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

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

The Washington Post [5/12/2025 3:50 PM, Brianna Tucker, 31735K] reports in a news release, Noem said that the status, which was set to expire May 20, will return "to its original temporary intent. We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation," Noem said. "Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country." Matthew Tragesser, chief of public affairs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said, "Bad actors are taking advantage of this humanitarian program," prompting the decision to end such protections. The termination has been highly criticized by resettlement advocacy groups, and more than 9,000 people from Afghanistan who were covered by TPS as of September could now face potential deportation. Politico [5/12/2025 3:01 PM, Amanda Friedman, 2100K] reports Noem said in a statement that the conditions in Afghanistan have improved sufficiently to warrant the program’s termination. Afghans’ temporary protected status will expire on May 20 and the elimination of the program will take effect on July 12. “This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,” Noem said. “We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation.” Noem also claimed that the termination aligns with the Trump administration’s efforts to root out fraud in the immigration system. “The termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security,” Noem said. CBS News [5/12/2025 9:59 PM, Joe Walsh, 51661K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security said Monday it will wind down Temporary Protected Status for Afghans on July 12. The TPS program allows migrants to get work permits and temporary reprieve from deportation if the U.S. government determines it is unsafe for them to return to their home countries due to war, natural disaster or some other issues. Over 8,000 Afghans were approved for TPS as of last year, according to federal statistics. TPS was last extended for Afghanistan in 2023, and it was set to expire in May unless the Trump administration chose to grant another extension. When the Biden administration extended the program for the country, officials cited a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, including the collapse of Afghanistan’s economy, human rights abuses by the Taliban and the threat of terrorist attacks by a local Islamic State offshoot. The Afghan TPS program is separate from the more permanent "special immigrant visas" issued to Afghans who worked alongside for the U.S. military during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, which ended abruptly in 2021 with the Taliban sweeping through the country. The winddown of TPS has drawn stiff criticism from advocates. "This decision is unconscionable and will have long-lasting ripple effects," #AfghanEvac, a group that helps relocate Afghans, said in a post on X. The Trump administration has also sought to roll back TPS for Venezuela, which applies to more than 300,000 people, but a judge halted that move in March and argued it was "predicated on negative stereotypes." The administration is asking the Supreme Court to intervene. Bloomberg Law [5/12/2025 12:12 PM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 1085K] reports that thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban government have applied for temporary relief through programs like parole and TPS. About 11,700 currently have TPS protections now. Noem said the country no longer meets requirements for the designation because of an improved security situation and a stabilized economy

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The Washington Post [5/12/2025 5:51 PM, Teo Armus an Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, 31735K] reports that a group of about 50 White South Africans landed at Dulles International Airport on Monday as refugees, coming to the United States under a humanitarian designation meant for people fleeing war or persecution that the Trump administration has suspended for all other groups worldwide. President Donald Trump has said the Afrikaners — a minority group descended from Dutch settlers in South Africa — are facing racial discrimination due to a land redistribution law in that country that seeks to correct an imbalance in property ownership stemming from four decades of apartheid rule. No land seizures have been carried out under that law. But Trump claimed Monday that a genocide was taking place in South Africa, an allegation government officials there say lacks any evidence. “Farmers are being killed,” the president said at a news conference. “They happen to be White. Whether they’re White or Black, makes no difference to me. But White farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.” South African officials have called the effort to cast the Afrikaner families as refugees a “politically motivated” ploy “designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.” On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it will end temporary protected status for Afghans. NBC News [5/12/2025 6:37 PM, Abigail Williams and Joy Y. Wang, 44742K] reports that the dozens that came Monday, including families with young children, arrived via a flight chartered by the State Department. Their resettlement in the U.S. comes as the Trump administration has shut down refugee admissions from almost all other countries, including Afghanistan, Sudan, the Republic of Congo and Myanmar. The Afrikaners were met on arrival by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar. Landau said that Trump’s pause of the U.S. Refugee program was subject from the very beginning to exceptions when it was determined to be in the interest of the United States. He cited the example of when the refugees "could be assimilated easily into our country.” "They tell quite harrowing stories of the violence that they faced in South Africa that was not redressed by the authorities by the unjust application of the law," Landau said. "The United States, as we were proud to say, has stood for equal justice under law and the fair and impartial application of the law.” In an executive order issued on February 7, Trump said the United States would help with resettling "Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation." He condemned what he called the country’s "shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights," specifically stating the government had seized the agriculture property of white Afrikaners without compensating them. The executive order also said the United States would no longer provide aid or assistance to South Africa. It came after a new South African land law went into effect and seems to reflect the views of Elon Musk, the head of the Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency who was born and raised in South Africa. The law has been depicted by some whites in South Africa, and some on the right in the U.S., as specifically targeting white farmers to take away their land. The South African government and experts dispute this, noting that the law allows for expropriation in cases when the land is not being used or there is a public interest in its redistribution, similar to eminent domain laws in the U.S. CBS News [5/12/2025 4:25 PM, Joe Walsh, 51661K] reports that the group — which includes families with children — was greeted at the D.C.-area airport by U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar. Landau told reporters the group has faced "egregious discrimination" in South Africa — which the country’s government has denied. Landau said the new arrivals were "carefully vetted" in South Africa prior to their arrival. They departed Johannesburg via a charter plane on Sunday. The South Africans moved through the refugee process at an unusually fast clip, arriving in the United States after a few months, even though the process frequently takes years. They also arrived in the United States despite a broader effort by the Trump administration to suspend the refugee admission program — a move that has drawn court challenges. The federal government typically relies on nonprofits to help resettle refugees in the United States, but at least one group, Episcopal Migration Ministries, said Monday it will not assist with the South African arrivals. Some other refugee resettlement groups have indicated they are willing to work with the South Africans.

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Washington Examiner [5/12/2025 8:19 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports fifty-nine Afrikaner refugees of all ages arrived at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., on Monday, immediately being greeted by Trump administration officials. Afrikaners are South Africans who are the descendants of Dutch, Huguenot, and German settlers beginning in the mid-17th century. "I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years," Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told the American flag-waving refugees at the D.C. airport. "I hope and I trust that the American people have very open hearts. We are a very accepting, we’re a very friendly, welcoming people," he continued, adding that he respected "what you had to deal with" and "the long tradition of your people.” The State Department added in a post on X, "Today @DeputySecState welcomed the first group of Afrikaner refugees fleeing persecution from their native South Africa. We stand with these refugees, many of them farmers and former business owners, as they build a better future for themselves and their children here in the United States.” Trump bemoaned the "genocide" taking place against Afrikaners in a Monday press conference, then critiqued the perceived failure of media outlets to cover the issue. "It’s a genocide that’s taking place, that you people don’t want to write about," Trump told reporters when asked about the refugee program. "But it’s a terrible thing that’s taking place. And farmers are being killed.” "They happen to be white, but whether they’re white or black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa, and the newspapers and the media, television media, doesn’t even talk about it. If it were the other way around, they talk about it, that would be the only story they talk about," he added. The acceptance of Afrikaner refugees found some critics in the U.S., such as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). "The Administration must clarify why these individuals qualify for refugee status and resettlement in the U.S. and why they have been prioritized over refugees like Afghans, Burmese Rohingya and Sudanese who have fled their homes due to conflict and persecution," she said in a Monday statement, saying the move was an effort to "rewrite history.”

ABC News [5/12/2025 4:21 PM, Hannah Demissie, Michelle Stoddart, and Shannon K. Kingston, 34586K] reports a flight carrying 59 refugees from South Africa landed in the United States on Monday afternoon -- as the Trump administration insists that the expedited process for white South Africans to seek refuge in the United States has nothing to do with race. The South African refugees’ arrival also comes amid the administration’s efforts to halt refugee programs from other countries. Hours before the flight arrived at Dulles International Airport, President Donald Trump defended his administration’s decision to offer refugee status to the Afrikaners -- a white minority group in South Africa. The president said that the asylum program is because there is a race-based genocide in the country. "They happen to be white, but whether they’re white or black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa, and the newspapers and the media, television media doesn’t even talk about it," Trump said during remarks at the White House. Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this group of South Africans "has faced racial persecution." She also went on to claim their farmland is being taken away. However, a law passed by South Africa earlier this year does not allow land to be expropriated without an agreement with the owner. South Africa’s government has pushed back, saying the "allegations of discrimination are unfounded.” "The South Africa Police Services statistics on farm related crimes do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race," the South African government said in a statement last week. "There are sufficient structures available within South Africa to address concerns of discrimination. Moreover, even if there are allegations of discrimination, it is our view that these do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law. Trump adviser Elon Musk has repeatedly talked about South Africa, his country of birth, on his social media account saying that the country is anti-white.

Blaze [5/12/2025 7:50 PM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1668K] reports the Episcopal Migration Ministries is an arm of the Episcopal Church that has helped resettle nearly 110,000 individuals to communities across the country. Despite its chatter about inclusivity, the EMM — one of 10 agencies the U.S. government contracts to resettle refugees — revealed Monday that it will not help white Afrikaners on account of the church’s "steadfast commitment to racial justice.” The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Sam Rowe, revealed in a letter to fellow Episcopalians that rather than resettle farmers from South Africa classified by the U.S. government as refugees, the EMM is terminating its contract with the federal government. "In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step," wrote Rowe. "Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.” Rowe suggested that it is "painful to watch" African farmers, a group vilified and targeted with controversial legislation by South Africa’s socialist-led regime, "receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.” "Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command," continued the bishop. "Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways.” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Blaze News in a statement, "The Episcopal Church’s decision to terminate its decades-long partnership with the U.S. government over the resettlement of 59 desperate Afrikaner refugees raises serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.” "Any religious group should support the plight of Afrikaners, who have been terrorized, brutalized, and persecuted by the South African government," continued Kelly. "The Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past administration. President Trump has made it clear: refugee resettlement should be about need, not politics.” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar welcomed the Boers Monday, noting that the individuals who had undergone expedited vetting "have went through a lot of stuff and we’re just grateful to have them in the U.S.”

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Los Angeles Times [5/12/2025 7:43 PM, Jenny Jarvie, 13342K] reports the Trump administration announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, a state program that provides monthly cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for Social Security benefits due to their immigration status. The investigation began in Los Angeles, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles field office issuing a Title 8 subpoena to California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release. According to the department, the subpoena requests all records from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the agency that administers the state program, to determine if ineligible immigrants received supplemental security income from the Social Security Administration over the last four years. "Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "The Trump Administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally," Noem added. "If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County — it is just the beginning.” According to Homeland Security, its Los Angeles investigations field office is subpoenaing records including applicants’ name and date of birth, copies of applications, immigration status, proof of ineligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration and affidavits that supported the application. "The scope of the subpoena is breathtakingly broad," said Kevin R. Johnson, a professor of law at UC Davis, noting that the subpeona is not narrowed for privacy interests and seeks affidavits from people who support immigrants’ applications. A lot of people could be worried, Johnson said, that any perceived support of someone who is undocumented could make them subject to criminal prosecution for harboring undocumented immigrants. "Issuing a subpoena with this breadth is like trying to pick a fight, it’s asking for heaven and earth in terms of information," Johnson said. "It’s classic Trump administration handiwork.” The investigation comes after President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on April 15 to stop immigrants lacking documentation from obtaining Social Security Act benefits in what he called a bid to stop incentivizing illegal immigration and protect taxpayer dollars. The memorandum directed the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure unauthorized immigrants do not receive funds from Social Security programs and prioritized civil or criminal enforcement against states or localities for potential violations of Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The New York Post [5/12/2025 7:24 PM, Jennie Taer, 54903K] reports that the probe focuses on LA’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) program, which the Golden State created to pay seniors or disabled who are barred from collecting Social Security based on their immigration status, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday. DHS has demanded the records of all people enrolled in the program in LA County. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people participate in LA’s CAPI program, but statewide, there are about 16,500 people enrolled. California says the program, which was launched in 1998, is funded entirely by state money — and that it is "not generally available" to undocumented people. CAPI is designed to help support elderly, blind or disabled immigrants who have legal status to remain in the US. It pays about $1,100 per month for most elderly or disabled people who qualify, or $1,900 per month for couples. Payments for nursing home care can reach nearly $1,500 a month. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem slammed "radical leftist politicians in California for prioritizing "illegal aliens over our own citizens" through the program, in a statement Monday. "If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County – it is just the beginning," she said. As part of the probe, the Department of Homeland Security is demanding that the State of California hand over "all records from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services – who administers the state program – to determine if ineligible illegal aliens received" federally-funded Social Security benefits going back to the start of the Biden administration in January 2021, the agency said. That includes all applicants’ names, dates of birth, copies of their applications, immigration status, proof of ineligibility from federal Social Security and affidavits supporting each application, according to DHS.

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Reuters [5/12/2025 5:54 PM, Sarah N. Lynch, 41523K] reports the FBI ordered agents on Monday to step up the amount of time they devote to immigration enforcement and to scale back investigating white-collar crime, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. In a series of meetings, FBI agents were told by their field offices they would need to start devoting approximately one third of their time to helping the Trump administration crack down on illegal immigration. Pursuing white-collar cases, they were told, will be deprioritized for at least the remainder of 2025, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a private call.

The Hill [5/12/2025 1:30 PM, Reps. Gabe Evans and Mike Ezell, 12829K] reports that from serving as local police officers to serving as members of Congress, our mission has remained the same: protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. This National Police Week, we reflect on how our time in Congress isn’t the first time we’ve raised our right hand and sworn an oath to defend this country. As former law enforcement officers, we both vowed to put our life on the line to protect our communities. The time we spent serving our neighbors as police officers is the inspiration for serving our neighbors as members of Congress. Whether it was in Mississippi or Colorado, our shared experience as police on the front lines of the community connects us and shapes the decisions and negotiations we make in Washington. We’re proud of where we come from, and we carry that perspective with us every day. As police officers, you don’t ask for someone’s party affiliation before stepping up to help. Whether they were a Republican, Democrat or Independent, it didn’t matter — what mattered was doing the right thing in the moment and keeping people safe. That same mindset guides our approach in Congress. We’re committed to giving solutions over soundbites and to working with anyone who shares our values of making America stronger.

Washington Examiner [5/12/2025 4:44 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 2296K] reports the Department of Homeland Security rang in Police Week this year with a video campaign to rally support and gratitude for law enforcement. A video compilation of U.S. Capitol Police, Transportation Security Administration officials, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and more was posted to the department’s X account on Monday. The video’s caption promised that "DHS is ushering in a new era of law and order made possible by the men and women in uniform securing our nation each day.” "We thank each of you wearing different badges united by one mission: to make America safe again," the video’s caption read. DHS is implementing a starkly different social media policy than the previous administration. Weeks ago, the department posted a screenshot of the restraining order filed against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who has received nationwide media coverage. The department is seemingly following suit with the White House account, which recently posted a video of deportees leaving the country with the soundtrack of the 1969 song "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." President Donald Trump has taken a lighthearted approach to social media and recently shared an AI-generated photo of himself dressed as the pope. Trump campaigned on law and order, claiming, "Kamala Harris is the Weakest Presidential Candidate in History on Crime.”

The Hill [5/12/2025 3:26 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) released a new immigration plan Monday, wading into a contentious debate as President Trump pushes to crack down at the border. Under Gallego’s plan, Congress would fund increased hiring for Border Patrol agents as well as hiring other staff to handle processing and transportation of migrants. It doesn’t fully endorse Trump’s border wall but does call for some barriers. It would also establish a migration reserve corps to help deal with "unexpected migrant surges" that would require more personnel. It would also place new limitations on asylum — a protection sought by many migrants who claim they are fleeing persecution or danger. Gallego’s plan would raise the standard to obtain asylum protections — which is something also sought by Republicans, who argue the protections should be harder to gain. He also calls for gradually phasing in use of E-Verify across the country, forcing business to ascertain whether employees are legally allowed to work in the U.S. His proposal seeks to address a yearslong backlog of such cases by augmenting the number of asylum officers and giving them the power to adjudicate claims — removing the matter from immigration court. To ease constraints on immigration, his plan would also provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those brought to the U.S. as children, as well as spouses of citizens who do not yet have legal status. It would boost a number of caps on visas and green cards, with Gallego referencing "arbitrary" caps that limit the number of immigrants from certain countries. He also calls for increasing U.S. refugee processing — a program Trump has currently suspended. Gallego calls for a Western Hemisphere engagement strategy, including creating more asylum capacity across Latin America and pushing for more "responsibility sharing" for taking on migrants and refugees.

CNN [5/12/2025 5:15 AM, Hanna Park, 908K] reports over the weekend, an international university student facing deportation by the Trump administration was allowed to return to her home in the US while her case continues to play out in court, marking a victory for one of the many cases involving students who could be removed from the country after participating in pro-Palestinian activism. Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk spent 45 days in a detention center more than 1,500 miles from that home, accused by federal authorities of participating in pro-terrorist activities. The judge who ordered Öztürk’s release emphasized the administration’s failure to submit any evidence to support that accusation throughout her lengthy detention. Öztürk’s case is one in a series of arrests targeting international students involved in pro-Palestinian activism that has sparked widespread concerns about free speech on university grounds. It’s been two months since Immigration and Customs Enforcement began targeting students and scholars in often dramatic arrests by masked officers, leaving the international community on edge about their most fundamental rights.

Daily Caller [5/12/2025 11:35 AM, Hudson Crozier, 1082K] reports an advocacy group for illegal immigrants dropped a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday after claiming officials planned to deport a 2-year-old U.S. citizen. The left-leaning National Immigration Project alleged in its April 24 lawsuit that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had detained a mother named Jenny Carolina Lopez-Villela, her 11-year-old daughter and her 2-year-old, who is a U.S. citizen. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Lopez-Villela entered the country illegally three times before she signed a letter agreeing to take her U.S.-born daughter with her to Honduras. Lopez-Villela and the eleven-year-old already had deportation orders against them, the National Immigration Project’s lawsuit said. The orders for removal came in 2020 after the first illegal entry by Lopez-Villela and her older daughter, according to a Saturday DHS press release. The other two illegal entries happened under the Biden administration. The government showed the court a copy of Lopez-Villela’s letter about the 2-year-old American citizen, translated as, "I, Jenny Carolina Lopez [Villela], will bring my daughter, Valentina Mendez Lopez, with me to Honduras.” The Trump administration said two other individuals in the U.S. had asked to be legal custodians of the 2-year-old but had not proven their identity. "Taking [her] away from her mother and placing her in the custody of individuals who are seemingly unprepared to establish their identities would pose a greater risk of harm," the government said in a filing. The DHS press release named the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as the plaintiff in the "baseless lawsuit," despite court records only showing the National Immigration Project. The DHS and ACLU did not immediately respond to inquiries from the Daily Caller News Foundation. The group said in an April 30 press release that ICE is deporting parents who are taking their children with them "under duress," and therefore, "there was no meaningful decision to be made." The ACLU has also repeated claims of ICE deporting "U.S. citizen children.” The DHS said in a Saturday X post, however, that "the narrative that DHS is deporting American children is false and irresponsible reporting," referring to media headlines about the issue.

Washington Post [5/13/2025 5:02 PM, Jacob Bogage, 31735K] reports new tax cuts. Massive spending on border security. Cuts to social safety net programs. Pullbacks on investments to fight climate change. New limits on student loans. If it becomes law, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ massive bill will reshape much of the federal government — and the U.S. economy. GOP majorities in the House and Senate are attempting to move swiftly to reverse many of President Joe Biden’s legislative accomplishments and cement Trump’s legacy in the tax code, on the southern border and in generations-old anti-poverty benefits. The House’s bill would devote hundreds of billions of dollars to finishing Trump’s border wall, fortifying maritime border crossings, outfitting the Defense Department and more. It would extend the tax cuts that were one of the signature legislative achievements of Trump’s first term, create new savings accounts for newborns and fulfill some — but not all — of the president’s campaign promises. The legislation still must pass the House, where it faces stiff opposition from blue-state Republicans, and the Senate, where tax-writers are eyeing their own policy changes. GOP leaders are using the budget reconciliation process to shepherd the measure, which would allow them to dodge a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and pass it on party lines. Trump on Monday broadly embraced the legislation, which he has taken to calling his “big, beautiful bill.”

FOX News [5/12/2025 1:22 PM, Charles Creitz, 46189K] reports that Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego unveiled a border security and immigration reform plan that was immediately endorsed by several House Democrats. Gallego, the son of Mexican and Colombian immigrants, offered a "five-pillar" framework he said expresses his commitment to securing the southern border. "We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform," Gallego said. "We can and should do both." "Americans deserve the right to feel safe knowing their border is secure, but 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," Gallego said. Typically seen as a Republican issue, Gallego’s border security plan combines GOP priorities like staffing-up the Border Patrol, with Democrats’ favored "pathway to citizenship" for select migrants, in part for economic benefit. Gallego’s plan also outlines asylum process reform by "expedit[ing]" people’s passage through the system and also seeking to enforce that other countries do their "fair share" to resettle asylum seekers and combat cartel violence and economic instability in their home areas. It increases the annual green card quota and increases the use of e-Verify, an application that verifies an employee’s legal status when it comes to working in the U.S. In terms of asylum case reform, Gallego seeks to hire additional officers to process claims and afford them more jurisdiction in deciding the outcome of applicants’ cases. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [5/13/2025 4:00 AM, Tierney Sneed and Paula Reid, 22131K] reports as the Supreme Court hears arguments Thursday on a major Donald Trump policy for the first time in his second term, the president could secure a significant win affecting many of the lawsuits against his administration out of a case that is otherwise widely seen as a legal loser. Trump has taken his attempt to end birthright citizenship – the longstanding practice of granting citizenship to any child born on US soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status – to the high court. But in doing so, Trump officials made an intentional decision not to ask the court to review the constitutionality of the policy, which appears to run afoul of the 14th Amendment and more than 120 years of court precedent. Instead, the Justice Department wants the justices to focus on the power of lower court judges generally to issue orders blocking presidential measures nationwide – a major pet peeve of Trump. “We are thrilled to get this issue before the justices,” a senior administration official told CNN. Trump has seen scores of nationwide orders – also called universal injunctions – halting his administration’s initiatives, including in cases challenging his funding freezes, anti-DEI directives, mass layoffs of federal employees, cuts to public health research funding and various immigration policies. While every president in the 21st century has faced multiple court injunctions, Trump has, by far, seen the most as he has signed a record number of executive orders in his few months in office. Trump’s opponents in the case argue that his willingness to push and exceed the limits of executive power are why universal injunctions are needed in some instances, while noting that rolling back the nationwide orders in this case would present extraordinarily daunting logistical hurdles. “This is a fraught time for the relationship between the courts and the Executive Branch,” several Democratic attorneys general said in a brief to the court. “The Government is aggressively issuing Executive Orders of dubious legality, evading or ignoring court orders and attacking the judiciary. This is no time for this Court to limit the few powers that the courts have to do Equity in our Nation.” The frequency with which courts are issuing such blanket orders – a trend that took off when Republican-led states started asking for them to halt actions by President Barack Obama – has been subject to debate in the legal community. Justices across the ideological spectrum have signaled that the pattern deserves a closer look – though some have expressed more skepticism about the practice than others.

Washington Post [5/13/2025 5:01 AM, David Nakamura, 31735K] reports one hundred and twenty seven years after Wong Kim Ark’s landmark Supreme Court victory enshrined birthright citizenship, Norman Wong arrived at the University of California at Berkeley in late April on a quest to protect his great-grandfather’s legacy. Wong, 75, clutched a piece of paper before a campus forum on immigration — a short speech he had revised four times — but he carried no photos or family heirlooms. For most of his life, he had not heard of Wong Kim Ark, a poor cook born to Chinese immigrants in San Francisco in 1870. But since President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January to end automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants and foreign visitors, Norman Wong has been thrust into a life of unexpected local celebrity and political activism. He is held up by supporters as a living testament to the man whose fight for American citizenship — with its presumed guarantees of civil rights, free speech and due process — had gotten lost through the years. “It was a piece of history, but it was not relevant history, to be truthful, at the time,” Wong said in an interview, referring to the discovery of his family ties. He pegs the moment to the late 1990s, when reporters contacted his father ahead of a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the 1898 Supreme Court decision. Now, “I’ve picked up the mantle,” he said. “People want me for some kind of symbolism. Fine. I’m trying to get up to speed.”

CNN [5/12/2025 7:00 AM, Joan Biskupic, 22131K] reports the Supreme Court that will hear a case over birthright citizenship this week has been acting less like a group seeking consensus and more like nine justices clinging to their own interests. Ruptures have occurred in litigation arising from President Donald Trump’s effort to transform the federal government and remake America. But more broadly, the fractured court has been evident in the justices’ separate opinions, behavior on the bench, and public appearances. Justices have increasingly gone their own way in memoirs and books, too. As a result, the court may be less inclined to speak with one voice. The riven justices could, as the country hurtles toward a possible constitutional showdown, risk appearing like yet another set of political actors, unable to meet head-on threats to the rule of law. Lower court judges have found over and over that the Trump administration has rejected statutory and constitutional guarantees, including, as one judge observed last week, “that neither citizen nor alien be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Thursday’s hearing in the white marble and heavy red drape setting will offer the first Supreme Court oral arguments over any second-term Trump initiative since Chief Justice John Roberts swore in the president on January 20. The birthright citizenship case could become a platform for the agendas of individual justices. Already, the focus of “friend of the court” briefs varies widely as outside groups – from constitutional scholars and legal historians to the Chamber of Commerce and Restaurant Law Center – see the case as a catalyst for their respective issues. The justices have not specified the legal questions they’re taking up, as is normally the situation. But based on the Trump administration’s request for emergency intervention and the limited filings at this point, the justices are likely to decide an important procedural issue, rather than directly decide who’s entitled to citizenship.

FOX News [5/12/2025 9:09 AM, Cameron Arcand, 46189K] reports as the Alien Enemies Act continues to be a focal point of the immigration debate in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, Republican attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital about why the White House is making use of the 1798 law. Some federal judges have disagreed with the Trump administration’s decision to use the act to send suspected MS-13 and Tren De Aragua gang members outside the United States, including to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Trump designated those two groups as foreign terrorist organizations shortly after taking office. "Under this act, it allows us to detain, apprehend, and deport alien enemies," Cooke said. "This immediately allowed under the Alien Enemies Act for President Trump and his administration to accelerate deportations of individuals from Venezuela and gang members," she later added. Earlier last week, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg asked the Justice Department about public comments Trump and other Cabinet officials made about deportation proceedings under the Alien Enemies Act and floated the idea of moving some migrants to Guantánamo Bay. During the hearing, Boasberg specifically pressed Justice Department lawyers about statements made by Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about CECOT, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador where the U.S. has deported hundreds of migrants, and the White House’s ability to secure someone’s release. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Signal [5/12/2025 8:00 AM, Fred Lucas, 495K] reports a coalition of Democrat governors resisting the Trump administration scheduled at least two Zoom discussions focused on how to avoid assisting National Guard “protections” and “deployments,” according to email correspondence obtained by The Daily Signal. Executive order templates created for Democrat governors say the states “shall provide no time, money, facilities,” for any National Guard deployments if the governor doesn’t approve. Governors Safeguarding Democracy—co-chaired by two Democrats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis—scheduled two Zoom meetings focused on the National Guard. One was on Dec. 12, more than a month after President Donald Trump was elected. The other was scheduled for Jan. 28, a few days after Trump’s inauguration. The Daily Signal obtained the correspondence through a public records request to the office of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat. Lamont’s office was not willing to lend his name to the launch of Governors Safeguarding Democracy.

HSToday [5/12/2025 3:30 PM, Staff, 38K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has set the record straight on Columbia University riots ringleader Mohsen Mahdawi, according to a press release on May 9. In recent days, misleading and lazy reporting painted the leader of pro-terrorist demonstrations as a “peacemaker.” Court records allege that Mahdawi told a gun shop owner that he used firearms to “kill Jews.” In a brief filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 28 in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, Mohsen Mahdawi was cited as admitting to being involved in and supporting pro-terrorist acts of violence. Mahdawi also allegedly admitted to familiarity with firearms per a police report. The federal filing reveals: Mahdawi supposedly told a gun shop owner “that he had considerable firearm experience” and used guns to “kill Jews while he was in Palestine.” Mahadawi was cited as having experience building firearms, including modified 9mm submachine guns. Another member of the community recalled Mahdawi stating “I like to kill Jews.” In a police report, a concerned individual reported that Mahdawi requested to purchase a sniper rifle and a machine gun. He also claimed that he said he used to make guns for Hezbollah. Statement Attributable to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: “As the media works overtime to glorify a ringleader of the Columbia pro-terrorist riots, court documents show Mahdawi allegedly told a gun shop owner that he had considerable firearms experience and he ‘used to kill Jews.’ The media tried to paint Mohsen Mahdawi as a martyr for free speech. The truth is he is a terrorist sympathizer and national security threat who does not belong in this country. Why does the media continue to defend terrorist sympathizers?”

New York Post [5/12/2025 6:13 PM, Craig McCarthy, 54903K] reports a bipartisan group of City Council members is urging Trump’s Department of Justice to step in to overrule the Big Apple’s sanctuary city laws, The Post has learned. The council’s Common Sense Caucus penned a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday asking to take legal action against New York City for its policies on illegal immigrants that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and the federal government.

NewsNation [5/12/2025 5:24 PM, Rich McHugh, 6866K] reports several House Democrats are potentially facing criminal charges after a heated altercation that broke out at a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility Friday. The Department of Homeland Security is now saying the Trump administration is taking a closer look at the arrests of those involved in alleged assaults of ICE officers at Delaney Hall Detention Center. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin tells NewsNation via email that this is an open and active investigation, but she stopped short of repeating her comments over the weekend that there will be more arrests coming. Amid Friday’s chaos, Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested and is accused of trespassing after federal agents say he ignored warnings to leave. Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, wrote on X Friday that Baraka "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey." Baraka was released from custody five hours later, without bond, and no plea was entered. Attention has now turned to three Democratic members of Congress also present: Representatives LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman. The DHS says ICE bodycam footage shows McIver pushing and elbowing her way past a Homeland Security agent to get through the gate and into the property. The three members of Congress say they were assaulted and deny that they tried to storm the facility. They can be seen screaming in the faces of the DHS agents.

FOX News [5/12/2025 9:05 AM, Staff, 46189K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia Fox News correspondent Alexis McAdams reports on DHS announcing more arrests will be coming as a result of Democrats protesting an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [5/12/2025 11:28 PM, Jesse Zanger, Naveen Dhaliwal, and Christine Sloan, 52225K] Video HERE reports Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is scheduled to appear in court Thursday after being arrested last week outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility. Friday’s heated confrontation at Delaney Hall was captured on body cam video. Baraka faces trespassing charges. He told CBS News New York on Saturday he was supporting members of Congress who showed up at the facility. Over the weekend, ICE suggested some of those members could face charges, but none have been filed yet. "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," said Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of public affairs for DHS. "Nobody from ICE was slammed on the ground. We didn’t storm the place. So it’s, all of it is a lie," Baraka said. "Somebody allowed me to go in. I didn’t climb a fence. I didn’t kick the door down." "First of all, I didn’t see anybody slamming. I was very focused on trying to shield the mayor," Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said. "They were shoving up on all of us." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] NewsNation [5/12/2025 4:24 PM, Rich McHugh, 6866K] reports several House Democrats are potentially facing criminal charges after a heated altercation that broke out at a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility Friday. The Department of Homeland Security is now saying the Trump administration is taking a closer look at the arrests of those involved in alleged assaults of ICE officers at Delaney Hall Detention Center. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin tells NewsNation via email that this is an open and active investigation, but she stopped short of repeating her comments over the weekend that there will be more arrests coming. Amid Friday’s chaos, Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested and is accused of trespassing after federal agents say he ignored warnings to leave. Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, wrote on X Friday that Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey.” Baraka was released from custody five hours later, without bond, and no plea was entered. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Daily Wire [5/12/2025 9:13 AM, Virginia Kruta, 4672K] reports that during the week prior to the protest, city workers parked a bulldozer in front of the gate in order to block access to the facility. Baraka was arrested during the protest and detained by ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security offered an entirely different take on the incident: initial reports stated that the New Jersey Democrats had been part of a protest group that waited outside the gates until they were opened for a vehicle transporting detainees – at which point they rushed past security and onto the property. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that if they had requested a tour rather than simply staging a protest outside the gate, one would have been arranged.

FOX News [5/12/2025 9:27 PM, Alec Schemmel, 46189K] reports that, Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested for trespassing while protesting at a federal immigration facility last week, said Monday during a televised gubernatorial debate that his actions were "absolutely" an effective way to protest the president’s immigration clampdown. Baraka has denied he did anything wrong despite federal authorities arresting him for trespassing at the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark on Friday. During Monday’s debate among Democrat candidates in New Jersey’s open governor’s race, he doubled down on the assertion he did nothing wrong. "We haven’t interfered with federal law enforcement," Baraka said early on in the debate when moderators turned their questioning to Friday’s incident at the ICE detention facility in Newark. "We didn’t go down there to protest. We actually went down there to have a press conference. And the Congress has oversight. And they began to exercise their oversight. It was escalated by Homeland Security. They made an arrest because they got a call to do so. And that’s what happened.” Baraka’s arrest occurred during a protest at Delaney Hall attended by three members of Congress, who said they were in attendance to perform their congressionally-mandated oversight duties related to federal detention facilities. The three lawmakers were outside the facility with a group of protesters when the gates opened to allow an ICE bus in. The lawmakers then rushed through the gates and past security, according to officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The arrest came as activists had been calling for access to the facility for days, which is a privately run facility that was revamped as an immigration detention facility this year. "We’re not asking for anything that’s incorrect. We ask them to obey our laws," Baraka said after the incident. "To obey the policies and 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 Fourth, the Fifth, the Fourteenth Amendment and everybody on this soil who deserves due process." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [5/12/2025 9:05 AM, Staff, 46189K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the latest on the investigation into a physical confrontation between Democratic lawmakers and ICE agents in New Jersey. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX Business [5/12/2025 9:25 PM, Staff, 10702K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin calls out Democrats’ reaction to illegal immigration on ‘The Bottom Line.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) KOLD This Morning at 6am [5/12/2025 9:08 AM, Staff] reports that a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security defended Friday’s arrest outside of an immigration detention center. Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka and three legislators from New Jersey joined protesters outside the facility. Federal officers detained Baraka after he tried to join the lawmakers inside the detention center. Tricia McLaughlin said the agency is reviewing video of the incident, adding that she expects more arrests, which could include members of Congress.

New York Post [5/12/2025 1:13 PM, Patrick Reilly, 54903K] reports the lefty New Jersey politicians who stormed a Newark immigration detention center did it for their “15 minutes of fame,” Homeland Security’s spokeswoman railed Monday as the feds weigh criminal charges against them for alleged assault. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’s assistant secretary for public affairs, called the stunt last week at the Delaney Hall Detention Center by Democratic US Reps. Robert Menendez Jr., LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka “beyond the pale.” “We know that the [Newark mayor], we know these members of Congress want their 15 minutes of fame so desperately, but they’re willing to do it at the peril of the safety of our great law enforcement and even the detainees as well,” she said on “Fox & Friends.” The feds said Baraka, a Democrat running for governor, was arrested and charged with trespassing after entering the center and refusing to leave, despite several warnings. “These members of Congress, this mayor and these protesters are not above the law,” McLaughlin said. While Menendez, McIver and Coleman have yet to be charged, McLaughlin said the investigation into the caught-on-camera fracas is ongoing and their arrests are still on the table. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [5/12/2025 7:38 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports CBS News got a first look inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center where the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka, was arrested and charged with trespassing. CBS News homeland security correspondent Nicole Sganga went on the tour and spoke with the acting ICE director and Baraka.

FOX News [5/12/2025 8:19 PM, Anders Hagstrom, Alexis McAdams and Greg Wehner, 46189K] reports dozens of clergy members protested outside an ICE facility in Newark, N.J., on Monday, saying they would continue to block the gates accessing the facility until they are arrested. The group is composed of roughly 50 clergy members from Faith in N.J. and Faith in Action. They linked arms outside the main gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center as they chanted and sang songs. Several speakers also said prayers for the inmates inside the facility and condemned their detention. The clergy members say they have "volunteered" to be arrested and that they will attempt to enter the ICE facility. An ambulance was turned away from entering a gated area that the protesters were blocking on Monday because authorities feared the protesters might rush in if the gate were opened. One protester told Fox News nobody called the ambulance, calling it a tactic to get them to move. "There was no danger there," he said. "We’re not going to be moved. We’ll be here as long as it takes until people start to realize this is not acceptable.” By around 5 p.m., events began to flare up as employees of the facility attempted to drive out of the gated area. Police moved protesters out of the way, though the protesters would resist and oppose to being touched. At least two protesters were arrested by Newark police during the event. Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda said the two individuals who were arrested face obstruction and resisting arrest charges. One officer suffered a minor laceration to the arm during the incident, though he will remain on duty. No other injuries were reported. In response to Fox News’ reporting on the events on Monday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asked, "Who do they want released from Delaney Hall? The child rapists, murderers, drug traffickers, MS-13 gang members or known terrorists?". "This was a cheap political stunt by the Democrats and by these protesters," she said. "We’re not having it. They put law enforcement officers at risk. They put our staff in the facility at risk and put the detainees at risk. You saw that they didn’t even let an ambulance through. This is not something that this administration is going to put up with. And that’s part of the reason that this mayor was arrested. You can’t just storm a detention facility and assault law enforcement officers with impunity.” McLaughlin’s comments come after the ICE director told Fox that 75% of the detainees at the facility have either committed a crime, are convicted of a crime, or have pending criminal charges. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [5/12/2025 6:46 PM, Jim Thomas, 4998K]

FOX News [5/12/2025 12:49 PM, Taylor Penley, 46189K] reports that "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy offered viewers a firsthand look inside ICE’s Delaney Hall – the Newark, New Jersey facility stormed by Democrats last week. "They have nothing to be ashamed of. This facility is so clean. It has all kinds of recreation facilities – outdoor soccer fields, weight equipment, domino tables. It also has telephones everywhere with signs next to them of the phone numbers to reach their consulates," Campos-Duffy said Monday on "Fox & Friends." "It also has legal facilities, computers, webcams. Their doors… on the places where they sleep aren’t even locked. The facility actually looks like a high school, actually looks better than a lot of high schools, and a lot [of] our own prisons for American citizens could take a lesson from this facility," she added. Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons led the Fox News host around the facility, telling her that more than 75% of the people held there were "felons" – either convicted of a crime or pending charges. Campos-Duffy explained the crimes vary, ranging from rape to murder to burglary and others. She also said immigrants held in the facility have enough autonomy to self-deport should they choose to do so. "So the idea that they are here with no agency, that they’re being detained with no choices, that’s not true. They have a choice to self-deport, and they make it really easy."

The Hill [5/12/2025 9:52 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K] reports Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Sunday called threats to arrest Democratic colleagues over an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility “very drastic” and only appropriate if anyone actually broke the law. In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” McCaul was asked about ICE arresting the mayor of Newark, N.J., outside a federal detention center Friday and about new threats of arrest against three members of Congress who similarly tried to access the detention center. “Should ICE be arresting or even threatening to arrest members of Congress?” host Ed O’Keefe asked McCaul in the interview. “I mean, that’s obviously a very drastic move. I would only do that if they were complicit with a crime,” McCaul responded. “I don’t know all the facts behind this.” McCaul noted members of Congress have the right to access federal detention facilities, adding that he did not know if the three members of Congress — New Jersey Democrats Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver — were otherwise disrupting law enforcement. “If they were just visiting a detention center, that’s — I’ve done that many times. If they’re disrupting law enforcement, that’s another question,” McCaul said. After Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was arrested at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a CNN interview that more arrests could be coming. She did not rule out arresting the three Democratic members, who ICE officials said were pushing and shoving among the people in the crowd outside the facility — a characterization the Democrats reject. “This is an ongoing investigation, and that is definitely on the table,” McLaughlin said when pressed on whether the members of Congress could be arrested. “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 about the members. NewsMax [5/12/2025 12:18 PM, Solange Reyner, 4998K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security on Monday said Democrat members who were part of a scuffle with law enforcement officers at an ICE facility in New Jersey over the weekend may face arrests, reported Axios. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, told Fox News on Saturday that more arrests "are still on the table." "If it was a typical U.S. citizen, and they tried to storm into a detention facility that’s housing dangerous criminals or any person at all, they would be arrested," she said. "Just because you are a member of Congress or just because you’re a public official, does not mean you are above the law." "If you assault a law enforcement officer, we will also make sure you answer to justice," she added. "So, I think that arrests are still on the table for this. This is an ongoing investigation."

FOX News [5/12/2025 2:14 PM, Staff, 46189K] reports that Fox News’ Alexis McAdams provides updates on Democratic lawmakers’ attempt to ‘storm’ an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, and the possibility of congressmembers being arrested as a result. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [5/12/2025 10:31 PM, Hailey Gomez, 1082K] reports Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said Monday on Fox Business that an arrest would be “on the table” for Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if she trespassed and assaulted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Ocasio-Cortez posted a video to Instagram Sunday. That video advocated for the Democrat representatives involved in a scene at a New Jersey ICE facility. That incident led to the arrest of Democrat Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Fox Business co-host David Asman, discussing the pushback from Democrats on “The Bottom Line,” asked McLaughlin if an arrest would be imminent if Ocasio-Cortez went down to the facility and pulled “the same kind of stunt.” “If she trespasses and if she assaults law enforcement officers, as we saw earlier, I think that’s certainly on the table. As far as we’ve heard, a lot of Democrats make the argument that they’re just conducting oversight, congressional oversight,” McLaughlin said. In her social media video, Ocasio-Cortez warned there would be a “problem” for the department if they “lay a finger” on “Coleman or any of the representatives.” “You lay a finger on Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman or any of the representatives that were there, you lay a finger on them, and we’re going to have a problem,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Breitbart [5/12/2025 6:41 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2923K] reports acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba has launched an investigation into an incident in which Democrats stormed and allegedly trespassed at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. Habba revealed in a post on X that her office was "undertaking a thorough investigation" regarding an incident at Delaney Hall ICE detention center on Friday, where Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was arrested for criminally trespassing. "My office is undertaking a thorough investigation in coordination with our Federal Agency partners of what transpired on Friday at Delaney Hall," Habba said. "As is true of every investigation this office handles, all available evidence will be thoroughly review prior to making a determination on how to proceed. I do not take these matters lightly.” As Breitbart News previously reported, Habba announced on Friday that Baraka has "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the" ICE detention facility. Baraka had joined Democrats such as Reps. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) at Delaney Hall to conduct federal oversight of the ICE detention center. After Baraka’s release, he claimed that he "didn’t do anything wrong," according to News12 New Jersey. While Democrats such as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have criticized the In a post on X, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared a video in response to Watson Coleman claiming during an interview on CNN that "nothing happened" and that the Democrat Members of Congress were "pushed and shoved.” On Friday, DHS released the mugshots and criminal records of several of the detainees being held at Delaney Hall Detention Center, and revealed that "as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate," a group of protestors, which included "two members of US Congress, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.” "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 said in a statement. "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.”

(B) 7 News Today in New England [5/12/2025 9:38 AM, Staff] reports that a graduation demonstration in South Dakota was aimed at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem was asked to speak at Dakota State University’s graduation this weekend. Noem also received an honorary doctorate degree in public service from the university. Demonstrators lined up outside the ceremony, many protesting how Noem is handling immigration. Some decided not to walk in the graduation ceremony. The college says that Noem is a champion of the school and its cybersecurity programs.

Independent [5/12/2025 6:44 PM, Gustaf Kilander, 44800K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a former South Dakota governor, faced protests as she received an honorary doctorate at Dakota State University in Madison, as the school hosted its commencement ceremonies on Saturday. Protesters showed up with signs to show their displeasure at the selection of Noem as this year’s commencement speaker. The secretary has been at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda and mass deportation efforts. “We don’t think that she is somebody that deserves any sort of honor from anybody,” protester Susan Wicks told Dakota News Now. “She’s currently right now violating the constitution, deporting people to foreign detainment centers without any due process.” “I think that recently she’s shown herself to be a tool of the Trump administration and implementing policies that go against the Constitution of the United States,” fellow protester John Nelson told the outlet. Wicks added that the university “didn’t listen to the town, the faculty or their students, and we think that’s abhorrent.”

San Diego Union Tribune [5/12/2025 12:10 PM, Alex Riggins, 1682K] reports on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving 2022, a panga piloted by two cousins from Baja California capsized as it approached the shore of Imperial Beach. The cousins and five of the undocumented immigrants they were carrying made it safely to shore, but three others drowned. The cousins were ultimately sentenced to less than five years in federal prison each for their involvement in the fatal accident. Both are scheduled to be released from prison in 2026. Their fates contrast sharply with the punishment that U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recommended this week for the two alleged smugglers charged in connection with the panga that capsized Monday morning near Del Mar, leaving three people dead and a 10-year-old girl missing and presumed dead. “I will urge the Attorney General to seek the death penalty in this case,” Noem said in a statement Tuesday night. The Department of Homeland Security will not tolerate this level of criminal depravity or this reckless disregard for human life. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will be ultimately responsible for deciding whether to seek the death penalty against Jesus Ivan Rodriguez Leyva, 36, and Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 30. However, the death sentences would be far more severe than those that federal judges in San Diego have handed down in recent years to convicted smugglers in similar cases.

Breitbart [5/13/2025 1:37 AM, Neil Munro, 2923K] reports U.S. trucking companies are undermined by lower-wage Mexican truckers who use B-1 visitor visas to snatch delivery contracts from American truckers after they deliver a load from Mexico, says a May 8 article on the FreightWaves.com website. "I closed in December because I saw what was going to happen," one former owner of a trucking company told Freightwave.com. "There was no reason to try and keep up with the B-1 drivers nonsense — no one really understands what’s happened, and there’s too many [business] interests in between," the owner said. "Look at I-35 coming out of Laredo: All you see is the Mexican trucks coming across going north, and nine out of 10 trucks are B-1 drivers; it’s just getting out of hand," another owner told the site. He added: I’m an owner-operator. I have a few trucks that I operate as a regional hauling business, but I can’t compete with the B-1s … You have a lot of B-1 drivers, they take less pay, and you lose work because they can get the work. I can’t afford to drop down on my rates. Nobody will be making money, right? NAFTA made it legal for Mexican drivers to deliver Mexican cargo to U.S. destinations and then go home. But many Mexican drivers use their B-1 visitor visas to stay on in the United States for some time — while illegally delivering U.S. cargo from sellers to buyers. "A vast majority of people have jumped into this in the last few years, and they’re cheating the system and nobody’s doing anything about it," said the owner of a trucking company. The Mexican drivers can get the cargo contracts directly from brokers or directly from U.S. companies that illegally hire the lower-wage Mexican drivers. Some Mexican companies are setting up subsidiaries in the United States to help win orders for the illegal migrant drivers, the site reported. By subscribing, you agree to our terms of use & privacy policy. You will receive email marketing messages from Breitbart News Network to the email you provide. You may unsubscribe at any time. In Canada, drivers use the H-2A agricultural worker visa to take truckers’ jobs in Maine. On April 10, the American Trucking Association asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for help in getting the B-1 visa rules enforced by the Department of Homeland Security: This is an ongoing issue that we have raised with various law enforcement organizations over the last several years. While ATA fully supports the legal use of B-1 drivers to transport international freight from Canada and Mexico into and out of the United States as part of an international trip, we believe that some U.S. trucking companies unlawfully employ these drivers to perform cabotage, i.e., to move domestic freight within the borders of the United States.

Univision [5/13/2025 1:22 AM, Staff, 5325K] reports that, this weekend, Griselda López Pérez, mother of Ovidio Guzmán López, and 16 relatives of ‘El Chapo’ turned themselves in to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego, according to information from journalist Luis Chaparro. However, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that they had no information and asked the US government to share the report. Sheinbaum confirmed this Monday that the Mexican government had no information from the US government about the alleged crossing of 17 relatives of ‘El Chapo’. "There is no more than what has come out in the notes (...). We are already requesting this information through the Attorney General’s Office," said Sheinbaum at her press conference on May 12. According to exclusive information from journalist Luis Chaparro, in his website Pie de Nota, 17 family members of "El Chapo" crossed the San Ysidro border on Friday, May 9. Among the family members were the mother of Ovidio Guzmán López, Griselda López Pérez, a daughter and a grandson of the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, and several nephews and nieces. According to the report, the family members were each carrying at least two suitcases and a combined total of $70,000. The newspaper El Universal also confirmed the crossing of the relatives of ‘Los Chapitos’ with a response, without details, from the US Marshals Service. The cross-reference between the relatives of ‘Los Chapitos’ and ‘El Chapo’ comes after the confirmation that Ovidio Guzmán would change his plea of guilty for drug trafficking in his next hearing scheduled for June 6.

CBS News [5/12/2025 1:46 PM, Eleanor Watson, 51661K] reports that the Defense Department has spent more than $21 million on flights to Guantanamo Bay amid the Trump administration’s migrant deportation efforts, according to figures shared in a letter sent to Congress and obtained by CBS News. The $21 million figure was first reported by NBC News. In January, President Trump directed his administration to use the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a holding site for migrants, where he said the highest priority, "worst" offenders would be held as part of his aggressive crackdown on immigration. Since then, limited details about the flights have been available — including the costs. In February, the administration transferred Venezuelan migrants to the facility, before they were taken to Honduras. And the administration has intermittently brought migrants to the base before transferring them elsewhere in the proceeding months. In the letter, which came in response to questions from Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the Pentagon outlined that U.S. Transportation Command has flown a total of 46 flights on military aircraft "in support of migrant deportation flights" to Guantanamo Bay between Jan. 20 and April 8, with a total of 802 hours and an average cost of $26,277 per flight hour, adding up to more than $21 million. "Every American should be outraged by Donald Trump wasting military resources to pay for his political stunts that do not make us safer," Warren said in a statement. "U.S. servicemembers did not sign up for this abuse of power."

Daily Caller [5/12/2025 3:35 PM, Hudson Crozier, 1082K] reports a deported illegal migrant whose family claimed he had no criminal history has previously been accused of several crimes, including carrying a loaded firearm near a school in February, records show. New York police arrested 19-year-old Merwil Gutierrez Flores on Feb. 25 on three felonies and a misdemeanor a day before immigration authorities arrested him, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. After being sent to prison in El Salvador, Gutierrez-Flores has been at the center of sympathetic media coverage publicizing his family’s claims that “he’s never been accused of a crime.” The document reveals Gutierrez Flores, a Venezuelan, was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, carrying a loaded firearm on school grounds, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of ammunition feeding devices. President Donald Trump’s FBI contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about Gutierrez Flores a day later. The DHS report alleged Gutierrez Flores “has been identified as [an] Associate/Active of” the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Officials deported Gutierrez Flores to the “Terrorism Confinement Center,” or CECOT, in El Salvador on March 15, the DHS said in a statement to the DCNF. “Merwil Alberto Gutierrez Flores was deported to CECOT because he is an associate of Tren de Aragua — a foreign terrorist organization — whose criminal record included an arrest for having a loaded firearm and ammunition feeding devices at a school,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. “The Biden Administration released this dangerous criminal into our communities in 2023. President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem are getting these criminals off our streets and out of country.” “When Americans break the law, they face consequences,” McLaughlin said. “Now, criminal aliens and gangs finally do, too.” The law firm representing Gutierrez Flores did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

New York Times [5/12/2025 9:08 PM, Abbie VanSickle, 145325K] reports the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday evening for permission to deport a group of nearly 200 Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members and detained in Texas. In a filing to the court, the administration contended that “serious difficulties have arisen” from the detention of the group of 176 migrants, who were shielded from deportation in an emergency overnight ruling by the court in mid-April. According to a declaration by a Homeland Security Department official included in the court filing, a group of 23 migrants had barricaded themselves inside a housing unit for several hours on April 26. The group threatened to take hostages and harm immigration officers, and tried to flood the unit by clogging the toilets, according to the filing. “The government has a strong interest in promptly removing from the country” gang members “who pose a danger to ICE officers, facility staff and other detainees while in detention,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the court filing. The details of the episode, which had not been previously reported, occurred at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Texas, where migrants “barricaded the entrance doors of their housing unit using bed cots, blocked the windows and covered surveillance cameras,” according to a declaration by Joshua D. Johnson, a Homeland Security official and the acting director of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement’s Dallas Field Office. The group then “threatened to take hostages” and to “injure” ICE officers and facility staff members, and “remained barricaded in the housing unit for several hours,” Mr. Johnson said in the declaration. After the episode, the detainees were moved to a different detention facility in the Northern District of Texas, where they remain, Mr. Sauer said. He argued that the episode proved that the migrants presented a danger, even while detained, and that the government should be allowed to deport them. A lawyer for the detainees did not respond to a request for comment on Monday evening about the court filing’s descriptions of what happened, nor did a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department.

Axios [5/12/2025 7:01 PM, Sareen Habeshian, 13163K] reports the U.S. State Department on Monday reissued an "extreme danger" travel advisory for Venezuela, warning Americans to leave the country immediately or to prepare a will if heading there. The Trump administration has meanwhile been caught in a legal battle for deporting planeloads of Venezuelans to the country, and recently ended temporary deportation protections for some 300,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. The State Department in an updated advisory to U.S. travelers on Monday, saying: "If you decide to travel to Venezuela ... Prepare a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney." U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents in Venezuela were "strongly advised to depart immediately" and told that any contingency plans for travel to or from the country should not rely on U.S. government assistance. "Do not travel to or remain in Venezuela due to the high risk of wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure," the advisory states. The travel advisory comes after tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants have fled to the United States after years of political and economic turmoil in the South American country, Axios’ Russell Contreras writes.

Telemundo [5/12/2025 10:07 PM, Staff, 171K] reports that, this Monday, May 12, the U.S. State Department reiterated the security alert for its citizens to travel to Venezuela. The office called it an "extreme danger" to travel or live in Venezuela due to the "risk of unjust detention, torture, terrorism, kidnappings, political repression, and widespread collapse of basic services." "Do not travel to Venezuela for any reason," the State Department advised its U.S. citizens. "The Department has determined that there is a very high risk of unjust detention of U.S. citizens in Venezuela," the statement said. Family members of detainees are not informed of apprehensions and prisoners are not allowed visits. Nor are they allowed to appoint a private attorney. For those who decide to travel to Venezuela, the United States warns that they should prepare a will, establish codes for a proof of life with family members in case of kidnapping, hire private security and bring all required medications, since it is unlikely to obtain them. The U.S. government documented cases of detention for years without due process, incommunicado detention, and exposure to cruel, inhumane and degrading conditions of confinement, including beatings, prolonged stress positions and simulated drowning. According to the State Department, there is a risk of arrest, an increase in violent crimes such as homicides, kidnappings and armed robberies, especially in the main cities and in the areas surrounding the International Airport of Maiquetia. The State Department also highlights the operation of Colombian terrorist groups in border areas and the persistent shortage of gasoline, electricity, water and medicines. For its part, Venezuela responded with an official communiqué in which it "alerts Venezuelan citizens planning to travel to the United States about the risks and conditions they could face in that country". The missive denounces that while the U.S. tries to discredit Venezuela with unfounded accusations, it continues with persecution practices against migrants, including Venezuelan children like Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, detained at the southern border without justification or official response, a case that evidences the use of citizens as political hostages in favor of external interests", the official statement adds. "Venezuela questions the moral authority of the U.S. on human rights, and recalls documented cases of children in cages, family separations, arbitrary deportations and inhumane conditions in detention centers." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [5/12/2025 9:00 AM, William S. Becker, 12829K] reports with weather catastrophes becoming more common in the United States these days, communities have counted on two facts. First, the federal government has their backs. When state and local resources are insufficient for disaster response and recovery, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrives to help. That has been true since President Jimmy Carter created the agency in 1979. Second, FEMA’s help will be frustrating. Federal assistance will never arrive quickly enough, last long enough, or provide enough resources for people who are traumatized, homeless, without possessions, uninsured and uprooted from schools, neighborhoods and social networks. FEMA’s job is often thankless, but it’s always needed. However, disaster victims may not be able to count on FEMA much longer. President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have indicated they want the agency to “go away.” More recently, Noem said she will “reorient” the agency. Trump has appointed her to co-chair a FEMA Review Council to “streamline” FEMA so it “delivers rapid, efficient, and mission-focused relief to Americans in need.” But the administration is not waiting; Trump dismissed the acting head of FEMA last week. He and Noem have pulled billions of dollars out of the agency’s programs to help communities become more disaster resilient, even though the World Economic Forum says effective adaptation strategies can deliver an investment return of $43 per dollar spent. The government says it will no longer track the growing number and cost of big weather disasters.

Washington Times [5/12/2025 12:00 AM, Cal Thomas, 261K] reports political theater extends back to the Greeks. William Shakespeare wrote about politics in "Coriolanus" and other plays. A personal favorite of mine was "Fiorello!", a 1959 musical about New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. What happened in Newark last week was political theater at its worst. New Jersey Democrat Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez (son of former Sen. Robert Menendez), La Monica McIver along with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka attempted to conduct an "oversight" visit at a federally contracted building used by ICE to detain undocumented immigrants, including people charged or convicted of crimes. According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the group had not asked to tour the facility and "that as a bus carrying detainees was entering the facility, ‘a group of protestors,’ including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility." Only Baraka was handcuffed, arrested and later released. Baraka was charged with trespassing, which he denies. I’m sure it is only coincidental that Baraka is one of six major Democrats running for governor of New Jersey. The incident got him free publicity. The members of Congress claimed they were exercising their "oversight" responsibilities, which apparently included alerting the media and informing a crowd of demonstrators, some carrying signs. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Public Affairs for DHS, gave the agency’s version of events after the group of Democrats got through the gate: "... Representatives Robert Menendez Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman and multiple protestors are holed up in a guard shack, the first security check point.

The Hill [5/12/2025 7:30 AM, Kit Conklin, 12829K] reports companies that threaten America’s national security or violate export control laws will face consequences — that’s the message that’s been broadcast across the world stage and reinforced by recent action by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. And in an important step, the bureau has rightly designated dozens of Chinese firms through the Entity List tied to human rights abuses, surveillance, and military development. But one glaring loophole remains, leaving the back door open to adversarial influence: Subsidiaries are a key part of China’s strategy to infiltrate U.S. industry undetected. Take the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a sprawling state-owned conglomerate at the heart of Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy. Many of its subsidiaries are already on the Entity List. Yet this is a company with literally hundreds of subsidiaries — many with innocuous-sounding names, some buried under layers of corporate ownership — that continue doing business with U.S. firms and accessing controlled U.S. military technologies. Why? Because the Entity List doesn’t automatically cover subsidiaries. That’s not just an oversight — it’s a national security risk.

FOX News [5/12/2025 6:26 PM, Louis Casiano, 46189K] reports a federal judge on Monday denied an injunction request to prevent the Department of Homeland Security and Internal Revenue Service from partnering to permit U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) to access taxpayer information to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation. The order by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich came amid a lawsuit by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and other immigrant-rights groups against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "Plaintiffs Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, Somos Un Pueblo Unido, and Inclusive Action for the City bring this action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from sharing personal tax information with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for immigration enforcement purposes. Before the Court is the plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Dkt. 28. For the reasons that follow, the Court will deny the motion.” "At its core, this case presents a narrow legal issue: Does the Memorandum of Understanding between the IRS and DHS violate the Internal Revenue Code? It does not," the order continued. Nonprofits Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, representing immigrant workers in the Chicago area, brought the lawsuit against Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, the IRS, and Commissioner of Internal Revenue Melanie Krause, seeking to block the disclosure of personal information of taxpayers and other confidential tax records to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for immigration enforcement purposes. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary of public affairs, said information shirring across all federal agencies to identify illegal immigrants is essential in order to "determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense.” "Under President Trump’s leadership, the government is finally doing what it should have all along—sharing information across the federal government to solve problems," she said. "Biden not only allowed millions of illegal aliens—including gang members, suspected terrorists, and violent criminals—to flood into our country, but he also lost them due to incompetence and improper processing.” "Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country and determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense. "Today’s ruling is a victory for the American people and for commonsense.” An earlier memorandum of understanding between DHS and the IRS outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer data information is protected while allowing law enforcement to pursue criminal violations, a senior Treasury Department official said at the time the deal was reached in April. The deal allows DHS to ask the IRS to confirm the home addresses of illegal immigrants suspected of violating deportation orders. The IRS can share data to aid criminal investigations but is prohibited from sharing information related to civil matters, such as facilitating deportations.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/12/2025 8:35 PM, Staff, 6866K]
CNN [5/12/2025 6:14 PM, Marshall Cohen, 22131K]

NewsMax [5/12/2025 9:42 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4998K] reports the Trump administration reportedly is planning to increase the number of deportation flights this week, including nine to Mexico. Department of Homeland Security sources confirmed to NewsNation the number of flights to Mexico, which had been receiving an average of one deportation flight per week. Trump political adviser Stephen Miller said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is flying deportees to far-off destinations. "We did get illegal aliens, during the Biden administration, from 150 countries," Miller told reporters outside the White House on Friday. "So, ICE sends planes to every country in the world. "We send planes to Iraq, we send planes to Yemen, we send planes to Haiti, we send planes to Angola. I mean, ICE is sending planes all over the world all the time. Anyone who came here illegally, we’re finding them, and we’re getting them out." ICE Air Operations this year has deported more than 142,000 migrants, including 38,000 Mexican nationals, NewsNation reported. The U.S. deportation flights have challenged Mexican authorities in managing repatriations.

New York Times [5/12/2025 3:16 PM, Niraj Chokshi, 153395K] reports in the four years since its first flight, Avelo Airlines has gained loyal customers by serving smaller cities like New Haven, Conn., and Burbank, Calif. Now, it has a new, very different line of business. It is running deportation flights for the Trump administration. Despite weeks of protests from customers and elected officials, Avelo’s first flight for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement appears to have departed on Monday morning from Mesa, Ariz., according to data from the flight-tracking services FlightAware and Flightradar24. The tracking services show that the plane arrived in the early afternoon at Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana, one of five locations where ICE conducts regular flights. Avelo declined to comment on the flight and ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The airline’s decision to support President Trump’s effort to accelerate deportations of immigrants is unusual and risky. ICE outsources many flights, but they are usually operated by little-known charter airlines. Commercial carriers typically avoid this kind of work so as not to wade into politics and upset customers or employees.

AP [5/13/2025 12:08 AM, Jacques Billeaud, 24727K] reports A budget airline that serves mostly small U.S. cities began federal deportation flights Monday out of Arizona, a move that’s inspired an online boycott petition and sharp criticism from the union representing the carrier’s flight attendants. Avelo Airlines announced in April it had signed an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to make charter deportation flights from Mesa Gateway Airport outside Phoenix. It said it will use three Boeing 737-800 planes for the flights. The Houston-based airline is among a host of companies seeking to cash in on President Donald Trump’s campaign for mass deportations. Congressional deliberations began last month on a tax bill with a goal of funding, in part, the removal of 1 million immigrants annually and housing 100,000 people in U.S. detention centers. The GOP plan calls for hiring 10,000 more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators. Avelo was launched in 2021 as COVID-19 still raged and billions of taxpayer dollars were propping up big airlines. It saves money mainly by flying older Boeing 737 jets that can be bought at relatively low prices. And it operates out of less-crowded and less-costly secondary airports, flying routes that are ignored by the big airlines. It said it had its first profitable quarter in late 2023. Andrew Levy, Avelo’s founder and chief executive, said in announcing the agreement last month that the airline’s work for ICE would help the company expand and protect jobs. “We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic,” said Levy, an airline industry veteran with previous stints as a senior executive at United and Allegiant airlines. Avelo did not grant an interview request from The Associated Press. Financial and other details of the Avelo agreement — including destinations of the deportation flights — haven’t publicly surfaced. The AP asked Avelo and ICE for a copy of the agreement, but neither provided the document. The airline said it wasn’t authorized to release the contract. Several consumer brands have shunned being associated with deportations, a highly volatile issue that could drive away customers. During Trump’s first term, authorities housed migrant children in hotels, prompting some hotel chains to say that they wouldn’t participate.

(B) Good Morning America [5/12/2025 11:57 AM, Staff] reports deportation flights are underway from Mesa Gateway Airport today. A partnership between Avelo Airlines and the Department of Homeland Security begins to deport individuals who have been detained by ICE agents. Protests are planned ahead of takeoff.

Bloomberg [5/12/2025 1:57 PM, Fola Akinnibi, 16228K] reports that federal officers arrested Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka at an immigration detention center in his city on Friday for alleged trespassing, before releasing him later that evening. Baraka has been vehemently opposed to the opening of Delaney Hall, a new 1,000-bed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark. The city has sued GEO, the prison company operating the detention center, arguing that it does not have the proper permits to open. Both the company and the US Department of Homeland Security have argued that the building is up to code, and Delaney Hall is currently detaining people. But many other local officials have embraced private immigration detention centers as vital to their economic well-being. In a new Businessweek investigation, we profile one such “ICE town”: Estancia, New Mexico, where the Torrance County Commission has continued to extend its contract with ICE to detain immigrants at a privately run facility, despite warnings from detainees, immigration lawyers and advocates that conditions are inhumane. As Rachel Adams-Heard, Polly Mosendz and I write in our story, Trump needs these towns if he is going to fulfill his promise of mass deportations, “and he needs local officials who are willing — and sometimes eager — to sign deals that keep private detention facilities open no matter the conditions inside.”

Axios [5/12/2025 3:31 PM, Steph Solis, 13163K] reports a statewide immigration hotline rang hundreds of times in the past week as federal agents detained Massachusetts residents. The calls indicated an uptick in immigration enforcement, with arrests in Worcester sparking outrage among neighbors and some politicians. The LUCE Network, a coalition of community groups and activist organizations, told Axios its hotline received more than 500 calls last week about immigration enforcement in Waltham, East Boston and other cities. That includes more than 200 calls this weekend. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has targeted Massachusetts cities in its sweeps since President Trump re-entered office, particularly Greater Boston. Federal agents detained 370 immigrants from Massachusetts in March, hailing it as a crackdown on criminals. But more than half of the detainees didn’t have a criminal record.

Axios [5/12/2025 7:15 AM, Nate Rau, 13163K] reports Metro Council members are pushing for more funding and new policies, including the display of signs listing immigrant’s legal rights in government buildings, to support local immigrants following federal raids in Nashville. The wave of new policy ideas illustrates the pinch that local leaders feel as they lead a blue city in a deeply red state. On one hand, the shock of the operation between the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents propelled Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Metro Council members to action. On the other hand, federal law grants expansive immigration enforcement powers to ICE, which enjoys broad political support from Republican leaders in the state government. At a specially called meeting last week in the wake of the raids, Metro Council members hinted at legislation and funding priorities on the horizon.

CBS News [5/12/2025 10:13 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 52225K] reports local authorities in Dalton, Georgia, on Monday dismissed the traffic charges that led Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain a 19-year-old Mexican-born college student who has lived in the United States since she was 4. Ximena Arias Cristobal, who is in the country without authorization, was taken into ICE custody earlier this month after a May 5 traffic stop in Dalton, where she lives with her family. Local police cited her for making an improper turn and driving without a license before booking her into the Whitfield County Jail in Dalton, where she was picked up by ICE officers. But the Dalton Police Department and the city’s prosecutor announced on Monday they had reviewed dashboard camera footage of the traffic stop and determined that the officer had stopped the wrong vehicle. Officials said the vehicle that made the improper turn was similar to the truck Arias Cristobal was driving. Arias Cristobal is now facing deportation and remains detained at the Stewart ICE detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, according to the agency’s online system for tracking detainees. Her father, Jose Francisco Arias Tovar, is also being held there. ICE arrested him last month, also following a traffic stop, his family said. ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on what actions, if any, it would take in response to the decision by authorities in Dalton to drop the traffic violations against Arias Cristobal. In a statement before Monday’s announcement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, called Arias Cristobal an "illegal alien" who had "admitted to illegally entering the United States." McLaughlin said Arias Cristobal’s father, Arias Tovar, "self-admitted that he is in the country illegally." Federal officials have not disputed that Arias Cristobal and her father lack criminal records. "[The] family will be able to return to Mexico together," McLaughlin said in her statement. "Mr. Tovar had ample opportunity to seek a legal pathway to citizenship. He chose not to. We are not ignoring the rule of law."

Reported similarly:
Telemundo Amarillo [5/12/2025 5:53 PM, Staff, 2K]

New York Post [5/12/2025 10:16 PM, David Propper, 54903K] reports the Georgia college student in federal custody who could be deported after she was pulled over by local cops should have never been stopped, officials admitted Monday. Mexican national Ximena Arias-Cristobal was wrongly accused by Dalton police of making an illegal turn at a red light after an officer confused her with another driver on May 5, city leaders said in a press release. During the stop, authorities said the 19-year-old, who is in the country illegally, didn’t have a proper driver’s license and was taken into custody at the scene and later detained by immigration enforcement authorities. While all charges have been dropped by Dalton police, Arias-Cristobel’s lawyer told The Post it’s "too little, too late" for his client, who remains in custody Monday. "It’s super maddening," said attorney Dustin Baxter of Kuck Baxter Immigration. "We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say there was no ill intent on the part of this police officer, it’s just heartbreaking that a mistake by a police officer cost this person her freedom ultimately and may cost her her residency in the United States.” Arias-Cristobel’s legal turmoil began when police believed she failed to adhere to a "no turn on red" sign and was then found to not have a proper driver’s license, according to an arrest report. She told an officer she had an international driver’s license, the report states. "My understanding is she didn’t drive very often just because of the general fear in that part of the state of driving because there are a lot of roadblocks and traffic stops," Baxter said, adding the stop was "her worst nightmare.” The Dalton State Community College student has been at federal Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. since last week after she was initially booked at Whitfield County Jail — which has a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, has also been in that same federal facility ahead of possible deportation since last month after he was pulled over for allegedly speeding. The family came to the United States illegally in 2010 from Mexico when Arias-Cristobel was just 4 years old, officials have said. A hearing is set for May 20 in which Baxter will attempt to convince an immigration court Arias-Cristobel isn’t a danger to the community or flight risk, and should be released before her deportation hearing at a later date. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [5/12/2025 9:05 PM, Leah Sarnoff, Jason M. Volack, and Armando Garcia, 34586K] reports a 19-year-old college student from Georgia remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after a traffic stop led to her detainment, records show. Ximena Arias-Cristobal was arrested on May 5 in Dalton, Georgia, when her dark gray truck was mistaken for a black pickup that made an illegal turn. The Dalton Police Department announced on Monday that a review of dash cam video showed she was not the driver who committed the traffic violation and all charges against her have been dropped. City officials -- including the city administrator, prosecuting attorney and city attorney -- confirmed the stop was in error and notified Arias-Cristobal’s legal team. Despite the dismissal of charges on Monday, the 19-year-old Dalton State College student had been taken into ICE custody following the traffic stop and remained in custody on Monday, triggering concerns about her immigration status. Arias-Cristobal, who is undocumented, has lived in Whitfield County since she was 4 years old, her family told ABC News’ Tennessee affiliate WTVC. Her family said that Arias-Cristobal was not eligible to register in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program because it had ended. Arias-Cristobal is being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, ICE records show. Her attorney, Charles Kuck, said in a statement to ABC News that despite the charges being dropped, Arias-Cristobal is "inside the Trump deportation machinery" and is still facing deportation. Arias-Cristobal has a bond hearing next week, her attorney said. According to WTVC, Arias-Cristobal’s father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, was similarly detained by police in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, two weeks ago for going 19 miles over the speed limit. The family told the outlet that he is being housed at the same ICE detention center.

Los Angeles Times [5/12/2025 2:17 PM, Safiyah Riddle, 13342K] reports that Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani and her fiance, Alireza Doroudi, had just spent an evening celebrating the Persian new year at the University of Alabama when seven armed immigration officers came to their apartment before dawn and arrested Doroudi. In a moment, the young couple’s life was upended. "I was living a normal life until that night. After that nothing is just normal," Bajgani said. Details about Doroudi’s detention spread through the small Iranian community in Tuscaloosa, where Bajgani and Doroudi are doctoral students. Other Iranian students say they have been informally advised by faculty to "lay low" and "be invisible" — instilling fear among a once vibrant cohort. Doroudi is among students across the U.S. who have been detained in recent weeks as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Bajgani said the couple does not know why Doroudi — who has no criminal record or public political views — faces deportation, adding that Trump’s recent visit to the school made her feel like the university was "ignorant of our crisis.” One Iranian civil engineering student and close friend to Doroudi said he has lost more than 10 pounds due to stress and depression in the six weeks since Doroudi was detained. "It’s like all of us are waiting for our turn. It could be every knock, every email could be deportation," said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing his legal status.

USA Today [5/12/2025 2:16 PM, Ana Goñi-Lessan, 75858K] reports that Florida officials called Operation Tidal Wave, where over 1,000 migrants were detained in five days, the "new normal." And not just for the Sunshine State, but for the rest of the country. Within the next 60 days, the federal government will attempt to put into practice an approach to mass deportation that’s "strikingly similar" to Operation Tidal Wave, said Larry Keefe, executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, at a press conference in Tampa May 12. "The techniques, the methods … will be the standard that our brother and sister states apply in the effort," he said. At the lectern, Keefe showed off a 37-page document that he called the "Florida blueprint" to mass deportation. The State of Florida Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan, he said, will be the "prototype." "Operation Tidal Wave" was a week-long sting by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Florida law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security that targeted areas with high-immigrant populations. It led to the arrest of more than 1,100 people, include a man who had no known criminal record and had recently played Jesus in his church’s Easter play. And the proclamation states that, on July 8, the Secretary of Homeland Security "shall supplement existing enforcement and removal operations by deputizing and contracting with State and local law enforcement officers, former federal officers, officers and personnel within other federal agencies, and other individuals to increase the enforcement and removal operations force of the Department of Homeland Security by no less than 20,000 officers in order to conduct an intensive campaign to remove illegal aliens who have failed to depart voluntarily."

Blaze.com [5/12/2025 3:30 PM, Julio Rosas, 1668K] reports Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced in Tampa the latest steps to bolster Florida’s plans to help the Trump administration carry out mass deportations, hoping those plans are able to be replicated in other states. DeSantis revealed more than 100 Florida Highway Patrol troopers have been sworn in as special deputy U.S. Marshals, a designation that allows them to execute federal warrants to help remove criminal illegal aliens and carry immigration duties up until an illegal alien is removed by the federal government. As long as they have a warrant, those FHP troopers can target specific illegal aliens on their own without needing a federal immigration agent with them. DeSantis added that Florida has also offered the federal government assistance for transporting illegal aliens out of the country. Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Director Dave Kerner, who oversees FHP, told Blaze Media after the press conference that this new move warns illegal aliens in the state it is only a matter of time before they will be caught. Kerner echoed DeSantis’ calls to increase detention space, a major hurdle during immigration enforcement operations that has limited the number of people who can be taken into custody. Florida has offered the federal government options and resources to help increase capacity.

NPR [5/13/2025 4:47 AM, Nancy Guan, 29983K] reports a Florida family was torn apart when the mother of a 1-year old was deported to Cuba, even though she is married to an American citizen. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

New York Post [5/12/2025 7:59 PM, Jennie Taer, 54903K] reports immigration agents nabbed a Venezuelan migrant in Texas who is wanted in his home country for the murder-for-hire assassinations of four people, the feds said. Anthony Fabian Marin La Torre, 42, was initially caught at the southern border in San Luis, Arizona, on Sept. 26, 2022 and released into the US, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Venezuelan authorities notified the US on Feb. 18 that Marin La Torre was on the run for killings back home, according to ICE. ICE then took to the streets May 2 alongside three other federal agencies to collar Marin La Torre in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine. Border agents likely didn’t come across Marin La Torre’s criminal history when he first entered the US because the Maduro regime wasn’t playing ball with the Biden administration and refused to respond to requests for criminal record checks. At the time, border agents regularly released Venezuelan migrants who crossed the border illegally without having the ability to properly vet them.

FOX News [5/12/2025 2:56 PM, Brooke Taylor, 46189K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement and removal officers in Houston arrested 422 suspected illegal immigrants during a weeklong operation. During the operation, ICE officers targeted some of the most dangerous criminals, including an illegal migrant wanted in Colombia on murder charges. Fox News exclusively embedded with officers for 10 hours as ICE officers arrested an illegal alien they say is wanted for murder in Colombia, at his apartment complex. Of the 422 arrests, 262 have criminal convictions, 34 have pending convictions, 126 have other immigration violations, and 229 had final orders of removal, according to ICE. ICE is also ramping up its efforts to remove illegal migrants by swiftly transferring those with final removal orders to designated hubs, where they are deported immediately to their home countries. This "hub and spoke" system, which speeds up the removal process, has just started recently, according to the ICE field director.

Reuters [5/12/2025 8:58 PM, Blake Brittain, 41523K] reports the Trump administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that "dangerous behavior" from a group of Venezuelan migrants detained by the federal government in Texas justified lifting a court order blocking their immediate deportation. The administration said in a court filing that 23 migrants at a Texas detention facility had "recently barricaded themselves in a housing unit for several hours and threatened to take hostages and harm ICE officers.” The Supreme Court last month temporarily blocked the government from deporting dozens of migrants after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union asked it to intervene on an emergency basis. The administration’s Monday filing said the 23 detainees behind the alleged disruption at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, were moved to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on May 4. Lee Gelernt, the ACLU’s lead attorney in the case, declined to comment on the government’s new filing. White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Spokespeople for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Univision [5/12/2025 7:46 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports the Harris County prosecutor’s office dismissed the charges against Margarita Ávila, a Hispanic gardener who had been arrested after an altercation with a postal employee and placed in ICE custody. The mother of nine originally from Belize had been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm after she was reported by a USPS deliveryman for attacking her with the cutting machine and leaving several marks on her body. "The State respectfully asks the Court to dismiss criminal action... for the following reason: It cannot be proved beyond reasonable doubt at this time," notes the document sent to the court of which Univision owns a copy. Ávila was handed over to ICE after being arrested on March 12 and is still in the custody of the immigration authorities. After the charges against him were dropped, Ávila’s lawyer, David Paz, trusted that she could soon be released by the immigration authorities. After the Hispanic woman was arrested, Paz filed a request to prevent her from being deported.

Bloomberg [5/12/2025 6:00 AM, Rachel Adams-Heard, Polly Mosendzm and Fola Akinnibi, 16228K] reports the sun is still beating down on the scrubby New Mexico dirt when an army-green bus pulls into the parking lot of the Torrance County Detention Facility in the small town of Estancia. Behind barred windows, the silhouettes of dozens of men are just visible. Many of them have never been to New Mexico before. It’s March, and New Mexico is cooler, drier, browner than Florida, where they were this morning before being forced onto a plane, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, and flown here. They’re in New Mexico because US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is running out of space. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s promise to pursue the biggest immigration crackdown in US history, men such as the ones on this bus are being targeted by ICE and local law enforcement in unprecedented ways. The detention facilities closer to home are overflowing. So ICE brings them here, to an ICE town. Immigration lawyers and advocates were there to beg them not to. The Torrance County Detention Facility is one of the system’s most troubled, they argued. It has a long history of failures that at one point led a federal watchdog to demand an immediate evacuation, something ICE declined to do after disputing the findings. At the meeting, an activist read testimony from a man detained at the facility who said he had to wait almost four hours for an ambulance to take him to get treatment for a third-degree burn he got while working in the kitchen to make money to call his family. “Please, truly, we need help from people outside,” the advocate read. “We’re human beings. Please. We’re not prisoners, we’re not animals. We’re human beings. I urge you to not extend the contract.” No one spoke in favor of extending the county’s ICE agreement. No one had to. Since signing the contract six years ago, the Torrance County Commission has voted to approve regular extensions without much hand-wringing over its role in US immigration policy.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [5/12/2025 1:37 PM, Staff, 11K] reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico announced its immigration enforcement statistics for this week on Monday. The cases are being handled in collaboration with the El Paso Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, along with El Paso Homeland Security Investigations, and with the assistance of other federal, state, and county agencies. In the one-week period ending May 9, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed the following criminal charges in New Mexico: 91 people were charged this week with Unlawful Reentry After Removal (8 U.S.C. 1326). One person was charged this week with Unlawful Smuggling of Aliens (8 U.S.C. 1324). One person was charged this week with Unlawful Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325). 209 people were charged this week with Unlawful Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325) and 50 U.S.C. 797, a violation of a military security regulation, stemming from the newly established National Defense Area in New Mexico. Under Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1326, many of the defendants had prior criminal records for smuggling of immigrants, theft, drug trafficking, illegal reentry, and driving under the influence of alcohol. In one significant case, Gerald Anthony Lopez fled the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 10 in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, after submitting to secondary inspection, reaching speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h). When Lopez was finally apprehended by law enforcement, agents found a handgun and ammunition in the vehicle.

Newsweek [5/12/2025 3:48 PM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports federal immigration authorities left behind two children inside a truck after detaining the father, an advocacy group has claimed. 805 UndocuFund, a coalition of nonprofit organizations supporting immigrants in the Central Coast of California, said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended a man at the Sinclair gas station located at 1050 South Ventura Road in Oxnard on May 4 at 9:30 a.m. Juan Conches, a gas station attendant and witness, shared his account of the alleged arrest on 805 UndocuFund’s Instagram page in a post on May 5. "They arrested someone," Conches said. "They left the children inside the truck." In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security vehemently denied the allegations made by 805 UndocuFund. "This is false," said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs for DHS, which oversees ICE. "ICE agents arrested criminal illegal alien Albino Teodores Mandujano. His 19-year-old son took possession of his vehicle. ICE officers even offered to move the vehicle to a better location. Additionally, ICE allowed Mandujano to make a telephone call to ensure the vehicle and his son arrived safely back at his home. Albino Teodores Mandujano’s criminal record includes a conviction for fighting in a public place and an arrest for driving under the influence. This individual entered our country illegal at least THREE times."

Univision [5/12/2025 3:33 PM, Patricia Clarembaux, 5325K] reports on April 17, 2025, an immigration judge issued an in-absentia deportation order for Venezuelan Pedro Escobar Blanco. He did so because he failed to appear in court that day. But it was impossible for him to do so: he is one of the 238 immigrants sent by the United States to the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador in March. In other cases, Univision News has confirmed that DHS has asked immigration judges to close the asylum proceedings of these Venezuelans because the immigrants are not in the United States. Five days before his expulsion to Cecot, Escobar filed asylum applications to halt his deportation and protection under the Convention Against Torture for fear of being persecuted in Venezuela by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. With the judge’s decision on April 17, all of those requests were dismissed. He wasn’t in the United States on April 17, nor could he freely return to attend court. The responsibility for presenting him before the judge—in person or by video—belonged to the federal government.

Breitbart [5/12/2025 1:13 PM, Lucas Nolan, 2923K] reports that earlier this month, Hunter Biden dropped his lawsuit against two IRS whistleblowers who alleged there had been a cover-up in former President Biden’s DOJ to block a tax fraud investigation into the former President’s son. However, the financial sector controversies Hunter has incited, particularly with his business dealings in China, remain an ongoing topic of interest and allegedly extend far deeper than tax fraud. For example, Breitbart News has learned that PAX Global Technology Limited., a Chinese technology company under federal investigation for suspicious data transmissions and potential cyberattacks, is linked through ownership structures to Che Feng — a Chinese financier closely tied to Hunter Biden. The company is still operating in the United States, creating and managing the electronic payment terminals consumers used at thousands of U.S. businesses. In October 2021, the FBI, in partnership with Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Commerce, and Naval Criminal Investigative Services, raided the U.S. headquarters of PAX Technology Inc., a Florida-based subsidiary of PAX, over concerns about the company’s payment terminals, which were allegedly secretly funneling data to unknown overseas destinations. "The investigation remains active and ongoing and no additional information can be confirmed at this time," an FBI official told Bloomberg News after the raid.

NPR [5/12/2025 5:01 AM, Nastia Voynovskaya, 29983K] reports Bells Larsen’s new album had been four years in the making, and he was preparing for his first U.S. tour when his plans came to an abrupt halt. The Canadian singer-songwriter began writing Blurring Time in 2021 as a way to process questions about his gender identity. Once he decided to transition, he recorded the tracks in his pre-testosterone voice and again after his voice deepened, harmonizing with the past version of himself. Blurring Time puts words to a trans experience rarely represented in the media, of the vulnerability of facing the unknown in the quest to live authentically. It resonated with fans, and Larsen began to plan his headlining tour, with dates in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other U.S. cities. In late March, Larsen got an email from the American Federation of Musicians, a labor union that represents artists from the U.S. and Canada. The AFM pointed to an April 2 policy update from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the government agency that artists must petition for a work visa. The policy states that USCIS only recognizes two "biological sexes, male and female," as assigned at birth. After seeking legal advice, Larsen, who had already changed his gender marker on his passport, came to the conclusion that he had no choice but to cancel his tour. "It’s really heartbreaking," he says. Larsen isn’t the only international musician who recently canceled a U.S. tour at a time when aggressive immigration enforcement has put travelers on edge. In this rapidly evolving climate of anxiety and uncertainty, some international musicians are deciding that going through the complicated process of getting a U.S. artist visa may not be worth the financial and safety risks.

Federalist [5/12/2025 5:07 PM, Brianna Lyman, 1033K] reports on Monday, dozens of South Africans — primarily white Afrikaner farmers — arrived in the United States, having been granted refugee status by the Trump administration. The propaganda press responded by implicitly accusing the administration of hypocrisy and racial bias. Yet this criticism is not only disingenuous — it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose and limits of America’s refugee and asylum policies. A new South African law means white farmers could have their land taken away without being paid for it. Though framed as a correction to apartheid-era injustice, the law has created an environment where racially motivated persecution may become institutionalized. In response, the Trump administration announced both an investigation into South Africa and the approval of refugee status for 60 individuals fleeing the persecution. Under current U.S. law, a refugee is described as a foreigner who may face persecution in his home country on the basis of "race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.” The refugees will land in Virginia before taking up residence in 10 states, according to Washington Post Teo Armus, writing for Washington Post, framed the administration’s decision as a racially charged exception: "Trump shut out refugees but is making White South Africans an exception.” "Months after the Trump administration ground U.S. refugee admissions to a halt, suspending a program that lets in thousands of people fleeing war or political persecution, it is preparing to restart that effort — but only for one group: White South Africans," Armus wrote. He later contrasted this decision with the Trump administration’s attempt to halt the resettling of approximately 12,000 people, whom a district court judge ultimately ordered to be admitted to the country. The admission of 60 refugees is minuscule compared to the thousands of resettlements the administration has attempted to halt. And while critics seize upon this as evidence of selective compassion spurred by bias, the truth is far more practical: Smaller, more culturally aligned groups tend to integrate more successfully into American communities. A handful of English-speaking farmers who share many of America’s civic and cultural values presents far less strain on communities than the resettlement of thousands of individuals from vastly different societies, such as Haiti, where integration challenges are numerous. Further, if the mere existence of famine or war were sufficient grounds for entry into the United States, we would be overwhelmed. According to the United Nations, more than 117 million people "were forcibly displaced" as of 2023, with more than 258 million facing acute food insecurity across 58 countries. If "famine" and "war" were the only eligibility threshold, the United States would be obligated to accept these foreigners under the left’s logic.

San Diego Union Tribune [5/12/2025 1:10 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1682K] reports the U.S. government has revoked the non-immigrant visas of Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila and her husband, the couple said over the weekend. The announcements were made on social media Saturday from their respective public accounts. The governor’s husband, former federal congressman Carlos Torres, first posted that he had been notified of the revocation by U.S. consular officials. Later, Ávila followed on her own account, saying she had received "a similar notification.” "I am convinced and fully confident that the situation will be resolved satisfactorily for both of us," Ávila said on social media. Neither disclosed possible reasons for the revocations. The U.S. State Department press office said in a statement Monday that "visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot comment on individual cases.” Ávila, who voiced support for her husband on her social media post, said the situation "is taking place in a complex binational context that requires me to be measured and reasonable.” Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday during her daily press conference that she was unaware of the motives behind the visa revocations but that she would ask the U.S. government about it.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [5/12/2025 11:24 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K]

FOX News [5/12/2025 11:13 AM, Anders Hagstrom and Bill Melugin, 46189K] reports apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted 93% under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday. The CBP says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April this year landed at 8,383, compared to last year’s 129,000. CBP officials also noted that just five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 during the same month last year. "For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field – patrolling territories that CBP didn’t have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago," said Pete Flores, acting commissioner of CBP. "But thanks to this administration’s dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality – and it’s only just beginning.” The CBP also noted that drug seizures rose 15% from March to April. Officials say they seized some 758 pounds of fentanyl crossing the border last month. The report shows the Trump administration’s continued progress on controlling the border since March. The CBP recorded the lowest southwest border crossings in history in March, with fewer apprehensions in the entire month than there were in the first two days of the month in 2024 under the Biden administration.

Breitbart [5/12/2025 10:32 AM, Bob Price, 2923K] reports Border Patrol agents arrested more than 5,000 criminal aliens since the start of Fiscal Year 25, according to a report from Chief Michael Banks. The aliens had criminal records, including violence and sexual offenses. "Every criminal alien we catch proves why zero gotaways must be the goal – because every unknown entry is a potential threat we can’t afford to miss," Banks wrote in a post on social media. As an example of those arrested, Banks posted a report last week about an admitted Sureño gang member who Tucson Sector agents arrested as he attempted to sneak back into the country from Mexico. At the time of his arrest, the Mexican national was attempting to smuggle two more illegal aliens into the U.S., the chief stated in a post on social media. The Sureños gang member’s criminal history includes charges for theft, burglary of a vehicle, criminal trespass, and mail theft. He now faces federal felony charges for illegal re-entry after removal.

Washington Times [5/12/2025 11:57 AM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports that President Trump’s border success appears to have plateaued, with the Border Patrol reporting encounters of illegal immigrants at the southern border rose slightly last month. Agents nabbed 8,383 people sneaking across, up from about 7,200 in March, which was a record low. The numbers are still down 93% compared to the same time last year under President Joseph R. Biden. Even more stunning is the turnaround in catch-and-release, which has dropped 99.99%. The Department of Homeland Security said just five illegal immigrants were granted release into the U.S., in order to take part in critical court cases. That’s down from 68,000 catch-and-releases at the southern border in April 2024, the department said. "For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field — patrolling territories that CBP didn’t have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago," said Pete Flores, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. "But thanks to this administration’s dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality — and it’s only just beginning." Overall, CBP recorded 29,238 encounters with unauthorized migrants nationwide. That includes land borders as well as air and sea arrivals, and covers both Border Patrol arrests and port officers’ encounters with travelers.

(B) Chris Jansing Reports [5/12/2025 1:49 PM, Staff] reports Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego has announced an immigration plan. It calls for hiring Border Patrol agents, building border barriers, using technology to stop fentanyl smuggling, prioritizing the removal of criminals, and reforming the asylum system.

NBC News [5/12/2025 9:03 PM, Kalhan Rosenblatt, 44742K] reports Hasan Piker, one of the top political pundits on Twitch, on Monday said that he was stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport over the weekend after a trip to France. "They knew who I was and they were ready to receive me, let’s just say, and it wasn’t a very warm welcome," Piker, known as HasanAbi online, told his followers during a live stream. News of his detainment was first reported by User Mag. The Turkish American streamer — who has more than 2.8 million followers on Twitch, 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million followers on TikTok — is known for being vocal on a number of political and social issues, including his support for Palestinian people and criticism of Israeli leaders. Piker said that on Sunday when he returned from Paris, he was taken to an area in the airport with "fluorescent lightbulbs, the whole nine [yards]" and questioned for about two hours. He said he was asked about his views, including whether he supports President Donald Trump, and whether he has been in contact with Hamas, the Houthis or Hezbollah. "Obviously, the reason for why they’re doing that is, I think, to try to create an environment of fear for people like myself or, at least others who would be in my shoes who don’t have the same level of security, to shut the f--- up," Piker said. His video comes amid a recent influx on social media of similar posts by people recounting their interactions with immigration officials after their return to the U.S. Some said that they were grilled about their social media usage. Others said they feel anxious about traveling during a period of heightened vigilance at U.S. entry points and borders. When asked for comment about Piker, a Department of Homeland Security official called his account "nothing but lying for likes.” "Claims that his political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Our officers are following the law, not agendas. Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection — a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any traveler. Once his inspection was complete, he was promptly released.” Piker disputed DHS’ response. "What part of a ‘lawful routine inspection’ requires DHS to question me about my political views, my opinions on Donald Trump, or my stance on Israel and Palestine?" he said in a statement to NBC News. "The agent was cordial, but the experience, along with reports of other Americans facing similar questioning, seems intended to create a chilling effect on speech. As a taxpayer, I believe CBP agents should be focusing on actual threats, like preventing agricultural risks or combatting trafficking, not interrogating people about their political beliefs.” Piker also said he’s enrolled in the government’s Global Entry program, which helps expedite the customs process for pre-approved travelers. As a Twitch creator with a massive following, he said he shared his experience to show others what’s going on. "And for me, I’m going to use the privilege that I have in that moment to try, and see what they’re doing, OK?" he said. "Because every single thing that they asked me — trying to get me to say something like, ‘Oh, I support Hamas’ or whatever — is literally not allowed.” The New York Times [5/12/2025 11:58 PM, Alexandra E. Petri, 145325K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement on social media that Mr. Piker’s “claims that his political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless.” “Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection — a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any traveler,” she said. “Once his inspection was complete, he was promptly released.” Mr. Piker described the conversation as “really, really interesting” and “very cordial.” He said the agent asked him what he did for work, the topics he talked about in his streams and whether he discussed the news, including the war in Gaza and President Trump.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [5/12/2025 6:49 PM, Amy B. Wang, 31735K]
New York Post [5/12/2025 7:16 PM, Chris Nesi, 54903K]
USA Today [5/12/2025 8:25 PM, Fernando Cervantes Jr, 75858K]

HSToday [5/13/2025 4:28 AM, Staff, 38K] reports in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Orlando International Airport will be welcoming travelers on select flights through a new initiative, Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP), according to a press release on May 7. EPP is designed to use biometric facial comparison for identity verification to increase CBP operational efficiency while enhancing the traveler experience and building toward a truly seamless journey. The process allows CBP to focus on the traveler, reducing the burden of administrative tasks. “Technology is driving the way for more efficient passenger operations,” said Lance Lyttle, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA), which manages Orlando International Airport. “Innovative programs like EPP can significantly reduce processing times for passengers, without compromising security. MCO saw an increase of more than 800,000 international arrivals in 2024 than in 2023, many of them U.S. citizens who would benefit from this program. We deeply value our partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and thank them for their continued collaboration and support in helping us deliver a more seamless and secure experience for our international travelers.” Participation in the program is voluntary. Travelers who prefer not to use the facial comparison system can opt for the standard screening process with a CBP officer. The program is free and does not require pre-enrollment.

Bloomberg [5/12/2025 4:27 PM, Cecilia D’Anastasio, 16228K] reports Hasan Piker, an online political commentator, was stopped and questioned by US Customs and Border Protection agents after returning to the country from France, he said on his Twitch livestream Monday. Piker, a vocal critic of Israel’s Palestine policy, said he was taken to a private room at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday and asked about his political views. While describing the overall interaction with the agents as “cordial,” Piker said an officer asked him about his views on President Donald Trump and whether he has been in contact with Hamas, the Houthis or Hezbollah. Piker is a US citizen, born in New Jersey, who said he is enrolled in the government Global Entry program, which normally expedites travel.

News Max [5/12/2025 2:00 PM, Sam Barron, 4998K] reports that South Dakota GOP Gov. Larry Rhoden told Newsmax on Monday he is looking forward to his first visit to the southern border. Rhoden became governor in January, replacing Kristi Noem, who resigned to become secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration. Rhoden has sent South Dakota National Guard troops to help secure the southern border and said he plans to visit the National Guard troops in Del Rio. "This is the eighth time that we’ve had South Dakota National Guard troops at the border," Rhoden said on "Newsline." "Now with Secretary Noem at the helm for the Department of Homeland Security and President Trump, we have a lot of faith in them. And we’re doing our part in South Dakota to help them do their job. Rhoden also praised President Donald Trump for his work in helping to boost the agricultural industry, a major part of South Dakota’s economy. "We were at an event for a company celebrating 40 years and their slogan was ‘Just do what you say you’ll do,’ and it made me think of Trump," Rhoden said.

(B) Good Morning America [5/12/2025 11:57 AM, Staff] reportsvCongressman Mike Levin will ask the federal government for more funding to prevent human smuggling in San Diego County, and that includes money for autonomous surveillance towers. Congressman Levin’s push for change comes a week after a deadly panga incident on Torrey Pines State Beach. The boat carrying 18 people capsized. Four people died including two children. Five people are being charged for human smuggling. Customs and Border Protection says the case has been transferred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

NewsNation [5/12/2025 4:26 PM, Jorge Ventura, Jordan Perkins, 6866K] reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would be suspending all cattle, horse and bison imports from Mexico after a flesh-eating parasite known as a screwworm was detected. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the outbreak is a national security issue, and it could devastate livestock if it crosses into the U.S. The screwworm was found in Veracruz and Oaxaca, which is just 700 miles from the U.S. The U.S. has not had a widespread screwworm outbreak in decades, but stopping the imports now is key for the Trump administration, which made the call to suspend imports effective immediately. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is working alongside the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to enforce the freeze. The suspension will be reviewed on a month-to-month basis. Any animals already in holding will be screened and treated before they enter the country.

ABC News [5/12/2025 4:59 PM, Youri Benadjaoud, 34586K] reports all imports of live cattle, horse and bison from the southern border have been banned due to the spread of a flesh-eating pest in Mexico, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Sunday. More recently, a case was reported in Mexico late last year, which also shut down the border for live animal trade. Imports resumed earlier this year after an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to mitigate the threat of the disease. The continued spread and threat of NWS led to the current shutdown, which will continue on a month-by-month basis, "until a significant window of containment is achieved," the USDA said. The disease was recently detected in remote farms about 700 miles from the U.S. border.

Breitbart [5/12/2025 2:54 PM, Amy Furr, 2923K] reports the Trump administration is halting live cattle, horse, and bison imports due to the spread of a flesh-eating pest that is threatening to cross the southern border. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Sunday the suspension of those imports through the nation’s ports of entry along the southern border as the New World Screwworm (NWS) spreads northward through Mexico. The agency said the suspension is taking immediate effect because the pest has been detected approximately 700 miles from the U.S. border. The agency said that U.S. and Mexican officials are working to interdict and eradicate the pest in Mexico but "despite these efforts and the economic impact on both countries due to this action, there has been unacceptable northward advancement of NWS and additional action must be taken to slow the northern progression of this deadly parasitic fly." Therefore, the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) along with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are restricting those imports, and it will be on a month-to-month basis "until a significant window of containment is achieved."

AP [5/12/2025 11:48 AM, Staff, 48304K] reports Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum described Monday as "unfair" the U.S. decision to suspend imports of Mexican cattle for 15 days and hoped that the measure will not result in significant economic losses for her country. We do not agree with this measure," he said at his morning press conference. The Mexican government has been since the first moment the alert of the sweeping worm was received working in every way, he added. The U.S. restricted shipments of Mexican cattle in late November after the detection of the plague, lifted the measure in February because protocols were activated to evaluate the animals before their entry into the country and re-imposed it on Sunday. "The last time this devastating plague invaded the United States cost our livestock industry 30 years to recover," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on her X-amps account, formerly Twitter. This can’t happen again. The Mexican president insisted that there are no epidemiological reasons for this decision, because there is permanent health control, she said. He called for not using Mexico for local political campaigns, given that several U.S. states have elections in 2026, including Texas, a Republican state whose ranchers asked the Trump administration to be blunt on the issue. "As I have said on other occasions, Mexico is nobody’s piñata," he said.

Telemundo [5/12/2025 11:47 PM, Staff, 2454K] reports a total of 17 family members of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán turned themselves in at the border last weekend to waiting US authorities. Among those who crossed from Mexico into the United States through the San Ysidro crossing and surrendered to members of the U.S. Marshals Service were Griselda López Pérez, the drug lord’s ex-wife and mother of Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López, El Chapo’s sons, who are being held in the United States. A video published by Mexican media shows a group of people, allegedly El Chapo’s family members, carrying suitcases. Telemundo News has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the video. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated Monday morning that she had no details of the event and that it was up to U.S. authorities to report to their Mexican counterparts. Mexican media reported that each of the family members was carrying two suitcases and $70,000. Noticias Telemundo reported on May 7 that Guzmán López, 34, also known as El Ratón, would plead guilty to the drug trafficking charges he faces in the Northern District of Illinois. His hearing will take place on July 9. Along with his brothers, he is considered responsible for bringing tons of fentanyl into the United States. The willingness of Ovidio Guzmán López, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, to enter into a plea deal was first revealed during a court hearing in October 2024, months after his brother, Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, was arrested in Texas after landing on a plane from Mexico alongside Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael El Mayo Zambada. Zambada had eluded Mexican and US authorities for years, and was considered the leader of the cartel alongside El Chapo (who has been serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado since 2019). Griselda López, also known as Karla Pérez Rojo, was El Chapo’s second wife, with whom he had four children: Griselda Guadalupe Guzmán López, Ovidio Guzmán López, Joaquín Guzmán López, also known as El Güero Moreno, and Édgar Guzmán López, who was murdered in 2008.

Bloomberg [5/12/2025 9:04 AM, Randy Thanthong-Knight, 16228K] reports Canadians have returned from 1.35 million fewer road trips to the US over the past two months than they did a year ago, eschewing crossing the border that US President Donald Trump called “artificial” and wanted removed. The number of Canadian-resident return trips by automobile from the US plummeted by 35% in April from a year ago, Statistics Canada data showed Monday. The decrease of 670,000 trips marks a fourth straight month of year-over-year declines and followed a similar 680,000 drop in March, a 32% slide from the same month in 2024. Return trips by air from the US also decreased 19.9% in April. But despite shunning trips to the US, Canadians’ return trips by air from other countries grew 9.9%. The dramatic slump encapsulates a broader movement by Canadians to boycott US vacations and products, as a protest against Trump’s tariffs and comments about making Canada the 51st state. It may also reflect fears about Trump’s immigration crackdown ensnaring visitors. US duties on Canadian products and Canada’s counter-levies have prompted a rise in unemployment and put the northern economy at risk of a recession.

Axios [5/12/2025 12:51 PM, Courtenay Brown and Jason Lalljee, 13163K] reports that Tariff rates on small packages from China will be cut in half, though a flat-fee option will not change, the White House said Monday. Why it matters: Trump previously ended a loophole that allowed low-value goods into the country tariff-free — the rate reversal will ease price pressures on customers of Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu. Driving the news: The Trump administration announced a temporary trade deal Monday morning that significantly reduced tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% from 145% for the next 90 days. Later in the morning, a White House official told Axios that the "de minimis" tariff was left out of that deal: a 120% tariff rate on shipments from China valued at less than $800, or a flat $100 fee per postal item. Then Monday night, the White House released the text of an executive order cutting the tariff rate to 54%, while still maintaining the $100 fee option. State of play: Trump officially scrapped the longtime de minimis exemption earlier this year, after a delay as Customs and Border Protection established a protocol to collect tariffs on these goods. Critics of the exemption say it has hurt U.S. businesses, such as fashion retailer Forever 21, which began liquidating its U.S. stores after partly attributing the rise of Shein and Temu to its downfall.

Washington Examiner [5/12/2025 11:16 AM, Brenna Bird, 2296K] reports China is waging a war on our children. And its weapons of choice are dangerous, illegal e-cigarettes disguised as harmless fun. Illegal Chinese vapes continue to flood into the United States, targeting children with candy flavors, vibrant packaging, and video game-themed devices to get them hooked on dangerous levels of nicotine and a cocktail of harmful chemicals. These unregulated vapes aren’t just a health crisis. They’re an outright attack on our children by a foreign government that rakes in billions while mocking U.S. laws. Smuggled into our country as "toys" or "flashlights," these vapes are designed to dodge Customs and Border Protection and Food and Drug Administration scrutiny. Loaded with toxic contaminants, they’re banned in China. Yet these flavored vapes dominate the U.S. market, driven by a China-fueled e-cigarette pipeline. They are easy to find and hard to resist. In convenience, vape, and tobacco shops across the country, you will find dozens of different illegal vape brands and flavors. According to the FDA, most children who vape are using illegal Chinese e-cigarettes. President Donald Trump protected the public from illegal vapes through targeted policies during his first term. But former President Joe Biden quickly reversed that work with slap-on-the-wrist enforcement over the past four years. Biden’s inaction allowed the multibillion-dollar Chinese vape industry to prey on our children and kick off a massive youth public health crisis. Today, China continues to skirt U.S. law as its illegal vape industry booms. It’s time to crush this poison and hold China accountable.

New York Times [5/12/2025 5:21 PM, Neil Vigdor and John Keefe, 145325K] reports the National Weather Service placed most of the Upper Midwest and part of the Northern Plains on high alert on Monday as temperatures approached 100 degrees and extremely dry conditions created an elevated risk for wildfires in the region. The unseasonably high temperatures and relative humidity levels at or below 20 percent were already fueling wildfires in several states, where temperatures approached or broke records. In Minnesota, all but seven of the state’s 87 counties were under the red flag warning, the term used for high alert for wildfires, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. “Fire danger is extreme across the state due to hot, dry, and windy conditions,” the agency wrote on social media. “This is a dangerous time for wildfires.” On Sunday, the temperature in the Twin Cities reached 90 degrees, breaking the previous record of 88 degrees that had been set in 1900. The heat was expected to continue at least through Wednesday, the Weather Service said. The conditions had already wrought havoc near Brimson, Minn., an unincorporated community in the northeastern part of the state. There, the Camp House fire had consumed at least 750 acres since Sunday, the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center said. The fire destroyed several cabins and forced dozens of people to evacuate, the sheriff’s department in St. Louis County, Minn., said. No injuries were reported, according to the department, which added on Monday that a second wildfire was burning in the county. The fires were among roughly 20 burning in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains, according to the website fireweatheravalanche.org. In North Dakota, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians reminded people on Sunday that the tribe had declared a fire emergency earlier this month and that outdoor grilling was prohibited. At the time of the emergency declaration, the tribe said that 13 fires were burning on the reservation. An area of “critical” wildfire risk — the second level of severity on a three-level scale — was in place from northern Nebraska to northwestern Minnesota on Monday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. An area of lower-level risk was across a wider swath of the Northern Plains, the center added.

ABC News [5/12/2025 12:22 PM, Bill Hutchinson and Kenton Gewecke, 34586K] reports at least 9 million people in the nation’s upper Midwest region are under red flag warnings on Monday, including residents of Minnesota, where a wildfire was already burning out of control in the largest national forest east of the Mississippi River. Potentially record-high temperatures, wind gusts of up to 45 mph, low relative humidity and dry conditions are elevating the risk of wildfires spreading quickly across a large swath of the upper Midwest. Red flag warnings signaling wildfire danger have been issued for parts of Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and nearly the entire state of Minnesota. As red flag warnings were issued, firefighters in Minnesota continued to battle the Camphouse Fire in the Superior National Forest near Brimson, about 40 miles north of Duluth. According to the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center, the Camphouse Fire, which started Sunday afternoon, grew overnight to more than 750 acres and was 0% contained. St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsey said at a Sunday night news conference that at least 20 residents in the area were evacuated. Ramsey said no injuries have been reported. Making matters worse for firefighters were high temperatures forecast for most of Minnesota. Temperatures in the Duluth area are expected to reach the 80s on Monday.

NBC News [5/12/2025 12:43 PM, Nidhi Sharma and Jacob Soboroff, 44742K] reports the Los Angeles wildfires were still smoldering when President Donald Trump began reversing Biden-era directives for federal agencies to tackle the climate crisis. January fire weather conditions driven by climate change had helped fuel the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, which razed almost 40,000 acres of land and destroyed tens of thousands of homes across L.A. By March, Adam Smith, then the lead researcher for the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters program under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was still unraveling the sweeping costs of the L.A. wildfires when he was given an informal verbal instruction to halt all communications on his work. Every month, Smith’s team updated an expansive online database that tracked losses for over 400 natural disasters going back to 1980, each of which caused damages in excess of $1 billion. In the aftermath of the L.A. wildfires, Smith says the warning restricted him from publishing on the database and sharing preliminary findings with the public: The fires had caused at least $50 billion in damages, a number that would continue to rise. In early May, Smith resigned from his post over concerns that the agency planned to retire the billion-dollar weather and climate disaster online database, a product Smith had developed over his 15-year career with NOAA. Almost a week later, NOAA announced that it would be doing exactly that. The agency stated it would no longer update the product, leaving the official price tag for the L.A. wildfires unlisted, and eliminating a valuable data bank regularly used by scientists, citizens and insurance companies assessing climate risk. A spokesperson for NOAA said the database would no longer be updated “in alignment with evolving priorities and staffing changes.” The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Smith said the loss of the database is especially significant as billion-dollar disasters like major hurricanes and widespread wildfires become more frequent. In 2023, the U.S. broke its record for most billion-dollar disasters in one year with 28 billion-dollar events, according to the now-archived database. Over the last five years, the U.S. has recorded approximately 24 billion-dollar disasters annually — compared with just three billion-dollar disasters on average per year in the 1980s.

Federal News Network [5/12/2025 7:05 PM, Jory Heckman, 1089K] reports the Trump administration is requiring agencies to track if federal employees are showing up at the office, and whether those return-to-office plans still leave them with underutilized office space. In a memo dated April 21, OMB directed agencies to begin "utilization monitoring" at federal buildings starting last week. The General Services Administration recommends that agencies capture data from employees when they swipe their ID badges at security checkpoints or use data from their laptops or daily check-ins to approximate how many employees are working in federal buildings. The OMB memo gives agencies until May 19 to start collecting building occupancy data. That data includes a summary of daily occupancy totals for each day of the week and the average occupancy of each building based on a two-week average. OMB expects full implementation by July 4. "The Trump Administration is committed to efficient use of taxpayer dollars and will shrink the federal real estate footprint to eliminate unused and wasteful federal office space," the memo states. Agencies, in an annual report, must tell OMB whether their buildings meet or exceed a 60% utilization target, assuming each employee gets 150 square feet of office space. The OMB memo goes beyond what was required by law under the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act. Former President Joe Biden signed the USE IT Act in January, requiring GSA and the Office of Management and Budget to reduce or consolidate space if federal building utilization rates fall below 60%. "Implementation and reporting of occupancy data are priorities to allow swift action to reduce wasteful spending and ensure compliance with return-to-work policies," the memo states.

Federalist [5/12/2025 7:22 AM, M.D. Kittle, 1033K] reports Derrick Van Orden says it’s sad that his family is in more danger now than when he was ‘chasing down and killing terrorists as a Navy Seal.’ Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., has a message for the “anonymous” person who made a “credible threat” against his family: “You will not intimidate me.” Still, the Wisconsin Republican says the specificity of the latest threat against his wife, children, and grandchildren forced him to cancel an online town hall session last week and miss several votes as he rushed back to his southwest Wisconsin home to make sure his loved ones were safe. Van Orden said the letter, sent to his Washington, D.C. office, was immediately reported to the appropriate authorities. The lawmaker’s congressional colleague, Rep. Bryan Steil, a Republican who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District and chairs the powerful House Administration committee, told The Federalist that Capitol security is investigating. So is the FBI, Van Orden told me late last week on the Vicki McKenna Show in Milwaukee. “The Capitol Police have been involved as well as the Postmaster General and the FBI,” the congressman said. “I spoke to Attorney General Pam Bondi the other day. I’m very thankful for the work she’s doing. She wanted to make sure the FBI was getting involved in this at a very serious level, and says they are.” Local police, too, are looking into the incident. Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Police Chief Kyle Teynor told Wisconsin Public Radio last week that his officers verified the family’s safety and “provided them with assurances that our staff was aware of the threats, the ongoing investigation into the validity of the threat and our ability to facilitate their continued safe residency within our city.”

Washington Post [5/12/2025 8:04 PM, Natalie Allison et al., 31735K] reports President Donald Trump on Monday praised Qatar for offering his administration a free luxury jet, but current and former U.S. military, defense and Secret Service officials said he will likely have to waive existing security specifications to be able to use the plane. Trump said he would be a “stupid person” not to accept the gift of a $400 million Boeing 747-8, and called it a “great gesture” by Qatar. The president said that he intended to use the plane for a “couple of years” while his administration waits for a pair of Boeing planes to be completed to the strict military standards befitting Air Force One.A White House official said it was premature to say how long upgrades to the Qatari plane could take. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, like others interviewed, also declined to say when the Trump administration expects to take possession. Flight records show that the Qatari jet was moved five weeks ago to San Antonio International Airport, suggesting that preparations for improvements might already be underway. The president’s jet has a raft of security, communications and support requirements that are highly classified and have proven costly and cumbersome. "This is a flying nuclear-hardened command post," said a former U.S. official with knowledge of Air Force One operations. "It has to have secure capability at multiple levels." The Air Force would have to "rip" open and rebuild the Qatari plane — which has been flown for years in service of other countries and individuals — to bring it up to standard, said the official. Counterintelligence is also a concern, said former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. "We would have to be sure nobody had planted bugs on the airplane," he said. High-end communications have to be protected from jamming, cyberattacks and nuclear blasts, current and former officials said. "You’d pretty much have to take that plane down to the skeleton and put it back together," said Mac Plihcik, a retired Secret Service agent who worked on President Barack Obama’s detail. "The security of every individual component is a big deal.” Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent who was a supervisor in Trump’s first administration, said rigorous inspections are performed after all presidential transport vehicles leave the production line. The gifting of a plane from a foreign government would probably warrant an even harder look, Eckloff said. Trump has already stepped inside the Qatari jet, less than a month after his inauguration. The aircraft was brought to Palm Beach International from Doha on the morning of Feb. 15 — when Trump toured the plane for more than an hour on his way to play a Saturday round of golf. At the time, White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that Trump was examining "the new hardware/technology," noting that Boeing was running behind on delivering the new Air Force Ones.

The Hill [5/12/2025 7:12 PM, Al Weaver, 12829K] reports Senate Republicans on Monday indicated they have multiple concerns with President Trump potentially being gifted a new luxury jet from Qatar, ranging from safety to legal and ethical worries. Trump on Monday defended his potential acceptance of a new Boeing 747-8 airplane from the government of Qatar to serve as a replacement for the current pair of Air Force One aircraft, saying that it would be "stupid" not to do so. But Senate Republicans made clear they are uneasy about the potential arrangement for a multitude of reasons, including over Qatar’s alliances in the region. "I’m not flying on a Qatari plane. They support Hamas," said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), an ardent Trump supporter. "I don’t know how you make it safe.” "‘Gosh, let me give you a plane.’ I mean, that seems pretty nice, but they support Hamas, so I don’t know. I don’t know how you make it safe," Scott continued, declining to say what Trump should do as the decision is up to him. "I don’t want the president of the United States flying on an unsafe plane.” Some Republicans also seemed worried about the president flying on an aircraft that was purchased by another nation-state. "It would be better if Air Force One were a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America," said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). "That would be ideal.” The move comes amid ongoing delays and budget overruns at Boeing, which has been contracted to build two new jets to serve as Air Force One. The Qatari jet, valued at roughly $400 million, would be transferred to Trump’s presidential library following his term, the president said. While Republicans were not quick to criticize, they indicated they have broad concerns. "If Qatar gives a plane to the president of the United States, it seems to me that raises questions of whether the administration would be in compliance with the gift law," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said. Some also warned the Trump administration that it must have all of their I’s dotted and T’s crossed to go ahead with the deal.

FOX News [5/12/2025 11:13 AM, Emma Colton Fox, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump defended the U.S. preparing to accept a jumbo jet gift from Qatar’s royal family to serve as a temporary Air Force One as Boeing failed to roll out a new Air Force One fleet in a timely manner. "We’re very disappointed that it’s taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One," Trump said during a press conference on drug prices Monday morning. "You know, we have an Air Force One that’s 40 years old. And if you take a look at that, compared to the new plane of the equivalent, you know, stature at the time, it’s not even the same ballgame.” "When I first came in, I signed an order to get (the new Air Force One fleet) built," he continued. "I took it over from the Obama administration, they had originally agreed. I got the price down much lower. And then, when the election didn’t exactly work out the way that it should have, a lot of work was not done on the plane because a lot of people didn’t know they made change orders. That was so stupid, so ridiculous. And it ended up being a total mess, a real mess.” Reports spread Sunday morning that the Trump administration was expected to accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from Qatar’s royal family. ABC News reported that Trump would use the jet until the end of his term, when it would be given to his presidential library. Trump confirmed Sunday evening on Truth Social that the Department of Defense would receive the 747 as a gift, while railing against Democrats as "world class losers" for criticizing the gift. "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," Trump wrote. "Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.” He continued in the press conference Monday that when he returned to office in January, his administration informed him construction on two new Air Force Ones was "way behind" on the schedule for completion. "If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones. I think that was a very nice gesture. Now, I could be a stupid person to say, ‘Oh, no, we don’t want a free plane.’ We give free things, we’ll take one, two, and it helps us out. Because again, we’re talking about we have a 40-year-old aircraft. The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy-top is astronomical," he added, calling the gift a "great gesture from Qatar.”

Bloomberg [5/12/2025 11:28 AM, Stephanie Lai, Benedikt Kammel, and Akayla Gardner, 16228K] reports President Donald Trump said he would not use a luxury jet being offered by the Qatari government after leaving office amid criticism over his administration’s consideration of using the plane as the next Air Force One. “It’s not a gift to me; it’s a gift to the Department of Defense,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. Over the weekend, officials from the US and Qatar acknowledged they were discussing an arrangement in which Qatar would offer a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet for use as Air Force One. The aircraft would act as a bridge before Boeing Co. delivered a pair of new jets being outfitted to Pentagon specifications, and address Trump’s frustration with the current presidential aircraft. “They said we would like to do something and if we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones,” Trump said. Trump reiterated his long-expressed frustration with Boeing over delays in delivering a new Air Force One plane. “They were way behind,” Trump said. “It’s going to be a while before we get them.” The proposed sale has generated significant criticism from both sides of the aisle. Detractors were quick to point out that accepting gift of such proportions from a foreign government would pose huge political, ethical and technical issues. Some reports from the weekend suggested Trump could continue to use the jet after leaving office at the end of his term, before it was eventually decommissioned and displayed at his future presidential library. Ritchie Torres, a Democratic Representative from New York, called reports of the transaction a “flying grift,” and faulted Qatar over links to Hamas and Trump for what he described as “presidential profiteering unprecedented in American history.”

FOX News [5/12/2025 9:26 AM, Anders Hagstrom, 46189K] reports a Democratic congressman is calling for an ethics investigation over President Donald Trump’s plans to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar that would temporarily serve as Air Force One before being allotted to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., wrote to the Government Accountability Office on Sunday, noting that the plane would be the single most expensive gift ever received by a U.S. president. Torres derided the deal as a "flying grift," arguing it violates the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which "explicitly prohibits any person holding public office from accepting ‘any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.’" "I am writing to express alarm over reports that President Donald Trump is poised to accept a luxury aircraft — a Boeing 747-8 — from the government of Qatar. The plane, so opulent it has been described as a ‘palace in the sky,’ is set to be made available to President Trump for official use as Air Force One and then for private use once he leaves office," Torres wrote. "This ‘flying grift’ is merely the latest chapter in a tawdry tale of presidential profiteering unprecedented in American history," Torres added. Trump described the deal in his own words on social media in a post Sunday night. "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," he wrote. "Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!" he added. Taking questions at the White House on Monday, he also said he wouldn’t plan on using the jet after leaving office. "It would go directly to the library after I leave office," Trump said. "I wouldn’t be using it, no." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
The Hill [5/12/2025 8:29 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K]
Washington Examiner [5/12/2025 12:11 PM, Elaine Mallon, 2296K]

Maritime Executive [5/12/2025 1:10 PM, Staff, 325K] reports that the U.S. Coast Guard released a series of new rules on May 9 that it says are designed to streamline and consolidate the process for foreign ships to be certified under the American registry. It reflects the dual ambitions of the Trump administration to grow the American merchant marine and reduce excess regulations imposed by the U.S. government on industry. According to the announcement from USCG, the process of reflagging into the American registry is being consolidated under a single program based on international standards. Historically, it has been considered to be an onerous process requiring a demonstration of need, review and acceptance by the Maritime Administration and other government agencies, a planning process, and entailed inspection. USCG reports the changes to the process reduces pre-inspection plan review, which will result in avoiding scheduling delays and minimizing modification costs. They contend it will provide more job opportunities for American mariners. One of the common means that foreign ships have entered the U.S. registry is through the Maritime Security Program established nearly 30 years ago by the Clinton administration. The U.S. Congress extended the program till 2035, guaranteeing 60 positions (all currently filled) for ships to operate under the U.S. flag and receive what MARAD calls a "financial stipend" (or incentive). It is to offset U.S. operating costs in exchange for making their ships and commercial transportation resources available upon request by the Secretary of Defense during times of war or national emergency. It provides a simplified certification process for ships to enter the U.S. registry.

FOX News [5/12/2025 3:19 PM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports a dramatic viral video from the Coast Guard shows service members completing a swift and precise drug interdiction against smugglers in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Members of the small-boat crew U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) conducted the operation on April 17, according to the military branch. The video, taken by Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Wiley, shows the Kimball rapidly descending upon the suspected drug smugglers, with the service members barking commands that led to an immediate surrender. "The fifth interdiction during Kimball’s patrol is a great example of how complex it is to stop illegal activities on the open ocean," the Coast Guard said of the video taken by Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Wiley. "Kimball started with aerial surveillance then engaged tactical law enforcement, and then sank the vessel so it wouldn’t be a hazard to other vessels." Through its five operations, the crew of the Kimball recovered a whopping $214 million worth of drugs and offloaded them in San Diego, the Coast Guard said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

DVIDS [5/12/2025 7:59 PM, Staff, 777K] reports the littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS 21) interdicted a suspected drug smuggling vessel May 1 while supporting Joint Interagency Task Force South. Alerted to suspected drug smuggling from maritime patrol aircraft operating in the region, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul proceeded to the target location and launched a helicopter from the embarked Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 50. The helicopter crew observed the suspect drug smuggling vessel jettisoning packages. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul then launched its rigid-hull inflatable boat with an embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) to intercept the vessel. The boarding team recovered 22 bales of suspected cocaine. "The USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul is delivering decisive blows against transnational criminal organizations," said Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet. "These interdictions send a clear message: We are vigilant, and illicit trafficking will be interdicted to protect our homeland as well as our regional partners from this threat." This is the ship’s third successful interdiction during its maiden deployment. In mid-April, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul interdicted two vessels, confiscating 580 kilograms (1,279 pounds) of cocaine valued at $9,463,860 and 1,125 kilograms (2,480 pounds) of marijuana valued at $2,807,360. "I’m consistently impressed by the speed and precision of our joint team," said Cmdr. Steven Fresse, Commanding Officer of USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul. "The professionalism and expertise of the Aviation and Law Enforcement Detachments in concert with ship’s crew continue to be instrumental in these successful interdictions.”

Marine Link [5/12/2025 6:50 PM, Staff, 94K] reports the US Coast Guard has streamlined the process for foreign ships to be certificated under the American Registry by consolidating the process under a single program based on international standards. The move is not expected to impact safety, and it will reduce the pre-inspection plan review and the national equivalency process, avoid schedule delays, minimize modification costs for closing regulatory gaps, expedite the Ready Reserve Force recapitalization with foreign-built vessels. To assist vessel owners and operators, the US Coast Guard has made available Change-2 to Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 01-13, Inspection and Certification of Vessels under the Maritime Security Program (MSP). Under this streamlined reflagging program, the US Coast Guard has clarified the enrollment process, streamlined plan review, and further explained the eligibility for foreign-built vessels to be inspected and certificated in accordance with NVIC 01-13. Specifically, the update acknowledges that while some commercial vessels may receive a payment as part of their MSP enrollment, it is not a precondition for certification.

Reported similarly:
gCaptain [5/12/2025 8:54 PM, Nike Schuler, 406K]

Yahoo News [5/12/2025 4:58 PM, Helena Wegner, 59943K] reports a 44-year-old man has been missing for days since he stayed on his sinking fishing boat off Washington, officials said. Jon Stevenson’s vessel started taking on water at about 8:15 a.m. Friday, May 9 near the Grays Harbor bar entrance, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release. Pumps couldn’t keep up with the water, so Stevenson and his crew signaled for help, officials said. Another person in a boat showed up with a “dewatering pump,” but the 68-foot vessel called Captain Raleigh sank quickly, officials said. Three crew members went into the water wearing life jackets while Stevenson stayed on the sinking boat, the Coast Guard said. A Coast Guard boat retrieved the three people and took them to be medically evaluated. Then rescuers began searching for Stevenson, officials said. A Navy dive team couldn’t get to the wreckage until 6 p.m., officials said. “Unfortunately, debris, poor visibility, and strong subsurface currents prevented the divers from accessing the interior of the fishing vessel,” the Coast Guard said in the release. The search was then called off at 8:40 p.m., officials said. The Maritime Executive [5/12/2025 8:19 PM, Staff, 325K] reports that at about 0815 hours on Friday morning, the fishing vessel Captain Raleigh was under way off the coast of Raleigh when it began taking on water. The master made a distress call and reported that the vessel’s pumps could not keep up with the water ingress. Coast Guard Sector Columbia River received the call and issued a broadcast to nearby shipping to ask for assistance. The command center also dispatched rescue boat crews out of Grays Harbor and a helicopter SAR crew out of Astoria, Oregon. Shortly after the distress call, a good Samaritan came to the aid of the Captain Raleigh, and at 0830, just 15 minutes after the call, a Coast Goard boat crew was on scene. Minutes later, Captain Raleigh sank rapidly. Three crewmembers from the stricken vessel were already in their lifejackets and abandoned ship into the water, and were immediately retrieved by the Coast Guard responders. However, the master of the Captain Raleigh was reportedly still on board when it went down. Two boat crews and the helicopter aircrew carried out a surface search for the missing captain. A nearby dredger from the Corps of Engineers diverted to assist with sonar search of the bottom, and quickly found the position of the missing fishing vessel. On request from the Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy dispatched a helicopter with a salvage dive team from Air Station Whidbey Island. Surface conditions were unsuitable for diving until the evening; an attempt to access the wreck at 1800 hours was not successful, given debris, low visibility and strong underwater currents on the site. At 2040 hours Friday, the Coast Guard called off the search for the missing captain.

San Francisco Chronicle [5/12/2025 7:45 PM, Anna Bauman, 5046K] reports an undergraduate student at the University of California Santa Cruz died last week after jumping from a cliff into the ocean, according to police and the university. The Santa Cruz Police Department said someone called around 2:15 p.m. Friday after finding a body on Its Beach, a sandy stretch beneath the cliffs at Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz County Coroner did not release the victim’s name as of Monday. The body was found five days after a swimmer went missing near 701 West Cliff Drive, where a lighthouse and surfing museum perch on a bluff above the ocean near Steamer Lane, an iconic surfing location. Witnesses saw two swimmers jump off the cliff and struggle to swim back to shore around 4:45 p.m. last Sunday, according to the Santa Cruz Fire Department. Only one of the swimmers emerged from the ocean. Members of the fire department, Santa Cruz police, U.S. Coast Guard, lifeguards and other agencies responded to the scene, conducting an extensive search for the missing swimmer, who was not found that day, according to the fire department. The Santa Cruz fire department reminded people to "be extremely careful around West Cliff edges and always be aware of ocean conditions.”

Telemundo 20 [5/12/2025 1:21 PM, Jeanette Quezada, 41K] reports that a boat carrying several migrants came ashore Sunday morning near Windansea Beach in La Jolla. "My neighbor asked me if I smelled gas. I said yes, and I saw the boat on the reef," said Jon Burland, a local surfer. According to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the U.S. Coast Guard spotted the 24-foot cargo-cabin vessel around 5:00 a.m. They saw several people disembark the boat and run toward the intersection of Coast Blvd. and Prospect St. CBP reported that agents from Imperial Beach Station responded and detained nine migrants, who were taken to a nearby Border Patrol station for deportation. "You could smell the gas in the water," Burland said. Burland woke up early Sunday to surf the waves when he saw a hazmat team, Border Patrol, police, and a lifeguard on the shore. "It seemed strange that no one had done anything to the boat because it had been hours since it happened," Burland said. He captured video with a drone as he walked over to the boat and removed a gas can and what looked like a car battery. "Yeah, it’s very sad and terrible that people come to that and hire people, and thankfully, no one was hurt," Burland said. The boat remained there for hours before being towed. CBP reported that Border Patrol impounded it.

Yahoo News [5/12/2025 10:49 PM, Domenick Candelieri, 59943K] reports a 20-foot pleasure craft carrying three undocumented migrants was seized Saturday off the San Diego coast. Around 2:40 p.m., Coast Guard Cutter Terrell Horne conducted a routine security boarding of the vessel about two miles south of Point Loma, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release Monday. During the search, Coast Guard officials found the vessel displayed no registration or documentation and none of the occupants had authorization to the U.S. The suspected smuggling vessel and people on board were taken to Ballast Point and transferred to the Department of Homeland Security partners.

Maritime Executive [5/12/2025 6:08 PM, Staff, 94K] reports on Saturday evening, a U.S. Coast Guard boat crew shot out the engine of a high-speed smuggling boat off Point Loma after the vessel ignored repeated commands to stop and be boarded. At about 1750 hours, Coast Guard Sector San Diego spotted an 18-foot cuddy cabin boat moving at high speed about two miles south of Point Loma, making a northbound course. Watchstanders followed the suspicious boat using surveillance cameras as it entered San Diego Bay. A Coast Guard Station San Diego patrol boat was diverted to intercept the vessel. The patrol boat found the speeding suspects and tried to make contact with the operator, but the cuddy cabin boat fled the scene. The Coast Guard response boat crew tried to get the speedboat to stop by issuing orders and firing warning shots. When this did not work, the crew shot four rounds into the vessel’s engine, disabling it and forcing it to stop. The Coast Guard crew boarded the vessel and took control of the scene. They found eight foreign nationals aboard: five adult men, one woman, and two male teenagers aged 16 and 17. The suspects were taken to Ballast Point, near the entrance to San Diego’s harbor, where they were transferred to officers from the Department of Homeland Security.

Reported similarly:
Yahoo News [5/12/2025 5:36 PM, Anna Ashcraft, 59943K]

Maritime Executive [5/12/2025 11:03 PM, Staff, 325K] reports China’s research vessels have been attracting attention in the waters of neighboring states, not least because of suspicions of spying. The latest encounter occurred in the Japanese EEZ, about 140 nautical miles, when a Japan Coast Guard cutter found a Chinese research vessel deploying a suspicious object and ordered it to leave. The use of oceanographic research as a cover for espionage has a long and rich history, from the CIA’s famous Glomar Explorer project to Russia’s notorious spy ship Yantar. This gray-zone activity pattern extends across all of the world’s leading naval powers, and China is no exception. As one example, China’s Academy of Sciences has used its research vessels to place and service powerful acoustic seabed sensors near Guam, for the purpose of studying typhoons and whales; the research devices happened to be well-located for tracking U.S. Navy submarines, and are likely used for that purpose, multiple analysts have noted. In this context, China’s neighbors pay close attention to the movements of its civilian research fleet - especially in sensitive areas, like the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands.

FOX News [5/12/2025 4:22 PM, Kurt Knutsson, 46189K] reports ransomware gangs once thrived on infected email attachments and bogus invoices, but security-savvy users and hardened mail gateways have weakened those tactics. Attackers are now focusing on a subtler trick that targets the small checkbox labeled "I’m not a robot" that most people click without thinking. A widespread campaign known as MacReaper has compromised more than 2,800 legitimate websites and redirects visitors to an infection process designed specifically for Apple computers. The operation relies on visual trust signals, including a convincing fake of Google’s reCAPTCHA, along with hidden clipboard code that ends with the installation of Atomic macOS Stealer malware, a data-harvesting infostealer distributed through Telegram. When a Mac user visits one of the compromised websites, they don’t see the page they were expecting. Instead, the site displays a full-screen imitation of Google’s familiar reCAPTCHA box. This fake reCAPTCHA appears harmless, simply asking the user to click "I’m not a robot." However, when the user clicks the box, a hidden command is silently copied to their clipboard. Immediately afterward, the page displays a friendly message, complete with familiar macOS keyboard shortcut visuals, explicitly instructing the user to open Terminal and paste what they’ve just copied. If the user follows these instructions, the command downloads and runs the malicious file known as Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS). This trick is specifically targeted at Mac users. The website checks the visitor’s operating system and only activates the attack if it detects macOS. For Windows or Linux users, the site behaves normally. Researchers have dubbed this infection method "ClickFix," referencing the single click that initiates the attack chain. At the center of this campaign is AMOS, a sophisticated piece of malware that has become notorious in cybercrime circles. AMOS is available for rent on Telegram, with some versions costing attackers up to $3,000 per month. Once installed, AMOS can steal a wide array of sensitive data: it can extract Wi-Fi and app passwords stored in Keychain, collect browser cookies and autofill data, list system information and scan through personal folders such as Desktop and Documents. It is also capable of identifying and targeting more than 50 types of cryptocurrency wallets.

NBC News [5/12/2025 8:09 PM, Staff, 44742K] Video: HERE reports the Trump administration proposed a federal shift of cybersecurity resources to the states amid a rise in ransomware attacks. NBC News’ Yasmin Vossoughian spoke with former CIA hacker Dr. Eric Cole about what to look out for in order to protect your information.

The Hill [5/12/2025 12:37 PM, Julia Shapero, 12829K] reports a Republican tax bill released late Sunday seeks to block states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) models for the next 10 years. The bill text from the House Energy and Commerce Committee would bar states from enforcing laws or regulations governing AI models, AI systems or automated decision systems. It provides some exemptions for laws and regulations that aim to “remove legal impediments” or “facilitate the deployment or operation” of AI systems, as well as those that seek to “streamline licensing, permitting, routing, zoning, procurement, or reporting procedures.” It would also permit state laws that do not “impose any substantive design, performance, data-handling, documentation, civil liability, taxation, fee, or other requirement” on AI systems. The bill, which comes as Republicans gear up to advance President Trump’s legislative agenda this week, aligns with the administration’s emphasis on AI innovation instead of regulation. Shortly after taking office, Trump rescinded former President Biden’s executive order establishing guardrails around AI and fielded input on his own forthcoming “AI Action Plan.” Vice President Vance also slammed “excessive regulation” of AI during his first international trip in the administration in February.

Bloomberg Law [5/12/2025 1:01 PM, Daniel Seiden Senior, 1085K] reports the US Department of Homeland Security terminated for convenience Leidos Inc.’s $2.4 billion cybersecurity services contract issued under the Agile Cybersecurity Technical Security solicitation, a government status report says. The termination follows Nightwing Intelligence Solutions LLC’s protest of the seven-year contract award, alleging Leidos won the contract with "insider information" provided by a former DHS employee. The department determined that its IT and cybersecurity needs "significantly changed in light of organizational changes and changes in priorities, unrelated to the protest, that have occurred since the ACTS solicitation was issued," the US Department of Justice told the US Court of Federal Claims. Nightwing’s protest is therefore moot, the government told Judge Zachary N. Somers in a May 9 status report. DHS doesn’t intend to make another award, "but is conducting acquisition planning to determine the best means of fulfilling its future requirements," the government said.

New York Post [5/12/2025 6:36 PM, Brandon Cruz, 54903K] reports more than 20 school districts across Long Island were hit by cyber hackers leaving more than 10,000 students’ records and personal info vulnerable to criminals, state education records revealed. The widespread data breaches and digital intrusions — 28 Long Island incidents were self-reported to the state last year — have cybersecurity experts sounding the alarm about schools nationwide increasingly becoming targets for identity thieves, ransomware gangs and data extortionists. Districts with lower operating budgets are even more at risk, according to experts. "Schools have an incredibly rich amount of data," Randy Rose, vice president of security operations at the Center for Internet Security told Newsday. "People think it’s just grades — but it’s personal information, sometimes financial information. "There’s data associated with kids that are in need. Data on kids that are in afterschool programs.” Some of the intrusions on Long Island were minor — a student who was caught snooping on a classmate’s grades — but others were much more concerning. Third-party breaches compromised the personal records of more than 6,000 students in Great Neck, another 1,000 Smithtown, as well as nearly 2,400 in Brentwood and Hewlett-Woodmere combined, according to state education records. Hackers even infiltrated software systems used by schools across the US, including major safety and security platform Raptor Technologies, which impacted at least seven Long Island districts, education records show. Michael Nizich, an adjunct associate professor of computer science at the New York Institute of Technology, said the level of regularly updated cybersecurity prevention necessary to adequately protect school districts is "just not going to be feasible" economically. "I think what you’re seeing is that these school districts are now becoming targets because of the value of data that criminals are starting to find," Nizich told Newsday.

FOX News [5/12/2025 9:34 PM, Stepheny Price, 46189K] reports the alleged Florida State University shooter was seen in a new mugshot with a disfigured face after being released from the hospital a month after the deadly shooting. According to the Tallahassee Police Department, Phoenix Ikner, 20, was released from a local hospital following an extended stay and multiple surgeries to treat injuries he sustained during the April 17 shooting at Florida State University, where he opened fire on campus. Ikner is accused of killing two men and injuring six others. The FSU student was shot in the jaw by campus police as they responded to the shooting. Following his booking, Ikner was transferred to the Wakulla County Detention Facility, where he will await his first appearance in court. Police said Ikner has been transported to a detention facility in the region and faces two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder. "In any case, especially one of this magnitude, the Tallahassee Police Department has the highest commitment to justice, transparency, and the safety of our community," Chief of Police Lawrence Revell said in a news release. "We are grateful for the work of our detectives, officers, medical personnel, and partner agencies who helped bring us to this point.” Police added that Ikner’s transfer to another facility is standard protocol due to him being the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff’s Office deputy. Authorities determined that the gun Ikner allegedly used in the killings belonged to his mother, Jessica Ikner, who has been an officer for more than 18 years and has done a "tremendous job" in her position, police previously said. "Her service to this community has been exceptional," Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said at an April press conference after the shooting. "Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene. And we are continuing that investigation into how that weapon was used.”

Reuters [5/12/2025 3:29 PM, Sarah N. Lynch, 41523K] reports that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has been appointed to serve as the acting librarian of Congress, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman confirmed on Monday, after President Donald Trump recently fired Carla Hayden. The White House announced that Hayden was being fired as librarian of Congress on May 9, citing in part her advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Hayden, who was the first woman and first African American in the role, headed an office that has overall management responsibility for the library and sets out policy on its programs and activities. Democratic President Barack Obama appointed her in 2016 to a 10-year term in the role that needed Senate confirmation. Blanche is the latest Trump administration official to be asked to serve in multiple roles at the same time. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for instance, is also serving as the acting archivist, as well as Trump’s national security adviser and the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Defense One [5/12/2025 8:04 PM, Lauren C. Williams, 309K] reports the wildly ambitious Golden Dome missile-defense vision is turning up the heat on a long-running fight between the Pentagon and the telecommunications industry for control of certain radio frequencies. “That area of the spectrum is golden, and we need to protect it to maintain national security. And I use the word golden specifically, because the only way we can achieve Golden Dome” is by using frequencies around 3 gigahertz, Katie Arrington, who is performing the duties of the Pentagon chief information officer, told lawmakers Thursday at a hearing of the House Armed Services’ panel on cyber, information technologies, and innovation. “It is critical for national security.” Though Golden Dome would use novel space-based sensors, it would also rely on ground-based radars that often use the S and L bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. For example, the Navy’s Aegis Combat System uses the S-band: the frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz. But these are the bands that telecommunications companies want to use to expand their 5G and 6G networks.

The AP [5/12/2025 4:23 PM, Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Tia Goldenberg, 48304K] reports Hamas on Monday released an Israeli-American soldier who had been held hostage in Gaza for more than 19 months, offering a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire with Israel. Edan Alexander, 21, was the first hostage released since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March and unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds of Palestinians. He was handed over to the Red Cross and then to Israeli forces before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv. Israeli authorities released video and photos showing a pale but smiling Alexander in an emotional reunion with his mother and other family members. Israel has promised to intensify its offensive, including by seizing Gaza and displacing much of the territory’s population again. Days before the ceasefire ended, Israel blocked all imports from entering the Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian crisis and sparking warnings about the risk of famine if the blockade isn’t lifted. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israel’s terms. Wearing shirts emblazoned with his name, Alexander’s extended family gathered in Tel Aviv to watch the release. They chanted his name when the military said he was free, while in the city’s Hostage Square, hundreds of people broke out into cheers. FOX News [5/12/2025 12:53 PM, Greg Norman and Yonat Friling, 46189K] reports "The Al-Qassam Brigades have just released the Israeli soldier holding American citizenship, Edan Alexander, following communications with the U.S. administration," Hamas said in a statement. "This comes as part of the mediators’ efforts to reach a ceasefire, open the border crossings, and allow the entry of aid and relief for our people in the Gaza Strip.” President Donald Trump, following Alexander’s release, wrote on Truth Social "Congratulations to his wonderful parents, family, and friends!". Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Trump "is fighting to secure the release of every American detained abroad" and "We won’t stop until this conflict is over and all our hostages are home." As news spread of his release, a crowd that gathered in Alexander’s hometown of Tenafly, N.J., erupted in applause. Sue Gelsey, the interim CEO of the Kaplan JCC on the Palisades, told Fox News an estimated 3,000 had gathered in downtown Tenafly, some arriving as early as 5 a.m. Trump, who is slated to depart Washington, D.C., on Monday for visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, said prior to Alexander’s release that it was "great news.” Israel said its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting Monday with Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Netanyahu then called Trump today and thanked him for his assistance in securing Alexander’s freedom.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [5/12/2025 8:56 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12829K]

AP [5/12/2025 12:17 PM, Julia Frankel and Melanie Lidman, 48304K] reports Edan Alexander was 19 when Hamas militants stormed the Israeli military base where the American-Israeli from New Jersey was a soldier and dragged him into the Gaza Strip. Hamas released Alexander, the last living American hostage in Gaza, on Monday ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the region this week. The militant group called it a goodwill gesture aimed at reviving mediated efforts to end the 19-month war. Alexander was among 251 people taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. Fifty-eight remain in Gaza. Around a third are believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. After Hamas announced on Sunday he would be released, Alexander’s family said it “received the greatest gift imaginable — news that our beautiful son Edan is returning home after 583 days in captivity in Gaza.” Alexander’s parents flew to Israel on Monday. Trump’s hostage negotiator, Adam Boehler, posted a picture on social media showing Alexander’s mother, Yael, aboard the flight. A native of Tenafly, a suburb of New York City, Edan Alexander moved to Israel in 2022 after high school and enlisted in the military. Hamas militants seized him from his military base after he volunteered to stay there over the Jewish Sabbath.

New York Times [5/13/2025 4:06 AM, Jonathan Swan, Luke Broadwater and Vivian Nereim, 145325K] reports President Trump arrived on Tuesday morning in Saudi Arabia, his first stop on a four-day tour through the Gulf, the first major overseas trip of his second term. He stepped off Air Force One at the Royal Terminal, a special section for V.I.P.s at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Mr. Trump was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, on a lavender-colored carpet unfurled across the tarmac. An honor guard was in place. Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed then sat down in navy-and-gold armchairs in an opulent, sunlit building with marble columns. Mr. Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, among others. Prince Mohammed’s presence signified the special status that Mr. Trump enjoys with Saudi Arabia. When President Biden visited in 2022 — after saying he would make the kingdom a “pariah,” before realizing he needed its help to lower oil prices — the crown prince snubbed him, sending a relatively low-ranked delegation to greet him at the airport. It is highly unlikely that Mr. Trump will feel disrespected on this trip, which will also include stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. On his flight to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Air Force One was escorted for the last half hour by Saudi F-15 fighter jets, according to a White House pool report. In the Gulf this week, Mr. Trump will be focused on signing business deals with the three countries, which manage trillions of dollars in assets around the world. He has told advisers he wants to sign agreements worth more than $1 trillion. Deals are expected to include investments in artificial intelligence companies and energy production, as well as multibillion-dollar arms purchases from U.S. weapons manufacturers. Prince Mohammed is expected to spend much of Tuesday with the president, culminating in dinner. The Saudi royals are expected to dust off their 2017 playbook for wooing Mr. Trump. During that trip — his first as president — a multistory image of Mr. Trump’s face was projected onto the facade of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh.

Reuters [5/13/2025 4:57 AM, Gram Slattery and Pesha Magid, 24727K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on a four-day visit to the wealthy Gulf region, focusing more on economic deals than pressing regional security matters ranging from war in Gaza to talks over Iran’s nuclear program. With a who’s who of powerful American business leaders in tow, Trump is visiting Riyadh, site of a Saudi-US Investment Forum, before going to Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. He has not scheduled a stop in Israel, a decision that has raised questions about where Israel stands in Washington’s priorities. "While energy remains a cornerstone of our relationship, the investments and business opportunities in the kingdom have expanded and multiplied many, many times over," Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said as he opened the forum. "As a result ... when Saudis and Americans join forces very good things happen, more often than not great things happen when those joint ventures happen," he said before Trump’s arrival. Trump is hoping to secure trillions of dollars of investments from the Gulf oil producers. Saudi Arabia had pledged $600 billion but Trump has said he wants $1 trillion from the kingdom, one of Washington’s most important allies. The Saudi-US investment forum began with a video showing soaring eagles and falcons and celebrating the long history between the United States and the kingdom. At the front of a palatial hall sat Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock, Stephen A. Schwartzman, CEO of Blackstone, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan and Falih. Speaking at a forum panel as Trump touched down in Riyadh, Fink said he had traveled to Saudi Arabia more than 65 times over 20 years. He said the kingdom had been a follower when he first started visiting but was now "taking control" and broadening its economy out of its oil base. After landing, Trump punched the air when he caught sight of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS, before shaking hands with the de facto leader. MbS has focused on weaning the kingdom’s economy off hydrocarbon dependence in a major reform programme dubbed Vision 2030 that includes "Giga-projects" such as NEOM, a futuristic city the size of Belgium. The kingdom has had to scale back some of its lofty ambitions as rising costs and falling oil prices weigh. Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have maintained strong ties for decades based on an ironclad arrangement in which the kingdom delivers oil and the superpower provides security.

NewsMax [5/12/2025 9:53 PM, Michael Katz, 4998K] reports the State Department on Monday approved the sale of six CH-47F Chinook helicopters and other military equipment to the United Arab Emirates for approximately $1.33 billion ahead of President Donald Trump’s first trip this week to the Middle East in his second term. The UAE bought the six helicopters for $1.32 billion, as well as parts and other maintenance for F-16 jet fighters for an estimated $130 million, Bloomberg reported. Trump reportedly left Monday for the Middle East for a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE to discuss diplomatic needs on Gaza and Iran, along with major business deals that could touch on subjects from defense and aviation to energy and artificial intelligence. Trump was expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning local time. On Wednesday, Trump will travel to Qatar, where he is scheduled to meet with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. His trip ends Thursday in the UAE, where he will meet with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan before returning to the U.S. The State Department said it delivered the required certification to Congress regarding the proposed sales to the UAE, which would "support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of an important regional partner," Bloomberg reported. The department said that the helicopters, manufactured by Boeing with engines made by Honeywell International, will enable the UAE to engage in "search and rescue, disaster relief, humanitarian support, and counterterrorism operations.” The State Department also said the F-16 parts would improve the UAE’s ability "to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity to meet its national defense requirements.”

Breitbart [5/12/2025 11:44 AM, Frances Martel, 2923K] reports Iranian state media celebrated the conclusion of a fourth round of "indirect" talks with President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Monday, citing Iranian officials who called the discussions "more serious and candid" without giving specific policy updates. President Trump announced in March that he had sent a letter proposing to Tehran’s "supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the two countries engage in dialogue, particularly regarding Iran’s illicit nuclear enrichment program. In February Khamenei had called any dialogue with America "unintelligent and dishonorable," only for Iran to confirm that it would, in fact, engage in talks with the United States in response to Trump’s invitation. Tehran has insisted the talks are "indirect" because an intermediary assigned by the Iranian government reportedly passed notes back and forth between the American and Iranian delegations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Witkoff completed a fourth round of Oman-mediated talks in Muscat, the Omani capital, on Sunday, which the Iranian government claimed lasted for three hours. While the talks have not resulted in any meaningful agreement on any issue, Araghchi declared himself satisfied with the alleged progress of the discussions in remarks this week. "We’ve moved beyond generalities and started dealing with more detailed issues," the Iranian state outlet PressTV quoted Araghchi as saying. "Naturally, that makes the talks more difficult — but despite the intensity and complexity, the negotiations were constructive.” Araghchi called the talks a "step forward" and immediately confirmed this weekend that Iran was interested in a fifth round of dialogue. "We’ve decided to move ahead with the next round. Both sides are committed," he said, according to PressTV. "The exact date and venue will be determined by Oman’s foreign minister, based on the schedules of both teams. I expect it will take place in about a week, give or take.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian independently remarked on the talks during a cabinet meeting on Sunday, asserting that Iran is "serious" about its commitment to the negotiations. "We engage in dialogue because we desire peace. Our country is committed to promoting stability and security in the region," Pezeshkian reportedly said, "and we believe that the nations in this area are like brothers, living together in harmony and tranquility.”

Reuters [5/12/2025 12:29 PM, Sakshi Dayal and Shubham Kalia, 41523K] reports Pakistan will have to get rid of its "terrorist infrastructure" if it wants to be "saved", Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, his first comments on the military clashes with Pakistan since last week’s deadly fighting between the two countries. "I will tell the global community also, if we talk to Pakistan, it will be about terrorism only...it will be about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," Modi said, referring to Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The clashes erupted following India’s strikes on what it said were "terrorist camps" in Pakistan on Wednesday, a fortnight after 26 men were killed in an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir. New Delhi said the attack was backed by Islamabad, a charge denied by Pakistan. The fighting stopped after the nuclear-armed neighbours agreed to a ceasefire on Saturday.

Reuters [5/13/2025 2:32 AM, Liz Lee, 24727K] reports The responsibility of tackling the fentanyl issue in the United States lies within the U.S. itself, China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday, rejecting the punitive tariffs Washington imposed on Beijing for not stemming the inflow. China has repeatedly said fentanyl is a U.S. issue and the tariffs imposed on China because of that are unreasonable, said Lin Jian, a ministry spokesperson, when asked at a regular news conference if fentanyl would be discussed in future trade talks. Trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have eased as both sides pledged to sharply lower tariffs on each other’s goods following talks in Switzerland over the weekend. But Washington did not remove the 20% tariffs it imposed on Chinese goods as it said that Beijing had not done enough to stop the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S.

New York Times [5/12/2025 4:34 PM, Daisuke Wakabayashi, Amy Chang Chien, and Alan Rappeport 153395K] reports the United States and China took a step on Monday to defuse the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, agreeing to temporarily reduce the punishing tariffs they have imposed on each other. The move by the United States, after President Trump had repeatedly declared that he would not lower tariffs without concessions from China, represented an acknowledgment of the costs of an all-out trade war with China. Despite the White House’s bluster, the Trump administration backed off, for now, from its steepest tariffs, and agreed to hold more formal talks with Beijing after companies and consumers started showing signs of economic strain. Explaining that many of the tariffs that he imposed remain in place, Mr. Trump said at the White House on Monday that talks would be focused in part on “opening up” China to American businesses. He said that he expected to talk to President Xi Jinping of China this week, but that putting a full deal on paper would take a while. “We’re not looking to hurt China,” Mr. Trump said. In a joint statement released earlier in the day, the United States and China said they would suspend their respective tariffs for 90 days and continue negotiations they started this weekend. Under the agreement, the United States would reduce the tariff on Chinese imports to 30 percent from its current 145 percent, while China would lower its import duty on American goods to 10 percent from 125 percent.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [5/12/2025 3:08 PM, Jennifer Jett, Peter Guo, and Rob Wile, 44742K]
Bloomberg [5/12/2025 7:19 AM, Shaji Mathew, 16228K] Video HERE
Reuters [5/12/2025 7:15 AM, Hudson Lockett, 41523K]

New York Times [5/12/2025 7:42 AM, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Edmund Lee, 153395K] reports stocks, the dollar and oil are soaring on Monday after President Trump’s top negotiators outlined the specifics of a major — though temporary — de-escalation in the U.S.-China trade fight. Expectations were sky-high for some kind of breakthrough. The market reaction suggests mission accomplished in terms of reaching an important détente, though significant trade barriers remain and plenty still needs to be worked out. “The consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was a point person in the U.S.-China talks in Geneva over the weekend, said on Monday. “Now we have the mechanism in place for further talks,” he added, noting that the framework agreement expires after 90 days. Those talks could come in “the next few weeks,” Bessent told CNBC. Here’s what is in the agreement: The U.S. will lower tariffs on Chinese imports to 30 percent from its current 145 percent. China will lower duties on U.S. goods to 10 percent from 125 percent. Sector-specific tariffs are not part of this deal, according to Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative. Trump has imposed targeted levies on items including Chinese-made semiconductors, medical devices, and aluminum and steel imports. China will remove nontariff export controls, but did not say whether it would lift restrictions on critical mineral shipments to the U.S. Beijing said it looked forward to stable and sustainable trade relations. Both sides appear to see futility in clobbering each other with huge tariffs. The tit-for-tat measures had created “the equivalent of an embargo, and neither side wants that,” Bessent said. Companies have been warning that the levies would upend global supply chains and force them to raise prices. (Apple is weighing raising prices on its fall lineup of iPhones, but is determined not to blame tariffs publicly for the move, according to The Wall Street Journal.)

Reuters [5/12/2025 8:33 AM, Sophie Yu and Farah Master, 41523K] reports a tariff deal between the United States and China on Monday was greeted with scepticism on Chinese social media, while official commentary welcomed the news. Speaking after talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two sides had agreed a 90-day pause and tariffs would be reduced by over 100 percentage points to a 10% baseline rate. "I’m just afraid that Trump might change his mind at any time, after all he is not normal," one user called Qijie wrote on China’s social media platform Weibo. "Those Americans, especially that fool Trump, are simply not trustworthy! Beware of their fickleness," said another user called Wu. Both posts generated thousands of likes. Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has increased tariffs paid by U.S. importers for goods from China to 145%, in addition to those he imposed on many Chinese goods during his first term and the duties the Biden administration levied. China responded with export curbs on some rare earth elements, vital for U.S. manufacturers of weapons and electronic consumer goods, and by raising tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.

Federalist [5/12/2025 7:35 AM, Julianna Frieman, 1033K] reports have you ever wondered how China sells us a toaster for $30 and still makes a profit? Here’s the secret: It’s not innovation — it’s exploitation. While global elites squawk about “free trade,” President Donald Trump has put his foot down and lifted the lid on what has let foreign nations eat our lunch: forced labor and modern-day slavery. On April 2, 2025, Trump declared “Liberation Day” and imposed reciprocal tariffs on dozens of foreign countries, in part to stop America from turning a blind eye to countries that take advantage of the U.S. market by destroying domestic competition in favor of cheap imports. But Trump’s tariffs were not just economic, they were moral. Rather than relying on foreign countries, particularly China, that benefit from abusive labor practices, Trump put America first by deciding the U.S. must stop pretending inexpensive products come with no human cost. The Democrats, of course, lost their minds. The same cohort that spent Trump’s first term trying to smear the populist change-maker as a “racist” was outraged that he was doing something about real slavery.

Axios [5/13/2025 1:24 AM, Rebecca Falconer, 13163K] reports China’s leader Xi Jinping took an apparent swipe at President Trumps tariffs policies on Tuesday. Xi’s first remarks since China and the U.S. agreed to cut tariffs on each other for 90 days were far removed from those in the U.S.-China joint statement that spoke of recognizing the importance of a "mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship." "There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars," Xi said at the China-CELAC Forum, according to translations. "Bullying or hegemonism only leads to self-isolation," he added. Xi last addressed the forum of over 30 countries that’s designed to foster political, economic, cultural and other kinds of cooperation between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States during the inaugural event in 2015. The Chinese leader told Tuesday’s event in Beijing that "only through unity and cooperation can countries safeguard global peace and stability and promote worldwide development and prosperity." Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment early Tuesday.

Newsweek [5/12/2025 10:48 AM, Micah McCartney, 3973K] reports Japan has expelled a Chinese oceanographic survey vessel found to be operating within its maritime zone, the U.S. ally’s coast guard said Sunday. Tokyo and other countries in the region have protested the presence of Chinese coast guard and research vessels within their exclusive economic zones-where, under the United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea, only the coastal state may exploit resources or conduct scientific research. Japan is also locked in a maritime dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited island group in the East China Sea administered by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing as the Diaoyu Islands. China has increased coast guard patrols in these waters, which studies have suggested may be rich in oil and natural gas reserves. At approximately 6:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, the Chinese oceanographic survey ship Hai Ke 001 was operating about 140 miles north-northeast of Taisho Island in the Senkaku Islands, Jiji Press cited Japan’s cost guard as saying. A coast guard patrol vessel observed the Hai Ke 001 lowering a "pipe-like object" into the water. After the Japanese vessel issued a radio warning ordering the activity to cease, the Chinese ship sailed away and, by around 1:20 p.m., had crossed the median line separating the two countries. The median line-proposed by Japan as an invisible maritime boundary equidistant between the two countries’ exclusive economic zones-is not recognized by China and remains a point of contention in their territorial dispute. China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated its sovereignty claim over the Senkaku Islands-known in China as the Diaoyu Islands-when asked about the incident during its regular press conference on Monday. The maritime encounter came three days after China’s coast guard said it drove away a Japanese fishing boat that "illegally entered" the Diaoyu Islands’ territorial waters.

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