two aircraft believed to be carrying Venezuelan deportees took off from U.S. territory on Saturday. The ACLU had sued the administration earlier that day on behalf of migrants at risk of deportation. Boasberg said Justice Department lawyers hadn’t disputed that claim, and told them that “any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.” Boasberg said his order was “something we need to make sure is complied with immediately.” The judge subsequently issued a written order that didn’t explicitly mention planes that were already in the air, something White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to point to Sunday. “The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order,” Leavitt said in a statement, adding that it “was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory. The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict.” Typically lawyers view orders issued orally by judges as carrying full legal weight. Senior White House and administration officials huddled on Saturday evening to make a decision about what to do with the judge’s order, and decided to go ahead with their plans, according to a person familiar with the matter. The administration is expecting a fight at the Supreme Court quickly, this person said. The New York Times [3/16/2025 8:08 PM, Mattathias Schwartz, 145325K] reports that in a Sunday afternoon filing, the Trump administration said the State Department and Homeland Security Department were “promptly notified” of the judge’s written order when it was posted to the electronic docket at 7:26 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday. The filing implied that the government had a different legal authority for deporting the Venezuelans besides the one blocked by the judge, which could provide a basis for them to remain in El Salvador while the order is appealed. The administration said that the five plaintiffs who filed suit to block their deportations — the suit that yielded the judge’s order — had not been deported. NBC News [3/16/2025 5:49 PM, Megan Lebowitz, et al., 44742K] reports that the government said in a filing Sunday afternoon that “some gang members subject to removal under the Proclamation had already been removed from United States territory" before the court order was issued. It is unclear, however, whether any of the deportees had already landed in El Salvador before the judge’s ruling or whether the Trump administration defied the order. Leavitt denied in a statement Sunday that the White House defied the court order and said the judge’s ruling barring all deportation flights under Trump’s proclamation was issued after "terrorist [Tren De Aragua] aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory." “The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict," Leavitt said. "Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear — federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion."

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CNN [3/16/2025 1:43 PM, Alison Main,Michael Rios and Kevin Liptak, 257K]
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New York Times [3/17/2025 3:19 AM, Devlin Barrett, Annie Correal and William K. Rashbaum, 330K] reports the Trump administration denied on Sunday that it had violated a court order by deporting hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a prison in El Salvador over the weekend, saying that the president had broad powers to quickly expel them under an 18th-century law meant for wartime. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also asserted in a statement that the federal courts “have no jurisdiction” over the president’s conduct of foreign affairs or his power to expel foreign enemies. “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil,” she said in a statement. It was unclear why she referred to an aircraft carrier, because all indications were that the Venezuelans had been flown to El Salvador. While White House officials exulted over what they see as a precedent-setting victory in their efforts to speed up deportations, the comments also tacitly acknowledge that the court battles over their legal rationale may be just beginning. President Trump signed an executive order on Friday invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to rapidly arrest and deport those the administration identifies as members of the Tren de Aragua gang without many of the legal processes common in immigration cases. The enemies law allows for summary deportations of people from countries at war with the United States. On Saturday, Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court in Washington issued a temporary restraining order blocking the government from deporting any immigrants under the law after Mr. Trump’s order invoking it. In a hastily scheduled hearing sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the judge said he did not believe that federal law allowed the president’s action. He also ordered that any flights that had departed with Venezuelan immigrants under the executive order return to the United States “however that’s accomplished — whether turning around the plane or not.” “This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” he said.

Washington Examiner [3/16/2025 11:36 AM, Jack Birle, 2296K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi denounced a federal judge for pausing President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia paused the order for 14 days on Saturday, shortly after it was issued, arguing that some of those deported under the order could face irreparable harm. Bondi, in a statement Saturday evening, said the Justice Department is "undeterred" in its efforts to support the White House’s deportation efforts and warned the order "puts the public and law enforcement at risk.” "Tonight, a DC trial judge supported Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans. TdA is represented by the ACLU. This order disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump’s power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk," Bondi said. "The Department of Justice is undeterred in its efforts to work with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and all of our partners to stop this invasion and Make America Safe Again," she added. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on Saturday after months of teasing such action on the campaign trail, declaring the Tren de Aragua is "perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.” "I proclaim that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies," Trump said in the proclamation.

New York Times [3/16/2025 10:53 AM, Simon Romero and Paulina Villegas, 145325K] reports illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border are down to their lowest level in decades. Once-crowded migrant shelters are empty. Instead of heading north, people stranded in Mexico are starting to return home in bigger numbers. The border is almost unrecognizable from just a couple of years ago, when hundreds of thousands of people from around the world were crossing into the United States every month in scenes of chaos and upheaval. President Joseph R. Biden Jr., facing a swell of public outrage during the 2024 election campaign, clamped down on asylum seekers and pushed Mexico to keep migrants at bay. By the end of his term, the border had quieted significantly and illegal crossings had fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency. Now, President Trump has choked off the flow of migrants even more drastically, solidifying a sweeping turn in U.S. policy with measures that many critics, especially those on the left, have long considered politically unpalatable, legally untenable and ultimately ineffective because they don’t tackle the root causes of migration. “The entire migration paradigm is shifting,” said Eunice Rendón, the coordinator of Migrant Agenda, a coalition of Mexican advocacy groups. Citing Mr. Trump’s array of policies and his threats targeting migrants, she added, “Families are terrified.” Mr. Trump is employing several hard-line tactics simultaneously: halting asylum indefinitely for people seeking refuge in the United States through the southern border; deploying troops to hunt down, and, perhaps just as crucially, scare away border crossers; widely publicizing deportation flights in which migrants are sent home in shackles; and strong-arming governments in Latin America — like Mexico’s — to do more to curb migration. The new approach has yielded some eye-popping statistics. In February, the U.S. Border Patrol said it had apprehended 8,347 people trying to illegally cross the border, down from a record high of more than 225,000 apprehensions in December 2023. Those numbers had already been dropping sharply since the Biden administration unveiled its immigration restrictions last year. In December, the final full month Mr. Biden was in office, the Border Patrol apprehended 47,330 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. At 1,527 migrants a day, that was the lowest daily average for any month during the entire Biden presidency. But it was still five times as much as the number in February, the first full month after Mr. Trump took office. If that trend holds for a full year, migrant apprehensions in the United States could fall to levels unseen since around 1967, according to Adam Isacson, a migration expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nongovernmental organization.

Washington Examiner [3/16/2025 6:37 PM, Asher Notheis, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump reiterated a statement he made in this month’s joint address to Congress that securing the U.S.’s southern border only needed a president who would prioritize this topic, suggesting his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, could have done the same if he cared. Trump sat down for a one-on-one interview to discuss his first two months back in the White House, during which his drastic uptick in border security was one of several topics addressed. The president was asked if it would be possible to repurpose some of the manpower allocated to securing the southern border, as well as if the U.S. even needs "new laws and new money" to further change at the southern border, prompting Trump to suggest the nation would not need "very many new laws" since he was able to keep the border secure during his first term. "And now, I think we’re going to beat those numbers, I actually think these numbers might be slightly better and we’re going to get them better yet," Trump stated on Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson. "And I said during the speech on Tuesday night, I said that ‘you didn’t need new anything, you just needed a new president for that.’ I said ‘close the border,’ and they closed the border. He could have done the same thing. I think he wanted open borders.” When asked about the release of the files on former President John F. Kennedy, Trump stated the release of these files could occur within the coming weeks. The president added these records are the ones he wants to see the most, and that "2,000 more documents" in this case have been discovered.

Washington Post [3/16/2025 9:23 PM, Marianne LeVine, et al., 31735K] reports more than half of the 261 immigrants expelled to El Salvador on Saturday were swept out of the United States using a wartime powers act, a White House official said Sunday, amid questions about whether the Trump administration flouted a judge’s order barring use of the statute to hasten deportations. President Donald Trump secretly signed a proclamation Friday invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, saying he would quickly remove Venezuelans aged 14 and over who allegedly belong to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua. Since then, 137 people were dispatched to the Central American nation via the proclamation, according to the White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Trump administration’s enforcement strategy. The rest were removed under other federal laws, including 23 people from El Salvador with ties to the MS-13 gang and 101 additional Venezuelans, the official said. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Saturday temporarily blocked Trump from using the act to swiftly remove immigrants without a hearing and instructed officials to return any airplanes carrying them to the United States. He ruled after advocates sued saying the administration was denying immigrants due process and putting them in danger. But early Sunday, Trump administration officials shared video footage from El Salvador that showed shackled immigrants being forced off airplanes at night and into a new mega-prison. “Oopsie, too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted on X, referring to the judge’s decision, followed by a laughing emoji. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted it, and a White House spokesman responded with a meme saying, “Boom!” Bukele said the United States sent his country 238 members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and more than 20 members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang. He released a three-minute video that showed the alleged gang members escorted off three planes by heavily armed men wearing camouflage as dramatic music played. The men were loaded onto buses and taken to the prison, where their heads were shaved. El Salvador said the United States will pay for the prisoners to be jailed. “Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele,” Rubio posted on X.

Washington Post [3/16/2025 4:40 PM, Dan Lamothe, 31735K] reports the Pentagon has deployed a Navy destroyer on an unusual mission to bolster security at the southern U.S. border, defense officials said, dispatching a warship involved last year in combat in the Middle East to waters typically patrolled by the U.S. Coast Guard. The USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, left from Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia on Saturday as part of the Defense Department’s response to President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for securing the southern border. It marks the latest example of the Trump administration using the U.S. military at home to fend off what the president has claimed is an “invasion” at the border. Gen. Gregory Guillot, who oversees U.S. Northern Command, said in a statement that the Gravely will improve U.S. abilities “to protect the United States’ territorial integrity, sovereignty and security.” Defense officials added in the same statement that the deployment will contribute to “a coordinated and robust response to combating maritime related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration.” U.S. defense officials, including Pentagon spokesmen John Ullyot and Sean Parnell, did not respond to questions about whether the Gravely’s deployment is meant to address a possible shortfall in available Coast Guard vessels, or if it is intended to send a signal to drug cartels in the region. Trump has in the past voiced a desire to launch military strikes against the cartels. Trump has also repeatedly said in recent weeks that he wants to “take back” the Panama Canal, the vital waterway that connects the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Ullyot said in a statement Sunday that the Pentagon has no announcements to make about a change in U.S. military presence in Panama, and that the Defense Department is “fully prepared to support the President’s national security priorities including those surrounding the Panama Canal.”

Washington Post [3/16/2025 7:00 AM, Samantha Schmidt, Katharine Houreld, Karen DeYoung and Mary Beth Sheridan, 31735K] reports that, as Latin America’s drug trade surges, the Trump administration’s aid freeze has brought crucial anti-narcotics programs to a screeching halt. The administration paused virtually all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department, including its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. INL has supported governments and security forces worldwide to combat organized crime, human trafficking and drug trafficking. Last year outside Bogotá, Colombian law enforcement officials captured “El Hombre” — the alleged ringleader of one of the largest drug-trafficking networks in the Caribbean. The officers used skills taught to them months earlier by U.S. law enforcement under the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, according to an internal program report. Colombia’s army commander described the capture of Erick Mosquea, the alleged leader of the “Falcon Network,” as “an important blow to international drug smuggling.” U.S. authorities had been on the Dominican drug kingpin’s tail since 2016. In a statement to Washington Post on Friday, Colombia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, known as ICITAP, has been suspended, and that other training programs have been affected across the security forces and government. “Given the status of the United States as Colombia’s main strategic ally in defense and security, most of the cooperation programs transcend to all levels, which is reflected in the operational development in the fight against drugs and transnational threats in general,” the statement said. The State Department’s aid freeze curtailed a fentanyl screening program in Mexico’s largest port. In Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer and a U.S. ally in combating the drug trade, 18 Black Hawk helicopters were grounded after funding for fuel and maintenance was paused. Washington has begun to issue waivers for these initiatives and some other frozen programs. According to the State Department, waivers for $7.8 million in INL funding have been granted for programs in Mexico to counter production and trafficking in fentanyl, and to dismantle terrorist criminal organizations. But other programs and investments remain paused.

AP [3/17/2025 1:03 AM, Megan Janetsky, 34586K] reports the videos roll through TikTok in 30-second flashes. Migrants trek in camouflage through dry desert terrain. Dune buggies roar up to the United States-Mexico border barrier. Families with young children pass through gaps in the wall. Helicopters, planes, yachts, tunnels and jet skis stand by for potential customers. Laced with emojis, the videos posted by smugglers offer a simple promise: If you don’t have a visa in the U.S., trust us. We’ll get you over safely. At a time when legal pathways to the U.S. have been slashed and criminal groups are raking in money from migrant smuggling, social media apps like TikTok have become an essential tool for smugglers and migrants alike. The videos — taken to cartoonish extremes — offer a rare look inside a long elusive industry and the narratives used by trafficking networks to fuel migration north. “With God’s help, we’re going to continue working to fulfill the dreams of foreigners. Safe travels without robbing our people,” wrote one enterprising smuggler. As President Donald Trump begins to ramp up a crackdown at the border and migration levels to the U.S. dip, smugglers say new technologies allow networks to be more agile in the face of challenges, and expand their reach to new customers — a far cry from the old days when each village had its trusted smuggler. “In this line of work, you have to switch tactics,” said a woman named Soary, part of a smuggling network bringing migrants from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition that her last name would not be shared out of concern that authorities would track her down. “TikTok goes all over the world.” TikTok says the platform strictly prohibits human smuggling and reports such content to law enforcement. The use of social media to facilitate migration took off around 2017 and 2018, when activists built massive WhatsApp groups to coordinate the first major migrant caravans traveling from Central America to the U.S., according to Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University focused on the migrant smuggling industry.

Reuters [3/17/2025 7:39 PM, Nate Raymond, 908K] reports a Rhode Island doctor who is an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported to Lebanon even though a judge had issued an order blocking the U.S. visa holder’s immediate removal from the country, according to court papers. The expulsion of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who on Sunday demanded information on whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection had "willfully" disobeyed his order. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said he had received a "detailed and specific" timeline of the events from an attorney working on Alawieh’s behalf that raised "serious allegations" about whether his order was violated. The agency has not said why she was removed. But her expulsion came as Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossing and ramp up immigration arrests. A CBP spokesperson, Hilton Beckham, in a statement said migrants bear the burden of establishing admissibility and that the agency’s officers "adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats." Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, was detained on Thursday after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston after traveling to Lebanon to see relatives, according to a lawsuit, filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab. She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University before then completing a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moving to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June. While in Lebanon, the U.S. consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations. Despite that visa, CBP detained her at the airport for reasons her family members have still not been provided, according to the lawsuit, which argued her rights were being violated.

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Reuters [3/16/2025 7:39 PM, Nate Raymond, 41523K
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FOX News [3/16/2025 9:16 AM, Staff, 46189K] Video: HERE reports Charlie Hurt and Griff Jenkins examine a protest of border czar Tom Homan’s meeting in Albany with New York lawmakers over their refusal to enforce immigration laws.

New York Times [3/16/2025 2:16 AM, Michael Wilson, Michael Rothfeld and Ana Ley, 145325K] reports crowds of masked student protesters raging against the war in Gaza filled the Columbia University lawns last spring, while counter protesters and journalists surrounded the tent city that had been erected there. One man stood out. He was Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student in his 20s, older than most of the students around him. Mr. Khalil, a Syrian immigrant of Palestinian descent, quickly emerged as a vocal and measured leader during rallies and sit-ins, doing on-camera interviews with the media in a zip-up sweater. And he was unmasked. Many other international students wore masks and kept to the background of the protests, for fear of being singled out and losing their visas. His wife worried. “We’ve talked about the mask thing,” Noor Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist from the Midwest, said in an interview last week. “He always tells me, ‘What I am doing wrong that I need to be covering my face for?’” Mr. Khalil was a negotiator on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the main coalition of protesting student groups, and one with its own spectrum of attitudes toward violence and dark rhetoric. His decision to quite literally be the face of a deeply divisive movement would have huge consequences for Mr. Khalil. He was called out by critics by name on social media, and on March 8, seven weeks after the inauguration of Donald Trump, federal agents arrived at his door. He was swiftly taken to a detention center in Louisiana, where he is still being held for what officials have described, without providing details, as leading activities aligned with Hamas, an allegation he has denied. Mr. Khalil’s friends and family have expressed outrage at his detention and possible deportation. But they also say they are not surprised by his activism in a movement that he was born into, nor his relatively calm presence amid a swarm of noise.

Yahoo! News [3/16/2025 4:18 PM, Amanda Friedman, 52868K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision to detain a green card holder over his involvement in last year’s pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University on Sunday, saying that "pro-Hamas" protesters who hold student visas will be forced to leave the U.S. "If you tell us when you apply for a visa, ‘I’m coming to the U.S. to participate in pro-Hamas events,’ that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States … If you had told us you were going to do that, we never would have given you the visa," Rubio said on CBS’ "Face the Nation.” Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian originally from Syria, was arrested by immigration officials on March 8 for his involvement as a key negotiator during Columbia’s protests over the Israel-Hamas war last year. While he entered the country on a student visa, he had eventually obtained legal permanent U.S. residency, commonly referred to as a green card. President Donald Trump touted Khalil’s detainment on social media last week as part of his effort to combat antisemitism on college campuses, saying the arrest was "the first of many to come." However, a federal judge blocked Khalil’s deportation last week. The legal battle has since spurred a debate about the First Amendment rights of foreign nationals and immigrants. Over 100 House Democrats signed a letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, condemning the arrest as a violation of free speech rights and demanding the Trump administration provide evidence to justify Khalil’s detainment.

Univision [3/16/2025 10:20 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the San Ysidro border port in San Diego on Sunday, March 16. Noem is known as a strong supporter of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. This Sunday, Noem greeted Jessica Medina and her dog Luna during their tour of the border port of San Ysidro. She also kept an eye on how officers interact with people arriving at the San Ysidro border port in San Diego. The Secretary of Homeland Security, center, stated that migrant crossings have dropped dramatically. In an exclusive interview with NewsNation, he said the drop in illegal crossings is 95%. During her visit to San Ysidro, the former governor of South Dakota saw the process of reviewing the substances seized from some people because they were suspected of being drugs. Kristi Noem noted the multiple fentanyl seizures.

Yahoo! News [3/16/2025 6:39 PM, David Salazar, 52868K] reports Colombia’s defense minister on Sunday warned Donald Trump’s administration against blacklisting his country for failing to curb drug exports, saying the decision would bring yet more cocaine to the United States. Washington is currently weighing whether to "decertify" Colombia as a partner in the battle against drugs, a move that could restrict millions in US military aid and be a hammer blow to Colombia’s reputation. In an interview with AFP, recently appointed defense minister Pedro Sanchez said decertification would mean "we simply lose the ability to contain the threat.” "Not being able to contain it would go against the interests of the United States. Because more cocaine would arrive and the United States would not be stronger, more prosperous, or safer.” "Fracturing relations and cooperation between our states is an opportunity for drug trafficking," Sanchez insisted. Colombia has launched a diplomatic offensive to avoid blacklisting ahead of a September US review. But many officials are privately pessimistic that blacklisting can be avoided, putting at risk nearly half a billion dollars in annual US funding. Since President Gustavo Petro came to power in 2022, the area under coca cultivation has increased by about 70 percent, according to Colombian government and UN estimates. Trump has taken a hardline stance against drugs entering the United States from Mexico and Canada, hitting both countries with tariffs as apparent punishment.

Reuters [3/16/2025 11:47 PM, Vivian Sequera, 41523K] reports Venezuela’s government on Sunday blasted the U.S. implementation of a rarely used wartime law, rapidly blocked by a U.S. judge, to deport over 200 alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador. "Venezuela rejects the application of an anachronistic law, illegal and in violation of human rights, against our migrants," Venezuela’s government said in a statement, adding its "profound indignation at the threat of kidnapping 14-year-old children." El Salvador’s presidential office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment and it was not immediately clear what charges the alleged gang members face in El Salvador, or whether children are part of the group. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X early on Sunday that it had received the first 238 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, and they had been immediately transferred to a terrorism detention center for a period of one year, subject to renewal. This was a day after the Associated Press reported, citing an internal memo, that the United Stateswould pay El Salvador $6 million for the arrangement. "The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us," Bukele said in the post, adding that the country had also sent 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13. Venezuela’s government called on the international community, especially the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), to mobilize against what it called a dangerous precedent against the entire region.

The Hill [3/16/2025 8:00 AM, Arturo McFields, 52868K] reports that, during President Trump’s first administration and subsequently under former President Biden, the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei was banned, sanctioned and charged with various allegations including espionage, racketeering and conspiracy to steal American trade secrets. Huawei has denied this and other allegations against it. The firm has been charged with violating U.S. sanctions by working with North Korea and Iran. Despite this and other accusations, Huawei is increasing its presence and power in Mexico, the largest U.S. trading partner. Just a few days ago, the European Parliament denounced a major infiltration of Huawei’s lobbyists into one of the most important centers of political power in the region. Authorities reported cases of bribery and corruption involving the communist technological giant. The Asian company has managed to position itself as a leader in 5G technology; however, it remains under the shadow of distrust due to allegations of control and collection of private and highly sensitive information. In 2019, the Trump administration instructed all government agencies to eradicate the use of telecommunication equipment made by Huawei because this technology presented a serious threat to national security. This Chinese company was officially launched in 1987 and over the years has gone from being a telephone importer to being a global conglomerate valued at $178 billion with a presence in 170 countries. For more than two decades, U.S. government officials have raised national and economic security concerns about Huawei, citing its ties to government and military, sanctions violations and unfair trade practices, preferential Chinese policies and potential for espionage or sabotage of U.S. and global networks.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [3/16/2025 11:11 AM, Staff, 1950K] reports we have seen strikes like this before under the Biden administration. The Houthis kept firing missiles. What’s different with this? White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz joins the show today to discuss. "The difference is, these were not kind of pin prick, back and forth, what ultimately proved to be feckless attacks. This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out. And the difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership and, two, holding Iran responsible. It is Iran that has repeatedly funded, resourced, trained and helped the Houthis target not only U.S. warships, but global commerce, and has helped the Houthis shut down two of the world’s most strategic sea lanes," comments Waltz. President Trump said on Truth Social, “to Iran, support for the Houthi terrorists must end immediately. Do not threaten the American people or worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, beware because America will hold you fully accountable.” Does that mean direct military action on Iran is possible? "Well, all actions are always on the table with the president. But Iran needs to hear him loud and clear. It is completely unacceptable and it will be stopped. The level of support that they’ve been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others. The difference here is the Houthis have incredibly sophisticated air defenses, and they also have anti-shipping cruise missiles, drones, sea skimming types of attack drones and other ballistic missiles even. They’ve launched dozens of attacks on multiple war ships, dozens of attacks, over 175 on global commerce, sank multiple ships. I just think the American people need to understand what has happened here. The pervious administration had a series of feckless responses. President Trump is coming in with overwhelming force. We will take – we will hold not only the Houthis accountable, but we’re going to hold Iran, their backers, accountable as well. And if that means they’re targeting ships that they have put in to – to help their Iranian trainers, IRGC and others, that intelligence, other things that they have put in to help the Houthis attack the global economy, those – those targets will be on the table too," Waltz stated.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [3/16/2025 9:48 AM, Staff] reports U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with President Putin and he said it was a positive one. Witkoff said the meeting was about three to four hours and it was positive. He said it was a solution-based discussion. Host Tapper comments: "Please correct us if we’re wrong, Putin’s demands include, one, the complete surrender of Ukrainian forces in Kursk -- that’s that Russian region that Ukraine seized -- two, international recognition that Ukrainian territory seized by Russia no longer belongs to Ukraine, three, limits on Ukraine’s ability to mobilize its military, and, four, a halt to Western military aid to Ukraine and a ban on foreign peacekeepers such as French or British soldiers in Ukraine. Is that accurate? And, if that is accurate, it does sound as though Putin wants to keep the land that he seized and then he wants Ukraine to not be able to defend itself in the future." Witkoff had this to say, " Jake, I would not call your description entirely accurate. Look, back before this visit, there was another visit, and, before that visit, the two sides were miles apart in where they were. The two sides are today a lot closer. We had some really positive results coming out of Saudi Arabia, discussions led by our national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and our secretary of state, Marco Rubio. I Would describe my conversation with President Putin as equally positive. So, the two sides have -- we have narrowed the differences between them, and now we’re sitting at the table. I was with the president all day yesterday. I will be with him today. We’re sitting with him discussing how to narrow it even further. That’s how I would describe it."

CBS’ Face The Nation [3/16/2025 11:45 AM, Staff, 4201K] reports Steve Witkoff was face to face with President Putin. It is asked if Putin interest in a cease fire is to delay or if he’s actually interested. Witkoff says that he was at the meeting for quite some time. He agrees with Secretary Rubio’s assessment, they made a lot of progress in that three to four hour meeting. Witkoff pointed to the large gap between Ukraine and Russia prior to the inauguration and where we are today. He goes on to say that they have narrowed the issues both parties making a lot of progress and Witkoff feels the meeting underscores that.

CBS’ Face The Nation [3/16/2025 11:45 AM, Staff, 4201K] reports the Red Sea area is a really important transit point for global shipping. The Houthis out of Yemen have been disrupting transit there for some time. President Trump cited these concerns when he announced the strikes. How long will this campaign last, and will it involve ground forces? "First of all, the problem here is that this is a very important shipping lane and in the last year-and-a-half, the last 18 months, the Houthis have struck or attacked 174 naval vessels of the United States. Attacking the U.S. Navy directly 174 times, and 145 times they’ve attacked commercial shipping. So we basically have a band of pirates, you know, with guided precision anti-ship weaponry and exact- exacting a toll system in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. That’s just not sustainable. We are not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot and so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that," comments Secretary Rubio. Rubio is asked "What does U.S. intelligence tell us at this point? Because the U.S. had been construct- conducting strikes for some time, but has not stopped the Houthis. What’s going to be different right now? " Secretary Rubio has this to say, "Well, those strikes were a retaliation strike. So they launched one missile, we hit the missile launcher, or we sent something to do it. This is not a message. This is not a one off. This is an effort to deny them the ability to continue to constrict and control shipping, and it’s just not going to happen. We’re not going to have these guys, these people with weapons, able to tell us where our ships can go, where the ships of all the world can go, by the way, it’s not just the U.S. We’re doing the world a favor. We’re doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping. That’s the mission here, and it will continue until that’s carried out. That never happened before, the Biden Administration didn’t do that. All the Biden Administration would do is they would respond to an attack. These guys would launch one rocket, we’d hit the rocket launcher. That’s it. This is an effort to take away their ability to control global shipping in that part of the world."

CBS’ Face The Nation [3/16/2025 11:45 AM, Staff, 4201K] reports Secretary Rubio says that President Trump rightfully believes, the U.S. needs to have a domestic capability. He says the way you protect those industries and build that capability is by ensuring that there’s economic incentives to produce in the United States. Rubio continues to say, the second is global, we are going to put tariffs on countries reciprocal to what they impose on the U.S. Rubio this is a global, it’s not against Canada, it’s not against Mexico, it’s not against the EU, it’s everybody. And then from that new baseline of fairness and reciprocity, we will engage, potentially in bilateral negotiations with countries around the world on new trade arrangements that make sense for both sides. " The point is, I get it. I understand why these countries don’t like it, because the status quo of trade is good for them. It benefits them, they like the status quo. We don’t like the status quo. We are going to set a new status quo, and then we can negotiate something, if they want to, that is fair for both sides. But what we have now cannot continue. We have de-industrialized this country. De-industrialized the United States of America. There are things we can no longer make and we have to be able to make in order to be safe as a country and in order to have jobs. That’s why we had a rust belt, that’s why we’ve suffered all these important jobs that once sustained entire communities wiped out by trade that basically sent these factories, these jobs, this industrial capability, to other places that cannot and will not continue. I don’t- President Trump, this is no mystery, he’s been talking about this since the 1980s actually, even before he was a political figure. This is going to happen, and it’s going to happen now," Secretary Rubio States.

FOX News Sunday [3/16/2025 11:45 AM, Staff, 4201K] reports Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman joins ‘Fox News Sunday’ to comment on U.S.-Canada relations, trade negotiations and how a federal election could impact the relationship between the two nations.

New York Times [3/16/2025 8:01 PM, Annie Correal, 145325K] reports Mirelis Casique’s 24-year-old son last spoke to her on Saturday morning from a detention center in Laredo, Texas. He told her he was going to be deported with a group of other Venezuelans, she said, but he didn’t know where they were headed. Shortly after, his name disappeared from the website of the U.S. immigration authorities. She has not heard from him since. “Now he’s in an abyss with no one to rescue him,” Ms. Casique said on Sunday in an interview from her home in Venezuela. The deportation of 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador this weekend has created panic among families who fear that their relatives are among those handed over by the Trump administration to the Salvadoran authorities, apparently without due process. The men were described by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, as “terrorists” belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang. She called them “heinous monsters” who had recently been arrested, “saving countless American lives.” But several relatives of men believed to be in the group say their loved ones do not have gang ties. On Sunday, the Salvadoran government released images of the men being marched into a notorious mega-prison in handcuffs overnight, with their heads newly shaven. Like other Venezuelan families, Ms. Casique has no proof that her son, Francisco Javier García Casique, is part of the group, which was transferred to El Salvador on Saturday as part of a deal between President Nayib Bukele and the Trump administration. The Salvadoran leader has offered to hold the Venezuelan migrants at the expense of the U.S. government.

FOX News [3/17/2025 4:00 AM, Audrey Conklin, 46189K] reports leaked emails to and from certain Minneapolis-area lawyers show attempts to actively thwart efforts from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to apprehend illegal immigrant defendants in the sanctuary city. The emails were sent on Feb. 6 on a private listserv, or email list, that goes out to several hundred members of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL), according to a member who spoke to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity. The same day, progressive Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a formal legal opinion that state law "prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from holding someone based on an immigration detainer if the person would otherwise be released from custody," a press release from the AG’s office states. "ICE at the PSF," one subject line states, possibly referring to the Public Safety Facility. "LRC just got word that plain clothes ICE officers have been spotted at the Hennepin County PSF today. Let’s do all we can to keep our clients safe in these difficult times," the corresponding email reads. Numerous responses from other attorneys ensued, with many suggesting lawyers request Zoom hearings for illegal immigrant defendants so that they do not have to appear in court in person and can therefore avoid ICE officers. Various sanctuary city officials have made concerted efforts to push back against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration since he took office in January. President Donald Trump has signed a slew of executive orders aiming to streamline efforts by ICE and other law enforcement agencies to carry out the detention and removal process.

Dallas Morning News [3/16/2025 5:56 PM, Julia James, 2778K] reports a woman arrested by Immigration Customs and Enforcement’s Newark office was being held Sunday in the Prairieland Detention Center near Alvaredo, according to an ICE portal. Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian woman from the West Bank, was arrested for overstaying her expired F-1 student visa, according to a Friday news release from the Department of Homeland Security. The release said her visa was terminated on Jan. 26, 2022, for lack of attendance. Also according to the release, Kordia was arrested in May 2024 for her involvement in protests at Columbia University over the war in Gaza. She is the second known person to be arrested by ICE agents in the last week who was involved in the Columbia protests. Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian and a permanent U.S. resident, is a Columbia University graduate involved in organizing the protests. He was arrested and sent to a detention facility in Louisiana. It was not clear why Kordia was transferred to Texas. A spokesperson for the Dallas ICE office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America," Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in the statement. "When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”

Yahoo! News [3/17/2025 12:00 AM, Melissa Torres, 52868K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported on Wednesday that 48 migrants have been detained following a week-long ICE operation in three New Mexico cities. These arrests have advocacy groups concerned for the safety of mixed-status families. Twenty of those arrested have “criminal charges or convictions for a serious criminal offense,” such as homicide, drug trafficking, or DWI. The aftermath of these arrests has sent a chill down the spines of mixed-status communities and advocacy groups. “We don’t know under what circumstances they were arrested, under what conditions or circumstances they’re being held now. Are they in one of these three detention centers in New Mexico?” shared Marcela Diaz, Executive Director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido. Diaz expressed frustration at the lack of transparency exhibited by immigration enforcement and the arrest of migrants with no serious criminal offenses. “This is something that is deeply concerning when it comes to democracy in general, but it also is deeply concerning to those of us who are in these communities and who know at any time that we could be next,” Diaz continued. Tesla says it is ‘exposed’ to retaliatory tariffs The report stated the 28 others were arrested on immigration violations such as illegal entry and illegal re-entry after deportation, but Diaz fears they weren’t granted due process. “When legal service providers are saying that in these detention centers, they’re not seeing 48 new faces, which is what’s happening right now, we’re asking, where are folks? Have they been deported without due process?” said Diaz.

Miami Herald [3/16/2025 12:21 PM, Staff, 3973K] reports Prince Harry’s immigration documents are set to be released to the public within days, Sky News reported on Sunday, March 16. According to the outlet, Judge Carl Nichol ordered the Duke of Sussex’s U.S. visa files to be released no later than Tuesday, March 18. The court filing, dated Saturday, March 15, was issued as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative U.S. think-tank,, which alleged that Harry’s history with drug use should have disqualified him from receiving a visa. Harry, 42, admitted to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his 2023 memoir, Spare. Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia to promote the book, the royal revealed that he took psychedelics to help with his grief following the death of his mother, Princess Diana. "I would never recommend people to do this recreationally," Harry said at the time. "But doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief, or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine.” The same judge previously denied the FOI request, citing lack of public interest. However, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security said in February that it would publish redacted versions of Harry’s forms. "Specifically, Defendant would propose redacting all information in these items that would reveal information that the Court has determined Defendant can withhold," the department lawyer John Bardo wrote in a court filing obtained by Sky News.

AP [3/17/2025 12:08 AM, Michael Casey, 44742K] reports a former mayor from Haiti is set to go on trial Monday after authorities say he lied on his visa application about committing rights abuses in his country. Jean Morose Viliena, who has been living just north of Boston in the city of Malden, Massachusetts, was indicted in 2023 on three counts of visa fraud. Authorities said he wrote on his application that he had not “ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people.” But federal prosecutors allege that while mayor of the town of Les Irois, a community of about 22,000 on Haiti’s western tip, Viliena was involved in acts of violence against political foes. In 2007, prosecutors said, he led a group of his allies to the home of a political opponent, where he and his associates shot and killed the opponent’s younger brother, then smashed his skull with a rock. Prosecutors also allege that in 2008, Viliena and his allies went armed with guns, machetes, picks and sledgehammers to shut down a community radio station that he opposed. Authorities said he pistol-whipped and punched a man and ordered an associate to shoot and kill the man and another person. Both survived, but one of the men lost a leg and the other was blinded in one eye. Viliena was found liable by an American jury in a civil trial in 2023 in the killing and the two attempted killings and assessed $15.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit was filed by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability on behalf of David Boniface, Juders Ysemé and Nissage Martyr in Boston in 2017. Nissage Martyr died and his son, Nissandère Martyr, replaced him as a plaintiff. The lawsuit was filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which allows lawsuits to be filed in the U.S. against foreign officials over allegations of wrongdoing in their homeland if all legal avenues in their country have been exhausted.

CBS News [3/16/2025 3:59 PM, Emily Mae Czachor, 51661K] reports United States Customs and Border Protection has awarded a construction company roughly $70 million to a extend the wall along the southern border, in the first such contract of President Trump’s second term. The contract tasks Granite Construction Co., a California-based company that has worked on government projects before, with building approximately seven more miles of the wall on a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in Hidalgo County, Texas. Border Patrol announced the contract Saturday, saying it aims to "close critical openings" in the wall only partially built under Mr. Trump’s direction during his first presidency. Former President Joe Biden froze funding for the border wall program when he took office. "Completing the border wall in these locations will support the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug- and human-smuggling activities of cartels," said Border Patrol. The agency described the section of the Rio Grande Valley where construction will get underway as a common entry point for undocumented crossings that also "experiences large numbers of individuals and narcotics being smuggled into the country illegally.” Mr. Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, formerly the governor of South Dakota, said construction on the wall officially began Sunday. "Everybody, I’m here in Arizona, and right at this spot you can see where the border wall ends," said Noem in a video shared on social media. "As of today, we’re starting seven new miles of construction. We’re going to continue to make America safe again.”

Miami Herald [3/16/2025 4:40 PM, Staff, 3973K] reports severe storms swept across the southern and midwestern United States over the weekend, killing at least 34 people, including 12 in the state of Missouri and injuring dozens more. Tornado watches are currently in effect for parts of Florida, Georgia and five other states until Sunday afternoon. The U.S. weather service warns that more severe weather is expected to hit parts of the East Coast on Sunday. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency and urged residents to prepare. Residents in high-risk areas were advised to seek shelter in buildings with underground protection and to avoid mobile homes. The storms began on Friday. A total of more than 40 tornadoes were recorded in eight states - Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama and Indiana. Residents fled in their cars as dust-storm fronts approached, causing pileups involving dozens of vehicles. In Kansas, 50 vehicles collided in a series of accidents on Saturday, killing at least eight people. In many areas, the storms not only destroyed homes and cars but also knocked out power. The U.S. website PowerOutage reported more than 230,000 affected households in five states on Sunday. The strong winds have also fanned existing wildfires. In Oklahoma alone, hundreds of fires are reported to have broken out, affecting 170,000 hectares.

New York Times [3/17/2025 5:09 AM, Isabelle TaftAdeel HassanHank Sanders and Amy Graff, 330K] reports rain, snow, hail, dust, fire, tornadoes. A giant cross-country storm system last week led to one hazard after another, lashing California with an atmospheric river, fueling wildfires in Oklahoma and spawning tornadoes from Missouri to Alabama. A part of Texas felt like Mars. Huge stretches of communities across the Midwest and South were reduced to rubble. A governor lost a farmhouse to fire. And the area near a tiny town in Mississippi was struck by a tornado twice. It has all added up to a devastating mix. Since Friday, at least 40 deaths across seven states have been attributed to the storm. Nearly 75 tornadoes were reported on Friday and Saturday. That number was reported by the Storm Prediction Center, though it may change. Overall, tornadoes and severe storms have killed at least 24 people across four states — Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi. Missouri has had the highest number of fatalities, 12. Across the region, homes were leveled, with huge debris fields in their wake. In Poplar Bluff, Mo., in the southeastern corner of the state, more than 500 homes were destroyed. Alabama, where two people died, reported damage in 52 of the state’s 67 counties. In Mississippi, the area near Tylertown, which is near the border with Louisiana and has a population of about 1,500, was hit by tornadoes in two separate instances on Saturday. But experts say the phenomenon is not that unusual in an outbreak like this. Tornadoes typically occur across the South at this time of year. Long-lasting tornadoes, which are rarer, had been forecast this past week, and on Sunday, meteorologists were assessing the recent series of them. Emily Thornton, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center called it “a high-end severe event.” But it wasn’t totally out of the realm for what happens in March and April. In terms of the number of tornadoes, this outbreak was not an outlier. The most recent outbreak in the United States was on March 31 and April 1, 2023, when 146 tornadoes caused 26 deaths, according to William Bunting, deputy director of the Storm Prediction Center.

FOX News [3/16/2025 10:08 PM, Audrey Conklin, 52868K] reports President Donald Trump on Sunday activated the National Guard in tornado-struck Arkansas after tornadoes and heavy winds ripped through multiple states over the weekend, leaving at least 37 dead. Heavy winds tore through the Heartland on Saturday, threatening Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma with tornadoes, damaging buildings and homes. Northern states, including South Dakota and Minnesota, faced blizzard warnings. "We are actively monitoring the severe tornadoes and storms that have impacted many States across the South and Midwest — 36 innocent lives have been lost, and many more devastated," Trump said in a Sunday post on X. "The National Guard have been deployed to Arkansas, and my Administration is ready to assist State and Local Officials, as they help their communities to try and recover from the damage. Please join Melania and me in praying for everyone impacted by these terrible storms!" the president wrote. The National Guard tweeted that its Arkansas officers will "support civilian authorities providing security and humanitarian assistance in communities affected by tornadoes in central and eastern Arkansas." Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there were about 50 National Guardsmen and 40 state police on the ground in Arkansas on Sunday. "As you drive through this community, you see so many neighbors coming out, taking care of each other," she said in a video posted to X. "One of the things that will make you so proud as a governor is to see neighbors helping neighbors, and never is that more true than right here in this community today. We’ve got about 40 state police on the ground in the county, about 50 National Guard." In a post on X, Sanders said she spoke with Trump on the phone, who "said to tell the people of Arkansas he loves them and he and his administration are here to help with whatever we need following last night’s tornadoes." Missouri resident Dakota Henderson told The Associated Press that he and some others helped rescue neighbors trapped beneath rubble on Friday evening and found five bodies in the process.

Yahoo! News [3/16/2025 5:18 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports FEMA has approved Texas’s request for federal funding to fight two large wildfires burning thousands of acres in the Hill Country and the Panhandle. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the approval in a release, saying that FEMA has approved the state’s request for Fire Management Assistance Grants for the Rest Area Fire in Gray County and the Crabapple Fire in Gillespie County. FEMA’s approval means that Texas is eligible for 75% reimbursement from the federal government for costs associated with fighting these wildfires. The grants are available to states and local jurisdictions for the mitigation, management, and control of fires on publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands, which threaten such destruction and would constitute a major disaster. The Rest Area fire in Gray County, located east of Amarillo, has burned about 7,900 acres and is 95% contained as of 4:03 p.m. March 16, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service incident map. The Crabapple fire in Gillespie County, located between Fredericksburg and Crabapple, has burned about 9,500 acres and is 55% contained as of 6:30 p.m. March 16. Texans whose homes or businesses sustained wildfire damage are also encouraged to report it using TDEM’s Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT) damage survey. The survey can be filled out in multiple languages by selecting "2025 Wildfire Incidents." Collected information in these surveys helps emergency management teams assess the damage and aids officials in connecting impacted Texans with available resources. However, Abbott’s office is reminding Texans that the iSTAT survey is not a substitute for reporting damages to insurance providers and does not guarantee disaster relief assistance. Information in this report comes from the Texas A&M Forest Service and Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

Washington Post [3/16/2025 7:00 AM, Derek Hawkins, 31735K] reports Sean Curran faces a tough task as the new director of the Secret Service: reforming the troubled protective agency months after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally, its worst security debacle in decades. Congressional lawmakers and outside experts want Curran to shake up the agency’s leadership, overhaul security planning at big events, and even rethink the structure of the 8,000-person agency. Its problems include a chronically overworked staff and a multibillion-dollar budget that service officials say has not kept pace with rising threats against U.S. leaders. Curran, the former head of Trump’s Secret Service detail, helped shield the candidate when a man fired at a fairground stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer. While he was not blamed for the critical errors that day, Curran is now charged with fixing them. The directorship is new territory for Curran, 48, an agent for more than 20 years who until his appointment by Trump in January had never held an executive role in government. Many current and former agents say they respect him for his rigor as a supervisor and penchant for tough assignments. But he is untested when it comes to managing a full agency — let alone running the service during a period of historic scrutiny and pressure on his workforce. Under Curran’s leadership, service officials “are rebuilding their plane in flight,” said Rep. Jason Crow (Colorado), the top Democrat on a House task force that investigated the Butler shooting. “They’re being asked to do more than ever before,” Crow said in an interview. “They have to protect the top leadership of this country at the same time when there are massive challenges for morale, funding, training and coordination with other [law enforcement] agencies. I hope Director Curran is up to the job.”

CBS Miami [3/16/2025 1:39 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports a search is underway for a missing diver who was last seen just off the coast of Pompano Beach on Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

AZCentral [3/16/2025 9:32 PM, Ashley Ferrer and Thao Nguyen, 4457K] reports federal cybersecurity agencies and the FBI have warned the public against a dangerous ransomware scheme that has affected hundreds of people. The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) issued a joint cybersecurity advisory last week to share information about Medusa ransomware. The advisory is part of CISA’s ongoing #StopRansomware initiative, which flags ransomware variants and threat actors, as well as their observed tactics, techniques, and procedures. Medusa is a ransomware-as-a-service provider first identified in June 2021, according to the advisory. As of February, Medusa has impacted over 300 victims from multiple critical infrastructure sectors and industries, including medical, education, legal, insurance, technology, and manufacturing. Originally, Medusa operated as a closed ransomware variant where all development and associated operations were controlled by the same group of cyber threat actors. It has since shifted toward an affiliate model, where developers and affiliates — called "Medusa actors" — use a double extortion model "where they encrypt victim data and threaten to publicly release exfiltrated data if a ransom is not paid," according to the advisory. The ransom note demands victims make contact within 48 hours through a browser-based live chat or an end-to-end encrypted instant messaging platform, according to the advisory. Victims can also be contacted directly by Medusa actors via phone or email if they do not respond to the ransom note. Medusa also operates a data leak site, which shows victims alongside countdowns to the release of information, according to the advisory. "Ransom demands are posted on the site, with direct hyperlinks to Medusa-affiliated cryptocurrency wallets," the advisory stated. "At this stage, Medusa concurrently advertises sale of the data to interested parties before the countdown timer ends. Victims can additionally pay $10,000 USD in cryptocurrency to add a day to the countdown timer."

CBS News [3/16/2025 7:00 PM, Bill Whitaker, Aliza Chasan, Graham Messick, Jack Weingart, 51661K] reports officials in Washington have underestimated the threat posed by drones in U.S. airspace, despite several cases of mysterious drone swarms over sensitive military sites, warned Glen VanHerck, the former joint commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. Elusive drones flew over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia over 17 nights in December 2023, well before drones over New Jersey captured the attention of the nation late last year, yet the U.S. still doesn’t have policies and laws in place to deal with the swarms, retired U.S. Air Force general Glen VanHerck said. A senior official in the Biden White House later downplayed the Langley intrusions to 60 Minutes as likely the work of hobbyists, but VanHerck did not believe they were hobbyists based on the evidence he saw. "It certainly could have a foreign nexus, a threat nexus," VanHerck said. "They could be doing anything, from surveilling critical infrastructure, just to the point of embarrassing us from the fact that they can do this on a day-to-day basis and then we’re not able to do anything about it.” Last month, VanHerck’s successor, Gen. Gregory Guillot, testified during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that he needs increased authority to better protect military installations from drones. "The primary threat I see for them in the way they’ve been operating is detection and perhaps surveillance of sensitive capabilities on our installations," Guillot said. He did not say who was operating the drones. U.S. Navy warships training off the California coast were shadowed by dozens of drones for weeks in 2019. For years, the Pentagon did little to dispel speculation that they were UFOs, even referring videos of them to their "UAP Task Force" for analysis, but ships’ logs show they were identified as drones at the time. The Navy suspected the drones came from a Hong Kong-flagged freighter sailing nearby, but couldn’t prove it. Since then, The War Zone, a defense news site, has documented dozens of drone intrusions at sensitive infrastructure and military installations, including the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona and an experimental weapons site in Southern California where defense contractors are building the next generation of stealth bombers.

CBS News [3/16/2025 5:24 PM, Camilla Schick and Margaret Brennan, 51661K] reports the Trump administration and Israel approached the governments of Sudan and Somalia, and have also been interested in Syria, as potential places to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, according to three sources familiar with the effort. The idea of Palestinian resettlement in another country is one of several options the Trump team is chewing over as part of the U.S. president’s larger goal of ending Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and rebuilding the devastated Palestinian enclave. "Nobody is expelling any Palestinians," President Trump said Wednesday, when the Irish Prime Minister was asked during the two leaders’ Oval Office meeting by a Voice of America reporter about the president’s controversial remarks in February when he suggested taking ownership of Gaza to rebuild it. Mr. Trump made the remarks during a Feb. 4 press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Gaza could be the "Riviera of the Middle East.” " We should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction," Mr. Trump said. A combination of Israeli and U.S. officials communicated to Sudan and Somalia, two diplomatic sources confirmed to CBS News. Senior far-right Israeli government officials have already been calling for Palestinians to migrate from the enclave. Mr. Trump’s remarks have only emboldened Israel to reach out to other countries to explore opportunities for Palestinian resettlement, one source said. Three sources familiar with Mr. Trump’s idea of resettling Gazans to another country told CBS News that his administration and Israel have also been interested in Syria. One source familiar with the Trump administration’s Middle East policy said that the administration has attempted outreach to Syria’s new interim government via a third-party interlocutor. Another source from the region told CBS News that Syria’s government had been approached, but it was unclear whether there had been any response from Syria to the outreach. Dahir Hassan, Somalia’s ambassador to the U.S., told CBS News that "neither the U.S. administration nor Israeli authorities have approached the Somali government regarding any proposed relocation of Palestinians to Somalia." Hassan also cited concern that "the dissemination of such unverified information risks fueling recruitment propaganda for extremist groups like ISIS and Al-Shabaab, potentially exacerbating security challenges in the region.”

New York Times [3/16/2025 6:28 PM, Adam Rasgon and Natan Odenheimer, 145325K] reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he was taking action to oust the director of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, raising concerns among critics that he was seeking to undermine its independence. Mr. Netanyahu’s effort to fire Ronen Bar, the head of the powerful agency, underscored longstanding tensions between the prime minister and leading members of Israel’s security establishment, who have clashed over the handling of the war in Gaza. The decision to pursue Mr. Bar’s termination also came in the wake of Shin Bet investigations into allegations against several Netanyahu aides, including that one allegedly leaked a secret document to a foreign newspaper. The prime minister’s office said that Mr. Netanyahu had informed Mr. Bar that a draft resolution for his ouster would be presented to the Israeli cabinet this week for approval. But in a letter, Gali Baharav-Miara, the attorney general, said Mr. Netanyahu wasn’t allowed to even begin the process until a determination was made about the legality of terminating Mr. Bar. She said there were concerns that it would be a conflict of interest for Mr. Netanyahu. Members of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition have demanded the prime minister fire Mr. Bar for what they say is his undermining of the prime minister. They have also called for firing Ms. Baharav-Miara, who has long had a strained relationship with Mr. Netanyahu. Any decision to remove Mr. Bar, who has led the agency since 2021, would also probably be appealed to the Supreme Court. In a recorded video message posted on social media, Mr. Netanyahu said the firing was necessary because he didn’t trust Mr. Bar. “At any time — especially during an existential war like this one — there must be complete trust between the prime minister and the director of the Shin Bet,” he said. Mr. Bar fired back with a strongly worded public statement, saying Mr. Netanyahu’s expectation of “personal trust” was in opposition to the public’s interests. “It’s a fundamentally flawed expectation that is in contravention with the Shin Bet law and statesmanship,” he said in a rare public statement.

FOX News [3/16/2025 6:15 PM, Andrea Margolis and Lucas Y. Tomlinson, 46189K] reports U.S. warships have shot down roughly a dozen Houthi drones since President Donald Trump launched airstrikes against the terrorist organization on Saturday, Fox News has learned. A senior defense official told Fox News of the developments on Sunday. The drones were aimed at the U.S. Navy’s Truman Carrier Strike Group, and were shot down "well before" they posed a serious threat, the official added. The latest military action came after nearly a year and a half of attacks from Houthis, both on commercial merchant vessels and U.S. military ships. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump wrote that he had "ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.” "It has been over a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden," Trump continued. "The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times.” Trump wrote that the "relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.” "To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!" his post concluded.

Bloomberg [3/16/2025 5:40 PM, Iain Marlow, 3973K] reports U.S. military strikes on Yemen’s Houthi militants will be "unrelenting" until the group stops shooting at civilian and military vessels in the Red Sea, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Sunday, a day after President Donald Trump ordered new operations in the Middle East. "This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence. The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end," Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News’s "Sunday Morning Futures." "But until then, it will be unrelenting.” On Saturday, Trump said he ordered "decisive and powerful" action against the Houthis. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social he said the group has "choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt." He added attacks on American vessels "will not be tolerated.” The Houthi ruling political council vowed to retaliate for what it called U.S. "aggression," saying the maritime operations will continue until the Gaza blockade is lifted, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. On Tuesday, the militant group said it would resume attacks on Israeli ships for the first time in about two months after demanding Israel end a ban on aid entering Gaza, which the country imposed following disagreements with Hamas over a ceasefire. The Houthis will now also target U.S. vessels, including warships, as part of escalation in response to the airstrikes, the group’s leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said in a televised speech Sunday. "We still have escalatory options" should the U.S. attacks persist, he added. Hegseth said the latest strikes were also a warning to Iran, which backs the Houthis. "Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long. They better back off," he said.

Yahoo! News [3/16/2025 5:32 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen said Sunday they had attacked a US aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea and would target American commercial vessels, a day after US airstrikes the White House said killed senior rebel leaders. The Huthi health ministry said women and children were among those killed in the US strike on Saturday. "In response to this aggression, the armed forces conducted a military operation targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships", the group said in a statement. The Huthis said they had launched 18 missiles and a drone at the American ships. There was no immediate comment from the United States about the claim. Saturday’s American attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa killed 53 people and wounded 98, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said Sunday, updating an earlier toll. "Final toll from the massacres perpetrated by the American enemy on March 15: 53 martyrs, including five children and two women, as well as 98 wounded, including nine children and nine women," Asbahi posted on X. US officials on Sunday vowed further strikes until the Huthis stop attacking Red Sea shipping. The United Nations urged both sides to cease "all military activity".

Reuters [3/16/2025 8:57 AM, Michael Georgy and Maha El Dahan, 41523K] reports Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi fighters whose Red Sea attacks have drawn U.S. strikes, has emerged as Iran’s most prominent Arab ally and an enduring thorn in Israel’s side after many of its enemies were killed in the last year. Al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, had already led his group through a decade of war against a powerful Saudi-led coalition when it waded into conflict with Israel, declaring solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks. After weeks of relative calm in Red Sea shipping lanes following a Gaza ceasefire in January, the Houthis warned on March 12 they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels in response to Israel’s closure of Gaza’s crossings. Appearing in a broadcast speech with a traditional Yemeni dagger in his belt, al-Houthi called Israel’s blockade a crime against humanity that could not be ignored and accused Arab states of inaction. An enigmatic figure with a reputation as a fierce commander, al-Houthi has remained defiant despite U.S. military retaliation for his group’s attacks on shipping and Israeli blows to his Iran-backed allies. These included the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in last year’s Lebanon war, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and the elimination in Gaza of Yahya Sinwar, an architect of Hamas’ October 7 cross-border raids. "The Houthi movement is now the leading Arab member of the Iran-led axis, following Hezbollah’s defeat. They’re filling Nasrallah’s position in defending Gaza," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center. "Supporting Gaza is a popular act inside Yemen. They have been bombed for many months now by the U.S., and before that for years by Saudi Arabia, so they are very resilient." In February, al-Houthi threatened military action if the United States and Israel sought to displace Palestinians from Gaza and called U.S. President Donald Trump a criminal. A series of U.S. strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday included the town of Dahyan in Saada, where al-Houthi often meets visitors. However, the battlefield commander rarely stays long in one place, never meets the media, and is known for an extreme reluctance to appear in public. Under al-Houthi’s direction, his movement of mountain fighters has grown to number tens of thousands and has built an increasingly sophisticated arsenal, including drones and ballistic missiles.

Los Angeles Times [3/16/2025 11:33 AM, Samy Magdy, 13342K] reports Iran on Sunday again denied aiding Yemen’s Houthi rebels after the United States launched a wave of airstrikes against them and President Trump warned that Tehran would be held "fully accountable" for their actions. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the weekend strikes killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and wounded more than 100. The rebels said one strike hit two homes in northern Saada province, killing four children and a woman. The rebel-run Al-Masirah TV showed images of what it said were the bodies. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international commercial shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the rebels have called acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. The U.S. airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. Trump’s national security adviseor, Michael Waltz, on Sunday told ABC that the strikes "actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” The Houthi attacks had stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas cease-fire took hold in Gaza in January, but the rebels last week said they would renew them against Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month. The U.S. and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis. The U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the militant group, which controls Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the country’s north. Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks, saying it "plays no role in setting the national or operational policies" of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing in a post on X, urged the U.S. to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.

New York Times [3/17/2025 3:19 AM, Ismaeel Naar and Saeed Al-Batati, 330K] reports the Houthi militia in Yemen has vowed to retaliate after President Trump ordered large-scale military strikes on targets controlled by the group that it says killed at least 53 people. The group, which is backed by Iran, said that women and children were among those killed in the strikes on Saturday, the most significant U.S. military action in the Middle East since Mr. Trump took office in January. For more than a year, the Houthis have launched attacks against Israel and threatened commercial shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with their ally Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza. The Houthis suspended the campaign in January after a cease-fire was reached in Gaza but have vowed to step up attacks again after Israel instituted a blockade on aid to the enclave this month. The U.S. airstrikes targeted Houthi-controlled areas across Yemen, including the capital, Sana, as well as Saada, al-Bayda, Hajjah and Dhamar Provinces, according to reports from Houthi-run media channels. The strikes killed at least 53 people and wounded 98, Anis al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry, said on Sunday. The casualty figures could not be independently verified, and the United States has not given any estimates for the number of people killed or wounded in the strikes. On Sunday, Michael Waltz, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, described the U.S. weekend attacks on Yemen as both successful and effective. “We hit the Houthi leadership, killing several of their key leaders last night, their infrastructure, the missiles,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” He cast the Houthis as “essentially Al Qaeda with sophisticated Iranian-backed air defenses and anti-ship cruise missiles and drones” that have attacked the entire global economy.

NBC News [3/16/2025 1:51 PM, Megan Lebowitz and Sarah Dean, 44742K] reports National security adviser Mike Waltz said Sunday that "all options are always on the table" when asked whether direct military action against Iran would be possible. His comments come after the U.S. launched airstrikes Saturday on parts of Yemen that are controlled by Houthis, an Iran-backed group that has attacked shipping vessels in response to the war in Gaza. "All options are always on the table with the president, but Iran needs to hear him loud and clear," Waltz said in an interview on ABC News’ "This Week." "It is completely unacceptable, and it will be stopped, the level of support that they’ve been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others.” President Donald Trump announced the strikes on Saturday, saying in a post to Truth Social that Houthi attacks "on American vessels will not be tolerated.” "We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective," Trump added. Trump also warned Iran in the same post that its support for Houthis "must end immediately." He told the nation to "beware" of threatening Americans and that "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!".

New York Times [3/17/2025 1:28 AM, Tyler Pager, 145325K] reports President Trump said he would speak with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday, as he continued to express optimism that Russia would agree to a proposal to halt fighting in Ukraine for 30 days. “We want to see if we can bring that war to an end,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.” Mr. Trump said that progress on negotiations had been made over the weekend, and there have been ongoing discussions about “dividing up certain assets,” specifically mentioning concessions over land and power plants. “I think we’ll be talking about land, it’s a lot of land. It’s a lot different than it was before the war, as you know,” Mr. Trump said. He added: “We’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides — Ukraine and Russia.” Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East who has been involved in the peace talks, said Sunday on CNN that he had a positive meeting with Mr. Putin last week that lasted three to four hours. He declined to share the specifics of their conversation, but he said the two sides had “narrowed the differences between them.” Ukraine has already agreed to support the U.S.-backed cease-fire, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has accused Mr. Putin of purposely delaying negotiations while trying to trap Ukrainian forces to improve his position in the cease-fire talks.

Washington Examiner [3/16/2025 1:57 PM, Asher Notheis, 2296K] reports National security adviser Mike Waltz argued the United States is in control of ending the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as the Trump administration "knows who we’re dealing with.” The two warring countries carried out overnight aerial strikes against each other on Saturday, less than two months into the Trump administration, as it seeks a "permanent" end to the war. Waltz insisted that President Donald Trump and his administration are "very focused" on bringing about a true end to this "endless conflict," which he argued was not a focus of the previous administration. "We know who we’re dealing with on all sides, and we are going to engage in diplomacy, we are engaging in diplomacy, and that will involve both carrots and sticks to get both sides to the table, but to also resolve this in a way that is permanent and enduring, Waltz detailed on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream, guest-hosted by Jacqui Heinrich. When asked about the possibility of Trump using sanctions to negotiate peace in this conflict, Waltz stated that the president has "put that out there on the table," and has also offered to put out a "broader" relationship with Russia. The advisor then urged Russia to answer a "fundamental question," being to either continue losing "massive amounts of men and material" in this war, or to allow the nation’s economy to return to "stability.” Russia and Ukraine’s overnight airstrikes came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss a proposed 30-day ceasefire in the war, which Russia has since rejected. Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia had launched 78 drones and two ballistic missiles over the country overnight; of these drones, around 130 were shot down and another 38 failed to reach their targets. Trump campaigned on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine ahead of the 2024 election, even vowing to end it within the first 24 hours of his return to the Oval Office. The president has since claimed that he was "being a little sarcastic" with this comment.

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