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

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

The Washington Post [4/30/2025 3:47 PM, Maria Sacchetti, Marianne LeVine and Mariana Alfaro, 31735K] reports President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection was questioned Wednesday about his handling of a criminal probe into the 2010 death of a 42-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico who was severely beaten by agents in federal custody. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the top Democrat on the finance committee, kicked off former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott’s confirmation hearing by reiterating the concerns he expressed in a letter he sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem last week regarding accusations that Scott improperly intervened in the criminal probe into Anastasio Hernández Rojas’s death. Wyden said Scott was a top Border Patrol official in the San Diego sector in May 2010 when agents clobbered Hernández with batons and shocked him with a Taser. Hernández’s death days later was ruled a homicide, and it led to protests and multiple investigations. The Justice Department declined to prosecute the agents in 2015, alleging that Hernández had methamphetamine in his system and that prosecutors could not disprove agents’ allegations that they used reasonable force to restrain a detainee who resisted being deported. But CBP internal affairs officials at the time criticized Scott’s issuance of the subpoena to obtain Hernández’s medical records. Noem responded to Wyden in a letter dated Tuesday, describing Scott as a "dedicated and honorable public servant." She added that "no less than seven local and federal investigatory bodies reviewed the circumstances of Mr. Hernandez Rojas’ death, and none found evidence of actions that were inconsistent with law, regulation, or policy." Noem acknowledged that Scott signed "an administrative subpoena" but said his actions were "consistent with law and agency policy." Wyden said Wednesday that Noem’s letter was unsatisfactory and said she did not respond to his request for documents or provide specifics about the subpoena. The Los Angeles Times [4/30/2025 7:00 PM, Andrea Castillo, 13342K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s response Tuesday did not include documents. She called Wyden’s "uninformed" account of Scott’s alleged role in the investigation "infuriating and offensive.". Noem said Scott was not at the scene when the incident occurred, had limited involvement with an internal investigative team that reviewed the case, and didn’t impede external investigations or conceal facts. "No less than seven local and federal investigatory bodies reviewed the circumstances of Mr. Hernández Rojas’ death, and none found evidence of actions that were inconsistent with law, regulation, or policy," Noem wrote. Roxanna Altholz, director of the Human Rights Clinic at UC Berkeley Law, which represents the family of Hernández Rojas, said in a statement that the family has never received a full accounting of how the investigation was handled. "His family has spent years asking the same question: How can 17 agents of the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, Customs and Border Protection, beat to death a man in public in front of dozens of eyewitnesses on videotape without consequence?" she wrote.The Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 2:35 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports Democrats at the Senate Finance Committee hearing said they were concerned about several incidents in Scott’s past at Border Patrol, as well as how he would carry out the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. "If confirmed as commissioner, I will take a lead role in providing America with real border security, as the 9/11 report highlighted, securing our nation is a team sport," Scott testified Wednesday morning. "I’ve been on this team for over three decades, and I’ve learned a lot. Our borders must be secured not just to protect a line on a map, but to defend the American people, our values, and our way of life." Trump nominated Scott to be CBP commissioner in early December 2024. At the time, Scott’s nomination drew broad support and excitement from Border Patrol agents nationwide. Scott’s vote before the committee will take place at a later date. The San Diego Union Tribune [4/30/2025 9:19 PM, Alex Riggins, 1682K] reports that once approved by the committee, Scott’s nomination will go to the full Senate for confirmation. If confirmed, he’ll oversee some 60,000 employees in an agency that’s part of the Department of Homeland Security. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem last week stating he has "serious concerns about the gross failures of integrity and leadership (Scott) has shown" in connection with the Hernández Rojas case.

Reported similarly:
Los Angeles Times [4/30/2025 7:00 PM, Andrea Castillo, 13342K]
The Hill [4/30/2025 9:53 AM, Staff, 12829K] Video HERE
FOX News [4/30/2025 3:20 PM, Charles Creitz, 46189K]
Telemundo52 [4/30/2025 6:03 PM, Clara Ramirez, 101K]

CBS News [4/30/2025 8:40 AM, Tony Dokoupil, Caitlin Yilek, 51661K] reports immigration officials flew a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras last week because her mother, who faced deportation, "wanted her child with her," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says. Noem spoke about the case, which drew alarm from a federal judge, in a wide-ranging interview with CBS News at the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, covering President Trump’s immigration crackdown and some of the ensuing legal controversies. Mr. Trump retook the White House on a promise of tighter border security and a crackdown on illegal immigration. Now, 100 days in, the administration is touting a 95% drop in illegal crossings along the southern border, and the fewest "encounters" reported there in decades. But when it comes to removing the millions of undocumented immigrants who have already crossed into the U.S. or overstayed their visas, the Trump administration has faced legal pushback. "We’ve been doing this correctly. We’ve been building cases. We’ve been going after the worst of the worst and doing it the right way," Noem said. A number of federal judges aren’t so sure, including most recently in the case of the undocumented mother who was deported to Honduras on Friday. Her 2-year-old — a U.S. citizen — was also removed from the U.S. with her before a court could clarify the child’s interests. The result, wrote U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, is the "strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.” "I fundamentally disagree with that. I’m sure that these judges will continue to challenge every single thing that this administration does. We have several activist judges across the country that have made claims such as this. But that mother made a choice for her child and wanted to keep her child with her," Noem said. Some of the judges who have ruled against the administration’s immigration policies were nominated by Republicans, including Doughty — a Trump nominee — and a Reagan-appointed appeals court judge who called the Trump administration’s claims in the case of the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia "shocking.” When pressed on whether those judges are activists, Noem said there are "legal opinions on both sides of that issue. And that’s why we have a court system, so that decisions like that can be appealed and the Supreme Court can make decisions ultimately that will give us much more clarity on what due process is, what it’s defined by, and what it is followed on.” The 2-year-old girl, her 11-year-old sister and her mother were taken into custody Tuesday morning during a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New Orleans. An attorney for the family notified immigration authorities that the girl was a U.S. citizen and emailed a copy of her birth certificate to ICE, according to court documents. But later that day, an ICE agent called the girl’s father and informed him that "they were going to deport his partner and daughters," the documents said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [4/30/2025 9:48 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports in an exclusive interview, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with "CBS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil about a range of topics, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia, deportations that involve children who are U.S. citizens, the theft of her purse, and more. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) CBS Mornings [4/30/2025 7:38 AM, Staff] reports Border Patrol apprehended nearly 138,000 people at the southern border illegally in March of last year, and that number fell to 7,000 a year later. It is a decrease of about 95% in 12 months. Deportation numbers have been slower to change. CBS Mornings went to the border and spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the administration’s goals for immigration control and its limits.

FOX Business [4/30/2025 7:30 PM, Staff, 10700K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, discusses Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s border numbers on ‘The Bottom Line.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/30/2025 4:00 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports as President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigrant gangs, a priority for his administration during his first 100 days in office, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official says violent foreign gangs like MS-13 are feeling the heat. "These gangs are getting increasingly desperate," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. "Designating MS-13 and other gangs as terrorists is certainly helpful. That just gives us broader authorities … as far as deportations go." Immediately upon taking office, McLaughlin said, the Trump administration began partnering with local law enforcement as part of the 287(g) program, specifically because of their knowledge of the local gang scene. "Part of the reason we’re deputizing state and local law enforcement is, of course, we need more law enforcement bodies, but also they know their localities, and they can help us really target these guys and get them out of the country," she said. McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that, so far, 2,394 illegal immigrant gang members have been arrested since Trump took office, adding that this is just the tip of the spear of what the administration intends to accomplish. "This is just the beginning," she said. "This is just 100 days. We want to get these arrest numbers up. We want to get MS-13, Tren de Aragua — these really bad actors — out of our country. And that’s what we’re going to deliver on." Trump’s early efforts have not gone unnoticed by would-be illegal immigrants, who McLaughlin said are reversing course instead of attempting to cross the border, and illegal immigrants already present in the country. "Self-deportation is definitely happening. I mean, we see it in our app, the CBP Home app," McLaughlin said. "And that’s what we want because it’s a lot cheaper. An average deportation and arrest is like $17,000. It’s incredibly expensive, and that’s probably on the conservative side." McLaughlin noted that when illegal immigrants self-deport, it also reduces the danger to law enforcement authorities who risk life and limb arresting dangerous criminals.

NewsMax [4/30/2025 12:29 PM, Jim Mishler, 4998K] reports Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Newsmax that international drug cartels are "increasingly desperate." McLaughlin told "National Report" on Tuesday that direct attacks against border security agents and law enforcement officers are increasing. "We are noticing that these cartels are getting increasingly desperate," she said. "We’ve seen assaults on our law enforcement officers and ICE enforcement officers up 300%. And that is a direct correlation of the desperation. "McLaughlin said the coordinated response by the United States to border security is an "all hands on deck" approach. "So we are working, not just DHS, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, but we’re also working with the Pentagon. Secretary [Pete} Hegseth has been phenomenal on these efforts. "And we are going to use every tool in our arsenal to thwart these bad actors and keep them out of our country and Americans safe." She said the effect on illegal border crossings is something Americans can be proud of. "So we’ve seen huge success at the border," she said. "And we’re going to continue to get our arrest numbers up within the interior of our country. This is something that the American people can be celebrating 100 days into this administration. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [4/30/2025 6:54 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 2454K] reports just before a judge ordered it to do so, the Trump administration agreed to resume paying for attorneys for migrant children who come to the United States alone. But groups that have been struggling to keep such unaccompanied children from being deported said the legal help is still in jeopardy under a Republican proposal put forward in a House committee Wednesday. “I have been doing this work for a very long time, and what I read in this bill took by breath away,” said Jennifer Podkul, vice president for policy and advocacy at Kids in Need of Defense. “This bill not only makes it impossible for children to access protection in the United States, but it would make the government responsible for putting children in even more compromised and dangerous conditions.” The White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the House Judiciary Committee, which considered the measure, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguin, in California’s Northern District, issued a preliminary injunction late Tuesday ordering the administration to resume the money for the legal assistance, which it had stopped in March. Several groups that provided the legal help sued after they were forced to abruptly lay off workers and scramble to find other help for unaccompanied migrant children with pending cases — including some who are victims of trafficking — and, in some instances, withdraw from the cases. Martínez-Olguin had ordered the administration to resume paying for the attorneys in the case. But the plaintiff groups filed additional complaints with the court saying the administration refused to comply with that temporary restraining order. During that time, the administration appealed and also tried to have the judge recuse herself.

FOX News [4/30/2025 10:42 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 46189K] reports U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín is continuing to block the government from cutting off funding for legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children. "This injunction precludes cutting off access to congressionally appropriated funding for its duration," the court ordered. The move to grant the motion for a preliminary injunction came after the court had previously granted a temporary restraining order to the same effect. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Wednesday but did not receive a response by the time of publication. In 2023, then-Vice President Kamala Harris broke a tie vote in the U.S. Senate to confirm then-President Joe Biden’s nomination of Martínez-Olguín to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of California. The judge has previously worked as an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center, according to her biography on the court’s website. "Working at the intersection of immigrant, economic, and racial justice, NILC deploys a multi-pronged strategy to secure lasting, transformational change," the organization notes on its website. The preliminary injunction comes amid a challenge against the government’s move to cut off funding pertaining to legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children.

Breitbart.com [4/30/2025 4:07 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports President Donald Trump’s goal to mass deport millions of illegal aliens from the United States will require better technology at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), akin to technology used in the private sector at Amazon or FedEx, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons says. During the Border Security Expo earlier this month, LMI Principal of Business Development Phil Hassel asked Lyons about where he is "seeing the stresses on the system in terms of the overall logistics throughout?" according to a complete transcript reviewed by Breitbart News. Lyons said ICE is facing challenges with its deportation ICE Air Operations, which he called "amazing" because the agency is "really good at removing folks," though bottlenecks do exist. Lyons said ICE is looking to use Artificial Intelligence technology "or some new type of data-driven initiative, to quicken the nation’s immigration court backlog" where more than 3.6 million cases remain pending. At the same time, Lyons said ICE hopes to carry out larger and larger deportation operations to free up much-needed detention bed space.

NewsNation [4/30/2025 5:31 PM, Ali Bradley, Jeff Arnold, 6866K] reports the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the investigative unit of the federal mail agency, is now assisting federal immigration agents with the enforcement of migrants who entered the United States illegally, NewsNation has confirmed. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not specify the U.S. Postal Service’s role in immigration enforcement but said its participation is part of a "whole-of-government approach to stop the invasion that (President Joe) Biden allowed in." The Washington Post, citing sources and documentation, reported that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service recently joined the DHS task force that is assigned to assist with finding, detaining and deporting immigrants who entered the United States illegally. The report indicated that federal immigration officials are seeking photographs of the outside of envelopes and packages and access to the postal investigation unit’s surveillance systems. Those systems are used to track online account data, package and mail-tracking information, credit card data, financial material and IP addresses, the Washington Post reported.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/30/2025 4:44 PM, Elizabeth Crisp, 12829K]
FOX Business [4/30/2025 5:09 PM, Eric Revell, 10702K]

NPR [4/30/2025 3:07 PM, Juliana Kim, 29983K] reports federal agencies have stepped up their efforts over the past few weeks to find potential leakers, and some — like the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense — are turning to polygraphs to help with the search. On Tuesday, the FBI confirmed to NPR that it has started using polygraph tests to track down employees who may have been leaking information to the press. When asked about the use of polygraph exams, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, "The Department of Homeland Security is a national security agency. We can, should, and will polygraph personnel." McLaughlin added that suspected leakers will be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law." Polygraph tests have long played a role in criminal investigations, for security clearances, and pre-employment screenings, but their reliability and accuracy have been the subject of debate for decades.

The New York Times [5/1/2025 3:25 AM, Ana Ley, 330K] reports that, Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University, was freed from federal custody on Wednesday, more than two weeks after immigration officials detained him and sought to rescind his green card as part of a widening crackdown against student protesters. In releasing Mr. Mahdawi on bail, Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford of Federal District Court in Vermont drew parallels between the current political climate and McCarthyism. “This is not the first time that the nation has seen chilling action by the government intended to shut down debate,” Judge Crawford said. The release of Mr. Mahdawi, a permanent legal resident, is a defeat for the Trump administration, though it does not mean the end of the federal government’s action against him. His immigration case will continue, but he will be able to fight it from outside a detention facility. Mr. Mahdawi struck a defiant tone after his release. “I am saying it clear and loud, to President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” he said. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has argued that protesters like Mr. Mahdawi have spread antisemitism, while demonstrators say criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza is not antisemitic. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, denounced Judge Crawford’s decision in a post on social media. “When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country,” Ms. McLaughlin said, without offering any evidence to support her accusations. Mr. Mahdawi, 34, had been in custody since April 14, when immigration officials detained him at an appointment in Vermont, where he is a resident, that he thought was a step toward becoming a U.S. citizen. In granting the release of Mr. Mahdawi, Judge Crawford cited his extensive ties to his community and said he did not pose a danger to the public. He noted that the court had received more than 90 submissions from community members, academic experts and professors who know Mr. Mahdawi, “many of them Jewish,” attesting to his character and consistently describing him as “peaceful.” The judge also spoke of the “extraordinary circumstances” of Mr. Mahdawi’s detention and the present moment in history. The government has contended that his presence is a threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States. Federal officials have argued that pro-Palestinian demonstrators have enabled the spread of antisemitism, but they have not provided evidence of that. Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration regards studying in the United States as “a great privilege, not a right,” and that any noncitizen who harms national security or commits a crime “should be promptly deported.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link] NPR [4/30/2025 2:13 PM, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, 29983K] reports Mahdawi’s release comes with some conditions: He must stay in his home state of Vermont, though he is allowed to travel to New York City for his schooling and to meetings with his attorneys. In a statement to NPR, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "The Trump Administration is committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system. No judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that." She said it’s a privilege to be granted a green card.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [4/30/2025 2:47 PM, Alyssa Lukpat, 646K]
Washington Post [4/30/2025 6:55 PM, Joanna Slater, 31735K]
Bloomberg [4/30/2025 2:14 PM, Chris Dolmetsch and Patricia Hurtado, 16228K]
The Hill [4/30/2020 11:17 AM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K]
AP [4/30/2025 5:23 PM, Amanda Swinhart and Holly Ramer, 48304K]
Reuters [4/30/2025 9:33 PM, Luc Cohen, 41523K]
CBS News [4/30/2025 3:11 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE
NBC News [4/30/2025 1:42 PM, Chloe Atkins and Matt Lavietes, 44742K]
FOX News [4/30/2025 11:35 AM, Anders Hagstrom, 46189K]
USA Today [4/30/2025 5:19 PM, Fernando Cervantes Jr., 75858K]
Newsweek [4/30/2025 11:55 AM, Dan Gooding and Gabe Whisnant, 52220K]
Blaze [4/30/2025 1:55 PM, Julio Rosas, 1668K]
Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 12:01 PM, Kaelan Deese, 2296K]

USA Today [4/30/2025 5:19 PM, Fernando Cervantes Jr, 75858K] reports Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi is free after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release only weeks after armed Department of Homeland Security agents arrested him. Mahdawi, who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was arrested by federal authorities back on April 14 while he was arriving to a naturalization interview. Since then, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been holding him at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Vermont. Mahdawi’s release, which came after an order from U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford, comes as other college students like Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk continue to fight for their freedom after being detained by federal agents in recent months. In a statement to USA TODAY, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the judge’s ruling would not stop the Trump administration from "restoring the rule of law to our immigration system."

Reported similarly:
ABC News [4/30/2025 6:47 PM, Laura Romero, 34586K]

New York Post [4/30/2025 6:54 PM, Chris Nesi and Jennie Taer, 54903K] reports alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia once boasted he could kill his wife and "no one could do anything to him," according to a request for a motion for a protective order she filed in 2020. "I also have a [recording] that [he] told my ex-mother-in-law that even if he kills me no one can do anything to him," Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wrote in the document she filed with the District Court of Maryland for Prince George’s County on Aug. 3, 2020. The newly surfaced document preceded a 2021 protective order request she filed against her husband. In that document she alleged he had punched, scratched and grabbed her — with some of the alleged abuse so severe, she was left with bruises and bleeding. The 2020 request for a protective order details a fight the couple allegedly had, with Sura alleging that Abrego Garcia took her phone and demanded her car keys before flying into a rage when she refused. She said she went upstairs to cook breakfast for the kids but Abrego Garcia shut off the stove before locking the children in their bedroom, according to the document. Sura claimed she retrieved her phone from the car and called 911, but that Abrego Garcia had locked her out of the house when she tried to go back inside. He eventually let her into the house, and when officers arrived she said he smashed her phone in front of them, the protective order request says. She wrote in the document that incidents like this had been commonplace, and that she had photos of bruises he had left on her body. "Me and my kids are afraid now. He kicked me, pushed me, slapped me in the face and threatened me," she alleged in the filing. An attorney representing Abrego Garcia’s family didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Washington Times [4/30/2025 6:17 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports Homeland Security said Wednesday that it discovered Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the MS-13 gang suspect at the center of a political and legal battle, had a second domestic violence allegation lodged against him when he was living in the U.S. illegally. Jennifer Vasquez filed a petition in 2020 saying her husband shoved and slapped her and mentally abused her children, including locking them in their bedroom when they cried. Two of the children were his stepchildren and one was his biological son. In one instance in 2019, she said, Mr. Abrego Garcia dragged her by the hair out of the car and left her in the street. She said she also had a recording of her husband saying that "even if he kills me, no one can do anything to him.". "The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children. He had no business being in our country, and we are proud to have deported this violent thug," said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Democrats argue that Mr. Abrego Garcia is a Maryland resident and father whose deportation in March was an affront to justice. Several Democrats have made visits to El Salvador to try to see Mr. Abrego Garcia and demand his return. The Trump administration has called him an odd pick for a martyr. They have highlighted a 2022 traffic stop by police where he had eight people in his vehicle and, authorities said, appeared to be smuggling them. Prince George’s County gang unit police have also concluded Mr. Abrego Garcia was likely a member of MS-13, based on his behavior and information from a confidential informant who identified him by gang rank and nickname.

Breitbart [4/30/2025 8:41 PM, Neil Munro, 2923K] reports the wife of the Democratic Party’s “Maryland Man” reportedly filed a previously unknown 2020 request for protection against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has recently been deported back to his home country of El Salvador, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought the protective order on August 3, 2020, to bar Abrego Garcia from her house in Temple Hills, Maryland. She told the District Court of Maryland: Today, Aug 3, 2020 … I then went to the car + found phone was able to call 911. I try to return inside but he locked all doors. After 5min waiting for police he opened the door and told me to give him the keys. … Police came he acted violent with him. + Broke my phone in front of officer. “The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: “He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug … We have now found two petitions for protection against him, in addition to the fact that he entered the country illegally and is a confirmed member of MS-13. Our country is safer with him gone.”

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/30/2025 3:15 PM, Cameron Arcand, Peter Pinedo, 46189K]
Washington Times [4/30/2025 6:13 PM, Stephen Dinan, 261K]

The Guardian [4/30/2025 1:05 PM, Maya Yang, 78900K] reports Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, said that if Kilmar Ábrego García was sent back to the US, the Donald Trump administration “would immediately deport him again”. Noem repeated White House assertions about Ábrego García, a Salvadorian man who the Trump administration has admitted was mistakenly deported from Maryland last month, in a new interview with CBS. “[Ábrego García] is not under our control. He is an El Salvador citizen. He is home there in his country. If he were to be brought back to the United States of America, we would immediately deport him again,” Noem said of the 29-year-old who entered the US illegally around 2011 after fleeing gang violence. Ábrego García was subsequently afforded a federal protection order against deportation to El Salvador. Despite the order, on 15 March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials deported Ábrego García to El Salvador where he was held in the Center for Terrorism Confinement, a controversial mega-prison.

Washington Post [4/30/2025 3:00 PM, Steve Thompson, 31735K] reports the federal judge overseeing the case of the Maryland resident who was mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador has denied a motion from the Trump administration asking to further delay answering questions about what steps, if any, it has taken for his return. The order on Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis set new deadlines for an expedited discovery schedule, in which four Trump administration officials are scheduled to be deposed in the case of Kilmar Abrego García. It was unclear Wednesday how much more time the Trump administration asked for, but the judge’s order says the depositions regarding the status and return of Abrego García must be completed by May 9. The move came after Xinis last week granted the Trump administration a week-long pause in the discovery, which came with the agreement of Abrego García’s lawyers. Though court filings regarding the pause were sealed, legal observers speculated it was designed to give the Trump administration time to effect some change in Abrego García’s situation. The pause came after the administration said it had held “appropriate diplomatic discussions” with El Salvador. Wednesday’s resumption of discovery proceedings come after a week during which no changes to Abrego García’s imprisonment in El Salvador have been publicly disclosed.

Reuters [4/30/2025 3:16 PM, Trevor Hunnicutt and Susan Heavey, 41523K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has not spoken to El Salvador’s president about returning a man mistakenly deported from Maryland, and the top U.S. diplomat refused to comment on reported contacts with El Salvadoran authorities. Asked if he thought El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele would reject a request from him seeking Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return, Trump said: "I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him." "I really leave that to the lawyers," he told reporters at the White House. In an ABC News interview on Tuesday, Trump said he could help return Abrego Garcia with a phone call but would not, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 10 order for his administration to "facilitate" his release. Trump’s administration has argued that only El Salvador can act, and cited Bukele’s comments in an April 14 meeting with Trump that he would not return Abrego Garcia. On Wednesday, CNN reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bukele were in contact. The New York Times separately reported that a U.S. diplomatic note was sent to Salvadoran officials inquiring about Abrego Garcia’s return but that Bukele’s government said no. Rubio, speaking alongside Trump at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, declined to comment and said he would not disclose any talks to the courts. "The conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the President of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge," Rubio told reporters. "We will conduct foreign policy appropriately if we need to, but I’ll never discuss it." Representatives for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and El Salvador’s presidential office did not respond to requests for comment on the reported contacts.

NewsMax [4/30/2025 8:49 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K] reports President Donald Trump acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that he "could" secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador, but insisted that the deported man is a "tough cookie" and not the "gentleman" he’s being portrayed as in the media. "The person that you’re talking about, you know, you’re making this person sound — this is an MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, OK?" Trump told ABC News anchor and senior national correspondent Terry Moran in an interview marking his 100th day in office. "This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.” Trump’s comments about Abrego Garcia, who an administration lawyer said in court was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, came after Moran asked him what he is doing to comply with a Supreme Court order that the administration must facilitate the Salvadoran national’s return to the United States. "Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us, should not have said that," Trump argued about the court admission. The president added that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his attorneys deny. "He is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland," said Trump. "I’m not saying he’s a good guy," Moran responded. "It’s about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir.” "He came into our country illegally," Trump told him. "You could get him back. There’s a phone on this desk," Moran said, pointing to the phone on the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk. "I could," Trump told him. "And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that. I’m not the one making this decision… You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I’d probably keep him right where he is.” And when Moran contested him, saying the Supreme Court determines the law, Trump argued about immigration and made an apparent jab at former President Joe Biden. "Listen. I was elected to take care of a problem," he said. "It was an unforced error that was made by a very incompetent man, a man that turned out to be incompetent, that you always said was wonderful, a great genius, right? And now you find out, all of the media, now they’re saying what a mistake they made. A man who was grossly incompetent allowed us to have open borders where millions of people flowed in.” Trump added that he campaigned on the issue of immigration and that he’s closed the nation’s borders. "When we have criminals, murderers, criminals in this country, we have to get them out and we’re doing it," he said. Trump also argued with Moran about photographs he had shown from the White House of Abrego Garcia that showed "on his knuckles, he had MS-13.” Moran responded that there is a "dispute" over the photographs and told Trump that some are saying the tattoos shown were photoshopped. "They’re giving you the big break of a lifetime," Trump argued with him. "You know, you’re doing the interview. I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you, but that’s OK. But I picked you, Terry, but you’re not being very nice… he had MS as clear as you can be. Not ‘interpreted.’ This is why people no longer believe the news, because it’s fake news.”

Washington Post [4/30/2025 12:51 PM, Aaron Blake, 31735K] reports the buzziest part of President Donald Trump’s sit-down with ABC News on Tuesday came when Trump insisted — wrongly, repeatedly and vehemently — that Kilmar Abrego García literally had “MS13” tattooed on his knuckles. That image was in fact an edited one. But the most significant part came just before that. Trump, for the second time in a week, undermined the administration’s claims about its ability to get Abrego García — who was wrongly deported — returned to the United States. And it’s quite possible his comments could feature significantly in an ongoing showdown with the courts in which the administration is at the very least flouting court orders — if not outright defying them. Trump’s comments indicate the administration has effectively decided not to get Abrego García returned. And they could be used as evidence that the administration is deliberately violating court orders that said the administration must “facilitate” his return. The administration’s argument for not getting the undocumented immigrant returned after he was wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison last month is largely two-pronged. First, it argues that a Supreme Court order last month actually limited the courts’ ability to dictate its foreign policy actions — even though the court ordered the government to facilitate Abrego García’s return. Second, administration officials have indicated that they have little to no power to get Abrego García back, because he is now in the custody of a sovereign foreign nation, El Salvador. But Trump keeps undercutting that second argument.

(B) NBC News Daily [4/30/2025 3:07 PM, Staff] reports that a Columbia student detained at a citizenship interview is now free on bail. A judge ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi earlier today. In the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, it has been nearly three weeks since the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. President Trump has made new comments about the case.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 5:56 PM, Ashley Oliver, 2296K] reports a federal judge in Maryland set new deadlines on Wednesday for the Trump administration to meet as part of the court’s effort to understand what the government has done to attempt to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia from detention in El Salvador. Judge Paula Xinis said in an order that the government must provide by Monday all outstanding information about its attempts to return Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who the Trump administration says belongs to the MS-13 gang. Four Trump administration officials must also participate in depositions for the case by May 9, the judge said. Information has dripped out into the public since his deportation last month that indicates Abrego Garcia has a checkered past despite having no criminal charges or convictions. His wife accused him of hitting her at least once, law enforcement suspected in 2022 that he trafficked illegal immigrants, and an immigration judge observed in 2019 that the Department of Homeland Security had reliable information that he belonged to MS-13. Still, Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador was erroneous, the government said.

ABC News [4/30/2025 4:06 PM, Laura Romero and James Hill, 34586K] reports a day after ABC News’ exclusive interview with President Donald Trump, an attorney for wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia told ABC News he believes the Trump administration "is talking out of both sides of its mouth." Tuesday, in an Oval Office interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran to mark his 100th day in office, President Trump said he "could" secure the return of Abrego Garcia, and "if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that" -- before adding, "I’m not the one making this decision." Several members of Trump’s administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, have suggested that the matter is the jurisdiction of El Salvador. In a related development, multiple sources told ABC News Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been in touch with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele about Abrego Garcia -- but the details of their contact were not immediately clear. The Trump administration, while acknowledging that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in error, has said that his alleged MS-13 affiliation makes him ineligible to return to the United States.

NBC News [4/30/2025 5:02 PM, Dareh Gregorian, Gary Grumbach and Didi Martinez, 44742K] reports President Donald Trump said in an interview with ABC News that he "could" have Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the United States with one phone call, even though the administration has argued in court that the government has no ability to get him back. At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump said he had not spoken to Bukele about sending Abrego Garcia back. Trump suggested in the ABC News interview that the admission of the mistake was the issue, not the error itself. It’s unclear what impact Trump’s remarks might have on Abrego Garcia’s case. In the ABC News interview, Trump also doubled down on his assertion that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13. He pointed to a picture he posted on social media in which the letters and numbers M-S-1-3 appeared to have been digitally added to Abrego Garcia’s knuckles. In an interview with CBS News that aired Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, "If he were to be brought back to the United States of America, we would immediately deport him again."

AP [4/30/2025 4:21 PM, Bill Barrow, 48304K] reports President Donald Trump says he “could” bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador if he wanted to. But he insists the 29-year-old Salvadoran, who had been living in Maryland and is married to an American citizen, is a member of the violent MS-13 gang and the kind of person who should not be allowed to live in the United States. The Republican administration is dug in on its contention that the government should not have to repatriate Abrego Garcia. The Supreme Court has said the administration must work to bring back him back. For weeks, officials alternated between admitting that Abrego Garcia was deported in error and arguing that the U.S. has no more power in the matter because he is now in El Salvador. But Trump, told during an ABC News interview Tuesday marking his 100th day in office, that he could use the telephone on his Oval Office desk to call El Salvador’s president and ask him to return Abrego Garcia, replied, “I could.” “And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” Trump said. APRIL 18: Homeland Security officials release details about a Tennessee traffic stop in December 2022. Officials say Abrego Garcia was stopped for speeding and the officer suspected human trafficking, but no citations were issued or arrests made. "The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant homeland security secretary for public affairs, says in the statement. "The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking.". In a statement issued through his lawyers, Abrego Garcia’s wife said: "Kilmar worked in construction and sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites. ... He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing. Unfortunately, Kilmar is currently imprisoned without contact with the outside world, which means he cannot respond to the claims or defend himself.".

Wall Street Journal [4/30/2025 3:19 PM, Tarini Parti, Mariah Timms, and Juan Forero, 646K] reports President Trump insisted in a television interview that the man his administration mistakenly sent to a Salvadoran prison has the letters and numbers “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles, as a judge in Maryland presses ahead with an inquiry into what the administration has done to seek the man’s return. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was born in El Salvador and had been living in Maryland after entering the U.S. without authorization as a teen, has symbols tattooed on his knuckles that can be common among those without gang affiliations, including a marijuana leaf, skull, cross and a smiley face with X’s for eyes. Trump posted a photo earlier in April on social media that appeared to show the tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s hand with “MS-13” digitally added above them. The White House has contended that the tattoos are affiliated with MS-13, a gang designated by the president as a foreign terrorist organization. In an interview with ABC News that aired Tuesday night, the president was adamant that Abrego Garcia’s knuckles were tattooed with the name of the gang. “It says M-S-One-Three,” Trump said, dismissing ABC News correspondent Terry Moran’s pushback that the letters and numbers were added to the photo digitally. The interview has renewed focus on one of the most high-profile legal fights to emerge so far from Trump’s campaign to swiftly deport alleged gang members from the U.S. Trump also told ABC in the interview that he could ask the Salvadoran government to return Abrego Garcia. “If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” Trump said. “I’m not the one making this decision.”

FOX News [4/30/2025 1:11 PM, Emma Colton, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump defended the deportation of illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a fiery interview with ABC, pointing to a photo he shared on social media clearly showing the notorious gang’s name tattooed across Abrego Garcia’s knuckles. Other recent photos of the illegal immigrant, however, do not appear to show the tattoo, Fox News Digital found. "Ask any law or immigration enforcement official who’s been on the ground about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tattoos: they’re MS-13," White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital Wednesday when asked about other photos appearing not to show "MS13" tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s hand. "An ICE investigation, a local police investigation, and the government of El Salvador have all determined that he is a wife-beating MS-13 terrorist illegal alien who should never have been in the United States. There is no dispute about these facts." Trump joined ABC News for an interview in the Oval Office that aired on Trump’s 100th day back in the White House, where he defended that Abrego Garcia had "MS13" scrawled across his hand. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [4/30/2025 4:36 PM, Josh Christenson, 54903K] reports President Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has blown up denials from liberal media outlets that purported MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not sporting tattoos for the gang. DEA administrator-designate Terry Cole quickly disabused members of the Senate Judiciary Committee of the notion during his Wednesday confirmation hearing. “Based on your time as a DEA agent in the field, particularly in Mexico, these tattoos are consistent with MS-13 associations?” asked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), holding up a picture of Abrego Garcia’s inked-up knuckles. “Yes, sir, that’s correct,” Cole answered, having earlier said the tats “suggest that he’s an MS-13 member — that those are his markings, that’s his brand.” “Do you know of any other set of combinations that would suggest some other organization this represents?” Graham followed up. “With this particular one, no sir,” the DEA nom affirmed. Abrego Garcia had languished in the El Salvador megaprison for weeks after being deported by the Trump administration — despite an order from an immigration judge barring his removal to that nation in 2019. The Supreme Court later ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return to the US — but cabinet officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have said that would only lead to him being deported again to another country.

Washington Post [4/30/2025 8:30 PM, Sarah Cahlan, María Luisa Paúl, Teo Armus, and Samantha Schmidt, 31735K] reports as the legal battle continues over the fate of Kilmar Abrego García, President Donald Trump has repeatedly cited tattoos on the mistakenly deported man’s knuckles as proof that he is an MS-13 gang member and should not be returned from El Salvador. But several law enforcement officials and researchers who study the transnational gang say the tattoos on Abrego García’s left hand — a marijuana leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull — do not show definitive evidence of any gang affiliation. “A tattoo alone, with nothing more, cannot be the single basis to opine someone is a gang member,” said John Colello, who oversees the homicide division for the district attorney’s office in Los Angeles County, where MS-13 got its start during the 1980s. In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday night, Trump again adamantly insisted that Abrego García is a gang member while referencing a photo circulated by his administration on social media that labels the tattoos on his four fingers with: “M — S — 1 — 3.” “They looked, and on his knuckles he has ‘MS-13,’” the president said in the interview. “He had MS-13 on his knuckles, tattooed. … It says MS13. … Go look at his hand, he had MS13. … He had MS as clear as you can be.” A White House spokesperson did not respond to specific questions Wednesday about how the Trump administration determined Abrego García’s tattoos were evidence of gang activity.

New York Times [4/30/2025 6:28 PM, Shawn McCreesh and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, 145325K] reports during an interview with Terry Moran of ABC News on Tuesday, President Trump insisted that the man his administration had mistakenly deported to El Salvador had a gang name tattooed on his hand. “On his knuckles,” Mr. Trump said, “he had MS-13.” Pause the tape. Rewind it to about a week earlier, when Mr. Trump in a social post held up a photograph of the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, showing him with four tattoos, one on each finger. There was a leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull. Above those symbols the alphanumeric term “MS13” had been superimposed onto the photo, essentially serving as a caption, decoding the tattoos. (Some gang experts have questioned whether they are truly MS-13 symbols.) In the interview with Mr. Moran, the president appeared to believe that the characters that had been typed onto the photo he triumphantly held up in his social media post were in fact tattoos themselves. Mr. Moran gingerly tried to correct the record about that, but Mr. Trump was having none of it. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Hey, Terry. Terry. Terry.” Mr. Moran tried again: “He did not have the letter —” “Don’t do that,” Mr. Trump cut in. “M-S-1-3. It says M-S-1-3.” When Mr. Moran said that those characters had been photoshopped onto the picture, Mr. Trump looked positively mutinous. The exchange went around and around as the president continued to claim, with increasing exasperation, that these numbers and letters that he so badly wanted the world to see did in fact exist in ink on this man’s knuckles. He could not bring himself to admit that Mr. Abrego Garcia did not have the words “MS-13” tattooed on his hand. “Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’” Mr. Trump finally said to Mr. Moran, “and, you know, go on to something else.” Asked about the exchange on Wednesday, Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, asserted that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s tattoos were the insignia of the violent gang. But Mr. Desai declined to answer questions about why Mr. Trump would not accept that Mr. Abrego Garcia does not in fact have “MS-13” tattooed on his hand, and that the photograph Mr. Trump had posed with in his social media post had been altered.

CBS News [4/30/2025 10:20 PM, Mike Hellgren, 51661K] reports a Maryland judge on Wednesday refused to give the Trump administration another extension to provide information on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to a Salvadoran prison in what the government called an "administrative error.” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis — who ordered the government to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia’s return — has sparred with the Trump administration for weeks. She ordered expedited discovery on any steps the administration has taken to bring back Abrego Garcia, and accused the administration of a "bad faith refusal" to answer questions last week. Xinis delayed the discovery process for seven days last week. But she declined the Trump administration’s request for another delay Wednesday, signing a new order directing the Trump administration to "answer and respond to all outstanding discovery requests" by Monday. She also set a new timetable of deadlines over the next two weeks. The government’s reasons for requesting delays — and Xinis’ reasons for denying — remain unknown because the administration’s motion was sealed from public view. Xinis will allow the depositions of four government officials — Robert Cema, Evan Katz, Michael Kozak and Joseph Mazzara — "no later than Friday, May 9.” Cerna, a field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, previously swore under oath that Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador was an "administrative error…This was an oversight." In 2019, a judge forbade Abrego Garcia from being sent to El Salvador, citing a fear he could be persecuted by gangs there. The other three staffers also filed court papers in Abrego Garcia’s case. Katz was an ICE official, Kozak worked at the State Department and Mazzara was deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security. Xinis ordered that, "By no later than Wednesday, May 7, plaintiffs may move for leave of court to conduct two additional depositions of individuals with knowledge and authority to testify regarding the matters.” Prior to granting a stay last week in the discovery process, Xinis largely rejected the Trump administration’s claims that it had adequately answered questions from Abrego Garcia’s legal team, writing the government showed a "willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.”

ABC News [4/30/2025 2:08 PM, Katherine Faulders, Laura Romero, and James Hill, 34586K] Video HERE reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been in touch with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongfully deported last month to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, multiple sources familiar with their contact told ABC News. The details of their contact were not immediately clear. ABC News’ Karen Travers asked Secretary of State Rubio about Abrego Garcia at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting in Washington, and he would not say whether there had been any form of contact. "I’ll never tell you that," Rubio said. "And you know who else? I’ll never tell a judge, because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge." A spokesperson for the State Department said, "We do not comment on reports of private diplomatic negotiations, regardless if they are real or not." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
CNN [4/30/2025 7:17 PM, Priscilla Alvarez, Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid, and Alayna Treene, 22131K]

Blaze [4/30/2025 5:45 PM, Julio Rosas, 1668K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear he does not believe the judicial branch of the federal government is in control of a president’s foreign policy when he was asked about Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday. "Have you been in touch with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia?" the reporter asked. "Well, I would never tell you that. And you know who else I’ll never tell? A judge. Because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge," Rubio replied. "So we will conduct foreign policy appropriately, if we need to, but I’ll never discuss it. And no one will ever make us discuss it because that’s how foreign policy works," he added.

USA Today [4/30/2025 1:53 PM, Erin Mansfield, 75858K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States is in talks with multiple countries to try to get them to take people from third countries who are in the United States illegally. "We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries,’" Rubio said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30. "‘Will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the further away the better, so they can’t come back across the border." Rubio emphasized that the conversations are with "not just El Salvador." He didn’t name the countries, but the Washington Post reported earlier this month there could be as many as 30. Rubio said the United States has also sought to have countries take back their own citizens who are in the country illegally and had "historic cooperation."

FOX News [4/30/2025 1:39 PM, Diana Stancy, 46189K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration’s decision to send an accused MS-13 gang member back to his native country of El Salvador – and said the U.S. is seeking other countries to do the same. "I say this unapologetically: We are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. So we are active, not just El Salvador," Rubio said Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. "We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries.’" "We do that as a favor to us, and the further away from America the better so they can’t come back across the border," Rubio said. "I’m not apologetic about it. We are doing that." The "president was elected to keep America safe, and get rid of a bunch of perverts and pedophiles and child rapists out of our country," he said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [5/1/2025 4:00 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports "Politically motivated" criminal charges have been dropped against a South Dakota ranching family whose lives were turned upside-down after the Biden administration prosecuted them over a 25-acre land dispute last year, federal officials said. Charges against Charles and Heather Maude, who own the 400-acre Maude Hog and Cattle, were dropped Tuesday night by President Donald Trump’s Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins held a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning with the Maudes, officially announcing the end of the ordeal. "Thanks to the leadership and the unequivocal and bold leadership of President Trump and his directive to put Americans first, we have the pleasure to announce that the criminal prosecution of the Maudes is now over," Rollins said during the news conference. "They will not be driven from their home. They will not be jailed. They will not be fined. And their children will grow up with the mother and the father they love and who love them." The Maudes were charged with theft of federal property last year when the Biden administration’s U.S. Forest Service (USFS) said they were using federal grasslands adjacent to their property for grazing without permission, according to Tri-State Livestock News. The couple, who are both fifth-generation South Dakotan ranchers, reportedly held a USFS National Grasslands grazing allotment in good standing since USFS’ inception, which was well after the Maude family purchased the farm in 1910. When Biden’s USDA notified them that fencing on their property blocked access to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, they agreed in good faith to a survey of the property lines, the USDA said. Instead of settling the issue over the small patch of land, the Biden administration brought criminal charges against the family, claiming that they "did knowingly steal, purloin and convert to their own use National Grasslands managed by the United States Department of Agriculture, a department and agency of the United States, namely, approximately, 25 acres of National Grasslands for cultivation and approximately 25 acres of National Grasslands for grazing cattle, having a value in excess of $1,000 and did aid and abet each other, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 641 and 2." Charles and Heather Maude each faced up to 10 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. Rollins invited Heather Maude to the podium to speak on behalf of her family on Wednesday. "We are incredibly grateful to the Trump administration and all of these great players that have done so much so quickly relative to what we were facing before to get us where we are today," Maude said. Maude, who also descends from five generations of farmers, spoke briefly about their families’ histories of fighting for freedom. "We are both fifth-generation farmers and ranchers. Our families have a combined 250-plus years of production agriculture," she said. "We paused briefly in that pursuit in our grandfathers’ generation, when both of my grandfathers fought in World War II. Charles’s great-grandmother is a four-star war mom, meaning that four of her sons went to war and all four went home." "But before and after fighting for the freedoms of this nation, we have pursued our primary passion that led Charles and I to meet each other, which is our production, agriculture," she said. “For all American farmers, ranchers, and producers who are subject to the similar egregious lawfare from the Biden administration, we will work with our counterparts, including my great colleague Kristi Noem, and others across the Trump government, to address any other government overreach in situations like this. We must ensure that our farmers and ranchers have not and will not be targeted for living the American way of life." Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke out about the case in a Monday news release. "The prior administration’s misguided agenda must be reversed in order to make America safe again," she said. "This Department of Justice will spend our resources and efforts on prosecuting criminals, getting drugs off the streets, and identifying and dismantling the weaponization."

(B) American Agenda [4/30/2025 2:08 PM, Staff] reports that in a news conference today held by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the administration announced it has dropped all criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude. The Maude family faced prosecution under the Biden administration in what officials describe as a politically-motivated case. The charges stemmed from a longstanding dispute over 25 acres of land.

The Hill [4/30/2025 11:18 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports House Republicans on Wednesday advanced legislation to back a series of President Trump’s immigration priorities, raising fees on those seeking refuge in the United States while boosting resources to detain and deport a record number of migrants. The measure advanced by the House Judiciary Committee includes funding to support the removal of 1 million migrants a year — a lofty goal that would well outpace the number of deportations carried out by any prior administration. That was coupled with $45 billion in funding to detain 100,000 migrants — almost triple the daily average under former President Biden and more than double the rate currently detained under Trump. The Judiciary panel’s bill comes alongside one weighed in the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, where Republicans added more than $45 billion to construct Trump’s border wall, forecasting 700 miles of new construction, along with new river barriers and other barriers. Both measures, along with those crafted by other committees, will be combined into one massive package full of Trump’s domestic priorities that Republicans aim to pass with only GOP votes. The bills were excoriated by Democrats who called the package of immigration policies antithetical to American values, particularly as the Trump administration expels migrants — in some cases to a Salvadoran prison — without court hearings to review claims of criminality. "My colleagues say these extreme measures are necessary to deport gang members, violent criminals, ‘the worst of the worst.’ But the Trump Administration is not targeting the worst of the worst. They’re arresting judges. They’re using federal agents to round-up law-abiding members of our communities with no criminal records, parents of American children, husbands and wives of American spouses—people who pose no threat to public safety," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. "If Donald Trump can sweep noncitizens off the street and fly them to a torturer’s prison in El Salvador with no Due Process, he can do it to citizens too, because if there is no cue process, no fair hearing, you have no opportunity to object.” Under the Judiciary package, asylum seekers for the first time would be charged $1,000 to apply for the protection offered to those fleeing danger and persecution. It’s currently free. The bill rolls out a series of other fees: $1,000 for those who enter the U.S. under parole, $3,500 for sponsors of unaccompanied children, and $500 for Temporary Protected Status, a protection from deportation given by the Department of Homeland Security for those from a country where dangerous conditions limit their return.

Bloomberg Government [4/30/2025 3:29 PM, Alicia A. Caldwell and Ellen M. Gilmer, 1085K] reports that President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee US border security operations pledged responsible spending as Congress prepares to send his agency an unprecedented multibillion-dollar boost to carry out Trump’s immigration crackdown. The Senate Finance Committee held its nomination hearing Wednesday for Rodney Scott to lead Customs and Border Protection. Scott, who helmed the US Border Patrol during the first Trump administration before being pushed out of the job early in the Biden administration, faced pointed questions about his past actions and future strategy at a time when the GOP is dramatically reshaping border enforcement and trade.

ABC News [4/30/2025 3:19 PM, Matt Rivers, Doc Louallen, Osej Serratos, Laura Romero, Armando Garcia, and James Hill, 34586K] reports a controversial deportation program targeting alleged gang members has become the latest flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, as civil rights advocates warn of due process violations and questionable deportations. The administration’s most controversial move came in mid-March, when Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act -- an obscure law allowing presidential deportation powers when there is a threatened "invasion" of U.S. territory. This led to hundreds being deported to CECOT, despite court orders to turn the deportation flights around. Some civil rights attorneys argue the policies violate U.S. law. But there is no question Trump’s policies have had a stunning impact on the southern border. After reaching all-time highs over and over during the Biden administration, border crossings have plunged to near-record lows since the inauguration, statistics show, with the administration’s supporters crediting the deterrent effect. However, there are also mounting concerns over wrongful deportations and removals of people with no criminal records. The policies’ future remains uncertain since they rely largely on executive actions that a future administration could reverse without congressional action.

CNN [5/1/2025 4:00 AM, Tami Luhby, 22131K] reports President Donald Trump’s drive to deport immigrants and block new arrivals could chip away at Social Security’s finances at a time when the program is already on shaky financial footing, experts say. In addition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s push for more removals, the Trump administration is also trying to convince certain immigrants to "self-deport." The efforts include entering more than 6,000 immigrants’ names into the Social Security Administration’s database used to track dead people, which effectively cuts them off from being able to work, access financial services and receive public benefits. The move targets those who may have entered under programs that have ended, such as the Biden administration’s temporary work initiatives. These actions, however, could cut off a funding stream for Social Security. "Immigrants overall actually help bolster the finances of Social Security," said Jack Smalligan, a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute and co-author of a proposal to address Social Security’s trust fund shortfall in part by increasing employment and family-based visas. "Immigrants are very important right now, especially as we see a very low birth rate among Americans. Immigrants tend to be younger and contribute to Social Security throughout their lifetime.” Legal immigrants and many undocumented workers without employment authorization pay Social Security taxes, analyses show. Some undocumented immigrants use fake Social Security numbers or ones they may have had before their work permits lapsed. In 2022, for example, undocumented immigrants paid nearly $100 billion in federal, state and local income taxes, including nearly $26 billion in Social Security taxes and $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. (The report takes into account both employer and employee contributions to Social Security and Medicare taxes.). But they are not eligible to receive Social Security benefits if they are not lawfully in the US. "The federal government is essentially receiving free money from these undocumented immigrants," said Marco Guzman, senior analyst at the institute. "They are contributing to a system they will not benefit from. Who is benefiting? It’s American citizens.”

Breitbart [4/30/2025 7:54 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 2923K] reports House Republicans touted President Donald Trump’s accomplishments at the U.S.-Mexico border and his success at getting dozens of countries to the trade negotiation table as his biggest wins during his first 100 days in office in exclusive interviews with Breitbart News this week. Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) said there are a "bunch of major accomplishments" that should be pointed out but said it all starts with the president’s display of "strength.". "You’re talking about strength on the international stage and strength in domestic policy, both," the congressman told Breitbart News in the U.S. Capitol on Monday. "If you look at the international stage and what he’s doing to set a standard of leadership, we have 75 plus countries now coming to the table willing to negotiate tariff deals — all of whom understand and recognize that they need to treat the United States more fairly.". Expanding on Trump’s strength on the international front, Moran added that he has put "fear" into "bad-acting" countries such as Iran that cannot get away with what they could during the Biden administration. "He’s also helped on the international stage with a number of bad-acting countries that I think actually fear what could come out of the White House if they continue to act in a bad way. Iran is one of those examples," he stated. "And I think Iran really fears the reprisal that would come from President Trump if they act as they did under President Biden.". Moran said Trump’s biggest show of strength on the domestic side has been "securing America’s border," bringing up how there has already been a more than 90 percent decrease in border encounters from March 2024. "March 2024 to this March, almost 250,000 down to about 27 or so thousand in one month. That 90 percent decrease is incredible, and that shows what the will of a president can do if he’s going to enforce the rule of law… So strength would be the way I would characterize the first 100 days.".

Reuters [4/30/2025 5:50 PM, Nate Raymond, 24727K] reports a divided federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s bid to lift an order blocking the U.S. Social Security Administration from giving the Elon Musk-spearheaded Department of Government Efficiency unfettered access to the data of millions of Americans. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a 9-6 vote declined to put on hold an injunction issued by a judge in Maryland who concluded the agency likely violated a federal privacy law by providing DOGE unlimited access to records. Republican President Donald Trump’s administration could potentially now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. White House spokesperson Liz Huston in a statement said Trump "will continue to seek all legal remedies available to ensure the will of the American people is executed.". DOGE has swept through federal agencies as part of an effort by Trump and billionaire ally Musk to root out wasteful spending, slash jobs and dramatically overhaul the federal government. The injunction at issue was secured by two labor unions and an advocacy group that sued SSA, Musk, DOGE and others in February, seeking to stop DOGE members from accessing some of the agency’s most sensitive data systems. The SSA, which sends checks to 73 million retired and disabled Americans each month, is seen as a crucial provider of benefits. Musk has falsely claimed that millions of deceased Americans are still receiving Social Security checks and that the system is rife with fraud. Trump, who has repeatedly pledged not to cut Social Security benefits, has also said it is beset with fraud. U.S. Circuit Judge Robert King in a concurring opinion on Wednesday said "this highly sensitive personal information has long been handed over to SSA by the American people with every reason to believe that the information would be fiercely protected.". King, who like the other judges who voted against staying the injunction was appointed by a Democratic president, said that principle "has been flouted by the sudden grant to DOGE of unfettered access to SSA systems of record.". He said evidence cited by Baltimore-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander in her April 17 decision showed that DOGE had no need for such access, which exceeded that allowed to all but a few experienced and trusted SSA employees.

NewsMax [4/30/2025 2:12 PM, Solange Reyner, 4998K] reports President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the move by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to pull all grants for Harvard University was "good," as "the students they have, the professors they have, the attitude they have is not American." "A grant is a grant. We don’t have to give grants. So we’ll pull back the grants," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting after Noem relayed the news. Harvard earlier this month said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus. Hours later, the federal government said it was freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the Ivy League school. In a letter to Harvard in mid-April, Trump’s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs. The federal government said almost $9 billion in grants and contracts in total were at risk if Harvard did not comply.

CNN [4/30/2025 11:11 PM, Betsy Klein and Sarah Owermohle, 908K] reports the White House characterized recent steps by Harvard University to rectify its apparent mishandling of antisemitism as “positive,” but signaled Wednesday that the university needs to do more to crack down on what it sees as anti-Israel bias on campus for the flow of federal funding to resume — and even suggested more money could be cut. “What we’re seeing is not enough, and there’s actually probably going to be additional funding being cut. So we’re not having a conversation of what is, you know, releasing the spigot again. We’re not. The spigot is closed. If anything, getting tighter right now,” a White House official told CNN when asked about Harvard’s recent actions. “But there is an avenue, a very clear avenue, a very real situation in where, you know, they can commit to what we’re asking — reasonable asks. This isn’t something like not reasonable, where we could have a conversation about funding,” they told CNN. Earlier this month, the federal government’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism froze over $2 billion in federal funding to the Ivy League institution. Harvard sued the Trump administration over the freeze last week. The administration says its task force, created following a February executive order, is intended to crack down on antisemitism on campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war. But even prominent Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and Harvard’s chapter of the Hillel student organization, have publicly questioned the administration’s broad attacks on the university. The White House put Harvard grants on hold because the university would not provide the administration with information about alleged “criminal activity” of its students, according to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. “We pulled back their grants, because Harvard isn’t responding to us about criminal activity by their students, and until they give us that list, they’re not getting any more grants from Homeland Security,” Gabbard said during a cabinet meeting Wednesday afternoon. The same day, Harvard announced that it has shared data with the Department of Homeland Security in response to the agency’s request for information on the illegal activity and disciplinary records of international students, an update from the university’s Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick said. The Harvard Crimson was the first to report the announcement. The university responded to the request “to provide information required by law,” Weenick said, but didn’t share additional information on what records were shared. DHS gave Harvard until Wednesday to respond to the demand. Weenick added the university told DHS in its response that it has a “steadfast commitment to sponsor the visas that facilitate our international students’ study” and has no intention to exit the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. The Trump administration is expected to formally communicate with Harvard again in the coming days.

Washington Times [4/30/2025 3:06 PM, Matt Delaney, 1814K] reports a federal judge in Virginia agreed Wednesday to let the Justice Department drop its criminal case against the suspected East Coast leader of MS-13, giving the Trump administration the green light to deport the alleged gang member to El Salvador’s terrorist mega prison. District Judge Claude Hilton sided with prosecutors’ decision to dismiss the lone gun charge they brought against Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, 24, after he was arrested in March in a dramatic predawn raid. Prosecutors have not shared any evidence alleging his role as a shot caller in the Salvadoran gang. Court documents said Mr. Villatoro Santos, who is in the country illegally, was ordered back into federal custody following the hearing. His defense attorneys argued that an "unlawful deportation" is on the horizon. The Justice Department has cited an 18th-century wartime law to forgo due process and remove hundreds of alleged members of MS-13 and Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua — both of which the White House has labeled as foreign terrorist groups. Nearly all of those suspected gang members are being sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. Mr. Villatoro Santos’ lawyers sought to appeal the prosecution’s criminal case dismissal so the defense could prepare to fight the suspect’s likely deportation. Defense attorney Muhammad Elsayed previously said that his client faces the possibility of being locked up in the 40,000-inmate mega prison permanently based on scant evidence. "In that event, it is almost certain that Salvadoran authorities would immediately detain him upon arriving in El Salvador and detain him indefinitely at CECOT without any trial or due process based on the United States Government’s public pronouncements that he is a ‘top leader’ of MS-13," Mr. Elsayed wrote in an April 10 motion. "The risk of this turning effectively into a life sentence without any due process is very real.". The only link to the gang was offered in the criminal complaint when FBI agents said they found "indicia of MS-13 association" in the defendant’s bedroom during the March 27 raid. Mr. Villatoro Santos’ arrest was celebrated by President Trump, and Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were on the scene in Woodbridge, Virginia, to praise the capture of the suspected ringleader. "America is safer today because one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13 is off the streets," Ms. Bondi said.

FOX News [4/30/2025 4:43 PM, Diana Stancy, 46189K] reports Republican lawmakers are launching an effort that would require the nation’s capital to abandon its sanctuary city policies. As a result, the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act would eliminate sanctuary city laws in the District of Columbia and bar Washington, D.C., from implementing any policy that allows it to circumvent complying with Homeland Security and ICE on detainer requests for illegal immigrants. Washington has a series of sanctuary city policies. The legislation aligns with initiatives from the White House to crack down on sanctuary cities.

USA Today [5/1/2025 3:47 AM, Thao Nguyen, 75858K] reports two men have been arrested and charged for allegedly playing key roles in operating "one of the most heinous online child exploitation enterprises" federal authorities have ever encountered, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Leonidas Varagiannis, 21, and Prasan Nepal, 20, are accused of leading "764 Inferno," a core subgroup of a U.S.-based criminal online network known as "764," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The group targeted vulnerable people, specifically children, online and used violent tactics that were designed to induce self-harm, a criminal complaint states. "764 is a network of nihilistic violent extremists who engage in criminal conduct in the United States and abroad, seeking to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors," the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release April 30. "The 764 network’s accelerationist goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States Government." Varagiannis, who is known online as "War," is a U.S. citizen residing in Greece and was arrested in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on April 28, prosecutors said. Nepal, known as “Trippy,” was arrested on April 22 in North Carolina. The two men allegedly conspired with and directed at least half a dozen other members or prospective members of "764 Inferno" to commit malicious crimes, according to the criminal complaint. They face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted, prosecutors said. Federal authorities have referred to "764" as a "nihilistic violent extremist" network that operates within the United States and across the world. The group is one of several online-based cybercrime networks within a broader network known as “the Com,” which includes violent and cybercriminal activity, according to Reuters and CyberScoop. In March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned in a public service announcement that there has been a "sharp increase" of "764" activity and other related violent online networks. "These networks methodically target and exploit minors and other vulnerable individuals, and it is imperative the public be made aware of the risk and the warning signs exhibited by victims," the FBI said. "These networks exist on publicly available online platforms, such as social media sites, gaming platforms, and mobile applications commonly used by young people."

Daily Caller [4/30/2025 10:40 AM, Jason Hopkins] reports federal prosecutors have charged two Ukrainian nationals with unlawfully voting in an American presidential election, the latest case of non-citizens allegedly participating in federal elections. The Ukrainian women — 53-year-old Svitlana Demydenko and her 22-year-old daughter, Yelyzaveta Demydenko — are accused of voting in the 2024 presidential election in Palm Beach, Florida, on Oct. 31, according to the Justice Department. The pair made their initial appearance in West Palm Beach federal court on Tuesday. In a public statement celebrating the charges, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting initiative within the Trump administration better known as DOGE, assisted with the investigation. “In partnership with [DOGE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement] arrested two Ukrainian nationals for illegally VOTING in the 2024 election,” Noem posted Tuesday on social media. “Under President Donald Trump, if you come to our country and break our laws, you will face the consequences.” Under the Biden administration, Svitlana and Yelyzaveta lawfully entered the U.S. in April 2021 on non-immigrant visas, according to the DOJ. While residing in Florida in August 2024, the mother and daughter registered to vote in federal elections using a system that mandates certification of U.S. citizenship, which neither of the women had. News of the Ukrainian nationals’ unlawful participation in the 2024 election came just a day after federal prosecutors revealed that an Iraqi man, Akeel Abdul Jamiel, allegedly voted illegally in the 2020 U.S. election. Jamiel — a 45-year-old Iraqi national who is not an American citizen — knowingly voted on or around Nov. 3, 2020, in the presidential elections held that year in Saratoga County, New York, according to federal court documents. He is not currently living in the U.S. any longer and federal prosecutors have yet to take him into custody. “Election security is and will continue to be one of the FBI’s highest national security priorities,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig Tremaroli said in regard to Jamiel’s charges. “Americans have a right to expect free and fair elections and the FBI is committed to working with our partners to seek justice for anyone trying to interfere with the democratic process.” Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, thousands of Ukrainians have sought haven within the U.S. In the waning days of his administration, President Joe Biden extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ukraine, a decree allowing more than 100,000 Ukrainian nationals under TPS to remain in the U.S. for at least another 18 months. The charges against Jamiel and the Ukrainian women come after the House of Representatives on April 10 passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, legislation that calls on states to obtain proof of citizenship prior to registering an individual for any federal election and require state officials to remove all non-citizens from existing voter rolls. The bill remains incredibly unpopular with the Democratic lawmakers, with just four House Democrats joining their GOP counterparts in voting in favor of the legislation.

Breitbart [4/30/2025 9:54 PM, Paul Bois, 2923K] reports police in Florida have been ordered to stop enforcing immigration law in that state, a federal judge ruled this week. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that an order blocking police from enforcing state immigration law applies to all local authorities. According to Fox News, Williams also told “attorneys for the state during a hearing in Miami on Tuesday that she planned to issue a preliminary injunction against a statute that makes it a misdemeanor for undocumented migrants to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials.” The ruling came in spite of Florida Attorney General James Ulthmeier telling local police in his state that they did not have to follow her original order. Williams called Ulthmeier’s dismissal offensive. “What I am offended by is someone suggesting you don’t have to follow my order, that it’s not legitimate,” Williams said.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 2:36 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 2296K] reports a Florida federal judge said she was "surprised and shocked" on Tuesday when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter to local police saying they didn’t need to follow her order pausing a new immigration law. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a temporary restraining order earlier this month against a statute that makes it a misdemeanor for undocumented migrants to enter Florida by evading immigration officials. "What I am offended by is someone suggesting you don’t have to follow my order, that it’s not legitimate," Williams said. She told state attorneys that she would issue a preliminary injunction against the law, which was passed in February. Williams extended her temporary order by 11 days after hearing that about 15 people, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, were arrested. Williams said in an order on Tuesday night that Uthmeier will have to prove why he shouldn’t face legal consequences for his letter. In the letter, he told local police that he couldn’t stop them from enforcing misdemeanor penalties against suspects accused of entering Florida as "unauthorized aliens.". She said a court hearing has been scheduled for May 29 to discuss any contempt sanctions against the attorney general.

USA Today [4/30/2025 1:05 PM, Ana Goñi-Lessan, Valentina Palm, and Tomas Rodriguez, 75858K] reports on Good Friday, Jill Hanson went to St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Jupiter, Florida, to see one of her community members play Jesus Christ in the church’s passion play. Four days later, he was detained by Florida Highway Patrol in what the state of Florida is calling "Operation Tidal Wave," a week-long sting by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Florida law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security that targeted areas with high-immigrant populations. "Just makes me so angry, you can’t even believe it," said Hanson who runs El Sol, a Jupiter nonprofit that supports immigrant communities. Hanson said she knew five local people who were detained last week. According to records reviewed by the Miami Herald, authorities aimed to detain 800 people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the cities of Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee and Fort Myers. Since President Donald Trump took office and mandated mass deportation of undocumented immigrants across the country, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have been first in line to comply with multiple executive orders and rule changes that have put thousands of immigrants, even those without criminal records or orders of removal, into the deportation process. "Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!" DeSantis wrote on X.

US News & World Report [4/30/2025 6:43 PM, Austin Sarat, 24727K] reports last week, America witnessed a scene that would be denounced across the political spectrum if we saw it in China or Russia: A judge arrested and led away in handcuffs by an administration she dared to defy. Only this time, it happened in Wisconsin. On April 25, the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, alleging that she obstructed a U.S. agency and concealed an individual by allowing a man and his lawyer to leave her courtroom from a side door, escaping federal agents who were seeking to deport him. (The man was arrested anyway after a foot chase outside the court.). Dugan is known as being a "stickler" for the rules but "fair," and for running a strict courtroom, according to defense attorneys who spoke with the Associated Press. This week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended her, saying it’s in the public interest to relieve her of her duties while she faces two federal charges. What happened is about much more than the fate of a single judge. Dugan’s arrest and perp walk marked an escalation in the standoff between the Trump administration and local officials over the enforcement of the president’s anti-immigrant crusade. Marching a judge away in handcuffs was a made-for-television moment that sent the chilling message that no one – not even judicial and law enforcement authorities – are safe if they try to resist Trump’s deportation policies. It’s a shocking reminder of the lengths the administration will go to carry out its agenda, targeting anyone who gets in its way. This is not the first time Trump and his allies have tried to send this message. During the president’s first term, a Massachusetts state District Court Judge and a court officer were arrested and charged with helping an undocumented migrant leave their courtroom before an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer could detain him.

Blaze [4/30/2025 9:15 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1668K] reports the same day that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ Democratic administration issued guidance directing state employees not to immediately cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan allegedly helped a previously deported illegal alien facing three misdemeanor counts of battery get away from ICE. To the chagrin of Democratic lawmakers and fellow travelers in the judiciary, Dugan was arrested and charged with two federal criminal offenses: obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the U.S. and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest. ‘A judge shall avoid impropriety.’. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin issued an order Tuesday relieving Dugan of her duties. "This court is charged in the Wisconsin Constitution with exercising superintending and administrative authority over the courts of this state," said the Badger State’s high court. "In the exercise of that constitutional authority and in order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude, on our motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties." Following Dugan’s arrest on April 25, Attorney General Pam Bondi noted, "No one is above the law.". The judge’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 15. If convicted, Dugan could land up to six years in prison.

Univision [4/30/2025 5:19 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports Salvadoran Juan Carlos Rivas Moreira, identified by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas as the leader of the transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13, has just received another life sentence, which he will serve in federal prison. The MS-13 leader, also known as ‘Juan Carlos Moreira’ and ‘Stocky’, was sentenced along with six other inmates accused of a double murder, reported on January 31, 2022, inside a prison in Beaumont, Texas. Although U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policy emphasizes that immigrants with criminal records will be given priority for deportation, Rivas Moreira’s conviction makes no mention of that punishment. On Friday, April 25, Juan Carlos Rivas Moreira, 45, was sentenced for his role in orchestrating and leading the plot to murder rival gang members. His sentence is additional because the murders were committed while he was an inmate and was in prison.

Reuters [4/30/2025 6:00 AM, Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson, 41523K] reports detainees at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center in the small city of Anson, Texas, sent the outside world a message this week: S-O-S. With a Reuters drone flying nearby, 31 men formed the letters in the dirt yard of the facility on Monday. Ten days earlier, dozens of Venezuelan detainees at the center were given notices by immigration officials that alleged they were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and subject to deportation under a wartime law, according to documents shown to Reuters, recorded video calls and court proceedings. The families of seven detainees interviewed by Reuters said they were not gang members and that they refused to sign the document. Nevertheless, hours later on Friday, April 18, they were loaded onto a bus bound for nearby Abilene Regional Airport, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and family members, before the bus was turned around and sent back to the detention center. That night, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked their deportations. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the halted deportations.

NewsNation [4/30/2025 10:53 AM, Michaela Bourgeois, 6866K] reports a farmworkers’ union and a group of churches spanning Oregon, California and Florida held a press conference on Tuesday laying out their lawsuit against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in sensitive locations. Filed Monday in Eugene, Oregon, the lawsuit challenges the administration’s efforts to end protections in which immigration agents avoided detaining people in “sensitive locations” such as churches, schools, courthouses and hospitals. That practice has been in place for decades, the lawsuit says, noting on day one of President Trump’s second term, the Department of Homeland Security revoked a memo issued by former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2020 under the Biden administration, that recognized protection of sensitive locations. Innovation Law Lab and the Justice Action Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of several organizations including Oregon farmworkers’ union Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), and several churches, including Portland’s Augustana Lutheran Church, San Francisco’s Our Lady Guadalupe Parish, the San Francisco Interfaith Council and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gainesville, Florida. Those organizations filed the lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons and Pete Flores, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protections — alleging the administration has violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Breitbart [4/30/2025 1:54 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports American taxpayers must continue funding attorneys for Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) facing deportation, United States District Judge Araceli Martinez Olguin has ruled. Olguin, born in Mexico City, Mexico, and appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, has issued a nationwide injunction blocking President Donald Trump from ending taxpayer funds being used to pay for lawyers for UACs. The Trump administration had sought to get Olguin thrown off the case, revealing that she once worked as a managing attorney for one of the lead plaintiffs in the case, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. Attorneys for the Trump administration said Olguin’s handling of the case presents an “appearance of bias” due to her prior work with the plaintiffs. American taxpayers have been forced to pay billions of dollars for lawyers for UACs making their way through the nation’s immigration court system. More than 25,000 UACs are provided with these free lawyers, thanks to funding approved by Congress year after year.

Reuters [4/30/2025 3:33 PM, Nate Raymond, 24727K] reports a federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to ensure migrants held at Guantanamo Bay are given a chance to raise any concerns about their safety before being deported to El Salvador or countries other than their places of origin. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued the order after immigrant rights advocates argued the administration had violated a court order he issued by flying four Venezuelans held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba to El Salvador on a flight conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense. Murphy in late March had issued a temporary restraining order, which he later extended into an injunction, restricting the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to rapidly deport migrants to countries other than their own without allowing them to first raise concerns that they fear being persecuted or tortured in those third countries. Republican President Donald Trump’s administration argued it had not violated the judge’s order as it only applied to the Homeland Security Department, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not the Defense Department. The U.S. Department of Justice said three of the four migrants were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and said the Department of Defense removed them to El Salvador without the knowledge or direction of the Homeland Security Department. At the president’s direction, the administration has been housing some detained migrants at Guantanamo Bay, a base better known for holding foreign terrorism suspects following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Murphy, an appointee of Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, said he was not at this time assessing whether the deportations of the four Venezuelans to El Salvador were not at the Homeland Security Department’s behest and was instead modifying his order "in an abundance of caution.". He said going forward, before Homeland Security deports or allows another agency to deport a migrant held at the base to countries other than their own, it must comply with the injunction he issued providing them due-process guarantees. Murphy also barred Homeland Security from ceding custody or control of a migrant in any manner that prevents that individual from receiving due process in accordance with his preliminary injunction. Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for migrants at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance pursuing the case before Murphy, called his decision "a positive step toward preventing DHS from using Guantanamo Bay and the Department of Defense to carry out third country deportations without due process.".

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [4/30/2025 1:47 PM, Staff, 4998K]

New York Times [5/1/2025 3:25 AM, Michael S. Schmidt, Alan Feuer, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Maggie Haberman and Maria Abi-Habib, 330K] reports the Trump administration recently sent a diplomatic note to officials in El Salvador to inquire about releasing a Salvadoran immigrant whom government officials have been ordered by the Supreme Court to help free, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. But the authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele, the leader of El Salvador, said no, two of the people said. The Bukele administration claimed the man should stay in El Salvador because he was a Salvadoran citizen, according to one of those people. It remained unclear whether the diplomatic effort was a genuine bid by the White House to address the plight of the immigrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, whom administration officials have repeatedly acknowledged was improperly expelled to El Salvador last month in violation of a court order expressly prohibiting him from being sent there. Some legal experts suggested that the sequence of events could have been an attempt at window dressing by officials seeking to give the appearance of being in compliance with the recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the White House to “facilitate” Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release. The disclosure about the note adds to the confusion about the Trump administration’s efforts to free Mr. Abrego Garcia and whether it is seeking to comply with court orders. Even as the administration appeared to be moving privately to work toward Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release, it has publicly expressed unwillingness to bring him back to the United States. The revelation came just hours after the president, reversing course on his administration’s previous statements, said in an interview with ABC News that he had the ability to bring Mr. Abrego Garcia back. The president added that he did not believe Mr. Abrego Garcia was a good person and that his administration’s lawyers would decide. The Justice Department is also facing a court-ordered deadline of early next week to provide information about what it has done to seek his freedom.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 2:31 PM, Rachel Schilke and David Sivak, 2296K] reports House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is disputing claims that he told House Democrats to stop making trips to El Salvador to meet with illegal immigrants the party says were deported without due process. The Bulwark reported that Jeffries has discouraged lawmakers from making additional trips to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident deported last month over allegations of being an MS-13 gang member. But Jeffries’s team denied the report to the Washington Examiner, calling it "patently false" and "thinly sourced innuendo." The story cited anonymous Democratic aides and one lawmaker. "When Leader Jeffries says ‘more is more’ pushback on this lawless administration, he means it," spokeswoman Christie Stephenson said. "As Leader Jeffries has repeatedly said, House Democrats will never stop fighting for the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia.".

CNN [4/30/2025 8:51 PM, Michael Rios, 22131K] reports Venezuela is demanding that a 2-year-old girl be returned to her family after the United States deported her parents and kept the toddler in government custody. The Venezuelan foreign ministry on Monday accused the US of “kidnapping” Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, saying she was separated from her mother as she was boarding a deportation flight back to Venezuela. It also said the girl’s father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, had been deported earlier by the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador. “(The US) once again committed the extremely serious offense of separating families and removing a minor from her emotional environment and, in particular, from her biological mother,” read a statement from the Venezuelan government on Monday. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied it kidnapped the girl, arguing it was trying to protect her from her parents, whom it accused without evidence of being part of Tren de Aragua (TDA), a Venezuelan gang the US has designated a terror organization. The father believes he was accused of being a gang member because he has tattoos, but he denies they have anything to do with gangs, according to his sworn declaration filed in court in early March. CNN has asked Maikelys’ mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte, about the allegation. In a Saturday statement, DHS said the toddler was removed from a deportation flight list “for her safety and welfare.” She remains in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and has been placed with a foster family, it added.

Reuters [4/30/2025 2:23 PM, Alexander Villegas, 41523K] reports Chilean police forces, aided by the FBI, took down an international gang of thieves that carried out robberies in the United States, authorities said on Wednesday. The raid, codenamed "Operation Pennsylvania," took place across dozens of homes in Santiago on Tuesday night and led to the arrests of 23 people and seizure of 1.3 billion pesos ($1.36 million) worth of goods and real estate, according to police. "This phenomenon of international thieves has regretfully existed in our country for many years, but it’s unfortunately been on the rise recently," prosecutor Eduardo Baeza said during a press conference, adding that they historically operated in Europe but have been focusing more on the United States recently. Chileans have been arrested in recent high-profile robberies, including the theft of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse in a Washington restaurant this month and a series of break-ins to the homes of professional athletes, including Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce, boyfriend of pop star Taylor Swift. Johnny Fica, head of the Investigative Police of Chile’s (PDI) money and asset laundering division, said many of the detainees had no criminal records in Chile but were career criminals abroad that laundered assets in Chile. Fica said the investigation began last year and was carried out with information from the FBI. Images from the raid show drawers filled with iPhones, luxury watches, cars, purses and shoes.

FOX News [4/30/2025 2:39 PM, Morgan Phillips, 46189K] reports a plane full of Central Asian illegal immigrants is on its way from the U.S. to Uzbekistan under a deal brokered between the two governments, Fox News Digital has learned. More than 100 unlawful immigrants are flying back to Uzbekistan on Wednesday under an agreement with the U.S., with the Uzbek government footing the bill for the return of its own nationals – the first such deal by a foreign government since President Donald Trump took office. The flight, which took off this morning, had 131 migrants on board. People from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan were on board the flight, and Kyrgyzstan and Kazahkstan nationals are expected to continue on to their home countries from Uzbekistan. The deal, which the Trump administration says is a model framework for how it wants other nations to engage with the U.S. on immigration, is the result of months of diplomatic engagement between State Department officials, DHS officials, the White House and the National Security Council with their counterparts from Uzbekistan. The deal "underscores the deep security cooperation between our nations and sets a standard for U.S. alliances," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement. "We commend Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his leadership in sending a flight to return 131 illegal aliens back to their home country," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to work together with Uzbekistan on efforts to enhance our mutual security and uphold the rule of law."

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 5:20 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] r

CNN [4/30/2025 9:21 PM, Priscilla Alvarez and Kylie Atwood, 908K] reports that the Trump administration has discussed with Libya and Rwanda the possibility of sending migrants who have criminal records and are in the United States to those two countries, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks. The proposals mark a dramatic escalation in the administration’s push to deter people journeying to the United States and remove some of those already here to countries thousands of miles away, some of which have checkered pasts. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January directing top officials to facilitate international cooperation and agreements to send asylum seekers elsewhere. In addition to sending migrants with criminal records, Trump officials are also hoping to enter formal negotiations with Libya to strike a so-called safe third country agreement, which would allow the US to send asylum seekers apprehended at the US border to Libya, according to one of the sources. No decision has been made yet, and it’s unclear which nationalities would be eligible. A State Department spokesperson said they do not discuss the details of diplomatic communications. The spokesperson added that the department is “working globally to implement the Trump Administration’s immigration policies.” CNN reached out to a representative for Libyan Gen. Saddam Haftar, who was in Washington for talks with officials this week, for comment. Trump officials have previously tried to strike safe third country agreements with countries in the Western hemisphere to ease the burden on the US asylum system and stem migration to the United States. The Trump administration has also moved to expand cooperation to include working with countries to detain people removed from the United States, including most recently with El Salvador. Multiple sources said the State Department is in talks with other countries about taking migrants, in addition to Libya and Rwanda. “I say this unapologetically, we are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. “We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries — will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the further away from America, the better, so they can’t come back across the border,” he said. This week, senior State Department officials met with Libyan officials and discussed the proposal to send migrants to the North African country, according to one of the sources. One piece of potential leverage for the US in any talks is the likelihood of another travel ban against visitors from several countries, which the Trump administration has teased but not yet released. Libya was included in the ban during Trump’s first term. A United Nations report in 2024 pointed to years of human rights violations in Libya and concerns over a lack of accountability for the violations. Rights groups and U.N. agencies have also for years documented systematic abuse of migrants in Libya including allegations of forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture. There have also been conversations as recently as this week between the US and Rwanda to advance a plan to use the country for third-party deportations of undocumented immigrants in the US, sources familiar with the matter said. Rwanda and the US are discussing a possible agreement where Rwanda would accept migrants with criminal records who have served their sentence in the US already. The cost structure is still being finessed, though sources said it would likely be higher per person than the overall cost per person of deportees to El Salvador because Rwanda would not put the people in prison. Rwanda would instead take them into society and provide some social support to them, such as a stipend and assistance with finding a job locally, sources said. The plan could take weeks to come together and would be used more on an ad hoc basis. The conversation with Rwanda began in the early days of the Trump administration when there was a diplomatic note sent by the Trump administration to many countries around the world to gauge any interest in working on deportations of illegal migrants in the US. Rwanda signaled that they would be open to such conversations, sources said. In March, one person was deported from the US to Rwanda, a transfer that was seen as a model that could work on a bigger scale, sources said. The person was a refugee from Iraq, Omar Abdulsattar Ameen. The concept isn’t new for Rwanda, given an agreement that the country struck with the United Kingdom in 2022 to deport asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda. But the plan was engulfed by legal troubles and last year it was discontinued by the newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called the scheme a “gimmick.” The removal of third-country migrants to Libya and Rwanda is likely to face legal challenges. Last month, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting people to countries other than their own without first providing notice and an opportunity to contest it.

Washington Post [4/30/2025 7:58 PM, Adam Taylor, 31735K] reports the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly broaden the number of countries willing to accept people deported from the United States has found a welcoming partner in the African nation of Rwanda. A recent U.S. overture, which included a list of names of potential deportees to Rwanda, was received warmly, according to a Rwandan official with knowledge of the situation. Under the proposal, Rwanda would join a growing number of nations — including El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama — that have agreed to receive deportees who are not their citizens. Though the administration has deported only one person — an Iraqi refugee accused of having links to terrorism groups — from the United States to Rwanda so far, “we’re open to others,” said the Rwandan official, speaking, like some others, on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions or because they are not authorized to talk with the news media. The deportation discussions have coincided with U.S. efforts to broker a peace agreement between Rwanda and the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. They have been in conflict since early 2022 in their most recent round of fighting. Rwanda has for years promoted itself as a destination for deportations of people who are not its citizens, which critics say is an attempt to downplay its reputation for human rights abuses under its longtime president, Paul Kagame. Britain and Denmark also have explored policies for sending large numbers of asylum seekers to Rwanda, but those efforts were halted after they sparked public outcry and legal challenges. The State Department, under the Biden administration, said last year that there were reports of “significant human rights issues” in Rwanda, including extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detention. The Trump administration has deported people to other nations with poor human rights records, including El Salvador, where migrants have been housed in a notorious megaprison. A U.S. official who worked on issues related to Rwanda during the Biden administration said it appears officials there are working to reset the country’s relationship with the United States after the new administration in February imposed sanctions on a Rwandan minister for allegedly supporting an armed group in eastern Congo. “The cozier that Rwanda gets to the Trump administration, the less likely they are going to press them to make concessions” in any U.S.-brokered peace talks with Congo, the U.S. official said. The talks between the United States and Rwanda began not long after Trump took office, the Rwandan official said.

FOX News [4/30/2025 5:00 AM, Secretary Kristi Noem, 46189K] reports that today, April 30, 2025, marks the end of the first 100 days of Donald J. Trump’s second term. In 100 days, Trump has achieved more than most presidents accomplish in their entire presidency. A key part of the president’s agenda to unleash the Golden Age of America is to make our country safe again. That starts with deporting criminal illegal aliens and securing our borders. Starting on January 20, Trump immediately got to work signing countless executive actions to reverse the previous administration’s policies that put illegal aliens above the safety of American citizens. The president’s executive actions have allowed the Department of Homeland Security to go after the worst first. In the past 100 days, we’ve arrested and deported criminal illegal aliens, including gang members, pedophiles, suspected terrorists and murderers. We’ve empowered our law enforcement officers to use their common sense to make arrests. I believe it is of paramount importance to show up on the ground and know what our law enforcement deals with day in and day out, so I’ve joined several ICE enforcement operations. On an operation I went on in New York City, we arrested a ringleader of Tren de Aragua. The ringleader, Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, was caught on a viral video last year showing heavily armed men kicking down an apartment door in Aurora, Colorado. He had recently purchased more guns and was trying to buy grenades. Adding to his rap sheet were charges for kidnapping, assault and burglary. As he was taken off in cuffs, his neighbors cheered and thanked us for removing him from their community. This isn’t an outlier incident either. Polls show eight in ten Americans support deporting criminal illegal aliens. Under Trump, we have arrested over 150,000 aliens — including more than 600 members of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang. We are going after the worst of the worst to make America safe again. Since Trump’s inauguration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested more than 200 known or alleged terrorists, marking a 655% increase from the same period last year. This includes one of India’s most wanted men, Harpeet Singh, who is wanted for recruiting and planning a grenade attack on an Indian Police Station. Thanks to Trump, we are getting these criminals and terrorists off our streets and out of our country. While the media and far left lionize illegal alien gang members, Trump and I have stood with the victims of illegal alien crime. Earlier in April, I met with several Angel families whose children were killed because of illegal aliens who should have never been in this country. I heard from Tammy Nobles, whose daughter Kayla was brutally raped and murdered by an MS-13 gang member who was released into the country by the previous administration. Alexis Nungaray shared her daughter Jocelyn’s story. Her 12-year-old daughter was assaulted for two hours by Tren De Aragua gang members before they strangled her. These family’s courage to speak out and share their tragic stories inspires Trump and I to keep fighting for the victims of illegal alien crime. Thanks to Trump we’ve re-opened the VOICE office to give victims of illegal alien crime access to resources and support services. Additionally, thanks to legislation signed by Trump, illegal aliens accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, or any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury are now required to be detained. These commonsense policies to fix the country’s broken immigration system are why it’s so concerning to hear certain politicians and legacy media criticize the administration for arresting and deporting so-called "non-criminals." Let’s be crystal clear: so-called "non-criminals" who haven’t been charged with crimes other than crossing the border illegally, are often human rights abusers, gang members, wanted by INTERPOL for committing crimes in other countries, or suspected terrorists. They may not have criminal records in the U.S., but these aliens are far from innocent. Since Trump’s inauguration, we have arrested several suspected terrorists in our country illegally, including one with ties to ISIS. By the standard the press is using today, the ISIS-tied illegal would be considered a "non-criminal" because he hasn’t been convicted or charged with a crime other than lying on his visa application. Do our critics really think ICE shouldn’t arrest illegal alien gang members and suspected terrorists? President Donald Trump thinks we should, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Not only are we removing violent criminal illegal aliens and supporting their victims, but we’ve also secured our borders to keep criminals out of the country. In the past hundred days, Trump has made it clear there is a new sheriff in town. This administration has stopped the use of catch and release. If we catch you at the border, we’re either detaining you or taking you back to Mexico. We have deputized federal and local officials, including the National Guard and even IRS agents in this whole-of-government effort. We’ve also partnered with the Pentagon to bolster Border Patrol’s work to secure the border. These actions have been noticed by the rest of the world as migrants have turned back at our border. We now have the most secure border in American history. Trump campaigned on border security and immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and he is delivering beyond anyone’s expectations. Keeping America safe is his No. 1 priority. I will continue fighting every day alongside President Donald Trump to secure our border and keep American communities safe. This is just the beginning of the Golden Age of America.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 5:54 PM, Tiana Lowe Doescher, 2296K] reports when Congress passed the law to federally standardize the identification requirements to board a domestic flight, I was 9 years old. Now that I am almost 30, the Trump administration is finally allowing this 2005 legislation to go into effect. Go into any airport in America, and you’ll see Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s doll-like visage gently lecture us that starting on May 7, travelers will need a so-called Real ID to board a flight if they aren’t otherwise using a passport. A Real ID is just a driver’s license or state ID, but one that requires proof of citizenship or lawful residence, a Social Security number or evidence that the applicant is not eligible for one, and proof of the applicant’s name, date of birth, and residential address. The rest of the security standards are all burdens on the state, not the Real ID applicants themselves. While the state must store the ID photo and cross-reference the veracity of the applicant’s submission, the Real ID looks, feels, and operates no differently than the same license most of us have had for decades. If you have renewed your license at any point in the last eight years, like the majority of people, you probably have a Real ID. You can check to see if your ID has a little star in the top right corner, and also note that Real ID is required to enter a few select federal facilities, not just flights. For some reason, everyone is freaking out about this. Despite Kentucky achieving Real ID certification nearly six years ago, state senators are now haranguing Noem to postpone the deadline, even though it has already been pushed back multiple times since it was supposed to go into effect in 2008. A bipartisan coalition in Maine is trying to pass a law that claims it would opt the state out of Real ID entirely. Left-wing organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union continue to brand the law as racist and discriminatory, and libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has called upon Trump to refuse to enforce the law. But here’s the thing: Everything you hate about Real ID is just what you hate about the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Motor Vehicles, and Massie and company have nobody in the world to blame other than Congress. If Massie wants to be able to board a flight without a Real ID, he should get his colleagues to pass a law to do it, and while they’re at it, maybe abolish the far bigger violation of civil liberties and heartbreaking waste of money, the TSA. The REAL ID Act allows the homeland security secretary to grant an extension to a state only if the state "provides adequate justification for noncompliance" with Real ID certification. But all 50 states have been certified compliant for half a decade now. Noem would have no legal justification to delay enforcing the requirement. Refusing to do so would be an actual overstep of executive power.

The Hill [4/30/2025 7:00 AM, Staff, 12829K] reports that, Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff and one of the architects of his immigration policies, is no idiot. He’s the product of one of the country’s best public school systems and a graduate of Duke University. And since at least the ripe age of 16, he has been stewing about America’s immigration policies. So, when Miller declared this month that the illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia "is not a ‘Maryland man.’ He is not a ‘Maryland’ anything," one should assume that his words were deliberate and by design. Political analysts have suggested that Miller’s comments — since echoed by the vice president, the White House press secretary and others — were primarily focused on drawing Democrats further into a spat about immigration and onto unfavorable political turf, but that’s only half the picture. For all the madness of this administration and its actors, they are experts in the execution of the "othering playbook." At its core, it’s as simple as centering a policy debate on an individual and then relentlessly defining that individual in a way that is politically beneficial. This helps to shift what is often a complicated policy debate to a discussion about an individual’s character and identity. In this case, Miller’s words make clear that Garcia isn’t American. That’s true (at least in a narrow definition), and for many that framing opens the door to questions about Garcia and how he is different from the mass of folks who define themselves as American. In this framing, Garcia is now "other" — not just Salvadoran, but thanks to baseless claims of other administration officials, a gang member, a domestic abuser, a deadbeat father and so on. With every claim, Garcia becomes bigger and bigger and the policy of illegally deporting him smaller and smaller. If you doubt the power of this person-centric narrative approach, just think of all the laws that have been attached to the story of a person: Megan’s Law, Jessica’s Law and the recent Laken Riley Act.

NPR [4/30/2025 3:08 PM, Joel Rose, 29983K] reports Avelo Airlines got a warm welcome from travelers and politicians in Connecticut when the budget carrier brought nonstop flights to Tweed New Haven Airport. But that reception has turned chilly after Avelo announced a contract to begin operating deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) starting next month. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the New Haven, Conn., airport this month to denounce the move. Facing financial headwinds, Avelo struck a long-term deal to work with ICE. The company says three of its planes will begin operating charter flights for ICE based out of Mesa, Ariz., starting May 12. Avelo will join a small fleet of ICE Air Operations carriers that operate these flights, which immigration authorities rarely publicize.

Los Angeles Times [4/30/2025 6:45 PM, Kate Linthicum, 13342K] reports since President Trump took office in January vowing the "largest deportation operation in American history," Héctor Silva has been bracing for an influx of deportees at the two migrant shelters he runs in the Mexican border city of Reynosa. It hasn’t arrived. Silva’s shelters, which can house up to 5,000 people, have been nearly empty for months. "The truth is we haven’t received the massive wave of deportees that they warned about," he said. "I expected something very different.". Under Trump, the U.S. is deporting fewer people to Mexico than it was at this time last year, new data show. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that since Trump took office Jan. 20, the U.S. has deported 33,311 Mexicans. That is considerably fewer than in 2024, when the Biden administration deported 52,253 Mexicans between February and April. U.S. federal data show deportations of all nationalities — not just Mexicans — are lagging behind Biden-era levels, and that at this rate, the Trump administration is unlikely to meet its goal of one million deportations annually. There are several explanation for the decline in deportations. Illegal border crossings have dropped to their lowest point this century, thanks to a Mexican campaign to interdict northbound migrants and Trump’s actions to end asylum at the U.S. border. Many of the deportees counted under Biden were migrants apprehended at the border and turned back quickly. The Trump administration, however, has been focused on deporting migrants already inside the U.S., where locating, detaining and removing them is more complicated and more expensive than it is at the border. To speed up removals, the White House has asked lawmakers for tens of billions of dollars in new funding to hire more federal agents and vastly expand immigrant detention. "The more money we got, the more bad guys we take off the street, the safer America is," Tom Homan, Trump’s "border czar," said he told members of Congress earlier this year.

FOX News [4/30/2025 3:36 PM, Cameron Arcand, 46189K] reports Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., reflected on his visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Stewart County, Georgia, last week, emphasizing that he remains optimistic that there is room for congressional achievements on related policies. The North Carolina Democrat emphasized that although there have been rapid changes in border and immigration policies in recent months, the legislative branch needs to step up to make changes. Davis noted that he observed some detainees actively going through the judicial process that could determine their future, which could entail deportation.

NewsMax.com [4/30/2025 4:03 PM, Jim Thomas, 4998K] reports a 44-year-old Haitian woman died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody last week in Florida, as federal officials continue to investigate the cause of her death, The Hill reported. Marie Ange Blaise, a Haitian national, was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m. Friday in Pompano Beach, Fla., according to a statement released Tuesday by ICE. The agency said the cause of death is under investigation. Blaise entered the United States without admission or parole, ICE said, though it did not disclose when or where she initially crossed into the country. On Feb. 12, she was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Henry E. Rohlsen International Airport in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, while attempting to board a flight to Charlotte, N. C. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determined she lacked a valid immigrant visa and issued a notice of expedited removal the same day. Two days later, Blaise was transferred from CBP custody to ICE custody at the San Juan staging facility in Puerto Rico. She was then moved through several ICE detention sites, first in New Orleans and later at Richwood Correctional Center in Oakdale, La. On April 5, she was transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, where she remained until her death.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/30/2025 2:01 PM, Filip Timotija, 12829K]

(B) CBS Mornings [4/30/2025 9:25 AM, Staff] reporst that agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent the day conducting operations in the Evansville and Vanderburgh County area. At least 16 people are being detained in the Hopkins County Jail in connection to the ICE raid. A joint statement from the Evansville Police Department and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office says while they support ICE’s mission, they are not involved in the operation and do not participate in general immigration enforcement.

Houston Chronicle [4/30/2025 1:39 PM, Matt deGrood, 1769K] reports a Houston-based immigrant advocacy coalition plans to protest Thursday at City Hall, demanding the police department stop collaborating with ICE and asking for data transparency on when they have called agents on people. The demonstration, from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, comes after experts in a Chronicle investigation found the agency was cooperating with ICE, despite Houston Mayor John Whitmire in January downplaying concerns that would happen. Chronicle reporting found Houston police have called federal immigration authorities on at least 22 occasions since the start of the year. Department leaders have mandated police call anytime they interaction with one of 700,000 names with administrative ICE warrants — generally for those with an outstanding order for deportation — recently added to a national database. The coalition is calling on local leaders to end existing agreements with federal authorities that dedicate resources to immigration enforcement and not to call ICE in vulnerable locations; to dedicate money to fund training for immigrants on knowing their rights and legal resources; and providing all data documenting when police have called ICE.

NBC News [4/30/2025 12:48 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 44742K] reports federal immigration agents searched the home of a family in Oklahoma and seized their belongings when conducting a search warrant issued for someone else. The U.S. citizen mother of three daughters said the family has been "traumatized" since they were wrongly subjected to a search and seizure warrant that had the names of the residents who previously lived in her Oklahoma City home. “We’re citizens. That’s what I kept saying. We’re citizens,” the woman told KFOR, an NBC-affiliated local TV news station. “They were very dismissive, very rough, very careless." According to KFOR, which first reported the story, the immigration agents raided the home last week. They had a search warrant for the home, but the suspects listed on the warrant were not living in the house anymore. The mother, whose identity was not revealed and who KFOR referred to by the pseudonym "Marisa" in its reporting, told the TV station the men who entered her home identified themselves as federal agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "The U.S. Marshal Service was not involved in the incident," Brady McCarron, deputy chief of public affairs at the United States Marshals Service, told NBC News in an email Tuesday. A spokesperson for the FBI referred NBC News’ request for comment to Homeland Security Investigations, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that investigates criminal cases. A senior DHS official confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that ICE carried out "a court-authorized search warrant for a large-scale human smuggling investigation," involving eight Guatemalan nationals indicted in a federal case in the Northern District of Oklahoma. “The search warrants included the location of an address where U.S. citizens recently moved. The previous residents were the intended targets," the official said.

The Oklahoman [4/30/2025 1:37 PM, Josh Kelly and Jessie Christopher Smith, 2027K] reports a family has been left traumatized after ICE agents raided their northwest Oklahoma City home and seized much of their belongings though they were not the intended targets, a recent report revealed. The incident comes as similar raids have ramped up across the United States, sparking renewed debate over immigration enforcement and community safety. As first reported by KFOR-TV, a woman referred to as "Marisa" and her three daughters were treated like "criminals" when roughly 20 armed federal agents raided their rental home on April 24. She told KFOR the agents tore apart every inch of the house, seizing their phones, laptops and their life savings in cash as “evidence.” While the agents carried out the search warrant, Marisa said the names listed on the document were not hers or her family’s, but likely those of former tenants whose mail was still arriving at the address. "ICE was carrying out a court-authorized search warrant for a large-scale human smuggling investigation," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. "The case has been accepted for federal prosecution in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The search warrants included the location of an address where U.S. citizens recently moved. The previous residents were the intended targets." Raids like this are not the only raids happening in the nation. From there, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem let a warning out for all illegally occupying residents: “We’re coming for you.” In Trump’s first 100 days in office, the White House boasted 139,000 deportations. Yet, that number is much lower: 57,000, reports USA TODAY. Since taking office, there have been roughly 400 ICE deportation flights, according to Tom Cartwright, with approximately 125 people per plane. This totals 50,000 people, squaring ICE’s own reports. “It seems ICE would have needed to operate around double the number of charter flight deportations by air other than the 400 observed to date," Cartwright said. "I just don’t find these numbers plausible unless DHS is including some amorphous estimate for self-deportations. I would love to know." When asked by USA TODAY reporters, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said their total includes removals by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Breitbart [4/30/2025 6:27 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2923K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is set to levy fines totaling $8 million on three Colorado businesses that investigators say hired illegal migrants. ICE released the news in an X post on Wednesday after audits on three businesses, including CCS Denver, PBC Commercial Cleaning Systems, Inc., and Green Management Denver. The feds say that CCS Denver, Inc. will be fined $6,186,171 for knowingly employing about 87 unauthorized workers, which is rated as a 100 percent violation. Green Management Denver also reportedly perpetrated a 100 percent violation which would result in a $270,195 fine. And PBC Commercial Cleaning Systems, Inc. will be fined $1,599,510 for its 74 percent violation of employing about a dozen unauthorized workers. “The employment of unauthorized workers undermines the integrity of our immigration system and puts law-abiding employers at a disadvantage,” said Special Agent in Charge Steve Cagen, according to KCVR-TV. “These penalties reinforce our commitment to uphold the law and promote a culture of compliance.” The fines will put other businesses on notice that the Trump administration is serious about federal employment laws after years of federal indifference to the rules.

Blaze [4/30/2025 3:10 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1700K] reports President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Investigations rescued two migrant sisters from sex slavery, according to a Tuesday report. Sources told the New York Post that the Honduran nationals, 16 and 18 years old, crossed the border into the U.S. as unaccompanied minors. ‘Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families.’ On Saturday, HSI special agents rescued the sisters from a hotel in West Covina, California. The two were reportedly held in captivity and forced into prostitution. According to sources, Christopher Ramirez was accused of “pimping” the sisters and arrested on local charges. Ramirez will also reportedly face federal charges. Federal agents are still searching for co-conspirators who assisted with trafficking the sisters from Texas to California, the Post reported. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously stated that within Trump’s first 70 days, the administration had already reunited approximately 5,000 children with family or a “safe guardian.” “Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families,” McLaughlin said.

Blaze.com [4/30/2025 3:15 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1668K] reports President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Investigations rescued two migrant sisters from sex slavery, according to a Tuesday report. Sources told the New York Post that the Honduran nationals, 16 and 18 years old, crossed the border into the U.S. as unaccompanied minors. On Saturday, HSI special agents rescued the sisters from a hotel in West Covina, California. The two were reportedly held in captivity and forced into prostitution. According to sources, Christopher Ramirez was accused of "pimping" the sisters and arrested on local charges. Ramirez will also reportedly face federal charges. Federal agents are still searching for co-conspirators who assisted with trafficking the sisters from Texas to California, the Post reported. The outlet stated that the younger sister was transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is the agency responsible for placing unaccompanied minors with U.S.-based sponsors. The older sister was released after refusing federal services. The sisters’ rescue is tied to a broader effort by the Trump administration to locate migrant children the federal government lost track of after they crossed the border alone and were placed with sponsors in the U.S. Trump has prioritized reuniting the children with their relatives. Under the former Biden administration, the federal government lost contact with more than 320,000 unaccompanied migrant minors, leaving the children vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously stated that within Trump’s first 70 days, the administration had already reunited approximately 5,000 children with family or a "safe guardian."

Los Angeles Times [4/30/2025 1:12 PM, Jenny Jarvie, 13342K] reports California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta issued a stark warning Tuesday to immigration detention centers across the state, notifying them they need to make “significant improvements” to comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention standards. Bonta sounded the alarm as the California Department of Justice released a 165-page report that found all of the state’s six privately-operated immigration detention facilities are falling short in providing mental health care for detainees. The report documents deficiencies in medical recordkeeping, suicide prevention strategies and use of force against detainees with mental health conditions. As President Trump ramps up his deportation agenda and escalates his showdown with Democratic-led states and cities over immigration enforcement, Bonta signaled that California would not let up scrutinizing facility conditions for detained immigrants. “California’s facility reviews remain especially critical, in light of efforts by the Trump Administration to both eliminate oversight of conditions at immigration detention facilities and increase its inhumane campaign of mass immigration enforcement, potentially exacerbating critical issues already present in these facilities by packing them with more people,” Bonta said in a statement.

FOX News [4/30/2025 10:11 PM, Louis Casiano, 46189K] reports an illegal immigrant with a weapons conviction has been arrested, authorities said Wednesday. Gibram Torres, 22, a Mexican national, was taken into custody in El Centro, California, a city just minutes from Mexicali, Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said. Torres was previously convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle, ICE said. He is being held pending deportation proceedings. Nationwide, ICE has arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682 during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days into his second White House term, the agency said this week. Among the figures include 2,288 gang members from the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, MS-13, 18th Street and other gangs, ICE officials said. "Additionally, 1,329 were accused or convicted of sex offenses, and 498 were accused or convicted of murder," said ICE Acting Director Todd M. Lyons. Of those arrested, their criminal records include convictions or charges for 9,639 assaults, 6,398 DWIs/DUIs and 1,479 weapon offenses, authorities said. "This agency has set the bar on arrests and removals while upholding its national security mission," ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said.

NBC News [4/30/2025 3:39 PM, Kimmy Yam and Chloe Atkins, 44742K] reports after thousands of international students abruptly lost their legal statuses in the past few months, the Department of Homeland Security offered some insight Tuesday into how some of the terminations were decided. At a court hearing in Washington about the recent targeting of many international students across the country, the department said it used 10 to 20 employees to run the names of 1.3 million foreign-born students through the National Crime Information Center, an FBI-run computerized index that includes criminal history information. The process populated the 6,400 "hits." And from there, many students experienced terminations of their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which maintains information about nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors. In the hearing, the federal government detailed its initiative to screen foreign students entitled the "Student Criminal Alien Initiative." Andre Watson, assistant director of DHS said that the employees served in "various roles as analysts" and that the entire process, overseen by DHS acting Executive Director Robert Hammer, took two to three weeks. Names were sent to the State Department, Watson said, and roughly 3,000 students had their visas revoked. The State Department then instructed DHS to terminate the students’ SEVIS records. Elizabeth D. Kurlan, an attorney for the Justice Department, said last week during a hearing in the Northern District of California in Oakland that going forward, ICE will not be terminating statuses based solely on findings in the crime information center.

USA Today [4/30/2025 5:40 PM, Lauren Villagran, Riley Beggin, 75858K] reports Republicans in Congress want to make it substantially more expensive for immigrants to seek refuge in America. A new proposal would hike the price of legal immigration to pay for President Donald Trump’s sprawling enforcement agenda. The House Republicans’ plan would slap a $1,000 price tag on requests for asylum, require $500 payments for work authorization every six months and charge immigrants hundreds of dollars if they appeal court decisions, among other fees. House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in a committee hearing April 30 said the new fees could raise $77 billion, allowing Congress to make "necessary investments in immigration enforcement in a fiscally responsible manner." Advocates say the proposal is punitive and unrealistic. The $1,000 fee for asylum applications would raise $748 million over the next 10 years, Jordan said. A $550 fee for migrants under temporary protected status and a $550 fee for TPS immigrants to renew their employment authorization would raise $2 billion and $4.7 billion respectively over the next 10 years. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the revenue figures reflect the sharp drop in migrants at the border or any decreased demand because of the higher cost.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 9:28 PM, Hailey Bullis, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump’s proposal to sell $5 million "gold card" visas caused friction during the House Judiciary Committee’s talks for his "one, big beautiful bill" after a member unsuccessfully pushed for its inclusion. Its absence from the 116-page legislative text dealing with immigration fees comes as Trump administration officials tout the gold cards as an alternative for the EB-5 investor program. The gold card proposal was floated as the committee drafted its portion of the megabill that sweeps together Trump’s agenda, three Republican members on the Judiciary Committee told the Washington Examiner. However, the decision not to incorporate the gold card proposal in the text released by the committee on Monday came after pushback toward its inclusion, two of the GOP lawmakers confirmed. "There was enough opposition to keep it out," one of the members said. The other lawmaker told the Washington Examiner that there was "massive concern about basically putting up access to the United States for sale, built on basically a model similar to the failed EB-5 program.".

Breitbart.com [4/30/2025 4:06 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2923K] reports Héctor Alejandro Hernández Morales, a senior Cuban regime official identified as the once bodyguard and "trusted man" of both late communist dictator Fidel Castro and his brother and successor Raúl Castro, is presently living in Florida aspiring to obtain U.S. resident status, Cuba-focused outlets reported. Hernández Morales, 46, was identified as a senior Cuban Interior Ministry official living in Boca Raton, Florida, after entering the United States in August 2024 using a visitor’s visa. The information was first reported by Cuban-American journalist Mario Pentón and then verified by Martí Noticias. According to the reports, Hernández Morales is hoping to benefit from the 1996 Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA), which allows Cuban nationals to apply for a U.S. green card and become lawful permanent residents after being physically present in the country for at least one year. Martí Noticias pointed out that Héctor Alejandro Hernández Morales does not appear on the list of over 100 known Cuban repressors living in the United States that Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) presented to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in late March. Rep. Giménez urged Secretary Noem to "identify, deport, and repatriate" the Cuban regime officials, stressing at the time that they "pose a direct threat to our national security, the integrity of our immigration system, and the safety of Cuban exiles and American citizens alike."

Axios [4/30/2025 1:44 PM, Andrew King, 13163K] reports a dozen Ohio State students have had their visas restored after the Trump administration revoked them. The 12 international students had their visas revoked in March without warning or explanation, making their legal status in the U.S. uncertain. Ohio State president Ted Carter said in a statement that the university was not "formally notified" and was not told why the visas were revoked. Similar reports came from universities around Ohio and the U.S. OSU spokesperson Ben Johnson confirmed to Axios on Wednesday that Student and Exchange Visitor Program records for all 12 students have been restored, and the university has notified the students. Last week, the Justice Department announced in court that the visa decisions had been reversed for students with minor legal infractions on their records. The decision came amid dozens of court cases and restraining orders issued by judges across the country.

CBS Chicago [4/30/2025 1:25 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports Visas for 10 current and former University of Chicago students have been reactivated, the school confirmed Wednesday. A UChicago spokesperson confirmed to the school’s student newspaper that F-1 statuses had been reactivated for all 10 current students and recent graduates affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign students. The visas were initially revoked in early April by the federal government, with no reasoning given. Hundreds of students around the country were put in a similar position. The Trump administration unexpectedly reversed course in revoking student visas on Friday, with the Justice Department announcing more than 4,700 students would have their visas reinstated. The Trump administration has been sued dozens of times over visa cancelations across the country, and judges have sided almost unanimously with the students. Monday, the federal government began to reveal its new policy for terminating international students’ legal status. In a court filing, government officials shared the new policy, a document issued over the weekend with guidance on a range of reasons students’ status can be canceled, including the revocation of the visas they used to enter the U.S. Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student whose status was terminated, said the new guidelines vastly expand ICE’s authority beyond previous policy, which did not count visa revocation as grounds for losing legal status. In the past, if a student had their visa revoked, they could stay in the U.S. to finish their studies — they simply would not be able to reenter if they left the country. Many of the students who had visas revoked or lost their legal status said they had only minor infractions on their record, including traffic violations. Some did not know why they were targeted at all. According to court filings and testimony from lawyers for the government in a Tuesday hearing, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through the National Crime Information Center, an FBI-run database that contains reams of information related to crimes. It includes the names of suspects, missing persons and people who have been arrested, even if they have never been charged with a crime or had charges dropped.

Federalist [4/30/2025 1:12 PM, Brianna Lyman, 1033K] reports one hundred days into President Donald Trump’s second term and critics are scrambling for talking points, clinging to a set of biased polls in a desperate attempt to paint a picture of failure. But they’re missing the border wall for the trees. Even if every other agenda item were stalled, sidelined, or sacrificed (which isn’t the case), the fact remains that Trump shut down mass illegal immigration and sealed the border — and that alone makes these first one hundred days a generational victory. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that between January 20 and April 1, “only nine illegal aliens were released into the United States, a staggering 99.99% decrease from the more than 184,000 illegal aliens who were released into the country under Biden during the same period last year.” Tom Homan said Monday that in the last 24 hours, there were 178 illegal entries into the United States. Notably, according to Homan, the United States averaged 15,000 illegal entries into the United States daily under President Joe Biden. In fact, the border has been so effectively sealed that even seasoned reporters are struggling to find migrants to report on. “If Fox were to send me down there right now, I would have trouble finding a single migrant on camera,” Fox News’ Bill Melugin said in March. CBS News’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez said, “Typically, when we go to the U.S./Mexico border, we at least see one group of people who are trying to cross into the U.S. illegally. We did not see a single migrant.” According to the New York Post’s Jennie Taer, there has been a 94 percent drop in illegal border crossings when compared to the same time last year under Biden. Meanwhile, February saw the lowest amount of illegal alien crossings (8,300) in 25 years, according to Taer. This isn’t just a policy win, it’s a win for American culture and American way of life.

Breitbart [4/30/2025 11:42 AM, Bob Price, 2923K] reports on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second administration, he made border security and immigration enforcement top priorities. Now, 100 days later, illegal border crossings fell to historic lows and the Trump administration is executing a whole-of-government approach to rounding up and deporting thousands of criminal aliens. The president declared the border to be a national emergency and designated Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. President Donald Trump signed at least ten executive orders on his first day in office, impacting border security, illegal immigration, and crimes by people illegally present in the United States. In stark contrast to messaging delivered by her predecessor, the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a stern warning to people contemplating an illegal trip to the United States, “We will hunt you down.” The message, videotaped by Noem on behalf of President Trump, highlighted the efforts underway to secure the border, informing migrants that things have changed.

Spectrum News 1 [4/30/2025 10:23 AM, Jauka Garrett, 589K] reports Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was appointed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Review Council by President Donald Trump on Monday. The bipartisan group’s focus will be on “reforming and streamlining the nation’s emergency management and disaster response system,” according to a release from the governor’s office. Alongside Abbott joining the FEMA Review Council is current Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) Chief Nim Kidd. The review council was initially created in January by Trump to advise him “on the existing ability of FEMA to capably and impartially address disasters occurring within the United States." The council will also be tasked with making recommendations for changes to FEMA, according to the Department of Homeland Security. “As Governor of Texas, I have seen firsthand the critical role emergency management plays to protect Texans and our communities when disaster strikes,” said Abbott. “That is why Texas built the strongest emergency management operation in the nation, rooted in swift action, local control, and strong partnerships. This Council will ensure FEMA becomes more responsive, efficient, and supportive of state-led disaster efforts across the nation.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem were also appointed to the council, along with several others.

FOX News [4/30/2025 8:27 PM, Staff, 46189K] reports CBP senior advisor Ron Vitiello discusses ways the Trump administration is handling illegal migrants on ‘The Story.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [4/30/2025 8:45 AM, Suzanne Gamboa, 44742K] reports a green card holder detained on return to the United States and denied access to medications. The handcuffing and body search of an American citizen after she questioned the detention of her German travel partner. The detention for five days of an immigrant mother and her two children who became sick in custody. Recent reports about Customs and Border Protection actions at ports of entry are the focus of a letter signed by more than 40 Democratic members of Congress questioning the agency’s practices and demanding information about complaints of agents’ misconduct, among other things. The agency appears to be denying entry to noncitizens more often and subjecting travelers to "harsher questioning tactics, prolonged detention and arbitrary denials of entry," the lawmakers said in a letter provided first to NBC News. They said the CBP conduct appears to be a response to President Donald Trump’s directive to the Department of Homeland Security to step up vetting of noncitizens who want to come to the United States and of those already in the country. The actions have turned ordinary international travel "into a nightmarish ordeal for tourists, business travelers, lawful permanent residents ... and even U.S. citizens," they said in the letter, which is addressed to the acting heads of CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The main authors are Sens. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut; and Reps. Delia Ramirez, of Illinois, and Lou Correa, of California. Warren said in a statement that "Americans deserve answers on the CBP’s troubling tactics." Ramirez said the members "will use every tool at our disposal" to get answers to their questions about DHS agencies. NBC has reached out to DHS, CBP and ICE. The lawmakers raised concerns about CBP violating travelers’ due process rights, pointing to the deportation of a Brown University professor despite a judge’s order that she not be moved without advance notice. The lawmakers questioned more frequent transfers of travelers to ICE custody "for prolonged detentions" and more frequent searches of travelers’ phones. The tactics are having a collateral effect on the U.S. travel industry, they said, citing airlines’ preparations for reduced travel and canceled trips. "CBP’s tactics, along with other Trump administration policies, appear to be contributing to a decline in travel to the United States," the letter says. The scrutiny of CBP follows several media reports, many cited in the letter, about the treatment of people in encounters with CBP or in its custody. A Senate hearing on Rodney Scott’s nomination to lead CBP is scheduled for Wednesday.

Breitbart.com [4/30/2025 4:04 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 2923K] reports the Trump administration has seized "over 22 million fentanyl laced pills" in its first 100 days, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this week. The report cited U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data showing "overdose deaths the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 44," and it noted that "the precursor chemicals trace typically come from China" while the pills are largely made below the southern border. Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department released a report showcasing the massive financial incentives for cartels to sneak fentanyl into the U.S., as it is a billion-dollar enterprise for the Mexican drug cartels. In 2023, over 107,000 in the U.S. people died from overdose, and well over half of those deaths, almost 70 percent, were "attributed to opioids such as fentanyl," according to the DEA. According to the CDC, there were about 87,000 drug overdose deaths from October 2023 to September 2024 in the United States.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 10:39 AM, Jenny Goldsberry, 2296K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi says the first 100 days of the Trump administration have been successful in terms of the Department of Justice’s law enforcement efforts against alleged criminals. Law and order were major themes of President Donald Trump’s campaign. Bondi, formerly the attorney general in Florida, has largely delivered by pursuing arrests for high-profile crimes. Some of the crimes date back to former President Joe Biden’s term, such as the bombing of the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate. "We took out an ISIS terrorist in New York, right in New York, brought to justice the Abbey Gate terrorist, started an October 7 task force, brought two illegals to justice who ran one of the largest human trafficking rings in the country, dismantled a Sinaloa drug pipeline with 1,000 pounds of meth, 17,000 fentanyl pills, 20,000 fake mollies with fentanyl in them that could kill multiple people, brought 29 cartel members back from Mexico and this is all at Donald Trump’s directive," Bondi said Tuesday on Fox News’s Hannity. "We are making America safe again, especially by getting these drugs off the street.". In total, the Drug Enforcement Administration has seized 22.2 million fentanyl pills since Trump took office. Bondi estimated this saved 119 million lives by removing the drug from the streets. "Not only that, the domestic terrorism," Bondi went on. "Tesla, nine cases in seven jurisdictions, and we have made it crystal clear: no negotiations. These people are facing 20 years in prison, and that’s why it’s going to stop.".

New York Post [4/30/2025 3:15 PM, Jennie Taer, 54903K] reports illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border remained near historic lows in April despite increasing slightly over previous months, according to preliminary data obtained by The Post. Federal agents encountered fewer than 10,000 migrants crossing the southern border illegally in April, marking a 93% decrease from the more than 128,000 people who streamed across last April, Border Patrol stats show. The figures suggest that President Trump’s crackdown on the border — a key campaign promise — has resulted in a massive drop-off in the number of migrants arriving in the US illegally. Homeland Security sources pointed out that monthly migrant encounter numbers are lower than the illegal crossing racked up on some days during the Biden administration. While the border remains quiet, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been busy carrying out Trump’s mass deportation effort. In Trump’s first 100 days in office, ICE arrested more than 66,000 illegal immigrants and deported more than 65,000 individuals, according to the agency. "We’re just 100 days into this administration and thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is using every tool at its disposal to enforce our country’s immigration laws and protect our communities," acting ICE director Todd Lyons said in a recent statement.

CNN [4/30/2025 8:23 PM, Jake Tapper, 22131K] reports Chris Krebs’, President Donald Trump’s former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, membership in Global Entry has been revoked. Krebs, who has repeatedly attested to the security of the 2020 election, told CNN he finds it hard to believe this isn’t another act of retribution from the administration. On Wednesday afternoon, Krebs received an email saying that his Trusted Traveler Program status had changed. He logged into the program and learned his Global Entry program membership had been revoked, he told CNN. Global Entry is the US Customs and Border Protection program that gives low-risk travelers expedited clearance when they arrive in the US. Trump earlier this month stripped Krebs of any existing security clearance he may still hold since leaving office and ordered the Justice Department to probe the former official. Krebs, a Republican appointee in his first term, received bipartisan praise for telling the truth about the 2020 election, which aroused the ire of Trump, whose lies about the election led to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. On April 9, Trump signed an executive order instructing his government to punish Krebs in various ways, including ordering the attorney general to investigate him, though there is no evidence he has committed any crime. Time magazine recently asked the president if his order wasn’t exactly what he accused President Joe Biden’s administration of doing to him.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/30/2025 11:43 PM, Maggie Haberman, 145325K]

CBS Austin [4/30/2025 1:06 PM, Jackson Walker, 602K] reports migrants detained at the New Mexico border can now receive additional charges for entering a military zone, following a directive from President Donald Trump. Trump signed a presidential memoranda this month regarding a "Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions." That memo directed the Department of Defense to take control of a 170-square-mile strip of federal land along the southern border. "Once the Army accepts jurisdiction of that land, it will become part of a national defense area — a specified piece of federal land over which DOD maintains administrative authority and jurisdiction and is permitted to establish and enforce a controlled perimeter and access," the Department of Defense wrote this month. "The area will be considered an extension of Fort Huachuca, Arizona.". Service members throughout the zone now have the authority to apprehend trespassers and can construct boundaries to repel intruders. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico decried the move, claiming it uses the nation’s military as a police force. "As New Mexicans, we have deep concerns about the enhanced militarization of our borderlands communities," it wrote. "The expansion of military detention powers in the ‘New Mexico National Defense Area’—also known as the ‘border buffer zone’—represents a dangerous erosion of the constitutional principle that the military should not be policing civilians.".

CBS Los Angeles [4/30/2025 4:43 PM, Chelsea Hylton, 51661K] reports more than 17 pounds of liquid methamphetamine concealed in dog shampoo was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Los Angeles International Airport. On April 1, CBP said officers assigned to LAX’s Outbound Enforcement Team were conducting an enforcement exam on an outbound shipment heading to Australia. During their exam, the officers found plastic bottles labeled as dog shampoo. After opening the bottles, officers found a crystallized white substance. They conducted further testing, which gave positive results for methamphetamine. According to CBP, the estimated street value of the contents in the bottles is about $1.8 million. "This interception highlights CBP’s critical outbound mission in detecting, intercepting and seizing potent narcotics heading out of the United States, to countries where illegally imported drugs are sold at a premium," said Cheryl M. Davies, CBP Director of Field Operations in Los Angeles.

Reported similarly:
Los Angeles Times [4/30/2025 8:50 PM, Kaitlyn Huamani, 13342K]

Breitbart [4/30/2025 1:40 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports United States District Court Judge Jennifer Thurston, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California by former President Joe Biden, is blocking Border Patrol Agents across most of California from arresting suspected illegal aliens unless they have a warrant for their arrest. This week, Thurston issued a preliminary injunction that will prevent Border Patrol agents in California’s eastern district, the largest judicial district in the state, from carrying out arrests of suspected illegal aliens without a warrant and halting such arrests unless agents have a “reasonable suspicion” the suspect is an illegal alien. “Indeed, the evidence before the Court is that Border Patrol agents under DHS authority engaged in conduct that violated well-established constitutional rights,” Thurston wrote. In addition, Thurston is requiring Border Patrol agents to document “in narrative form” all arrests of illegal aliens made without a warrant with “particularized facts that supported the agent’s reasonable suspicion, which was formed in advance of the stop.” Border Patrol agents will also be required to hand over “documentation describing Border Patrol’s detentive stops and warrantless arrests within this District” within 60 days of Thurston’s order and every 60 days thereafter.

Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 6:40 PM, Kaelan Deese, 2296K] reports a California federal judge’s ruling on the scope of the Trump administration’s ability to conduct warrantless arrests for illegal immigrants fueled outrage and confusion online and among lawmakers and pundits, though its actual scope is more limited than initially thought. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, issued a preliminary injunction Monday restricting Border Patrol agents in California’s eastern district in stopping and arresting suspected illegal immigrants. "Judge Thurston … is trying to stop ICE agents fraom arresting illegal immigrants who are coming across the border," conservative CNN pundit Scott Jennings said Wednesday afternoon, adding that he thinks the administration should "just ignore" her order. Republican lawmakers also blasted the ruling. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) called it baffling, saying, "I cannot fathom the justification for a judicial order prohibiting the Border Patrol from arresting illegal aliens without a warrant.". Federal judge orders Border Patrol *not* to arrest illegal aliens without a warrant—even though federal law specifically authorizes them to do so. The ruling, however, does not block the Department of Homeland Security from conducting warrantless arrests outright; it seeks to reaffirm existing legal standards that agents must already follow: having "reasonable suspicion" before stopping an individual and "probable cause" they may flee before a warrant is obtained. "Border Patrol is enjoined from conducting detentive stops … unless, pre-stop, the detaining agent has reasonable suspicion that the person … is a noncitizen who is present … in violation of U.S. immigration law," Thurston’s order states. The judge, however, did set certain parameters that critics might see as overly burdensome on DHS’s obligations, such as requiring documentation of such stops every 60 days. In response to this ruling, a senior DHS official told the Washington Examiner, "The Trump Administration is committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system.". "No lawsuit, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side," the official added.

Blaze [4/30/2025 1:26 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1668K] reports a California federal judge on Tuesday threw up major roadblocks for Border Patrol agents seeking to deport illegal aliens. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Customs and Border Protection officers from arresting suspected illegal aliens without a warrant unless agents have reason to believe the suspect might flee before a warrant can be issued. The judge also ruled that officers cannot stop suspected illegal immigrants without reasonable suspicion. Additionally, Border Patrol is barred from deporting an individual via "voluntary departure" unless the suspect is first informed of his or her rights and agrees to leave the country. Thurston’s orders apply only to federal agents in the Eastern District of California.

Telemundo [4/30/2025 7:47 PM, Marinee Zavala, 41K] reports Federal judge Jennifer L. Thurston banned Border Patrol agents from detaining people based on their skin color or without a warrant or reason to believe the person could flee before such an order can be obtained. However, this only applies to people within the Eastern District of California, so those in places like San Diego or Imperial County are excluded from this protection. So those from Southern California today seek to be employees outside spaces such as Home Depot centers said they felt exposed to these raids and lament that protections do not reach these spaces. "With the president we have everything, racism came out, but I don’t agree with that," said Ignacio, who is one of the dozens of workers in the state who offers his floor and painting installation services outside a Home Depot in California, although he told Telemundo 20, that he knows has a benefit that many of his colleagues don’t, which is having his green card. He said he is afraid to be part of these raids that affects residents and brown-skinned citizens. "In Los Angeles, and everything that is the United States there have been raids and people are worried, families mainly those who have children who don’t have papers," Ignacio said. A lawsuit filed by lawyers is due to the series of raids carried out by the Border Patrol in the sector of El Centro to people who appeared to be agricultural workers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status or individual circumstances, so they claim this demand includes not only the community without documents in the country, but any citizen or permanent resident. "I don’t think this should be seen as a lawsuit for migrants’ rights, this is a civil rights lawsuit, people arrested here in many cases have legal status and were U.S. citizens," explained Franco Muzzio, a lawyer in the lawsuit of Partner at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. A lawsuit, which they hope will serve as an example for the rest of the state and cities like San Diego to file complaints when there is a victim in such cases. "It’s an example of what can happen, because San Diego and the Imperial Valley are not part of the eastern district, where the lawsuit is filed," said Brisa Velázquez, an ACLU lawyer.

CNN [4/30/2025 8:30 AM, Alexandra Skores, 22131K] reports that, if you still haven’t secured your REAL ID yet, time is running out. Your domestic air travel could be delayed if you don’t have an accepted form of identification at TSA checkpoints next week. The Department of Homeland Security is set to enforce the May 7 deadline for "REAL ID" after years of pushing it back. The REAL ID Act, which was passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government enhance security standards for identification. Travelers have been scrambling to get their licenses changed to avoid disruptions in domestic travel plans this summer and into the holiday months. Passports are still an acceptable form of identification for both domestic and international air travel, and non REAL ID compliant licenses are still valid for driving and other identification purposes outside of the federal requirements. While the May 7 date seems to have set off a mad dash for documentation, "leading up to the deadline, TSA has been engaging heavily with states, airlines, airports, Congress, and the travel industry to encourage compliance among travelers," a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration told CNN. "TSA resumed the ‘Be Your REAL ID Self’ national public advertising campaign in July 2024. We are committed to continue engaging with the public, licensing jurisdictions and states to facilitate a smooth transition to REAL ID enforcement beginning May 7, 2025.” CNN asked the agency more about the changes, and here’s what TSA said, along with some additional context for travelers.

AP [5/1/2025 12:01 AM, James Pollard, 48304K] reports the Campaign Against Hunger was already struggling to feed thousands of families a week when the Trump administration pulled more than $1.3 million in grants. Demand has only increased at the New York nonprofit since the city emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic insecurity. In a first for the pantry, however, it isn’t just the jobless lining up for its fresh produce and meats. It’s working people, too. Food banks typically see the most need during periods of high unemployment and yet the U.S. is facing down a hunger crisis during a relatively resilient labor market. The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture research showed there were one million more food insecure households in 2023 than 2022. Now, income stagnation and rising living costs are sending wage earners to food banks across the country — all as the federal government shuts off funding streams that provide millions with healthier, harder-to-get groceries. The squeeze comes as Republicans discuss budget plans that hunger relief groups fear will deepen the crisis by slashing food stamp spending. Funding cuts began threatening food availability in March. The USDA halted $500 million of expected food deliveries and cut another $1 billion for hunger relief programs supporting local producers. The Department of Homeland Security also rescinded Federal Emergency Management Agency grants for local governments and nonprofits — including The Campaign Against Hunger — to shelter and feed newly arrived noncitizen migrants after their release. “Secretary Noem has directed FEMA to implement additional controls to ensure that all grant money going out is consistent with law and does not go to fraud, waste or abuse, as in the past,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

USA Today [5/1/2025 5:05 AM, Dinah Voyles Pulver, 75858K] reports Federal Emergency Management Agency employees are trained to respond to disasters, but have struggled this spring with the situation unfolding at their own agency. While they’ve been deployed to wildfires in Los Angeles, flooding along the Kentucky River and throughout the southeast in response to Hurricane Helene, FEMA workers have watched a roiling turmoil of staff cuts, slashed budgets and threats to dismantle their agency. They’re fielding difficult questions from friends, coworkers and disaster victims about what the future holds. "It’s caused a lot of confusion," said Michael Coen, a FEMA veteran of more than 15 years who left his position as chief of staff on Inauguration Day. At least 2,000 of the agency’s roughly 6,100 full-time employees have either left or plan to leave under the waves of terminations and voluntary retirements ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, Coen told USA TODAY. That doesn’t include a reduction in force expected to take place in the federal government in the coming weeks. President Donald Trump also has launched an agency review and cut funds for some FEMA grant programs, outraging officials in states where those funds already had been committed. The controversy taps into a long-running debate over the role of states and the federal government in disaster response. It’s hard to find a public official who doesn’t think the way the nation responds to disasters could be improved, but the 30% cut in its full-time staff raises concerns about whether FEMA will be able to respond to major disasters during the approaching summer storm season that could bring hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. Jay Inslee, whose term as the Democratic governor of Washington State ended in January, is among those gravely concerned about FEMA’s ability to respond. "Gutting FEMA is just going to make more and more families have to be living under blue tarps for years, and not to have the financial assistance they deserve when they pay their taxes," Inslee said. "I’m outraged on their behalf.”

USA Today [4/30/2025 4:52 PM, Staff, 75858K] reports From floods to fires: See FEMA respond to disasters across the US. [Editorial note: consult photos at source link]

Washington Post [4/30/2025 11:50 AM, Matthew Cappucci, Kasha Patel, and Ian Livingston, 31735K] reports after days of stormy conditions largely in the central United States drove power outages and led to at least three deaths, multiple additional days of back-to-back storms are expected in the region. Severe thunderstorms, heavy rains and flooding, and the risk of tornadoes are expected in Texas, Oklahoma and surrounding areas Wednesday before storms spread east into Thursday. Significant flooding was underway early Wednesday in southern Oklahoma and adjacent north Texas along the Highway 287 corridor. Some areas are reporting a month’s worth of rain in just 48 hours. Widespread rain totals of 4 to 6 inches had been observed in southwest Oklahoma near Lawton, and it was still raining at daybreak. This month has proved to be the second-wettest April on record for the state of Oklahoma, and more heavy rains are on the way. Flood watches remain in effect from north Texas through western Arkansas, much of Oklahoma, and southwest Missouri. Flash flood warnings have also been issued. Morning storms were plowing through Dallas-Fort Worth, meanwhile, with additional redevelopment expected during the afternoon hours. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center drew up an enhanced (Level 3 out of 5) risk of severe weather, which included the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan region. The agency warned that “large to very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes are all possible, with some strong-tornado potential.”

NBC News [4/30/2025 2:09 PM, Minyvonne Burke, 44742K] reports severe storms rolled through Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening, killing at least four people, knocking down trees and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. A 22-year-old man in State College was electrocuted near a utility pole while trying to put out a mulch fire, police said. The man encountered an active electric current and died at the scene. "This tragic incident occurred during a severe weather event hitting the State College area, resulting in damage to many trees and utility lines," police said in a news release. The man’s identity is being withheld pending notification of relatives, police said. In Allegheny County, two people were killed. Police said Raymond Gordon, 67, was working outside and was walking back into his Ross Township home when a tree fell and hit him. Another unidentified man was electrocuted by live wires.

NPR [4/30/2025 5:34 PM, Rebecca Hersher, 29983K] Audio HERE reports the Trump administration canceled billions of dollars of grants that were supposed to help small towns across the U.S keep their residents safe from floods, wildfires and other extreme weather. In one small Maryland town, the loss of funding means people are trapped in harm’s way.

USA Today [4/30/2025 5:56 PM, Trevor Hughes, 75858K] reports the hidden underground facility located 60 miles west of Washington, D.C., is getting upgrades. But the specifics remain a secret. A secretive underground FEMA base where Congressional leaders hid following the 9/11 attacks is getting an upgrade. Mount Weather, which is also known as the High Point Special Facility, has both above and below-ground facilities as part of its 564-acre site, and Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited the complex in early April, posing for photos outside with the complex’s fulltime fire department and armed FEMA security guards. What Noem didn’t do, however, was reveal any details about the classified parts of the bunker system. But federal contracting details and historical announcements from FEMA provide tantalizing hints about the facility that started life as a weather and mining research site in the early 1900s.

CBS News [4/30/2025 6:22 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports all threats are possible in North Texas Wednesday, with large hail and strong winds being the primary threats. The tornado threat is low. A First Alert Weather Day is in effect on Wednesday in North Texas due to the severe storm chances..

Houston Chronicle [4/30/2025 6:29 PM, Rebekah F. Ward, 1769K] reports the Trump administration ousted hundreds of scientists and experts this week who were working on the National Climate Assessment, a key report used by the city of Houston to gauge hazards from extreme weather risks such as hurricanes. The move had an immediate impact in Texas, where several researchers had been working on the assessment to help communities deal with climate impacts. More than 400 scientists across the country who volunteered their time to assemble the report — including at least four in Texas — were cut loose. "We are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles," said an email that landed in the inbox of hundreds of scholars on Monday. The Texas researchers tapped to help the process, including scholars from the University of Texas system, Texas Tech University and the nonprofit sector, had looked forward to producing another assessment that could be used by entities from municipal governments to ranchers and cattlemen. Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas-based author of the previous climate assessment and chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy, called the document "an essential and exhaustively peer-reviewed scientific study that quantifies the impacts of climate change on every aspect of our lives, from our health to our economy.". The scientists’ release followed NASA’s move earlier this month to cancel its contract with ICF International, tapped to support the process. Many staff with the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program which coordinates the assessment were also let go. "I refer people to the National Climate Assessment as the best source of comprehensive information on actual or potential climate impact by region and by sector across the United States," said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas’ state climatologist and a professor of meteorology at Texas A&M University. Nielsen-Gammon said that for things like extreme weather trends, he will often check his own Texas-specific analysis against the national assessments and refer to their primary sources to verify that the research lines up. He said the iterative release of national-level reports ensures that everyone is adjusting frequently to new findings, and keeps climate impacts in the conversation.

Blaze.com [4/30/2025 3:00 PM, Dave Urbanski, 1668K] reports the Maine Wire is calling out what it says is a Waterville teacher’s social media post, which contains some disturbing content in reference to President Donald Trump. The outlet posted a screenshot on X of the social media post in question. It indicates the teacher is JoAnna St. Germain. A Tuesday Facebook post from St. Germain mirrors the wording of the screenshot from the Maine Wire. Waterville Senior High School lists St. Germain as part of the English department.

Newsweek [4/30/2025 2:45 PM, Andrew Stanton, 52220K] reports a new bill from House Republicans would change when the U.S. Coast Guard reserves, comprising about 7,000 reservists, can be called into active duty. The House Transportation Committee unveiled a spending bill this week that included changes to how the Coast Guard reserve would operate. If signed into law, the bill would give the Coast Guard commandant greater authority over when the reservists can be called into duty. The bill would include new funding for the Coast Guard, as well as a measure changing when its reservists can be called into duty. The committee wrote in a statement that the proposal will "provide investments to bolster the U.S. Coast Guard’s missions to stop the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the country and protect our national security." The change will give the Coast Guard "parity" with other branches of the armed forces, Justin Harclerode, director of communications for the committee, told Newsweek.

Maritime Executive [4/30/2025 4:27 PM, Staff, 325K] reports the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are increasing their scrutiny of containers at the Port of New York and New Jersey, and have begun to focus on undeclared hazardous materials in the cargo - including export cargo. In February, CBP and U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York targeted outbound hazardous cargo at multiple terminals in Port Newark, New Jersey and Brooklyn. The five-day effort uncovered eight undeclared hazardous materials containers and 33 stolen cars, valued at more than $2.4 million. The vehicles were about to be shipped to West African countries, beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. The practical objective was to prevent shipboard or pierside fires or explosions from improperly stowed hazardous materials. The dangerous goods included cars with connected batteries - a potential ignition source in the event of any electrical system shorts - and full gasoline tanks. This month, CBP and the USCG teamed up again to conduct warehouse spot checks around the Port of New York and New Jersey, including a site in Red Hook. Guided by CBP container screening data, they uncovered a 60 percent deficiency rate in hazmat compliance. The two agencies are collaborating more closely at PONYNJ now, and CBP is providing the Coast Guard with regular tip-offs about any potential violations it discovers during cargo screening.

FOX News [4/29/2025 8:00 PM, Jeffrey Petz, 46189K] reports that, last night, President Trump touted his administration’s first 100 days’ accomplishments at a rally in Warren, Michigan. It was in Warren that the President continued to highlight his progress on securing the southern border, which was one of his most frequent campaign promises. President of the National Border Patrol Council, Paul Perez, joins to break down what they’ve seen so far in terms of border security and the administration’s continued efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. President Trump and his administration have explained the goals of their tariffs are two-fold: first, to ​address U.S. trade imbalances, and second, to bring manufacturing back into America. The sweeping tariffs have caused some volatility in the market, but the President posted on social media that Americans must “hang tough,” promising “the end result will be historic.” U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer joins the podcast to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to grow the U.S. workforce, how reshoring manufacturing bolsters national security, and efforts to help supply American businesses with greater workforce numbers. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Reuters [4/30/2025 1:35 PM, Daniel Wiessner, 41523K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday said federal civilian employees are entitled to their full salaries while on military leave during a national emergency, regardless of whether their duty is directly related to that emergency The court in a 5-4 ruling, penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch rejected the government’s claim that military reservists are only entitled to a bump in pay when their duty is substantially connected to a specific emergency. The court revived claims by air traffic controller Nick Feliciano that the Federal Aviation Administration should have given him his full pay during a two-year period more than a decade ago when he was serving as a Coast Guard reservist. Federal law requires that federal employees be paid the difference between their military and civilian salaries — known as differential pay — when they are called to service "during a national emergency." The court said that phrase by its plain meaning applies to someone like Feliciano, who served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but was not directly involved in those conflicts.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/30/2025 11:21 AM, Staff, 48304K]

Axios [4/30/2025 5:42 PM, Kathryn Varn, 13163K] reports the local business owner who is under investigation for his role in a fatal Clearwater ferry crash "is stepping down" from his position at Jannus Live, the downtown St. Petersburg concert venue announced Wednesday. The statement attributes the decision to Sunday’s crash, which killed ferry passenger Jose Castro, a 41-year-old father of two girls, and injured 10 others. Knight was driving a 37-foot recreational boat Sunday night when it plowed into the back of a Clearwater ferry with 45 people on board just south of the Memorial Causeway, authorities said. Knight, who court records show has a history of DUI and boating-related legal trouble, had no alcohol in his system and has been cooperative with authorities, per the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating the crash along with the U.S. Coast Guard. Kevin Hayslett, Knight’s lawyer, sent a letter to investigators Tuesday saying the ferry wasn’t adequately lighted at the time of the crash, the Times reported. Hayslett also disputed initial reports from police that the crash was a hit-and-run. Knight had someone on his boat call 911 and stayed at the scene, offering help, until emergency responders got there, his lawyer said. He did eventually leave because his boat was taking on water, Hayslett wrote, per the Times. Law enforcement helped tow him to the Belleair Causeway boat ramp.

LiveNowfromFox [4/30/2025 8:00 PM, Austin Williams, 716K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard ended Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale with a dramatic reminder of its mission at sea—offloading more than 3,700 pounds of seized cocaine and marijuana worth an estimated $12.3 million. The haul came from two separate interdictions in the Caribbean Sea during joint operations between the Coast Guard and U.S. Navy, including the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul and an embarked Navy helicopter unit. The effort reflects an aggressive push to curb drug trafficking through coordinated action across military and law enforcement branches. "This is a testament to the hard work and skills of the ship’s crew," said Cmdr. Steven Fresse, commanding officer of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul. "To make an immediate impact so early on in deployment shows how ready we are to act."

Police Magazine [4/30/2025 7:11 PM, Staff, 48K] reports on Monday April 28, 2025, members of the Sarasota Police Department Marine Unit used their vessel to pursue an unpiloted boat running approximately 40 mph. An officer transferred over to the runaway boat and brought it under control. “The Sarasota Police Marine Unit, with assistance from the United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Venice Police Department, and SeaTow, worked together to safely bring the situation under control. After several attempts to foul the vessel’s motor with tow lines were unsuccessful, SeaTow was able to deploy a plasma tow line, slightly slowing the vessel,” the Sarasota Police reported on Facebook. Police say the boat’s operator told him that a larger vessel cut in front of him and caused a wake that threw him out of the his boat. He was not using his boat’s emergency engine cut-off switch at the time of the incident, so the boat kept going. He suffered minor injuries.

FOX Weather [4/30/2025 11:18 PM, Andrew Wulfeck, 3500K] reports nearly 200 personnel are working to contain an oil spill along the coast of Louisiana that threatens to pollute marshes around Plaquemines Parish. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the agency was alerted to a leaking well about 20 miles southeast of Venice over the weekend. A unified command was established and deployed thousands of feet of boom in an attempt to contain the oily residue. The agency reports that more than 23,000 gallons of oily water have been collected so far, and drone video shows streaks of a brownish-black substance along the shoreline. "Our top priority remains the safety of the public and our responders," Gregory Callaghan, a captain with the U.S. Coast Guard, said in a statement. "The Unified Command is working around the clock to secure the source of the discharge as safely and quickly as possible. We are committed to minimizing further impacts to the environment."

San Francisco Chronicle [4/30/2025 3:55 PM, Molly Burke, 5046K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a person believed to be in the water in Contra Costa County after finding an unmanned boat, officials said. The Coast Guard said Contra Costa County reported Tuesday that a 20-foot bass boat was adrift in Big Break, near Dutch Slough around Oakley, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Authorities are actively searching for a person believed to be in the water nearby and asked the public to share any information about the boat or its owner with the Coast Guard.

BigIslandNow [4/30/2025 10:24 AM, Tiffany DeMasters, 94K] reports a shoe believed to belong to a fisherman who went missing off Kona Coast waters last weekend was found Tuesday, several miles south of where he was last seen. But aside from the Croc, which was found floating in waters near Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau, no other evidence has been found of 42-year-old Jared Willeford, according to an official with the U.S. Coast Guard. At 8 a.m. on Sunday, he had launched his yellow kayak from Keauhou. Two hours later, his watercraft was found unmanned. Willeford is the second fisherman from Kona to go missing this month. On April 10, the Coast Guard began its search for Earl Kekuanaoa “Oa” Hind after he was reported missing off of South Point. That search officially ended on April 15, with no signs of Hind, who also is 42, or his 21-foot boat, “Makalapua Onalani”. The disappearances of Willeford and Hind have friends and family boggled. Willeford’s close friend Christopher Thomason said both men had “top-notch” water capabilities. The Coast Guard has searched more than 2,000 square miles looking for Willeford. The plan is to continue the search into Wednesday. Additionally, Hawai’i Island police have renewed their request for information on Hind.

Yahoo News [5/1/2025 1:34 AM, Emily Cervantes, 59943K] reports after canvassing nearly 5,000 square miles of the Kona coast over 89 combined hours, the Coast Guard has suspended the search for a missing kayak fisherman. Jared Willeford, 42, was last seen leaving Keauhou Bay on Sunday, April 27, around 8 a.m. About two hours later, his kayak was found floating about 400 yards offshore, but Willeford was nowhere to be seen. The decision to suspend a search is one we approach with great care, weighing every factor and aspect of the situation at hand. Our hearts are with everyone affected by this tragic event, especially the family and friends of Mr. Willeford. Big Island residents have faced considerable heartbreak in recent weeks with consecutive cases of people missing at sea, and we recognize the heavy toll these incidents have taken on the entire community. Lt. Tyler Peterson, search and rescue mission coordinator.

CyberScoop [4/30/2025 4:05 PM, Greg Otto] reports in her appearance at the RSAC 2025 Conference, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke about getting CISA back to its “core mission” of protecting federal networks and critical infrastructure from cybersecurity threats. Other cyber policy experts wonder how that is going to unfold with such concentration on cutting CISA’s workforce. Congressional staffers and cybersecurity policy experts expressed deep concern about CISA during a panel discussion at the conference, with particular attention given to the agency’s ongoing staffing reductions. The comments came during a bigger discussion about efforts to build and retain a qualified cyber workforce in the face of growing threats, budget constraints and political turbulence that the panel said threatens to further erode government cyber readiness. Moira Bergin, minority staff director at the House Homeland Security Committee, called the retention of CISA personnel the committee’s “top priority,” expressing concerns that the cuts over the first 100 days of the Trump administration could lead to the loss of institutional knowledge that has helped the cyber agency grow since its inception. “We don’t want to lose any more workforce, we don’t want to lose any more authorities, we don’t want to lose any more programs,” Bergin said. Bergin also noted that CISA’s expansion has not come from excessive federal spending, but rather from the agency’s ongoing efforts to define and apply its mission since its creation in 2018.

HSToday [4/30/2025 11:20 AM, Staff, 38K] reports U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem urged Congress on Tuesday to reauthorize a 10-year-old law that encourages businesses to share information about ongoing cybersecurity threats with the federal government. Last week, a bipartisan duo of senators introduced a bill — the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Extension Act — that would extend the provisions enshrined in the original legislation passed in 2015. During a keynote speech at the RSA Conference, Noem said the bill’s reauthorization was key to the Trump administration’s larger efforts to cut funding at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and rely more heavily on the private sector. The bill would incentivize companies to voluntarily share cybersecurity threat indicators like software vulnerabilities, malware, or malicious IP addresses with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Cybersecurity Dive [4/30/2025 12:17 PM, David Jones, 72K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday said the Trump administration remains committed to combating cyber threats and protecting the nation but warned of changes at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to redirect the agency toward its core responsibilities. The administration will continue to go after malicious hackers and focus on building resilience among critical infrastructure operators and small businesses, Noem said in a keynote address at the annual RSAC Conference in San Francisco. But she also criticized CISA for straying beyond its remit in recent years and vowed to put a stop to those activities. “We need to put CISA back on mission,” Noem said. “Many times CISA is doing important work, but we also saw them get into areas that were not why they were created.” Noem’s last-minute appearance at RSAC came as the cybersecurity community remains deeply concerned about widespread job cuts and resignations at CISA and broader national security policy changes. Noem said the agency is fully aware of the threat posed by Chinese hackers who are increasingly targeting small businesses, local governments and other under-resourced organizations as part of a larger effort to disrupt U.S. infrastructure and steal American companies’ trade secrets. Noem also offered a surprising endorsement of the Biden administration’s secure-by-design initiative, saying the Trump team would continue pushing companies to develop more secure technology. She said DHS planned to use its purchasing power “to demand that we have secure products on the market” and make related procurement recommendations to state and local governments.

Bloomberg [4/30/2025 4:00 PM, Staff, 16228K] Video: HERE reports China and the US actively engage in cyber espionage for strategic advantage. Leaked files now suggest how rapidly Beijing is catching up in preparation for any future conflict.

Daily Wire [4/30/2025 1:12 PM, Spencer Lindquist, 4672K] reports nearly 600 individuals with ties to terror organizations entered the United States and were granted asylum by the Biden administration, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during a cabinet meeting Wednesday. The finding came after Gabbard directed the National Counterterrorism Center to identify cartel members present in the United States, as well as those who’ve attempted to enter the country through legal or illegal means. "Because of your designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, I took immediate action with our National Counterterrorism Center to prioritize their focus on those terrorists and gang members who are trying to enter our country through legal or illegal means and to seek out those who are already here in our country because of the Biden administration’s four years of open borders," Gabbard told President Donald Trump during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting. "Just the other day, we found 700 alien terrorists who have ties to MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the Sinaloa cartel," Gabbard said. "Just yesterday, our NCTC identified almost 600 individuals with ties to other terrorists who came through our border illegally, claimed asylum, and under the Biden administration were paroled here within our borders.". Gabbard explained that her Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is working alongside the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to locate these illegal alien terrorists.

Axios [4/30/2025 9:20 AM, Jessica Boehm, 13163K] reports an Arizona dealership became the latest target in a string of nationwide acts of vandalism against Tesla — an American car company inextricably linked to President Trump. The American public’s response to Tesla’s Trump ties — from violent demonstrations to plummeting vehicle sales — is perhaps one of the most significant private sector responses to public policy in the modern era. Trump has only doubled down on his support of Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, showcasing the company’s vehicles on the White House lawn last month and extending federal law enforcement support to investigate and prosecute acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles and facilities. Ian Moses, 35, was charged with malicious damage to a vehicle by means of fire, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Arizona. Moses is accused of using fire starter logs and a red, plastic gas can to set fire to a Cybertruck at a Tesla dealership in Mesa, according to the complaint. He allegedly spray-painted the word "theif" (misspelled) on the dealership wall. What they’re saying: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charge on X (also owned by Musk) Tuesday morning, calling the vandalism an act of "domestic terrorism." Trump previously said he would label violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism — but Moses’ charge is not a terrorism charge.

FOX News [4/30/2025 8:33 AM, Danielle Wallace, 46189K] reports the Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, sources told the Associated Press. A notification sent to congressional committees on April 23 says the administration will designate the Haitian gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as foreign terrorist organizations, thr AP reported, citing two people familiar with the message who spoke on condition of anonymity. A third source told the AP that the foreign relations committees in the House and Senate received the notification. In February, the Department of Homeland Security canceled an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) shielding about half a million Haitians from deportation. The State Department formally designated eight Latin American organized crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations last month. They are Tren de Aragua (TdA) of Venezuela, Mara Salvatrucha – also known as MS-13 – of El Salvador, and the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – also known as the "Zeta Killers," the Gulf Cartel and Northeast Cartel of Mexico and the La Nueva Familia Michoacana and United Cartels, all of Mexico. The administration further categorized TdA as an invading force under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act as federal authorities ramp up efforts to deport its members. Tens of thousands of Haitians came to the U.S. under a Biden-era program permitting people from four countries, including Haiti, to stay for two years provided they had a financial sponsor and bought their own plane ticket. The Trump administration terminated that program and is seeking to revoke the status of those admitted under the Biden administration. Migration from Haiti was under scrutiny in 2024 as the Trump campaign drew attention to massive amounts of Haitian migration under the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), when 30,000 migrants were allowed in each month. At that point, if eligible, they could not be removed after their parole expired due to TPS. It affected a number of towns, including Springfield, Ohio, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania. At a Michigan rally Tuesday celebrating his 100th day back in office, Trump championed the eight designations from last month, vowing his White House would continue deportations. "We have also designated two bloodthirsty transnational gangs, MS-13 and Tren de Agua, TdA. They’ve been designated the highest level of terrorist and that lets us do a lot of things that you wouldn’t be able to do," Trump said. "We’ve got to get them out of here before they kill more people. They’ve killed plenty. My administration has increased arrests of known and suspected terrorists by 655%. Is that okay? We tried to get it higher. We tried to get it higher. But the courts are giving us a hard time." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/30/2025 2:38 PM, Danielle Wallace, 46189K] reports CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that a restructuring was underway at President Donald Trump’s direction to eliminate "well-documented politicization" of the agency. Trump joked during a meeting of his Cabinet secretaries on Wednesday that perhaps Ratcliffe was the only one "who’s not allowed to talk about the great job he’s done," given the classified nature of the Central Intelligence Agency’s work. "At your direction, the CIA has deployed our unique covert action, authorities in various places and continents, to successfully advance your national security and foreign policy priorities, to advance peace, to end wars, to take terrorists off the battlefield, and to keep illicit drugs from coming into this country and harming Americans," Ratcliffe reported to Trump, in front of news cameras. "Unfortunately, as much as I would love to detail your accomplishments in that regard, we can’t do so with this crowd. But you and I both know, Mr. President, that you have had a profound positive impact on America’s national security posture. And Americans are safer because of your leadership." "Mr. President, the CIA is being restructured at your direction to focus on our core mission and to eliminate the political – the well-documented politicization that has taken place in the intelligence community from bad actors in the past to focus on our core mission and to Make America Safe Again," Ratcliffe added, thanking Trump for the opportunity without elaborating further. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also referenced efforts to combat "politicization" within the intelligence community at the Cabinet meeting. "I’m grateful to have the privilege of leading the intelligence community towards ending the weaponization. Politicization of the intelligence community has gone on for far too long," Gabbard said. "And building out what is truly a lean and agile and effective intelligence community that is helping you deliver that promise to the American people of safety, security, and freedom." "We’re working every day to hold the deep state accountable to end the politicization of weaponization of the intelligence community," Gabbard continued. "This past week, I sent three criminal referrals for illegal and unauthorized leaks to the media of classified intelligence for prosecution. We have 11 more that are under investigation. We’ve revoked, at your direction, 67 security clearances, and we continue the work of declassifying documents." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Wall Street Journal [4/30/2025 8:20 PM, Jasmine Li, 646K] reports a bid to reject President Trump’s worldwide “Liberation Day” tariffs fell short in the Senate on Wednesday, as most Republicans stayed aligned with the White House despite growing concerns about the economy. The measure championed by Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) failed to win a majority, with 49 in favor and 49 against, hurt by the absences of two tariff opponents—Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.), who was returning from an event in South Korea, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). The resolution sought to repeal America’s broad 10% tariffs on almost every nation and the higher tariffs on China and other “bad actors” by terminating the emergency declaration Trump used to impose the levies. The administration has argued that persistent trade deficits constitute an emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Three Republicans voted with Democrats in support of the measure: Paul, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Many Republicans have expressed concerns about Trump’s tariffs, particularly if they remain in place long term rather than being used primarily as bargaining chips to secure better trade deals. But Paul is one of only a handful of Republican lawmakers who have directly criticized the president on the issue, calling the levies bad economic policy and arguing that only Congress has the right to impose tariffs under the Constitution. “The founders would be shocked that Congress would voluntarily and recklessly and fecklessly give up their power to the presidency to submit to emergency rule,” Paul said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. Other Republicans defended Trump’s efforts. “The president is a good negotiator, and he deserves more time and our support. Ending these negotiations at their inception only benefits one actor: China,” said Sen. Mike Crapo (R., Idaho).

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/30/2025 6:51 PM, Robert Jimison, 145325K]
USA Today [4/30/2025 8:28 PM, Riley Beggin and Francesca Chambers, 75858K]

NewsMax [4/30/2025 1:29 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4998K] reports House Speaker Mike Johnson said President Donald Trump’s tariffs will result in a more "equalized" trade disparity and ultimately will be concentrated on a "handful of countries...that have been most abusive of our trade agreements." During an interview Wednesday at an Axios’ News Shapers event in Washington, D.C., the Louisiana Republican was asked how uncertainty of tariff rates can be justified after he agreed it’s important to have certainty surrounding tax rates for Americans. "Well, we’re trying to do it for both," he told Axios political reporter Hans Nichol. "The tariff policy, you know...there’s different viewpoints on this...but you can’t argue with the fact that it has been very effective shaking things up. By some measurements, we have more than a hundred countries now coming forward to renegotiate trade agreements with America, and that’s good for Americans, that’s good for consumers. It’s good for our stability because...the disparity in our trade will be more equalized. And I think that’s an important principle. "What I think what will happen is, in the days going forward, is there’ll be more concentration on just a small handful of countries, the ones, frankly, that have been most abusive of our trade agreements and trade arrangements, and of course China is at the top of that list. So, it’s a delicate balance, but I think the strategy in the end will make sense and I think the economy will respond appropriately."

Wall Street Journal [4/30/2025 2:29 PM, Paul Berger] reports U.S. lawmakers are launching the biggest push in decades to revitalize American shipbuilding. A bipartisan group of legislators reintroduced a bill Wednesday to stimulate demand for hundreds of U.S.-built ships and to boost America’s ranks of shipbuilders and sailors. The Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act includes tax incentives for shipyard improvements, the establishment of a Maritime Security Trust Fund to pay for investments and a target to more than triple the number of U.S.-built vessels in international trades. Resurrecting American shipbuilding won’t be easy. Each year, U.S. shipyards produce a handful of large commercial ships, compared with hundreds of vessels that are pumped out of Chinese shipyards. Democratic and Republican administrations have identified America’s weak shipbuilding industry and a shortage of U.S.-flagged commercial vessels as an economic and national security threat at a time of China’s maritime dominance.

Roll Call [4/30/2025 12:16 PM, Mark Satter, 503K reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday abruptly canceled the Pentagon’s Women, Peace & Security (WPS) program, an initiative signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term and touted by his first administration as a sign of its commitment to women’s empowerment. The program was born out of the law known as the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and co-sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., that sought to promote the participation of women in mediation and negotiation processes to resolve violent conflict. In a statement, Shaheen noted that members of Trump’s cabinet were integral to the bill’s success. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, then the Republican at-large representative from South Dakota, was the sponsor of the bill in the House and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was an original co-sponsor in the Senate. And though not involved in writing the legislation, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz formerly chaired the House WPS caucus.

FOX News [4/30/2025 8:27 PM, Staff, 46189K] reports Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on the Pentagon’s warning about a drone risk on ‘Special Report.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [5/1/2025 2:09 AM, Sheikh Saaliq and Munir Ahmed, 4998K] reports U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called senior officials in India and Pakistan in an effort to defuse the crisis that followed last week’s deadly attack in Kashmir, the State Department said. Rubio urged Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to de-escalate tensions on Wednesday. India has vowed to punish Pakistan after accusing it of backing the attack, which Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed rivals have since expelled each other’s diplomats and citizens, ordered the border shut and closed their airspace to each other. New Delhi has suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad. Soldiers on each side have also exchanged fire along their de facto border, driving tensions between India and Pakistan to their highest point in recent years. The region of Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. The two countries have fought two wars and one limited conflict over the Himalayan territory. U.S. State Department’s Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio in his call with Jaishankar expressed sorrow over last week’s massacre. He also reaffirmed the U.S.’s “commitment to cooperation with India against terrorism,” Bruce said. Jaishankar on Thursday said he discussed the last week’s massacre in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s Pahalgam, in which 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, were killed, with Rubio, adding that “perpetrators, backers and planners” of the attack “must be brought to justice.” Rubio also spoke to Sharif on Wednesday evening and “emphasized the need for both sides to continue working together for peace and stability in South Asia,” according to a Pakistani statement. It said Sharif rejected the Indian allegations and “urged the U.S. to impress upon India to dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly.” Public anger has swelled in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers “to the ends of the earth.” A Pakistani minister has said that Pakistan has “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days.

Wall Street Journal [4/30/2025 9:55 PM, Alan Cullison and Jan Lytvynenko, 646K] reports the Trump administration reached a deal Wednesday with Ukraine giving the U.S. access to its mineral wealth, overcoming last-minute haggling that had held up an agreement President Trump had sought to compensate the U.S. for helping Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed the deal as a step toward a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine and a beginning of the country’s reconstruction. In tightly controlled negotiations, the Trump administration dropped its insistence that the agreement allow Washington to recoup billions of dollars of past military aid. “As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war,” Bessent said in a press release. “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.” The agreement marks an improvement in relations between Kyiv and Washington, which have soured in recent months, not least over the deal for Ukraine’s minerals. A one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Vatican ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral last weekend, appears to have eased tensions between the two leaders. A signed agreement will provide a morale boost for Ukraine as its people face daily bombardment from Russia. The attacks have killed and wounded dozens of civilians across the country in recent weeks as negotiations for a cease-fire continue without success. Central to the agreement is an investment fund that both Ukraine and the U.S. will contribute to and oversee: the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. The signing of the deal insures that the U.S. and its allies will take the lead in any reconstruction. “To be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Bessent said.

Politico [4/30/2025 6:12 PM, Eli Stokols and Felicia Schwartz, 11599K] reports the U.S. and Ukraine have signed an economic partnership agreement to develop mineral resources in the Eastern European country amid its grinding war with Russia, the Trump administration announced Wednesday. As part of the agreement, the U.S. and Ukraine will cooperate to establish an investment fund to help rebuild the Eastern European nation as the White House says it continues to seek peace more than three years after the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion. “As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement announcing the deal. “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.” Kyiv and Washington have been negotiating for months on an agreement, which would see the U.S. develop and profit from Ukraine’s vast natural resources, including critical elements and minerals vital to modern manufacturing, and contribute to a reconstruction fund for Ukraine. Ukraine will retain full control over its national resources and state-owned enterprises will remain state property, the country said in an outline of the agreement. The U.S. will contribute to the fund through direct payments or through new military assistance, according to the outline. Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenue with royalties from newly issued licenses for critical minerals, oil and gas exploration. The long-awaited signing came just days after Trump and Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral in the Vatican City last weekend — and as the president has been pushing both Ukraine and Russia to hammer out a peace agreement to end the war.

Reuters [5/1/2025 1:36 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a senior Iranian national security official on Wednesday that Beijing appreciated Tehran making diplomatic efforts regarding its nuclear programme, ahead of a new round of U.S.-Iran talks on Saturday. "China values Iran’s commitment not to develop nuclear weapons" and "appreciates Iran’s diplomatic efforts", Wang told Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, according to a readout of a meeting in Brazil and released by his ministry on Thursday. "(China) is pleased to see ongoing dialogue between Iran and other parties and supports Iran’s necessary cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Wang was quoted as saying. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened military action if Iran does not strike a deal to rein in its escalating nuclear programme, with negotiators from Washington and Tehran expected to reconvene in Rome on Saturday. The White House on Wednesday imposed sanctions on entities it accused of being involved in the illicit trade of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals in a bid to ramp up pressure on the Middle Eastern state ahead of the talks. China’s top diplomat worked with Shamkhani on the surprise 2023 deal restoring ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which analysts said signalled Beijing’s desire to be a diplomatic heavyweight in the Middle East. But the crisis in Israel and Gaza, as well as Houthi rebels attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea, has sternly tested Beijing’s ability to continue to play a constructive role in handling global "hotspot issues.”

FOX Business [4/30/2025 12:39 PM, Greg Norman, 10702K] reports President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration’s tariffs are incentivizing investment in the U.S., while China is "doing very poorly right now.". "I heard Samsung is — now because of the tariffs — they’re going to build massive facilities in the United States," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. "If we didn’t do the tariffs, they wouldn’t be doing that.". Trump said earlier this month that he has attracted over $7 trillion in private investments since being elected, from companies like Apple, Eli Lilly and Stargate, as well as countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. "We have more money being spent than at any time in the history of our country. We’re up to close to $8 trillion, I think I can say," he told reporters Wednesday. "And that includes chip companies, car companies. Every form of manufacturing, high-tech companies. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.". "What they need is an incentive to come in, and the tariffs — they’re building because of the tariffs. And I like to say they’re building because of Nov. 5, the election and the tariffs. But I’m going to be a little more blunt. They’re building because of the tariffs. And Nov. 5 gave them the tariffs," Trump also said. Meanwhile, China "is doing very poorly right now" in its trade war with the U.S., according to Trump. "I just saw some reports coming out — and I don’t want that to happen to China — I like the president a lot. President Xi, I don’t want it to happen. I was actually saddened to hear it. But they are getting absolutely hammered in China," Trump said.

Reuters [5/1/2025 4:56 AM, Joe Cash, 41523K] reports the United States has approached China seeking talks over President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state media said on Thursday, the latest report of possible moves towards negotiations on the levies. "The U.S. has proactively reached out to China through multiple channels, hoping to hold discussions on the tariff issue," Yuyuan Tantian said in a post published on its official Weibo social media account, citing anonymous sources. Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, on Wednesday said: "as far as I know, there have been no consultations or negotiations between China and the U.S. on tariffs". Trump said in a U.S. media interview published last Friday that his administration was talking with China to reach a tariff deal and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him. Beijing last week repeatedly denied such talks were taking place, accusing Washington of "misleading the public". Yuyuan Tantian is not among China’s most authoritative state media outlets. The Global Times, which is owned by the newspaper of the governing Communist Party, People’s Daily, has often been first to report China’s next steps in trade disagreements over the past few years. Trump said on Wednesday he belived there was a "very good chance" his administration could do a deal with China, hours after Xi called for China, the world’s second-largest economy, to take action to adjust to changes in the international environment, without explicitly mentioning the United States.

CNN [5/1/2025 3:22 AM, Vanessa Yurkevich, 22131K] reports some of the last cargo ships carrying Chinese goods without crippling tariffs are currently drifting into US ports. Come next week, though, that will change. Cargo on ships from China loaded after April 9 will carry with them the 145% tariff President Donald Trump slapped on goods from that nation last month. Next week, those goods will arrive, but there will be fewer ships at sea and they will be carrying less cargo. For many importers, it is too expensive to do business with China. Yet China is still one of America’s most important trading partners. It’s where we get most of our clothes, footwear, electronics an d microchips, which power appliances, thermostats and anything else that beeps. Businesses are making a difficult choice: Continue selling products from China at more than double their previous prices or stop selling those products altogether. For consumers, that means some products will be hard to find or may be too expensive to buy. "Starting next week is when we begin to see the arrivals off of that (tariff) announcement on April 2," said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, where nearly half of the business comes from China. "Cargo coming into Los Angeles will be down 35% compared for a year ago.” Imports into the United States during the second half of 2025 are expected to fall at least 20% year over year, according to the National Retail Federation. The decline from China will be even starker: JP Morgan expects a 75% to 80% drop in imports from there. "If not easily replaced by imports from other countries, a collapse of this magnitude would not only sharply boost prices but also significantly disrupt supply chains," JP Morgan detailed in its report. That means less work, higher prices on shelves and fewer choices for consumers. Seroka says the countdown has already begun. "Many major retailers have told us they have about a six- to eight-week supply of inventory in their systems now," Seroka said. "United States manufacturers and consumers alike will find difficult decisions in the weeks and months to come if policies don’t change.”

CyberScoop [4/30/2025 6:03 PM, Matt Kapko] reports North Korean nationals have infiltrated the employee ranks at top global companies more so than previously thought, maintaining a pervasive and potentially widening threat against IT infrastructure and sensitive data. “There are hundreds of Fortune 500 organizations that have hired these North Korean IT workers,” Mandiant Consulting CTO Charles Carmakal said Tuesday during a media briefing at the RSAC 2025 Conference. “Literally every Fortune 500 company has at least dozens, if not hundreds, of applications for North Korean IT workers,” Carmakal said. “Nearly every CISO that I’ve spoken to about the North Korean IT worker problem has admitted they’ve hired at least one North Korean IT worker, if not a dozen or a few dozen.” Google, which ranks eighth on the annual list of the top global companies by revenue, is caught up in this widespread threat, too. North Korean technical workers have been detected in Google’s talent pipeline as job candidates and applicants, but none have been hired by the company to date, said Iain Mulholland, senior director of security engineering at Google Cloud. Threat hunters, insider risk management firms and security analysts continue to raise the alarm about North Korean nationals gaining employment at major corporations, highlighting the expansive ecosystem of tools, infrastructure and specialized talent North Korea’s regime has established for this effort. The latest warnings and intel from Mandiant and Google constitute an escalation of this threat. Insider risk management firm DTEX recently told CyberScoop that 7% of its customer base, representing a fair cross-section of the Fortune 2000, have been infiltrated by North Korean operatives working as full-time employees with privileged access.

{End of Report} RETURN TO TOP