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.

Axios [5/11/2025 12:49 PM, Avery Lotz, 13163K] reports one of three Democratic lawmakers whom the Department of Homeland Security said could be arrested over a confrontation that erupted when they sought an oversight visit at a New Jersey ICE facility said Sunday that the agency’s threats are creating "an environment of intimidation." New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver say they visited the Delaney Hall detention center last week to do legal oversight when chaos erupted and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for trespassing. But DHS has accused the lawmakers of assaulting law enforcement and said they "stormed" the facility, a claim the Democrats reject. Lawmakers have said DHS’ actions are unjustified because of legal barriers that prohibit federal resources from being used to impede congressional oversight. Members of Congress are not required to give prior notice before an oversight visit, per ICE guidelines. Agency spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a CNN interview on Saturday that "there will likely be more arrests coming," and confirmed to Axios’ Andrew Solender that the House Democrats may be among them. CNN [5/11/2025 11:48 AM, Alison Main, 908K] reports Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who joined CNN’s "State of the Union" Sunday alongside fellow New Jersey Democrats, Reps. LaMonica McIver and Robert Menendez Jr., said the lawmakers haven’t heard from DHS after the tense encounter on Friday that culminated in the detention of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. "We have no idea what they have in mind, other than to create an environment of intimidation just by claiming that perhaps we might be subject to arrest," Watson Coleman said. "Nothing happened other than the chaos that they created themselves.” The lawmakers traveled for a tour of the facility as part of their Congressional oversight duties and had been there for nearly two hours before the confrontation as ICE officials gave them "the run around," Watson Coleman said. But the situation escalated when Baraka was asked to leave the premises and was detained. He was released after several hours. The immigration officials eventually took the lawmakers on the tour after the confrontation, McIver said. Lawmakers are allowed to enter "any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens" to conduct oversight under the annual appropriations act, which allocates funds for federal agencies. But DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN on Saturday the lawmakers could be arrested, saying the department has "body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer.” The videos released by the department show the arrest of Baraka, along with more angles of the physical altercations between federal agents, protesters and the members of Congress. One video appears to show McIver using her body to push past federal agents to follow Baraka after he was placed in handcuffs and moved behind the chain-linked fence. McIver on Sunday denied that she body slammed the agents. "There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone," she said, later adding that she hopes all the body camera video from the incident is released because it was a "very tense situation.” Watson Coleman on Sunday said the incident is an example of the Trump administration weaponizing law enforcement.

AP [5/11/2025 4:09 PM, Staff, 2923K] reports an immigration detention center in New Jersey is at the center of tensions between three congressional Democrats and the Trump administration after the arrest of Newark’s mayor set off a scrum outside the complex. Federal prosecutors charged Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with trespassing after agents arrested him outside the fence of the Delaney Hall detention center on Friday. The interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey says Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, ignored warnings to leave while he was there with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation at the 1,000-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. The arrest escalated into a brief but tense confrontation in the parking lot that included the members of Congress and federal agents, some of whom wore masks. Department of Homeland spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has accused Baraka of playing "political games" and said over the weekend that an investigation is ongoing and that more actions could be taken. The three members of Congress — Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr. — have accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor. The representatives have said they went to the facility to inspect it as a matter of congressional oversight. "We were able to get in, speak to detainees, check out the facilities, and make sure everything was OK there," Rep. Watson Coleman told CNN in an interview Sunday that also included her two New Jersey colleagues. "We were there almost two hours before the confrontation took place, but ICE kept giving us the run-around and kept saying that they needed to talk to someone else.” Department of Homeland Security officials have said that lawmakers had not asked for a tour of Delaney Hall and that the agency would have facilitated one. Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper has said the three lawmakers went there unannounced because they planned to inspect it, not take a scheduled tour. Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social media platform X that Baraka was arrested after the mayor allegedly trespassed at the detention facility. She accused him of ignoring warnings to leave the facility, which he has denied. Baraka was arrested, booked and released the same day. He said he has a court appearance scheduled for Thursday. In video reviewed by The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because "you are not a congress member." He was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate at the facility where protesters were gathered, video shows. Delaney Hall is a two-story building next to a county prison in Newark Bay that operated as a halfway house in previous years. In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it and the GEO Group reached a $1 billion, 15-year deal for the detention center. The deal is significant for its size and duration, and GEO officials cited it in messages to investors as a big revenue generator. The 1,000-bed capacity is also significant in advancing President Donald Trump’s goals of expanding detention capacity in the U.S. beyond the previous 41,000 beds, in New Jersey, Michigan, and other states to 100,000 beds. Democrats, including Baraka, have opposed the opening of the facility. As mayor, Baraka sued to block the opening of the detention center, saying it hadn’t completed all building requirements. DHS has said that the facility has the proper permits and completed the proper inspections.

USA Today [5/11/2025 12:04 PM, Staff, 75858K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is actively investigating Democratic lawmakers involved in a confrontation with officials at an ICE facility in New Jersey, spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed. Three Democratic lawmakers from New Jersey − Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez − faced off against DHS guards on May 9 outside the Delaney Hall detention center shortly after the officers moved to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, according to CNN. Baraka was allegedly trying to get inside the facility, but the mayor said later he was arrested after leaving. Members of Congress, by law, can visit immigrant detention facilities unannounced. Watson Coleman, McIver and Menendez were not arrested, said Ned Cooper, a spokesperson for Watson Coleman. The three members of Congress had visited the facility unannounced. McLaughlin told CNN on Saturday that the department is "actively investigating" the lawmakers and that arrests are "definitely on the table.” "We actually have body camera footage of these members of Congress assaulting these ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer," she claimed. But Watson Coleman said in a post on X that an ICE agent "physically shoved" her. "We entered the facility, came BACK OUT to speak to the Mayor, and then ICE agents began shoving us," she said. Baraka told CNN he’s charged with federal trespassing, a misdemeanor he called "humiliating." He said he had been inside the gates of the facility for over an hour, as members of Congress were inside the facility. Agents arrested him outside the gate, after he had left, he said. "I didn’t go there to break any laws. I didn’t break any laws," Baraka told CNN on Friday. "I was there as the mayor of the city, exercising my right and duty as an elected official, you know, supporting our congresspeople preparing for a press conference that was supposed to happen there.”

Daily Mail [5/11/2025 10:20 AM, Katelyn Caralle, 62500K] reports a heated scuffle outside a recently reopened immigration detention facility in New Jersey could result in even more arrests of Democratic politicians, an administration official tells Daily Mail. Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested at the facility on Friday after a dramatic clash with immigration enforcement officers. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said there could be more arrests made, but said there is an ongoing investigation into the incident. Video obtained by Daily Mail shows Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) pushing and aggressively shoving at least one member of law enforcement guarding the gates at Delaney Hall, a Newark detention center that was recently reopened. ‘Arrests are certainly on the table for anyone who assaults a police officer – members of Congress are not above the law,’ McLaughlin told Daily Mail. President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan warned elected Democratic officials that if they ‘cross that line’ from protesting to impeding, they will face consequences. ‘They can stand out and scream all they want,’ Homan said, but claimed any other actions will be treated appropriately. ‘They can trespass, they’ll be arrested. If they impede, they will be arrested.’ The New York Post [5/11/2025 3:53 PM, Chris Nesi, 54903K] Video: HERE reports two Dem reps from New Jersey were caught on video "storming" a Newark immigration detention site last week, with one seen elbowing her way past ICE agents in an alleged "bizarre political stunt.” North Jersey Reps. Robert Menendez, Jr. and LaMonica McIver were among the protesters who turned up demanding the closure of the Delaney Hall Detention Center, which houses criminal illegal migrants with alleged MS-13 gang affiliation and wanted for crimes ranging from rape to murder. Video provided to Fox News by the Department of Homeland Security shows Menendez and McIver in an angry confrontation with ICE agents at a security checkpoint. McIver is seen shouting in the agents’ faces and attempting to elbow her way past them to get through the facility gates. Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of Central Jersey also was among the protesters. "Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement shortly after the incident. "Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation.” McLaughlin told The Hill after the scuffle that arresting the three reps was "definitely on the table.” "We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body-slamming a female ICE officer, so we will be showing that to viewers very shortly," McLaughlin said. Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka also took part in the protest and was slapped in cuffs after he trespassed, federal officials said. Menendez, speaking on CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday, said the fact that the confrontation escalated was the fault of immigration officials. "There were so many instances where this could’ve all been de-escalated, but it was squarely in [Homeland Security Investigations], ICE’s court — they chose not to," Menendez told CNN host Dana Bash. "They made this a violent scene that we were unfortunately all a part of.”

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [5/11/2025 7:12 PM, Nick Koutsobinas, 4998K]

The Hill [5/11/2025 11:20 AM, Tara Suter, 12829K] reports Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Sunday went after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) over recent events at an ICE detention center in Newark, N.J. "There were so many instances where this could’ve all been de-escalated, but it was squarely in HSI, ICE’s court, they chose not to," Menendez told CNN’s Dana Bash on "State of the Union." "They made this a violent scene that we were unfortunately all a part of.” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D), Menendez and Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) visited the ICE detention center on Friday and attempted to get access to the facility. However, Baraka was arrested for trespassing amid the visit, sparking widespread outrage. "The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody," Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said Friday in a post on the social platform X. Following the visit, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the arrest of the three New Jersey House members was "definitely on the table.” "We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer, so we will be showing that to viewers very shortly," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Friday.

Daily Caller [5/11/2025 11:53 AM, Hailey Gomez, 1082K] reports Democrat New Jersey Reps. Rob Menendez Jr. and LaMonica McIver fully blamed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Sunday on CNN for the "chaos" that unfolded at a detention facility, claiming that law enforcement "created" the situation. On Friday, Menendez Jr., McIver and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman were at the Delaney Detention Hall in Newark when Democrat Newark Mayor Ras Baraka had been arrested after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused them of storming the gate as a detention bus attempted to enter. While discussing their side of the story on "State of the Union," CNN host Dana Bash asked McIver if she had body slammed an officer — citing DHS claims and bodycam footage showing the clash. "Absolutely no. I mean, I honestly do not know how to body slam anyone. There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone. As Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said, we were simply there to do our job, there for an oversight visit, and what you’re watching in a video, and we don’t have all of the body cam, and we hope that all of the body cam is released," McIver said. "It was a very tense situation. It unfortunately did not have to be like that. They created that confrontation, they created that chaos, and then ultimately went to arrest the mayor of the largest city of New Jersey, who is my mayor and my constituent, and it was very difficult to watch that happen, but absolutely, I did not body slam anyone," McIver added. According to Fox News, the Democrat representatives had been held up at the first inside checkpoint while visiting the facility. As the lawmakers stood outside with a group of protesters, the chaos reportedly began once the gates opened for an ICE bus. DHS claims the lawmakers attempted to rush the gates to get past security, releasing bodycam footage on their X page Saturday. CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Menendez Jr. on the incident, pointing to the level of chaos before asking how things escalated and whether he regretted how it "played out.” "I think there’s a lot of opportunities for DHS, for ICE to de-escalate the situation," Menendez Jr. said. "They chose not to. There’s three house members there, the mayor of the largest city. As you can see in all of the video, and this is important, they had over 20 armed ICE HSI officers. They were heavily armed, their faces were covered, and they were wearing no identification. So this is who they chose to have come engage with the mayor of Newark, and three elected members of the House of Representatives.” In an interview with Fox’s Will Cain on Friday, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin accused the Democrats of having "stormed" the gates at the facility, noting that the detention hall holds alleged MS-13 gang members and other criminals. However, McIver and Coleman’s offices pushed back on the "characterization," claiming they were simply there to do "their jobs.”

FOX News [5/11/2025 2:17 PM, Staff, 46189K] Video: HERE reports Attorney and American Frontier Strategies CEO Mehek Cooke discusses the Department of Homeland Security announcing more arrests could be coming after ICE’s arrest of Newark, New Jersey mayor.

Washington Examiner [5/11/2025 8:15 AM, Heather Hamilton, 2296K] reports Trump administration border czar Tom Homan chastised Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for recently trespassing at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement prison, calling him “not very smart.” Baraka was arrested Friday after he and two Democratic members of Congress “stormed” the ICE Delaney Hall Detention Center “as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate,” according to the Department of Homeland Security, which said such conduct “goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk.” Speaking outside the ICE detention facility Friday, Baraka called for "due process" for detained illegal immigrants. "We ask them to obey our laws, to obey the policies, the rules here, in the city and the state of New Jersey, not to run roughshod over the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, the 4th, 5th, the 14th Amendment, that everybody on this soil deserves due process," the Newark mayor said. Reacting to Baraka’s arrest and message, Homan blasted Baraka for creating a "huge safety crisis.” "Well, look, he’s not very smart. The bottom line is, that is what this facility is all about. This facility is about due process. This facility is where we put illegal aliens," Homan told Fox News Live Saturday. "This is where due process happens. We have to detain them to go through the due process of, sometimes seeing a judge.” Homan added that people do not have to support ICE, but that they "can’t cross that line of impediment.” "You can’t cross that line of knowingly harboring, concealing illegal aliens, and you certainly can’t trespass in a facility that’s contracted by the U.S. government to house criminals," he said. "That’d be like breaking into a prison, not going through the proper protocols. This creates a huge safety crisis.”

FOX News [5/11/2025 1:15 PM, Anders Hagstrom, 46189K] reports a trio of Democratic lawmakers say they were justified in "storming" an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, last week, arguing that President Donald Trump’s administration is "weaponizing law enforcement.” Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, all Democrats from New Jersey, made the comments during a joint appearance on CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday. "Chaos ensued when someone on the phone above the leaders of ICE who were with us at that facility instructed them to go out of the facility, go to the private property and lock the mayor of the largest city in the state of New Jersey up," Coleman said. "That’s absurd. That’s un-American. That’s scary. That’s determination to intimidate people in this country," she added, claiming the administration is "lying at all levels. The three lawmakers stormed Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark last week in an incident that was caught on video. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was also present and was arrested and charged with trespassing. Authorities claim an ICE agent was assaulted in the confrontation, which was caught on camera. McIver also responded to accusations from the Department of Homeland Security that she "body slammed" law enforcement officers during the incident. "I honestly do not know how to body slam anyone. There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone," she told CNN’s Dana Bash. Mendez argued that it was the responsibility of the ICE officers and other law enforcement to ensure the situation didn’t get out of hand.

HSToday [5/12/2025 3:18 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Department of Homeland Security announced that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) dropped its baseless lawfare case against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department, according to a press release on My 10. “The ACLU dropped its lawsuit on the false claims that DHS deported a U.S. citizen,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “The truth is, and has always been, that the mother—who was in the country illegally—chose to bring her 2-year-old with her to Honduras when she was removed. The narrative that DHS is deporting American children is false and irresponsible.” The parent, Jenny Carolina Lopez-Villela , made the decision to take her child to Honduras. ICE asks parents if they want to be removed with their children or if they would like to place a child with someone the parent designates. In this case, the parent stated they wanted to be removed with their child.

The Hill [5/11/2025 5:00 PM, Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee, 12829K] reports President Trump’s efforts to upend the conventional understanding of birthright citizenship heads to the Supreme Court this week, the first time in his second term that the justices will consider a major administrative action from the bench. The justices won’t be directly addressing the constitutionality of Trump’s order blocking automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to noncitizens, for now. The administration has so far only asked the justices to narrow the nationwide reach of several district judges’ injunctions, contending they went too far. But the case has already invigorated a debate on the legal right about whether the president’s shake-up is valid. Trump suddenly disrupted the status quo on his first day back in office. He issued an executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil whose parents don’t have permanent legal status. He promised such action on the campaign trail. The order has been challenged in 10 different lawsuits, several of which are now before the Supreme Court on its emergency docket. In a rare move for an emergency appeal, the justices on Thursday will hold oral arguments on the matter of nationwide injunctions before deciding whether lower courts can issue such injunctions when ruling against Trump’s order. But looming in the background is the major debate over the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, a dispute contested across the political spectrum, including in conservative legal circles, that could ultimately reach the high court. Most academic scholars have long espoused the view that birthright citizenship applies to nearly anyone born in the country, with few exceptions.

USA Today [5/11/2025 12:25 PM, Maureen Groppe, 75858K] reports judges across the country have blocked some of President Donald Trump’s biggest policy changes − roadblocks the president has called "toxic and unprecedented.” Trump is counting on the Supreme Court to fix that. How inclined the justices might be to do so could become apparent on May 15 when the court considers Trump’s move to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States regardless of whether their parents are citizens or permanent residents. The president hasn’t asked the high court to consider the legality of his policy – which was called "blatantly unconstitutional" by the first judge to review it. Instead, Trump wants the justices to narrow the scope of multiple court orders keeping his new rules on hold until the citizenship policy has been fully litigated. The administration argues that, for now, Trump should be able to impose the change on everyone except the eighteen parents named in the lawsuits or, at most, any member of two immigrant rights groups or residents of a state that challenged the policy. Unless court orders are narrowly tailored to only cover the actual litigants, the administration argues, judges will have too much power to stall crucial presidential actions. "Years of experience have shown that the Executive Branch cannot properly perform its functions if any judge anywhere can enjoin every presidential action everywhere," lawyers for the Justice Department told the Supreme Court in a filing. Those fighting the policy say if any case justified a nationwide pause, it’s this one. The citizenship of the more than 150,000 babies born each year who could be affected by Trump’s executive order shouldn’t be determined based on which state they were born in and whether that state joined the lawsuits, said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, one of the attorneys general who has taken a lead on the issue. "I’m confident the court will understand the absurdity of saying a child born in Pennsylvania or New Hampshire or Mississippi is somehow treated differently under the text of the 14th Amendment than a child born in New Jersey," Platkin said. "That’s not what the Constitution says.” Court orders that go beyond providing relief to those challenging a program or policy were rare until relatively recently, when they began to plague both Democratic and Republican presidents.

Univision [5/11/2025 8:28 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports the family of the 2-year-old U.S. girl deported with her mother to Honduras in April and found by a federal judge to have been deported "without due process" voluntarily withdrew their lawsuit against the Donald Trump administration. As one of their attorneys told ABC News, "given the traumatic experiences the families have gone through, they are stepping back to thoroughly discuss all of their options, the safety and well-being of their children, and the best ways to proceed so that the harms they have suffered can be fully addressed." Therefore, "they are voluntarily dismissing this case to give themselves the space and time necessary to consider all available options," attorney Gracie Willis told the media. Univision Noticias reviewed the judicial history of this case: it appears that it was closed on May 8, 2025, but the court does not allow access to the document related to its dismissal. Last month, a federal judge in Louisiana concluded that the girl’s deportation was "unlawful and unconstitutional" because she was a U.S. citizen, and set a hearing for May 16 to inquire into the process federal agents followed that led to her deportation. In addition, the magistrate criticized the fact that the deportation had been carried out despite the father’s request that she be left in the United States under the supervision of a person with temporary custody. This case was seen as an example of the scope of the aggressive "mass deportation" policy of Trump, whose administration has stated on several occasions that U.S. children of undocumented parents would also be deported with them, despite not being legal. After learning of the request to dismiss the lawsuit, the Executive again denied having been responsible for the child’s departure from U.S. territory and assured that it was the mother who made the decision to take her with her. "The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) withdrew its lawsuit based on false allegations that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported a U.S. citizen," Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "The truth is, and has always been, that the mother, who was in the country illegally, decided to take her 2-year-old daughter to Honduras when she was deported. The narrative that DHS is deporting U.S. children is false and irresponsible," he added. According to the government, ICE asks arrested undocumented immigrants if they want to be deported with their children or if they would prefer to leave them with someone designated by them. In this case, he said, the mother stated that she wished to be deported with her daughter, who had a U.S. passport. DHS reported that the mother had entered the United States illegally in September 2019, March 2021, and August 2021. She and her older daughter were found inadmissible the first time they entered, and both received final orders of deportation in March 2020. Her younger daughter was born in 2023 in New Orleans, so she has U.S. citizenship.

Univision [5/11/2025 3:16 PM, Marcos Martínez Chacón, 5325K] reports recent cases of deportation of immigrants expeditiously by Donald Trump’s government have sparked an intense debate about the right to ‘due process’ of undocumented immigrants and Americans in general. And the way the government acts in the face of court decisions related to that issue will have a "deep impact" on the country, an expert at the Migration Policy Institute told Univision News. Multiple federal courts have decided that the invocation of the Law on Foreign Enemies has no sustenance because there is no declared war - and that the government must guarantee the ‘due process’ to immigrants. Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), said the way the Trump administration reacts to court rulings will have a profound impact on the guarantee of the legal ‘due process’ of immigrants and Americans. "I’m starting to hear even U.S. citizens express alarm about the administration’s actions, and some say they fear arrest or deportation by mistake," said the MPI legal expert, a Washington-based center dedicated to the analysis of U.S. immigration policies.

The Hill [5/11/2025 11:19 AM, Rachel Scully, 12829K] reports Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he doesn’t believe that the White House’s suggested habeas corpus suspension will reach Congress. During an appearance on NBC’s "Meet The Press" on Sunday, host Kristen Welker mentioned statements made by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller last week in which he said President Trump and his team are "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown. A writ of habeas corpus compels authorities to produce the person they are holding and to justify their confinement. At first, Barrasso seemingly dodged the question, saying Trump "will follow the law," adding that he stands with the president. When Welker asked Barrasso if he would vote to suspend habeas corpus, he repeated that the president will "follow the law.” However, Welker asked a third time if Barrasso would suspend habeas corpus, explicitly asking for a yes or no answer; he replied that he didn’t believe the suggestion would make it to Congress. "I don’t believe this is going to come to Congress," he said. "What I believe is the president is going to follow the law. He has said it repeatedly.” Habeas corpus has been critical for migrants’ pending deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. It was used by detained students Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil to challenge their detention.

The Hill [5/11/2025 4:25 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K] reports Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday dismissed the Trump administration’s threat to suspend habeas corpus as an effort to distract the media and the public away from "what’s really in front of them.” In an interview on NBC News’s "Meet the Press," moderator Kristen Welker asked Klobuchar about remarks Friday from Stephen Miller — White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser — saying President Trump and his team are "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown. Klobuchar dismissed the threat, saying Trump has to follow the Constitution, "And in that Constitution there is the right of habeas corpus.” She also noted that "even conservative commentators" have said that only Congress can reverse that basic constitutional principle, which she said is "not going to happen.” "But to me, you know what? That isn’t really the issue. The issue is that Stephen Miller brings that up on a Friday, just to throw it out there," she said, pointing to an earlier interview with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who said the issue is not something on which Congress is focused. "Why is he doing that?" Klobuchar said about Miller. "So you ask me about it on a Sunday show.” Klobuchar said she suspects the Trump administration does not want to talk about the negative economic trends that have emerged since Trump took office or about threats to Medicaid and Social Security. "I’m telling you, right now, he’s doing it because they don’t want to focus on what’s really in front of them, and that they have created havoc in our economy," Klobuchar said.

Daily Express UK [5/12/2025 2:52 AM, Gemma Jones, 59943K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for department of homeland and security, appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to outline Trump’s new plans. A report on Good Morning Britain caused outrage this morning as it shared that thousands of illegal migrants in the US have taken up an offer from President Donald Trump. The Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley hosted show cut to reporter Noel Phillips, who explained that a senior US government official had outlined that the offer included a cash payment and a one-way plane ticket home, in exchange for the migrants turning themselves in to authorities. The clip showed Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for department of homeland and security, saying that they will "win the war" on immigrants. She oversees Donald Trump’s deportation operation, as she explained that "about 150,000 people have been removed from this country" so far. She added: "The option that we are giving to those who are living here illegally today is a $1,000 (approx. £750) stipend and we will pay for their travel assistance, so that might be a ticket or some other accommodation when they make their way home." The politician shared that the numbers of those who have accepted the offer are "already in the thousands" and they will be "releasing the milestone figure shortly". Ms McLaughlin issued a warning to those who are living in America illegally saying: "I think that if you are here illegally, then you should leave now. That is the safest option for you." She added: "We do take asylum seekers, but you do need to come in the right way."

Breitbart [5/11/2025 2:08 PM, Lowell Cauffiel, 2923K] reports FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino took to X Saturday to provide an update about the bureau’s transparency on some of those most controversial and highly publicized cases in recent history. The deputy director also detailed efforts aimed at protecting children and removing violent criminals from the U.S and took on the legacy media for their coverage of the FBI’s new director. According to Bongino, the FBI is being cooperative on sensational cases that previous FBI directors clearly slammed the lid on when it came to releasing information. Traditionally, getting detailed information out of the FBI on cases is nearly impossible, even for seasoned crime journalists. However, Bongino listed several highly publicized cases where many questions remain, lending themselves to speculation and conspiracy theories. He wrote: We’re clearing information to Congress, and the public, as quickly as possible. In just the couple of months since we’ve sworn in we’ve responded to requests for information on the attack on Rep. Scalise and members of Congress, the Nashville attack, Crossfire Hurricane, the COVID cover-up and more. We are working with the DOJ on the Epstein case and, as the AG stated, there are voluminous amounts of downloaded child sexual abuse material that we are dealing with.

FOX 61 [5/11/2025 8:51 PM, Sean Humphrey, 381K] reports U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is set to give the keynote address during graduation ceremonies at the Coast Guard Academy in New London May 21. The ceremonies for the 144th Commencement are expected to begin at 11 a.m. on Cadet Memorial Field and are not open to the public, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s website. Noem will congratulate the "newest generation of Coast Guard leaders on their hard work and dedication," USCG said. “It will be an honor to speak at the United States Coast Guard Academy’s graduation ceremony and celebrate the class of 2025,” Noem said. “We will be welcoming these new officers at a critical moment in the history of the branch and our country. The Coast Guard plays a distinctive and irreplaceable role in securing our homeland, and that’s why President Trump and I are committed to revitalizing and modernizing this service branch for the 21st Century. I look forward to the ceremony.”

AP [5/12/2025 4:57 AM, Rebecca Santana, 48304K] reports Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego is wading into one of Washington’s most contentious and intractable political problems as he puts forward a plan Monday aimed at reforming the country’s immigration system and beefing up border security. The plan by Gallego, who beat Republican Kari Lake in last fall’s tight Senate race, calls for hiring more Border Patrol agents; using technology to stop fentanyl smuggling; reforming the asylum system; adding more ways for people to come to the U.S.; and a pathway to citizenship for some immigrants. Gallego’s plan comes three months into President Donald Trump’s administration as Trump seeks to deliver on campaign promises of carrying out mass deportations. His plan — or any other from Democrats — is unlikely to get much traction with Trump in the White House, but it illustrates that the debate about legislative solutions carries on. Many members of Congress have tried and failed to change the immigration system. A small group of senators, led by Gallego’s predecessor, Krysten Sinema, negotiated for months in 2023 and 2024 over a border bill that would have toughened asylum protocols for migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border; hired more officers to evaluate asylum claims and Border Patrol agents; and given money to local governments seeing influxes of migrants. That effort ran into a wall of opposition just hours after the bill was released. The last time Congress even came close to a breakthrough on immigration reform was in 2013, when a bipartisan group of senators pushed forward legislation creating a pathway to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally and expanding work visas while tightening border security and mandating that employers verify workers’ legal status. The Senate approved that proposal, but it was rejected by the House. Gallego’s plan includes some elements that likely will find bipartisan support, such as his calls to beef up border security. But other parts — like efforts to legalize anyone already in the country illegally — will prove much more contentious. “We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform. We can and should do both,” Gallego said in a news release Monday. He said “for decades, Congress has tried and failed to take action because politics got in the way. It’s time to push forward and enact a plan that works.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [5/12/2025 4:30 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K]

FOX News [5/11/2025 11:00 AM, Emma Colton Fox, 46189K] reports the U.S. and Mexico are one step closer to permanently ending a sewage crisis spewing from across the border into waters off the coast of San Diego, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin announced. "This week, EPA transmitted to Mexico a proposed ‘100% solution’ that would PERMANENTLY END the decades-old crisis of raw sewage flowing in to the U.S. from Mexico. Next, technical groups from both nations will be meeting to work through the details necessary to hopefully reach an urgent agreement," Zeldin posted to X on Friday. Zeldin visited San Diego last month, where he announced talks with his government counterparts in Mexico to end the decades-long issue. The problem, blamed on outdated wastewater infrastructure, has persisted for decades, but has spiraled in recent years as Tijuana’s population skyrocketed. The sewage water has not only threatened San Diego’s massive tourism industry and local residents, but also poses a national security risk as it pollutes the waters where U.S. Navy SEAL members and candidates train, Fox Digital previously reported. The U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command is headquartered in San Diego and is where Navy SEAL candidates complete their arduous six-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. In February, the Department of Defense’s inspector general released a report finding that the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 that were attributed to the contaminated water. Veterans who spoke to Fox News Digital in April described the contaminated water as a national security crisis. "This is a huge national crisis," Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum, who was sickened by the water when he was working through SEAL training in 2008, told Fox Digital in a Zoom interview last month. "Like half the SEAL teams are located in San Diego; the other half are in Virginia Beach. So when you’ve got half the SEAL teams who are getting exposed to this, then it’s a major issue.” Zeldin said last month that he and his counterparts in Mexico had launched good-faith talks to update infrastructure and water management facilities, adding that he zeroed in on the "specifics," including drafting a "comprehensive list of everything that we believe with full confidence is going to end the crisis" on both the U.S. side of the border and Mexico’s.

Wall Street Journal [5/11/2025 2:01 PM, Mary Anastasia O’Grady, 646K] reports not many illegal immigrants are as useful to politicians these days, on both sides of the aisle, as “Maryland man” Kilmar Ábrego García, who was born in El Salvador. The Trump administration deported him to his homeland on March 15, despite an immigration-court order prohibiting it because a federal judge found Mr. Ábrego García harbored credible fears for his life there. A debate is raging about who he is, what rights he has under U.S. law, and whether it’s legally and ethically necessary to get him back to the U.S. Yet the intense focus on Mr. Ábrego García’s fate has distracted from a far more important U.S. national-security issue. Namely, why does Secretary of State Marco Rubio treat Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele as a hero, even though a 2022 Justice Department indictment charging 13 alleged MS-13 members also alleged that Mr. Bukele has a pact with the Salvadoran gangs to protect them? A second pressing question is why Justice filed a March 11 motion to dismiss the 2022 charges against one of the alleged ringleaders of MS-13. Four days later the department stuck him on a plane to San Salvador. The U.S. attorney for New York’s Eastern District said it was because “sensitive and important foreign policy considerations outweigh” the U.S. interest in prosecution. But that sounds like bureaucratese for doing a favor for Mr. Bukele. By sending Cesar Humberto López-Larios to El Salvador, the Trump administration has likely silenced a witness who could have testified as to whether Mr. Bukele has an MS-13 alliance. In its 2022 indictment the Justice Department found that MS-13 operates in “the Eastern District of New York, El Salvador, Mexico, and elsewhere in the United States and the world.” It further alleged that “tens of thousands” of MS-13 members worldwide are involved in “murder, robbery, and assault, as well as other criminal activity, including narcotics trafficking, extortion, witness tampering, and witness retaliation” as well as “terrorism.” The 2022 indictment describes the organization’s hierarchy, rules, financing and methods of controlling territory from prison. It explains the “truce” that El Salvador worked out with MS-13 from 2012-15 to reduce gang violence. When that agreement collapsed, MS-13 launched a bloody retaliation against Salvadoran society.

Marine Link [5/12/2025 1:54 AM, J. Y. Ellamo, 94K] reports as trade negotiations between the United States and China inch closer to resolution, stakeholders across multiple industries are holding their breath. For many, the focus is on tariffs, supply chains, and global competition. But for the long-neglected U.S. maritime sector, these talks may represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only regain relevance, but to reassert strategic and economic independence on the high seas. Once a dominant global maritime power, the United States today operates a commercial fleet of fewer than 80 ocean-going vessels under the U.S. flag engaged in international trade — a startling figure compared to China’s rapidly expanding commercial fleet of over 5,500 ships. While China aggressively invests in shipbuilding, port infrastructure, and international shipping dominance, the U.S. fleet has withered due to decades of policy neglect, cost disadvantages, and a reliance on foreign-flag carriers. However, embedded within the complex matrix of trade negotiations now underway are crucial leverage points — policy tools that, if correctly applied, could reverse the U.S. decline at sea. The conversation must shift from simply achieving "better trade terms" to ensuring that the structure of any new deal strategically supports a revival of American maritime strength. The U.S. Maritime Security Program (MSP) currently pays a modest stipend to a small group of commercial U.S.-flagged vessels to ensure their availability in times of war or emergency. While effective in theory, it’s far too limited in scope. The program supports just 60 ships, many of which are aging and increasingly expensive to operate. To compete with foreign fleets backed by government subsidies and lower labor costs, MSP must be expanded. A modernized version should include: Higher stipends tied to inflation and crew costs, Support for newly flagged or U.S.-built ships, Priority cargo routing under any new trade frameworks. Furthermore, tax incentives for shippers that choose U.S.-flagged vessels — as well as direct financing support for U.S. shipbuilders through the Maritime Administration (MARAD) — could lower the barriers for entry and encourage private investment in American tonnage.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [5/11/2025 12:40 PM, Staff, 449K] reports three Democratic lawmakers who were involved in a tense encounter outside an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, are accusing the administration of “intimidation” after a Department of Homeland Security official suggested they could be arrested. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who joined CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday alongside fellow New Jersey Democrats, Reps. LaMonica McIver and Robert Menendez Jr., said the lawmakers haven’t heard from DHS after the tense encounter on Friday that culminated in the detention of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. “We have no idea what they have in mind, other than to create an environment of intimidation just by claiming that perhaps we might be subject to arrest,” Watson Coleman said. “Nothing happened other than the chaos that they created themselves.”

CBS’ Face The Nation [5/11/2025 12:21 PM, Staff, 4722K] reports Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, who joins us from Austin. He is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. Over the weekend, the U.S., Europe and Ukraine, put forward a proposal now for a 30- day cease-fire that would start on Monday. President Putin has essentially flouted it and is calling for direct talks again with Ukraine to be held in Turkey at some point, without conditions. The question to be asked is, how close to a breakthrough will this proposal get? "It’s very intense. You know, there was a 30-day cease-fire called for. Mr. Putin decided to bomb Ukraine on Palm Sunday. He’s not making any concessions at all, while Zelenskyy seems to be making all the concessions. The bottom line is, Putin has to agree to a 30-day cease-fire for any peace talks to go forward. And the land that he is asking for is – you know, even J.D. Vance talked about this and the president – you know, land that – that Russia has not even occupied in Ukraine. So he has to operate in good faith. We want peace, but not peace at any price, because peace at any price is like appeasement, like we saw with Chamberlain and Hitler, and that’s unacceptable." Congressman McCaul states. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has at least 70 of his colleagues in the Senate on board with a new sanctions bill. Congressman McCaul is on the House version of it as well. How likely is that legislation to get to the floor? McCaul says that will be up to Mr. Putin. “If Mr. Putin does not agree to a 30-day cease-fire, I think these sanctions are almost certain, not only from the Congress, but from the White House.” McCaul states.

FOX News [5/11/2025 6:03 PM, Greg Wehner and Madeleine Rivera, 46189K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a Worcester, Massachusetts city council member "incited chaos" when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a violent criminal illegal alien on Thursday. "District Councilor for the City of Worcester [Etel] Haxhiaj pulled a political stunt and incited chaos by trying to obstruct law enforcement. ICE officers and local police regained control of the situation and ICE arrested Ferreira de Oliveira," DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "The previous administration’s open border policies allowed this criminal to illegally enter our country in August of 2022. Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem this criminal is off our streets." DHS went on to describe Oliveira as a "violent criminal alien." The agency said she was arrested by local police for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a pregnant woman. Tense video emerged over the weekend of Oliveira’s arrest. A rowdy crowd of about 25 people gathered and disrupted the operation. Police called it a "chaotic incident." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Boston Globe [5/11/2025 11:11 PM, Laur Crimaldi and Niki Griswold, 3500K] reports it was President Trump’s deportation push in action, and it triggered an outpouring of anger among some in Worcester. The arrests divided a family and prompted a standoff: federal and local police officers on one side and a crowd that tried to shield the woman from being taken into custody on the other. "We’re a community that is not going to allow the terror that has been unleashed by the Trump administration to happen in silence or in the cover of darkness," state Senator Robyn Kennedy, a Worcester Democrat, said Saturday in an interview. On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of people flooded the Worcester Common, a central square behind its City Hall, to condemn US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ actions. Dozens of homemade signs waved in the air, bearing messages such as "Hands Off Our Neighbors," "Kidnapping Mothers Is A Crime," and "Celebrate Mothers, Don’t Deport Them." One woman held up a large painting, depicting a man in sunglasses with a vest labeled "ICE" pulling a crying baby from the arms of a distressed woman. For more than an hour and a half, the protesters cheered on a lineup of speakers who slammed the Trump administration’s immigration policies and demanded that local elected officials and community members rise up and come together to protect immigrants from being forcibly removed. Rebecca Winter, a spokesperson for the grass-roots activist group Mass 5051, said the nonprofit organized the event to bring people together in defense of democracy and the Constitution, particularly in light of the events on Eureka Street. "These arrests are incredibly violent, they appear to be unlawful, [and] plenty of people who have been taken by ICE appear to be here legally and are not criminals in any way," Winter said.

New York Times [5/12/2025 3:19 AM, Vimal Patel, Anemona Hartocollis and Maya Shwayder, 330K] reports Rumeysa Ozturk returned to Massachusetts on Saturday evening, eyes welling with joy and gratitude at the end of her six-week odyssey in federal custody, a case that stirred outrage over President Trump’s immigration crackdown. A flight carrying Ms. Ozturk, a Turkish citizen studying at Tufts University on a student visa, touched down at Boston Logan International Airport one day after a federal judge in Vermont ordered that she be immediately released from a detention facility in Louisiana. Speaking in a room at the airport, she flashed smiles and looked happy and relaxed, but also became visibly emotional at times. Ms. Ozturk thanked supporters for their kindness and expressed love for the country that imprisoned her and is still trying to deport her. “America is the greatest democracy in the world,” she said, adding, “I have faith in the American system of justice.” Ms. Ozturk, a fifth-year doctoral student, was among more than a thousand international students whose visas were canceled by the federal government and who have faced deportation. The moves came as the Trump administration escalated its attack on higher education, saying its goal was to root out antisemitism. Ms. Ozturk had written an opinion piece in the student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to pro-Palestinian demands. Her supporters denied that she was antisemitic, and said that she was detained in retaliation for her speech in violation of the First Amendment.

Breitbart [5/11/2025 10:30 AM, Pam Key, 2923K] Video: HERE reports Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) claimed on Saturday on CNN’s "Newsroom" that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials would use "manufactured" footage to make it appear as though law enforcement agents were body slammed during the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at the Delaney Hall Detention Center last week. Watson Coleman said, “We were there for a tour. ICE was giving us the runaround. We finally got into a facility. We heard some noise. We came out, we found that the mayor was there and they were an ICE was having conversations with him. They asked him to leave the facility. He left the facility.” Host Fredricka Whitfield said, “So your interpretation, you know, and your use of words is very different from the spokesperson for DHS who was on CNN. She used the words body slamming, saying that the mayor and other members of Congress were body slamming and were being rough with the ice officials. You’re disputing that? Watson Coleman said, “Yeah, so how ridiculous does that sound? There are 200 pounds. They’ve got about 35 pounds worth of stuff around them, including a gun on their arms. I can tell you what I think about what they’re saying. The President of the United States opens his mouth every day and lies. He can’t breathe without lying. He’s given permission to his cabinet and those who work for him to lie, and she’s lying too.”

New York Post [5/11/2025 3:48 PM, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 54903K] reports a heavily tattooed and "violent" MS-13 gangbanger wanted in his native El Salvador on a gun rap was nabbed in the US by federal immigration authorities — nearly 20 years after he was deported. Joel Armando Mejia-Benitez, 38, was arrested in Silver Springs, Maryland, on May 5 by US Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents pending deportation proceedings, the agency said Friday. Photos released by ICE show the migrant’s extensive gang tats, including "MS" on his chest, a horned skull on one shoulder over the words "Mara Salvatrucha" — MS-13’s name — and "Maryland" on his right forearm, signaling his allegiance to the vicious crew. "The arrest of this violent MS-13 gang member is a critical step in our ongoing mission to safeguard our communities," ICE Baltimore Acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker said in a statement. "We remain steadfast in prioritizing public safety and protecting national security by targeting and removing dangerous criminal aliens who threaten the well-being of our Maryland residents.” Mejia-Benitez was arrested by the US Border Patrol in Texas on Nov. 22, 2004, and was ordered to be deported back to his native El Salvador on Dec. 14, 2005, according to ICE. Federal agents took the illegal gangbanger into custody at the Prince George’s County Detention Center on Sept. 28, 2006, and shipped him back home two months later, ICE said. Mejia-Benitez then snuck back into the US and was arrested again on March 20, 2014. He was turned over to authorities in Silver Springs after that arrest and held, before he was taken into custody by ICE earlier this month for deportation, the feds said.

Univision [5/11/2025 11:49 AM, Staff, 5325K] reports more than 100 people were arrested by federal immigration agents in a joint operation with the Tennessee Road Patrol, causing concern and uncertainty among the Nashville immigrant community. "None of us have seen anything like this before," Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Friday. The operation, carried out with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation, is a reminder of how local and state law enforcement jurisdictions play a key role in President Donald Trump’s "mass deportation" plans. Last week, Florida agents promoted a joint operation with ICE in which 1,120 immigration-related arrests were made. The Road Patrol said Friday that it carried out 588 traffic controls as part of the joint operation with ICE and that it took 103 people under investigation for violations of immigration laws in custody. The stops led to the recovery of illegal drugs and weapons, removing dangerous elements from the streets and making Tennessee safer, the Road Patrol said. One person was wanted for a murder in El Salvador, he said. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee recently passed a law to create a division of immigration enforcement at the state’s Department of Homeland Security, which is part of the Road Patrol. He is one of the Republican officials committed to using state resources to carry out Trump’s plans. Meanwhile, city officials in the Democratic stronghold of Nashville rejected participation and have criticized the arrests. Nashville’s legal director, Wally Dietz, said the state-federal operation, which began on May 3, took all members of the city’s government by surprise.

Telemundo [5/11/2025 8:39 PM, Anne M. Peterson, 2454K] reports a group of fans of U.S. Major League Soccer’s Nashville SC team canceled pregame activities following recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Tennessee that resulted in the detention of more than 100 people. The group La Brigada De Oro released a statement on social media announcing the decision to cancel its pre-game party for Nashville’s game against Charlotte on Saturday at Geodis Park. Several members of the group also boycotted the game. "In difficult times, family sticks together; when one of us is affected, we all are. And at this time it does not seem prudent to celebrate, cheer and feast while so many families in our community are being separated and destroyed," the group stated in a release. The Brigada De Oro is an officially recognized Nashville SC fan group. During Saturday’s match, a 2-1 Nashville victory over Charlotte FC, fans in attendance unfurled banners in the stands that read in English and Spanish, "We are not all here." Federal authorities and the Tennessee Highway Patrol have conducted 588 traffic stops and detained 103 people under investigation for immigration violations, the highway patrol said Friday. The operation began May 3. The operation has generated concern among Nashville’s immigrant community. About 9% of the city’s metro area population of approximately 2 million are immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute’s analysis of census data. "At this difficult time for our community, we are touched by this injustice and stand in solidarity with so many affected families and friends," stated La Brigada De Oro in its release.

USA Today [5/11/2025 2:33 PM, John Bacon, 75858K] reports a Turkish student seized by masked, plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on a street near her home outside Boston was back at Tufts University on Sunday after spending over six weeks at an immigration detention center in Louisiana. Rumeysa Ozturk, who had spoken out against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, was arrested March 25 after the State Department revoked her student visa. A judge ordered her immediately released on Friday. "America is the best democracy in the world, and I believe in those values we share," she told reporters Saturday. "I have faith in the American system of justice.” The Trump administration has stepped up a campaign to deport pro-Palestinian campus activists. Ozturk, 30, was arrested after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing the university’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.” A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told USA TODAY after Ozturk was taken into custody that a visa is a "privilege, not a right." The spokesperson, who declined to be identified, said "glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans" is grounds to terminate a visa, calling it "common-sense security.” While in detention, Ozturk wrote about the "inhumane" and unsafe conditions. She says she had limited access to food, had to wait hours for toilet paper and didn’t getting proper treatment for her asthma at the ICE facility in Pine Prairie, Louisiana. After her release, Ozturk thanked the professors, students and "so many lovely people" who sent her letters of encouragement. "Please don’t forget all the wonderful women in the immigration detention systems," she said. "I was so tired of witnessing cries and pain that can all be preventable.”

Breitbart [5/11/2025 2:10 PM, Bob Price, 2923K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers teamed up with other federal agencies to arrest an alleged hitman wanted in Venezuela for at least four contract killings. Officers and agents took the Biden-era Venezuelan illegal alien into custody in Grapevine, Texas, on May 2, according to a statement by the agency. "This fugitive stands accused of some horrific crimes, further representing a threat in the communities of Texas that we will not tolerate," said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas acting Field Office Director Josh Johnson. "ICE Dallas will never relent in our priority of enhancing public safety and arresting and removing criminal alien threats from our streets.” ICE officials received information in February that Venezuelan authorities wanted 42-year-old Anthony Fabian Marin La Torre for the alleged contract killings of four people in his home country. The North Texas Organized Crime Task Force Strike Force arrested Marin La Torre nearly three months later, the ICE statement revealed. Officials said Marin La Torre illegally entered the U.S. near the San Luis, Arizona, port of entry on September 26, 2022, as part of an alleged family unit. The CBP Nationwide Encounters Report shows he was one of 25,495 illegal aliens who crossed the border from Mexico into the Yuma Sector that month without authorization. Of those, nearly 9,100 were classified as family units. ICE officials said Marin La Torre was charged as an "inadmissible alien" at that time. "FBI Dallas, along with our North Texas OCDETF Strike Force partners, is committed to our mutual objective of ensuring community safety," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.

NewsNation [5/11/2025 8:26 PM, Jorge Ventura, 6866K] reports the Trump administration is reporting a major uptick in deportation flights this week, to a variety of destinations across the globe. Sources inside the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirm that nine deportation flights to Mexico were scheduled just this week — a sharp increase up from the usual average of just one flight per week. The surge demonstrates the broader shift in enforcement priorities under President Trump’s second term. ICE Air Operations — the transportation division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — this year has already deported more than 142,000 migrants, including 38,000 Mexican nationals. DHS says flights like these are now happening almost daily, marking a major escalation in the administration’s effort to move quickly and quietly. It’s not just Mexico. Trump political advisor Stephen Miller says ICE is now flying deportees to far-off destinations, such as Iraq, Yemen, Haiti and Angola. "ICE is sending planes all over the world, all the time," he said. Meanwhile, Mexico is struggling to manage the repatriations. Only about one third of deported Mexicans are checking into ten government-run welcome centers near the border. Most deportees don’t stay overnight, and many refuse help altogether. Mexican officials admit they can’t force anyone to stay at the welcome centers. Some migrants take supplies and vanish, while others are flown deeper into Mexico, out of reach of support services. Back home, the Trump administration is now shifting resources toward finding and deporting those who already made it into the U.S. "Now that we have achieved the mission of sealing the border, you’re going to see more and more resources and priorities put into the mass deportation program," Miller said. Officials say this is just the beginning of what could become the largest enforcement surge in modern U.S. history.

CNN [5/11/2025 8:00 AM, John Fritze, 908K] reports Mónica got pregnant last year around the same time President Donald Trump was elected to a second term. And that is when her race against the calendar began. The Venezuelan national, who is in the United States legally but with temporary status, is terrified that Trump’s long-promised effort to curb birthright citizenship will be allowed to take effect before her baby boy is due in August – an outcome that could effectively leave him stateless. "There’s been a lot of fear," the South Carolinian told CNN. "Every day it’s a new restriction, and we don’t know what will happen.” Mónica asked to be identified in this story by her first name because she is concerned about possible repercussions for speaking publicly about her situation. When the Supreme Court gathers Thursday to hear oral argument in a high-profile emergency appeal involving Trump’s birthright citizenship order, the justices will technically be considering a procedural question about whether lower courts overstepped their authority by blocking the president’s efforts nationwide. But the court’s answer to that question will have enormous on-the-ground consequences, even for people – like Mónica – who are in the United States legally. Allowing the administration to temporarily enforce the order Trump signed on his first day of his second term could set up a dynamic in which a baby born in New Jersey would be able to access a passport or obtain a Social Security number, but a child born into the same circumstances across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania could not. Or the court could rule in a way that allows Trump to enforce the order against all but a handful of individuals. For nearly 150 years, courts have understood the 14th Amendment’s text to guarantee citizenship to anyone "born or naturalized in the United States," regardless of the immigration status of their parents. In a landmark 1898 decision, US v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court affirmed the idea that people born in the United States – in that case, the son of Chinese immigrants – were entitled to US citizenship, with a few narrow exceptions. But a small group of legal conservatives have for years focused on a second phrase in the amendment’s text, requiring people to be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States before they become entitled to citizenship. People who owe their allegiance to another country, the argument goes, are not covered. Trump often chafed against birthright citizenship during his first term and campaigned heavily on the idea of ending it if he returned to power.

NewsMax [5/11/2025 9:48 PM, Nick Koutsobinas, 4998K] reports that, Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency Commission, confirmed in sparse detail that a "quiet trial" run of President Donald Trump’s $5 million gold visa card program was rolling out. "We’re doing a quiet trial to make sure the system works properly. Once it is fully tested, it will be rolled out to the public with an announcement by the President," Musk wrote Sunday on X in reply to a report from Wired. Trump floated the idea in February as a way to attract wealthy foreigners into the United States. According to Newsweek, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick touted that, so far, the program had garnered 250,000 applicants and had already sold 1,000 cards in a week, raising $5 billion in a "single day." Lutnick also said that visas would hold benefits such as not requiring the cardholders to pay taxes on overseas income. "It’s going to be a route to citizenship," Trump said, "and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. They will be wealthy, they will be successful, they will be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes.” Lutnick, who has been pushing for the new visa program, proposed, according to Wired, that the new program could replace the EB-5 investor visa program

NewsNation [5/11/2025 8:54 PM, Sergio Robles, 6866K] reports the governor of the Mexican border state of Baja California said that the U.S. revoked visas from her and her husband. Governor Marina Del Pilar Ávila announced on her official accounts on Facebook and X late Saturday night, saying that her husband’s was revoked first, and, "…shortly after the consular measure was applied, I received a similar notification.” Both Ávila and her husband are members of the ruling Morena party. Ávila’s post did not mention if she was given a reason for the revocation, but she did say that "this situation is taking place in a complex binational context that requires my composure and prudence.” Baja California borders California and day-to-day commercial ties between the two states run deep. Ávila’s husband, Carlos Torres Torres, is a coordinator of special projects within the Baja California state administration and for the city of Tijuana. He announced the revocation of his U.S. visa on Friday, saying that U.S. consular officials advised him about it, and he said that the measure "…corresponds to internal provisions of the (U.S.) State Department.” He also said that the measure "…does not constitute an accusation, investigation, or formal accusation by any authority, either in Mexico or in the United States.” In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been issuing messages saying U.S. visas and permanent resident cards can be revoked, and it comes as hundreds of international students found their visas revoked for several days until several court rulings began restoring them. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on April 30 a "one-strike" policy for all temporary visa holders in a document titled "100 Days of an America First State Department.” In that document, Rubio states, "There is now a one-strike policy: Catch-And-Revoke. Whenever the government catches non-U.S. citizens breaking our laws, we will take action to revoke their status. The time of contemptuously taking advantage of our nation’s generosity ends.” Nexstar’s KUSI reached out to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, but reached a recording that said the office was closed. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy said that visa records are confidential and that the details of individual cases cannot be discussed. "I fully trust that the situation will be satisfactorily clarified for both of us," Ávila said on X. Torres said his "conscience is clear," in a statement on Facebook on Saturday.

CBS News [5/11/2025 4:01 PM, Sarah Carter, 51661K] reports the first group of White South Africans who were granted refugee status by the U.S. is set to fly out of Johannesburg on Sunday, officials said. The flight from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport was set to depart around 2 p.m. ET en route to Dakar for refueling before flying to Washington, D.C. The group includes 49 Afrikaner South Africans, made up of mainly families, as well as a few young couples in their twenties and older people. "The application for the permit (to land) said it’s the Afrikaners who are relocating to the USA as refugees," Collen Msibi, a spokesperson for the South African Transport Ministry, told AFP. The plane – a U.S. charter aircraft – is set to arrive at Washington’s Dulles International Airport at about 6 a.m. on Monday, and then will fly to Texas. Msibi said his department had not received any other applications for further resettlement flights. U.S. officials have planned a Monday press event at Dulles airport to welcome the group, according to government documents obtained by CBS News last week. Sources familiar with the effort told CBS News the timing of the plan could change. In February, President Trump issued an executive order directing officials to use the U.S. refugee program to resettle Afrikaners, who are an ethnic group in South Africa made up of descendants of European colonists. Mr. Trump, at the time, claimed that White South Africans faced "government-sponsored race-based discrimination." He cited a law that U.S. conservatives, like South African-born Elon Musk, have said allowed racially motivated seizures of land owned by White South Africans. The land expropriation law is meant to redress inequalities entrenched under the former apartheid system. South Africa’s government has strongly denied any land confiscations or racially motivated discrimination. The hastily arranged initiative to welcome Afrikaners stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s move to ban most other refugees from entering the U.S. The processing of Afrikaners granted refugee status has also been unusually fast. Before Mr. Trump’s second term, the State Department said the refugee process, on average, took between 18 to 24 months to complete due to background checks, medical screenings and other interviews. The Afrikaners ready to travel to the U.S. have gone through that process in a matter of months or even weeks. Meanwhile, relations between South Africa and the United States have nose-dived this year over a range of domestic and foreign policy issues, culminating in Washington’s expulsion of Pretoria’s ambassador in March. Mr. Trump said in March that any South African farmer seeking to "flee" would have a "rapid pathway" to US citizenship, despite halting all other refugee arrivals to the U.S. immediately after taking office in January. South Africa’s foreign ministry on Friday said the resettlement of Afrikaners "under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy". It would, however, "not block citizens who seek to depart the country from doing so," it added.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/11/2025 6:19 PM, Gerald Imray, 2296K]

FOX News [5/11/2025 9:35 PM, Greg Wehner, 46189K] reports the Trump administration is temporarily banning imports of cattle, horses and bison through ports along the southern border because of the rapid northern spread of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the suspension in an X post on Sunday. "Due to the threat of New World Screwworm I am announcing the suspension of live cattle, horse, & bison imports through U.S. southern border ports of entry effective immediately," she wrote. "The last time this devastating pest invaded America, it took 30 years for our cattle industry to recover. This cannot happen again.” The USDA said in a press release the first case of NWS in Mexico was reported to the U.S. in November 2024. The problem is when NWS fly maggots burrow into the flesh of living animals, they can cause serious and often deadly damage to the animal, the USDA said. The types of animals NWS maggots can infest include pets, livestock, wildlife, birds, and in rare cases, humans. According to the USDA, NWS was recently detected in remote farms with minimal cattle movement as far north as about 700 miles from the U.S. border. The U.S. and Mexico are working together to eradicate NWS before the deadly parasitic fly works its way to the southern border. Effective immediately, the USDA said, the agency’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are restricting the imports of live animal commodities originating from or transiting through Mexico. The suspension will continue on a month-to-month basis, until "a significant window of containment is achieved," the USDA said. Livestock currently being held for entry into the U.S. will be processed normally, the USDA added, and will be inspected by a port veterinary medical officer and treated to ensure they are not carrying NWS. "Secretary Berdegué and I have worked closely on the NWS response; however, it is my duty to take all steps within my control to protect the livestock industry in the United States from this devastating pest," Rollins said of the work she had done with her Mexican counterpart. "The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance. Once we see increased surveillance and eradication efforts, and the positive results of those actions, we remain committed to opening the border for livestock trade. This is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.” The U.S. and Mexico are taking a three-pronged approach toward achieving the eradication of NWS, which includes field surveillance with education and outreach that ensures prevention, treatment and early detection. The approach also includes controlling animal movement to limit the spread of NWS and sustained sterile insect dispersal. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
NPR [5/11/2025 8:56 PM, Will Stone, 29983K]

The Hill [5/11/2025 7:17 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K] reports Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Sunday that the U.S. is halting imports of livestock at ports of entry along the southern border in response to the "continued spread" of the "New World screwworm" (NWS) in Mexico. The move comes after NWS was detected in remote farms as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, approximately 700 miles from the U.S. border, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Rollins stressed that the announcement "is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.” "[Mexican Agriculture and Rural Development] Secretary Berdegué and I have worked closely on the NWS response; however, it is my duty to take all steps within my control to protect the livestock industry in the United States from this devastating pest," Rollins said in a statement. "The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance. Once we see increased surveillance and eradication efforts, and the positive results of those actions, we remain committed to opening the border for livestock trade," Rollins continued. The import suspension will continue on a month-by-month basis "until a significant window of containment is achieved." The suspension applies to livestock that originate in Mexico or that are transported through Mexico. Rollins pledged to continue working closely with Mexican counterparts to eradicate NWS, saying officials "have been in daily communication discussing how we can build on the good work that has been accomplished to improve our strategy toward eradication.” NWS was previously eradicated in U.S. and Mexico, according to USDA. The first recent case was reported in Mexico in November 2024, and, that same month, USDA shut down the border for live animal trade. In February 2025, the imports resumed but were subject to "a comprehensive pre-clearance inspection and treatment protocol.”

Chicago Tribune [5/12/2025 5:00 AM, Staff, 5269K] reports that, on May 12, 1933, the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration established both the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which provided federal funding to states for relief programs, and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which provided economic support to farmers through agricultural surplus reductions.

The Hill [5/11/2025 12:00 PM, Rachel Frazin and Brett Samuels, 12829K] reports the dismissal of acting Federal Emergency Management Agency head Cameron Hamilton plunges an already fraught agency into deeper uncertainty. Hamilton was fired from the agency Thursday after he said eliminating FEMA would not be in the “best interest” of the American people — contradicting pushes to do so from President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Former agency officials criticized what they described as the loss of a steady leader at an agency already dealing with uncertainty amid the elimination push. “It’s not what FEMA needed … 20 days from hurricane season … to lose their administrator and to have more turbulence,” said Pete Gaynor, who led the agency during the first Trump administration. Others lamented the consequences of disagreeing with the president and his top political leaders.

CNN [5/11/2025 6:16 PM, Kaitlan Collins, 908K] reports the Trump administration is set to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari royal family that will be retrofitted and used as Air Force One during the president’s second term, two people familiar with the agreement told CNN. The news comes as President Donald Trump embarks Monday on his first major foreign trip, which includes a stop in Doha, Qatar. Given the massive value of a Boeing 747-8, the move is unprecedented and raises substantial ethical and legal questions. A Qatari official said the plane is technically being gifted from the Qatari Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon, describing it more as a government-to-government transaction instead of a personal one. The Defense Department will then retrofit the plane for the president’s use with security features and modifications. The plan is for the plane to be donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office, ensuring he can continue to use it, according to a person familiar. "Reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the United States government during the upcoming visit of President Trump are inaccurate," Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the US, said Sunday. "The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made," he said. Within the Secret Service, the potential gifting of a plane by a foreign government for presidential use is being viewed as a "security nightmare," a law enforcement source told CNN. "The (US Air Force) would have to tear it apart looking for surveillance equipment and inspect the integrity of the plane," the source said. CBS News [5/11/2025 5:51 PM, Jennifer Jacobs, 51661K] reports that the plane, a 747-8, won’t be ready to serve as Air Force One quite yet, and Mr. Trump won’t be using it to fly back to the U.S. from the Middle East. The plane needs to be checked for security and spying devices before it is accepted, one of the sources told CBS News. The plane will be donated to the future Trump presidential library shortly before he leaves office. Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s Media Attaché to the U.S., confirmed to CBS News that the possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made. But Al-Ansar said reports that the plane will be gifted during this trip are "inaccurate.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that "any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws. President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency.” Qatar has also offered to donate a plane to the Department of Defense, but the gift will not be donated or accepted during this trip to Qatar, a U.S. official said. Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York confirmed to CBS News that he sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office urging an investigation into the Trump administration accepting a plane as a gift. "With an estimated value of $400 million, the aerial palace would constitute the most valuable gift ever conferred on a President by a foreign government," he wrote. Torres asked for an "immediate ethics review of the Qatari gift" and "a formal advisory opinion on whether the gift violates federal ethics regulations and the Emoluments Clause.”

Reported similarly:

Breitbart [5/11/2025 2:49 PM, Staff, 2923K]
FOX News [5/11/2025 8:59 PM, Emma Colton, 46189K]

Washington Examiner [5/11/2025 10:33 PM, Zach LaChance, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump pushed back on Democrats’ concerns over the luxury Qatari jet he may receive from the Middle Eastern country this week, while also revealing that the jet would be “free of charge.” Reports early Sunday revealed that Trump was expected to receive the super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet, formerly used by the Qatari royal government, from Qatar when he visits the country during his trip to the Middle East. Qatar later said reporting indicating this plane would be a “gift” was “inaccurate,” but maintained that a “possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration.” Still, Trump referred to the possible transfer of the plane as a "gift" on Sunday night, blasting Democrats for insisting he pay for it. "So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!" Trump posted on Truth Social. Following the initial report of the transfer, Democrats including Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) slammed it as "wildly illegal.” "This isn’t a good idea even if the plane was being donated to the U.S. government," Murphy posted on X. "But Trump GETS TO KEEP THE PLANE??? It’s simply a cash payment to Trump in exchange for favors. Just wildly illegal.” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) also called on the House Oversight Committee to "aggressively investigate" the possible transfer, and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) sent a letter to various U.S. officials demanding an "immediate" ethics review. The New York Times [5/12/2025 3:19 AM, Maggie Haberman, Eric Schmitt and Glenn Thrush, 330K] reports that while a Qatari official described the proposal as still under discussion and the White House said that gifts it accepted would be done in full compliance with the law, Democratic lawmakers and good government groups expressed outrage over the substantial ethical issues the plan presented. They cited the intersection of Mr. Trump’s official duties with his business interests in the Middle East, the immense value of the lavishly appointed plane and the assumption that Mr. Trump would have use of it after leaving office. Sold new, a commercial Boeing 747-8 costs in the range of $400 million. “Even in a presidency defined by grift, this move is shocking,” said Robert Weissman, a co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization. “It makes clear that U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump is up for sale.”

Navy Times [5/11/2025 8:00 PM, Leo Shane III, 190K] reports congressional budget hearings continue this week with a focus from appropriators on the military’s operations at sea. On Wednesday afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel will discuss force needs and challenges with the heads of the Navy and Marine Corps. At the same time, Acting Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunda will testify before a separate subcommittee on his service’s operations. Both sets of testimony come as lawmakers craft their response to President Donald Trump’s budget plan for fiscal 2026. That outline calls for roughly $1 trillion in defense spending, but more than $100 billion of the total would come from one-time funds provided through the reconciliation process. Defense hawks in Congress have said at least some of that spending should be shifted permanently into the overall military budget, providing a larger increase for the services’ programming. But Democratic lawmakers have already voiced concerns about steep cuts to non-defense programs accompanying any defense spending hike.

Yahoo News [5/11/2025 10:42 AM, J.D. Gallop, 59943K] reports two people stranded on a sailboat about 40 miles out to sea off Cape Canaveral were rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard crew over the weekend. No injuries were reported. The rescue took place May 10 after the unidentified operator of the sailboat radioed for help sometime May 9, the Coast Guard reported. “They were disabled,” said Petty Officer Second Class Vincent Mureno, a public affairs officer, adding that officials did not know what caused the stranding of the vessel. The Coast Guard ship Diamondback, which has patrolled the waters off Port Canaveral for maritime safety and NASA launches, was able to locate the sailboat drifting off in the Atlantic. “We got them to safety and then transferred them over to the salvage company,” Mureno said.

Yahoo News [5/11/2025 6:47 PM, Staff, 59943K] reports the search effort for a missing 44-year-old man, who was aboard a fishing boat that sank near Westport, was called off on Friday night, according to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). The 68-foot “Captain Raleigh” was at sea on Friday morning when those onboard sent out a distress call that it was taking on water, the Coast Guard said in a release. A rescue crew from Station Grays Harbor arrived around 15 minutes after the distress call was placed, and the Captain Raleigh quickly sank. The Coast Guard crew rescued three people in the water who were wearing life vests, but reported the captain of the boat was still aboard, the release said. Search teams from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria and the U.S. Navy were called in to help search for the missing man. A dredging boat from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was also called in to help locate the Captain Raleigh, which was found at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday morning. A Navy dive team located the wreck site but was unable to get inside the vessel due to poor conditions, the Coast Guard said. The search for the missing captain was suspended on Friday night around 8:40 p.m.

Reported similarly:
Yahoo News [5/11/2025 12:26 PM, Ramsey Pfeffinger, 59943K]

Yahoo News [5/11/2025 7:37 PM, Anna Ashcraft, 59943K] reports Border Patrol agents apprehended 9 people suspected of being in the United States without documents after a boat washed ashore a San Diego beach and people were seen running from it early Sunday morning. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sea Otter crew reported seeing a 24-foot cuddy cabin-style boat near Windansea Beach in La Jolla around 5 a.m. Sunday that washed ashore and observed multiple people leave the boat and run towards the intersection of Coast Boulevard and Prospect Street. U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Imperial Beach Station responded and apprehended a total of nine undocumented people. All 9 people were transported to a nearby Border Patrol station and will be processed for removal from the United States. The boat was seized by U.S. Border Patrol.

DVIDS [5/12/2025 12:05 AM, Chief Warrant Officer Sara Muir, 777K] reports the crew of USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) wrapped up a dynamic 21-day patrol under Operation Rematau, April 13 to May 4, 2025. The patrol also marked the first shoreside patrols on Rota and Tinian, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), in collaboration with the Sector Boarding Team, while strengthening regional partnerships and achieving all mission objectives. “The first shoreside patrols on Rota and Tinian, building on our work in Saipan, have deepened our partnerships by fostering trust, enhancing coordination with CNMI authorities, and improving our collective ability to ensure maritime security across the region,” said Lt. Chelsea Garcia, Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam enforcement officer. Crew members conducted shoreside patrols in Tinian and Rota, hosted a ship tour for CNMI Department of Public Safety officials, and bolstered maritime domain awareness across Guam and CNMI. They logged 256 operating hours, covered 3,566 nautical miles, and contributed to the 102,000 square nautical miles searched by multiple assets to locate an overdue fisherman and a missing U.S. Navy sailor off Guam. The crew also supported high-value unit escorts in Apra Harbor, Guam, and delivered critical parts to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion in Tinian, enhancing joint operational readiness.

Wall Street Journal [5/11/2025 7:00 AM, James Fanelli, 646K] reports the Trump administration’s global tariffs face their first major legal test this week when a little-known Manhattan court considers one of the president’s most sweeping assertions of executive power. A three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to halt the levies, which have unleashed a trade war with the world and threaten to upend the global economy. The federal court, which has nationwide jurisdiction over tariff and trade disputes, operates for the most part in obscurity, rarely garnering a mention in major publications and staying off the radar of most attorneys. “Most lawyers will get out of law school without knowing that it exists,” said Lawrence Friedman, a partner at law firm Barnes, Richardson & Colburn LLP who specializes in litigation at the court. The court will step into the limelight this week in a lawsuit brought by New York-based wine importer V.O.S. Selections and four other small businesses who say President Trump doesn’t have the authority to impose the tariffs. Other challenges have been filed in the court and in federal district courts around the country, but the V.O.S. case is front and center so far.

CNN [5/12/2025 5:00 AM, Betsy Klein, 22131K] reports President Donald Trump embarks Monday on the first major international trip of his second term — an opportunity to shore up relations with a trio of key Middle Eastern allies and prove his might as a dealmaker on the world stage. Arriving in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday with stops in Doha, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, later in the week, the trip echoes Trump’s first international foray in 2017. "Now, eight years later, President Trump will return to reemphasize his continued vision for a proud, prosperous, and successful Middle East, where the United States and Middle Eastern nations are in cooperative relationships, and where extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges," press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, casting the trip as a "historic return to the Middle East.” But much has changed in the global and economic world order since Trump’s first-term sojourn: The president has dramatically reimagined and reshaped the US’ role in the world in his first months in office, and the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars have upended stability in Europe and the Middle East. Still, the trip offers Trump the chance to notch a few economic wins, revel in the pomp and circumstance of presidential visits, and highlight deepening partnerships. And what goes unmentioned on the trip may prove just as important as what is said. Trump’s counterparts are likely to roll out the literal and figurative red carpet for the American president. In 2017, Trump’s likeness was projected onto the side of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, and there could be similar efforts to welcome the American president this time by world leaders seen as friendly to the Trump administration. "This is his happy place. His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They’ll be keen to make deals. They’ll flatter him and not criticize him. And they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Trump is also expected to visit with service members at the US air base in Qatar, Leavitt said. The president’s top priority this week is to procure "economic agreements" with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that would enhance their investments in America, multiple Trump administration officials said. "The main purpose of the trip will be to give the president some wins. Trade and investment deals will be announced that will burnish the president’s image as a negotiator. Big numbers will emerge. Precedents will be established with applicability to the rest of the world," Alterman said, predicting some deals in the artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency spheres.

AP [5/12/2025 1:41 AM, Jon Gambrell and Tia Goldenberg, 34586K] reports that, on his trip this week to the Middle East, U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though his most pressing regional challenges concern two other countries: Israel and Iran. After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel is intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis. And Iran, an enemy of Israel and a rival of Saudi Arabia, stands on the cusp of being able to develop nuclear weapons. Yet Trump will focus his attention on three energy-rich nations home to existing or planned Trump-branded real estate projects — places where he aims to leverage American economic interests to do what he personally revels in: making business deals. "This is his happy place," said Jon B. Alterman, a senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They’ll be keen to make deals. They’ll flatter him and not criticize him. And they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners.” But Trump won’t be able to avoid altogether diplomacy on Gaza or Iran: The Gulf countries hosting him are also interested in easing the regional tensions that emanate from these two places. "Trump can easily score a win by reassuring them of America’s strategic commitment to the region, demonstrating consistent messaging and generally rising above the fray," analysts Elizabeth Dent and Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy wrote Friday. By not scheduling a trip to Israel during his first trip to the region during his second term as president, Trump is reinforcing a feeling in Israel that its interests may not be top of mind for him. That sense intensified last week, when Trump announced that the U.S. would halt its strikes on the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen that agreed to stop its attacks on American vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis’ attacks on Israel did not appear to be covered by that deal, which came as a surprise to Israel, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue. Days after the deal between the U.S. and the Houthis — and despite a two-day Israeli assault on Houthi targets — a missile from Yemen again set off air raid sirens in Israel. Then Israel’s military warned Sunday that Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen could be targeted again.

Bloomberg Law News [5/11/2025 2:36 PM, Christine Dobby, 120K] reports some US tariffs on Canadian imports may remain in place even as the relationship between the two countries improves, Peter Hoekstra, the US ambassador to Canada, said. "I’m not sure they’ll be totally removed," Hoekstra said in an interview on Global TV’s The West Block Sunday when asked about the 25% tariff US President Donald Trump placed on most Canadian goods in March, citing concerns about fentanyl entering the US.

CBS News [5/11/2025 1:56 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday welcomed Russia’s offer for direct peace talks, but insisted there must be a full, temporary ceasefire in place before negotiations can start. Zelenskyy, writing on X, said it was a "positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider" ending the conflict and said that "the entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time.” He added, however, that "the very first step" in ending any conflict "is a ceasefire.” "We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy," Zelenskyy wrote in a subsequent social media post on Sunday. "There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.” British Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson, speaking on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," warned Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calls for a ceasefire proposal "doesn’t seem serious to us.” "At face value, it’s constructive that he’s offered direct talks," Mandelson said. "But then, when you look at the small print, you see that he wants these talks so as to call into question the very existence of Ukraine as a free, Democratic and sovereign nation.” Meanwhile, Russia resumed mass drone attacks in Ukraine early on Sunday, after its self-declared three-day pause expired. Russia launched 108 attack drones and simulator drones from six different directions, Ukraine’s air force said. It said 60 drones were shot down and another 41 simulator drones failed to reach targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the vice chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that Putin is "not making any concessions at all, while Mr. Zelenskyy seems to be making all the concessions.” "If the bottom line is Putin has to agree to a 30-day ceasefire for any peace talks to go forward," McCaul said. "We want peace, but not peace at any price. Because peace at any price is like appeasement, like we saw with Chamberlain and Hitler, and that’s unacceptable.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments aired by Russian state TV on Sunday, called Putin’s proposal "very serious," aimed at eliminating "the root causes of the conflict," and said it "confirms a real intention for find a peaceful solution.”

NewsNation [5/12/2025 6:18 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 6866K] reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him in Turkey this week to begin negotiations to end the three-year war between their countries. But he stipulated that any discussions must begin with a pause in fighting. “We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings,” Zelensky wrote Sunday in a post on the social platform X. “And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses,” Zelensky continued. Putin proposed Sunday direct talks with Ukraine to take place Thursday in Istanbul “to achieve the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace.” Russia also launched drone attacks on Kyiv, The Associated Press reported, just hours after Putin proposed the talks. President Trump has pushed for both countries to sign on to a temporary truce, a plan only Ukraine has endorsed so far. But on Sunday, he urged Zelensky to agree to meet with Putin in Turkey. “President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said on Truth Social. Trump added in the post that the meeting would help “determine whether or not a deal is possible” so European and American leaders can determine “where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”

Wall Street Journal [5/11/2025 7:14 PM, Anat Peled, Summer Said, and Alexander Ward, 646K] reports Hamas said on Sunday that it would release the last American hostage held in Gaza after discussions with the U.S. over a cease-fire and a deal to allow humanitarian aid to enter the strip. In a statement, Hamas said Israeli-American Edan Alexander “will be released as part of the steps aimed at achieving a cease-fire, opening the crossings, and allowing humanitarian aid and relief into our beloved Gaza Strip.” It didn’t make clear what it would specifically receive in return for Alexander’s release. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote, “I am happy to announce that Edan Alexander, an American citizen who has been held hostage since October 2023, is coming home to his family.” He added that “hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict.” A U.S. official said they hoped Alexander would be freed within the next 24 hours. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Israel on Monday to pick up Alexander, according to the official. The Israeli prime minister’s office said that Alexander’s intended release is a “gesture to the Americans, without any compensation or conditions.” It also said that the U.S. informed Israel that the release is expected to lead to negotiations for the release of additional hostages. “According to Israeli policy, negotiations will take place under fire with a commitment to achieving all the war goals,” the statement said. The deal to release Alexander is part of a larger effort by the U.S. to get a temporary pause in fighting in place, allow for more hostages to be released and for Israel to resume allowing humanitarian aid into the enclave, said Arab negotiators. Since a previous cease-fire collapsed between Israel and Hamas in March, Israel hasn’t allowed the entry of any humanitarian aid into Gaza. Aid groups are warning that the enclave is running dangerously low on food, fuel and medicine. FOX News [5/11/2025 8:09 PM, Stepheny Price, Yonat Friling, 46189K] reports that "As part of the efforts made by the brotherly mediators to achieve a ceasefire, Hamas has been in contact with the U.S. administration in recent days," a statement, translated into English from Arabic, from the terror organization said. "The movement has shown a high level of positivity, and the Israeli soldier with dual American citizenship, [Edan] Alexander, will be released as part of the steps being taken toward a ceasefire, the opening of border crossings, and the entry of aid and relief for our people in the Gaza Strip," the statement continued. It’s unclear when Alexander could be released. Fox News learned that the United States had informed Israel of Hamas’s intention to release Alexander as "a gesture to Americans, without compensation or conditions.” The United States told Israel that this move is "expected to lead to negotiations for the release of hostages," according to the original framework, laid out by Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, which Israel has already accepted. Israel is preparing for the possibility that this move will be carried out. According to Israeli policy, negotiations will take place under fire, with a commitment to achieving all the objectives of the war. Khalil al-Hayya, who is Hamas’ political chief in Gaza, echoed the statement, reiterating "the movement has shown a high level of positivity" when speaking about the effort to free Alexander. "The Hamas movement affirms its readiness to immediately begin intensive negotiations and make serious efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war, exchange prisoners as mutually agreed upon, and manage the Gaza Strip by an independent, professional body, ensuring sustained calm and stability for many years, alongside reconstruction and ending the siege," al-Hayya shared in a statement.

Reported similarly:
NPR [5/11/2025 8:06 PM, Kat Lonsdorf, Daniel Estrin, 29983K]
Daily Wire [5/11/2025 4:01 PM, Kassy Akiva, 4672K]

NBC News [5/12/2025 5:08 AM, Astha Rajvanshi, 44742K] reports Hamas said early Monday that it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who is believed to be the last living U.S. citizen held captive in Gaza by the Palestinian militant group, in the coming hours. "The Al-Qassam Brigades have decided to release the captive Zionist soldier who holds American citizenship, "Idan Alexander," today, Monday, May 12, 2025," a Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida said in a brief statement on Telegram early Monday. Hamas had previously suggested such a release would be a signal of good faith as part of "the steps being taken to achieve a ceasefire, open the crossings, and allow aid" into the Gaza Strip. If successful, the release will come the day before President Donald Trump is set to travel to the Middle East in a trip that is expected to intensify efforts to bring a pause to Israel’s sweeping military offensive in Gaza, from which aid has been cut off for several weeks. Trump’s trip is not expected to include a stop in Israel. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday that it was committing only to a safe corridor to allow Alexander’s release, rather than any ceasefire or release of Palestinian prisoners or detainees. "We are in critical days, during which Hamas has a proposal before it that would allow for the release of our hostages," the statement said, adding, "Negotiations will continue under fire and alongside preparations to intensify the fighting.” The Israeli security cabinet last week approved a plan to capture the entire enclave under which more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza would be "moved" out of the strip as Israel’s military launched operations to defeat Hamas. Alexander, 21, was born and raised in New Jersey and was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured by Hamas during its terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, along with around 250 others. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [5/11/2025 1:28 PM, Joshua Klein, 2923K] reports Iran is developing "boosted" nuclear warheads at a secret military site disguised as a chemical plant, according to intelligence presented by Iranian dissident group NCRI, which accuses Tehran of expanding its nuclear arsenal with hydrogen bomb capability. On Thursday, senior officials with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a press conference exposing a clandestine Iranian nuclear weapons facility — known internally as the "Rainbow Site" — allegedly aimed at manufacturing enhanced nuclear warheads and hydrogen bombs. According to NCRI disclosures, the site — officially masked as a chemical plant operated by Diba Energy Sina — spans nearly 2,500 acres in the Eyvanaki region southeast of Tehran. The base, the group claims, is part of a larger secret program run by Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which operates under the authority of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Satellite imagery and human intelligence reportedly confirm that the facility, codenamed Rangin Kaman (Rainbow), has been operational since at least 2013 and is guarded under high-level military security. According to the NCRI, the Rainbow site is focused on the extraction of tritium, a radioactive isotope used to amplify nuclear yield, especially in implosion-type warheads and thermonuclear devices. Tritium’s incorporation is seen as a key step toward the development of hydrogen bombs. Sources say this marks a significant escalation beyond Iran’s previously known nuclear efforts under the AMAD Plan, which was ostensibly halted in 2003. Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of NCRI’s Washington Office, said the Iranian regime is actively working to develop "boosted" nuclear weapons, marking a dangerous advancement beyond the previously exposed AMAD Plan. These warheads, the group notes, are intended for ballistic missiles with ranges up to 2,000 miles, which could reach U.S. bases in the Middle East and parts of Europe. In a statement to Breitbart News, Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of NCRI’s Washington Office, called on the international community to recognize the Iranian people’s right to overthrow the current regime. "The current moment presents a strong opportunity for the people of Iran to end the rule of the clerics," he said. "Significant developments are unfolding inside the country, and this is the only assured way to eliminate the nuclear threat—along with the regime’s other dangers, including its proxies and its sponsorship of terrorism.” "That’s what we’re calling for—nothing more than that," he added.

Washington Post [5/12/2025 3:37 AM, Lily Kuo, 31735K] reports China and the United States have agreed to lower tariffs goods from each other’s countries for 90 days, offering a temporary reprieve in a trade war that threatens to cause a global recession and deepen a widening rift between the world’s two largest economies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a news conference in Geneva Monday that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would be reduced from 145 to 30 percent. China said it would cut its blanket tariffs from 125 to 10 percent starting Wednesday. In a sparse joint statement following talks over the weekend, the two sides pledged to take these measures as talks continued in a "spirit of mutual openness, continuous communication, cooperation and mutual respect.” Stock markets across Asia rose on Monday as investors waited for details of the talks, including hopes of a partial rollback of the tariffs. But analysts cautioned that the announcement fell far short of a trade deal and was merely the beginning of more rounds of negotiations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng emerged from the talks Sunday striking a positive note, but did not release any details until Monday. The talks came after months of economic and rhetorical hostilities that have roiled global markets and threatened to halt trade between the world’s largest exporter and its largest consumer. Since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China in February, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have been engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken that has seen both sides levying higher and higher duties on the other. The U.S. had slapped a minimum tariffs of 145 percent on Chinese goods while Beijing raised tariffs to 125 percent and restricted exports of key raw materials, including those needed to make military drones, consumer electronics and medicines. Analysts said Monday’s joint statement lowers the temperature in their war but does little to change the overall direction of deteriorating ties between Beijing and Washington, which are closer than ever to a full economic break. "It’s a more civilized way to divorce. The bifurcation will continue," said Alicia García Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at the investment bank Natixis. "The deal is not a solution. It’s a smoothing of the impact of the bifurcation, just to happen more slowly and less costly. This meeting is a basically an attempt, hopefully successful, of avoiding a global recession," she said.

NPR [5/12/2025 4:29 AM, Willem Marx, Emily Feng, 29983K] reports the U.S. and China have agreed to significantly reduce tariffs imposed just weeks before on each other’s goods, after negotiators from both countries met over the weekend for trade talks in Switzerland, adding yet another dramatic turn in a dispute that has roiled financial markets and rocked the global economy in recent weeks. American levies on Chinese goods will drop from at least 145% to a base levy of 30% for an initial period of 90 days, while Chinese levies are set to fall from at least 125% to 10% on American goods. The talks were led on the Chinese side by Vice Premier He Lifeng and on the U.S. side by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "We concluded that we have shared interest and we both have an interest in balanced trade," Bessent said at a press conference on Monday. Greer also said there was a "positive path forward" on the two countries working to address fentanyl smuggling. The new American tariff levels reflect a base 10% tariff that remains on all imports in addition to a total 20% tariff president Trump imposed earlier this year to punish Beijing for what the U.S. says is fentanyl-related chemicals being made in China. "China has always pursuing win-win outcomes in its trade and economic negotiations, and therefore any possible deal to be reached will definitely by in the development interest of China’s own," said Li Chenggang, a diplomat with China’s commerce ministry. The delegations praised each other after the negotiations. Vice Premier He described the atmosphere of the meeting as "candid, in-depth, and constructive" at a press conference following the meeting, saying it achieved "substantial progress and reached important consensus". The Chinese "came to deal this week," said Greer, citing rapid progress between the two countries, which have also agreed to establish a consultation mechanism to continue addressing trade issues going forward. "Neither side wants a decoupling," said Bessent "We do want trade, we want more balanced trade, and I think both sides are committed to achieving that.”

Wall Street Journal [5/11/2025 4:19 PM, Brian Schwartz and Lingling Wei, 646K] Video HERE reports officials from the U.S. and China wrapped up their weekend, high-stakes trade talks, with Beijing saying the two sides agreed to start a formal negotiation process and Washington touting progress toward a deal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who led the U.S. delegation, told reporters that substantial progress was made during the marathon discussions with their Chinese counterparts, led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. The talks were “productive,” Bessent said, adding that the U.S. side will share more details Monday. During the same briefing Sunday in Switzerland, Greer suggested that some sort of agreement had been reached with the Chinese side without providing specifics. “It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” Greer said. He noted the U.S.’s massive trade deficit was why President Trump declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs on China and other countries. “We’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency,” Greer said. The White House issued a statement after the duo’s briefing, which was titled “U.S. Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva.” The statement included Greer and Bessent’s remarks from Switzerland, but nothing else. The state-run Xinhua New Agency said both sides agreed to establish an “economic and trade consultation mechanism” that would involve recurring discussions. The agency said the U.S. and China would release on Monday a joint statement—a rare occurrence in recent years as bilateral relations have been strained. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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Reuters [5/12/2025 4:58 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports China said on Monday that it will strengthen controls over the full supply chains of strategic minerals exports as part of efforts to tighten its dominant grip on materials it deems crucial to its national interest. China, the world’s largest supplier of dozens of strategic minerals, began imposing restrictions in 2023 on exports of several minerals vital to sectors ranging from chipmaking and energy transition to defence. "Since the export control of strategic minerals has much to do with national security, strengthening the control of the whole export chain is the key," China’s commerce ministry said in a statement. The government held a meeting in the city of Changsha on Monday, bringing together representatives from customs, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the public security ministry, and the state security ministry, among others, the statement said. Those entities are required to adhere to a principle of "prevention first" to track the flow of strategic minerals and strictly prevent illegal outflows, it added. This comes after Beijing launched a special campaign last week to crack down on the smuggling of strategic minerals including gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten and some rare earths. Monday’s announcement came shortly after the United States and China said they had agreed a deal to slash tariffs as they seek to end a trade war that has disrupted the global economy and set financial markets on edge.

Reuters [5/12/2025 4:02 AM, Jihoon Lee, 41523K] reports South Korea’s finance ministry said on Monday the government would actively communicate with the U.S. over semiconductor tariffs and make an effort to minimise the impact of biopharmaceutical tariffs.

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