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 Los Angeles Times [3/28/2025 9:13 PM, Patrick J. McDonnell, 3973K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Mexico on Friday to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and members of her Cabinet in a delicate moment in U.S.-Mexico relations. Noem came to the Mexican capital on the final leg of a three-nation Latin American trip that included stops in Colombia and El Salvador. It is Noem’s first official trip to a region that has drawn intense Trump administration scrutiny because of its connections to pivotal issues - immigration, drug trafficking and trade. Noem and Sheinbaum and her team met for more than two hours at the National Palace, Mexican media reported, but no details were immediately available on what they discussed. Noem’s three-nation swing, authorities said, focused on efforts to thwart illicit immigration, target transnational criminal groups and combat smuggling of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States. Mexico is a production site for U.S.-bound fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and other drugs. The nation is also a major major transit zone for South American cocaine destined for the voracious U.S. market. Before meeting with Noem, Sheinbaum told reporters she would inform the U.S. security chief about the "coordination and collaboration" that her administration has embarked upon with Washington. Sheinbaum has launched a security offensive that has seen the arrest of hundreds of suspected drug smugglers and producers, the takedowns of numerous clandestine labs, and record seizures of fentanyl and other drugs. She has also dispatched more than two dozen alleged drug lords to the United States to face justice, bypassing regular extradition procedures, and dispatched 10,000 troops to Mexico’s northern border to help deter illegal immigration and smuggling. While Trump has praised Sheinbaum’s efforts, bilateral relations between the two North American neighbors are enduring a tense time. Sheinbaum is desperately seeking to head off Trump’s plans to impose punishing tariffs on Mexican imports to the United States. Mexico’s economy, mired in slow growth and lagging investor confidence, is heavily dependent on cross-border trade - and the United States receives more than 80% of its exports. Many forecaster say the tariffs could plunge Mexico into a recession. The AP [3/28/2025 8:29 PM, Staff, 48304K] reports Noem’s first visit to the region comes as it gains increasing importance to the Trump administration, which is attempting to scale up deportation efforts and warn against migration north. As Noem visited El Salvador and Colombia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Guyana to meet with a number of Caribbean leaders. After being greeted at the airport by Mexico’s foreign minister, Noem met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and other top Mexican officials. The two leaders were photographed sitting next to each other in a meeting room along with other aids and together in front of American and Mexican flags. Sheinbaum’s government has been working to offset tariffs lodged by the Trump administration, which economic forecasters say could thrust the Mexican economy into a recession. In exchange for delaying sanctions in past months, the Mexican government sent 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and reported sharp crackdowns on drug labs. It also sent 29 top cartel figures long sought by the American government to the U.S. to face justice.

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Telemundo [3/29/2025 12:15 AM, Staff, 2454K]

The AP [3/28/2025 11:14 PM, Elliot Spagat, 34586K] reports a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration Friday from deporting people who have exhausted legal appeals to countries other than their own without first being allowed to argue that it would jeopardize their safety. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy ruled that people with final orders of removal must have “a meaningful opportunity” to argue that being sent to a third country presents a level of danger deemed worthy of protection. His order remains in effect until the case advances to the next stage of arguments. The decision is a setback for an administration that has sent people to countries including Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador when it is difficult to deport them to their homelands. In some cases a judge may determine that a person’s homeland is too dangerous but authorities can send them to a third country. The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but administration attorneys argued that a temporary halt would interfere with immigration enforcement. Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, sided with advocacy groups including the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which sued Sunday in Boston on behalf of people who were transferred to third countries or feared they would be soon. One plaintiff, identified only by initials in court filings, is a Guatemalan man who was sent to Mexico, where he says he was previously raped. A U.S. immigration judge determined that it was unsafe for him to go to Guatemala, but the man did not have a chance to argue against being sent to Mexico. The man is “hiding” in Guatemala. An immigration judge ruled that another plaintiff could not be returned to Honduras, but she fears she will be sent to a third country when she appears for a mandatory check-in next week at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Dallas. The New York Times [3/28/2025 5:41 PM, Mattathias Schwartz and Hamed Aleaziz, 145325K] reports that the Trump administration has struck deals with Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador as part of its efforts to remove people who are difficult to deport to their home countries. Hundreds of migrants from countries in Africa and Asia, for instance, have been deported to Panama, a country those migrants had no ties to. In prior administrations, strained diplomatic relationships and difficulties with paperwork have made it hard to deport large numbers of people to certain countries. The new order is limited to migrants who have a “final order of removal,” meaning their case has already been considered by an immigration court. The administration has also claimed it has the authority to circumvent much of that process using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which it has used to remove more than 200 Venezuelans from the United States to El Salvador. Another judge has blocked that use of the law, which only applies during wartime. On Friday, the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene. The plaintiffs in the case are four migrants, identified only by their initials, who are citizens of Cuba, Honduras, Ecuador and Guatemala. Two are in the United States and fear they will be deported when they arrive for upcoming check-ins with immigration authorities. A third is being held at a county prison in Massachusetts; the fourth “remains in hiding in Guatemala,” a country where a U.S. immigration judge “found it was more likely than not that he would be persecuted,” according to the complaint.

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Reuters [3/28/2025 5:24 PM, Nate Raymond]
FOX News [3/28/2025 3:08 PM, Alexandra Koch, Bill Mears, Shannon Bream, David Spunt, 46189K]
Telemundo [3/28/2025 5:03 PM, Staff, 2454K]
Univision [3/28/2025 6:41 PM, Staff, 5325K]

Newsweek [3/28/2025 7:25 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports a federal judge dealt President Donald Trump another blow Friday afternoon, stopping his administration from deporting any illegal immigrant to a country they didn’t come from. The Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) came after another block was extended – on deportations under the Alien Enemies Act – and another judge ruled that the administration cannot dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House for comment via email out of hours on Friday. The legal blows are more barriers to Trump’s sweeping policies on immigration and what he views as the necessary changes needed to cut federal government bloat and bureaucracy. The president has become increasingly frustrated with district judges having the power to stop his administration in its tracks. In Boston, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that immigrants—both the plaintiffs in the case and all with orders of final removal—could not be deported to a third country until they were given a chance to argue their case. The lawsuit, brought on Sunday by four plaintiffs from Cuba, Honduras, Ecuador, and Guatemala, alongside the National Immigration Litigation Alliance (NILA), alleged that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to implement a uniform system to notify deportees what it plans to do with them, and give them a chance to ask for protections. NILA said the suit was also challenging a February 18 directive from DHS to fast-track the removals of those previously released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, which it said put deportees at risk of torture if removed without proper assessment.

The New York Times [3/29/2025 5:11 AM, Abbie VanSickle, 330K] reports the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow it to use a rarely invoked wartime law to continue to deport Venezuelans with little to no due process. The emergency application arrived at the court after a federal appeals court kept in place a temporary block on the deportations. In its application to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the administration argued that the matter was too urgent to wait for the case to wind its way through the lower courts. In the government’s application, acting Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris said the case presented “fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country.” “The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the president,” Ms. Harris wrote. “The Republic cannot afford a different choice.” The justices set a speedy briefing schedule for the case, asking that lawyers for the immigrants file a response to the government’s application by 10 a.m. on April 1. The case will offer a major early test for how the nation’s highest court will confront President Trump’s aggressive efforts to deport millions of migrants and his hostile posture toward the courts. Mr. Trump has called for impeaching a lower-court judge who paused the deportations. The case hinges on the legality of an executive order signed by Mr. Trump that invokes the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The order uses the law to target people believed to be Venezuelan gang members in the United States. The Alien Enemies Act allows for summary deportations of people who come from countries at war with the United States. The statute, which is best known for being used in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, grants the government broad latitude during a time of declared war or invasion to remove any subjects of a “hostile nation” who are 14 or older as “alien enemies.” The Wall Street Journal [3/28/2025 2:55 PM, Jess Bravin] reports that Trump has called for impeachment of a district judge, James Boasberg, who ordered a temporary halt to the deportations to consider claims that the administration improperly invoked a wartime power to avoid the normal procedures required by immigration law. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the Supreme Court that the Trump administration “has an overwhelming interest in removing these foreign actors whom the president has identified as engaging in irregular warfare and hostile actions against the United States.” The high court asked lawyers for a group of detained Venezuelans to respond to the administration’s emergency request by Tuesday. The Trump administration has several requests pending at the Supreme Court to set aside lower court orders that have paused polices ranging from the mass layoff of probationary federal employees to the elimination of birthright citizenship. The Venezuela case, however, is the first to test Trump’s assertion of presidential war powers to combat what he considers an especially dangerous strain of illegal immigration. The “case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country—the President, through Article II, or the Judiciary, through TROs,” Harris wrote, referring to temporary restraining orders that have paused the removals and other Trump administration initiatives. The Washington Post [3/28/2025 12:08 PM, Justin Jouvenal, 31735K] reports that the administration has argued that the president’s right to invoke the Alien Enemies Act is not subject to judicial review because the president has expansive power to make national security decisions. The law allows for the detention and removal of citizens of a country with which the United States is at war. It was last invoked during World War II to intern Japanese, Italian and German nationals; it also laid the foundation for the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans.

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Los Angeles Times [3/28/2025 12:26 PM, Mark Sherman, 13342K]
The Hill [3/28/2025 10:56 AM, Zach Schonfeld, 12829K]
AP [3/28/2025 1:48 PM, Mark Sherman, 1682K]
Reuters [3/27/2025 3:12 PM, John Kruzel, 24727K]
CBS News [3/28/2025 1:23 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51661K]
CBS Austin [3/28/2025 11:06 AM, Austin Denean, 602K]
CNN [3/28/2025 2:52 PM, John Fritze and Devan Cole, 908K]
FOX News [3/28/2025 10:49 AM, Breanne Deppisch, 46189K]
Miami Herald [3/28/2025 12:26 PM, David Catanese, 3973K]

Politico [3/28/2025 4:32 PM, Josh Gerstein] reports a federal judge has ordered the immediate release of a Washington-area Venezuelan couple who contend they’ve been unfairly swept up in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. Luddis Sanchez Garcia, 33, and Julio Sanchez Puentes, 27, walked out of the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Friday morning surrounded by supporters after U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema declared there was no legal basis for their detention. Both have work permits and hold temporary legal status in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Erik Weiss claimed in a court filing that Sanchez Garcia "is a senior member of the Magdaleno band of TDA." Weiss said Sanchez Puentes "is associated with the TDA terrorist organization," but the only specifics officials offered about his alleged connection to the gang is that he lives with Sanchez Garcia. The legal actions against the couple are unusual in several respects. Both hold temporary protected status, which allows them to work legally in the U.S. According to court papers, both of the Venezuelans admitted they crossed into the U.S. illegally in Texas in 2022. The government waited until last month to file misdemeanor charges against the pair over the crossing. The Washington Post [3/28/2025 11:45 AM, Salvador Rizzo and Teo Armus, 31735K] reports that at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema granted a petition for release filed by the couple, who received temporary protected status after crossing the border illegally in October 2022. Brinkema rebuked government officials for claiming in court that the couple posed a public threat and ordered both of them released straight from the courthouse. “There is no reason why they’re being held,” the judge said. Addressing a government lawyer, Brinkema said, “If this was a criminal case … I’d throw you out of my chambers.” The unusual arrests come amid a Trump administration crackdown on immigration that is testing the boundaries of the law, as well as efforts by the president to end birthright citizenship. The couple’s case had prompted advocacy organizations to question whether federal officials were undertaking a new strategy to achieve the president’s deportation promises.

FOX News [3/28/2025 10:14 AM, Emma Colton, 46189K] reports that Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner warned illegal immigrants living in government-funded housing, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that HUD is prioritizing only Americans under the Trump administration. "Those that are here illegally, that are living in HUD-funded public housing, we’re putting (them) on notice this is not acceptable," Turner told Fox News Digital from Philadelphia, as he toured the city’s recent HUD successes and met with local housing and business leaders. "We will not have it anymore." "At HUD, we only serve one out of four Americans that we should be serving, and that has to come to an end," Turner continued. "And so we’re not only making it a priority, but we are making that our only priority, that American citizens will benefit from hard-working American taxpayer dollars." The HUD secretary has been on an immigration blitz, including joining forces with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to form a new interagency initiative aimed at ensuring that federal housing funds do not go to illegal immigrants. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
FOX News [3/28/2025 10:29 AM, Staff, 46189K]

NBC News [3/28/2025 3:50 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44742K] reports a pregnant 16-year-old girl who had been a victim of sex trafficking since she was 6 crossed the border from Mexico seeking to prevent the same kind of abuse from happening to her child. A Los Angeles-based group gave legal help to the immigrant teen and her 1-year-old toddler so they could stay safely in the U.S. The group is part of a string of organizations that on Wednesday sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for "shutting down critical legal representation programs for unaccompanied immigrant children." For many immigrant children, the lost legal help could mean being separated from families, guardians or sponsors who are or could care for them in the U.S. and preventing them from ending up back in abusive, and possibly deadly situations, attorneys argue.

New York Times [3/29/2025 5:00 AM, Isabelle Taft, 145325K] reports that, at the University of Pennsylvania last fall, someone splattered red paint on a statue honoring Benjamin Franklin, the school’s founder. Within hours, campus workers washed it off. But the university was eager to find the culprit. A pro-Palestinian group had claimed responsibility on social media. The university examined footage and identified a student’s cellphone number using data from the campus Wi-Fi near the statue at the time it was vandalized. Campus police obtained a search warrant for T-Mobile’s call records for the phone, and later a warrant to seize the phone itself. On Oct. 18 at 6 a.m., armed campus and city police appeared at the off-campus home of a student believed to be the phone’s owner. A neighbor said they shined lights into her bedroom window, holding guns. Then they entered the student’s apartment and seized his phone, according to a police filing. Months later, the student has not been charged with any crime. The Penn investigation, which remains open, is one of several across the country in which universities have turned to more sophisticated technology and shows of police force to investigate student vandalism and other property crimes related to pro-Palestinian demonstrations. (The student who had his phone seized did not respond to an interview request.) Much of it happened even before President Trump returned to office. Since then, he has made clear he will use his power to force universities to take a hard line on protests. His administration has warned 60 universities that they could face penalties from investigations into antisemitism, and has also begun seeking to deport protesters. At least nine current or former students and one professor who were legally in the United States with visas or green cards have already been targeted, with at least one student being detained on the street by officials in plainclothes. And it pulled $400 million in funding from Columbia University, telling the school that it would not discuss restoring the money unless, among other things, campus security agents were given “full law enforcement authority” to arrest students. In response, the university said it had hired 36 “special officers” with that authority.

Washington Examiner [3/28/2025 12:28 PM, Tom Rogan, 2296K] reports that in his Inaugural Address on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump pledged “to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.” It was a shallow pledge. That much is made clear by the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on U.S. visa holders who have criticized Israel, expressed support for Palestinian causes, or both. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week suggested that he had canceled "maybe more than 300" visas belonging to what he described as "lunatics." Also this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Department of Homeland Security agents detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University. As with recent similar detentions, DHS says Ozturk was targeted because she supports Hamas. Unfortunately, as in prior cases, DHS has provided no evidence to support that assertion. Instead, Otzurk appears to have been detained because of her role in writing an op-ed criticizing Tufts leadership on their stance regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My view and, I suspect, the view of many conservatives is that anti-Israeli sentiments are generally idiotic from both moral and political perspectives. And anyone who has any knowledge of Palestinian Islamist movements would know that they are anything but liberation movements. Still, Ozturk’s seizure is deeply concerning. That a person is being detained simply because of their free speech makes it seem like the arrest is occurring at the hands of FSB agents in Russia, not DHS agents in America.

USA Today [3/29/2025 6:03 AM, Karissa Waddick and Jorge L. Ortiz, 75858K] reports Nadiah Alyafai is bracing for four years of missed memories, birthdays, and holidays. Since she was young, the now 22-year-old has traveled to her father’s native country of Yemen every few years to see family. Her grandparents, aunts and uncles who live there frequently travel to the United States, too, and some have legal residency here, Alyafai said. But, as President Donald Trump considers sweeping travel restrictions for citizens of more than a dozen countries, Alyafai fears that her family soon won’t be able to come and visit and that her father, who became a legal permanent resident of the U.S. more than two decades ago, won’t be able to return home to Chicago if he travels outside the country. “If my grandparents passed away in Yemen and we weren’t able to see them one last time . . . there’s no words,” Alyafai said. “It’s heartbreaking.” A draft version of the Trump administration proposal to prohibit and limit citizens of more than 40 countries from entering the United States leaked in early March. The White House said Thursday that it had not yet made a decision on the policy. More than a half dozen advocates told USA TODAY that anticipation of the new restrictions, along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s recent detainment of multiple college students from majority-Muslim countries, has led to a climate of rampant anxiety among the American Muslim community. The fear isn’t only spreading among those with family living abroad. “U.S. citizens are afraid to travel overseas, believing there’s a possibility they will be prevented by the Trump administration to return, especially if they’re traveling to Muslim countries,” said Robert McCaw, the government affairs director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, America’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

AP [3/29/2025 12:00 AM, Joshua Goodman, Jim Mustian and Sarah Raza, 34586K] reports that, as then-Gov. Kristi Noem crisscrossed the country — stumping for President Donald Trump and boosting her political profile beyond her home state — she refused to reveal what her extensive travel was costing taxpayers. In the weeks since Noem became Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, that mystery has been solved: South Dakota repeatedly picked up the tab for expenses related to her jet-setting campaigning. An Associated Press analysis of recently released travel records found more than $150,000 in expenses tied to Noem’s political and personal activity and not South Dakota business. That included numerous trips to Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump resided before retaking office. Most of those costs covered the state-provided security that accompanied Noem, irrespective of the reason for her travel. Over her six years as governor, AP’s analysis shows, South Dakota covered more than $640,000 in travel-related costs incurred by the governor’s office. The expenditures include $7,555 in airfare for a six-day trip to Paris, where she gave a speech at a right-wing gathering, costs associated with a bear hunt in Canada with her niece and a book tour that included a stop in New York. An additional $2,200 stemmed from a controversial trip last year to Houston for dental work she showcased on Instagram. The expenses, released last month following a lawsuit by The Dakota Scout, have incensed Republicans in the deep-red state, with several GOP lawmakers accusing Noem of tapping state funds to fuel her own political ascendancy.

Reuters [3/29/2025 4:47 AM, Nate Raymond and Kanishka Singh, 41523K] reports a federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday temporarily barred the deportation of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, who voiced support for Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza and was detained by U.S. immigration officials this week. Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody by U.S. immigration authorities near her Massachusetts home on Tuesday, according to a video showing the arrest by masked federal agents. U.S. officials revoked her visa. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has accused Ozturk, without providing evidence, of "engaging in activities in support of Hamas," a group which the U.S. government categorizes as a "foreign terrorist organization.” Her arrest came a year after Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece, in Tufts’ student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.” A lawyer soon after sued to secure her release, and on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union joined her legal defense team, filing a revised lawsuit, saying her detention violates her rights to free speech and due process. Despite a Tuesday night order requiring the PhD student and Fulbright Scholar to not be moved out of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice, she is now in Louisiana. In Friday’s order, opens new tab, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston said that to provide time to resolve whether her court retained jurisdiction over the case, she was barring Ozturk’s deportation temporarily. She ordered the Trump administration to respond to Ozturk’s complaint by Tuesday. Mahsa Khanbabai, a lawyer for Ozturk, called the decision "a first step in getting Rumeysa released and back home to Boston so she can continue her studies.” The DHS had no immediate comment.

NBC News [3/28/2025 8:20 AM, Patrick Smith, 44742K] reports an attorney for Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University graduate student who was arrested in the street Tuesday by plain clothes immigration officers and had her visa revoked, says federal officers are intentionally targeting Muslim students during the holy month of Ramadan. The allegation comes as senators and House members, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons Friday morning to call for Ozturk’s release. Ozturk, a 30-year-old Turkish national with a valid F-1 student visa as a doctoral student at the Massachusetts school, was on her way to meet friends for iftar, a meal that breaks the day-time fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan, when she was detained on Tuesday evening, her attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said in a statement. "This appears to be a pattern — ICE stalking Muslim students as they are heading to or from iftar to break their fast," Khanbabai said in a Thursday statement. He added that Ozturk was being unlawfully targeted because she co-authored a March 2024 op-ed article about Palestine. Khanbabai said the video of his client’s arrest — which was published and seen around the world on Wednesday — shows the moment Department of Homeland Security agents "grabbed at her clothes, her hands, and her backpack before detaining her and taking her to an unknown location, in an unmarked car.” "Nothing in this video indicates that these are law enforcement agents and from which agency. This video should shake everyone to their core," he added. "We should all be horrified at the way DHS spirited away Rumeysa in broad daylight.” Khanbabai also said that Ozturk was sent to an ICE processing center in Louisiana — just like high-profile Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who remains there — "despite a federal court order that she not be removed from Massachusetts.” According to her LinkedIn profile, Ozturk is a PhD student in child study and human development and a Fulbright scholar. She also holds a master’s degree from Teachers College at Columbia University. Since her arrest, a group of lawmakers has been calling for Ozturk’s immediate release. These include 10 senators and 18 House members, who released a joint letter Friday morning asking federal agencies why she and many others have been targeted. "We are calling for full due process in this case and are seeking answers about this case and about ICE’s policy that has led to the identification and arrest of university students with valid legal status," the letter said. Referring to a string of similar incidents in recent weeks — some 300 visas have been revoked including that of many students linked to political activism — the lawmakers said: "These are deeply troubling incidents. The Administration should not summarily detain and deport legal residents of this country merely for expressing their political views.”

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [3/28/2025 5:41 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K]

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 6:42 AM, Ryan Breslin, 52868K] reports Democrats in Congress are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to release a Tufts PhD student from ICE custody and restore her visa. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is leading the charge, along with 27 others, who are calling for full due process in the detainment case and want answers about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy that led to Rumeysa Ozturk’s arrest while having valid legal status. Federal agents surrounded the Turkish national in the street near her off-campus apartment in Somerville around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Once close to her, the agents appeared to pull out badges from around their necks and pull up face masks. In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., Tuesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo). Neighbors reported seeing unmarked cars surveilling the location for two days before detaining Ozturk. Warren, in a letter penned to the DHS, called the arrest of Ozturk "deeply disturbing" and said it "appears to be one of the latest examples in a string of ICE arrests of university students with valid green cards and visas because of their political views.” Warren also pointed out in the letter that for almost 24 hours after Ozturk’s arrest, her location was unknown. Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter confirmed Thursday that Ozturk is at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and that Ozturk and her attorney were able to speak late Wednesday night. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani previously granted the request of Ozturk’s attorney that she not be moved out of state, but Sauter said she was already out of Massachusetts by the time that petition had been filed and granted. Judge Talwani has issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. The DHS must outline its timeline for Ozturk’s arrest and transfer from Massachusetts in detail when it responds to the petition that Judge Talwani granted. People who know Ozturk believe she was targeted for participating in pro-Palestine rallies on the campus of Tufts in 2024. She also wrote an op-ed demanding that Tufts acknowledge the Palestinian genocide and divest from companies with ties to Israel. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [3/28/2025 4:16 PM, Luc Cohen and Jonathan Allen, 41523K] reports that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil will remain behind bars in Louisiana at least until a U.S. judge decides whether the Palestinian activist should challenge his imprisonment in a federal court there or in New Jersey. President Donald Trump’s administration argues that Khalil’s challenge should be heard in Louisiana where he is now detained and where any appeals would be heard by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative in the country. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, did not say on Friday when he would rule but said it was his hope that "judges are judges, and they’re going to see things the same way in whatever place." The Trump administration is defending the arrest of Khalil by immigration agents this month in a case that tests the government’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists who have not been charged with any crime. Khalil’s lawyers have asked Farbiarz to release him from jail in Louisiana while he challenges the government’s effort to deport him in a separate case in immigration court. They say Trump’s administration improperly targeted him for his political views and prominence in student protests. They say Khalil, 30, should be with his wife Noor Abdalla, a U.S. citizen who attended Friday’s hearing, for the birth of their first child in April. He spent several hours in a New Jersey detention facility after his arrest in neighboring Manhattan. The government has asked the judge either to move the case to a federal court in Louisiana or to dismiss the proceeding so Khalil can challenge his arrest in Louisiana.

FOX News [3/28/2025 6:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46189K] reports attorneys for former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil are set to take on the Trump administration in a New Jersey courtroom Friday as the president’s team fights to deport the anti-Israel activist. There will be a hearing in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, at 10 a.m. before Judge Michael E. Farbiarz. New York Judge Jesse Furman transferred the case to New Jersey, where Khalil was in custody when his attorneys filed their original writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention. Khalil has since been moved to Louisiana, though, where the Trump administration wants the case to play out. Khalil, who holds legal permanent resident status in the U.S., came under the administration’s wrath for his alleged support of Hamas terrorists in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2022 attack on Israel. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X earlier this month. The DHS alleged in a Sunday filing in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey that Khalil willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency. Federal officials alleged that Khalil was "inadmissible at the time of his adjustment" because of "fraud or willful misrepresentation of material fact" in his status application. The agency also accused Khalil of failing to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest. "It is black-letter law that misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech," the filing said. "Thus, Khalil’s First Amendment allegations are a red herring.” Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil’s lawyers, and Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, released statements in a series of Instagram posts. They characterized Khalil as a "political prisoner detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The New York Times [3/28/2025 3:28 PM, Santul Nerkar and Mark Bonamo, 145325K] reports a Newark federal judge on Friday heard arguments on whether the case to free Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, should continue to play out in New Jersey or be transferred to Louisiana, a potentially more favorable venue for the government’s case. The judge, Michael Farbiarz, did not make an immediate decision, but is expected to rule soon. Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident, was detained on March 8 at his New York City apartment, sent briefly to a New Jersey detention center and now has been held for nearly three weeks in a facility in Jena, La. While Mr. Khalil’s lawyers are fighting for his freedom, the Trump administration is seeking to deport him, saying that he spread antisemitism through his involvement in the protests. If Mr. Khalil stays in Louisiana, his case could end up in one of America’s most conservative appeals courts. Those judges could decide whether the government’s rationale for detaining Mr. Khalil could be used in other cases. Politico [3/28/2025 3:22 PM, Erica Orden] reports lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and legal U.S. resident whom the Trump administration is seeking to deport, fought Friday to keep his case in New Jersey and prevent it from being transferred to Louisiana, where he is currently being held. During a hearing before a federal judge, a lawyer for Khalil said the Trump administration was taking a "radical" position on his case. Khalil is a recent Columbia University graduate student with a green card, a form of permanent legal status. He says the administration is illegally trying to deport him as retaliation for his role in organizing campus protests of the Israel-Hamas war. Farbiarz said he wouldn’t rule immediately on Khalil’s request to be released; first, the judge said he would decide whether the case is in the proper court. Khalil’s case has already been transferred once — from a New York federal court to the federal court in New Jersey. But the Justice Department argues Khalil’s claim should be moved again to federal court in Louisiana, where any appeal would be heard by the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Azmy argued that the case belongs in New Jersey because Khalil’s original petition challenging his detention was filed while he was detained in that state. Khalil’s lawyers also pleaded with Michael Farbiarz to allow them to argue Friday for his release on bail, but the judge said he first wanted to determine the proper venue for the case. The judge said he intends to rule soon on that issue. He did not indicate which way he is leaning.

AP [3/28/2025 5:02 PM, Kim Chandler and Safiyah Riddle, 48304K] reports an Iranian doctoral student at the University of Alabama was arrested by immigration agents at his apartment in the middle of the night, even though his lawyer said he was allowed to stay in the country and — unlike some students targeted for deportation — never participated in campus protests. Alireza Doroudi, 32, was picked up because his visa was revoked in 2023, one of the few points of agreement between U.S. officials and the student’s representatives. David Rozas, a lawyer for Doroudi, said he didn’t know why his client’s visa was revoked but that he could stay in the United States while he remained a student, a status that immigration attorneys say is somewhat common. The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that immigration officials acted on the State Department’s visa revocation. Doroudi was being held at the Pickens County Jail in Carrollton, Alabama, and was to be sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Jena, Louisiana, a town of about 5,000 people far from any major city. Doroudi’s is the latest in a string of immigration arrests involving college students, several of whom are being held in rural Louisiana, which became a detention hub during President Donald Trump’s first term.

USA Today [3/28/2025 1:15 PM, Kinsey Crowley, 75858K] reports that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a video Wednesday from a high-security prison in El Salvador, standing in front of a crowded cell wearing a watch with an estimated price tag of $50,000. Noem visited the mega-prison known as CECOT, the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, holding Venezuelan men deported under the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. "If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face," Noem said in the video posted on X. "This facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people." Noem posed in front of one of those cells for her video, with men crowded on open bunks stacked three high. Raw video captured by Reuters shows guards telling men to remove their shirts and stand near the bars, where they bared their tattoos. A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security criticized USA TODAY for focusing on the "sartorial choices" of a female secretary. "Governor Noem chose to use the proceeds from her New York Times best-selling books to purchase an item she could wear and one day pass down to her children," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Noem went viral for one of her books in the summer of 2024 as it revealed she shot her dog for being "untrainable." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
New York Times [3/28/2025 4:02 PM, Joseph Bernstein, 145325K]

The Hill [3/28/2025 2:30 PM, Sujan, Gogu, 12829K] reports that in the last year, over 380 U.S. hospitals have been hit by cyberattacks. Some were ransomware. Others took down entire hospital networks. Some delayed surgeries, shut off access to patient charts and forced ambulances to divert to other cities. These aren’t just IT headaches — they’re dangerous. And they’re becoming routine. I’m a practicing physician. I’ve worked in clinics and emergency rooms during system outages. You feel it instantly. Monitors stop syncing. Prescriptions can’t be verified. Orders pile up. Even the most routine tasks become risky. You don’t realize how much medicine relies on technology until it fails you in the middle of patient care. When a hospital gets hit, it’s not just about stolen data — it’s about interrupted care. And that’s the part that gets lost in most conversations around cybersecurity. These attacks delay bloodwork, cancel MRIs and disrupt medication orders. I’ve seen colleagues scribbling vitals on scraps of paper during downtime. And that’s in a best-case scenario. Most hospitals were never built to handle these threats. Many, especially in rural areas, are operating with outdated infrastructure and limited IT staff. Cybersecurity wasn’t a priority until it had to be. And by then, it was already too late.

The Hill [3/28/2025 9:30 AM, Raul A. Reyes, 12829K] reports that as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Internal Revenue Service is nearing an agreement to let immigration officials use taxpayer information to find undocumented immigrants. Under the terms of the deal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement would submit names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, for the tax agency to run through its database. This reportedly follows weeks of negotiations between the agencies over how the tax system could be used to support mass deportations. Such an arrangement, if implemented, would be harmful to American taxpayers and the IRS. It seems to rest on shaky legal grounds, and it will incentivize undocumented people to not pay their taxes. Sadly, it will probably also lead to greater mistrust of our government. It might surprise people to know that many undocumented immigrants pay taxes just like other people, at the state, local and federal levels. Because they cannot legally get a Social Security number, undocumented people often use an Individual Taxpayer ID number, which they obtain from the IRS. In 2023, the Treasury Department estimated that there were more than 5.8 million of these numbers in active use. The money that undocumented people pay to the U.S. government is significant. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that in 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes. Most of that amount, $59.4 billion, went to the federal government.

Washington Post [3/28/2025 1:52 PM, Kathleen Parker, 31735K] reports that a Tufts University student was on her way Tuesday to meet friends for iftar, a dinner to break the fast during Ramadan, a time associated with peace for Muslims worldwide. The tense episode that followed in a Boston suburb, with panicked screams and masked agents, resulted in yet another foreign student in the United States arrested for allegedly sympathizing with Hamas terrorists and criticizing Israel’s continued military offensive in Gaza. On the surface, one might feel unsympathetic toward foreign student protesters whose views are in opposition to the U.S. government’s. How dare they take advantage of our free-speech laws to spew anti-American propaganda? You can just hear the indignation, can’t you? But consider the manner in which this student from Turkey was detained — seemingly for the offense of co-writing an op-ed a year ago in the Tufts Daily, a student newspaper. The four authors reported that the Tufts Community Union Senate had passed three resolutions demanding that the university “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel. The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying, “DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” though it offered no evidence.

Bloomberg [3/28/2025 6:30 AM, Patricia Lopez, 16228K] reports the arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Turkish PhD student grabbed off the streets of a Boston suburb by immigration agents on Tuesday, marks a new low in Homeland Security’s overzealous pursuit of ever-larger deportation numbers. The video of Ozturk’s arrest reveals a violation of basic civil rights and decency that should sicken every American and frighten legal immigrants to their core. For the Trump administration, it’s another leverage point to bring universities into line while also throttling another avenue of legal immigration. The scene itself resembles one out of a small paramilitary country. An unmarked vehicle pulls up. Masked agents in plainclothes emerge. They accost Ozturk, who utters a small scream. One agent wrests her cellphone out of her hand. With stunning swiftness, she is handcuffed and escorted away. Ozturk, a former Fulbright scholar, has been charged with no crime so far, according to her lawyer. Her only infraction appears to be a fairly mild op-ed piece she co-wrote with several other students for the Tufts Daily, in which they urged the university to take seriously a student government resolution calling on the school to divest from companies dealing with Israel and recognize genocide of Palestinians. In other words, a classic non-violent exercise of free speech. Tufts President Sunil Kumar said in a statement that Ozturk’s student visa status had been terminated "and we seek to confirm whether that information is true.” Border czar Tom Homan, who earlier said he was intent on removing the most dangerous undocumented criminals from American streets, has now descended several rungs lower, snatching international students here legally, who reasonably thought the constitutional right of free expression included them. This makes Ozturk the latest known target resulting from an edict issued by President Donald Trump in January that declared college students who were "Hamas sympathizers" would have their visas canceled. He also claimed that college campuses "have been infested with radicalism like never before." (Officials have not presented evidence that Ozturk supports Hamas.).

FOX News [3/28/2025 9:00 AM, Michael Lee, 46189K] reports a potentially historic deal between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could put illegal immigrants in a difficult position, according to one expert. "It is going to discourage those taxpayers from even filing, so it really does put them between a rock and a hard place," Adam Brewer, a federal tax expert who works for AB Tax Law, told Fox News Digital. The comments come as the IRS and ICE are nearing a deal that would allow ICE to submit the names and addresses of illegal immigrants to the IRS, who could then cross-check those immigrants’ tax records and provide the immigration agency with current address information. But some longtime IRS employees have expressed concerns about the deal, arguing that the tax agency has long assured the safeguarding of records in exchange for illegal immigrants filing tax returns, something they are required to do by law even though they are not in the country legally. The draft agreement between the IRS and ICE would authorize verification "subject to criminal investigation" for violating immigration law, stretching the definition of a narrow IRS privacy exemption that allows the use of taxpayer data in the case of criminal investigations. The deal comes as President Donald Trump has continued to increase efforts to speed up deportations, following through on one of the key promises he set on the campaign trail. According to Brewer, stretching the definition of criminal investigations to those who entered the country illegally would be an "unprecedented" step for the IRS. "For the IRS to get involved in criminal investigations, that’s not uncommon," Brewer said. "They have done a lot of information sharing, historically, with DEA to crack down on drug proceeds, those types of things. I guess the way I’m looking at it is, if illegal immigration itself is the crime, if you look at it through that scope, then yes, it’s pretty unprecedented.” ‘This feels like a deviation from what we’ve known for years … that if you share information with the IRS, it stops there," he added. Brewer believes that the agreement could also damage the credibility of the IRS, which has built trust by strictly adhering to privacy regulations. "That would be true of any government agency if they had said, ‘Hey, the DMV is going to start turning over your address to ICE.’ You’re going to get less people who register their

USA Today [3/28/2025 5:59 PM, Will Carless and Rick Jervis, 75858K] reports that federal agents have been sweeping up Venezuelan migrants and transporting them to a Salvadoran prison based in large part on tattoos depicting stopwatches, Michael Jordan logos and other ink art they claim betrays an allegiance to the Tren de Aragua street gang. But internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI documents obtained by USA TODAY reveal federal authorities for years have questioned the effectiveness of using tattoos to identify members of Tren de Aragua, also known as TdA. "Gang Unit collections determined that the Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos are typically related to the Venezuelan culture and not a definite [indicator] of being a member or associate of the [TdA]," reads a 2023 "Situational Awareness" bulletin on the criminal gang authored by U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s El Paso Sector Intelligence Unit. In another DHS document, titled "ICE Intel Leads," a former Venezuelan police official interviewed by authorities said tattoos are "the easiest but least effective way" of identifying members of the criminal gang. The internal documents, provided exclusively to USA TODAY by the open government advocacy group Property of the People, come as pressure mounts on the Trump administration for refusing to provide information about the arrest and expulsion of hundreds of Venezuelans they claim are TdA members. The group requested the documents under open records laws. Attorneys for the detained migrants have said their clients have been swept up without due process and have been labeled as gang members with flimsy evidence.

AP [3/29/2025 12:11 AM, Adam Geller, 48304K] reports that, when a protester was caught on video in January at a New York rally against Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask and headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along with her name and employer, were circulated online. "Months of them hiding their faces went down the drain!" a fledgling technology company boasted in a social media post, claiming its facial-recognition tool had identified the woman despite the coverings. She was anything but a lone target. The same software was also used to review images taken during months of pro-Palestinian marches at U.S. colleges. A right-wing Jewish group said some people identified with the tool were on a list of names it submitted to President Donald Trump’s administration, urging that they be deported in accordance with his call for the expulsion of foreign students who participated in "pro-jihadist" protests. Other pro-Israel groups have enlisted help from supporters on campuses, urging them to report foreign students who participated in protests against the war in Gaza to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The push to identify masked protesters using facial recognition and turn them in is blurring the line between public law enforcement and private groups. And the efforts have stirred anxiety among foreign students worried that activism could jeopardize their legal status. "It’s a very concerning practice. We don’t know who these individuals are or what they’re doing with this information," said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "Essentially the administration is outsourcing surveillance.” It’s unclear whether names from outside groups have reached top government officials. But concern about the pursuit of activists has risen since the March 8 arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student of Palestinian descent who helped lead demonstrations against Israel’s conduct of the war. Immigration officers also detained a Tufts University student from Turkey outside Boston this week, and Trump and other officials have said that more arrests of international students are coming. "Now they’re using tools of the state to actually go after people," said a Columbia graduate student from South Asia who has been active in protests and spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing her visa. "We suddenly feel like we’re being forced to think about our survival.”

CBS Austin [3/28/2025 11:34 AM, Ray Lewis, 602K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot effectively monitor the location and status of all unaccompanied noncitizen children, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a report published Tuesday. The office, which conducts investigations and audits of DHS operations, explained that ICE can’t monitor the children once they are released or transferred from the custody of DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Part of the reason why ICE had issues, according to OIG, is ICE did not always receive information from HHS and other agencies about the locations of sponsors of the children. From fiscal years 2019 to 2023, ICE transferred more than 448,000 unaccompanied noncitizen kids to HHS, which then released them to sponsors, OIG said. But more than 31,000 of the release addresses were blank, undeliverable or missing apartment numbers, the office explained, adding that ICE was also not always aware of the location of unaccompanied children who fled HHS’s custody. ICE did not issue instructions to appear before an immigration judge to all unaccompanied kids either, according to OIG. As of this past January, the agency had not served the notices to more than 233,000 of the kids, the office said. More than 43,000 of the children that were actually served the directives, the report notes, did not appear for scheduled court dates.

New York Times [3/28/2025 7:10 AM, Miriam Jordan, 145325K] reports it is incredibly hard to deport 14 million people — the estimated number of immigrants in the United States unlawfully. First, the government has to find them. For many, it has to pry them from their lives, their jobs, their communities. That’s why the Trump administration has deported only a few thousand migrants so far, focusing mostly on those it says are criminals. To make a real change, as Trump has promised to do, millions of people would need to leave voluntarily. So the administration is urging them — in some cases, trying to scare them enough — to “self-deport.” The Homeland Security secretary tells them in TV ads to “leave now” or be hunted down. Those who comply “may have an opportunity to return and enjoy our freedom and live the American dream.” (This is unlikely, because anyone who has been in the country illegally for a year is ineligible to return for a decade.) Self-deportation, a longtime fantasy for immigration hawks, was popularized by Mitt Romney in a 2012 presidential debate and often mocked. But for the first time in my 15 years of reporting on this topic, immigrants tell me they’re considering it. Some have already followed through. If the climate here becomes intolerable — if the risks of being caught and severed from their families seem too high — it’s possible many more migrants will abandon the United States. Today’s newsletter is about what I’ve heard in my reporting. In recent years, Denver has absorbed 40,000 migrants — the most per capita of any city. Most of the newcomers are Venezuelans who fled their broken country. But the city is also home to many Latino immigrants who came long ago. I visited last week to take their temperature. Most are not inclined to bolt. Two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have been in the country for a decade or longer. Most pay taxes. They’re people like Mirna, a Mexican who crossed the border 28 years ago. Her husband owns a house-painting business. They bought a mobile home and have three American children, including a daughter serving in the Navy. Mirna, who speaks English fluently, told me she wouldn’t go back to Mexico because it would mean leaving her kids.

FOX News [3/28/2025 12:13 PM, Greg Norman, 46189K] reports that top Democrats are calling for the release of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, writing a letter to Trump administration officials demanding answers surrounding the "deeply troubling" incident. In a message addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and ICE Director Todd Lyons, the lawmakers said Ozturk’s arrest this week in Massachusetts "appears to be one of the latest examples in a string of ICE arrests of university students with valid green cards and visas because of their political views." "These are deeply troubling incidents. The Administration should not summarily detain and deport legal residents of this country merely for expressing their political views," wrote the Democrats, which include Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and members of The Squad. "Absent compelling evidence justifying her detention and the revocation of her status, we call for Ozturk’s release and the restoration of her visa," they added. The Democrats then asked ICE to respond to numerous questions by April 4, including: "Why did DHS officials arrest Ozturk?" "What is DHS/ICE’s policy regarding the use of unmarked vehicles, face coverings, plain clothing, and the display of badges by DHS agents during arrests?" "Is DHS or any other agency compiling a dossier of university students involved in Palestine-related protests?" A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News on Wednesday that Ozturk was "granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa" and that "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans."

The Hill [3/28/2025 11:54 AM, Cheyanne M. Daniels, 12829K] reports that more than 30 Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the latest high-profile arrest and detention of a foreign-born college student who had voiced support for the pro-Palestinian movement. In a Thursday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE acting Director Todd Lyons, the 34 Democrats called for them to explain why Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested Tuesday by six masked, plainclothes agents while walking home. "The rationale for this arrest appears to be this student’s expression of her political views," the members wrote. "We are calling for full due process in this case and are seeking answers about this case and about ICE’s policy that has led to the identification and arrest of university students with valid legal status." Prior to her arrest, Ozturk, 30, was a Fulbright scholar with an F-1 student visa. She was a Ph.D. student at Tufts in Massachusetts. Last year, she was one of four authors of an op-ed in the Tufts student paper calling for the university to "engage with and actualize" resolutions related to the Palestinian cause passed by the university’s Student Senate. In their letter, lawmakers argued the arrest was "disturbing" and "looked like a kidnapping" in video that went viral this week. More broadly, the Democrats are seeking answers around whether the Department of Homeland Security or any agency is compiling a dossier of university students involved in Palestinian-related protests. The lawmakers have given the heads of the agencies until April 4 to provide answers.

Telemundo Amarillo [3/28/2025 6:40 PM, Staff, 2K] reports federal agents reported that eight workers at the North Harbor dairy farm in the town of Hounsfield - northwest of New York State, were arrested. They added that these arrests were part of a larger-scale immigration operation. On March 24, 2025, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, together with other federal law enforcement agencies, began to conduct operations in parts of New York to enforce U.S. immigration laws, says an email about the fact sent to the newsroom of our sister station 7 News. Earlier on Thursday morning, several vehicles with no law enforcement agency logos, in addition to a van from the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office were seen at the North Harbor Dairy Farm, located on the Condadal 75 Route, also known as Smithville Road. Federal agents reported that they went to the site looking for a specific person. It was not clear if that person was found. While there, they discovered seven other workers who, according to the officers, were illegal aliens. The seven, according to authorities, are being prosecuted by the Froneriza Patrol on Wellesley Island.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 6:02 PM, Roni Jacobson, 52868K] reports a Queens woman from South America is in ICE custody after cops arrested her and another woman yesterday for allegedly shoplifting more than $1,500 worth of merchandise from a Victoria’s Secret store on Long Island earlier this year, police said. According to detectives, around 1 p.m. on Jan. 4, Domenica Rivera Mendieta, 25, and another woman, 27, with a "small infant" in a baby carrier boosted about $1,551 worth of items from a Victoria’s Secret in Oceanside, hiding the merchandise inside a shopping bag and leaving the store without paying. The women, who live together in Queens, were arrested yesterday and charged with grand larceny, cops said. The woman with the baby was additionally charged with child endangerment. Mendieta and the other woman were issued desk appearance tickets for April 11. But "further investigation" revealed that Mendieta had an outstanding warrant from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to police. She was transferred into ICE custody.

CBS Austin [3/28/2025 12:57 PM, Jackson Walker, 602K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on Wednesday announced the arrest of a Chinese national accused of "illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government." Agents from ICE’s Newark, New Jersey office say they apprehended Ming Xi Zhang on Monday. He currently remains in ICE custody. Zhang entered the United States at Los Angeles International Airport in 2000, officers wrote. They acknowledged Zhang had "violated the terms of his lawful admission." The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey convicted Zhang of acting as a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general. It sentenced him to a three-year probation period in 2024. "Any illegal alien conducting activities related to espionage, sabotage or export control against the United States is subject to deportation," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris said of the arrest. The arrest follows a warning from the Department of Homeland Security last month that China may be able to spy on the United States through cameras with a connection to the internet. This may allow China to disrupt critical infrastructure.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 4:55 PM, Trevor Miller, 52868K] reports a Honduran citizen who was previously deported from the United States three times has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of illegal re-entry and Social Security fraud, authorities announced Friday. Jose Antonio Mejia-Sarmiento, 66, faces nine federal charges, including allegations that he illegally returned to the U.S. after being removed between 1996 and 2016, once following a felony conviction. Prosecutors also allege that he used another person’s identity to make false statements to the Social Security Administration on multiple occasions between May 2024 and February 2025. If convicted, Mejia-Sarmiento could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. His sentencing would be determined based on federal guidelines, taking into account the severity of the charges and his criminal history. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations and the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General.

Telemundo Amarillo [3/28/2025 6:53 PM, Staff, 2K] reports three charges against her have been filed against a Nashville resident in the case of the death of a 6-month-old baby in February 2024 in an apartment operating as an unregistered nursery, the Nashville Metro Police Department (MNPD) reported. Lourdes Hernandez, 35, was charged Wednesday by a grand jury with first-degree murder, aggravated negligence towards a minor and having a nursery without a license, the MNPD said in a press release. In addition, according to documents from the Davidson County Jail, a withholding order from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) is under Hernandez for living in the United States illegally. On February 8, 2024, officers and doctors went to an apartment on Welshwood Drive after receiving a report from an infant who was unconscious. The victim’s mother called 911 after she arrived at the scene to pick up her daughter, identified as Madison Alberto-Cato. The mother found other children crying and Hernandez carrying the victim, putting water on her head. The baby was taken to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, according to police. A total of 10 children under 3 were in the apartment that day, the MNPD said.

Washington Examiner [3/28/2025 12:02 PM, Elaine Mallon, 2296K] reports that the University of Alabama confirmed on Wednesday that a doctoral student has been detained off-campus by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Reports from the Crimson White, the university’s student newspaper, identified the student as Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian national studying under a student visa. It is unclear why Doroudi is being detained or what charges he is facing, but Doroudi has engaged in pro-Palestinian protests. "ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa. This individual posed significant national security concerns," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email to NBC News. Doroudi’s arrest highlights a growing trend of increased scrutiny and actions taken against international students by the Trump administration over students’ involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. President Donald Trump is seeking to expel noncitizens who are pushing the cause of terrorist groups such as Hamas. Through an executive order signed on his first day in office, Trump granted the secretary of state authority to deport noncitizens who are perceived as a threat to U.S. national security. This has resulted in a series of targeted actions against certain international students, a trend that has raised significant concerns within academic communities. "Our fears have come to pass. Donald Trump, Tom Homan and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community," the University of Alabama College Democrats said in a statement.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 8:46 PM, Ashlyn Webb, 52868K] reports dozens of local and state officers across Florida are taking training with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help make arrests and detainments. Satellite Beach Police is one of the agencies preparing to train officers to help with immigration enforcement. Despite opposition at last week’s meeting, the City Council okayed the department entering into a partnership with ICE. "I don’t want our police officers to become an arm of ICE, "one constituent said at the meeting, adding that it would tarnish the "beloved relationship" law enforcement has with the community. Satellite Beach Chief Jeffrey Pearson says he wants all his officers to receive the training. "Should we run into someone with a warrant with regards to immigration… we will now have the training and ability to handle it just like any other violation," Pearson said. The 40-hour training is an online course. Some agencies, like Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, are offering an in-person course so officers can ask questions. Channel 9 found it varied from agency to agency how many officers they selected to complete the training. -Volusia County Sheriff’s Office: roughly 28 deputies. -Seminole County Sheriff’s Office: roughly 32 deputies. -Orange County Sheriff’s Office: about 100 out of their nearly 1800 sworn deputies. Orange County Sheriff’s Office says the training covers administrative, legal and operational issues. Once the training is completed, officers are able to join a task force run by ICE.

Miami Herald [3/28/2025 6:43 PM, Syra Ortiz Blanes, 3973K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement illegally deported a South Florida man who was in immigration proceedings — and there are also likely "dozens, if not hundreds" of others who have also been unlawfully flown back to their home countries, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week. Huber Otoniel Argueta-Perez, a 35-year-old father whose wife and two young daughters are U.S. citizens, claims in a federal complaint filed Wednesday that ICE recently sent him to Guatemala even though a judge had not signed off on a deportation order or a voluntary departure. "I am extremely depressed, as I was ripped away from my wife and our two minor daughters," Argueta-Perez said in court documents. The accusations come as President Donald Trump ramps up immigration arrests for his mass deportation efforts, and nearly two weeks after his administration flew hundreds of Venezuelans to an El Salvador mega prison in possible defiance of a federal court order. The complaint, filed in Miami federal court, says there is reason to believe other immigrants have been unlawfully deported from South Florida. Argueta-Perez said in a sworn declaration that other Guatemalan men on the plane with him had not signed any type of voluntary return. His lawyers are requesting that the judge return him and others to the United States. "There will likely be evidentiary support to show that there are dozens, if not hundreds of other detained noncitizens" who have been, are, or will be deported in violation of federal immigration law, the complaint reads. Attorneys are requesting that the lawsuit be certified as a class-action since they suspect several other people have also been illegally deported. The case has been assigned to the chief judge for the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia Altonaga. The lawsuit also comes as former ICE detainees say they experienced overcrowding and inhumane conditions at the Krome detention facility in Miami, where Argueta-Perez was held before being sent to Guatemala.

Telemundo [3/28/2025 6:26 PM, Staff, 171K] reports uncertainty and fear have become the new reality of Midalys López Corrales, a resident of Hialeah who fights for the freedom of her husband, Octavio Pérez Rodríguez. For more than a month, Octavio has been detained at the Krome Detention Center, a place that, according to his testimony, has become a nightmare. In a call recorded by his wife, Octavio’s broken voice is heard describing his situation. ""Titi, I’m dying, I’m in pain... you can’t imagine what I’m going through," he told Midalys in one of the few contact moments they’ve had. Despair has reached such an extent that Octavio has requested his deportation, an extreme decision that, according to his wife, reflects the inhumane conditions in which he finds himself. Octavio arrived in the United States in 2022 with his wife and two children, crossing the border in search of a new life. However, his immigration status was left in limbo. Unlike his family, who already obtained residency, his case was still pending due to a previous deportation in 2019. On February 25, he believed his situation would take a positive turn. He was asked to come forward with a translator, which he interpreted as a sign that he would finally receive his legal status. But instead of good news, he was dealt a devastating blow: he was immediately arrested.

Washington Post [3/28/2025 1:20 PM, Emily Wax-Thibodeaux and Maria Sacchetti, 31735K] reports that a 30-year-old Harvard researcher from Russia has been held for more than a month at a private detention center in Louisiana where federal immigration officers are sending a growing number of international students with lives here suddenly in jeopardy. Unlike others, Kseniia Petrova is not accused of publicly opposing Israel’s war in Gaza or U.S. support for Israel. She was pulled aside as she returned from Paris on Feb. 16 after failing to tell customs agents at Boston’s Logan International Airport that she was bringing back frog embryos for scientific work her mentor is pursuing. Should she lose her fight to retain her visa and stay in this country, her university supervisor, friends and lawyer worry that she would be deported to Russia. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Petrova “was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying biological substances into the country. A subsequent K-9 inspection uncovered undeclared petri dishes, containers of unknown substances, and loose vials of embryonic frog cells, all without proper permits. Messages found on her phone revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs.” Petrova was sent first to a holding facility in Vermont, then transferred by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Louisiana. She began sharing a cell there with about 70 women, Romanovsky said — “and the cell wasn’t even full yet.” An immigration court hearing, at which she plans to seek asylum, is scheduled for early May. A hearing on a habeas corpus petition — which he filed in U.S. District Court in Vermont just before Petrova’s transfer — isn’t until June. Romanovsky has more than two dozen letters of support from Petrova’s colleagues at Harvard.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/28/2025 11:45 AM, Lexi Lonas, 12829K]

AP [3/28/2025 7:44 PM, Morgan Lee, 24727K] reports that, as U.S. authorities crack down on immigrants at universities in a fervor against pro-Palestinian protests, they quickly have shuttled some of those detained to remote facilities in Louisiana. Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student facing possible deportation for his role in protests at that campus, are calling his imprisonment in Louisiana a “Kafkaesque” attempt to chill free speech. Louisiana is emerging as a linchpin for immigrant detention in President Donald Trump’s second term, at facilities far from New Orleans and beyond the immediate reach of most rights groups and attorneys. mmigrant detention in Louisiana surged during Trump’s first term at facilities adapted from state prisons and local jails. At the time a state criminal justice overhaul had reduced the prison population, threatening the economies of small towns that rely on the lockups. Officials in rural parishes signed contracts for immigrant detention that guaranteed millions in payments to local governments. Immigrants and their advocates complained of prolonged detention, mistreatment and isolation, including solitary confinement that sometimes resulted in death. Louisiana is the No. 2 state today for immigrant detention by ICE, after Texas. About 7,000 immigrants are held there in civil detention, according to government data compiled by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The transfer of Khalil from the New York area to Louisiana complicates his legal fight to be released. An attorney for the Department of Justice, August Flentje, wants the dispute litigated in Louisiana “for jurisdictional certainty.” A judge in Newark, New Jersey, heard jurisdictional arguments Friday and plans to issue a written ruling. Immigration authorities are also holding 30-year-old Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk at a detention center in Basile, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) west of New Orleans.

Newsweek [3/28/2025 5:48 PM, Anna Commander, 52220K] reports two men have been accused of being in the United States illegally while working a construction project at an Ohio jail facility, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said on Friday. As the documents were reviewed, it was later determined that two workers were not in the country legally. ICE later conducted interviews with the workers, who then "admitted they were in the United States illegally," the statement said.

New York Times [3/28/2025 9:06 PM, Ernesto Londoño and Alan Blinder, 145325K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a graduate student attending the University of Minnesota earlier this week, the school said Friday in a statement that called the situation “deeply concerning.” The student was taken into custody on Thursday at an off-campus residence, the school’s president, Rebecca Cunningham, said in the statement. “The university had no prior knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities before it occurred,” the statement said. The university did not identify the student’s name, nationality or visa type. Jake Ricker, a university spokesman, said the student was enrolled in the Carlson School of Management. ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for information about the case. The arrest follows other incidents in which ICE targeted international students or scholars at American universities. Three involved students at Columbia University. The other individuals ICE detained or sought to arrest attended Brown, Tufts, Cornell and the University of Alabama. Another case that drew consternation among civil liberties advocates involved Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident and recent graduate at Columbia University who had his green card revoked. A common factor in some of those cases has been the students’ involvement in pro-Palestinian protests or writings last year. Mr. Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian refugees, and who is married to an American citizen, is fighting in federal court the government’s efforts to deport him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters aboard his plane on Thursday that U.S. officials were “going to err on the side of caution” in weighing visa revocations.

Reported similarly:
Minnesota Public Radio [3/28/2025 7:00 PM, Staff, 60K]
Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 10:10 PM, Tommy Wiita, 52868K]

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 5:20 PM, Dave Burge, 52868K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested a reputed member of the Barrio Azteca gang in El Paso, a spokesperson for the agency said. Jorge Felipe Payan-Morales, 44, a Mexican national, was arrested in El Paso on Wednesday, March 26, an ICE spokesperson said. Payan-Morales is in the country illegally, the spokesperson said. He has been previously deported five times and has past convictions for cocaine possession, drug trafficking, robbery and illegal re-entry, the spokesperson said. Payan-Morales is in the custody of U.S. marshals and is pending criminal prosecution for a fourth felony charge of illegal re-entry by a previously deported non-citizen, ICE said.

Axios [3/28/2025 5:31 PM, Melissa Santos, 13163K] reports Washington state lawmakers are seeking greater oversight of private detention facilities like the ICE center in Tacoma, as immigrant rights groups report a sharp rise in the number of people detained there. Advocates say conditions at the Northwest ICE Processing Center have worsened as more people — including at least one U.S. permanent resident — have been sent there as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. House Bill 1232, which had a public hearing this week in the state Senate, would allow the state Department of Health to conduct inspections of privately run detention facilities in Washington state. That would include the Tacoma ICE detention center, which is run by The GEO Group, a for-profit company. Under the bill, the Health Department would set rules about access to phones, medical services, and hot and cold running water, along with standards for things like lighting and food safety. State inspectors would be allowed to enter the facilities at any time and fine companies up to $10,000 per violation. The measure has cleared the state House and awaits action in the Senate.

CBS Austin [3/28/2025 6:21 AM, Staff, 602K] reports police in Washington arrested a 26-year-old driver of a vehicle that was seen patrolling while having incorrect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security emblems earlier this month. On March 16, 2025, the Fife Police Department responded to a 911 call regarding a suspicious vehicle at the Emish Market. The FPD said the vehicle, a black 2019 Ford SUV, was identified as a former "police interceptor" and bore emblems suggesting it was an official ICE unit. Witnesses reported that the occupants were recording employees and customers, causing alarm. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the vehicle was not an official unit, according to police. The FPD’s Criminal Investigations Division, in coordination with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations Seattle field offices, launched an investigation. Tukwila Police later identified the vehicle as a former patrol car, sold to a private buyer after being deemed a "total loss" by their insurance carrier. Public tips and information from Tukwila Police led to the identification of their suspect, Ilya P. Kukhar, a 26-year-old Washington resident, according to the FPD. Kukhar, who is not employed by any law enforcement agency, has been charged with one count of criminal impersonation in the second degree. His arraignment is scheduled for April 11 at Fife Municipal Court.

ABC News [3/28/2025 4:36 PM, Megan Forrester] reports a man was charged for posing as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Washington state, according to police. Ilya Kukhar, 26, was charged on Thursday for impersonating an ICE officer after he allegedly drove a vehicle that "displayed prominent emblems with large letters spelling ‘I.C.E’ along with a pseudo-seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security," the Fife Police Department said in a statement on Thursday. Once police arrived on the scene, the vehicle left, officials said. The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed that the vehicle was not an official DHS unit, leading the police — in coordination with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations Seattle field offices — to look into this incident, officials said. After "numerous tips" and the assistance of Tukwila Police, the "primary suspect in this case" was identified as Kukhar, officials said. Police have not said if there are other suspects involved. Kukhar, who is "not employed by any federal law enforcement agency," has been charged with one count of Criminal Impersonation in the Second Degree. He is currently not in police custody and his initial arraignment is scheduled for April 11, officials said.

Miami Herald [3/28/2025 12:43 PM, Lauren Girgis, 3973K] reports that hundreds of union members and other protesters gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma on Thursday evening to rally against the detainment of two Washington residents being held there. The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, called on union members and community supporters to gather outside the Northwest ICE Processing Center to demand the release of "union siblings" Alfredo "Lelo" Juarez and Lewelyn Dixon, both of whom have lived in the U.S. since they were young teenagers. Juarez, a 25-year-old union farmworker and activist, was arrested Tuesday morning in Sedro-Woolley while driving his partner to work. A member of the Indigenous Mexican Mixteco community, Juarez has organized for farmworker rights in Washington since he was 14 years old. Other union organizers said they feared Juarez was targeted by ICE because of his activism. Dixon, a green card holder, is an SEIU Local 925 member who works as a lab technician at UW Medicine. She has lived in the U.S. for more than five decades, having left the Philippines when she was 14. Friday will be Dixon’s one-month mark of being held at the facility. Protesters framed the arrests not only as attacks on immigrants but also attacks on union workers and free speech rights. Several people held signs calling Juarez a "political prisoner."

Los Angeles Times [3/28/2025 6:00 AM, Jaweed Kaleem, 13342K] reports Ali, a UCLA student who joined pro-Palestinian protests last year, avoided arrest when riot police dismantled the school’s encampment last May. An international student who took part in a surge of campus activism around Israel’s war in Gaza, he was wary of having a record that could affect his visa. But he did not otherwise hide his activism. Now, as federal authorities act on President Trump’s directive to deport international student activists he accuses of being antisemitic "pro-Hamas" terrorism supporters, Ali has taken new precautions. He’s moved out of his apartment — the address listed with the government — and is staying with a friend. He attends classes but avoids social events. He carries a piece of paper with the number for a 24-hour hotline faculty set up for students detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As more arrests unfold, fears among California international students are growing — and frustrations mounting — as they accuse campus administrators of not doing enough to protect them in the state with the largest foreign student population in the nation and universities at the forefront of national activism. "It’s a matter of time before it gets here," said Ali, who did not want his full name, nationality, area of study or age published because he is worried about being tracked. "This is free speech. Isn’t this what this country is supposed to be known for?". Speaking at a press conference Thursday during a visit to Guyana, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the government had initiated a widespread review of student activists’ visas and revoked at least 300. "We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa," Rubio said. He added: "I hope at some point we run out because we have gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.” He later clarified that it has been "primarily student visas, some visitors visas" and that "some are unrelated to any protests.” At UCLA, members of Faculty for Justice in Palestine recently circulated advice to international students: "Don’t say anything to ICE. Don’t sign anything. Tell them to speak to your attorney," it said alongside a hotline number. "... Please have a stamped, pre-addressed envelope to someone you trust with you in the event of an ICE arrest, you can send the mail to alert them you have been detained.” International students have been told to "not go out unless you need to and make sure someone knows where you are going if you do go out," said Randall Kuhn, a UCLA professor of public health who last year joined protesters.

Lodi News-Sentinel [3/28/2025 3:53 PM, Wes Bowers] reports federal authorities arrested an Indian national in San Joaquin County earlier this month as part of a targeted criminal enforcement operation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended 23-year-old Gurdev Singh in French Camp on March 12 after he was arrested by California Highway Patrol on weapons charges. Immigration officials said Singh illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location. U.S. Border Patrol officers encountered Singh near Lukeville, Ariz., on Sept. 2, 2023, and released him on his own recognizance with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. He was later determined to be associated with transnational criminal organizations, and further investigation revealed he was known to carry firearms illegally and was actively engaged in criminal activity in both the U.S. and abroad, officials said. Singh was arrested by CHP officers on March 6 on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm in public, not being the registered owner of a loaded firearm, possession of a stolen vehicle and child endangerment. Seven guns were found at his Stockton residence and two more were found in a car located on his property during a search. ICE learned Singh had been booked into the San Joaquin County Jail, and submitted a detainer request on March 12, which the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office denied, reports state. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

San Diego Union Tribune [3/28/2025 9:31 PM, Caleb Lunetta, 1682K] reports the general manager of a business in unincorporated El Cajon was charged Friday on suspicion of harboring undocumented immigrants who worked there following a three-year federal investigation into the company’s hiring practices, officials said. John Washburn and three other employees were arrested following a raid on the business Thursday at BJS & T Enterprises, which does business under the name San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings and is located on Magnolia Avenue near Airport Drive. The family-owned company completes metal coatings and has multiple federal government contracts, including work for projects on military and government vehicles. Washburn was charged with conspiracy to harbor aliens after investigators reported finding a room in the warehouse that they said he had allowed undocumented immigrants to live in illegally. The other three employees were charged with using false documents to work in the United States, federal investigators said. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major set the bond for Washburn at $5,000, investigators said. Court records did not indicate if Washburn had an attorney to speak on his behalf Friday. The criminal complaint filed Friday reveals new details about the raid, which included armed law enforcement officers in bulletproof vests handcuffing individuals and lining them up in the industrial area. According to federal prosecutors, the company made a living area for at least three undocumented workers in a warehouse that housed at least two military projects and equipment. The room, according to the criminal complaint, had a bed, cot, pad on the floor with blankets, television, refrigerator, microwave and racks of clothing. On a whiteboard in the room was a list of words written in English and Spanish. One of the men living inside the room, listed as a material witness in the case, told investigators that Washburn had given him permission to live inside the room, the complaint reads. Other material witnesses said Washburn or other members of the company’s leadership knew some of their workers did not have documents to work legally in the U.S., and that they were using fake names, identifying documents and Social Security numbers, according to the complaint. Investigators said government contractors are required to electronically verify their employees’ identifying documents, but the agents believe the company did not. The complaint says investigators believe that of the 50 people present on company grounds Thursday, about 15 were allegedly working without legal authorization.

San Diego Union Tribune [3/28/2025 2:14 PM, Laura Rodriguez Presa, 1682K] reports that for the past year, three days a week for four hours, Alfredo Pacheco, 37, has been undergoing dialysis. Most days, even if he feels ill, he pushes himself to work after the procedure, thinking of his three young children who wait to see him again one day back in Venezuela. As time passes, however, he feels weaker and a bit more tired every day, he said. Pacheco was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease not long after arriving in Chicago seeking asylum. It was then that doctors told him that he needed a kidney transplant, "or else I would die," he said. Medical records also show the acute illness that has drastically changed his life. His older brother, José Gregorio González, 43, who was denied entry to the country at the southern border, tried to enter once again hoping to donate a kidney to save his brother’s life. He managed to cross and stay in the United States under immigration supervision. But on March 3, González was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs authorities and now awaits deportation at Clay County Detention Center in Indiana, leaving Pacheco, once again, desperate and fighting for his life. The two are pleading with immigration authorities to release González on humanitarian parole to donate the kidney. "After that, I will return to Venezuela," González said from a call in the detention center.

New York Times [3/28/2025 7:32 PM, Edward Wong, 145325K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimated that he had signed perhaps more than 300 letters revoking the visas of students, visitors and others to force their expulsion from the United States because of their foreign policy views or criminal activities. He has been signing letters daily to revoke visas since taking office in late January, Mr. Rubio told reporters on Thursday night aboard an Air Force passenger jet traveling between Paramaribo, Suriname, and Miami, where he lives with his family. Mr. Rubio was concluding a three-nation tour in the Caribbean and South America. “I don’t know actually if it’s primarily student visas,” he said. “It’s a combination of visas. They’re visitors to the country. If they’re taking activities that are counter to our foreign, to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa.” He said he reviewed each case himself before signing off on actions that would be taken by immigration agents. Mr. Rubio said that a visa holder charged with a crime while in the United States should automatically lose their visa. He is also expelling permanent U.S. residents by stripping them of their green cards. “My standard: If we knew this information about them before we gave them a visa, would we have allowed them in?” he said. “And if the answer is no, then we revoke the visa.”

Reported similarly:
Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 11:18 AM, Nina Golgowski, 52868K]

Newsweek [3/28/2025 4:09 PM, Nick Mordowanec, 52220K] reports four House Republicans have introduced legislation that would bar all immigrants who entered the United States illegally from ever obtaining legal citizenship. Florida Representative Cory Mills introduced the No Citizenship for Alien Invaders Act on Thursday. Bill cosponsors include Oklahoma Representative Josh Brecheen, Maryland Representative Andy Harris, and Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna. The bill comes as the Trump administration has remained aggressive in its illegal immigration enforcement measures, which have included more formidable threats against nations, including longtime U.S. allies, to deter illegal entry into the states. A social media campaign by the administration has included visa warnings on U.S. embassy X and Facebook pages around the world, featuring top officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. If enacted, the No Citizenship for Alien Invaders Act would amend Section 312 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which bill sponsors say will "protect American sovereignty by ensuring that illegal immigrants cannot exploit the U.S. immigration system."

Newsweek [3/28/2025 5:23 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports nearly 850,000 babies were born in the United States to foreign-born mothers in 2023, the last full year of data available. While not all of those would necessarily qualify as birthright citizenship babies, it is likely many were born to mothers who were not American citizens. Getting a definitive figure on birthright rates is a difficult, if not near-impossible, task, as hospitals do not generally ask parents about their immigration status in the delivery room. For the Trump administration seeking to overturn the long-running right, as well as those fighting that plan, numbers would be useful. The number of babies born to foreign-born moms has hovered around the 800,000 mark for the past decade, but it was above a million in the early 2000s. As federal government data does not give a greater level of detail, this is largely the number analysts and government agencies have to work with. Averaging out these births across 2015-2023 works out at around 849,941 per year. If that trend continued into 2024 and 2025, then over the first two months of the Trump administration, around 141,656 newborns arrived to foreign-born mothers.

Telemundo [3/28/2025 1:28 PM, Staff, 2454K] reports the Trump administration plans to revoke humanitarian parole, an immigration permit that has allowed some 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to reside and work temporarily in the United States, according to a draft published in the Federal Register. The immigration benefit will expire on April 24, so those who benefited from it must leave the country before that date or risk remaining in the country illegally. The draft, prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, argues that this immigration program "no longer represents a significant public benefit" to the United States and is "incompatible with the foreign policy objectives" of the Trump administration. The draft was published this Friday in the Federal Register, the official journal of the U.S. government that publishes rules, regulations, and other communications from federal agencies. It will be officially published on Monday, the day the measure takes effect.

Washington Examiner [3/28/2025 4:16 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports the Trump administration is revoking the visas of pro-Hamas foreign students in the United States "every day" as it wages a heavy-handed crackdown on terrorist sympathizers, according to the State Department. As of Thursday, the State Department had revoked the visas of over 300 foreign college and university students as part of a White House crackdown on pro-Hamas rioters who targeted campuses last year. The State Department did not offer additional details on its overall target goals for visa revocations and how many others it is considering. At the same time in mid-March, Langworthy introduced the Veto Your Visas Act, which would rescind student visas from those found to be involved with a foreign terrorist organization such as Hamas. The bill would require universities and colleges to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System immediately if they learn of a student’s participation or endorsement of terrorism-related activities.

Reported similarly:
Univision [3/28/2025 4:06 PM, Staff, 5325K]

AZCentral [3/28/2025 8:01 AM, Daniel Gonzalez, 4457K] reports legal U.S. residents are increasingly applying for citizenship because of concerns about the Trump administration’s expanding immigration crackdown. But some legal residents are hesitant to apply for citizenship due to concerns that past transgressions, even minor ones, could lead to deportation under the current administration. Nonprofit organizations are organizing workshops to assist legal residents with the citizenship application process. Legal U.S. residents in Arizona and across the U.S. are rushing to apply for citizenship to protect themselves from being caught up in President Donald Trump’s expanding immigration crackdown, lawyers and advocates say. The spike in interest in applying for citizenship is fueled by recent incidents involving legal permanent residents being detained by immigration authorities, including efforts by the Trump administration to deport legal permanent residents who took part in protests at Columbia University in New York. Legal U.S. residents, especially those who were previously undocumented, say the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown makes them feel increasingly uneasy, even though as green card holders they now have permission to live in the U.S. permanently. They say they have watched with alarm as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has rapidly expanded, focusing at first on undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but then widening to even legal immigrants, including increased scrutiny of legal permanent residents not because of crimes they may have committed that might make them deportable but for their political views and activities. Legal U.S. residents say they now believe that becoming a U.S. citizen, once viewed as an option, has turned into a necessity under the Trump administration, to better ensure they aren’t kicked out of the country. "I’m watching the news every day," said Guillermo Montejano, 55, a former undocumented immigrant from Mexico, who has been a legal U.S. resident for nearly 10 years.

Washington Examiner [3/28/2025 6:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, Mabinty Quarshie and Ramsey Touchberry, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump’s grand plan to sell multimillion-dollar visas in an effort to pay down the national debt is underway as Congress moves to make his dream a reality. The billionaire businessman-turned-president pitched the unusual strategy for admitting immigrants last month and since then, plans for codifying the change are advancing in Congress, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is working on companion legislation. However, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) suggested to the Washington Examiner Thursday that Trump may be able to push his plan through without changing the law. "It depends how the statute’s written. If it doesn’t require statutory change, it probably requires a rule of some kind. I don’t think you could probably just do it, unless the statute is written so broadly it gives the executive [branch] total discretion, which is possible. Congress does write stuff like that," Hawley said. The United States already has a pathway for immigrants outside the country who wish to invest and create jobs in return for admission, which is called the Employment-Based Visa (EB-5), according to Fernando Chang-Muy, Thomas O-Boyle Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. The EB-5 visa was created by Congress in 1990 as the pathway for investors who promise to create jobs in the U.S. to obtain admission. Trump’s pitch, which he first made in February, would go beyond that and create a "gold card" visa, akin to a platinum membership where, for the right price, someone could pay $5 million to purchase a card and, in turn, be admitted to the U.S. The EB-5 visa would be modified into this new proposed program, according to the White House. "The existing immigration law would need to be amended as well as the regulation, to create this new pathway for lawful permanent residency and/or citizenship," wrote Chang-Muy, an expert in refugee law and policy, in an email. A White House aide told the Washington Examiner that it has yet to formally roll out the visa and did not give a timeline on when that is expected. The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment on timing and logistics. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told the Washington Examiner Thursday that the White House would "probably" need congressional approval if it wishes to rework the visa program "long-term," but others are worried about how it could impact Americans. Cyrus Mehta, an immigration attorney who runs Manhattan-based Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners PLLC, feared the gold card visa could come with unintended consequences. "Donald Trump’s Gold Card would be most attractive to criminals and the corrupt," Mehta wrote in a post to X.

Newsweek [3/28/2025 9:03 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports more highly skilled legal immigrants in the United States would mean stronger economic growth, according to a new study. President Donald Trump has vowed to carry out the largest deportation program in American history, ramping up removals of migrants without legal status and moving to revoke the legal protections of others. Concerns have been raised over the economic fallout of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies, with critics arguing that large-scale deportations could severely cripple the U.S. economy. On Thursday, the Penn Wharton Budget Model released a report suggesting that if the U.S. increased the number of visas for higher-skilled workers and reduced the number for lower-skilled workers, it would boost the economy. Specifically, by 2054, GDP and consumption would both rise by 0.4 percent with more high-skilled immigrants. If the immigrants are in STEM fields, GDP would increase by 0.7 percent and consumption by 0.6 percent. The study focused on changing the types of visas without increasing the overall number issued. According to the findings, reallocating more visas to college-educated immigrants and those in STEM fields would result in faster economic growth, lower federal debt and higher wages across all income groups. Amid the administration’s push for mass deportations, the American Business Immigration Coalition has estimated that agricultural output would fall between $30 billion and $60 billion with the removal of millions of undocumented workers. Business leaders and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers have come together on Capitol Hill to urge the president to address labor shortages, implement fair immigration reform and provide economic opportunities for law-abiding immigrants contributing to the nation’s growth. Kent Smetters, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told Axios: "A small change in immigration policy that focuses more on skill—less on family structure—actually has a pretty big impact on the economy.”

NPR [3/29/2025 6:00 AM, Juliana Kim, 29983K] reports traveling or returning to the U.S. from abroad has become increasingly risky for some — even for people with valid visas and green cards. In recent weeks, international tourists, visa holders and lawful permanent residents — also known as green card holders — have been facing tougher scrutiny at airports and border crossings. The change comes amid a broader crackdown by the Trump administration to reduce both legal and illegal immigration to the country. And as spring break trips and summer vacations draw near, stories of green card and visa holders being detained have sparked new concerns about traveling. Earlier this month, for example, Brown University urged its international staff and students to postpone any plans to travel outside the U.S. "out of an abundance of caution." Canada, along with several countries in Europe, including Denmark, Ireland and Germany, have also updated their travel guidance for the U.S., urging their citizens to strictly adhere to U.S. entry rules or risk detention. In a statement to NPR, Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), said "Green card holders who have not broken any U.S. laws, committed application fraud, or failed to apply for a re-entry permit after a long period of travel have nothing to fear about entering and exiting the country.” Immigration attorneys told NPR the riskiness of traveling abroad will be different for individual travelers, making it important for them to understand their rights and privileges before making travel plans.

Reuters [3/28/2025 5:41 PM, Nate Raymond, 41523K] reports a former Haitian mayor was convicted on Friday of U.S. charges that he had lied about having led a brutal campaign to kill and torture his political opponents in order to secure a green card allowing him to reside in the United States. Jean Morose Viliena, now a lawful permanent U.S. resident who at the time of his indictment in 2023 was working as a truck driver and living in Malden, Massachusetts, was found guilty by a federal jury in Boston of three counts of visa fraud. Prosecutors announced those charges a day after a different jury in a civil case ordered the former mayor of the rural Haitian town of Les Irois to pay $15.5 million to three Haitians who accused him of persecuting them or their families. Viliena, 52, is appealing that earlier verdict and has argued he is innocent. Chief U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor scheduled sentencing for June 20. Prosecutors said that in applying for a visa in 2008, Viliena had affirmed on a form that he had not "ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people."

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AP [3/28/2025 3:08 PM, Michael Casey]

CBS Boston [3/28/2025 6:41 PM, Paul Burton, 51661K] Video: HERE reports new court filings reveal that Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained just days after her student visa was revoked by the State Department. Ozturk’s attorney argues that her detention violates her First and Fifth Amendment rights. "Rumeysa, like all of us in America, is entitled to express her opinions freely. Now, she is being unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration simply because she co-authored an op-ed calling for Palestinians to have basic human rights," her attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said. On Friday, a federal judge ordered Ozturk to remain in the United States while her case plays out. "This is a violation of everything this country stands for," Rep. Stephen Lynch said. Lawmakers are now demanding answers, sending a letter to federal authorities regarding Ozturk, who is currently being detained in Louisiana. They, along with her attorney, are calling for her immediate return to Massachusetts and demanding she be granted a fair hearing. "If they felt there were justification, they should have gone through due process," Lynch said. Court documents indicate that the State Department revoked Ozturk’s student visa on March 21 on grounds of alleged involvement in activities supporting Hamas, designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization. However, Ozturk was unaware of this status change until she was taken into custody by federal agents on March 25. "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans," a DHS spokesperson said. "Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated.”

CNN [3/28/2025 8:56 PM, Sophia Saifi, 52868K] reports the first time he flew his cargo plane through the clouds over his hometown of Kabul, Tauheed Khan swelled with pride. “I flew over my childhood home,” he told CNN, on a quiet spring morning in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. “And I was so proud, there was so much joy that I can still taste it, still feel it in my heart.” During the US-led, 20-year war against the Taliban, Afghan Air Force pilots played a key role alongside American counterparts, some carrying out strikes that inflicted heavy casualties on the hardline Islamists. That coalition ended in August 2021, when foreign troops withdrew and Kabul fell to the Taliban. Khan now finds himself in neighboring Pakistan with his young family, fearing that they could be killed if they return to an Afghanistan now under the grip of the very forces he fought against. Worsening their plight, anti-migrant policies in both Washington and Islamabad mean time is running out to find a safe alternative, including a looming deadline at the end of this month. The war, which began with the US invasion in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, devastated Afghanistan’s civilian population, which is still recovering. The ousting of the Taliban by the US-led coalition led to profound changes, including a return of democracy and significant improvements for Afghanistan’s women. But war and instability raged across swathes of the nation, especially in rural areas. Tens of thousands were killed. Civilian losses escalated to 5,183 dead in the first six months of 2021, as the US began to pull out from Afghanistan and depend further on the Afghan military. A five-year study published by the United Nations in 2021 showed that 785 children died from US and AAF airstrikes over that period.

FOX News [3/28/2025 11:55 AM, Michael Dorgan and Brooke Taylor, 46189K] reports that Illegal migrant border encounters have plummeted since President Donald Trump took office in January and continue to trend at record lows compared to this time last year under former President Joe Biden. For instance, there were just 32 encounters in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, compared to 1,134 encounters on the same day in 2024, according to Border Patrol sources. That equates to a 97% reduction. In Tucson, Arizona, yesterday, there were 59 apprehensions compared to 1,222 on the same day last year under Biden, a 95% reduction, while San Diego saw 36 apprehensions on Thursday compared to 908 on the same day in 2024, a 96% decrease. In total, there were just 254 apprehensions across the southern border on Thursday, compared to 4,229 on the same day last year, a 94% reduction. The figures come after Trump announced earlier this month that apprehensions fell to 8,326 in the whole month of February, his first full month in office, which he said is a record-setting low. The figure marks a 96% drop from the highs of the Biden administration in December 2023. Following the announcement, Trump defiantly declared that the border is now closed and that all of those border crossers would be quickly ejected or prosecuted for crimes against the U.S.

FOX News [3/28/2025 3:19 PM, Brooke Taylor, 46189K] reports as of this week, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles known as Strykers have been deployed to the border for the first time in more than a decade as part of the Pentagon’s support of Customs and Border Protection. According to Border Patrol, two are now stationed in the El Paso sector, with more Strykers expected to be deployed to other areas along the border in the next few weeks. One of the Strykers is positioned to give a bird’s-eye view over Juárez, Mexico, a major smuggling corridor known for its high number of "gotaways," illegal migrants who manage to escape border patrol agents. However, the Strykers at the border are not equipped with weapons, and the military told Fox News it had no plans of doing so. Instead, the Strykers are being used here to assist Border Patrol agents with surveillance, detecting illegal migrants.

El Paso Times [3/28/2025 5:38 PM, Jeff Abbott] reports work to begin building a new, massive migrant deportation site at El Paso’s Fort Bliss is imminent, the U.S. Secretary of the Army said. U.S. Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll visited Fort Bliss and El Paso on March 25 and 26, where he said that the process to establish the immigration deportation site has received the green light, meaning that preparation could begin in the coming days. The Secretary of the Army could not confirm whether the facility would be used for family units, single males, women, or unaccompanied minors. The Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, will operate the facility.

NBC News [3/29/2025 5:00 AM, Mithil Aggarwal, 44742K] reports Muhammed Ihsanullah was overjoyed when he received a $3,000 scholarship to spend the summer working at a camp in Minnesota. But after several travelers from Western nations were detained or deported as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the 20-year-old British citizen from Leicester, England, is planning on carrying a burner phone when he comes to the U.S. in May. That’s if he ends up going at all. "I have a very, you know, stereotypical name as well," Ihsanullah told NBC News. He might swap out devices, he said, "just so that I have the added security of knowing that no one’s going to go through my phone.” Potential U.S. visitors such as Ihsanullah are expressing growing uncertainty about their travel plans amid the crackdown and warnings from U.S. embassies in more than a dozen countries, like the one in Sweden that said anyone entering the U.S. on a visa is a "guest" and if you lie about your intended behavior while in the country, "You’re out.” Earlier this month, a Lebanese doctor working at Brown University’s medical center was sent home despite having a valid U.S. visa after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents searching her phone found photos and videos they said were "sympathetic" to the former leader of the Hezbollah militant group, whose funeral she told agents she attended last month. Such searches pre-date the new Trump administration, and Customs and Border Protection says it conducts them to detect "digital contraband, terrorism-related content, and information relevant to visitor admissibility.” "Claims that CBP is searching more electronic media due to administration change are false," CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham told NBC News in an emailed statement. "Allegations that political beliefs trigger inspections or removals are baseless and irresponsible," he added. Such searches are not new to travelers from parts of the world who already face stringent visa requirements — Chinese students arriving in the U.S., for example, have complained in recent years of being increasingly subject to interrogation and detention on national security grounds. But many of the cases in recent weeks have involved travelers from countries such as France, Germany and Canada — longtime allies with which the U.S. shares intelligence, has frequent cultural exchanges and does hundreds of billions of dollars in trade. Several of those held have spoken out about being scrutinized and sometimes locked up for days at the border.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 4:32 PM, Damon Fletcher, 52868K] reports Border Czar Thomas Homan sent out a post on ‘X’ showing his support for the Rochester Police Department following an incident where an officer broke city policy when responding to a call for help from Homeland Security (Border Patrol). Monday night around 5:30 p.m., Border Patrol officers reportedly had a van stopped in the area of Lyell Avenue and Whitney Street. About a half-hour later, Border Patrol called Monroe County 911 for backup, and an RPD supervisor arrived on the scene minutes later. According to Chief Smith, when the RPD supervisor on scene became distracted, the other RPD officers called to the scene began to take matters into their own hands, verbally communicating with the occupant(s) of the van, and detaining at least one person, Chief Smith said. Mayor Malik Evans said this was a direct violation of city policy. In a post on the platform ‘X’, Border Czar Homan said he "stands with the officers," and goes on to say "sanctuary policies endanger our police and public. President Trump and AG Pam Bondi are committed to taking them on and so am I. Help is coming!". Full statement posted by Border Czar Homan: I stand with the officers of the Rochester, New York Police Department that answered the emergency assistance call from the U.S Border Patrol. The men and women of the Border Patrol have never refused the request for assistance from any law enforcement agency when they are available. That is the way it should be. Law enforcement officers should not be abandoned in the time of need because of politics. Sanctuary policies endanger our police and the public. President Trump and AG Pam Bondi are committed to taking them on and so am I. Help is coming!

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 4:07 PM, Damon Fletcher, 52868K] reports an 18-year-old man was turned over to Border Patrol after he provided false identification to Monroe County Sheriffs deputies at Mendon Ponds Park. According to MCSO, deputies were conducting a routine patrol of the park to prevent larcenies and other criminal activity. During their patrol, deputies found a ‘suspicious vehicle’ parked in the back corner of a parking lot with a jacket covering the driver’s side window. MCSO said deputies observed a male asleep in the driver’s seat with a woman also in the car. MCSO said when asked for identification, the driver, 18-year-olf Marco Antonio Cela Mayancela, showed deputies a photo on his phone of an Ecuadorian ID card containing a picture of a child. Mayancela also provided a passport and with a different name and photo. According to MCSO, Mayancela later admitted that the passport provided was his fathers. He also allegedly told deputies that he was driving the vehicle, but he did not possess a driver’s license, and the owner of the vehicle was unaware he was driving it. MCSO said after nearly 20 minutes of attempting to identify the man and verify the authenticity of the documents provided, deputies contacted Border Patrol. After Mayancela was arrested for driving without a license deputies said he provided a valid NYS Learners Permit. Mayancela was charged with Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle. As the investigation concluded, Border Patrol arrived and identified Mayancela based on previous contacts.

Mississippi Clarion Ledger [3/28/2025 4:15 PM, Pam Dankins] reports the United Sates Border Patrol New Orleans Sector announced on Thursday, March 27, what they call a "successful culmination of Operation Magnolia," that led to the arrest of 25 undocumented immigrants in Mississippi. According to a statement from the New Orleans’ border patrol, agents conducted a highway enforcement operation along the Interstate 20 corridor in Rankin County. The "around the clock operation" began on Monday, March 17, and concluded on Friday, March 21, in the area of Pearl. Authorities mentioned in the statement that those who assisted with the operation included the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Division of U.S. Customs & Border Protection. Officials also stated that 22 of the 25 people arrested were processed for removal from the United States, while the other three people will be prosecuted under the re-entry after deportation federal statute. According to officials, those arrested were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The names of the individuals were not released in the Thursday statement.

CBS Miami [3/28/2025 7:22 AM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found 20 “bricks” of cocaine concealed on the boat’s roof. Three people on the boat were taken into custody.

ABC News [3/28/2025 4:50 PM, Laura Romero] reports a Russian researcher at Harvard University is being detained at a Louisiana detention center over failing to declare frog embryos while passing through customs, according to a complaint filed by her attorney. Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard medical researcher who is in the U.S. on an exchange visitor visa, was detained last month at an airport in Boston after a Customs and Border Protection officer found "noninfectious and non-toxic frog embryos in her luggage," the complaint said. According to the complaint, Petrova told the CBP officer that she feared being returned to Russia, where she faced past persecution for her political activities, and instead requested to be returned to France -- at which point she was detained. Petrova’s detention comes as the Trump administration moves to revoke hundreds of student visas as part of its immigration crackdown. The lawsuit, filed by Petrova’s attorney in the U.S. District Court of Vermont, requests that a federal judge declare the cancelation of Petrova’s visa unlawful. Petrova is set to appear before an immigration judge in Louisiana on May 7.

KRQE [3/28/2025 3:32 PM, Fallon Fischer] reports an Albuquerque man was caught trying to smuggle 242 pounds of pork bologna into the country Friday morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP officials said the 52-year-old man arrived at the Paso Del Norte international crossing that connects Mexico to El Paso, Texas, and presented himself for inspection via the vehicle lanes. The man initially did not declare any fruits, vegetables, or meat products, but was referred for a secondary agriculture inspection. During the secondary inspection, CBP Agriculture Canine "Harlee" alerted to the rear cargo area of the vehicle. There, Agriculture Specialists found 22 rolls of bologna hidden beneath equipment in the rear of the vehicle. They also found 60 undeclared Tramadol tablets, a schedule IV-controlled substance, in the center console of the vehicle. The driver was issued a $1,000 promissory note for the prescription medication violation. The bologna was seized and destroyed by CBP per USDA regulations. The bologna smuggling case is being referred to USDA Investigative and Enforcement Services. The man could face up to a $10,000 penalty if found guilty.

El Paso Times [3/28/2025 4:56 PM, Aaron Martinez] reports a man caught smuggling prohibited pork bologna for the second time this year and another man attempting to bring meth and fentanyl into the U.S. were arrested at an El Paso area port of entry, authorities said. The smuggling attempts and the sentencing of an El Paso financial advisor to prison for stealing nearly $6 million in a fraud scheme ended a busy week for federal authorities. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialists seized 22 large rolls of prohibited pork bologna about 2 a.m., Friday, March 28, at the Paso Del Norte international crossing. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture canine "Harlee" helped officers seize 22 large rolls of prohibited pork bologna being smuggled into the U.S. Friday, March 28, 2025, at the Paso Del Norte international crossing. The specialists also found 60 undeclared Tramadol tablets in the center console of the vehicle. The driver was issued a $1,000 promissory note for the prescription medication violation.

CBS Austin [3/27/2025 9:17 AM, Staff, 602K] reports border crossings are nothing new, but law enforcement officers say a recent attempt in Eagle Pass was unlike anything they’ve ever seen. The situation unfolded in a neighborhood about five blocks from the border. A concerned resident called 911 after spotting a suspicious individual near a drainage area. "He was all dressed in black clothing, and the resident suspected he might be trying to break into homes," said Senior Police Officer Humberto Garza of the Eagle Pass Police Department. When police arrived underneath the bridge near the drainage tunnel, they found two men from Guatemala and Mexico—but quickly realized this was no ordinary border crossing attempt. "The black clothing turned out to be wetsuits," Garza said. The men were also carrying water propulsion devices, sometimes known as underwater scooters—technology more commonly seen in spy movies than in real-life border crossings. "I’ve only seen these in James Bond-type movies," Garza added. Authorities believe the men used the devices to cross the treacherous Rio Grande, which is known for its strong currents and dangerous whirlpools. "How rare is this?" Reporter Jordan Elder asked. "That’s a first for us. We saw that, and we couldn’t believe it," Garza responded. These devices typically retail for $400 to $800 in the U.S., though they may be available at lower prices in Mexico. Despite the cost, the investment signals the extreme lengths migrants are willing to go to bypass border enforcement. Once on U.S. soil, the men were likely planning to either hop onto a train or wait for someone to pick them up, Garza said. Eagle Pass police turned the two men over to Border Patrol, who processed them for expedited removal. Border Patrol agents also acknowledged the cinematic nature of this crossing attempt. The Del Rio Sector Facebook account posted a video of the incident set to "Mission: Impossible" music.

Border Report [3/28/2025 8:46 PM, Dave Burge, 117K] reports a Border Patrol agent was injured and needed to be hospitalized after an ATV crash early Friday morning, March 28 in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, Customs and Border Protection said in a short emailed statement. The crash happened at about 1 a.m. Friday. CBP called it a "single vehicle ATV accident." They did not say how badly hurt the agent was or exactly where it happened. "The family is requesting that their privacy be respected," CBP added in its statement.

Yahoo! News [3/29/2025 12:00 AM, Gabe Chavez, 52868K] reports President Donald Trump has deployed specialized military vehicles to the border in an effort to crack down on illegal immigration. In an effort to enhance border security in line with President Trump’s directives, the U.S. Military has ramped up operations along the southern border. Outside Santa Teresa, a Stryker force has been deployed to help monitor the area. The Stryker teams are a part of the thousands of soldiers already at the border. The soldiers are operating Strykers, a vehicle equipped with surveillance that makes it easier to monitor when someone crosses the border, and they’re designed to traverse rugged terrain like on the vast southern border. "The presence of this type of vehicle, the presence of the DOD here, along with our agents on the field here in the Santa Teresa area of responsibility, we can report that in the last 24 hours we had zero getaways," said one border official. However, this effort has not come without criticism. New Mexico Congressman Gabe Vasquez (D) is calling the move a waste of taxpayer dollars. "I’d be more than happy to take the administration out to some of these remote stretches in places like Hidalgo County and Luna County and show them what a waste of taxpayer resources, and not just that, but military readiness during a time when our troops should really be focused on training for the next generation of military readiness, rather than being essentially on their phones doing nothing" said Rep. Vasquez. The president is reportedly eyeing the possibility of installing a military buffer zone along the border to allow U.S. troops to arrest anyone who they catch illegally crossing.

Los Angeles Times [3/28/2025 1:14 PM, Nathan Solis, 13342K] reports that the Coachella Valley Unified School District has apologized to the U.S. Border Patrol after one of its recruiters was barred from attending a high school career fair earlier this week. The border patrol officer was denied from participating in the Coachella Valley High School career fair in Riverside County on Wednesday, which sparked immediate backlash from one of the agency’s leaders in Southern California. "Agendas in Schools? After being invited to a career fair @ Coachella Valley High, the principal told our recruiter to leave - no explanation given," Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino based in El Centro, Calif., said on the social media platform X. "Students depend on leadership promoting an environment of learning and creativity, not agenda driven edicts." A day later, the school district said in a statement the denial was inadvertent and that those involved would face discipline. "We want to make it very clear that we do not condone this behavior, and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken with the involved staff members to ensure this does not happen again," the statement said. "Our students have greatly appreciated the valuable interactions and insights they have gained from learning about careers in Law Enforcement and the Border Patrol."

Miami Herald [3/28/2025 9:36 AM, Veronika Bondarenko, 3973K] reports that established in November 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York City, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in charge of security not just at the country’s airports but also other transportation systems like highways, railways and ports. The agency is, however, most commonly associated with the shoes-off, liquids-poured-out screenings one has to go through before taking a flight. At the start of 2025, TSA released numbers saying that it screened over 904 million passengers and 494 million checked bags in the previous year. Given that it was spearheaded by former president George W. Bush, the TSA seems like a strange target for Republicans in the Trump era. And yet Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) have drafted a bill calling for its dissolution in favor of private security. "The TSA has not only intruded into the privacy and personal space of most Americans, it has also repeatedly failed tests to find weapons and explosives," Lee told Fox News. "Our bill privatizes security functions at American airports under the eye of an Office of Aviation Security Oversight, bringing this bureaucratic behemoth to a welcome end. American families can travel safely without feeling the hands of an army of federal employees."

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 7:45 AM, Mike Taylor, 52868K] reports that a man with contraband in his pants was likely not happy to see a Transportation Security Administration officer. The East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, resident was flagged for a pat-down, and then the agent "asked if he was hiding something," as CBS News reported. He — sheepishly, one presumes — pulled out a five-inch red-eared slider. The live turtle was wrapped in a blue towel. It all went down at Newark Liberty International Airport on March 7. It was unknown if the man would be charged, but he missed his flight. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police confiscated the reptile and were to contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as local animal control officials, according to a news release. The red-eared slider is an invasive species outside Mississippi River drainages. It grows to 11 inches and is a popular pet. But the creature harms ecosystems that are without natural predators of the species. Red-eared sliders outcompete native turtles for valuable resources, including sunlight, and can carry upper respiratory diseases, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "I commend our officer who conducted the pat-down in a very professional manner in an effort to resolve the alarm," said Thomas Carter, TSA federal security director for New Jersey.

Politico [3/28/2025 4:24 PM, Thomas Frank and Dasha Burns] reports the emergency management chief in Texas is under consideration to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, two people told POLITICO. Nim Kidd, head of the state Division of Emergency Management, interviewed for the job last month at the White House and is a top contender to become FEMA administrator, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. White House officials also interviewed Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, one of the people said. Both men are highly regarded in the disaster management world and were considered potential FEMA nominees following President Donald Trump’s election victory. Kidd and Guthrie appear to meet a requirement in federal law that states the administrator must have "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security."

The Hill [3/28/2025 7:11 PM, Rachel Frazin, 12829K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s vow to "eliminate" the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is raising the alarm from experts on disaster assistance, who say it could leave vulnerable communities at risk. Noem this week said she was planning to eliminate the agency but did not elaborate on what that meant. Spokespeople for FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster relief agency, did not respond to questions about whether FEMA’s services would be cut entirely or reshuffled elsewhere. President Trump has also said he would consider "getting rid of FEMA.” Carrie Speranza, president of the USA Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers, told The Hill that if FEMA is shut down, she would be "fearful for this next hurricane season and what that means for survivors.” "You’re talking hundreds of thousands of people that will be impacted with very little resources to help," Speranza said. FEMA helps support communities before, during and after disasters. This includes helping localities with coordinating during a storm, conducting some search and rescue operations and providing funding to help communities rebuild. "The first time people see people in FEMA jackets is when we start going knocking on doors to make sure that we register people so they’re eligible for individual assistance," said Pete Gaynor, who led FEMA under the last Trump administration. "But we have been there from the beginning.” Gaynor said that while the agency could be reformed, it should not be eliminated.

The Hill [3/28/2025 7:37 PM, Rachel Frazin, 12829K] reports the Department of Homeland Security determined that Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) programs that go to "sanctuary jurisdictions" would be subject to a review and potential "termination.” Just because a program goes to such a jurisdiction does not necessarily mean grants will be ended. Instead, a decision will be made based on the grant’s purpose, benefits and risks and "the context of which organization is receiving the award.” The list of grants that could be cut includes a $1.9 billion dollar program to help high-risk urban areas prevent and prepare for terrorist attacks. It also includes a separate $760 million program that helps states and tribes prevent terrorism and a $480 million program that helps states and tribes with emergency preparedness. It has flagged these grants as "red." The document also contains a list of "yellow" programs that could later receive the same treatment. These "yellow" programs include services for major disaster survivors, funds to repair buildings damaged by a major disaster and security programs for nonprofit organizations — including houses of worship.

Politico [3/28/2025 11:41 AM, Thomas Frank, 52868K] reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has frozen nearly $10 billion in disaster aid for nonprofits including hospitals as it seeks to identify funding that could be used to help undocumented migrants, according to agency documents obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. The blocked money had been approved for nongovernmental organizations to rebuild their own facilities after a disaster and to provide services such as short-term housing to survivors. FEMA is reviewing the funding to determine whether it helps migrants in violation of a Feb. 6 executive order by President Donald Trump to "stop funding NGOs that undermine the national interest." The review is part of Trump’s broader crackdown on immigration and other programs that focus on climate change or diversity. "That will adversely impact recovery, whether it’s North Carolina, Los Angeles or West Virginia," former FEMA chief of staff Michael Coen said in an interview on Friday. "In these communities, a lot of the NGOs are a key part of the community and the community recovery process.” "Further review will hold up funding to NGOs," Coen added. Neither FEMA or DHS responded to requests for comment.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 6:05 AM, Loreben Tuquero, 52868K] reports that, after severe storms swept across the U.S. in mid-March, killing more than 40 people, social media posts blamed the Trump administration’s recent firings for weakening emergency communication systems. "Catastrophic tornadoes rip through the southeast and warning systems were not operational because of the Ketamine Kid disbanding the National Weather Service warning system through DOGE!" a March 15 Threads post read. The "Ketamine Kid" appears to be a reference to President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk, who has said in interviews that he takes prescription ketamine. "Folks hit by tornadoes had no tornado warnings … no sirens," a March 16 X post read. "Americans are unsafe without (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).” A March 15 X post that also mentioned Musk said, "I’ve seen reports that people didn’t get tornado alerts on their phones last night, and tornado sirens didn’t go off in their areas.” NOAA spearheads research on oceans, the atmosphere, space and sun. Its National Weather Service branch provides U.S. weather, water and climate forecasts. The Trump administration fired 800 of NOAA’s 12,909 employees Feb. 27, according to news reports. Trump tapped Musk to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency, which has sought to slash government spending. The NOAA firings targeted probationary employees, those who have worked one to three years in their current positions. JoAnn Becker, national president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, told PBS on March 14 that more than 500 probationary NOAA employees were initially terminated, including 108 National Weather Service employees. Some have been reinstated, but it’s unclear how many. Contrary to the posts’ claims, warning systems were operational except for a communications issue in Kansas City, National Weather Service spokesperson Susan Buchanan said. She added that no tornado warnings were needed in the Kansas City areas affected by the outage. These recent weather events did not appear to overwhelm overall emergency communications and response systems after the Trump administration’s cuts. Still, weather experts told PolitiFact they are concerned that the staffing changes will have long-term impact on weather prediction and public safety. "With reduced staffing, there is the potential for fewer ‘eyes on the storm,’" said Joe Sullivan, a Kentucky Emergency Management meteorologist who worked for 13 years as a NWS warning coordination meteorologist. Sullivan said he relies on information from the weather service and the NOAA Storm Prediction Center in his current job.

USA Today [3/28/2025 7:45 AM, Christopher Cann, 75858K] reports that, as wildfires continued to spread across the Carolinas on Friday, storms dropped heavy rain over parts of Texas and Louisiana as forecasters warned of a weekend outbreak of severe weather. Red flag warnings and wind advisories were active Friday throughout the central and eastern U.S., including in North and South Carolina, where a breakout of wildfires has triggered evacuations and destroyed homes. Flood advisories stretched from South Texas and Louisiana as a potent storm dropped 5 to 12 inches of rain. Through the weekend, forecasters say over 100 million people are at risk of severe weather, from torrential rain and possible tornadoes in the Plains region to hail and high winds in the Mississippi Valley, according to AccuWeather. On Saturday, strong storms will impact a zone from Texas to Nebraska, Arkansas and Iowa. The next day, the volatile weather will broaden, bringing a threat of hail, flash floods and possible tornadoes to a large swath of the country, from Michigan to the Gulf Coast. As the storms move eastward, they could snarl traffic and disrupt flights Monday in several major cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. In North Carolina, wildfires continued to spread in parts of the state ravaged by Hurricane Helene about six months ago. The largest of the blazes, the Black Cove Complex Fire, is the "the highest priority fire in the U.S.," leading surrounding states to deploy resources to assist in containing it. The Black Cove Complex Fire, burning outside the city of Saluda, is 3,288 acres in size and 17% contained as of Thursday night, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. Officials have determined it was caused by a downed powerline. Meanwhile, northwest of Columbus, the Deep Woods Fire grew to 3,373 acres and was 30% contained. In South Carolina, two large wildfires have torched 16 square miles of land and have continued to grow in recent days. On Friday, forecasters warned of continued high winds and dry conditions in the region. "Weather conditions tomorrow are a concern for increased fire activity, as relative humidity is expected to fall to 23%, and wind gusts could reach nearly 30 mph," said the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 6:11 PM, Michelle Alfini, 52868K] reports as several fires continue to burn across western North Carolina and South Carolina, the smoke is making its way east, bringing pollution and health risks along with it. The primary concern is a pollutant carried in the smoke called fine particulate matter. That consists of particles carried in the air smaller than the width of a single human hair. Mecklenburg County has partnered with the EPA to place air quality monitors across the county to provide real-time data on pollution levels 24/7. Megan Green, the county’s air quality program manager, said it’s a public health service as these pollutants can irritate our eyes and lungs and increase our risks for cardio and respiratory diseases, in the long-term. "Fine particulate matter can be inhaled into our lungs and can actually pass into our blood stream," she said. The EPA codes air quality from green to purple based on the concentration of ozone and particle pollution. Green said typically, Charlotte stays in the green, but as wildfire smoke moved in Friday morning, the city moved into the yellow. The unhealthy range starts at orange. According to Green, Charlotte typically only sees prolonged periods in that range when there are nearby wildfires. "The most recent was in 2023, when we had several days where we saw impacts from the Canadian wildfires," she said.

FOX News [3/28/2025 10:40 PM, Asher Redd, 46189K] reports more tornadoes in the Southeast put more population centers in the bullseye of what some researchers are calling a new Tornado Alley. A study posted on the American Meteorological Society’s website found that tornadic activity in the Great Plains decreased by 25% in the last 35 years compared to the 35 years prior. In the same timeframe, tornadic activity jumped 12% in the Southeast. Parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky were among the states that have experienced more tornadoes, according to the study. Mark Brasfield, Nashville Safe House Owner, said he’s sold thousands of storm shelters in his 33 years of selling them. He said he’d never seen intense demand in the Southeast until recently. Brasfield estimated his phone rings at least 20 times a day with people looking to buy storm shelters. "It’s like insurance. You don’t think you’re ever going to have to use it, but if you need it, you got it," Brasfield said. Brasfield said his shelters are compliant with the standards set in place by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A quarter inch of steel, reinforced walls and a dozen six-inch bolts help make Brasfield’s shelters withstand the 200-mph winds of an EF-5 tornado. "You get someone that moves here from a state that’s never had tornadoes. They are scared to death," Brasfield said. Lawrence Behrs moved from California to Tennessee 10 years ago. He said he and his wife traded earthquakes and wildfires for tornadoes. "We looked at maps and said, ‘okay, well, where could we move? Where would we be completely safe?’ And I just don’t think that exists anywhere," Behrs said.

AP [3/28/2025 5:41 PM, Tammy Webber] reports in North Carolina, wildfires stoked by unusually dry air and debris from last year’s Hurricane Helene are burning out of control. In Florida, there are dozens of blazes, including one that scorched about 42 square miles in Miami-Dade County. And they continue to burn in Oklahoma, where four people have died this month due to wind-driven fires. Those states were just three of eight where large fires were being reported on Friday. Some 14,800 wildfires have burned 1,105 square miles so far this year — well above the 10-year average, according to data released Friday by the National Interagency Fire Center. Most devastating were the Los Angeles wildfires in January, fueled by dry vegetation and howling winds, that destroyed entire neighborhoods. The National Interagency Fire Center’s significant wildfire outlook notes that several states still have debris from hurricanes Laura, Ida, Debby and Idalia in the past five years, as well as from ice storms and other severe weather.

New York Times [3/29/2025 5:30 AM, Nazaneen Ghaffar, 145325K] reports a severe weather outbreak is taking shape across the central and eastern United States, setting the stage for a weekend of thunderstorms, hail and potential tornadoes. Widespread storms are expected to sweep through a region stretching from Texas to Michigan on Sunday. Some of the most severe weather is expected in the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys, where forecasters said the conditions are right for “very large hail, damaging winds and strong tornadoes.” By Monday, the threat is forecast to move east, affecting a region that stretches from the Southeastern states through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The volatile setup is driven by a cold front that is linked to a storm system moving through the Great Lakes and will collide with warm, moisture-rich air in the South, creating the prime conditions for powerful thunderstorms. “To the warm side of that front in the south, we’ll have enough moisture and instability to get thunderstorms, and some of them could be severe,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center. Severe weather could begin Saturday night in the Midwest, bringing the biggest risk of large hail and strong wind gusts from northeastern Oklahoma through eastern Kansas and western Missouri. However, the threat is expected to become more widespread on Sunday and Monday. The highest risk on Sunday is concentrated over northern Louisiana, Arkansas, northern Mississippi, northwest Alabama, western Tennessee, southeast Missouri and much of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and eastern Ohio. These areas have been placed under an enhanced risk level, three out of five by the Storm Prediction Center. Forecasters warn that “all severe hazards are possible,” including large hail, tornadoes and damaging wind gusts.

CNN [3/28/2025 4:05 PM, Mary Gilbert, 22131K] reports unseasonable warmth is setting the stage for damaging thunderstorms capable of bringing powerful wind, large hail and tornadoes to nearly 175 million people in the central and eastern United States Sunday and Monday. March has already dealt a slew of potent storms and tallied up more tornado reports than as of the same time last year. Some of the same areas hit hard by a deadly storm two weeks ago could end up in the path of the next round of thunderstorms. While this weekend’s forecast doesn’t look to be as extreme, danger could ramp up quickly and there are millions of people potentially in harm’s way. The weekend will start off feeling more like late May or early June from the Plains to the East Coast before a wide-reaching storm and potent cold front develop in the central US and race east. A few severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail are possible Saturday night, mainly from Kansas and Missouri to Iowa, as the storm starts to form. But a much more widespread and dangerous severe weather threat will develop on Sunday once the storm hits full strength.

South Carolina Daily Gazette [3/28/2025 4:23 PM, Skylar Laird] reports wildfires in the Upstate have grown exponentially over the past week, forcing mandatory evacuations as weather conditions and debris from Hurricane Helene impede efforts to stop the flames spreading. No structures have been damaged, and no injuries or deaths have been reported, officials said during a Friday media briefing, one week after the first of the two fires started. Together, the fires in Greenville and Pickens counties had burned more than 10,600 total acres as of Friday morning, officials said. Both fires, which officials said were manmade, remained 0% contained. A statewide burn ban remains in effect. Four teenage hikers have been questioned by police about the Table Rock fire, and "charges are pending," according to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office. The fire is the largest mountain wildfire in state history, surpassing a 2016 fire in the same area that burned 10,000 acres.

AP [3/28/2025 8:19 PM, Jeffrey Collins, 12335K] reports that a large wildfire in the South Carolina mountains has doubled in size on each of the last three days. But fire crews have been able to keep the blaze away from structures. Firefighters battling the Table Rock Mountain fire have concentrated on saving lives and property by digging fire breaks that push the blaze north through undeveloped land on the Pickens County ridges near the North Carolina state line, officials said Friday. No injuries have been reported. Airplanes and helicopters have completed more than 550 water-dropping missions on the Table Rock fire and a second blaze on Persimmon Ridge about 8 miles (13 kilometers) away. But for now it is mostly defense in the Blue Ridge Mountains until the weather cooperates with a soaking rain or lessening winds, South Carolina Forester Scott Phillips said at a news conference Friday at Table Rock State Park. "With these fires and the conditions we are facing in the state right now — the dryness of the fuel, the extremely low humidity, the high winds that we’re having — containment is very, very difficult to achieve," Phillips said. In North Carolina, at least eight fires were burning in the mountains. The largest — the Black Cove Fire and the Deep Woods Fire in Polk County — were becoming more contained. They have scorched about 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) combined but have barely grown late this week.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 5:39 PM, Terry Benjamin II, 52868K] reports South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster joined more than a dozen state and local officials Friday to give updates on the Table Rock Complex fires. "You’ve seen the movie ‘The Perfect Storm’. Well, this might be the perfect fire," McMaster said about the converged fires during a media availability near Table Rock State Park in Pickens County. The Table Rock wildfires grew significantly Thursday, estimated to have burned more than 8,679 acres and growing on the northern and western sides of the blaze. The Persimmon Ridge fire also spread but not as fast and covering about 2,000 acres. According to the South Carolina Forestry Commission, most of the additional acreage resulted from burnouts that crews could conduct between existing firebreaks and the active fire. The governor reminded that the state remains under a burn ban and violators will be prosecuted. "People need to be careful and don’t do these things," McMaster said. Pickens County officials suspect four teens were negligent and started the Table Rock blaze on March 22. The burn ban was issued a day earlier. About 545 firefighters are battling the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge blazes. Crews are concerned about weather conditions into Saturday, as increased fire activity is expected. Humidity is expected to fall to 23%, and wind gusts could reach nearly 30 mph. Scott Phillips, South Carolina Forestry Commission director, said his agency has responded to more than 373 wildfires since the beginning of March. Typically, he said, April tends to be the biggest month for wildfires in the state. "We don’t see significant condition changes that would decrease the wildfire dangers moving into April or into May. This is going to be a long season for us.” Crews will focus on the northern and eastern portions of the Table Rock fire. Homes are to the east of the blaze and the North Carolina state border is to the north.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 6:35 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports multiple fire departments from Ware and Brantley counties are working to get multiple wildfires under control along Highway 82. Nahunta Fire and Rescue said there are "several" fires burning along the railroad tracks from Blount Road to Dixon Road. While firefighters work, several roads along Highway 82 to Central Avenue will be closed. Law enforcement officers are said to be on scene helping to direct traffic. According to Nahunta Fire and Rescue, the following other departments and agencies are also responding: Ware County, City of Waycross, Hoboken, Calvary, Hortense, Waynesville and Georgia Forestry.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 7:14 AM, Cheryl McCloud, 52868K] reports drought conditions continue to impact Florida and no respite is expected Friday, March 28. For the second day in a row, wildfires threatened homes, prompting residents to be evacuated. Thursday afternoon, the Gator Fire in Palm City burned 210 acres. As of Friday morning, it was 50% contained, according to the Florida Forest Service. On the opposite side of the state, residents in a Collier County neighborhood were evacuated as flames came close to their homes Wednesday. As of Friday morning, there were 61 fires in Florida, burning 28,837 acres. Most of Florida’s peninsula is abnormally dry, with two large sections of the state under severe drought conditions, according to the Florida Department of Emergency Management. A red flag warning is issued when "critical fire weather conditions" are in place. "A red flag warning means warm temperatures, very low humidity, and stronger winds are expected to combine to produce an increased risk of fire danger," the National Weather Service said.

AP [3/28/2025 5:32 PM, Valerie Gonzalez and Juan A. Lozano, 1487K] reports drenching rains along the Texas-Mexico border trapped hundreds of people in flooded homes and in cars stranded in high waters, scrambling rescue crews to calls for help that continued Friday even as the downpours let up. At least four people died, including some who drowned. Officials warned that the devastation from the storms — which set records in parts of Texas’ low-lying Rio Grande Valley — was only starting to come into focus. In Mexico, hundreds sought temporary shelter, and videos on social media showed military personnel wading through chest-high waters. On the U.S. side, officials said at least three people were killed in Hidalgo County, where officials said more than 21 inches (53 centimeters) of rain this week soaked the city of Harlingen. The region is rich with farmland, and Texas’ agriculture commissioner said the damage included significant losses to agriculture and livestock. “The bed is the only thing dry right now, because the sofas are soaked. Everything is soaked,” said Jionni Ochoa, 46, from his home in Palm Valley, near Harlingen. He and his wife were still waiting to be rescued Friday as the water inside reached their knees. Hidalgo County officials said in a statement that they did not immediately have more information about the three deaths except that they involved law enforcement efforts. The Mexican state of Tamaulipas reported that an 83-year-old man drowned in Reynosa, which is across the border from McAllen, Texas. Earlier Friday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that the driver of a vehicle suspected of taking part in migrant smuggling tried crossing a flooded roadway in Hidalgo County and plunged into a canal. The agency said the body of one person who drowned was recovered and another was missing. It was not immediately known if those were among the deaths reported by county officials.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [3/28/2025 7:14 PM, Hank Sanders, 145325K]
Border Report [3/28/2025 6:20 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 117K] Video: HERE
Reuters [3/29/2025 1:24 AM, Kanishka Singh, 41523K]
AP [3/28/2025 7:20 PM, Staff, 48304K] Video: HERE
AP [3/28/2025 6:31PM, Valerie Gonzalez and Juan A. Lozano]

Los Angeles Times [3/28/2025 9:43 PM, Andrew Turner, 13342K] reports Laguna Beach has received grant funding for hazard mitigation in connection with development projects for two of its designated fuel modification zones, where combustible vegetation is managed or replaced to mitigate wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Office of Emergency Services awarded approximately $334,000 for the work. Robert Montaghami, the city’s fire marshal, said the two fuel modification zones — identified as No. 16 and No. 19 — refer to Hobo and Diamond canyons, respectively and that he’s hopeful the projects can get underway within a year. "The FEMA project approval and obligation of funds are contingent upon implementation of the fuel modification activities in the two fuel modification zones," Montaghami said. "Vegetation management activities include removing dead and dying fuels, thinning heavy brush, maintaining ember-resistant zones and trimming or removing trees," he said. Montaghami said the city had conducted its environmental studies related to the work. The Coastal Commission requested a restoration project report with submission of an application for the fuel modification project, said Montaghami. The city budgeted $445,470 in the wildfire mitigation and fire safety fund to account for the initial phase of the project, which includes biological studies, environmental design and the entitlement process. No additional appropriation was needed to proceed. "I’ve obviously spent time in both of these fuel mod areas," Councilwoman Hallie Jones said. "There are sensitive environmental resources and huge fire risks. … I’m really happy to see really sustainable fuel mod work happen in these canyons.”

Los Angeles Times [3/29/2025 6:00 AM, Jenny Jarvie, Terry Castleman and Summer Lin, 13342K] reports that, when flames erupted above Pacific Palisades on the morning of Jan. 7, Ben Kahn instructed staff to begin calling disabled Angelenos, even before official evacuation orders came. “Go ask your neighbor for a ride,” was the advice the Disability Community Resource Center gave to people on their registry. They knew people with mobility challenges would need more time to flee. What followed was a frantic DIY rescue effort. City and county officials had no such registry, so DCRC and other groups improvised, calling Ubers and Lyfts, even autonomous vehicles, to pick them up. They flagged high-risk cases — a woman bedridden with serious medical issues — to the city’s Emergency Operations Center, just to make sure they were not overlooked. “We’re kind of doing it on our own,” said Kahn, the DCRC’s disaster coordinator. “You didn’t have time to be stressed. It was kind of nonstop.” By the time a new fire erupted 35 miles away in Eaton Canyon, they had already called hundreds of people. Chaos ensued in Altadena as neighbors scrambled to find cars that could accommodate disabled people and nurses wheeled elderly residents from nursing facilities as embers rained down. Some relatives were unable to get past evacuation checkpoints to save loved ones. The death of 17 people in Altadena has shone a spotlight on L.A. County’s struggle to plan for the evacuation of elderly and disabled in a major disaster. The median age of those killed was 77, and at least a third of them suffered impairments that could affect their mobility. After reporting from The Times revealed that west Altadena did not get official evacuation alerts until nearly nine hours after the Eaton fire started, L.A. County delays in alerting and evacuating vulnerable residents are now the subject of multiple investigations. They have also raised questions of whether officials could have done more to help those in need. “The systems, which were supposed to have been in place for emergencies, not only didn’t function, they didn’t even seem to exist.” said Jenny, whose friend, Patricia McKenna, died in her Altadena home.

Los Angeles Times [3/28/2025 9:30 AM, Ryan Fonseca, 13342K] Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day. The flames were extinguished nearly two months ago, but the long-term public health effects from the Palisades and Eaton fires will be a slow burn. As the devastating blazes consumed homes, businesses, cars and more, they also torched the hazardous chemicals and metal those properties contained. Toxic ash — which may include cancer-causing arsenic and brain-damaging lead — filled the air and settled into the soil in and around the burn zones. As health experts and local leaders work to determine the exposure levels of first responders and affected communities, they’re contending with the pressures of rebuilding quickly and a controversial decision by federal officials. Tested firefighters had elevated toxins in their systems. Researchers shared early results from what’s expected to be a ten-year study into the L.A. fires. The team, which includes scientists and researchers from Harvard, UCLA, UC Davis and USC, took blood samples from 20 firefighters from Northern California who traveled to help contain both blazes. The results showed that the firefighters "had levels of lead and mercury in their blood that was significantly higher than what health experts consider to be safe," Times reporter Salvador Hernandez wrote this week.

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 4:00 PM, Jason Kotowski, 52868K] reports when told a link containing child pornography was found on his phone, Erik Ruiz became distraught. "That’s what I get for trying to watch regular porn," said Ruiz, adding that he was going to kill himself, according to newly-released police reports. The Shafter man and convicted sex offender asked to see an officer’s gun. The officer refused, and asked why he wanted it. Ruiz responded that "his life is over anyways," the reports say. Ruiz has pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing child porn and is due back in court next week. Shafter police on March 5 were notified by a Secret Service analyst that a link to a video containing child porn had been found on Ruiz’s phone, the reports say. The analyst conducted a download of the phone after receiving it from a parole agent who’d taken it from Ruiz in another case. Authorities then executed a search warrant March 21 at Ruiz’s home. Another phone was seized. Ruiz said the phone belonged to his father but he also used it. An officer asked if there was anything on the device that shouldn’t be there. He gave conflicting statements, at first saying he didn’t click on the links and had no idea how much child porn they contained, according to the documents. Later he said he’d access the links and if a video contained children he’d skip it.

90.3 FM Norfolk [3/28/2025 9:10 AM, Steve Walsh] reports two Navy destroyers are part of an expanding military mission along the U.S southern border. The Norfolk-based USS Gravely left more than a week ago and is now in Texas. “USS Gravely is now underway to provide immediate augmentation to the thousands of military personnel already supporting Customs and Border Protection operations, working in close coordination with the US Coast Guard to conduct maritime security operations,” said Adm. Daryle Caudle, the head of Fleet Forces, in a recently released video. USS Gravely’s mission is interdicting drugs and other illegal activity. So far, the ship has not been involved in any interactions, according to U.S. Fleet Forces. More recently, the USS Spruance left San Diego to patrol the west coast. Each ship has a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment team on board. The Coast Guard has worked with the Navy in the past on drug interdiction and other missions requiring law enforcement. Typically, the Coast Guard has primary responsibility for patrolling the waters off the coast of North America. Naval destroyers are much larger than Coast Guard cutters, with crews of 300 sailors and an array of weapons that are less likely to be used in customs enforcement.

ABC 12 Milwaukee [3/28/2025 2:25 PM, Mariana La Roche, 110K] reports a 72-year-old Wisconsin man shared his story of survival after suffering four strokes aboard a cruise ship and being airlifted to safety by the U.S. Coast Guard. Greg Tomensky of Appleton and his wife Mary were 10 days into a 35-day Holland America cruise from San Diego to Hawaii and French Polynesia when the unimaginable happened. "I was ready to go to lunch, and I never made it. I collapsed," Tomensky told ABC News. Medical staff aboard the ship determined Tomensky had experienced four strokes within hours on Feb. 26 while hundreds of miles off Hawaii’s coast. "There was no question that he had to be medevaced," Mary Tomensky said. Dr. Realeboga Sebitso, a senior doctor for Holland America Line, said, "We knew definitely that what this man needed was to be in a stroke unit or a stroke center." Within 24 hours, Coast Guard personnel hoisted Tomensky into a rescue basket and transported him to a hospital in Honolulu on Feb. 27, where he received critical care.

Reported similarly:
ABC 2 Green Bay [3/28/2025 11:09 PM, Staff, 455K]

HS Today [3/28/2025 6:45 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone offloaded approximately 45,600 pounds of illicit narcotics worth more than $517.5 million at Port Everglades last Thursday. The seized contraband was the result of 14 interdictions in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and 35 suspected smugglers were transferred ashore to face federal prosecution in U.S. courts. “You heard it said before that the Coast Guard’s national security cutters are game changers in the counter-drug mission, but they still require a crew of men and women willing to serve on or over the sea, and place themselves in harm’s way,” said Capt. Jonathan Carter, commanding officer of Stone. “I’m incredibly proud of our crew’s performance and their efforts to combat narco-terrorism this deployment. In one exceptional case, the crew interdicted four go-fast vessels in 15 minutes, seizing nearly 11,000 pounds of cocaine that will never be mixed with deadly fentanyl to threaten American lives here at home.”

NBC 11 Minneapolis [3/28/2025 6:15 PM, David Griswold, 100K] reports the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul is off to the Caribbean to assist with counter-illicit drug trafficking as part of its maiden deployment. The ship’s primary mission will be to support the U.S. 4th Fleet area operations, where, according to the U.S. Navy, it will be used for practical exercises and exchanges with partner nations. The USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, which first launched in 2019, left Mayport, Florida, on Wednesday with the "Valkyries" Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron Detachment 3 and U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment.

HS Today [3/28/2025 6:45 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Coast Guard decommissioned Coast Guard Cutter Naushon (WPB 1311) during a ceremony in Homer, Friday, March 21. Rear Adm. Megan Dean, the commander of Coast Guard District 17, presided over the ceremony honoring the nearly 40 years of service Naushon and its crews provided to the nation. Commissioned on October 3rd, 1986, Naushon was the 11th Island-Class cutter to join the fleet. Naushon has been stationed in Homer since 2016 and has since responded to over 50 search-and-rescue cases and completed nearly 900 law enforcement sorties. Naushon is a 110-foot, Island-Class patrol boat, a multi-mission platform that conducted operations to support search and rescue response, marine environmental protection, and national defense. The Coast Guard is replacing the aging Island-Class patrol boats with Sentinel-Class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) which feature enhanced capability to meet service needs. There are currently four FRC’s homeported in Alaska, with two more scheduled for delivery in the near future. “I’m incredibly proud of the partnerships we’ve built and the positive impact Naushon and its crew have had on the local community and economy,” said Lt. Markham Ross, the commanding officer of Naushon. “I’m honored to have had the opportunity to write the final chapter in Naushon’s storied history, and I’m blessed to have served the people of Alaska with the finest crew and cutter in the fleet.”

HS Today [3/28/2025 6:45 AM, Staff, 38K] reports a U.S. Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale law enforcement boat crew seized approximately 550 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $6.3 million, from a suspected drug smuggling venture near Port Everglades, Saturday. The law enforcement crew took custody of the 36-foot vessel, Bella Vita, and transferred the suspected smuggler to Coast Guard Investigative Service agents ashore to face federal prosecution. “Protecting our maritime borders from illicit drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations remains one of our highest priorities,” said Lt. Daniel Sunday, Coast Guard Sector Miami’s deputy enforcement chief. “The Coast Guard and our federal, state and local law enforcement partners remain vigilant in our shared efforts to keep our maritime borders safe by preventing illicit narcotics from reaching our communities.” Law enforcement partners from Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations Southeast Region, Broward County Sheriff’s Office, and Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office assisted in the detection and interdiction.

HS Today [3/28/2025 6:45 AM, Staff, 38K] reports Coast Guard Sector Miami law enforcement officers, along with federal and state law enforcement partners, terminated the voyage of an illegal passenger-for-hire vessel, Sunday, near Indian Creek. The 88-foot motor yacht, The Round, was reportedly operating as an illegal charter with numerous violations and twelve passengers for hire on the vessel. During the investigation, it was found that the vessel’s owner was previously issued a Captain of the Port Order in November 2023. “The Coast Guard along with Coast Guard Investigative Service, state, and local law enforcement agencies will continue to actively enforce all applicable laws to ensure your time on the water is safe and enjoyable,” said Lt. j.g. Jasmine Smith, a Coast Guard Sector Miami investigating officer. “The Coast Guard is committed to protecting passengers and ensuring vessel operators adhere to federal safety standards.” Coast Guard Sector Miami originally issued a COTP order to the vessel’s owner, mandating that any vessels the individual owns or operates to immediately cease commercial operations until they were in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

CBS Detroit [3/28/2025 7:02 AM, Paula Wethington, 51661K] reports U.S. and Canadian officials are monitoring a crude oil spill that was detected Thursday in the Canadian side of the St. Clair River near the Suncor Sarnia Refinery. No impacts to drinking water were reported for Ontario or Michigan residents, although water intake valves were temporarily closed on the Michigan side, according to the Be Ready St. Clair County office in Michigan. In the meantime, Ontario residents were urged to stay away from the river itself, according to a notice from Lambton Public Health in Port Edward, Ontario. The spill was detected about 1 p.m. Thursday "as part of its regular monitoring," Suncor Sarnia Refinery said in a community notification notice. The area of concern was just south of the refinery, with Suncor and Shell crews using booms to contain and limit the spread. The winds were out of the west, heading east toward the Canadian side of the river, at the time. In response to the situation, Lambton Public Health in Ontario issued a notice saying that its residents should avoid using the river water for bathing, drinking and food preparation and use only municipal water sources for the time being. "There have been no known reports of illness associated with this incident," the Lambton health agency said. The U.S. Coast Guard sent its helicopters over the area Thursday afternoon; the office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management also got involved. "We continue to work with local organizations on our response, who are assisting with shoreline assessment and air monitoring in the vicinity," the refinery notice said.

Reported similarly:
CBS 6 Detroit [3/28/2025 12:07 PM, Staff]

Maritime Executive [3/28/2025 3:16 PM, Staff, 325K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard is investigating after an inspection team on Wednesday, March 26 discovered a tank containing hazardous anhydrous ammonia at the terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The tank represents a violation of an order by the USCG issued last month concerning hazardous cargo due to safety concerns. Last month, the Puerto Nuevo Terminal (PNT) was slapped with an order to stop handling hazardous goods among them being anhydrous ammonia owing to the facility’s lack of adequate firefighting capability. Weeks later, a Sector San Juan inspections team discovered an anhydrous ammonia hazardous cargo shipment at the terminal, something they contend poses a significant threat to the safety and security of the facility. The discovery of the hazardous cargo happened during a routine examination. The Coast Guard team conducting the inspection identified three tank containers, one of which was deemed to be a violation because it was holding more than 5,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia. It is a hazardous, highly toxic, and corrosive gas or colorless liquid which is flammable in high concentrations. The product is mainly used for various industrial applications including detergents, pesticides, and fertilizers, among others.

HS Today [3/28/2025 6:45 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Coast Guard conducted a medical transport for an ailing man from U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands last Thursday. Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu watchstanders received notification at 4:35 p.m. Wednesday from personnel assigned to U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll requesting medical transportation for a U.S. government employee with a life-threatening medical condition. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medical transport within 18 hours. At 1:15 p.m. Thursday, an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point landed on Kwajalein Island, embarked the patient and two flight medics, and transported them to the air station in Kapolei, Hawaii. Emergency medical services personnel transported the patient to the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. The man is reportedly in stable condition. “We appreciate Coast Guard District Fourteen’s essential partnership, especially when we have a medical emergency,” said Army Col. Andrew “Drew” Morgan, commander, U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll. “We are in a unique location with great opportunities for mutual support between the Army’s remote base here and our Coast Guard friends in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility.”

CyberScoop [3/28/2025 12:00 PM, Tim Starks and Colin Wood] reports many cyber experts are panning a new Trump administration executive order that would shift more responsibilities for responding to cyberattacks to state and local governments, saying it will leave states holding the bag for a job they aren’t best equipped to handle. The executive order, issued last week, is entitled “Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness.” Its stated purpose is to improve defenses against cyberattacks and other risks, but many expect it will do the opposite. “Federal policy must rightly recognize that preparedness is most effectively owned and managed at the State, local, and even individual levels, supported by a competent, accessible, and efficient Federal Government,” it reads. “Citizens are the immediate beneficiaries of sound local decisions and investments designed to address risks, including cyber attacks, wildfires, hurricanes, and space weather.” A number of cyber experts said it was a misguided document, sometimes in harsh terms, especially as it pertains to where they believe responsibilities should be assigned. “US defense against incoming missiles and other kinetic strikes to be delegated to states,” Joe Slowik, who works on cyber issues in a variety of roles, wrote on the Bluesky social media site. “If that sounds f—ed up to you, then why do the equivalent for state-sponsored cyber ops?” The order also says its goal is to reduce “taxpayer burdens,” something that Tim Harper, senior policy analyst for elections and democracy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said it would not do. “Cuts to federal preparedness and cyber support will not reduce ‘taxpayer burdens,’ they’ll actually shift the cost of cybersecurity services to states and counties, and leave communities more open to cyberattacks on schools, emergency services, and local governments,” Harper said in a statement. “These cuts aren’t about efficiency — they’re about defunding national security and leaving local governments with the bill.” Some experts were less harsh, even saying the order has praiseworthy elements; it makes sense to ensure states have the capacity to defend against cyber threats, and in many ways states best know their needs and risks, they said.

Axios [3/28/2025 9:00 AM, Ivana Saric, 13163K] reports the Tesla Takedown movement is expecting hundreds of demonstrations to take place at the automaker’s showrooms across the world Saturday for what it has dubbed a "global day of action." The protest movement has drawn the Trump administration’s ire and cast Elon Musk’s signature brand into turmoil for his role in slashing the federal government. More than 200 protests are planned at Tesla locations in the U.S. Saturday, organizers announced earlier this month. They also aim for a target of 500 demonstrations around the world. "Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it," the movement’s website stated, urging supporters to take action to stop "Musk’s illegal coup." The movement urges further actions against Musk’s flagship company, imploring people to sell their Teslas and dump the company’s stock. "No one is coming to save us. Not politicians, not the media, not the courts," the website stated. The movement emphasizes that it is nonviolent in nature and that the demonstrations are exercises of freedom of assembly. #TeslaTakedown protests have been bubbling up across the country since the start of President Trump’s second term. Musk’s involvement in the administration have made some Tesla investors uneasy as the company’s stock price has plummeted. Incidents of vandalism in several states led Attorney General Pam Bondi to threaten "severe consequences" for anyone involved.

FOX News [3/29/2025 4:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46189K] reports that, as Americans flock to the streets to enjoy the spring weather this weekend, protesters across the world are set to participate in the pre-planned "Tesla Takedown’s Global Day of Action" on Saturday. The protesters’ goal, according to the organization’s website, is to send a crystal clear message that they are against Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The group describes itself as a decentralized grassroots movement that will "protest Tesla for as long as Elon Musk continues to shred public services." Organizers plan to hold rallies at over 200 Tesla locations across the U.S. Fox News Digital spoke with Joshua Schirard, the director of Byrna Law Enforcement and a former Galveston, Texas police and SWAT captain, on how everyday Americans, as well as owners of the electric vehicles, can stay on high alert. "This weekend, when we have this Tesla Takedown day, have extra situational awareness and put in a little bit more effort into planning what you’re going to do, some routes you’re going to take this weekend," he said. The organization’s website notes that the Tesla Takedown is a "peaceful protest movement.” "We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property," they wrote. "This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.” Despite the organization’s casting the weekend protests as peaceful, past actions have placed the demonstrations in an illegal light. From Oregon to Massachusetts, Tesla cars and facilities have been vandalized in at least 10 locations this year. What began as protests against Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have escalated into violent incidents against the Trump ally’s company, including shots fired at a building, destroyed dealership windows and charging stations set on fire. The rise in incidents has caused the FBI to launch a task force to crack down on Tesla crime, and the Justice Department to announce charges against arson suspects with Attorney General Pam Bondi labeling the attacks "domestic terrorism.” Schirard said that there has "clearly" been communication on how to target Tesla dealerships and owners this weekend. "If I had a Tesla, I might park it for the weekend just to be safe," he said. "I wish we didn’t have to say that, but unfortunately we do.” For Tesla owners, Schirard recommends purchasing a tarp and placing the electric vehicle on its "Sentry Mode," a feature that acts as a surveillance system. When in this mode, the vehicle’s cameras and sensors are able to record activity around it.

FOX News [3/28/2025 7:20 PM, Adam Sabes, 46189K] reports the New York Police Department Hate Crime Task Force is investigating after two men were caught on camera vandalizing a Tesla Cybertruck Thursday. A spokesperson for the NYPD told Fox News Digital the two men carved the word "Nazis" and a swastika onto the doors of the Cybertruck at around 1 a.m. at 730 Monroe Street in Brooklyn. They fled on foot after vandalizing the car and haven’t been arrested, according to the NYPD. Video provided by the NYPD from the Cybertruck’s safety camera shows two men taking turns drawing on the Tesla vehicles. According to the New York Post, another person was seen carving a swastika onto a different Cybertruck earlier in March. Ben Hamo, the Jewish owner of that Cybertruck, told the New York Post, "I feel myself burning inside.” In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Tesla CEO Elon Musk placed blame on the far left for inciting the vandalism on Teslas. "They are being fed propaganda by the far left, and they believe it," Musk said. "It’s the people pushing the propaganda that caused that guy to do it. Those are the real villains here. On Monday, the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives launched a task force focused on the attacks on Tesla. "As always, Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino have been adamant about responsiveness to agents on the ground and providing them the resources they need to serve Americans," FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told Fox News Digital at the time. "This task force is just the latest move in coordinating our efforts to ensure those who violently attack Tesla will be pursued and brought to justice.”

Yahoo! News [3/28/2025 6:41 AM, Erin Pflaumer, 52868K] reports a Tesla parked on the street was vandalized with swastikas and the word "Nazis" in Brooklyn on Tuesday, according to the NYPD. It happened on Monroe Street in Bed-Stuy around 1 a.m. Police said two people are accused of carving the words into the doors of the car. All Tesla vehicles have cameras that surround them and automatically save images of people who come nearby. The car’s owner handed over a video of the two suspects to the NYPD, according to authorities. The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident. At least nine states have reported attacks on Tesla owners and dealerships as co-founder Elon Musk aggressively shrinks the federal workforce as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. "The real problem is not the crazy guy that firebombs a Tesla dealer, it’s the people pushing the propaganda that caused the guy to do it," Musk said during an interview with Fox News. "They are villains and we are gonna go after them.” The FBI announced it’s opening its own investigation into the Tesla attacks, calling them domestic terrorism.

The Hill [3/28/2025 2:32 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports that the New York Police Department (NYPD) is investigating a Thursday vandalism incident involving a Tesla after receiving multiple images and footage from the vehicle’s self-recording features of two men etching words onto the side of the car. In a statement, police wrote that "two unidentified individuals carved the word ‘Nazis’ and a swastika on the doors of a parked unoccupied Tesla vehicle." "The unidentified individuals then fled on foot in an unknown direction. The incident is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force," according to the statement. Law enforcement is asking those who might know the identity of the vandals to step forward. The case is one in a series of similar assaults on Tesla products across the country over disdain for CEO Elon Musk who has helped order mass layoffs and funding cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency. Attorney General Pam Bondi has pledged to prosecute crimes against Tesla vehicles as an act of "domestic terrorism" due to the onset of violence. The FBI this week also established a task force to investigate the wave of vandalism and arson against Tesla.

AZCentral [3/28/2025 8:00 AM, Mary Walrath-Holdridge and Gabe Hauari, 4457K] reports a Las Vegas man accused of setting several cars on fire at a Tesla service center last week has been arrested and faces federal charges. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Paul Hyon Kim, 36, made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court Thursday, where he faces one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of arson. Kim was arrested by Las Vegas police on Wednesday and remains in federal custody, the Justice Department said in a news release. The DOJ said law enforcement officials executed "various state search warrants related to this case," including a search of Kim’s home, where they found "various firearms, including an AR style rifle consistent with the firearm used in the March 18 incident and with a suppressor on it," a black hoodie, face masks, and a handwritten note that appeared to be an escape plan. "The Department of Justice has been clear: anyone who participates in the wave of domestic terrorism targeting Tesla properties will suffer severe legal consequences," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in the news release. "We will continue to find, arrest, and prosecute these attackers until the lesson is learned.” If convicted, Kim faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm charge and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, up to a maximum of 20 years, for the arson charge, according to the DOJ. Kim accused of using Molotov cocktails, gun to destroy cars. In a statement released on March 18, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) said they received several reports of flames at the collision center around 2:45 a.m. local time. When they responded, officers allegedly found the word "RESIST" spray painted in red on the building and several cars on fire.

The Hill [3/28/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports the inadvertent inclusion of a journalist on a Signal group chat discussing attack plans means officials likely violated the Espionage Act and public records laws while flouting guidance on how to discuss sensitive information. The contents of the discussion, shared by The Atlantic, show the group chat started by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz included discussions about the timelines and targets of an impending airstrike on Houthi rebels in Yemen as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the 19 members on the chat a rundown of operations. "I can’t fathom it doesn’t violate the Espionage Act," Mark Zaid, a national security law expert, told The Hill. "You should also think of whether it violates the Federal Records Act by the fact that they had the messages set to destroy, with no indication, as far as we know, that they were preserving them, which is required.” The administration has denied that the chat contained classified information — a claim congressional Democrats have called laughable. "I mean, it is very clearly classified under the executive order," that governs such information, Zaid said. "I couldn’t think of something more obvious.” However, the Espionage Act — the law the Trump administration would most likely turn to as it vows to ramp up its own prosecution of leakers — doesn’t rely on classification. Instead, it allows prosecution of those who share national defense information, whether intentionally or inadvertently. "While you can argue that it wasn’t classified — probably in bad faith — you cannot argue that it was not national defense information," said Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, a non-profit law firm. McClanahan said members of the chat group may have violated different sections of the law, even as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth contributed the bulk of the information about the impending attack. "Waltz plainly violated [Section] 793(f) of the Espionage Act, the gross negligence," law, he said. "That’s the ‘don’t be a dumb a–’ law.”

Reuters [3/28/2025 11:00 AM, Daniel Wiessner, 41523K] reports that the administration of President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit claiming that dozens of labor contracts between unions and federal agencies are invalid because they impede Trump’s abilities to purge the federal workforce and protect national security. The departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and four other agencies sued in Waco, Texas, federal court late on Thursday seeking a ruling that an executive order issued by Trump earlier in the day excluding certain agencies from collective bargaining requirements allows them to cancel existing contracts. The agencies sued the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal worker union with more than 800,000 members, and about three dozen of its local affiliates. The local unions represent thousands of workers employed by the eight agencies at military bases, veterans’ hospitals and other government facilities, mainly in Texas. The agencies claim the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden entered into collective bargaining agreements with the AFGE in the months before Trump took office to block him from firing federal workers en masse and pursuing other priorities.

Federal News Network [3/28/2025 12:06 PM, Drew Friedman, 1089K] reports that President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to end collective bargaining for any agencies dealing with "national security," affecting a majority of federal agencies. A White House fact sheet on Thursday outlined a number of agencies with mission areas that will see their collective bargaining agreements removed — including any involved in national defense, foreign relations, cybersecurity, border security and public safety, among many others. "President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him," the fact sheet states. "He will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions.” Specifically, the order will cancel collective bargaining agreements at the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, State, Treasury, Justice and Energy, as well as the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Nuclear Regulatory Commission, International Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission and General Services Administration. The order also impacts components of the departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/28/2025 12:28 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K]

Newsweek [3/28/2025 7:17 PM, Micah McCartney, 3973K] reports that United States defense treaty ally the Philippines will host another American missile system capable of targeting Chinese military facilities in the contested South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday. The news follows last year’s high-profile delivery of a midrange missile system that drew sharp criticism from China over its potential to reach the Chinese coast. The second unit is of a shorter range but could still escalate tensions and the risk of miscalculation. The Philippines and China are locked in a long-running territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Beijing claims sovereignty over upward of 90 percent of the strategic waterway and has accused Manila of acting as a pawn in U.S. efforts to contain China. Speaking alongside Philippine defense officials in Manila on Friday, Hegseth criticized China’s aggressive behavior in the region and said a U.S. Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, launcher would be deployed to the Philippines next month as part of the alliance’s largest annual exercise, Balikatan. Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Army, Philippine Armed Forces, and Chinese Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

AP [3/28/2025 3:39 PM, Tara Copp, 2600K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s younger brother is serving in a key position inside the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser, Hegseth’s office confirmed. The high-profile job has meant meetings with a UFC fighting champion, a trip to Guantanamo Bay and, right now, traveling on the Pentagon’s 747 aircraft as Hegseth makes his first trip as defense secretary to the Indo-Pacific. Phil Hegseth’s official title is senior adviser to the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and liaison officer to the Defense Department, spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson said in a statement Thursday. “Phil Hegseth, one of a number of talented DHS liaisons to DOD, is conducting touch points with U.S. Coast Guard officials on the Secretary’s Indo-Pacific trip,” which includes stops in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and Japan, Wilson said in response to a query by The Associated Press. Border security, the responsibility of DHS, has been highlighted as one of the top priorities for President Donald Trump, and thousands of U.S. troops have been deployed to the border to assist DHS with curbing illegal immigration.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [3/28/2025 3:19 PM, Gabe Whisnant, 52220K]

Wall Street Journal [3/29/2025 12:00 AM, Katherine Long, Max Colchester, Daniel Michaels and Lindsay Wise] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions. One of the meetings, a high-level discussion at the Pentagon on March 6 between Hegseth and U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey, took place at a sensitive moment for the trans-Atlantic alliance, one day after the U.S. said it had cut off military intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The group that met at the Pentagon, which included Adm. Tony Radakin, the head of the U.K.’s armed forces, discussed the U.S. rationale behind that decision, as well as future military collaboration between the two allies, according to people familiar with the meeting. A secretary can invite anyone to meetings with visiting counterparts, but attendee lists are usually carefully limited to those who need to be there and attendees are typically expected to possess security clearances given the delicate nature of the discussions, according to defense officials and people familiar with the meeting. There is often security near the meeting space to keep away uninvited attendees. Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Hegseth, isn’t a Defense Department employee, defense officials said. It isn’t uncommon for spouses of senior officials to possess low-level security clearances, but a Pentagon spokesperson declined to say whether Jennifer has one. Jennifer didn’t respond to requests for comment. Jennifer Hegseth also attended a meeting last month at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels where allied defense officials discussed their support for Ukraine, according to two people who attended the meeting. Hegseth’s brother Philip Hegseth has also been traveling with him on official visits, the Pentagon said. The Brussels meeting, which took place on the sidelines of a February conference of NATO defense ministers, was a gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a U.S.-led forum of some 50 nations that periodically meets to coordinate on production and delivery of weapons and other support for Ukraine. At the closed-door discussions, national representatives routinely present confidential information, such as donations to Ukraine that they don’t want to be made public, according to officials.

Bloomberg [3/28/2025 5:00 PM, Joshua Freeman and Phil Hahn, 1492K] reports that both Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of “very” constructive talks on Friday, even though planned U.S. tariffs on Canadian vehicles are still expected to go ahead on April 2, after which Canada is expected to retaliate with counter-tariffs. Despite no definitive movement on the promised levies after a phone call between the two leaders, Carney told reporters in Montreal on the campaign trail that they still made “progress,” and that the president also “respected Canada’s sovereignty today in public and private comments.” When asked whether the president indicated that Canada might be exempt from the April 2 tariffs, Carney said, “It’s still the case that we will have tariffs.” Carney said Trump’s goal was to “transform the American economy, and because of that he will transform the world economy, including the Canadian economy,” by targeting strategic sectors including steel and aluminum. “We can make progress in this situation, but this is different from the world of 1990 and the world of NAFTA and even the USMCA,” said Carney in French. “The key here … momentum has changed; we need to react and we can react.” Earlier Friday in the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a “very, very good” talk with Carney and that he expects that “things are going to work out very well” between Canada and the U.S.

New York Times [3/29/2025 5:11 AM, Jeffrey Gettleman and Maya Tekeli, 330K] reports Vice President JD Vance spent three hours in Greenland on Friday touring a U.S. military base, on a contentious trip pushed by the Trump administration and angrily opposed by Greenlanders. In remarks with reporters, Mr. Vance said the United States had to “wake up” to China and Russia’s designs on the island. “We can’t just bury our head in the sand,” he said, “or, in Greenland, bury our head in the snow.” President Trump has been insisting that the United States take over the icebound island, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark and has been connected to Denmark for more than 300 years. Mr. Trump has been fixated on Greenland since his first term in office and recently vowed to “get it — one way or the other.” Mr. Vance took a softer tone, saying that the United States would respect Greenland’s right to self-determination and that using military force, which Mr. Trump refused to rule out, would not be necessary. But Greenlanders have resisted the overtures. The government of Greenland did not invite Mr. Vance or the others in his group, which included his wife, Usha, as well as the national security adviser and the energy secretary. Protests had been planned in Nuuk, the capital, where Ms. Vance was originally scheduled to visit, and that part of the trip was scrapped a few days ago. Instead, the entire visit was reduced to the Pituffik Space Base, a missile defense station far from any town — or any chance of an embarrassing TV moment. The White House’s original plan was for Ms. Vance to attend a famous dog sled race this weekend and see other cultural sites, in an effort to bring the United States and Greenland closer. The plan backfired. Protesters were gearing up to line the road from the airport into town. Greenland’s government blasted the visit as “highly aggressive.” Even the organizers of the dog sled race said they never asked Ms. Vance to attend in the first place. A spokeswoman for Ms. Vance contested that, saying she had received “multiple invitations.” As the Vances sat down for lunch at the base, Mr. Vance made a colorful remark about how cold it was and said, “Nobody told me,” prompting laughs.

Jefferson Public Radio [3/28/2025 5:09 PM, Franco Ordoñez, 37K] reports that Vice President JD Vance told the people of Greenland that they would be better off being part of the United States than Denmark in remarks during a visit to a U.S. military base in the Arctic territory on Friday. President Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring the territory, sparking a sharp reaction from Greenland and Denmark. Vance said Greenland has the right to self-determination — and said he did not anticipate that the United States would forcibly annex the territory. "I think that you’d be a lot better having coming under the United States Security umbrella than you have been under the Denmark security umbrella," he said during remarks at Pituffik Space Base. "Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change, and because it hasn’t changed, this is why President Trump’s policy in Greenland is what it is," Vance said. Vance made the trip to the Danish territory with the second lady, Usha Vance, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other leaders.

Newsweek [3/28/2025 11:55 AM, Jordan King, 3973K] reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are "increasingly designating the Far North as a staging area for possible conflicts" while talking about President Donald Trump’s plan about the United States acquiring Greenland. Newsweek has contacted the White House and NATO via email for comment on Friday. Trump has repeatedly spoken about his desire for the U.S. to take over Greenland, telling reporters on Tuesday that America should "go as far as we have to go" to gain control of the Arctic island, which is an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. He has previously said that annexing Greenland is needed for "world security." Politicians in Greenland and Denmark have firmly rejected the idea, but Trump has not ruled out military action and fears are ongoing about the far-reaching consequences of Trump making a move. There are worries about how an American takeover of Greenland, both NATO countries, could affect the alliance and how it could provoke Moscow, which has already warned Washington against acquiring Greenland.

CBS News [3/28/2025 3:45 PM, Staff, 52868K] reports that Lithuania’s president said Friday that he hoped for "a miracle" as he visited the site of a rescue operation to recover four missing U.S. Army soldiers from their submerged vehicle. The four soldiers, assigned to the Army’s 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, went missing early Tuesday morning during a maintenance mission to recover another U.S. Army vehicle in the Pabrade training area, near Lithuania’s border with Belarus, during a scheduled training missing, the Army has said. Search and rescue teams were at the scene on Friday using heavy military equipment and excavators to remove silt from the body of water where the vehicle was found on Wednesday. "I am still hoping for a miracle," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told reporters in Pabrade. "Although many sceptics would probably say that there is nothing to hope for in these circumstances, I want to believe." In a statement issued Friday, the U.S. Army said the hulking, 70-ton M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the missing U.S. soldiers had been operating "was found submerged approximately 15 feet under a body of water and mud in a boggy area" connected to a nearby lake. "The area around the site is incredibly wet and marshy and doesn’t support the weight of the equipment," the U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s public affairs office said in a statement Friday. "Draining the area has been slow and difficult due to ground water seepage," it said. "This will be a long and difficult recovery operation, but we are absolutely committed to bringing our soldiers home," said Curtis Taylor, Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division.

ABC News [3/29/2025 5:41 AM, David Brennan, 34586K] reports the American embassy in Syria has warned all U.S. citizens to leave the country due to "the increased possibility of attacks" during the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of March, which marks the end of Ramadan in the Muslim world. The embassy posted a notice to its website late on Friday cautioning citizens of potential attacks targeting "embassies, international organizations and Syrian public institutions" in the Syrian capital Damascus. "Methods of attack could include, but are not limited to, individual attackers, armed gunmen, or the use of explosive devices," the embassy notice said. "Leave Syria now," it added. The State Department’s current travel advisory for Syria is at level 4 -- its highest alert meaning Americans are advised not to travel to the country for any reason. "This advisory remains in effect due to the significant risks of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, hostage-taking, armed conflict and unjust detention," the embassy said in its latest notice. The U.S. embassy in Damascus suspended operations in 2012 shortly after civil war erupted between former President Bashar Assad’s regime and a patchwork of rebel groups. Assad was deposed late last year by a collection of opposition forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is now Syria’s interim president. "The U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria," the embassy wrote. "The Czech Republic serves as the protecting power for U.S. interests in Syria.” "U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance should contact the U.S. Interests Section of the Embassy of the Czech Republic," it added.

Reuters [3/28/2025 10:48 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports that chemical weapons inspectors have been taken by Syria’s caretaker authorities to previously unseen production and storage locations dating from the rule of Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled three months ago, sources said on Friday. A team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited Syria from March 12-21 to prepare for the task of locating and destroying remnants of Assad’s illegal stockpile. Five locations were visited by inspectors, some of which had been looted or bombed. Among them were locations that had not been declared to the watchdog by the Assad government, they said. The team was given access to documents and detailed information about Assad’s chemical weapons program, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential details. "The Syrian caretaker authorities extended all possible support and cooperation at short notice," the agency said in a summary of the visit posted online. The OPCW was provided with security escorts and had "unfettered access" to sites and people, it said. No additional details were made public.

Newsweek [3/29/2025 5:00 AM, Tom O’Connor, 52220K] reports that, in the midst of a renewed Israeli military campaign and a U.S. proposal to take ownership of the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli diplomat has told Newsweek that the country had no plans to govern the war-battered Palestinian territory once Hamas was defeated. "I can assure you one thing," Israeli Deputy Consul General in New York Tsach Saar told Newsweek. "We don’t want to be in Gaza in the postwar situation. We don’t want to be there. It will not be Hamas. It will not be Israel.” He added: "But in order to ensure our people’s security, in order to make sure that we will not face the danger of another October 7 from Gaza, Hamas has to be eradicated, or at least its military power and its governance in the Gaza Strip. So, it will not be Hamas, it will not be Israel. Then we have to work with our closest allies and partners, both the United States and other players in the region in order to find a solution for that next day.” The comments came as Israel pressed on with a new offensive in Gaza, scrapping a ceasefire deal that failed to reach its second phase amid dueling accusations from both sides of the conflict. Meanwhile, uncertainty lingers over a territory that has been under Hamas rule for nearly 18 years. Saar said Israel was studying a number of potential plans for Gaza, including those being broadcast from the White House. President Donald Trump has repeatedly proposed the transfer of the roughly 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza to other countries in order to pursue real estate development opportunities in the Mediterranean territory. He has further suggested that the U.S. may establish direct control over Gaza. The concept has drawn severe backlash in the Arab world, but it has caught the attention of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called it "the first good idea I’ve heard" on the issue during a joint press conference with the U.S. leader at the White House last month. Since first introducing the idea, Trump has shifted his messaging to emphasize that he would seek for Palestinians to leave voluntarily rather than be forcibly expelled. This was also Saar’s understanding of the plan, which he called "reasonable," as he praised the U.S. effort to find a new solution to the conflict. "There are many plans and really, I have to say, we have very, very close conversations with the Americans," Saar said. "And they are trying to explore any possibility to bring peace to the region, the wider region, and really doing everything in their power to bring back the hostages.”

Newsweek [3/28/2025 5:58 AM, Micah McCartney, 52220K] reports that, as China’s top diplomat met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo last weekend, Beijing sent conflicting signals to its neighbors—calling for closer cooperation while ramping up its presence in contested waters. The carefully choreographed summit—the first visit to Japan by a Chinese foreign minister in five years—came as long-standing U.S. alliances in the region face new pressure under U.S. President Donald Trump. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with South Korea’s Cho Tae-yul and Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya for the 11th trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting. The officials discussed economic cooperation, security—including North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine—and efforts to revive trilateral free trade talks, according to readouts from the three foreign ministries. Wang’s message emphasized unity came with implied conditions for staying in Beijing’s good graces, including adherence to its interpretation of agreements underpinning China-Japan relations—such as its claim to self-ruled Taiwan. Japan, like the U.S., acknowledges this claim, but has carefully avoided endorsing it. China’s military pressure on Taiwan has raised alarm in Tokyo and is a key factor behind Japan’s efforts to bolster its defense capabilities and deepen cooperation with the U.S. and other partners in recent years. "In a world with notably rising uncertainties and instabilities, China stands ready to work with Japan and the ROK to enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation, resist disruption, and together contribute to regional and global peace and prosperity," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during Monday’s press briefing. "As a Chinese saying goes, close neighbors are better than relatives far away," he stated, in what appeared to be a reference to the United States. Even as the diplomats touted greater stability, China intensified its presence near disputed waters, renewing Japanese concerns. Japan’s coast guard reported that Chinese coast guard vessels had stayed inside Japanese territorial waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands for 92 hours—the longest incursion since Japan nationalized the islands in 2012. In remarks to Japanese lawmakers on Monday, Iwaya said Beijing was "clearly escalating" the situation. The uninhabited island group, known as Diaoyu in China, is administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing. Washington has affirmed that its security treaty with Tokyo extends to the Senkakus, making the islets a "potential—if unlikely—flashpoint.”

Newsweek [3/28/2025 5:47 AM, Ryan Chan, 52220K] reports a giant Chinese coast guard vessel, also known as the "monster ship," staged a show of force in the contested East China Sea that borders Japan, a treaty ally of the United States. China has the largest maritime law enforcement fleet in the world, the Pentagon said in its assessment report on the Chinese military power last December, with over 150 regional and oceangoing patrol vessels that weigh more than 1,000 tons in displacement in service. Among China’s coast guard ships are the two 12,000-ton "monster ships," the CCG-2901 and the CCG-5901. They are the world’s biggest ships designed for maritime law enforcement, three times heavier than the Legend-class cutters of the U.S. Coast Guard. The China Coast Guard (CCG) has maintained a persistent presence around the Senkaku Islands, a group of islets in the East China Sea that is ruled by Japan but claimed by both China and Taiwan, known as the Diaoyu Islands and the Tiaoyutai Islands, respectively. The China Coast Guard recently dispatched a ship formation to an undisclosed location in waters in the East China Sea for "high-intensity specialized training" that ran for five days, the military channel of the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday. Released footage shows four vessels, including the CCG-2901, participated in the training, which saw them sail in formation and carry out replenishment at sea training. The ships overcame undesirable sea conditions such as strong winds and waves, according to the report. A Chinese media commentator noted the significance of the so-called "multidirectional" replenishment at sea training, claiming that this was only observed in the Chinese navy in the past, suggesting the coast guard is preparing for "oceangoing navigation training.” During this training, the CCG-2901 served as a replenishment ship while the three other coast guard vessels, which are smaller in size, were seen sailing around it—two were transiting alongside and one was following behind—for replenishment while underway.

Washington Examiner [3/28/2025 12:50 PM, Mike Brest, 2296K] reports that the United States military will deploy more advanced capabilities to the Philippines as one part of the two nations’ continued and developing relationship, senior leaders from both countries announced on Friday. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his counterpart, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr., on Friday during his first trip to the Indo-Pacific region as the Pentagon’s leader. Hegseth announced that the U.S. would deploy the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, a mobile, ground-based anti-ship missile launcher, to the Philippines, in addition to unmanned surface vehicles, for an annual military exercise between both militaries next month known as Exercise Balikatan. U.S. special operations forces will train together with the Philippine Marines on complex landing scenarios in the Batanes Islands. "We agreed on the next steps to reestablish, that’s key, reestablish deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region," Hegseth said alongside Teodoro. "What we’re dealing with right now is many years of deferred maintenance, of weakness, that we need to reestablish strength and deterrence in multiple places around the globe." The U.S. has sought to strengthen its partnerships across the region to ensure "a free and open Indo-Pacific," which is a reference to threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party, widely considered to be the U.S.’s most formidable adversary.

AP [3/28/2025 11:27 AM, Aaron Favila, 52868K] reports that the United States, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal in an unsettling moment, but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. "There was a time when they attempted to maneuver closer but, again, we challenged them," Philippine navy Commander Irvin Ian Robles told reporters on board the frigate BRP Jose Rizal. The latest naval drills, called the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity, were opened for the first time to a small group of Manila-based media, including an Associated Press photojournalist, since such high-seas maneuvers and joint naval sails began last year. During the daylong maneuvers, the BRP Jose Rizal, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, the DDG Shoup, and a Japanese multi-mission frigate, the JS Noshiro, sailed in formation and communicated by radio. U.S. and Philippine helicopters flew around. A small group of American sailors from the DDG Shoup used a speedboat to transfer to the BRP Jose Rizal and hold discussions with Filipino counterparts. "We are here to support our allies and support a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone," U.S. Navy Lt. Alexander Horvath told the AP.

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