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 New York Times [3/24/2025 6:00 PM, Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, 145325K] reports that a federal judge on Monday kept in place his ruling barring the Trump administration from using a powerful wartime statute to summarily deport Venezuelan migrants it deemed to be members of a violent street gang. In a 37-page order, the judge, James E. Boasberg, said the block should remain in place so that the migrants could have the opportunity to challenge accusations that they belong to the gang, Tren de Aragua, before being flown out of the country to a prison in El Salvador under the wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act. That law, Judge Boasberg wrote, “arguably envisions that those caught up in its web must be given the opportunity to seek such review.” Later on Monday, a federal appeals court in Washington held a nearly two-hour hearing on the administration’s request to nullify Judge Boasberg’s order, taking up many of the same issues. The three-judge panel did not issue an immediate ruling. But during questioning, a Justice Department lawyer acknowledged that if the court were to reverse Judge Boasberg, the administration could immediately resume transferring people to the Salvadoran prison. From the moment Judge Boasberg entered his initial order on March 15, Mr. Trump and his allies have accused him of overstepping his authority by intruding on the president’s prerogative to conduct foreign affairs. USA Today [3/24/2025 1:49 PM, Bart Jansen, 75858K] reports Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that any Venezuelans the Trump administration seeks to deport under the Alien Enemies Act should get a chance to deny membership in the gang before being deported. The Trump administration previously appealed Boasberg’s temporary block on the flights. A hearing is scheduled Monday afternoon at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Boasberg’s decision is the latest salvo in a battle between Trump, lawyers fighting his policies and the judiciary sometimes temporarily blocking his orders. Trump called for the impeachment of Boasberg and other judges that have ruled against the administration. But the impeachment talk sparked a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who said the recourse for adverse decisions is to appeal them. The Justice Department contends Trump has the authority to wield the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which was previously only invoked in times of declared war against other countries, to hasten the deportation of gang members he said invaded the U.S. The Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 11:28 AM, Ashley Oliver, 2296K] reports Boasberg, an Obama appointee, wrote that the Trump administration gave little to no due process to two planes’ worth of Venezuelan migrants before flying them from the United States to a Salvadoran prison that abuses its detainees. "As the Government itself concedes, the awesome power granted by the Act may be brought to bear only on those who are, in fact, ‘alien enemies,’" Boasberg wrote. Lawyers for the Trump administration said in court filings that it "carefully vetted" the Venezuelans and determined they were members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. deems a terrorist organization. But the American Civil Liberties Union claimed on behalf of five migrants in a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration that federal authorities attempted to deport them even though they were not Tren de Aragua members. The administration also mistakenly deported others using the Alien Enemies Act, the ACLU alleged.

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Miami Herald [3/24/2025 1:23 PM, Erik Larson, 3973K]
Newsweek [3/24/2025 5:36 PM, Anna Commander, 52220K]
Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 5:20 PM, Ashley Oliver, 2296K]
Chicago Tribune [3/24/2025 4:21 PM, Michael Kunzelman and Lindsay Whitehurst, 5269K]
Univision [3/24/2025 1:37 PM, Patricia Clarembaux, 5325K]

CNN [3/24/2025 11:30 PM, Devan Cole, 908K] reports top Justice Department officials told a federal judge on Monday that the Trump administration is invoking the state secrets privilege to avoid giving him information about deportation flights from earlier this month that are at the center of a legal dispute over whether the government flouted his judicial commands. “The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it,” Attorney General Pam Bondi and other top DOJ officials wrote in a filing to US District Judge James Boasberg. “Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the Court lacks competence to address.” “The information sought by the Court is subject to the state secrets privilege because disclosure would pose reasonable danger to national security and foreign affairs,” the officials wrote in the 10-page filing. Boasberg is seeking the information to determine whether the government violated a pair of temporary restraining orders he issued on March 15 that temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport individuals the administration has accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The judge had ordered any flights containing noncitizens being deported pursuant to Trump’s directive to turn around immediately, but it quickly emerged that the administration appeared to have violated his command by allowing two deportation flights to continue the evening of March 15. Included in the Monday evening filing were declarations from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who said that disclosing the information sought by Boasberg would harm US national security or foreign relations. “It is critical to bear in mind that removal operations can be (as they are here) counterterrorism operations. If foreign partners believed that any relevant details could be revealed to third parties, those foreign partners would be less likely to work with the United States in the future,” Rubio said in his declaration. “That impairs the foreign relations and diplomatic capabilities of the United States and threatens significant harm to the national security of the United States.” The New York Times [3/25/2025 4:40 AM, Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, 330K] reports that the move sharply escalated the growing conflict between the administration and the judge — and, by extension, the federal judiciary — in a case that legal experts fear is precipitating a constitutional crisis. For almost 10 days, the judge, James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court in Washington, has been trying to get the Trump administration to give him information about the two flights in an effort to determine whether officials allowed them to continue on to El Salvador in violation of his order to have them return to the United States. But in a patent act of defiance, the Justice Department told Judge Boasberg that giving him any further information about the flights — which the Trump administration maintains were carrying members of a Venezuelan street gang called Tren de Aragua — would “undermine or impede future counterterrorism operations.” “The court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it,” the department wrote in a filing. “Further intrusions on the executive branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the court lacks competence to address.” The state secrets privilege is a legal doctrine that can allow the executive branch to block the use of evidence in court — and sometimes shut down entire lawsuits — when it says litigating such matters in open court would risk revealing information that could damage national security.

FOX News [3/24/2025 9:57 PM, Andrea Margolis, 52868K] reports the Trump administration has begun an interagency effort to end what it describes as the "exploitation of housing programs" by illegal aliens. In a statement published on Monday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it had established the "American Housing Programs for American Citizens" Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement was also signed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The MOU is geared towards ending "the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens," the press release stated. "As part of this new agreement, HUD will provide a full-time staff member to assist in operations at the Incident Command Center (ICC), establishing an interagency partnership to facilitate data sharing and ensure taxpayer-funded housing programs are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens," the release read. The effort comes a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) to "ensure taxpayer resources are not used to incentivize or support illegal immigration." The EO, signed on Feb. 19, ordered government departments to identify which federally-funded programs are "providing financial benefits to illegal aliens," and mandated them to "take corrective action." In a statement about the recent MOU, HUD Secretary Scott Turner referenced the ongoing housing crisis in the U.S. and characterized the issue as "pressing." "This agreement will leverage resources including technology and personnel to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing," Turner said. "We will continue to work closely with DHS to maximize our resources and put American citizens first." DHS Secretary Kristi Noem blasted the Biden administration in her statement, accusing the former president of prioritizing illegal aliens "over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens taxpayer-funding housing at the expense of Americans."

Reuters [3/24/2025 6:05 PM, Daniel Wiessner, 41523K] reports a federal judge in San Francisco on Monday suggested that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to cancel protections from deportation for 600,000 Venezuelans was motivated by racism, but put off a ruling on whether to block it. Toward the end of a three-hour hearing in an immigrant advocacy group’s challenge to the decision, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen noted that Noem had in television interviews described Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as "dirtbags" and claimed many were gang members and criminals. Noem on Feb. 3 ended TPS for more than 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants — 348,000 in April and the rest in September. At least three other lawsuits have been filed challenging Noem’s termination of TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians, which is part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and efforts to roll back programs launched under the Biden administration. A U.S. appeals court on Monday heard oral arguments on whether to stay a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from using the law to justify sending more than 200 people to prisons in El Salvador. The National TPS Alliance and a group of Venezuelan TPS recipients have asked Chen to postpone the April 3 effective date of Noem’s directive pending the outcome of their lawsuit. They claim that Noem failed to follow the proper procedures to end TPS status and to adequately explain her decision, and that her move violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution because it was based on racial animus. Chen on Monday made his comments about the alleged racial motivations behind Noem’s decision while probing the plaintiffs’ equal protection claims. But it was not clear how he was leaning on more technical issues, including whether he has the power to hear the case at all.

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San Francisco Chronicle [3/24/2025 5:39 PM, Bob Egelko, Ko Lyn Cheang, 5046K] r

Miami Herald [3/24/2025 4:52 PM, Antonio Maria Delgado, 3973K] reports a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to revoke the legal status of more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who were paroled into the U.S. under a Biden administration program heard arguments on Monday and scheduled another hearing in two weeks. Attorneys representing the migrants in the case, which is being heard in Boston, expressed optimism that U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani might issue a temporary protective order before the next hearing, noting that she appeared troubled by the government’s arguments. The administration seeks to end the CHNV parole program — named for the initials of the affected nationalities — asserting that migrants without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. must leave within 30 days of the program’s termination. A Federal Register notice by the Department of Homeland Security revoking the program will be published Tuesday. Esther Sung, legal director for the Plaintiff Justice Action Center, said the judge appeared concerned about the treatment of migrants affected by the policy shift. The administration’s legal team argued that the CHNV program does not align with its current policy objectives, and asserted that the Trump administration has executive authority to reshape immigration policy. The attorneys representing the four groups argue that ending the CHNV program is not only legally flawed but also inhumane, as it effectively cuts off pathways to asylum and permanent residency for thousands of vulnerable individuals. The judge is likely to determine at the next hearing whether the court will stop the administration from revoking the program while the case proceeds.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 11:14 PM, Tom Hanson, 52868K] reports former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has traveled the country and has made herself the face of the Trump Administration’s war on illegal immigration. Monday she was at the southern border with Mexico talking with the media. Since being sworn in as Secretary of Homeland Security, Noem has been on ICE raids in New York, ridden horses along the southern border, attended the Super Bowl and flown in planes. Monday, Noem was at the border of Mexico inspecting a section where the U.S. is continuing to build a wall. “As you can see we mean business,” said Noem pointing at the wall. “We are building wall, we are securing our borders and we are not going to let this illegal activity continue.” Noem says much of her efforts are targeting the cartels, which she says are more sophisticated than people think. “When people think of the cartels of the past, they just think of street violence, they are using apps, drones, technology and partnering with other enemies of the united states to conduct human trafficking, drug smuggling but also money laundering. They are more sophisticated and they are getting more and more violent,” said Noem. After her time at the border in Arizona, Noem flew to Washington DC to attended today’s cabinet meeting with the president. “It’s great,” said Trump looking at Noem. “If you might Madam Secretary say a little bit about what’s happening and how well we’ve done at the border.” “So this last week I was in Arizona, California, Alaska and Florida,” said Noem. “And CBP, literally has almost 100% operational control the border which means that our country is secure and that we know who’s coming into this country and that they love our country and they want to help keep it great into the future.” It is clear South Dakota’s once-governor is staying busy serving as the 8th Secretary of Homeland Security. Noem has a wide range of responsibility, from counterterrorism and cybersecurity to enforcement of our immigration laws.

NBC News [3/24/2025 2:45 PM, Gary Grumbach and Dareh Gregorian, 44742K] reports that a federal appeals court judge pressed lawyers for the Trump administration Monday about its use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, saying the "Nazis got better treatment" during World War II. U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett of the District of Columbia Circuit made the remark as she questioned Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign about the alleged Tren de Aragua gang members who were flown to a prison in El Salvador on March 15, after President Donald Trump invoked the wartime authority against the gang. Millett, whom President Barack Obama appointed to the bench, said deportees weren’t given any due process before they were removed from the United States and weren’t told where they were being sent. They also weren’t given the opportunity to dispute whether they were involved with the gang, she said. In this case, "people weren’t given notice" or provided a chance to contest their removal, a situation that was stopped only by a federal judge’s emergency order on March 15, Millett said. "There were planeloads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people," Millett said. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act."

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FOX News [3/24/2025 4:20 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 46189K]

FOX News [3/24/2025 4:03 PM, Greg Wehner, 46189K] reports federal authorities representing districts along the southern border of the U.S. charged over 840 illegal immigrants with immigration-related crimes in just the third week of March as part of Operation Take Back America. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday that it is playing a critical role in the operation, which is a nationwide initiative to fend off illegal immigration, while also eradicating cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protecting communities from violent criminals. Specifically, in the states of Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico, U.S. attorneys charged over 840 individuals with violating U.S. immigration laws. In Arizona, attorneys brought immigration-related charges against 217 suspects. Of those, the U.S. filed 91 cases involving immigrants who illegally re-entered the country, and charged 103 immigrants with illegally entering the U.S. The U.S. DOJ said federal prosecutors along southern border states charged over 840 illegal immigrants with immigration-related crimes during the third week of March. The U.S. also filed 15 cases against 23 individuals accused of smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S. through Arizona. U.S. attorneys in Central California filed charges against 17 individuals accused of illegally re-entering the U.S. after being removed, many of whom had been previously convicted of felony crimes, including assault, before being removed from the U.S.

Border Report [3/24/2025 5:08 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 117K] reports immigration lawyers and legal advocacy groups are expressing outrage and fear after President Donald Trump issued a memo warning against "frivolous" lawsuits against the U.S. government. Legal experts say Trump’s memo issued Friday puts unnecessary and unwarranted scrutiny on them by ordering sanctions placed on law firms that are found to act with "unscrupulous behavior." Trump has ordered sanctions against attorneys and law firms "who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States." Several groups representing immigration lawyers refute the claims. Nearly 2 million immigrants are currently awaiting asylum hearings, according to TRAC. And there are 3.6 million backlogged immigration court cases — the most ever in U.S. history, the nonprofit says. Trump’s executive memo orders the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to take sweeping disciplinary action against attorneys they believe challenge the administration. In doing so, legal experts say this threatens not only lawyers and law firms but migrants access to legal representation.

FOX News [3/24/2025 4:03 PM, Greg Wehner, 46189K] reports federal authorities representing districts along the southern border of the U.S. charged over 840 illegal immigrants with immigration-related crimes in just the third week of March as part of Operation Take Back America. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday that it is playing a critical role in the operation, which is a nationwide initiative to fend off illegal immigration, while also eradicating cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protecting communities from violent criminals. Specifically, in the states of Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico, U.S. attorneys charged over 840 individuals with violating U.S. immigration laws.

New York Times [3/24/2025 6:47 AM, German Lopez, 145325K] reports the Trump administration has tried in recent weeks to deport several immigrants who spoke out against Israel. First, it arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder who’d joined pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Officials also arrested a Georgetown University researcher with an academic visa. They deported a nephrologist at Brown University, even though she had a valid visa. Another student activist at Columbia fled to Canada after immigration officials came to her home. President Trump has said that more arrests will come — a test of the government’s ability to deport people with views that he disagrees with. How is this legal? The First Amendment, after all, protects freedom of speech in nearly absolute terms. It allows people to espouse even the most unsavory views, including support for genocide, and face no criminal penalty as a result. But Trump is taking advantage of a genuinely unsettled aspect of the law: Does the Constitution protect noncitizens’ freedom of speech? Today’s newsletter will look at the arguments. The Supreme Court has said that the First Amendment applies to noncitizens in the United States when it comes to criminal and civil penalties. But those protections don’t necessarily apply to deportations, the court has found. The federal government has nearly absolute power over immigration, including its ability to deport noncitizens; it gets to decide who comes and then stays in this country, potentially at the expense of constitutional rights. Last week, the administration leveled new accusations against Khalil. It said that he failed to disclose his membership in pro-Palestinian groups or his work for the British government when he applied for a green card. The hastily added accusations appear to be an attempt to sidestep free speech concerns about his case, my colleague Jonah Bromwich wrote. Immigrants do have due process rights, and Khalil’s case is currently going through the courts. But the administration has tried to bypass even those protections in other cases.

The AP [3/24/2025 6:31 PM, Michael Hill, Jake Offenhartz, and Michael R. Sisak, 24727K] reports that another Columbia University student said Monday that the Trump administration has targeted her for deportation over her pro-Palestinian views, accusing immigration officials in a lawsuit of employing the same tactics used on Mahmoud Khalil and other college activists. Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old lawful permanent resident, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to deport her after she was arrested March 5 while protesting the Ivy League school’s disciplinary actions against student protesters. News reports at the time identified her as being among a group of protesters arrested after a sit-in at a library on the adjacent Barnard College campus. Within days of her arrest, Chung said in the lawsuit, ICE officials signed an administrative arrest warrant and went to her parents’ residence seeking to detain her. On March 10, Chung said, a federal law enforcement official told her lawyer that her lawful permanent resident status was being “revoked.” Three days later, Chung said, law enforcement agents executed search warrants at two Columbia-owned residences, including her dormitory, seeking travel and immigration records, and other documents. Chung has lived in the U.S. since emigrating from South Korea with her parents at age 7, according to her lawsuit. Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. Reuters [3/24/2025 9:02 PM, Kanishka Singh, 41523K] reports Yunseo Chung, 21, has lived in the U.S. since she was seven, but her legal team was informed two weeks ago that her lawful permanent resident status was being revoked, according to the court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Trump administration says her U.S. presence hinders its foreign policy agenda, according to the lawsuit. Chung has not yet been arrested. Immigration agents have made multiple visits to her residences looking for her. Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters and accused them of supporting Hamas, posing hurdles for U.S. foreign policy and being antisemitic. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration wrongly conflate their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas. Human rights advocates have condemned the government’s moves. Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested this month and is legally challenging his detention, is also a lawful permanent resident. Trump, without evidence, accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies. Actions against Chung "form part of a larger pattern of attempted U.S. government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech," Monday’s lawsuit said. "The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.”

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New York Times [3/25/2025 3:21 AM, Jonah E. Bromwich and Hamed Aleaziz, 330K]
Bloomberg [3/24/2025 6:31 PM, Chris Dolmetsch, 16228K]
The Hill [3/24/2025 5:34 PM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K]
Axios [3/24/2025 6:06 PM, Ivana Saric, 13163K]

ABC News [3/24/2025 5:53 PM, Armando Garcia, 34586K] reports the government has claimed that Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil intentionally misrepresented information on his green card application and therefore is inadmissible to the United States. According to recent court filings, President Donald Trump’s administration said Khalil failed to disclose when applying for his green card last year that his employment by the Syria Office at the British Embassy in Beirut went "beyond 2022" and that he was a "political affairs officer" for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees from June to November 2023. The administration also claimed that Khalil did not tell the government that he was a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group. The government arrested Khalil on March 8 after invoking a rarely used provision of immigration law that they said allows the secretary of state to revoke the legal status of people whose presence in the country could have "adverse foreign policy consequences." The new accusations seem to represent an attempt to strengthen the administration’s justification for detaining Khalil and denying his release. During a State Department briefing Monday, spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked multiple times about whether the department now viewed prior work for UNRWA as grounds for disqualification for visa applicants -- but she repeatedly declined to answer.

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The Hill [3/24/2025 12:20 PM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K]
Axios [3/24/2025 2:03 PM, Sareen Habeshian, 13163K]
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CBS News [3/24/2025 3:48 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51661K]
FOX News [3/24/2025 5:40 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46189K]
Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 2:04 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K]

Politico [3/24/2025 10:22 PM, Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, 52868K] reports a Columbia University junior and a Cornell University grad student appear to be dodging immigration agents while the students’ lawyers ask federal judges to block the Trump administration from deporting them for what they say is retaliation for their pro-Palestinian activism. Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old Columbia junior originally from South Korea who holds a green card and has lived in the United States for 14 years, has asked a judge in New York for an order preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting her while she challenges the State Department’s determination that her presence in the country is undermining U.S. foreign policy. And ICE has similarly been unable to locate Momodou Taal — a Cornell University graduate student with a student visa and dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia — who filed suit last week to block President Trump’s sweeping executive orders targeting antisemitism. Homeland security officials told the court they’ve been seeking Taal since March 14 and have been unable to locate him as of at least Saturday. According to a Justice Department court filing, the State Department canceled Taal’s student visa because he was “involved with disruptive protests and had engaged in an escalating pattern of behavior, disregarding university policies and creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.” Chung and Taal are asking courts to block the Trump administration from enforcing the president’s executive orders, ostensibly meant to root out antisemitism on college campuses, claiming the directives are a thinly veiled attempt to punish pro-Palestinian activists who took part in a wave of campus protests last year. Thus far, the cases involving Chung and Taal have not drawn as much attention as that of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of Columbia University campus protests, whom the administration arrested and relocated to Louisiana earlier this month. Like Chung, Khalil is fighting deportation after a similar determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. So, too, is Badar Khan Suri, a researcher at Georgetown University who was arrested by Homeland Security officials last week outside his Arlington, Virginia, home and whisked to Louisiana.

FOX News [3/24/2025 3:55 PM, Jamie Joseph, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking to have Momodou Taal, an anti-Israel student protester attending Cornell University who is in the U.S. on a visa, surrender to immigration authorities, according to court documents. Taal holds dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and Gambia. Eric Lee, an attorney for Taal, stated in court filings that he was notified via email by a Department of Justice attorney, marking the first time he learned the government planned to issue him a notice to appear to begin deportation proceedings alongside an invitation to turn himself in to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday.

The Hill [3/24/2025 6:00 AM, Jared Gans, 12829K] reports pro-Palestinian activists are facing an alarming new era in the U.S. as the Trump administration steps up efforts to crack down on views it deems dangerous, including positions sympathetic to their movement. Alarm over the government’s actions has grown in recent days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was active in pro-Palestinian protests on campus and is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. with a green card. The Trump administration has vowed to continue to pursue its policy and has since detained a couple others. Advocates say the administration’s moves are designed to create a climate of fear among those who speak out. But they emphasize that continuing to stand up for Palestinian rights is as important as ever as the war between Israel and Hamas restarts. "I think we’re all seeing, across the Palestinian movement, that the Trump administration is trying to make an example for all other social justice movements, that if they dare criticize his ways, this is likely to happen to them as well," said Iman Abid-Thompson, the director of advocacy at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. As the detentions have occurred, activists have indicated that they are prepared to fight back but acknowledge the fear they feel that they could be targeted. Sources said they’re not surprised at the administration’s moves given Trump’s talk on the campaign trail critical of the U.S. immigration system and the pro-Palestinian protests that have received widespread attention since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023. After taking office, Trump quickly moved to deport those in the country without proper documentation. But he signaled a wider approach to his immigration crackdown with the arrest of Khalil, who was a leader in the protests at Columbia University, earlier this month. The administration said it would move forward to detain others violating Trump’s executive orders on antisemitism and safeguarding against terrorism. The terrorism one calls for ensuring visa holders don’t "bear hostile attitudes" toward U.S. citizens or its government.

New York Times [3/24/2025 7:59 AM, Jonah E. Bromwich, 330K] reports that, when Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead pro-Palestinian demonstrations while a Columbia University student, was detained this month, the Trump administration argued he should be deported to help prevent the spread of antisemitism, invoking a rarely used law. Lawyers for Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident who is being detained in Louisiana, quickly responded that the administration was retaliating against their client for his constitutionally protected speech criticizing Israel and promoting Palestinian rights. Last week, the government quietly added new accusations to its case against Mr. Khalil, saying that he had willfully failed to disclose his membership in several organizations, including a United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees, when he applied to become a permanent U.S. resident last March. It said he also failed to disclose work he did for the British government after 2022. The Trump administration appears to be using the new allegations in part to sidestep the First Amendment issues raised by Mr. Khalil’s case. On Sunday, in a filing opposing his release, Justice Department lawyers argued that the new allegations reduced the importance of concerns about Mr. Khalil’s right to free speech. “Khalil’s First Amendment allegations are a red herring,” they wrote. Given the new allegations, they added, there was an “independent basis” for his deportation. “The new deportation grounds are patently weak and pretextual,” said one of Mr. Khalil’s lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, a co-director of CLEAR, a legal clinic at the City University of New York. “That the government scrambled to add them at the 11th hour only highlights how its motivation from the start was to retaliate against Mr. Khalil for his protected speech in support of Palestinian rights and lives.” Mr. Khalil’s lawyers are fighting for his release in a New Jersey federal court. His wife, an American citizen who lives in New York City, is expected to give birth next month. The new allegations, listed in a document from the Homeland Security Department, include that Mr. Khalil did not disclose his work with the U.N. agency or Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups that set off pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the school. Mr. Khalil earned a master’s degree from Columbia in December.

Border Report [3/24/2025 5:24 PM, Elizabeth Crisp, 117K] reports President Trump is invoking an 18th-century wartime law that will allow the federal government to detain or deport people who are natives and citizens of countries deemed foreign adversaries — a move that’s seen as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown effort. The Alien Enemies Act — part of the Alien and Sedition Acts that Congress adopted in 1798 — gives the federal government additional authority to regulate non-citizens in times of war. It has been used just three times in the past, during the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II, as the Congressional Research Service detailed in a February report. Trump frequently said on the campaign trail last year that he planned to invoke the 227-year-old law to root out migrants in the country illegally, including during an October rally in Albuquerque, N.M., where he said he would use it to target "savage gangs." The move likely will face legal challenges from immigrant and civil rights advocates, as the U.S. isn’t currently at war, as it was each time a sitting president previously leaned on it. The White House said at the time that Trump was planning to use the law specifically to target cartels, including the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, by declaring them foreign terrorist organizations. CNN first reported Trump’s plans to move forward with his plan as early as Friday, citing unnamed sources in the administration.

ABC News [3/24/2025 1:00 PM, Devin Dwyer, 34586K] reports that the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of a district court judge’s order that 16,000 terminated federal probationary employees across six agencies and departments be immediately reinstated. The request is the latest challenge to a nationwide preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court judge in response to Trump’s executive actions reshaping the government. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argues in the filing that the labor unions and nonprofit groups that challenged the mass firings lack standing, saying they have "hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce." She claims the judge’s order also violates separation of powers. "This Court should not allow a single district court to erase Congress’s handiwork and seize control over reviewing federal personnel decisions -- much less do so by vastly exceeding the limits on the scope of its equitable authority and ordering reinstatements en masse," Harris wrote. Harris said the executive Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board are the proper venues for plaintiffs challenging their terminations. The Supreme Court is already weighing the administration’s request for emergency relief in three cases over Trump’s executive order ending Birthright Citizenship.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/24/2025 12:02 PM, Zach Schonfeld, 12829K]
CBS News [3/24/2025 12:44 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51661K]

The Hill [3/24/2025 11:33 AM, Ella Lee, 12829K] reports that President Trump on Monday tapped White House counselor Alina Habba to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. A New Jersey native, Habba represented Trump in high-stakes New York civil trials, including the business fraud case where he was ordered to pay $454 million for falsely inflating his net worth, and the defamation and sexual assault lawsuits brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who won nearly $100 million at two jury trials. "Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey," Trump wrote on his Truth Social. Speaking with reporters after the announcement, Habba said "corruption" and "injustice" in the state would be stopped under her leadership, name-checking Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) as having "failed the state." "I look forward to working with Pam Bondi with the Department of Justice and making sure that we further the president’s agenda of putting America first, cleaning up mess and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused," she said. "That will stop in the great state of New Jersey, starting now." The decision comes days after a federal judge transferred the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University alum and green-card holder detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to the Garden State. The office Habba now leads is expected to handle the Khalil’s prosecution.

CNN [3/24/2025 7:34 PM, Merlin Delcid and Michael Rios, 52868K] reports a team of lawyers representing the families of 30 Venezuelans sent by the United States to a mega prison in El Salvador asked the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice on Monday to evaluate the legality of their detention. One of the attorneys, Jaime Ortega, said they were hired by the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to file an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court, which would also apply to the rest of the 238 Venezuelans deported on the orders of US President Donald Trump. "We are asking the court to review their legal status and issue a ruling. If their detention is illegal, it should immediately order their release," Ortega told reporters. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said last week that the US sent 238 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, though he didn’t identify them or provide evidence for that claim. El Salvador agreed to take them in and lock them up at its Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), considered the largest prison in Latin America. US authorities have acknowledged that not all deportees had criminal records. The Trump administration said 137 of those migrants were deported under the Alien Enemies Act. Use of the act, previously used only in wartime, under these circumstances is currently under judicial scrutiny in the US. The lawyers in El Salvador said that if this is an immigration matter, they hope the Salvadoran Supreme Court will order that the Venezuelans be sent back to their countries. Juan Pappier, Americas Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, cautioned that it was "unrealistic" to expect the court to go against the Bukele administration. "I understand (the families’) desperation and I think they should use whatever avenue they can find available," Pappier said. "Sadly, the Supreme Court in El Salvador doesn’t have any independence. It was completely co-opted by the Bukele administration. So, I think it’s sadly unrealistic to believe that they will do anything that the Bukele administration wouldn’t agree with," he told CNN.

AP [3/24/2025 6:13 PM, Josh Boak, 1682K] reports that President Donald Trump said Monday he would be placing a 25% tariff on all imports from any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela as well as imposing new tariffs on the South American country itself. In a Truth Social post, Trump said Venezuela has been "very hostile" to the U.S. and countries purchasing oil from it will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the U.S. starting April 2. Venezuela will face a "Secondary" tariff because it is the home to the gang Tren de Aragua, he said. The Trump administration is deporting immigrants that it claims are members of that gang who illegally crossed into the United States. Trump’s latest tariffs threat suggests the administration will take bolder moves against China, Venezuela’s largest foreign customer. The Trump administration has already levied universal 20% tariffs on imports from China as an effort to crackdown on the illicit trade in fentanyl. But Trump has labeled April 2 as "LIBERATION DAY" based on his still unclear plans to roll out import taxes to match the rates charged by other countries, as well as fully levy 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada, the two largest U.S. trading partners. The Republican president has also increased his 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum to 25% for all imports. Trump told reporters on Friday that there would be "flexibility" in his tariffs even as he has opposed granting exemptions to his import taxes. Trump said his social media post on Monday would serve as notification of this policy to the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/24/2025 11:24 AM, Alex Gangitano, 12829K]
FOX News [3/24/2025 2:28 PM, Danielle Wallace, 10702K]

FOX News [3/24/2025 1:50 PM, Stephen Sorace, 46189K] reports that the U.S. declared that three alleged members of the violent transnational gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) are "alien enemies" and plans to extradite them to Chile, where they are wanted for numerous violent crimes, officials said Monday. The Justice Department said the three gang members were Adrian Rafael Gamez Finol, 38, Miguel Oyola Jimenez and Edgar Javier Benitez Rubio, both aged 37. All three men entered the U.S. illegally after committing "brutal" crimes, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, human and drug trafficking and other offenses, in Chile. "The Justice Department will work expeditiously to return these Alien Enemies to Chile to face justice," the department said. Gamez Finol is a dual Venezuelan and Colombian citizen who was deported from the U.S. to Venezuela in August 2023 and later allegedly re-entered the U.S. illegally. He is currently in Texas county prison serving a sentence for human smuggling. Oyola Jimenez, a dual Venezuelan and Ecuadorian citizen, is in custody in Washington after Chilean authorities requested his arrest and return to Chile to stand trial on kidnapping charges. Benitez Rubio, a Venezuelan citizen, is in immigration custody in Indiana. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a written statement that the men would have already been removed if not for an injunction against the Alien Enemies Act.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/24/2025 12:13 PM, Lauren Irwin, 12829K]

Wall Street Journal [3/24/2025 5:30 PM, Staff] reports President Trump claims to run the most transparent Administration in history, but maybe not like this. His team somehow added a journalist to a high-level Yemen war-planning chat conducted over Signal, the commercial messaging app, with operational details about targets, weapons and attack sequencing. A National Security Council spokesman confirmed the accuracy of the story in the Atlantic on Monday: “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” The news is that the characters played to their public type. National-security adviser Mike Waltz was a voice for U.S. leadership—and for carrying out the President’s policy. Vice President JD Vance was a voice for U.S. retreat even when Mr. Trump directed otherwise. “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light” to take on the Houthis, wrote “S M,” presumed to be Mr. Trump’s senior aide Stephen Miller. Why should Tehran’s proxy get away, as under Joe Biden, with shooting at Navy ships and aircraft and blocking critical waterways for everyone but Iran, Russia and China? The key exchange began March 14, a day before U.S. strikes on Yemen, when the Signal user “Michael Waltz” wrote, “Team, you should have a statement of conclusions with taskings per the Presidents guidance.” But not all preferred to take that guidance. “I think we are making a mistake,” the user “JD Vance” replied. “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez,” the canal blocked by Houthi fire, while “40 percent of European trade does.” He continued, “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices.” In sum, “there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.” This counsel of delay—waiting for economic news that may never come—was echoed by Joe Kent, a noted isolationist whom Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had named in the chat as her point of contact. In reply, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pointed out risks of waiting, stressed Iran’s role and made the case for the operation. “I see it as two things,” he wrote: “1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered.” Mr. Trump later made similar points in public.

The Hill [3/24/2025 7:00 AM, Arturo McFields, 12829K] reports President Trump’s immigration policy have been overshadow by political and ideological agendas. But his unconventional strategy is not only saving taxpayer dollars, but most importantly helping to save lives. The new migration policy has been characterized by a multiagency taskforce, the strengthening of border controls and the establishment of international alliances. For the first time in history, all countries, not just the U.S., are assuming their share of responsibility. Building a safer, stronger and more prosperous America is not an easy task. There may be missteps, errors, setbacks and destructive criticism. Does this mean one should give up on restoring law and order? Not at all. On the contrary, this is a call to redouble efforts, correct what is needed and renew the commitment to ensuring a more prosperous and secure country. Chaos and crime cannot win this battle. The strategy of shared responsibility and building international alliances has yielded results in record time. Mexico has sent 10,000 soldiers to the border. Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica have offered their territory to receive U.S.-deported migrants from all over the world. In addition, Venezuela and Colombia have even provided their own planes to return their deported citizens. These are a few examples of how the migration strategy is working. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has gone above and beyond in recognizing the national emergency declared by the U.S. regarding immigration affairs. Bukele has not only decided to receive his deported citizens but has also made his own prisons available to the U.S. to house highly dangerous criminals. Just a few days ago, the U.S. responded to Bukele’s proposal and, in an unprecedented operation, sent nearly 250 illegal migrants belonging to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and MS-13. This act of unprecedented international cooperation to ensure a safer, stronger and more prosperous America was not welcomed by the establishment. The measure and its spirit have been criticized in the media and in the courts. But many families will now be able to sleep soundly and peacefully knowing these criminals will no longer murder, rob or sell drugs to thousands of Americans.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 6:00 AM, Julio Ricardo Varela, 52868K] reports Americans are witnessing a real-time dismantling of due process in this country, particularly when it comes to immigration enforcement. Last week, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to label Venezuelan immigrants as members of the Tren de Aragua gang and summarily ship them to foreign prisons. On Thursday, New York Times reported that administration lawyers determined the 18th-century law, historically reserved for wartime scenarios, could allow "federal agents to enter homes without a warrant.” The civil liberties we all value and that form a foundational part of U.S. democracy are quickly disappearing under the guise of "national security" and "state secrets." It’s a big reason why U.S. District Judge James Boasberg called the Trump administration’s initial response to his order blocking the deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants under the act "woefully insufficient.” "They’re not gonna stop us," border czar Tom Homan declared on Fox News. "We’re not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think, I don’t care what the left thinks, we’re coming.” That level of open defiance didn’t come out of nowhere. Homan started at the Border Patrol as an agent in 1984 and rose through the ranks to serve as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term. He often boasts that he was the first ICE director to come up from within the agency. What he doesn’t say is that the agency was built to behave this way. From the beginning, ICE blurred the line between immigration enforcement and national security. It operated with few restraints and even fewer consequences. ICE was created in 2003, when immigration enforcement was restructured in the wake of 9/11. As part of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security, the agency emerged from a climate of fear and mission creep, with a mandate that fused counterterrorism logic with immigration policy. The result was a militarized, opaque agency that quickly expanded its power. ICE now employs more than 20,000 people, and its budget is around $8 billion, almost triple what it was in 2003. And for the last two decades, it has operated with little public scrutiny. The examples of why many critics have labeled ICE a "rogue" agency are endless. As early as 2011, under a Democratic administration, the American Civil Liberties Union was already documenting how mass immigration detention was ripping apart people’s lives. In one example, that 2011 report included the story of a Vietnam veteran and a permanent legal resident from Haiti who, at the time of the report, had been detained for eight years. Since then, the patterns have continued, as a 2020 ACLU report shows. In 2022, internal records revealed ICE agents had been using private data sources like utility bills and call records to conduct unauthorized surveillance. In 2023, Wired reported that ICE and its contractors "have faced internal investigations into abuse of confidential law enforcement databases and agency computers" that led to "a swath of unlawful behavior, from stalking and harassment to passing information to criminals.”

The Hill [3/24/2025 7:24 AM, Justin Razavi, Damita Menezes and Jorge Ventura, 12829K] reports the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is close to finalizing an agreement that would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to access confidential taxpayer information to locate undocumented immigrants targeted for deportation, Washington Post reported. The proposed data-sharing arrangement would permit ICE to submit names and addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants to the IRS for verification against tax records. This would mark a significant shift in longstanding IRS policy, which has traditionally kept taxpayer information strictly confidential. According to portions of a draft agreement obtained by the Post, ICE access would be limited to confirming addresses of immigrants with final removal orders. Requests could only be submitted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or acting ICE director Todd Lyons, per the Post. The agreement would authorize data verification for individuals "subject to criminal investigation" for violating immigration law, the draft states. Career officials at the IRS have expressed alarm about the proposed arrangement, concerned that it could misuse a narrow exception to taxpayer privacy laws intended for criminal investigations rather than immigration enforcement, the Post reported. For decades, the IRS has assured undocumented immigrants that their tax information would remain confidential, encouraging them to file tax returns without fear of deportation. Approximately half of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States file income tax returns, per the Post.

CBS 7 [3/24/2025 11:18 AM, Staff, 4K] reports that the IRS is reportedly negotiating a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to assist with immigration enforcement. The IRS encourages people living in the United States illegally to pay income taxes and of course, millions of American citizens do so each year also. The IRS usually guards tax filer information from disclosure and working with immigration officials could represent a loosening of those protections. "I have real privacy concerns here," immigration attorney David Leopold said. The IRS and Department of Homeland Security appear close to finalizing an information-sharing agreement. A person familiar with the matter says it would enable ICE to submit names and addresses of people who might be in the U.S. illegally. The source says the IRS could then cross-reference and confirm that information. The goal of the partnership appears to be speeding up President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. The president’s supporters say his immigration policies are what voters want. "You have an administration and a president that is strong in their conviction that they have a mandate from the voters to act," former White House spokesperson for George W. Bush Pete Seat said. Critics say involving the IRS could endanger taxpayer privacy. The agency works under laws that usually prohibit the release of personal information. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [3/24/2025 6:05 PM, Bart Jansen, 75858K] reports lawyers for Venezuelans fighting their removal said Monday that women were returned to the U.S. after El Salvador refused to accept them. That would seem to contradict Justice Department claims in court that they couldn’t turn around President Donald Trump’s deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act. Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered a temporary halt to deportation flights March 15 while the case is litigated. But two flights appear to have taken off that night after his verbal order halting the flights and a written order that government lawyers insisted they obeyed. Government lawyers argued the verbal order was unforceable. The lawyers have refused to provide details about when the flights took off, how many people they carried and where they landed, but El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said on social media his country received 238 alleged members of Venezuela’s crime gang Tren de Aragua and 23 alleged members of MS-13. Lawyers for the Venezuelans submitted two sworn statements Monday – from a Nicaraguan woman and a Venezuelan woman – who said El Salvador refused to accept them. The women said they and seven other Venezuelan women were flown back that Saturday night, arriving in Texas. She had been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Aurora, Colorado, before she was transferred to the East Hidalgo Detention Center in Texas for the deportation flight. The Venezuelan woman identified as S.Z.F.R., who had been detained at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, before the transfer for the deportation flight, offered similar testimony.

Reported similarly:
ABC News [3/24/2025 7:21 PM, Laura Romero, 34586K]

Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 3:23 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 2296K] reports the Department of Homeland Security rebutted further allegations that some deportees recently sent to El Salvador were wrongfully arrested and wrongly classified as gang members. El Salvador received 238 deported immigrants, including Venezuelans associated with the gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13, at the Terrorism Confinement Center, otherwise known as CECOT. All prisoners will stay there for a minimum of one year. However, there are questions about how these deportees were determined to be gang-affiliated. One deportee, Jerce Reyes Barrios, claims not to have any association with TDA. His lawyers, who said they have lost contact with him since he entered CECOT, allege the case against their client relies entirely on a tattoo he has that resembles a gang tattoo. Another deportee, known simply as Andrys, reportedly denied any gang affiliation during his intake at CECOT.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 8:52 PM, Gustaf Kilander, 52868K] reports permanent residents in the U.S. have faced detention and deportation while tourists have been turned away under the new immigration regime taking shape under the Trump administration. Immigration officials face accusations that they have targeted individuals because of their political opinions or because they have taken part in political activities, such as protests or demonstrations. Georgetown University graduate student Badar Khan Suri, originally from India, was detained last Monday night at his home in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. Masked agents said his student visa had been revoked. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Suri has been accused of "spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media" as well as having "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.” On Thursday, a judge ordered the Trump administration not to deport him, according to Axios. A French researcher, whose name has not been revealed, was reportedly stopped from entering the U.S. earlier in March because of text messages criticizing the Trump administration’s academic research policies. The scientist was on his way to a conference close to Houston at the time, according to Le Monde. The French minister of higher education and research, Philippe Baptiste, said in a statement that "Freedom of opinion, free research, and academic freedom are values ​​that we will continue to proudly uphold. I will defend the right of all French researchers to be faithful to them while respecting the law.” Baptiste took to X to say that he had asked for an emergency meeting with other European ministers to establish a plan to defend academic freedom. "Europe must rise to the occasion to protect research and welcome the talents who can contribute to its success," he said. It was reported that the researcher had been blocked because of text messages found on his phone criticizing the Trump administration’s policies on research. The Department of Homeland Security denied this, saying the man was found to have "confidential" data from a U.S. lab. Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen in the U.S. on an H-1B visa, was detained and deported this month as she arrived back in the U.S. at an airport in Boston. A DHS spokesperson said she went to Beirut to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the late leader of Hezbollah.

Newsweek [3/24/2025 6:30 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports that over 370 illegal immigrants were arrested by federal agents in Massachusetts last week after Boston’s Mayor said she would continue to enforce the area’s sanctuary laws. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), those arrested included alleged members of Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and other transnational criminal gangs, as well as those with charges of child sexual abuse and murder. The targeted, five-day operation came after Mayor Michelle Wu repeated that local law enforcement would not aid the federal government in its immigration enforcement efforts, which border czar Tom Homan has criticized. "I made a promise at CPAC that I was going to Boston after reading about numerous illegal alien child rapists walking the streets of Boston and Massachusetts," Homan said on a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. "ICE had to find and arrest these illegal alien rapists because Massachusetts and Boston are sanctuaries that refuse to cooperate with ICE. "They would rather release these animals back into the community rather than honor ICE detainers or notify ICE when they are scheduled to be released." Homan said Monday that sanctuary policies in Boston and Massachusetts were making communities less safe, because of the disconnect between local and federal agencies. Homan in his post on X: "These officers and agents made the neighborhoods of Boston and Massachusetts much safer. They risked their own safety by arresting these criminals on the street, rather than a jail. Governor Healy and Mayor Wu should be ashamed of supporting sanctuary policies. Releasing public safety threats back into the public, rather than working with ICE at the jails, puts the public at great risk."

FOX News [3/24/2025 1:47 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46189K] reports that following a Massachusetts law barring law enforcement cooperation with ICE, illegal child rapists and other serious criminal illegals charged with "horrific crimes" are being released on to the streets on bail as low as $500 and, in some cases, no bail at all. Responding to these releases, Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, said that Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, both Democrats, "should be ashamed" and that despite their actions, deporting criminal illegals "will be done." Healey has previously said that Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state. However, a 2017 ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Lunn vs. Commonwealth, bars local and state law enforcement from coordinating with ICE to assist with deportation operations. The ruling stipulates that law enforcement cannot comply with ICE detainers, forcing agencies to release criminal migrants onto the streets. Last week, Wu renewed her pledge to resist Trump’s deportation efforts, saying, "We stand with immigrants," and "No one tells Boston how to take care of our own, not kings, and not presidents who think they are kings." However, at least seven illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes, including child rape and fentanyl trafficking, were released by local law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts in recent months, according to CBS.

Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 2:59 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 2296K] reports Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) continued to deny any collaboration with New York’s local law enforcement and ICE as illegal immigrants are being deported. The Trump administration picked up where it left off on Sunday, sending the first plane of illegal immigrants back to Venezuela. Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling prohibiting deportation flights, and the Trump administration briefly paused its efforts. Hochul condemned any effort to seek illegal immigrants in "sensitive" locations such as schools or churches. The governor also noted her efforts to cooperate, as she did during President Joe Biden’s term in office, to deport those who "have a warrant" or if "someone’s on a terrorism watch list or committing crimes in their home country or committing crimes here." Hochul acknowledged that some of these bad actors could have lived in New York all their lives. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a continuing state of emergency on Monday over the influx of immigrants in the city. About 157,000 migrants arrived between 2022 and 2023, according to Adams.

Telemundo Amarillo [3/24/2025 4:55 PM, P.J. Williams, 2K] reports authorities in Summerville, South Carolina, arrested and charged three Venezuelan migrants accused of shoplifting last month. Edison Alejandro Ramiro Muñoz, 29, is charged with retail theft under $2,000; Yosveni Miched Parra Quiñónez, 29, is also charged with retail theft under $2,000 and possession of burglary tools; and Alejandro J. Miranda Rodríguez, 24, is charged with retail theft under $2,000. Police Captain Chris Hirsch said officers responded to a report of three robbers at the Palmetto State Armory gun store on the afternoon of February 27. Agents began questioning them and later determined they had stolen $299.42 worth of gun parts and ammunition boxes, in addition to having burglary tools. Police later determined that the men were originally from Venezuela and were in the United States illegally, in addition to having close ties to gang activity. They contacted Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who confirmed that all were members of the violent Tren de Aragua criminal gang. The suspects admitted, according to ICE, that they planned to exchange the stolen merchandise for drugs and that they wore long-sleeved clothing to hide their tattoos from the public and authorities. Quiñónez, Rodríguez and Muñoz are being held at the Dorchester County Detention Center awaiting their hearing.

CBS 7 [3/24/2025 5:19 PM, Akim Powell, 4K] reports an undocumented immigrant is accused of strangling a mom of five to death, according to authorities. Hector David Sagastume Rivas, 21, faces charges of felony murder and aggravated assault for allegedly killing 52-year-old Camilia Williams. Rivas is from Honduras and has been in the United States since March 2021, ICE said. He was living with two other undocumented immigrants, who have also been arrested and detained by the Department of Homeland Security. On March 13, Cobb County police were called to 282 Pat Mell Road, where they found Williams’ body. Rivas allegedly choked Williams and put his knees and body weight on her neck, killing her, according to his arrest warrant.

Univision [3/24/2025 4:11 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports a video allegedly recorded inside the Krome migrant detention center in West Miami-Dade has gone viral, in which an inmate asks for help due to the terrible conditions they are in. The inmate asks for help due to the poor conditions of the place. Another video shows several men in a small, cramped room, some sleeping on the floor and others on chairs. The person filming is doing so secretly. Noticias 23 has not been able to confirm the veracity of these images; however, immigration attorneys say that centers like Krome are overcrowded, and as a result, detainees are transferred to other states, such as California.

CBS Austin [3/24/2025 12:33 PM, Jackson Walker, 602K] reports that Arlington, Texas police on Sunday announced they had apprehended three individuals involved in a fiery vehicle crash. Officers say they responded to reports of a highway crash Saturday between a car and a truck. They described finding a Mitsubishi 3000 GT that was "fully engulfed" upon arrival, with the remains of a deceased 22-year-old inside. The Mitsubishi had stopped along the shoulder of the highway, according to police, before it was struck by a Ford F-150. That collision caused the Mitsubishi to hit a concrete wall, igniting the fire. Witnesses told police they saw three individuals exit the truck and flee. Police later arrested them nearby. Driving the truck was Cesar Ramirez Castro, 25. Officers say they believed Castro was intoxicated and charged him with one count of Intoxication Manslaughter and one count of Collision Involving Death. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in February arrested over 100 individuals in Houston. The neighborhood targeted by ICE has a reputation for "cartel activity" and "illegal alien population," according to the agency. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the operation was targeting "criminals & illegal immigrants."

Newsweek [3/24/2025 6:45 PM, Dan Gooding and Jesus Mesa, 3973K] reports a Venezuelan woman said Monday that she was also flown to El Salvador on a deportation flight, where men were forced to sign papers admitting to being part of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). The filing, part of a case challenging the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to remove alleged gang members, gave new insights into the confusion of the flights on March 15, which saw women flown to the Salvadoran prison before officials there turned them away. "While on the plane the government officials were asking the men to sign a document and they didn’t want to," wrote the woman, known as S.Z.F.R. "The government officials were pushing them to sign the documents and threatening them. I heard them discussing the documents and they were about the men admitting they were members of TdA.” The affidavits filed Monday came as a U.S. District Court judge upheld his restraining order on the Trump administration’s use of the AEA, and the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., also heard arguments on the implementation of the policy-as over 200 alleged TdA members were flown to a high-security Salvadoran prison over a week ago. A Venezuelan woman detained in Texas gave a detailed account of her detention and removal to El Salvador, where she says she witnessed federal agents urging men to confess gang membership under threat. Her statement was filed as part of ongoing litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over the legality of recent mass deportations carried out under President Donald Trump’s invocation of 1798’s AEA. The woman said she and other women detained in El Paso were transferred to Laredo, Texas, then moved repeatedly over several days. After failed removal attempts on March 13 and 14, she was placed on a plane the morning of March 15 with more than 50 male detainees. Shortly after takeoff, she overheard two U.S. officials talking: "There is an order saying we can’t take off but we already have.” The flight landed briefly for refueling, and detainees remained shackled by both arms and legs, she said. When it finally landed, she was told they had arrived in El Salvador. There, all the men were removed from the plane, but the women-including S.Z.F.R.-were not. A second declaration, submitted alongside S.F.Z.R’s, supports her account. A Nicaraguan man detained in Texas said he was removed from a flight after Salvadoran officials determined he wasn’t Venezuelan. "I overheard a Salvadoran official tell an ICE officer that the Salvadoran government would not detain someone from another Central American country because of the conflict it would cause," he wrote. He added that officials also refused to accept any women, saying, "the prison was not for females and females were not mentioned in the agreement.”

Newsweek [3/24/2025 8:25 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports a Venezuelan migrant was lured into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and now fears he will be deported to El Salvador’s mega-prison for terrorists, his concerned colleague told Newsweek. Jorge Reinaldo Molleda, a 22-year-old asylum-seeker from Venezuela, is currently in ICE detention after receiving a call from ICE instructing him to report the following day to sign some documents, according Karla Castaneda, the executive director of the Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project. Newsweek has contacted ICE for comment. Upon his arrival at the offices on February 20, he was informed that his case was undergoing "custody redetermination," leading to his detention at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, she said. "He is very afraid about being sent to El Salvador.” Molleda, who has worked with Castaneda at the workers’ rights project in Portland, said that ICE has been engaging in "irregular check-ins," a tactic where individuals with open asylum cases are called under the pretense of routine paperwork but are then detained. "ICE called him and was like, Hey, I just need you to come and sign a couple of documents, and then you should be all set. Here in Portland, that’s how they’ve been picking up people," Castaneda said. "They are calling folks that need to present themselves and telling them they need to do one thing, but then they end up detaining them.” Castaneda, who is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipient, also expressed concern that these enforcement practices disproportionately impact specific groups, particularly young men from Venezuela, further exacerbating fears within immigrant communities. "It’s very disheartening to see all this fear that this administration is putting into our community and specifically that they are targeting Venezuelans and Venezuelan young men. You know, Jorge is a young Venezuelan man who has very dark skin and therefore is now being targeted," she said.

Newsweek [3/24/2025 8:33 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports California Democrats have issued a warning to individuals posing as federal immigration agents. "We have received reports of individuals looking to take advantage of the fear and uncertainty created by President Trump’s inhumane mass deportation policies. Let me be clear: If you seek to scam or otherwise take advantage of California’s immigrant communities, you will be held accountable," California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Newsweek in a statement. Under President Donald Trump’s administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up arrests across the country. While many sanctuary cities in California continue to refuse cooperation with federal immigration authorities, the state’s sanctuary laws include exceptions for undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Amid increased enforcement action under Trump’s administration, there has also been a rise in reports of individuals impersonating ICE agents. In response to the rise in scams, Democratic-led states such as California have expanded public outreach efforts. Bonta has offered legal resources to help immigrants understand their rights and guide public institutions in complying with state laws, which are available on his website. These initiatives seek to protect vulnerable communities while ensuring lawful immigration enforcement procedures. Bonta detailed steps to guard against scams, urging individuals to seek assistance from verified legal aid organizations, such as those listed on lawhelpca.org, which connects immigrants with free, trustworthy legal resources. Officials also advise against handing over original documents unless officially required, as scammers may withhold them for payment.

Axios [3/24/2025 1:17 PM, Ivana Saric, 13163K] reports that the alleged Venezuelan gang members deported by the Trump administration earlier this month are likely to suffer "significant harm" in El Salvador, a federal judge asserted Monday. Why it matters: The Trump administration’s decision to deport the alleged gang members in defiance of a court order has set up a high-stakes legal battle that could test the limits of President Trump’s power. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a cabinet meeting Monday that she intends to visit El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison during an upcoming trip to Latin America. State of play: U.S. District Judge James Boasberg rejected the Trump administration’s request to lift the temporary halt on the deportations. Boasberg wrote in an opinion that the plaintiffs deserved individualized hearings to determine whether they were part of the Tren de Aragua gang as the administration claimed and whether the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 — which Trump invoked to justify their deportation — could be applied to them. Boasberg also wrote that the plaintiffs "readily meet" the criteria establishing they face "irreparable harm" by their removal to El Salvadoran prisons. The big picture: In Salvadoran prisons, detainees often face life-threatening harm, Boasberg noted. Inmates in these prisons have provided declarations of having no access to regular food and drinking water, rarely being allowed to leave their cells. They also have said they do not see daylight for days at a time, and sleep upright due to overcrowding, he added.

NBC News [3/24/2025 5:18 PM, Carmen Sesin, Suzanne Gamboa and Nicole Acevedo, 44742K] reports were it not for bad weather, Jhon Chacin would have been aboard a flight to his native Venezuela on March 13, having volunteered to go home after giving up on an asylum request that was initially denied. Instead, his brother said, Jhon was among the nearly 300 Venezuelan men sent by U.S. immigration officials to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison. Jhon entered the U.S. through the CBP One app on Oct. 8, 2024, in San Ysidro, California; the app, launched by the Biden administration and terminated by President Donald Trump, was the only way to request asylum at the border. Since then, he had been held in detention in San Diego and later transferred to Texas. Eudomar said that his brother was often asked about his tattoos by U.S. authorities while he was in detention. He lost his asylum case and was planning to appeal. But when Trump became president and Jhon learned more about Trump’s hard-line policies, he decided to sign papers to voluntarily be sent back to Venezuela.

New York Times [3/25/2025 3:21 AM, Jazmine Ulloa, 330K] reports immigrant rights lawyers urged a federal judge in San Francisco on Monday to delay two actions by the Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, that would prevent migrants from Venezuela from staying in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status program. The legal protection allows people from troubled nations like Haiti and Ukraine to live and work legally in the country. But under actions that Ms. Noem took in February, that status would have begun to expire for some Venezuelans, putting nearly 350,000 people at risk of deportation as soon as April, and hundreds of thousands more later this year. At a hearing on Monday, the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the actions — an immigrant advocacy organization and a group of Venezuelan T.P.S. holders — asked the judge to block Ms. Noem’s decisions from taking effect while their case is litigated. They contend that the secretary violated administrative procedures and acted with racial bias when she moved to revoke extensions of the protections that were granted under the Biden administration. Federal officials rejected the allegations of discrimination and said that Ms. Noem had acted well within her authority. Judge Edward M. Chen, who is hearing the case, said in court that it was “pretty clear,” based on the declarations submitted from T.P.S. holders and their supporters, that a revocation of protected status would have an “adverse impact” on the U.S. economy and on the health and safety of families and communities. However, much of the judge’s questioning at the hearing on Monday was focused on whether Ms. Noem had violated procedures in issuing her decisions and whether the court had the authority to postpone such agency decisions from taking effect. The case is one of more than two dozen lawsuits that aim to curb the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to expel millions of immigrants from the United States. Federal immigration agents have sought to ramp up efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, and the White House has revoked the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who had temporary permission to stay, arguing that some of them could threaten national security.

Miami Herald [3/24/2025 11:02 PM, Staff, 3973K] reports a federal judge said after a hearing Monday that he will determine whether he has the authority to decide a case in which hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans are at risk of losing deportation protections in less than two weeks. The Trump administration has revoked an extension of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans that was granted by former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Jan. 17, days before President Trump took office. The Trump administration has rolled back the extension, which would have lasted until October 2026. If the revocation remains in place, it would mean many of the 350,000 Venezuelans who benefit from the status would, as of April 2, lose their ability to work and would be deportable. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco by seven Venezuelan nationals who argue that the Trump administration’s decision is not only unlawful but politically motivated and racially biased. Along with the National TPS Alliance, the Venezuelans are calling for the reinstatement of the 18-month TPS extension the Venezuelans at risk of losing their protections in April as well as an additional 257,000 who would lose theirs in September. U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen, who is overseeing the case, is the same judge who, in October 2018, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the first Trump administration’s attempt to end the TPS program for immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan. Nearly two years after his initial ruling, a federal appeals court overturned the injunction, though it remained in effect until February 2024, when the judge granted the Biden administration’s motion to dismiss the case. U.S. government attorneys argued Monday that Chen lacks jurisdiction to block the administration’s revocation of TPS. The lawyers argued that Congress has granted the secretary of Homeland Security the authority to review TPS decisions. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the decision to revoke the TPS extension. Venezuela was first designated for TPS in March 2021, allowing over 350,000 individuals to apply for protections. The designation was expanded in 2023 to include an additional 257,000 Venezuelans. This move was widely celebrated in South Florida, home to one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the U.S.. During Monday’s hearing, the government did not contest the evidence presented by the Venezuelans who sued regarding the negative economic and workforce impact if Venezuelan TPS holders are forced to leave the country. "It seems to me that the record shows a likelihood of injury in the absence of relief, at least based on the current record," the judge said. "While new evidence may emerge at trial, for now this element appears to be undisputed.” The judge asked Justice Department attorney Sarah L. Vuong what hardships the government would suffer if the decision to end TPS were postponed. "The harms to the government are that the secretary has looked at the issue, has made a determination related to National Interest, and the secretary has an interest in having her orders carried out," Vuong said, adding that Noem determined it is safe for the TPS holders to return to Venezuela.

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Univision [3/24/2025 6:21 PM, Patricia Clarembaux, 5325K]

Reuters [3/24/2025 2:29 PM, Ted Hesson, 41523K] reports that the U.S. agency responsible for unaccompanied migrant minors will be allowed to share sponsors’ immigration status with law enforcement agencies under a regulatory change, a move critics say could discourage families from claiming their children. The U.S. Office for Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which cares for the children until they can be released, also will scrap regulatory language that had prohibited it from denying release solely based on a sponsor’s immigration status, according to a Federal Register notice due to be published on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January. It included an effort to track down hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children present in the United States. Earlier this month, the top Trump official at ORR was abruptly removed amid pressure to intensify the initiative. Unaccompanied children began arriving in large numbers a decade ago due to violence and economic instability in Central America. They were also drawn by U.S. immigration policies that enabled them to enter and often remain. From ORR custody, children are released to sponsors - usually parents or relatives - as immigration authorities weigh their cases.

AP [3/24/2025 7:02 PM, Deepti Hajela, 48304K] reports some U.S. embassies in European nations are taking to social media with pointed warnings to would-be visitors: Watch your step. Embassies in at least 17 countries have put up posts featuring images of administration figures, including President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, warning those seeking visas that engaging in behavior deemed harmful by the government could get deported. In a post put up by the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia, the message reads: "When you apply to enter the United States and you get a visa, you are a guest. Now, if you are in this country to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism, to participate in acts of rebellion and riots on campus, we never would have let you in if we had known that. You lied to us. You’re out.” Another post put up by the U.S. Embassy in Budapest has a quote from Rubio, saying, "We don’t want people in our country that are going to be committing crimes and undermining our national security or the public safety.” The posts come at time when the Trump administration is clamping down on those with visas, like international students or professors, who have taken part in protests on university campuses around the conflict in Gaza in support of Palestinians and against Israel’s military actions. That’s included taking visas away and putting the visa holders in immigration detention, and blocking people from entering the country. Among the cases is that of Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University. At a regular briefing Monday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce called the warnings "reasonable.” "Follow the law, behave yourselves, be a good visitor and you’ll be fine," Bruce said. "It’s a visa. It’s not an entitlement. A visa and a green card are not birthrights. These are privileges you’re granted ... because of what you present to the United States.”

FOX News [3/24/2025 11:14 AM, Jamie Joseph, 46189K] reports that several European countries have updated their travel advisories for transgender travelers seeking to enter the U.S. amid President Donald Trump’s "two-sexes" executive order and the administration’s immigration crackdown. Finland, Denmark, the U.K. and Germany are all urging cautionary planning for transgender people when traveling to the U.S. "When applying for an ESTA or visa to the United States, there are two gender designations to choose from: male or female," the Danish travel advisory said on its website. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is the system that screens passengers before they travel to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. "If you have the gender designation X in your passport, or you have changed your gender, it is recommended that you contact the U.S. Embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed," the website reads. Finland also updated its website in recent weeks. "If the gender listed on the applicant’s passport does not match the gender assigned at birth, the US authorities may deny the application for a travel permit or visa," Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its website.

Miami Herald [3/24/2025 5:42 PM, Julia Marnin, 3973K] reports a Chinese woman who wanted to become a U.S. citizen was scammed out of $500,000 by a man she trusted to quickly secure a green card for her, according to federal prosecutors. The man, Tommy Aijie Da Silva Weng, posed as a federal law enforcement agent to gain her trust in 2016, then "strung (her) along with a series of lies about why the process was delayed for approximately eight years," prosecutors said. Weng, a resident of Queens, New York, told the woman that if she paid $500,000, he could help get her an expedited green card under the EB-5 Program by leveraging his purported law enforcement connections, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Now, an indictment charges Weng, 49, with wire fraud, mail fraud and impersonating a federal law enforcement officer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He’s pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show. This isn’t the first time he’s posed as a federal agent, according to prosecutors.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 5:13 PM, Joey Rather, 52868K] reports the owner of the Morgantown-based construction company A&M Homes, LLC has admitted to harboring illegal aliens and tax fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia announced Monday. Court documents and statements made in court say that Hetzon Marroquin Reyes, 40, also known as Hector, hired and harbored illegal aliens to work for his company. Officials said Reyes created fake driver’s licenses and immigration forms to give West Virginia Division of Labor inspectors. They added that Reyes used other people’s social security numbers for tax purposes, including numbers belonging to people who were dead. Reyes faces up to 10 years in prison for the harboring charge and up to three years for the tax interference charge. The Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, and the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod Douglas prosecuted on behalf of the government. The release said that Reyes’ arrest comes as a part of Operation Take Back America, which is described as "a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”

Newsweek [3/24/2025 6:03 AM, Dan Cody, 52220K] reports that, in a coordinated move with several European allies, Canada updated its travel advisory for citizens visiting the United States, citing changes in U.S. immigration policy and enforcement under President Donald Trump. Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Finland issued similar warnings, pointing to heightened scrutiny at borders, increased visa restrictions, and new federal guidelines that reportedly impact transgender and nonbinary travelers. These advisories reflect growing diplomatic concern over how recent U.S. policy shifts are affecting foreign nationals—particularly tourists and long-term visitors—and mark a rare instance of multiple NATO allies publicly cautioning citizens about travel to the United States. Canada’s government now requires citizens staying in the U.S. for more than 30 days to register with U.S. authorities, warning that failure to do so could result in fines or misdemeanor charges. The new measure appears to align with a broader shift by the U.S. to more strictly monitor foreign nationals residing within its borders. "Canadians and other foreign nationals visiting the United States for periods longer than 30 days must be registered with the United States Government. Failure to comply with the registration requirement could result in penalties, fines, and misdemeanor prosecution," the advisory states. Prior to this update, Canadians were not required to register or obtain a visa for extended stays in the U.S., making the advisory a significant change in cross-border travel norms between the two countries. The advisory update comes amid reports that Canadian and other foreign tourists have been detained at the U.S. border over visa concerns and documentation mismatches. The move also follows an executive order from Trump that rescinded policies allowing transgender, intersex and nonbinary individuals to update their passport sex designation, replacing it with a binary-only system of male or female recognition.

Houston Chronicle [3/24/2025 4:35 PM, Octavia Johnson, 1769K] reports passengers on a United Airlines flight to Houston filed a lawsuit that accuses a pilot of forcibly removing one of them from the plane’s bathroom and making remarks about their religious faith. Yisroel Liebb, an Orthodox Jewish passenger, was on a United flight from Tulum, Mexico, to Houston in January when a pilot allegedly removed him from a bathroom while he was constipated, the lawsuit filed Wednesday in a New York federal court reads. Liebb said his genitalia was exposed to other passengers and the flight crew on the plane. Liebb and an acquaintance, Jacob Sebbag, said they believe they were detained unlawfully. Lieb said in the lawsuit that he sustained injuries to his head, legs and wrist. Sebbag said he had wrist pain. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials released a statement saying the passengers had Ketamine pills in their possession and had exhibited erratic behavior. They believe Liebb was barricading himself in the bathroom.

Miami Herald [3/25/2025 2:17 AM, Sheri Walsh, 3973K] reports shipments of ready-to-hatch eggs have been seized three times this month at a port of entry in the Midwest, as agriculture officials work to slow the spread of avian influenza, or "bird flu.” According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agriculture specialists in Louisville, Ky., seized 39 hatching eggs between March 6 and Thursday. The eggs, which contained the live chicks of game birds, racing pigeons or other birds where there is a market, are considered live animals and are highly regulated at U.S. borders. "Our nation’s food supply is constantly at risk to diseases not known to occur in the United States," said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, director of field operations, Chicago Field Office. "These interceptions highlight the vigilance and dedication our CBP Agriculture Specialists demonstrate, daily," Sutton-Burke added. "They ensure the United States is safe from harmful diseases, which could affect our food supply.” Fresh or raw eggs have generated a lot of attention due to the food staple’s skyrocketing cost, which producers have blamed on the latest outbreak of avian flu. Egg prices have doubled since January 2024, as egg producers claim accusations of price gouging are misguided and false. While CBP has reported a 48% increase in raw or fresh eggs at northern and southern border ports into the United States compared to last year, the number of hatching eggs has also increased with an uptick reported as recently as last month at Kentucky’s port of entry, which is located at Louisville International Airport. The seized hatching egg shipments arrived March 6, March 16 and Wednesday with the first two shipments from Turkey heading to New York and Nevada. The latest shipment arrived from Romania and was headed for Costa Rica. Last year, Louisville CBPAS seized 25 shipments of 519 hatching eggs from Turkey, Belgium, Romania and Singapore.

CBS Detroit [3/24/2025 9:56 PM, Joseph Buczek, 51661K] reports a Canadian truck driver was arrested last week after being caught with 116 pounds of cocaine at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, officials said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on Friday stopped an outbound commercial vehicle for an examination. Upon a physical inspection, officers reportedly found three garbage bags of suspected narcotics hidden beneath stacks of lumber. Officers seized a total of 50 bricks of cocaine, which was confirmed to be the drug through subsequent testing. The truck and trailer were also seized. The driver is now facing federal charges. "This is a testament to the quality of work performed by those who work tirelessly to combat transnational crime and stem the flow of dangerous drugs through our communities," said Director of Field Operations Marty C. Raybon in a news release. "Border security is a team effort, and I applaud the outstanding work by our officers and our regional law enforcement partners.” Last week’s drug seizure was the latest at the Ambassador Bridge. In February, a Canadian truck driver was caught with 240 pounds of cocaine at Ambassador Bridge. Officers found five duffel bags under the bunk of the tractor containing several packages that were vacuum-sealed in plastic. Officials have seized more than 1,300 pounds of cocaine at Michigan ports of entry in 2025.

Telemundo Amarillo [3/24/2025 4:05 PM, Erika González Del Toro, 2K] reports an Immigration canine agent managed to detain several undocumented individuals traveling in a trailer heading north of Laredo. The incident occurred at the I-35 checkpoint, where Border Patrol agents discovered six undocumented immigrants inside the trailer’s sleeper compartment. The agency confirmed that a handgun was found in the trailer and confiscated. The driver was charged with human trafficking, and the undocumented individuals were handed over to the appropriate authorities.

Border Report [3/24/2025 6:57 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 117K] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a member of the Mexican Gulf cartel who was crossing the Rio Grande into South Texas, the agency said Monday. The arrest occurred Sunday evening at 5:30 p.m. near Rio Grande City, agents from the Rio Grande Valley Sector said. Several people were arrested and among them was one individual who Border Patrol officials say is an active Gulf cartel member as well as a member of the Paisas Mexican prison gang. "The arrest of a member of the Gulf Cartel-Paisas gang underscores the tireless efforts of our Border Patrol agents in safeguarding our nation. This arrest highlights our unwavering commitment to dismantling criminal organizations that threaten our communities," Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said in a statement. Agency officials said the individual had entered the United States illegally several times before and will be charged with illegal reentry into the United States.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 8:38 PM, Raphael Romero Ruiz, 52868K] reports the U.S. Border Patrol has begun erecting new 30-foot wall panels along a stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border in the agency’s Yuma sector. Construction crews are filling seven "vulnerable gaps" in the border wall system, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Those gaps were set to be filled years ago during President Donald Trump’s first term, but President Joe Biden’s administration canceled the contracts drawn up to do so. The gaps are in a remote desert area south of Wellton, Arizona. The exact number of miles to be completed remains unclear. This latest border wall construction project is in response to Trump’s executive order titled "Securing Our Borders," signed on his first day back in the White House. The executive order directs Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to "deploy and construct temporary and permanent physical barriers to ensure complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.” Noem announced that new border wall construction would begin during a visit to Nogales on March 16. "Everybody, I’m here in Arizona, and right at this spot you can see where the border wall ends," Noem said in a video shared to X. "As of today, we’re starting seven new miles of construction. We’re going to continue to make America safe again.” The seven miles are an extension of the border wall in Hidalgo County, Texas, where a $70 million contract was awarded to Granite Construction Co., a California-based company, to build within the U.S. Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector. This was the first contract awarded during the second Trump administration. The Arizona-Mexico border was the site of several wall construction projects under the first Trump administration. Between 2017 and 2021, the administration constructed 458 miles of fencing, most of which replaced existing structures. About 226 miles of pedestrian fencing were erected on federal lands in Arizona. In 2019, the Trump administration began replacing existing border fence with 18-to-30-foot bollard-style fencing in an area 107 miles long, stretching east of Wellton to Andrade, California. The new border wall fence was finished at the end of 2020, according to a 2021 news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

FOX News [3/24/2025 6:48 PM, Stepheny Price, 46189K] reports a California woman accused of killing her spouse, Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca Marodi, in an alleged domestic incident last month, received medical treatment before being booked into jail after being captured over the weekend. The San Diego Sheriff’s Office announced on Monday that Yolanda Marodi, 53, was admitted for medical treatment prior to being booked into jail, after she was handed over to U.S. Marshals following her capture in Mexico on Saturday. The agency told Fox News Digital that Yolanda was not injured during her arrest, but was not able to share any details of her personal medical information and the reason for her treatment. Officials said that the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility is currently completing the booking process for Yolanda and her arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday. Yolanda Marodi had been on the run for over a month after authorities found Capt. Marodi stabbed to death inside their home on Feb. 17. Yolanda allegedly fled the country and escaped across the border into Mexico later that day after being named a primary suspect in the murder. She was arrested Saturday at a hotel in Mexicali near the southern border, according to the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat. Investigators are still working to gather more information to determine the circumstances and motivation behind Capt. Marodi’s death.

NPR [3/24/2025 2:00 PM, Martha Ann Overland, 29983K] reports that straddling two countries, the historic Haskell Free Library and Opera House is unlike any other in the world. One half sits in Canada and the other half in the U.S. A thick black stripe runs across the library floor and under the opera house seats, marking the Quebec-Vermont border. Since 1904, the citizens of both countries have used the cultural building without going through passport control and customs. Now, citing safety concerns, the U.S. is beginning to impose restrictions in phases. Canadians without a library membership will no longer be able to simply walk in the front door, which is on the U.S. side, in Derby Line, Vt. They can still enter the library from the Canadian side, but it will be through an emergency exit door in the back of the library. As of Oct. 1, to use the front door, all Canadians will first have to go through a border crossing to enter the U.S. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the move is part of its mission to secure America’s borders. "Drug traffickers and smugglers were exploiting the fact that Canadians could use the U.S. entrance without going through customs," the DHS said in a statement. "We are ending such exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans." Though the new restrictions do not limit Canadians’ use of the library, the symbolism is not lost on people living on both sides of the border.

FOX News [3/25/2025 4:00 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports that, according to one immigration expert, relaxed Canadian visa requirements could be causing an uptick in Romanian illegal immigrants crossing the border to the United States. "First of all, the reason they’re coming from Canada is that Canada lifted visa requirements for Romanians in 2017, I believe," Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital. "So it’s a lot simpler to get to Canada than it is to here if you’re a Romanian. And so then you sneak over the border. And why don’t you stay in Canada instead of come here? I don’t know." U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from the Houlton Sector in Maine shows Romanians made up less than 1% of border crossings in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2024, that number increased to nearly 12%. Out of 344 illegal crossings in the sector, 40 people were identified as Romanian nationals. The Houlton Sector is located in northeast Maine, bordering New Brunswick, Canada. Krikorian suggested that Romanians might be trying to link up with family members in large cities. I-95 runs directly through Houlton, which may make it simpler for migrants to travel south and connect with relatives. He explained that the majority of Romanians who leave their country flee to Italy and, to a lesser extent, Germany and other European Union countries. Still, more enterprising migrants might continue to the United States. "Italy is one of the big destinations for many Romanians," Krikorian said. "But there are going to be people who want to come here. I mean, the United States is better off than Italy, too. There’s more opportunities here." But with changing visa requirements for Romanians wishing to enter the U.S., Krikorian expects illegal immigration numbers among Romanians to decline beginning at the end of this month. Romanian nationals will become eligible for the Visa Waiver Program at the end of March. The program allows citizens from participating countries to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa, whether for tourism or business. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [3/25/2025 4:00 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports a tranquilizer commonly referred to as a "zombie drug" is being manufactured and smuggled across the U.S. southern border, according to a doctor who has spent years studying it. The drug xylazine, known as "tranq" in street lingo, is used as a tranquilizer by veterinarians. In the 2010s, the drug made its way to the streets almost exclusively by being stolen from veterinarians and was particularly prevalent on the East Coast. Now, it is being manufactured and coming from abroad, and its footprint could dramatically scale. "There’s evidence of it being imported into the U.S. through the southern border and also evidence of diversion of domestic veterinary supply," Dr. Joseph Friedman, who has studied xylazine for years, told Fox News Digital. While Friedman says he doesn’t know what proportion of the drug is being smuggled versus stolen from veterinarians in the U.S., his latest study, published in January, shows the drug’s prevalence in Tijuana and southern California. "Our study showed it being mixed into fentanyl in Tijuana, Mexico, specifically, and it’s also present in San Diego and southern California more broadly," he said. "The arrival of xylazine-fentanyl co-use to the North American overdose crisis has been highly notable, and xylazine has been identified as an emerging threat by the government of the U.S., Chile, by the Organization of American States, and more recently by Mexico," the study says. The drug leaves users in a "zombie-like" state as it constricts blood vessels and cuts off oxygen flow to the body, causing abscesses that rot the flesh. The drug is also uniquely dangerous because it does not respond to naloxone, which is used to counteract opioid overdoses, and when the drug is detected, it is almost always detected with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. "It’s almost exclusively used together with fentanyl to augment it, almost never by itself," Friedman said. In fact, in more than 98% of xylazine detections, it is detected alongside fentanyl, according to a 2022 study he published. That study showed xylazine presence in overdose deaths had jumped from 3.6% in 2015 to 6.7% in 2020.

The Government Executive [3/24/2025 5:34 PM, Sean Michael Newhouse, 819K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during Monday’s Cabinet meeting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be eliminated. At about the same time, in contrast, a bipartisan pair of lawmakers introduced legislation to separate FEMA from its parent department. Noem’s brief mention of FEMA came during her discussion of various DHS operations, of which the disaster management agency is a component. After detailing ongoing immigration enforcement efforts at the southern border and developing Coast Guard operations, the secretary concluded her remarks by noting that "we’re going to eliminate FEMA." Given that FEMA is authorized in statute, it’s uncertain how much authority the Trump administration has to make changes to the agency’s organization without congressional approval. On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan House duo sponsored legislation that would turn FEMA into an independent, Cabinet-level agency. Under the bill, the president would appoint, pending Senate confirmation, a director for FEMA and up to four deputy directors. Currently, only the FEMA administrator and deputy administrator require Senate confirmation, according to the 2024 plum book that identifies presidentially appointed government positions. It would require FEMA’s director to have at least five years of executive leadership experience respectively in the public and private sectors. In comparison, the administrator presently needs at least five years of such experience in the public or private sector. The measure also would maintain FEMA’s 10 regional offices and give the agency its own inspector general. The Federal News Network [3/24/2025 3:52 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1089K] reports that lawmakers are pushing a bill to move the Federal Emergency Management Agency out from under the Department of Homeland Security amid evolving debates about the future of FEMA under the Trump administration. The FEMA Independence Act, introduced today by Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), would make FEMA an independent, Cabinet-level agency that reports directly to the president. Under the bill, FEMA would be led by a Senate-confirmed director. The director would be required to have "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security" across the public and private sectors. The agency would also have up to four deputy directors, subject to Senate confirmation, along with 10 regional directors chosen by the top director.

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FOX News [3/24/2025 3:31 PM, Aubrie Spady, 46189K]
Yahoo! News [3/25/2025 12:38 AM, Josh Marcus, 52868K]

AP [3/24/2025 3:21 PM, Staff] reports firefighters in North and South Carolina were battling multiple wind-driven wildfires Monday in rugged terrain that complicated containment efforts, officials said. Millions of trees knocked down by Hurricane Helene last year combined with long stretches of dry weather this spring are making for a long and active fire season in the Carolinas, North Carolina State University forestry and environmental resources professor Robert Scheller said. Three fires burned at least 7.5 square miles (19.5 square kilometers) in the county and the two larger blazes were completely uncontained, Cannon said in a social media update Monday morning. The Black Cove Fire, one of the larger ones, was moving toward neighboring Henderson County, Cannon said. A downed power line sparked the Black Cove Fire, but the causes of the other two fires in Polk County were under investigation, according to North Carolina Forest Service spokesperson Jeremy Waldrop. A number of other wildfires burning across the state including one that damaged 500 vehicles at a salvage yard in Burke County, officials said. Two fires in the South Carolina mountains have led Gov. Henry McMaster to declare a state of emergency. One fire was in Table Rock State Park in Pickens County and the other was on Persimmon Ridge in Greenville County. Winds and difficult mountainous terrain allowed blazes to grow, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said. The Table Rock Fire expanded to more than 2 square miles (5.3 square kilometers), including several hundred acres that firefighters intentionally burned to try to contain the flames, officials said. The Persimmon Ridge Fire, which started Saturday, spread to more than 1.25 square miles (3.2 square kilometers) despite many dozens of water drops, the commission said. Human activity ignited both the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires. No injuries had been reported, and while no structures were imminently threatened, voluntary evacuations of about 100 homes remained in place.

USA Today [3/24/2025 8:54 AM, John Bacon, 75858K] reports hundreds of firefighters from across North Carolina on Monday were gathered in a rural county to battle at least three blazes that have scorched almost 8 square miles, destroyed at least three homes and multiple other buildings, forcing mandatory evacuations. The two largest fires had burned more than 7 square miles in Polk County and were 0% contained late Sunday, the state Forest Service said. Both have been burning since Wednesday. Larges sections of North Carolina and South Carolina have been designated an "elevated fire risk" by the National Weather Service on and off for weeks because of high winds, low humidity and a dearth of rainfall. "Many areas across the state have seen fires this weekend. A statewide burning ban (is) in place. Do not burn outdoors at all!" the state emergency management agency warned in a social media post. In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency to ensure firefighters have the resources needed to combat the Table Rock Fire in the Blue Ridge Mountains. "The statewide burning ban remains in effect as wildfire risks remain high across the state," McMaster said in a statement. "Anyone who violates this ban can and will go to jail.” By Sunday evening, the Table Rock Fire — which ignited Friday — grew to more than 1,300 acres with no containment. The South Carolina Forestry Commission noted that the current estimate of acres burned includes "several hundred acres that were part of a burnout conducted by wildland firefighters to eliminate the fuels between evacuated residential areas and the many active wildfire fronts.” "The burnout, which remains in progress, is being deemed successful in removing said fuels," the South Carolina Forestry Commission added.

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Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 6:45 AM, Nicole Bonaccorso, 52868K] r

Newsweek [3/24/2025 2:05 PM, Anna Skinner, 52220K] reports that at least eight active wildfires continue to burn across North Carolina and South Carolina on Monday, covering more than 6,000 acres as National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists warned of continued dry weather being ideal for rapid fire spread. Newsweek has reached out to the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) by email for comment. Earlier this month, wildfires erupted across the Carolinas amid an abundance of dry fuels. Strong winds and dry conditions aided the spread, and, as of Monday, agencies in both states were continuing to battle the blazes, which now cover around 6,000 acres. Evacuations have been issued in some areas as the fires continue to expand. There are five active wildfires in North Carolina, and three active in South Carolina. However, additional blazes have been reported so this number could grow. In North Carolina, there are five active wildfires. Three of them are clustered southeast of Asheville near the state border with South Carolina. These fires are all burning in Polk County, a part of North Carolina that faced devastating impacts from Hurricane Helene last fall. Over the weekend, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety issued a mandatory evacuation for people in the county living near the blazes. Another wildfire is around 14 acres in size in Caldwell County, and a further blaze covers 276 acres in Stokes County near the state border with Virginia.

NPR [3/24/2025 6:10 PM, Gerard Albert III, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports fighting growing wildfires in western North Carolina is hampered by debris left over from Hurricane Helene-related flooding, which was 6 months ago this week.

WSPA [3/24/2025 5:52 PM, Robert Cox, Scarlett Lisjak] reports three wildfires continue to burn Monday across a large portion of western Polk County with little containment. The Black Cove, Deep Woods, and Fish Hook fires have burned a combined 4,800 acres as of Monday morning. The Black Cove Fire has burned just over 2,000 acres and is 0% contained. The fire is burning just west of the Green River north of Interstate 26. Officials said the fire is burning toward Henderson County. The Black Cove Fire was started by a downed power line around 2 p.m. on March 19. The Deep Woods Fire, located on the east side of the Green River just northeast of the Black Cove Fire, has burned more than 2,500 acres. That fire is also 0% contained. The NC Forest Service said the fire is burning on state-owned and private land in the Green River Gorge and the Holbert Cove community around five miles northwest of Columbus. At least one building and two outbuildings have been destroyed by the fire while another was damaged, officials said Friday. There’s no word yet on what caused the fire. The smallest fire, the Fish Hook Fire, has burned close to 200 acres but is now 50% contained. The fire is burning on private land near Lake Adger, around five miles northwest of Mill Spring. Officials said at least six buildings were lost in the Fish Hook Fire, which was also caused by a downed power line. Firefighting efforts are focused on the Black Cove and Deep Woods fires, the two largest in the county.

Salem Statesman Journal [3/24/2025 4:49 PM, Isabel Funk] reports Oregon firefighters arrived Sunday in North Carolina to assist in fighting wildfires that have burned thousands of acres in the western part of the state. The Oregon Department of Forestry sent 26 firefighters and two agency representatives for a two-week rotation in North Carolina. Many of the Oregon firefighters were assigned to the Black Cove Fire, a news release said. The fire was first reported March 19. Along with the Deep Woods Fire, burning in the Green River Gorge, a combined 4,621 acres were burning with 0% containment as of Sunday evening, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. Firefighters work the Black Cove Fire on Sunday in Saluda, North Carolina. The firefighters were sent under a mutual assistance agreement between Oregon and North Carolina, the release said.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 8:27 PM, Kylie Jones, 52868K] reports that, nearly six months after Hurricane Helene, some people around Tampa Bay still live out of hotel rooms. That’s because many homes are gutted, still waiting to be repaired. One St. Pete couple, who’ve been living in a hotel since their condo flooded, received a call from FEMA last week telling them their hotel stay would not be extended past April 9. Susan Brancato and her husband lived in their St. Pete condo for almost a decade before experiencing a major hurricane from Helene for the first time. READ: Trump’s executive order gives states more control during disaster response. "Here we are, six months later, in a hotel," Brancato said. Brancato says Helene left several feet of flooding inside their first-floor unit. Their home is still gutted after several feet of drywall had to be torn out, and the floors had to be ripped up. Brancato says that hardly anything was salvageable. "I can see right through my neighbor here," Brancato said. "I can see right through, and you smell it, too.” Brancato says she’s been searching for a new home for several months. She says her husband is bedridden and recovering from a stroke, needing intense daily care. "He’s in a hospital bed, which weighs 500 pounds," Brancato said. "Then, you have the lifts, the wheelchairs. You have all this stuff, so I’m like, ‘Okay, where am I supposed to go (on) April 9?’ So, we’re out looking for a place, and I need (a) first floor. As you know, all of Pinellas County, there’s no place to go.” Brancato says there are a lot of other people in similar situations who are also looking for new apartments and houses and that the supply doesn’t seem to be keeping up with the demand. "It’s hard finding a first-floor place," Brancato said. "My husband needs wheelchair accessibility.”

Axios [3/24/2025 6:20 AM, Alex Fitzpatrick and Annalise Frank, 13163K] reports some of the most disaster-prone areas could face the greatest financial burdens in a world with less federal relief assistance, a new analysis finds. President Trump earlier this year floated "fundamentally overhauling or reforming" FEMA or "maybe getting rid" of it entirely — fueling concerns that U.S. disaster relief could be thrown into chaos. With their infrastructure challenges, Detroit and Southeast Michigan have utilized significant FEMA funding, including $433 million in response to the August 2023 tornadoes and flooding — though that figure also includes mid-Michigan counties. Trump signed an executive order last week to shift disaster readiness to state and local governments. FEMA and other federal agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), already funnel billions of dollars to individuals and communities. Detroit recently got nearly $347 million from HUD to prevent basement flooding from storms. It’s unclear how or whether Trump’s order might change disaster funding, or whether it would result in fewer federal dollars for disaster-wracked areas like Detroit. Some FEMA reform advocates call for giving states "block grants" of relief money to spend as they see fit, rather than to meet specific needs — but others worry that would lead to fraud and abuse, or that many states lack the resources and expertise to rebuild without help. Michigan’s 12th and 13th congressional districts, which both include Detroit, had $257 million and $315 million in FEMA dollars sent to more than 200,000 individuals and households from 2021-2025, per a new analysis from the Carnegie Disaster Dollar Database.

Nebraska Examiner [3/24/2025 3:45 PM, Juan Salinas II] reports Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen declared a state of emergency for 24 counties impacted by last week’s winter storm. Last week’s blizzard closed Interstate 80 and other roadways, damaged trees and power lines and caused a loss of electricity across multiple service areas. According to the Governor’s Office, the heaviest damage occurred along the eastern part of the state. Parts of east Nebraska experienced nearly a foot of snow, accompanied by wind gusts reaching 70 mph. Initial damage estimates now surpass $21 million. The Omaha Public Power District said last week’s blizzard was the most destructive in its history. Steven Weaver, an OPPD line crew leader, said the ice accumulated on power lines after the blizzard was thicker than any he’d ever seen. The counties covered by last week’s emergency declaration are Burt, Butler, Cass, Clay, Colfax, Cuming, Dodge, Douglas, Fillmore, Gage, Jefferson, Lancaster, Platte, Polk, Nuckolls, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, Thayer, Thurston, Washington, Wayne and York. When all damage assessments are completed, the state will seek a federal disaster declaration, which could help offset some recovery costs.

Reuters [3/25/2025 1:28 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports several residents of Los Angeles who were affected by the deadly Palisades wildfire sued city authorities over claims that municipal utility power lines ignited the fire, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The suit cited a Washington Post article dated January 12, in which the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power told the newspaper its power lines near the origin of the fire had been disconnected from the electricity system for five years, which the residents’ lawyers said was incorrect.

FOX News [3/24/2025 8:27 PM, Greg Wehner, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump has revoked former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Secret Service protection, starting Monday. The Secret Service confirmed to Fox News Digital that, per an executive memorandum from the president, the protective detail for Mayorkas was discontinued. No other details were provided, to ensure the integrity of the Secret Service’s operations. The former secretary’s security protection was revoked a week after Trump announced he was revoking Secret Service protection for former President Biden’s adult children. Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, saying Hunter Biden received Secret Service protection for an "extended period of time." "There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous!" Trump wrote. "Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection." Also losing protection was Ashley Biden, Hunter’s sister. Trump noted that 13 agents were assigned to Ashley’s security detail. "We are aware of the President’s decision to terminate protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden," the Secret Service told Fox News Digital. "The Secret Service will comply and is actively working with the protective details and the White House to ensure compliance as soon as possible."

CBS Pittsburgh [3/24/2025 7:25 PM, Meghan Schiller, 51661K] reports electronic card skimmers are a perfect match for color, texture and size and they only take seconds to snap into place. And just like it only takes a few seconds for a criminal to place one of these skimmers at your favorite convenience store, it only takes a few seconds out of your day to feel for and look for the warning signs. From gas pumps to convenience stores, card skimmers can pop up overnight anywhere you’d swipe some plastic. "Well, we noticed more probably within the last five years," said West Mifflin Police Chief Gregory McCulloch. McCulloch said regular people kickstart most skimmer investigations. "They’ll notice something is off with the credit card readers. Or they’ll go home and notice a charge on the credit card," McCulloch said. The department warns residents right away, so pictures of a skimmer found at the 7-Eleven on Camp Hollow Road started making the rounds on social media recently. His detective continues to watch thousands of hours of surveillance video to crack the case. "Do these people get caught a lot of the times or is it really hard to catch these people?" KDKA-TV’s Meghan Schiller asked McCulloch. "It’s really hard because a lot of them are not from the area," he said. "The way they extract the information is they can do it by Bluetooth, so they don’t even have to go back into the establishment. They can just pull into the parking lot," he added. The FBI says these skimmers cost consumers and banks more than $1 billion each year. Spotting one is hard, so try feeling for it instead.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 12:55 PM, Will Greenlee, 52868K] reports that a 42-year-old man was arrested after being accused in a number of counterfeit $50 bill cases in the Tradition community, according to recently-released records. Duane Everton Clarke, who has listed addresses in Fort Pierce and Hollywood, was arrested March 18 by Port St. Lucie police after accusations of passing a counterfeit $50 bill for an order of coffee at Clean Eatz, a restaurant in the 10800 block of Southwest Village Parkway. The location is west of Interstate 95 in the Tradition community. Police reported linking Clarke to earlier counterfeit $50 bill cases at nearby Tropical Smoothie and Subway eateries. Clarke was arrested on a total of eight felony charges related to possessing and passing counterfeit money, according to affidavits. Port St. Lucie Police on March 18, 2025, arrested a man in connection with a counterfeit money case in Tradition. Investigators ultimately reported linking him to two, additional earlier counterfeit money cases in Tradition. Shown is evidence in one of the cases. Police reported Clarke had 10 counterfeit bills on him in four denominations, and that he has a forgery warrant out of Arkansas. Investigators also reported a serial number on one of the bills is linked to a Fort Pierce Police case. A request to Fort Pierce Police Monday for a report regarding that case was not immediately fulfilled.

FOX 5 San Diego [3/24/2025 2:46 PM, Rhea Caoile] reports a guided-missile destroyer departed Naval Base San Diego over the weekend to support military operations at the Texas and Mexico border, according to a news release from the U.S. Navy. After spending five months in the Middle East and returning to the West Coast in December, USS Spruance left San Diego Saturday on its new deployment. According to the Navy, the Spruance will be accompanied by an embedded U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, a team that typically serves in military combat operations, counter-piracy, alien migration interdictions and more. “USS Spruance’s deployment as part of U.S. Northern Command’s southern border mission brings additional capability and expands the geography of unique military capabilities working with the Department of Homeland Security,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command. “With Spruance off the West Coast and USS Gravely in the Gulf of America, our maritime presence contributes to the all-domain, coordinated DOD (Department of Defense) response to the Presidential Executive Order and demonstrates our resolve to achieve operational control of the border,” he added in the Navy’s statement.

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HS Today [3/24/2025 12:53 PM, Erin Caine, 38K] reports Rear Admiral Chris Bartz, a decorated aviator and cybersecurity leader, officially retired from the U.S. Coast Guard today, capping off a distinguished career that spanned multiple domains of national security and information technology. His retirement marks the conclusion of a legacy defined by operational excellence, technological innovation, and unwavering public service. He most recently served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where he was responsible for planning, programming, and overseeing DHS-wide IT systems, cybersecurity operations, data strategy, and customer experience initiatives. His leadership helped advance transformative efforts to secure the department’s digital infrastructure and elevate cybersecurity resilience across all components. Previously, Bartz held the roles of Assistant Commandant for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Information Technology (CG-6) and Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard. In this capacity, he led IT strategy for all ships, aircraft, and shore facilities, ensuring operational readiness through the integration of cutting-edge technology.

USA Today [3/24/2025 6:02 AM, Marc Ramirez, 75858K] reports a year after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by an errant cargo ship, a new study indicates such incidents are more likely to occur in the U.S. than commonly known, with potentially similar catastrophic consequences. Some of the nation’s busiest bridges are likely to be struck by ships within several decades, the study authors said, reflecting a dramatic increase over time in vessel size and shipping lane traffic. The two most vulnerable spans listed in the assessment – the Huey P. Long Bridge outside New Orleans and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge – face a likelihood of collisions of approximately every two decades. "We have significantly underestimated the risk that large ships pose to existing bridges across the U.S.," said Michael Shields, an associate professor of civil and systems engineering and lead investigator of the study conducted by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "These results verify that the Key Bridge was not an aberration…. It’s something we should have better seen coming and can now react to by putting appropriate corrective measures in place.” The study’s preliminary findings echo a March 20 update from the National Transportation Safety Board on its investigation of the disaster. Board chair Jennifer L. Homendy faulted Maryland officials overseeing the Key Bridge for failing to recognize that the structure’s vulnerability to such collisions was 30 times more than the federal standard. The MV Dali, a 984-foot container ship headed for Sri Lanka, struck a pier of the Key Bridge after losing power early on the morning of March 26, 2024, causing the structure to collapse into the Patapsco River, killing six road workers and forcing temporary closure of the Port of Baltimore. "It was a shocking reminder of the fragility of the engineering marvels we so often consider indestructible," the Johns Hopkins project site noted. The university’s national risk assessment of bridge vulnerability was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Program, which focuses on studies in the immediate aftermath of disaster. It focused on a central question: How likely was a disaster like this to occur? Its list of the nation’s 20 most at-risk bridges includes seven bridges with a probability of being struck by ships every 50 years or less, including the Huey P. Long Bridge (17 years), the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (22 years), the Crescent City Connection in New Orleans (34 years), the Beltway 8 Bridge in Houston (35 years) and the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge west of New Orleans (37 years).

Transportation Today [3/24/2025 7:43 AM, Kim Riley, 3K] reports as part of the ongoing investigation into the collapse last year of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after contact with a containership, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently recommended risk assessments for dozens of other bridges around the country. Specifically, NTSB’s March 18 report calls on 30 owners of 68 bridges across 19 states to conduct a vulnerability assessment to determine the risk of bridge collapse from a vessel collision. The report does not suggest that the 68 bridges are certain to collapse, says the NTSB, which is recommending that the 30 bridge owners evaluate whether the bridges are above the acceptable level of risk set by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). If the calculations indicate a bridge has a risk level above the AASHTO threshold, then the NTSB urges owners of bridges over navigable waterways frequented by ocean-going vessels, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to act on the safety recommendations in the report, and to develop and implement a comprehensive risk reduction plan.

WAVY [3/24/2025 6:22 PM, Kenzie Finch] reports the U.S. Coast Guard is responding to a water rescue in Hampton on Monday afternoon, according to Petty Officer Christine Bills. Around 1:35 p.m., officials were alerted of a 35-foot sailboat taking on water, near Ivory Gull Crescent. Two people are aboard the vessel. The CG Cutter Pompano along with Coast Guard Station Portsmouth, VMRC and Hampton Fire Dept all responded. The cutter and Coast Guard Station Portsmouth are still with the vessel.

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CBS 3 Norfolk [3/24/2025 6:16 PM, David Lance, 286K] r

FreightWaves [3/24/2025 1:19 PM, Stuart Chirls, 486K] reports the National Transportation Safety Board said a proper risk assessment by the state of Maryland may have avoided the deadly Key Bridge collapse in 2024, and the agency warned that dozens of other bridges are at similar risk throughout the United States. The warning comes as part of the NTSB’s ongoing investigation into the March 2024 allision of the containership Dali with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which killed six road workers. In a new report, the NTSB said it conducted a vulnerability assessment of the Key Bridge and found that the risk level was almost 30 times greater than the acceptable threshold for bridges considered essential to the national highway network. “Had the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) conducted such an assessment based on recent vessel traffic, they would have been aware of this elevated risk,” the NTSB said in the report. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore defended his state’s agency, according to local media reports, saying the bridge passed every federal safety assessment conducted over the past 30 years. Moore blamed what he termed “gross negligence” by the operator of the Dali, which lost power four times in the minutes leading up to the crash. The NTSB identified 68 bridges in 19 states, managed by 30 separate owners, it says were likely not built to current engineering thresholds and have not undergone recent vulnerability assessments. These bridges have unknown levels of risk for catastrophic collapse from a vessel incident. To address this safety issue, the NTSB is recommending that the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers establish an interdisciplinary team to provide guidance and assistance to bridge owners on evaluating and reducing collision risks.

Miami Herald [3/24/2025 12:45 PM, Mark Price, 3973K] reports that three people are dead and a child remains missing after a boat flipped in the dark on North Florida’s St. Johns River, according to the searchers. Eight people were aboard when the mishap occurred around 8 p.m. Friday, March 21, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a news release. Identities of the dead have not been released. The search for bodies began after someone reported seeing "an overturned 18-foot vessel with four people on top ... and an additional four people possibly underneath," according to the U.S. Coast Guard. "The four people on top of the vessel were rescued by a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office marine unit, and one person was recovered from the water unresponsive," the USCG said. "No one aboard the vessel was reportedly wearing life jackets." A USCG diver searched under the vessel but found no one, officials said. Investigators have not released details of where searchers located the two other bodies. The USCG says its air-and-sea search covered "more than 270 square miles" before activities were suspended. A search for the missing child is now being led by the FWC, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Clay County Sheriff’s Office, officials said.

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ABC 9 Orlando [3/24/2025 9:42 AM, James Tutten, 562K]
CBS 10 St. Petersburg [3/24/2025 10:13 AM, Malcolm Harvey, 799K]
NBC 8 Tampa [3/24/2025 5:16 PM, Sara Filips, 200K]

ABC 10 Miami [3/24/2025 11:57 AM, Chris Gothner] reports a U.S. Coast Guard crew intercepted a man near Port Everglades smuggling more than 250 kilograms worth of cocaine from the Bahamas over the weekend, according to a federal criminal complaint. The complaint states that crews stopped a boat — a 36-foot Sea Ray named “Bella Vita” — for a seaworthiness inspection as it entered the Port Everglades channel at around 6:40 p.m. Saturday. Investigators said James Edward White, 35, of Miami Gardens, was the only person aboard. A U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service special agent wrote that the crew found “multiple suitcases” in the vessel’s downstairs living quarters and White told them that “he was coming from the Bahamas and had drugs onboard.” Authorities said they found 253 individually-wrapped bricks of cocaine, weighing approximately 1 kg each. According to figures posted by Recovered.org, that would place the total street value of the haul at around $7 million.

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CW 34 Fort Pierce [3/24/2025 7:10 PM, Grace Bellinghausen, 27K]
610 AM Miami [3/25/2025 5:02 AM, Staff]

ABC News [3/24/2025 3:40 PM, Megan Forrester, 34586K] reports a 28-year-old woman is missing after she and her dog fell into a Washington state river, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday. Zuleika Witron was hiking with her girlfriend and two dogs on Sunday when she and one of the dogs fell off the Fairfax Bridge and into the Carbon River in Washington, located in Mount Rainier National Park, police said. Police said a water rescue team responded to the scene, accompanied by drones searching for Witron and her dog. The dog was located about a quarter mile downstream and was returned to Witron’s girlfriend, police said. Authorities continued to search 1.5 miles down the river for Witron, but she has not been found, police said. A Coast Guard helicopter was requested and initially en route to the scene, but the "visibility became too limited to operate safely," police said. The initial search was suspended at approximately 6:13 p.m. on Sunday, police said. On Monday, authorities said drones have continued to search for Witron and the "search and rescue mission has now been changed to a recovery mission."

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Tacoma News Tribue [3/24/2025 6:12 PM, Puneet Bsanti, 397K]

ABC 4 Seattle [3/24/2025 9:10 PM, Joel Moreno, 190K] reports a treacherous river with challenging access is complicating efforts to find a woman who fell in and was swept away in Pierce County on Sunday. At the same time, family members are pleading for more volunteers to help find her. Zuleika Witron, 28, was exploring the banks of the Carbon River near the Fairfax Bridge with her girlfriend and dogs around 11:45 a.m. on Sunday when she slipped and plunged into the water. “The dog was a little further up ahead of her and the dog was on a slippery rock and she was starting to slip so my sister kind of panicked and lunged to grab her away from the little rock or the cliff,” said Kiara Witron, the missing woman’s younger sister. “They ended up both slipping and falling into the water together." Deputies, firefighters, and volunteers from the area around Carbonado have since mounted a huge effort to find her. They rescued the dog named Mace a quarter mile downstream, but so far there have been no signs of Witron. In addition to volunteers from Carbonado, service personnel from JBLM have also been assisting. Deputy Carly Cappetto said in addition to the 23 units that did respond, PCSO considered sending a swift water rescue team but the river is moving so fast it would be dangerous for anyone to try. A Coast Guard helicopter was also initially enroute but the visibility became too limited to operate safely and the crew turned around. Between rain showers, drones are being used to scan the river banks for any signs.

640 AM Los Angeles [3/24/2025 5:32 PM, Staff, 208K] reports an unattended kayak was found in the water near Channel Islands Harbor at about 9:45 Sunday Night. So far, there is no sign of a possible missing person in the water or shore. The Coast Guard has been notified. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

San Francisco Chronicle [3/24/2025 5:38 PM, Matt LaFever, 1230K] reports a massive rescue operation involving more than 20 people and multiple agencies saved two hikers stranded on a near-vertical cliff along Northern California’s remote Lost Coast over the weekend. The hikers were trapped 75 to 100 feet above the beach in the King Range Wilderness on Saturday. One of them was “unable to move” after falling, according to a Facebook post from the Shelter Cover Fire Department, and faced either a deadly drop onto boulders below or a potential plunge into the ocean. Chief Nick Pape of the Shelter Cove Fire Department described the situation as life-threatening. “It’s near vertical where the victims were located, and below them was absolutely vertical, probably 60 feet to the boulders below,” he told SFGATE. “It was definitely a life-threatening fall situation if that patient hadn’t fallen any further than they already had.” With conditions too dangerous for a ground extraction, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Humboldt Bay was dispatched to perform what the fire department described in the Facebook post as “two complex high-angle hoist rescues.” Coordinating with the teams below, the helicopter crew airlifted both hikers and transported them to Shelter Cove Airport, where ambulances awaited. The operation mobilized more than 20 rescuers, including many volunteers, according to the Shelter Cove Fire Department’s post. In addition to the fire department, six agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue and Cal Fire Kneeland Helitack, were involved.

Reported similarly:
ABC 7 Redding [3/24/2025 11:12 AM, Marion Rodriguez]
Sacramento Bee [3/24/2025 12:41 PM, Daniella Segura, 150K]

ABC News [3/24/2025 11:43 PM, Alex Stone, 52868K] reports good Samaritans helped save stranded plane crash victims on Monday after their aircraft went missing over a mountain range in Alaska. A Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser was reported overdue on Sunday night, according to the Alaska National Guard. The plane had taken off from Soldotna Airport in Soldotna, Alaska, earlier in the day on Sunday. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, a U.S. Coast Guard Super Hercules, Alaska State Troopers and Alaska National Guard launched a search effort but could not find it. There was no emergency transmitter signal coming from the wreckage. However, the Alaska National Guard told ABC News that a cellphone ping led searchers to believe the plane was near Tustumena Lake and the Kenai Mountains. It was a civilian in an aircraft who wound up spotting the plane crash site on Monday. Alaska officials said it was a testament to the strength of the community in Alaska that when an aircraft goes down, everybody takes to their planes and they go out and look. One of the good Samaritans seeking the missing plane was Dale Eicher, who told ABC News that he was able to fly over the site of the crash approximately half an hour after it was first located and saw the survivors awaiting rescue. An Alaska Army National Guard Blackhawk medivac variant with extended range, a hoist and a flight medic -- part of the 207th Aviation Troop Command -- went out to where the wreckage was spotted and found three people on the wing of the PA-12, which had seemingly broken the surface of a frozen body of water and had become partially submerged. The National Guard told ABC News that the plane had missed the main lake; instead, the aircraft seems to have settled amid a glacial field and large body of water. All three passengers on the plane survived the crash, were successfully rescued and were taken to a local hospital. There are no further updates on any injuries or what led to the crash. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
AP [3/24/2025 4:52 PM, Staff, 2600K]

96.5 FM Orlando [3/24/2025 3:24 PM, Staff, 16K] reports the Piper Super Cruiser took off Sunday for a sightseeing tour but failed to arrive on schedule. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the missing plane. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Ships & Ports [3/24/2025 11:58 AM, Staff, 15K] reports the United States Coast Guard (USCG) has praised Nigeria for making significant strides in implementing the International Ships and Ports Security (ISPC) Code. This commendation was given by Joe Prince Larson of the US Coast Guard, who lead a delegation from the International Port Security Programme with the ISPS Code at various ports in the country. In his assessment report to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Larson highlighted that Nigeria’s compliance with the ISPS Code ranks among the best globally. He expressed confidence in NIMASA’s ability to maintain the high standards already achieved and pledged to relay the positive findings to the leadership of the US Coast Guard.

SeaPower Magazine [3/24/2025 5:30 PM, Staff, 23K] reports a U.S. Coast Guard fast-response cutter, working in direct support of New Zealand-led Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), seized 260 kilograms of illegal narcotics from a vessel in the Arabian Sea, March 19. The Sentinel-class fast-response cutter USCGC Emlen Tunnell’s (WPC-1145) boarding team discovered and seized 200kg of methamphetamine and 60kg of heroin from the vessel. After weighing and documenting the haul, the crew properly disposed of the narcotics. Royal New Zealand Navy Capt. Dave Barr, CTF 150 deputy commander, said this drug bust is a testament to the tenacity and expert seamanship of the Coastguardsmen on the Emlen Tunnell operating so far off the coast in challenging waters, and the ability to seamlessly integrate with the multinational CTF 150 staff. “The waters in this area are full of legitimate fishing and trading vessels so it’s important to get this part right and accurately identify those vessels that are likely to be carrying narcotics,” said Barr. “A big part of our mission is to deter smugglers, so that those legitimate operators can continue to navigate freely to carry out their business.” This interdiction is part of ongoing efforts to combat illicit drug trafficking in international waters and demonstrates the CMF’s continued commitment to safeguarding maritime security against malign non-state actors.

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 8:30 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports a "cybersecurity incident" may have affected some families who have gone to Dayton Children’s Hospital, according to a statement from UnitedHealth Group Media. CPS Solutions, LLC, is a company that helps support the pharmacy operations at Dayton Children’s Hospital and discovered a breach in December. The company learned that an "unknown third party" accessed a CPS Solution employee’s business email account on Dec. 4. The statement said that they immediately took steps to prevent additional unauthorized access and secured the email account that same day. An investigation found that data from the email account was accessed and removed from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4. "On January 24, 2025, CPS Solutions completed a comprehensive review which identified all customers and individuals potentially affected by this incident and what information was involved," the statement reads. CPS Solutions formally notified Dayton Children’s Hospital of the incident on Feb. 10, 2025. Personal information that may have been compromised includes: Health insurance information like member/group ID number or Medicaid/Medicare number. Medical information like medical record number, clinical information, provider information, diagnosis or treatment information, or prescription information. The statement indicates that not all data elements were involved for everyone affected. "The company regrets this incident and any concern it may have caused anyone. Protecting individuals’ information is a key priority for the organization," the statement reads. CPS Solutions is not aware of any information being misused as a result of this incident. The company is offering two years of free credit monitoring and identity protection services for anyone who was impacted. For more information, click here. News Center 7 reached out to Dayton Children’s Hospital for information on the data breach but were told no further comment would be made.

ABC News [3/24/2025 3:19 PM, Aaron Katersky, 34586K] reports the sentencing of Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan national who was convicted of plotting a 9/11-style attack on the United States, was adjourned Monday after he asked for new lawyers. The judge had appointed standby counsel but Abdullah said he did not want them to represent him at sentencing. Judge Analisa Torres closed the courtroom for a private conference with Abdullah. When court resumed, Torres announced she would appoint new counsel and adjourn sentencing to April 7. Federal prosecutors have asked the court to imprison Abdullah for life. Abdullah wanted to fly a plane into the "tallest buildings" in Atlanta, including the 55-story Bank of America Plaza, on behalf of the terror group al-Shabab, federal prosecutors said. Abdullah was arrested by officials in the Philippines in July 2019. During his interrogation, he said he told his mother he had joined Al-Shabaab and that she alerted authorities, prosecutors said. Abdullah cooperated with the FBI, providing details of who was communicating with, how he was trained and other information.

CNN [3/25/2025 4:27 AM, Staff, 22131K] reports the FBI announced on Monday the creation of a task force intended to "crack down on violent Tesla attacks," a move that follows a spate of such incidents appearing to target Elon Musk’s electric car manufacturer. Acts of violence and vandalism have been seen for months against Tesla vehicles and facilities, such as charging stations, alongside protests at Tesla showrooms criticizing Musk, the company’s CEO, who is leading the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to downsize the federal government’s workforce and shrink federal agencies through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The new task force will work in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate anti-Tesla attacks, FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson said in a post on X. The Justice Department recently announced it will crack down on the rising number of attacks against Tesla, including bringing charges against several individuals accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at the automaker’s properties. "This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice," FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday. Attorney General Pam Bondi also described the anti-Tesla acts as "domestic terrorism" last week, after a person dressed in black shot and set fire to several Tesla vehicles at a repair facility in Las Vegas. Musk echoed that on his X social media platform on Monday, writing, "There is no doubt that shooting bullets into Tesla stores and burning down Superchargers are acts of terrorism.” In an X post last week responding to the violent acts aimed at Tesla facilities, Musk wrote, "Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.” In addition to the new task force, the FBI released a public service announcement over the weekend urging the public to look out for signs of an attack on Tesla dealerships or Tesla-related entities. Those signs could include someone surveilling or trying to break into Tesla properties or making threats against the company online.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [3/24/2025 5:30 PM, Kara Carlson, 16228K]
Reuters [3/24/2025 3:41 PM, Kanishka Singh, 41523K]
Axios [3/24/2025 4:40 PM, Jason Lalljee, 13163K]
FOX News [3/24/2025 4:26 PM, Brooke Singman, 46189K]

New York Times [3/24/2025 6:25 PM, Glenn Thrush, 145325K] reports President Trump has suggested attacks against Tesla are a coordinated effort to intimidate the billionaire Elon Musk, but an internal intelligence assessment did not support that claim and warned against conflating legal protests against Mr. Musk with vandalism to his property. The attacks on Tesla vehicles and facilities “appear to have been conducted by lone offenders, and all known incidents occurred at night, making identification and arrest of the actors difficult,” officials with the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security wrote in an intelligence bulletin dated March 21 and obtained by The New York Times. The initial assessment, shared with law enforcement agencies across the country and subject to change as investigations proceed, was based on an analysis of vandalism investigations in nine states over the past two months. It concluded that the attacks, which included firing gunshots, spraying graffiti, smashing windows and setting vehicles on fire, were “rudimentary” and not intended to injure people. The people taking these actions “may perceive these attacks as victimless property crimes,” but their “tactics can cause accidental or intentional bodily harm” to bystanders and first responders, the officials wrote in the report. While law enforcement agencies should aggressively pursue people committing those acts, they should not investigate “constitutionally protected activity” directed at Mr. Musk, who has overseen a far-reaching effort to reduce the size and function of the federal government, they added. Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi described the Tesla attacks as “domestic terrorism.” The director of the F.B.I., Kash Patel, reiterated that assessment on Monday, saying it was investigating what he described as an increase in violent activity. The bulletin did not explicitly identify the vandalism as “domestic violent extremism,” the term the government uses to describe domestic terrorism, although it cited political motives for the attacks. Its only mention of domestic violent extremism was an assessment of the difficulty in determining extremists’ “intent to commit violence.”

FOX News [3/24/2025 6:00 PM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports that Monday afternoon, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the federal law enforcement entity is investigating a string of recent violent attacks on Tesla dealerships, charging stations and owners. "The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response," Patel said on X. "This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice." The FBI warned Tesla owners and dealerships to be on the lookout for potential bad actors in the lead up to the March 29 "Global Day of Action." "The FBI urges the public to exercise vigilance and to look out for suspicious activity in areas occupied by Tesla dealerships or Tesla-related entities," the FBI said in a Friday statement. The Global Day of Action is a worldwide protest sponsored by left-wing agitation group Action Network, which is using the hashtag #TakeDownTesla to promote its efforts. Participants are upset at Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head and Tesla owner Elon Musk for his role in cutting waste and fraud inside the federal government. In its memo, the FBI noted that there have been incidents of anti-Tesla action including "arson, gunfire, and vandalism, including graffiti expressing grievances against those the perpetrators perceive to be racists, fascists, or political opponents," in nine states since January. "Be aware of your surroundings at all times and report suspicious activities to the authorities," the FBI said in the statement. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [3/24/2025 8:30 AM, Patrick Smith and Austin Mullen, 44742K] reports a man was arrested and charged with assault for driving his car towards a crowd of people protesting outside a Florida Tesla dealership and narrowly avoiding them, authorities said. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said deputies went to a planned protest at a West Palm Beach dealership on Saturday, where suspect Andrew Dutil drove onto the curb and slowly toward the protesters. There were no injuries. "The protestors had to move out of the way in order to avoid being struck by the vehicle," the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Court records show Dutil, who is being held in Palm Beach County Jail, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. It is not clear if he has retained a lawyer or when he is due to appear in court. The Palm Beach Post reported that Dutil was driving a black Nissan SUV and that the crowd numbered more than 100. "He drove into a crowd of senior citizens. Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped. We immediately called the cops," Mark Offerman, from the Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County, which organized the protest, told the newspaper. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/24/2025 8:16 AM, Lauren Irwin, 12829K]

AP [3/24/2025 7:24 PM, RIO YAMAT, 48304K] reports prosecutors in New Mexico say the evidence that police have collected in connection with a weekend shooting at a park that left three people dead and 15 others injured is "strong.” That includes the accounts of multiple witnesses who identified two of the shooters by name, as well as police officers witnessing the same two defendants allegedly dumping firearms at an apartment complex after the shooting, according to new court records. At least four people have been arrested on suspicion of murder: Tomas Rivas, 20, and three teenagers. The Associated Press typically does not name defendants younger than 18. Rivas, who is charged with three counts of open murder, made a brief court appearance Monday via video from a jail. Prosecutors on Monday also filed a motion to keep Rivas in custody as he awaits trial, and a judge said that a hearing on his custody status is expected in the coming days. Las Cruces police, meanwhile, plan to hold a news conference Tuesday. Authorities said Friday night’s shooting happened at Young Park, where an altercation between two groups broke out after an unauthorized car show had drawn about 200 people. In their motion, prosecutors described it as "one of the most horrific incidents to occur in Las Cruces.” One of the witnesses told police that they saw Rivas shoot one of the victims multiple times, striking the victim in the body and head, according to prosecutors. Rivas and a 17-year-old male were arrested Saturday, authorities said. Two other male teens, 15 and 17, were taken into custody Sunday, but details about what led to their arrests weren’t immediately released.

CBS Minnesota [3/24/2025 4:46 PM, Nick Lentz, 51661K] reports an 18-year-old man will spend over 14 years in prison for his role in the 2023 Minneapolis mass shooting at the backyard music venue called Nudieland. A Hennepin County judge handed down the sentence to Dominic James Burris on Monday afternoon. Burris, from Hinckley, Minnesota, pleaded guilty in January to one count each of second-degree unpremeditated murder and first-degree assault with great bodily harm, according to court records. Five counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon were dropped as part of a plea agreement. The judge sentenced Burris to 23 years and two months in prison for the second-degree murder charge and 10 years and two months for the first-degree assault charge, with credit for 355 days served. The sentences will be served at the same time. August Golden, 35, was killed and six others were injured in the shooting on Aug. 11, 2023, outside the home located off 16th Avenue South and East 22nd Street in the Ventura Village neighborhood. Between 30 to 50 people were gathered for a concert at the time.

USA Today [3/24/2025 4:41 PM, Marc Ramirez, Julius Whigham II, 75858K] reports Austin, Texas, police on Monday said they recovered multiple incendiary devices at a local Tesla dealership as protests and vandalism directed at Tesla vehicles and CEO Elon Musk escalate nationwide. Officers responded just after 8 a.m. Monday to a report of suspicious devices at a dealership in north Austin and called the department’s bomb squad to investigate. The devices were deemed incendiary and confiscated safely. The episode remains under investigation but adds to a growing list of incidents nationwide described as “domestic terrorism” by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has vowed to prosecute offenders. On Thursday, the Justice Department accused three individuals of allegedly using Molotov cocktails to set Tesla vehicles or charging stations afire in Oregon, Colorado and South Carolina. Two days earlier, someone set five cars on fire at a Tesla service center in Las Vegas and spray-painted the word “resist” in red on the facility in what police called a targeted assault.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/24/2025 5:31 PM, Erica Pauda, Andrew Schnitker and Kate Winkle, 12829K]
AP [3/24/2025 6:11 PM, Staff, 48304K]
Dallas Morning News [3/24/2025 5:28 PM, Sarah Bahari, 2778K]

New York Times [3/25/2025 1:30 AM, Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt, 330K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed war plans in an encrypted group chat that included a journalist two hours before U.S. troops launched attacks against the Houthi militia in Yemen, the White House said on Monday, confirming an account in the magazine The Atlantic. The editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, wrote in an article published on Monday that he was mistakenly added to the text chat on the commercial messaging app Signal by Michael Waltz, the national security adviser. It was an extraordinary breach of American national security intelligence. Not only was the journalist inadvertently included in the group, but the conversation also took place outside the secure government channels that would normally be used for classified and highly sensitive war planning. Mr. Goldberg said he was able to follow the conversation among senior members of President Trump’s national security team in the two days leading up to the strikes in Yemen. The group also included Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mr. Goldberg wrote. At 11:44 a.m. on March 15, Mr. Hegseth posted the “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Mr. Goldberg wrote. “The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East.” In an interview, Mr. Goldberg said that “up until the Hegseth text on Saturday, it was mainly procedural and policy texting. Then it became war plans, and to be honest, that sent a chill down my spine.” Mr. Goldberg did not publish the details of the war plans in his article. Mr. Hegseth, Mr. Goldberg wrote, said that “the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. Eastern time. So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot.” “If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed,” he added.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [3/24/2025 10:56 PM, Michael R. Gordon, Nancy A. Youssef and Alexander Ward]

CBS News [3/24/2025 7:30 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports a number of lawmakers expressed outrage Monday after the editor of The Atlantic reported that he was accidentally included in a group chat involving top Trump administration officials about the United States’ highly sensitive war plans in Yemen. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle criticized the security breach, though Democrats took a harsher stance about how it should be addressed, with many demanding an immediate investigation. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the breach represents "one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense" he has ever seen. "Military operations need to be handled with utmost discretion, using approved, secure lines of communication, because American lives are on the line. The carelessness shown by President Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately," Reed’s statement said. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chair of the Armed Services Committee, said, "It’s definitely a concern, and it appears that mistakes were made.” "There are likely to be classified briefings about this soon," Wicker said, adding that his committee will "absolutely" look into it. In a piece published Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, recounted how he says he was inadvertently added to a group chat that included national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and others on the encrypted messaging app Signal earlier this month. In the chat, Hegseth detailed the plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen shortly before the strikes took place, and other top officials weighed in, according to Goldberg. The Atlantic said it did not publish all of the messages because some of the details were too sensitive. The National Security Council acknowledged in a statement to CBS News that the group chat Goldberg reported "appears to be authentic.” "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," a National Security Council spokesman said. "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security.” Hegseth said Monday evening that "nobody was texting war plans," and he slammed Goldberg as "a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist" who "peddles hoaxes.” Asked about the report, President Trump said, "I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. It’s going out of business. It’s not much of a magazine." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, "President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”

Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 8:20 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deflected when asked about the leak of a sensitive chat between Trump administration officials and attacked the character of the journalist who published the revelation. Hegseth was on the Signal chat with national security adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, was added to the chat, apparently by accident. He went on to witness the group discuss sensitive matters surrounding U.S. plans to strike the Yemen-based Houthis. Hegseth dismissed concerns over the incident and targeted Goldberg, a vocal critic of Trump. "So you’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again," Hegseth said when asked about the story, going on to list a series of disputable stories he wrote. "This is a guy that pedals in garbage. This is what he does.” The defense secretary then shifted to praise the air and naval campaign against the Houthis. "I would love to comment on the Houthi campaign because of the skill and courage of our troops. I’ve monitored it very closely from the beginning, and you see, we’ve been managing four years of deferred maintenance under the Trump administration," Hegseth continued, criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict. When pressed on the matter, he challenged the severity of what the national security team was doing. "Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that," Hegseth concluded. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed the leak’s authenticity on Monday. He told the Washington Examiner, "This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security," he added.

The Hill [3/24/2025 6:28 PM, Mike Lillis, 12829K] reports House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is calling for Congress to investigate top Trump administration officials in the wake of a bombshell revelation that The Atlantic’s top editor was included in a group chat discussion detailing the Pentagon’s plans to strike Yemen. Jeffries said the details of the breach, outlined by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on Monday, reveal a "reckless" administration — one stocked with an "unqualified" Cabinet — that poses a threat to national security in the name of defending it. Congress, he said, has a role in getting to the bottom of the incident. "There should absolutely be a congressional investigation so that we can understand what happened, why did it happen, and how do we prevent this type of national security breach from ever happening again," Jeffries told reporters Monday in the Capitol, shortly after The Atlantic piece was published. Jeffries did not mention any of the top officials involved in the breach. But he went after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth without naming him, characterizing the secretary as "the most unqualified person ever to lead the Pentagon in American history." And he accused President Trump of prioritizing loyalty over experience and talent. "We were promised that Donald Trump was going to hire the very best. It’s all phony," Jeffries charged. The Atlantic’s bombshell report featured allegations that Goldberg, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, had received an invitation to join a group chat on Signal from someone identifying themselves as Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser. Signal is an encrypted app, but it’s not a platform typically used by top government officials to discuss topics as sensitive as military plans, and Goldberg said he was initially skeptical of the legitimacy of the messages. As the discussion evolved, however, he said it became more clear that he was, indeed, a part of a highly confidential discussion about the Pentagon’s plans for missile strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen. The chat also appeared to feature Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Hegseth, who sent the group details — including weapons systems and targets — for impending strikes on Yemen on March 15. The National Security Council (NSC) verified the authenticity of the chat on Monday afternoon and said it was looking into the incident. "We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," said NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes. "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security.”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/24/2025 7:07 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12829K]

AP [3/25/2025 12:08 AM, Eric Tucker and David Klepper, 24727K] reports the Trump administration’s top intelligence officials face Congress for back-to-back hearings this week, their first opportunity since being sworn in to testify about the threats facing the United States and what the government is doing to counter them. FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, are among the witnesses who will appear Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee. Tuesday’s hearing will take place one day after news broke that several top national security officials in the Trump administration, including Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic. The annual hearings on worldwide threats will offer a glimpse of the Trump administration’s reorienting of priorities, which officials across agencies have described as countering the scourge of fentanyl and fighting violent crime, human trafficking and illegal immigration. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray routinely has said he is hard-pressed to think of a time in his career when the United States faced so many elevated threats at once, but the concerns he more regularly highlighted had to do with sophisticated Chinese espionage plots, ransomware attacks that have crippled hospitals and international and domestic terrorism. “We have to change to the dynamic threat landscape that is changing constantly not just in America but abroad,” Patel said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday night, citing the elevated threat from “narco-traffickers.” But, he added, “we’re not going to forget or ignore national security — never.” The hearings are also unfolding against the backdrop of a starkly different approach toward Russia following years of Biden administration sanctions over its war against Ukraine.

AP [3/24/2025 1:27 PM, Lea Skene, 52868K] reports that a federal judge on Monday blocked billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing people’s private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction in a case filed last month by a coalition of labor unions in federal court in Maryland. Led by the American Federation of Teachers, the plaintiffs allege Trump’s administration violated federal privacy laws when it gave DOGE access to systems with personal information on tens of millions of Americans without their consent. Boardman, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden, had previously issued a temporary restraining order. The preliminary injunction offers longer-term relief blocking DOGE access as the case plays out. The judge found the Trump administration likely violated the law. She said the government failed to adequately explain why DOGE needed access to "millions of records" to perform its job duties. She also said the Trump administration can still carry out the president’s agenda without receiving unfettered access to a trove of personal data on federal employees and people with student loans and government benefits. That includes their income and asset information, Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses and marital and citizenship status. "They trusted the federal government to safeguard their information. In a separate Maryland case last week, a judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security databases that similarly contain vast amounts of personal information.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [3/24/2025 11:42 AM, Zach Montague, 145325K]

AP [3/24/2025 3:52 PM, Rob Gillies, 12335K] reports that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney lamented Canada’s lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks. Carney’s visit Monday to Gander, Newfoundland on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump’s almost daily attacks on Canada’s sovereignty have left Canadians feeling betrayed. "In this crisis caused by the U.S. president and those who are enabling him, we lament a friendship lost," Carney said. "In Gander Canadians did extraordinary things for Americans when they needed it. Now, we need to do extraordinary things for ourselves." Gander opened its arms to nearly 6,600 airline passengers diverted there when the U.S. government shut down airspace during 9/11. In a matter of a few hours, the town population of 10,000 in 2001 was overwhelmed by 38 planeloads of travelers, yet locals went to work in their kitchens and cleaned up spare rooms to offer space and food to the newcomers. When more than 200 flights were diverted to Canada following the attacks on the United States, the Canadians shunted the traffic away from Toronto and Montreal to the eastern seaboard. Once all the planes had landed or turned back to Europe, Gander’s air traffic controllers switched to cooking meals in the building nonstop for three days.

Border Report [3/24/2025 11:29 AM, Jesse Mendez, 117K] reports that the U.S. Department of State announced a Travel Advisory for the Mexican State of Tamaulipas. The department said the advisory now sits at Level 4 and urges travelers to postpone non-essential travel due to crime and kidnappings. The U.S. and Consulates in Mexico say to take the appropriate actions after March 24. Plan for longer border crossing times, Monitor local media for updates, Be aware of your surroundings, Notify friends and family of your safety and whereabouts. Expect to see more security and possible delays at the Gateway International Bridge. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [3/24/2025 10:28 PM, Tyler Pager, 145325K] reports President Trump said the planned trips to Greenland by several senior members of his administration later this week were “purely friendly.” “People from Greenland are asking us to go,” he said during a cabinet meeting on Monday. “We have many, many requests from many, many people.” But Greenland made clear that its officials were not among those who requested the visits. “Just for the record, Naalakkersuisut, the government of Greenland, has not extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official,” the government posted on its official Facebook page. In an interview with a Greenlandic newspaper published on Sunday, the territory’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, called the trips “highly aggressive.” Mr. Trump did not specify who had asked his representatives to visit Greenland, but Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, and Usha Vance, the second lady, are expected to travel there later this week. Mr. Waltz is expected to travel with the U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, and plans to tour an American military base. Mr. Egede was particularly incensed about Mr. Waltz’s planned visit. “What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland?” he asked in the newspaper interview. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.” He added: “His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission — and the pressure will increase.”

Newsweek [3/24/2025 7:31 AM, Chloe Mayer, 52220K] reports a U.S. delegation led by the vice president’s wife, Usha Vance, is heading to Greenland this week—a move branded as a "provocation" by furious officials there, given that President Donald Trump hopes to take over the territory. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will also be joining the second lady, with the group planning to fly out to the self-governing Danish territory on Thursday and return home on Saturday, March 29. The announcement of Vance’s trip comes not long after her husband, JD Vance, said that the U.S. may need to "take more territorial interest in Greenland.” Waltz and Wright plan to visit a U.S. military base before joining Usha Vance to see historic sites and enjoy local cultural activities, such as attending a dogsled race. Newsweek has reached out by email to the White House seeking comment on Greenland’s angry reaction to the visit. Trump has repeatedly suggested he would like to claim mineral-rich Greenland for the U.S., even telling Congress he sought to gain control there "one way or another" because it would be good for "international security.” Greenland, an island that falls under the auspices of Denmark—a U.S. ally—has spurned the Trump administration’s advances, with the next-expected Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen saying bluntly: "We don’t want to be Americans.” This is not the first time that members of Trump’s inner circle have gone to Greenland amid the president’s annexation proposals, with his son, Donald Trump Jr., visiting the territory back in January. JD Vance has enthusiastically supported his boss’s suggestions that claiming Greenland for the U.S. would be beneficial for international security. This weekend, the vice president told Fox News that he thought Denmark was "not doing its job" with Greenland and was "not being a good ally." Vance added: "If that means we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us.”

Reuters [3/25/2025 1:21 AM, Dmitry Antonov, Steve Holland, Pesha Magid, Pavel Polityuk, Christian Lowe and Oleksandr Kozhukhar and Lidia Kelly, 24727K] reports Ukrainian and U.S. delegations are scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia following Russia-U.S. talks there a day earlier on a limited Black Sea ceasefire proposal that Washington hopes will open the way for broader peace negotiations. Day-long talks on Monday in Saudi Arabia between Russian and U.S. officials were portrayed by Washington as a step in President Donald Trump’s effort to end the three-year-old war. A White House source said progress was being made in the Riyadh talks and that a "positive announcement" was expected "in the near future.” A Russian source told Reuters that the Riyadh talks had concluded late on Monday and a draft joint statement had been sent to Moscow and Washington for approval, with the parties aiming to release it on Tuesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that no documents would be signed, the TASS agency reported. CBS News reported that the U.S. and Russia are expected to release a joint statement on Tuesday morning on their talks in Riyadh. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Monday that his officials in Riyadh will meet with the U.S. team following the Russia-U.S. talks. Ukraine’s national broadcaster Suspilne cited a source in the Ukrainian delegation as saying the talks will take place on Tuesday. Last week, Russia rejected a proposal by Trump for a full 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, and it has so far agreed only to a moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure. On Monday, Trump listed issues he said were on the table: "We’re talking about territory right now. We’re talking about lines of demarcation, talking about power, power plant ownership.” As the Russian-U.S. talks got underway on Monday, Ukraine and Russia continued their attacks, with Kyiv saying a Russian missile strike wounded at least 88 people and Moscow accusing Ukraine of a targeted attack that killed two journalists and their driver. "Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said. "Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians.”

CBS News [3/25/2025 4:27 AM, Jennifer Jacobs, Margaret Brennan, 51661K] reports the U.S. and Russia are expected to release a joint statement Tuesday morning after discussions in Saudi Arabia aimed at achieving a Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. The statement was scheduled to be out at 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C., and 11 a.m. in Moscow, two of the sources said. While the details of the statement were not immediately clear, reports shared with the Trump administration from the U.S. technical team in Riyadh seemed optimistic, the sources said. Ukrainian officials have also been briefed, one of the sources said. French news agency AFP reports a Ukrainian source says Ukrainian and U.S. officials were holding another round of talks in Riyadh Tuesday. "We are still working with the Americans," a member of the Ukrainian delegation told a small group of media outlets, AFP among them. A Russian negotiator told the state TASS news agency Tuesday that Moscow would continue "useful" talks with the U.S. over the Ukraine conflict and would seek to involve the U.N. and other nations, according to AFP. Grigory Karasin was quoted as saying, "We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and the Americans," adding that "lots of problems were discussed" during 12 hours of negotiations in a luxury hotel. A previous deal brokered by the U.N. and Turkey, which Russia exited in 2023, had allowed for maritime shipping in the Black Sea, allowing both countries to export grain. U.S. officials meeting with Russian officials include the State Department’s Michael Anton and the White House National Security Council’s Andrew Peek. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said Sunday on "Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan" that a ceasefire on aerial infrastructure went into effect immediately after President Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Next on the agenda was a maritime ceasefire to allow the movement of grain, fuel, and other goods, he said. "And then we’ll talk the line of control, which is the actual front lines, and that gets into the details of verification mechanisms, peacekeeping, freezing the lines where they are. And then, of course, the broader and permanent peace," Waltz said. Although separate talks have been ongoing between U.S. officials and both Ukrainian and Russian officials, the two warring countries continue to launch attacks at each other.

Washington Examiner [3/24/2025 1:51 PM, Timothy Nerozzi, 2296K] reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a knock-down-drag-out to keep control of his government at the same time he’s overseeing a scorched-earth campaign of renewed hostilities in Gaza. Israel launched an unexpected flurry of bombings on the Gaza Strip last week, resuming hostilities against the crippled Hamas terrorist organization after its leaders repeatedly failed to agree to the immediate release of all Israeli hostages. Widespread protests against the bombing campaign from citizens who fear it will make the recovery of the remaining hostages impossible are compounded by the prime minister’s recent decision to fire domestic security chief Ronen Bar, chief of the Israel Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet, over an "ongoing lack of trust." Israel’s top court blocked Bar’s termination on Friday pending a hearing on the issue, which must be convened by April 8. Netanyahu made his position clear in a Saturday address: "Ronen Bar will not remain head of the Shin Bet. There will not be a civil war, and Israel will remain a democratic state."

Yahoo! News [3/24/2025 1:08 PM, Samaan Lateef, 52868K] reports that the Taliban has admitted that it has two American prisoners, whose freedom it will only grant in return for the release of "Osama Bin Laden’s special aide", who is in Guantánamo Bay, local media reported. Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, is heard in an audio recording saying that "an Afghan is imprisoned in Guantánamo", according to reports by Amu TV, an independent multimedia channel run by Afghan journalists. In the recording, he added: "Two Americans are imprisoned here. They ask us to release them safely. We say: release our prisoner safely too – why won’t you?" The Telegraph could not independently verify the audio and has sought comment from the Taliban. The identities of the American prisoners were not disclosed, but at least two Americans remain missing in Afghanistan: Paul Overby and Mahmood Habibi. Mr. Overby, 74, was last seen in Khost City, Afghanistan, in May 2014. He disappeared on his way to North Waziristan, Pakistan, to meet and interview Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban leader of the Haqqani network, for a book on the Taliban and the war in Afghanistan. Mr. Habibi disappeared in 2022, a day after the US drone strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul’s Sherpur area. The Taliban accused him of aiding US forces in targeting the al-Qaeda leader. The Taliban has consistently denied claims that it is holding them prisoner.

MeriTalk [3/24/2025 2:06 PM, Weslan Hansen, 45K] reports that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is launching a large-scale investigation into China-based telecommunications equipment and service providers as its first major action under the agency’s newly formed Council on National Security. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced the move on March 21, saying that some Chinese telecom companies have been making an "end run" around prohibitions placed on them in recent years due to concerns that they pose threats to U.S. national security. Companies under investigation include Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, Dahua Technology, China Mobile International, China Telecom Corp., Pacifica Networks/ComNet, and China Unicom Operations. Those firms’ operations were deemed an "unacceptable risk" to U.S. national security because of their close ties to the Chinese government, resulting in the bipartisan Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act which was passed in late 2019. The legislation provided $1 billion to small private sector telecom providers to remove Huawei and ZTE-made equipment from their networks and replace that gear with equipment from other manufacturers. Smaller telecom providers were often targeted by China-based companies by significantly underbidding other competitors.

New York Times [3/24/2025 11:57 PM, David Pierson and Keith Bradsher, 145325K] reports China has released five employees of an American corporate investigations firm, the Mintz Group, two years after they were detained as part of a crackdown by Beijing on foreign business consultancies. “We understand that the Mintz Group Beijing employees who were detained, all Chinese nationals, have now all been released,” the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can now be home with their families,” the company said. The employees’ release comes as China is trying to revive overseas investment to help revive its sluggish economy. Dozens of foreign executives, including Tim Cook of Apple and Cristiano Amon, the chief executive of Qualcomm, are visiting Beijing this week to attend a development forum. Foreign investment that slowed to a crawl during Covid has not recovered in the past couple years, as weak sales and overall demand in the Chinese economy have made it less attractive. Several dozen chief executives and other leaders of global companies were expected to meet with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, on Friday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, according to a person with knowledge of the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment. The gathering would be the third time in 17 months that Mr. Xi has met with the leaders of multinational companies, including in San Francisco in late 2023, after a summit with President Joseph R. Biden Jr. outside the city. The business forum was also attended by Senator Steve Daines of Montana, who said in an interview with New York Times that he was trying to lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Trump and Mr. Xi. The Mintz employees, who have not been identified, were detained during a raid of the firm’s Beijing office in March 2023. Later that year, China fined the company about $1.5 million for engaging in “foreign-related statistical investigation activities without obtaining approval,” according to Chinese state media.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [3/25/2025 1:13 AM, Liza Lin]

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