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 Hill [5/14/2025 9:30 AM, Staff, 12829K] Video HERE reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem testified before a House panel on Wednesday morning on the fiscal 2026 budget for the department. Noem has vowed to significantly limit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is becoming a significant force behind President Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown. On Tuesday, she also advocated for Democrats who attended a protest in New Jersey outside a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility to be censured. The Trump administration has also threatened possible legal action against the lawmakers and Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka. The House Homeland Security Committee hearing came a day after the first federal judge gave the administration a green light to continue deportation flights to El Salvador under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act for immigrants with alleged links to gangs. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [5/14/2025 2:06 PM, Luke Barr, 34586K] reports that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came under fire from House Democrats while testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee on her department’s 2026 budget on Wednesday. The hearing quickly turned to immigration and featured back-and-forths with Democrats on the committee, with ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., telling Noem that under her leadership, it is a "sad day for DHS.” "Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like this that served as a lead Democrat on this committee. Even when, madam secretary, my Republican colleagues and I had strong disagreements, we still have productive conversations and did our duty keep America safe. But that’s not the case any longer," Thompson told Noem, adding that he is glad that Noem "found time among your many photo ops and costume changes to testify." "On your watch, the department is breaking the law, it’s hurting people, and it’s making America less safe," he added. "The Trump administration is outright lying to the courts and the American people." Noem was asked about what occurred last week in New Jersey as three members of Congress attempted to gain access to Delany Hall, a private detention center that is holding ICE detainees, and testified that it was "lawless." "We have footage of those members of Congress slamming their bodies into our law enforcement officers, shoving them screaming profanities in their faces, striking them with their fists and otherwise assaulting law enforcement," Noem testified. "The behavior was lawlessness, and it was beneath this body. Members of Congress should not break into detention centers or federal facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we certainly would have facilitated a tour." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [5/14/2025 4:56 PM, Ted Hesson, 41523K] reports U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday that she believes recent levels of illegal immigration could provide a sufficient legal rationale to suspend habeas corpus, the right of someone in the U.S. to challenge their detention. During a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives committee, Noem said she thought high levels of illegal border crossings under former President Joe Biden qualified under the U.S. Constitution as a reason to suspend the fundamental right. Representative Eli Crane, a Republican, asked Noem if she thought migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border qualified as a "rebellion or invasion" that could allow for the suspension of habeas corpus. Noem declined to say whether she supported actually taking that step and said Trump would make any decision. The Washington Times [5/14/2025 1:15 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the flow of illegal immigrants at the border would qualify as an "invasion" for purposes of suspending habeas corpus rights. "I believe it does," Ms. Noem told members of Congress during a hearing where she detailed the president’s border successes and his plans for the future. Habeas rights are at the center of the current deportation debate. Illegal immigrants have rushed to federal courts to challenge looming deportations under habeas corpus, which roughly translates to "produce the body" and stands for the principle that someone cannot be detained unjustly. Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller said last week that the president is pondering whether to suspend habeas rights to speed deportations. Ms. Noem said that decision is outside of her purview. "This is the president’s prerogative to pursue and he has not indicated to me that he will or will not be taking that action," she said. Habeas challenges are currently blocking President Trump from carrying out deportations of people he deems terrorism suspects under the Alien Enemies Act. The Hill [5/14/2025 2:06 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports that a writ of habeas corpus compels authorities to produce an individual they are holding and to justify their confinement, and the Constitution only allows its suspension in limited circumstances — "in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." During an appearance before lawmakers, Noem was asked about whether a suspension would meet those conditions. "I’m not a constitutional lawyer, but I believe it does," she said in response to a question from Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.). Crane had said the Biden administration "allowed an invasion into our country." Noem said it was "not in my purview" to consider such a weighty legal decision but said President Trump had not made a decision on the matter.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [5/14/2025 5:48 PM, Brian Freeman, 4998K]

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 6:41 PM, Barnini Chakraborty, 2296K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was targeted by Democrats on Wednesday for her “photo ops and costume changes,” handling of deportations, and views on due process and habeas corpus. Noem was testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee about her department’s fiscal 2026 budget, but talk quickly turned to immigration with fiery back-and-forths with Democrats. Ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-MS) started things off by thanking Noem for finding time "among your many photo ops and costume changes to testify about why President [Donald] Trump is seeking more taxpayer dollars, and what you plan to do with that money if you get it." Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) also took a shot at Noem’s fondness for photo ops and for what he said was a lack of access to legal counsel. "You are deporting children with cancer, children who are U.S. citizens, a gay makeup artist who committed no crime and didn’t even enter the country illegally," Magaziner said. "Instead of focusing on real criminals, you have allowed innocent children to be deported while you fly around the country playing dress-up for the cameras." Noem was also pressed on due process at the hearing. She testified that DHS is following all federal court orders and that "everybody has gotten due process," though she later claimed due process does not "guarantee a hearing.”"We have utilized due process as it’s laid out in the tools Congress has given us," she repeatedly said. She also testified that she believes recent levels of illegal immigration could give the Trump administration enough legal standing to suspend habeas corpus, the right someone has to challenge their detention. She claimed she was not a constitutional lawyer but believed it qualified. During the hearing, Noem had a particularly testy exchange with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

Politico [5/14/2025 2:18 PM, Ali Bianco, 2100K] reports Democrats on Wednesday pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on what her agency is doing to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador, as well as the case of two American children who were recently deported by the Trump administration. In a heated House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Noem said DHS is following all federal court orders and that “everybody has gotten due process” while later testifying that due process does not “guarantee a hearing.” “We have utilized due process as it’s laid out in the tools Congress has given us,” Noem repeatedly said. A federal appeals court had previously admonished the Trump administration for wrongly removing Abrego Garcia from the U.S. without due process, and the Supreme Court has ordered the administration to facilitate his return. The administration has previously said it has no duty to return Abrego Garcia and invoked state secrets privilege in response to a federal judge’s inquiry into the case. During the hearing, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) also displayed a picture of Abrego Garcia’s fist that President Donald Trump shared on social media. Trump has claimed the photo, which shows tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s fist and the superimposed lettering “MS-13,” proves the Maryland resident is a member of the notorious gang. Democratic lawmakers also asked about the cases of two children who are U.S. citizens and who were deported from the U.S. with their family members, who did not have citizenship. Noem said their mothers chose to take their children with them, a claim that received widespread pushback. “We do not deport U.S. citizens and have not deported U.S. citizens,” Noem added.

NewsMax [5/14/2025 6:35 PM, Staff, 4998K] reports during Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, Democrats grilled the former South Dakota governor, zeroing in on the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Democrats and Republicans argued for an hour and a half over Abrego Garcia’s case during the three-hour hearing. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the alleged MS-13 member be taken out of an El Salvador prison and returned to the United States. The court also ruled that Abrego Garcia must be provided with "due process.” "So your testimony to this committee under oath is that everybody that ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has picked up in this country has been given every opportunity as" it’s written in "Section 5 under the Constitution?" Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., asked Noem. "Correct," she replied. "I believe everybody has gotten due process, and every person has been treated appropriately according to the civil or the criminal action to which they were encountering individuals and brought into our detainment and then also removed from this country. "The tools that you have given us–". "I’m talking about the Constitution of the United States," Thompson interjected. "I’m not talking about tools.” Noem said one of the "tools" the Department of Homeland Security had been granted by Congress was the expedited removal of illegal aliens.

USA Today [5/14/2025 4:02 PM, Bart Jansen, 75858K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused a House Democrat of defending a terrorist after he suggested she was ignoring a court order to return a Salvadoran immigrant who was mistakenly deported. Rep. Dan Goldman of New York asked Noem at a House Homeland Security Committee meeting May 14 what she had done to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Maryland after his removal March 15 as an alleged member of MS-13. Garcia, who denies gang membership, had an immigration court order protecting him from deportation, which the administration acknowledged was an administrative error. Noem told lawmakers the immigration judge and investigators alleged Garcia was a member of MS-13, a crime gang Trump designated a foreign terrorist organization. The Washington Times [5/14/2025 12:10 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem thrashed Democrats on Wednesday for their continued demands to un-deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying they are trying to help "a terrorist" at the expense of Americans. During a hearing on her department’s budget, Ms. Noem was repeatedly targeted with questions about the handling of the MS-13 gang suspect who was deported — the administration has admitted improperly — to El Salvador in March. But Ms. Noem said now that he’s there, he will remain there, as he should. And she lashed out at Democrats for making him into a martyr for their opposition to President Trump. "It’s got to be extremely discouraging to be one of your constituents. To see you fight for a terrorist like this, and not fight for them is extremely alarming to me," Ms. Noem told Rep. Dan Goldman, New York Democrat. Mr. Goldman frothed at the accusation, pointing angrily back at Ms. Noem. "I’m fighting for due process," he said. Daily Wire [5/14/2025 3:18 PM, Spencer Lindquist, 4672K] reports that earlier this year, the Trump administration designated the MS-13 gang as a foreign terrorist organization. Goldman pressed Noem on DHS’s deportation of Abrego Garcia and the agency’s response to a Supreme Court order requiring the government to “facilitate” the return of the illegal alien from his home country of El Salvador back to the United States, despite not being a citizen or legal resident of America.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [5/14/2025 12:20 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports

Daily Caller [5/14/2025 12:20 PM, Nicole Silverio, 1082K] reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem did not let Democrat California Rep. Eric Swalwell off the hook Wednesday as he defended alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Swalwell repeatedly pointed to an image posted to Trump’s Truth Social account of what some believe is a digitally altered image of Garcia’s hand tattoos to further prove he was a member of MS-13. While being pressed by the California Democrat, Noem pointed to the evidence that Garcia is a member of MS-13, the deportation order against him issued by a judge and to the reports that he had beaten his wife. “Madame Secretary, I have a 7-year-old, a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old, I have a bullshit detector. I’m just asking you, is this [photograph] doctored or not doctored?” Swalwell asked. “Sir, the protocols in the case built against Abrego Garcia were exactly the same. I don’t have any knowledge as to that photo you’re pointing to,” Noem said, leading Swalwell to pressure her to look at the photo more closely. “Are you saying Abrego Garcia is not a wife beater? He is not a criminal, he’s not a human trafficker, he’s not a member of MS-13?” Swalwell accused Noem of “vouching” for Garcia when the administration admitted that he had been mistakenly deported. Officials then maintained that Garcia should remain in his native country of El Salvador due to the evidence indicating his association with MS-13.

Daily Mail [5/15/2025 12:19 AM, Victoria Churchill] reports Marjorie Taylor Greene ignited a fiery exchange with Democrat Dan Goldman during a hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. An argument broke out over whether deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang. Goldman, D-N.Y., disputed findings by Trump’s government that Garcia is a gang member, asking whether there was a court order establishing him as par of MS-13. Rep. Greene, R-Ga., provided evidence to be entered in the congressional record that Abrego Garcia was identified as a member of the MS-13 gang. ‘ICE officers, an immigration judge agreed, and an appellate board agreed,’ Greene stated, referencing claims previously made by Attorney General Pam Bondi. ‘I object because she is misstating the record and the facts. That is not accurate, and therefore I object to that being introduced,’ Goldman contested. Eventually, with a printout of Greene’s evidence of a tweet Attorney General Pam Bondi had made about Garcia in hand, Goldman caved on his position. ‘Given that this is a tweet from the Attorney General, that is effectively, I believe consistent with what Mrs. Taylor Greene says, I withdraw my objection,’ Goldman admitted. Another Trump admin official, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin fired back in an earlier statement. ‘The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children. He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug.’ ‘We have now found two petitions for protection against him, in addition to the fact that he entered the country illegally and is a confirmed member of MS-13. Our country is safer with him gone,’ McLaughlin concluded at the time.

FOX Business [5/14/2025 7:04 PM, Staff, 10702K] Video: HERE reports Homeland Security Committee member Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., weighs in on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s clash with a Democrat during a House hearing on ‘The Evening Edit.’

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 12:51 PM, Barnini Chakraborty, 2296K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem repeatedly refused to answer on Wednesday whether a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, which was used by President Donald Trump to claim Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, was doctored. Noem and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) got into a heated exchange about the picture during her testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee. Noem tried to explain the protocols of deportation but was interrupted by Swalwell, who repeatedly asked, "Can you just answer the question?" Noem replied, "I don’t have any knowledge as to that photo you are pointing to." Swalwell asked a member of his staff to bring the photo, which had been blown up to poster size, to Noem, who refused to look at it. "Are you saying Abrego Garcia is not a wife-beater, that he’s not a criminal, that he’s not a human trafficker, he’s not a member of MS-13?" Noem asked. "It is so telling that you will not look at the photo. Was it doctored or not? Can you look to the right?" Swalwell later said. "We will not be bringing him back," Noem responded. "Can you look to the right at the photo in front of you?" Swalwell asked. Noem said she had seen the photo because "you held it behind your head." Swalwell again asked, "The letters MS and the numbers 13, are those doctored or not?" Noem responded, "Is this how you want to spend your testimony today, talking about whether a photo was doctored or not?" The photo in question is of Abrego Garcia’s left hand. Trump has alleged that Abrego Garcia "had ‘MS-13’ tattooed onto his knuckles."

NewsNation [5/14/2025 6:32 PM, Jordan Perkins, 6866K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before a House panel Wednesday about the department’s budget and faced questions about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, said she believes Noem was not interested in having actual dialogue with committee members and said she was "disingenuous in her answers and came with canned talking points." One of the topics that came up during the committee meeting was due process for the immigrant deportations DHS has been carrying out. During testimony, Noem was questioned about the arrests of Democratic lawmakers, including Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka on Friday after they were attempting to visit a detention center there. Noem called the visit "lawlessness," and said it should not be tolerated.

Roll Call [5/14/2025 10:36 AM, Chris Johnson, 503K] reports that part of the House budget reconciliation proposal includes a steep increase in fees throughout the immigration system, such as a new $1,000 application fee for asylum claims and a new $8,500 fee to sponsor an unaccompanied minor migrant. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said during a markup of the reconciliation text that the new fees would raise an estimated $77 billion in revenue and build on the immigration policies of the Trump administration. But experts who work in the immigration system say the changes will put that immigration system out of reach for many migrants and others seeking to help them. Jennifer Podkul, chief of global advocacy for Kids in Need of Defense, which works to help unaccompanied children, said Tuesday the new $8,500 fee would "make it unattainable" for youths to obtain sponsorship in the United States. "This is not just merely fee readjustment, you know, to catch up with inflation or costs, or anything like that," Podkul said. "I mean, this is a drastic policy change intended to make it next to impossible for kids to ask for protection." Jordan said at the markup that the current fee structure has "not been updated in some cases for decades, and in many cases, fees have never been applied at all." The Congressional Budget Office, Jordan said, estimated that the fees for asylum alone would raise $748 million over 10 years. The CBO also estimated that the revenue from new fees for applying for Temporary Protected Status would be $2 billion, while fees for renewing work permits would raise $4.7 billion, he said.

The Washington Post [5/14/2025 4:06 PM, Salvador Rizzo and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, 31735K] reports Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown University researcher who has been held in an immigration detention center in Texas since March, was released from custody Wednesday, hours after a federal judge ruled that Trump administration officials probably violated his rights in their ongoing attempt to deport him. Suri, a postdoctoral fellow who lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and three children, says he is being wrongfully targeted by immigration authorities because of his family’s support for the Palestinian people in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. U.S. officials have invoked a rarely used statute as they seek to deport Suri to his native India, calling him a threat to foreign-policy interests. At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered Suri released from immigration custody. He was released hours later, his attorneys said, and was expected to be reunited promptly with his family in Arlington County, just outside the nation’s capital. The ruling came days after Giles asserted jurisdiction over the case in Virginia, denying a request from the Justice Department to transfer proceedings to a federal court in Texas. As a condition of Suri’s release, Giles ordered that Suri reside in Virginia and attend hearings in her courtroom. The logistical details of his transportation to Virginia were not immediately available. A photograph released Wednesday by his legal team shows a beaming Suri exiting the detention facility. The judge declined a government attorney’s request to stay her ruling for seven days while the Justice Department weighs a possible appeal. Giles said her ruling does not affect Suri’s separate case in immigration court. NPR [5/14/2025 6:11 PM, Jaclyn Diaz and Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, 29983K] reports Suri is also fighting the Trump administration’s attempt to deport him in a separate immigration case in Texas. His next immigration hearing in the Texas case is scheduled for June 3, according to Khan Suri’s legal team. On his way out of the detention center in Texas, Suri said, "There was no charge, there was nothing. They made a sub human out of me," NBC News reported. Judge Patricia Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia said the government failed to offer up evidence supporting Suri’s detention, New York Times reported. Giles said the government also failed to demonstrate that Suri was a threat to U.S. interests, according to the Times. Suri, who was never charged with a crime, was detained at the Texas facility for two months, following his arrest by masked federal agents after he returned to his Virginia home on March 17. The agents informed him his visa had been revoked. A DHS official said Suri had been detained for "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas." His lawyers denied the claims and said the government was retaliating against Suri for he and his wife’s support for Palestinians. NBC News [5/14/2025 1:33 PM, Kimmy Yam and Gary Grumbach, 44742K] reports Khan Suri “has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on X. FOX 5 Washington, DC [5/14/2025 3:56 PM, Elissa Salamy and Stephanie Ramirez, 1400K] reports he had been accused of "spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media," according to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in March. "Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas," McLaughlin announced late in March on the X platform. "The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i)." The Hill [5/14/2025 1:04 PM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K] reports that the Trump administration is trying to silence speech it doesn’t agree with by targeting people like Dr. Khan Suri and Mahmoud Khalil, but ideas are not illegal," said Eden Heilman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. "Dr. Khan Suri’s arrest and detention far away from his family is part of an extreme and unprecedented attack by this administration designed to punish students and academics for their views, and we won’t stop fighting until Dr. Khan Suri gets justice.” "Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i)," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said after his arrest. His next hearing regarding the federal government’s attempt to deport him will occur in Texas on June 3.

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Wall Street Journal [5/14/2025 5:24 PM, Victoria Alber and Jan Wolfe, 646K]
New York Times [5/14/2025 3:17 PM, Zach Montague, 153395K]
Bloomberg Law News [5/14/2025 12:48 PM, Mallory Culhane, 120K]
AP [5/14/2025 6:47 PM, Olivia Diaz, Kendra LaFleur, and Ben Finley, 48304K] r
Reuters [5/14/2025 6:11 PM, Jasper Ward, 41523K]
CBS News [5/14/2025 2:50 PM, Jacob Rosen, 52225K] Video HERE
NBC News [5/14/2025 1:33 PM, Kimmy Yam and Gary Grumbach, 44742K]
(B) NBC News Daily [5/14/2025 3:37 PM, Staff]
FOX News [5/14/2025 1:11 PM, Stephen Sorace, David Spunt and Bill Mears, 46189K]
Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 4:16 PM, Kaelan Deese, 2296K]

(B) CBS Mornings [5/14/2025 8:11 AM, Staff] reports that a college student who has lived in the US since she was four is facing deportation after being pulled over in a traffic stop. 19-year-old Ximena Arias Cristobal was born in Mexico and has been detained by ICE since last week. The administration says she has to face consequences. Despite the dismissed traffic charges, the Department of Homeland Security said the facts have not changes. The department says she and her undocumented father are in the country illegally and must face consequences.

ABC News [5/14/2025 12:24 PM, Nadine El-Bawab and Armando Garcia, 34586K] reports that despite the charges against a Georgia college student being dropped in the wake of her mistaken traffic arrest, the Department of Homeland Security is committed to ordering Ximena Arias-Cristobal and her father to "self-deport," the agency said in a statement. Arias-Cristobal, 19, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being mistakenly stopped for a traffic infraction she did not commit. Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, was arrested on May 5 in Dalton, Georgia, when her dark gray truck was mistaken for a black pickup that made an illegal turn. Those citations were dropped on Monday once officials realized there was a mix-up, Dalton Assistant Police Chief Chris Crossen said. However, Arias-Cristobal remains in ICE custody at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, ICE records show. Arias-Cristobal’s father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, was separately detained by police -- and later ICE -- two weeks before his daughter for speeding and driving without a license, according to DHS. She "admitted to illegally entering the United States and has no pending applications with USCIS," the DHS said late Tuesday in a post on X. "The facts haven’t changed. Both father and daughter were in this country illegally and they have to face the consequences," the department said in the post. "The United States is offering aliens like this father and daughter $1,000 apiece and a free flight to self-deport now.” "We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream," the department added in the post. "If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.” The teen came to the U.S. with her parents when she was 4 years old and is ineligible for relief from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which temporarily protects some migrants from deportation if they were brought to the country as children, an attorney for Arias-Cristobal told ABC News. Arias-Cristobal was not eligible to register for the DACA program because it was ended before she became eligible to apply at 16 years old. "The family will be able to return to Mexico together," DHS said. "Mr. Tovar had ample opportunity to seek a legal pathway to citizenship. He chose not to. We are not ignoring the rule of law.”

CBS News [5/14/2025 1:59 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51661K] Video: HERE reports a 19-year-old Mexican-born Georgia woman who has lived in the U.S. since she was 4 continues to face deportation, despite the dismissal of the traffic charges that led Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest her. In her first interview since being detained by ICE, Ximena Arias Cristobal told CBS News her biggest worry is not being able to stay in Georgia, after spending most of her life — around 15 years — in the U.S. "My life is here, and I’m scared I’m going to have to start all over again in a country that I don’t know," Arias Cristobal said over a phone call from inside an ICE detention center in Georgia where she is being held. She’s been held at that facility since she was taken into custody by a Dalton policeman on May 5 on charges of making an improper turn and driving without a license. A college student who graduated from Dalton’s high school last year, Arias Cristobal came to the U.S. without authorization in 2010. While she came to the U.S. as a child, she did not qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that currently protects half a million undocumented immigrants known as "Dreamers" from deportation. She arrived after the Obama-era program’s June 2007 cut-off date. Before President Trump took office for a second time, Arias Cristobal — a young undocumented immigrant without a criminal record — would likely not have been arrested by ICE, even without the DACA protections. On Monday, officials in Dalton dismissed the two traffic charges against Arias Cristobal, saying the police officer had stopped the wrong car. It was that traffic stop that landed Arias Cristobal in Whitfield County Jail, where she was detained by ICE. The county is one of hundreds of jurisdictions that have agreements to cooperate with ICE by turning over noncitizen detainees. Despite the dismissal of the traffic charges, Arias Cristobal continues to face deportation to Mexico, alongside her father, who was detained by ICE in April, also after a traffic stop. They’re both being held at the Stewart ICE detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia. In a statement to CBS News, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the facts in Arias Cristobal’s case "haven’t changed," even after the traffic violations were dismissed. "Both father and daughter were in this country illegally and they have to face the consequences," McLaughlin said. She did not dispute that Arias Cristobal and her father do not have criminal records.

Axios [5/14/2023 5:40 AM, Rebecca Falconer, 13163K] reports a coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general is suing President Trump’s administration over threats to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding if they don’t follow his immigration enforcement polices. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who’s leading the two lawsuits, said at a Tuesday briefing that threats to cut funds for emergency services and infrastructure maintenance represented "a blatantly illegal attempt to bully states" into enacting Trump’s agenda. Trump signed executive orders last month directing federal agencies to document "sanctuary cities" that are not complying with his immigration agenda, and the White House said those that failed to do so "may lose federal funding." The conditions would affect state projects including disaster relief, flood mitigation, and railroad, bridge and airport construction, the states argue in the lawsuits that were filed Tuesday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who’s named in one of the suits, pushed back on the state AGs’ lawsuit allegations in an emailed statement Wednesday that said no funding has been withheld. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement Wednesday that Trump "has been clear" that cities and states "who break the law and prevent us from arresting criminal illegal aliens should not receive federal funding." One lawsuit that names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and others, argues the Trump administration’s conditions on funding are unconstitutional. They’re also "beyond FEMA’s legal authority because Congress appropriated the billions of federal dollars to help states prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from catastrophic disasters," per a statement from Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, one of the AGs suing the administration The other suit naming Duffy and the Department of Transportation makes a similar argument on the funding of critical infrastructure projects. States signed onto the suit include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. "We are experiencing creeping authoritarianism in this country, and as a people we must continue to resist," said Peter Neronha, attorney general of Rhode Island, where the lawsuit was filed, in a statement.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 11:07 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 2296K] reports a coalition of 20 states sued the Trump administration over its threats to withhold funding from states that do not comply with federal immigration policy. Last month, President Donald Trump signed executive orders directing federal agencies to make note of "sanctuary cities" in noncompliance with his immigration agenda. The order states that states or cities that fail to do so "may lose federal funding." California Attorney General Rob Bonta leads the coalition with two lawsuits against the order. He claimed Trump does not have "the authority to unlawfully coerce state and local governments into using their resources for federal immigration enforcement — and his latest attempt to bully them into doing so is blatantly illegal." "Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: The President is threatening to yank funds to improve our roads, keep our planes in the air, prepare for emergencies, and protect against terrorist attacks if states do not fall in line with his demands. He’s treating these funds, which have nothing to do with immigration enforcement and everything to do with the safety of our communities, as a bargaining chip," Bonta said in a statement. One lawsuit was filed against the Department of Homeland Security, its secretary, Kristi Noem, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It argues that the administration’s conditions on funding are unconstitutional, as Congress has already appropriated the funds. The other lawsuit was filed against the Department of Transportation and its secretary, Sean Duffy, making a similar case against the restriction of funding for critical infrastructure projects.

NBC News [5/14/2025 11:59 PM, Ken Dilanian and Ryan J. Reilly, 44742K] reports FBI field offices around the country have been ordered to assign significantly more agents to immigration enforcement, a dramatic shift in federal law enforcement priorities that will likely siphon resources away from counterterrorism, counterintelligence and fraud investigations, multiple current and former bureau officials told NBC News. The orders, given in a series of memos and meetings in FBI offices this week, come at a time when the Trump Administration is proposing to cut 5% of the FBI’s budget, and as the Justice Department is deprioritizing investigating certain types of white collar and corporate crime, according to a memo obtained by NBC News. The new push is happening as FBI director Kash Patel also approved 667 requests for FBI personnel to take early retirement this week, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News. “As you know, we have been actively engaged in immigration enforcement efforts in coordination with our DOJ and DHS partners,” said a memo obtained by NBC News from a senior FBI official to managers. “Starting this week, we will need to see an increase in operational tempo in your immigration efforts. DOJ expects a significant increase in the number of agents participating in immigration enforcement operations.” One federal law enforcement official estimated that the vast majority of agents were uncomfortable with being a part of the immigration operations, saying ICE didn’t meticulously plan out arrest operations the way that the bureau does. “This is not what we do, these are bad ideas,” said the federal law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation. “If this was a Democrat administration, I’d be saying this is bad, we shouldn’t be doing this.” FBI spokesman Ben Williamson defended the move. “The FBI has been committed to supporting our partners in immigration enforcement and will remain so.”

Breitbart [5/14/2025 7:32 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 2923K] reports the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has ordered agents to direct more attention to purging illegal aliens from the United States, with sources telling Reuters that they were told to deprioritize white-collar crime investigations to devote more time to immigration enforcement. Investigating white-collar cases will remain deprioritized for the rest of 2025 at least, four people familiar with the matter told the outlet on Monday. The sources’ claims came on the same day that Matthew Galeotti, chief of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Criminal Division, directed prosecutors to scale back their approach to such cases and to "minimize the length and collateral impact" of such investigations. In his Monday memorandum, Galeotti listed health care fraud, trade and customs fraud, elder securities fraud, and transnational crime like "Chinese Money Laundering Organizations" as ones to prioritize for prosecution. He also told prosecutors to carefully consider whether corporate misconduct "warrants federal criminal prosecution.” "Prosecution of individuals, as well as civil and administrative remedies directed at corporations, are often appropriate to address low-level corporate misconduct and vindicate U.S. interests," Galeotti wrote. The reported focus on immigration enforcement comes soon after President Donald Trump’s acting chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Andrea Lucas, warned that companies that prefer migrants and H-1B visa workers over Americans will face federal investigations and discrimination lawsuits.

Breitbart [5/14/2025 12:01 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to permit deportations under the Alien Enemies Act after a group of Tren de Aragua gang members, detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), threatened to take hostages while barricading themselves inside their cells. After Trump began deporting illegal alien gang members using the Alien Enemies Act, a group of Soros-linked groups sued to block the deportations. SCOTUS paused the Trump administration’s ability to continue such deportations last month. This week, the Trump administration is asking SCOTUS to permit deportations under the Alien Enemies Act after 23 Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, barricaded themselves inside their holding cells using beds, covered surveillance cameras, and blocked windows before threatening to harm ICE agents and take hostages. "Twenty-three TdA members barricaded themselves in the Bluebonnet Detention Facility, threatened to take hostages, and endangered officers," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: “Keeping these foreign terrorists in ICE facilities poses a serious threat to ICE officers, staff, and other detainees. The media repeated these TdA gang members’ false sob stories, but the truth is these are members of a foreign terrorist organization that rape, maim, and murder for sport.” The Tren de Aragua gang members also reportedly tried to clog toilets inside the cells so as to flood the facility. When ICE agents ordered them to take down such barricades, they refused. The case is A.A.R.P. v. Trump, No. 24A1007 in the Supreme Court of the United States.

DailySignal [5/14/2025 11:58 AM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 495K] reports the Trump administration is praising House Republicans for protecting Americans’ Medicaid access by removing noncitizens from the program. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Tuesday markup of budget reconciliation prohibits federal funding under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program for illegal immigrants. "President Trump and Republicans are protecting Medicaid—and that starts with kicking 1.4 million illegal immigrants off the program to prioritize the Americans who need it," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to The Daily Signal. The markup removes "people without verified citizenship, nationality, or satisfactory immigration status who would be covered in state-only funded programs under current law." That’s estimated to be 1.4 million by 2034. Last month’s budget resolution tasked the House Energy and Commerce Committee with slashing $880 billion in spending. Since then, swirling rumors—especially about Medicaid cuts—have stirred chaos on Capitol Hill. Democrats have accused Republicans of cutting Medicaid for Americans, failing to note that Republicans are actually cutting coverage for illegal immigrants. "Republicans are rushing the markup and hoping to pass the bill in the middle of the night because they don’t want people to realize what’s in it, or how many Americans are going to lose their health care as a result," a spokesperson for Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats said in a statement.

New York Times [5/14/2025 4:24 PM, Amanda Taub, 145325K] reports the U.S. has sent hundreds of deportees, most of whom appear to be Venezuelans, to El Salvador, where they are being held in a maximum-security prison notorious for its brutality. The U.S. has sent migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa to Panama and Costa Rica, including families with young children. The Trump administration is also in early talks with the Rwandan government to send deportees to the central African country, and this month the U.S. made plans to send Laotian, Vietnamese and Filipino migrants to Libya before backing down in the face of a court order. The expansion of the administration’s third-country deportation program appears to have two aims in the service of its overarching goal to remove millions of immigrants from the United States, including both undocumented immigrants and those who have legal status but are viewed as undesirable by the administration. The first seems largely tactical: It creates a process to remove migrants whose countries of origin don’t want them back. The second aim, it appears, is strategic: Convince immigrants, documented or otherwise, that staying in the United States is so risky that they should “self-deport,” lest they end up in a brutal prison. It’s a campaign designed for deterrence. Zooming out, there is another way to look at these deportations: By setting up third-country deportation agreements and claiming they are shielded from judicial review or oversight, the administration is trying to create an outsourced global detention system where rights to due process effectively do not exist, one run by mostly authoritarian governments that are trying to curry favor with President Trump.

ABC News [5/14/2025 1:58 PM, Devin Dwyer, 34586K] reports the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Thursday over President Donald Trump’s emergency request to roll back nationwide injunctions blocking his executive order to end birthright citizenship. The rare May sitting of the court sets the stage for a decision by this summer on whether Trump can move forward with plans to limit U.S. citizenship only to children born on American soil to lawful permanent residents. The case is also expected to address the legality of individual district court judges single-handedly blocking a presidential policy nationwide. Trump is seeking to dissolve judicial orders preventing mass federal layoffs, funding freezes, and expedited deportation protocols. For more than a century, courts and the government have interpreted the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause to apply to anyone born in the U.S., regardless of the citizenship status of a child’s parents. The Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, states that all "persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order unilaterally declaring that only newborns whose parents have permanent legal status are "subject to the jurisdiction" of the U.S. and therefore eligible to be citizens. "This administration believes that birthright citizenship is unconstitutional," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained during a February briefing. Three different sets of plaintiffs sued to block the order, including a group of 22 states, immigrant advocacy groups, and pregnant women whose soon-to-be-born children would be affected. "Birthright citizenship is at the core of our Nation’s foundational precept that all people born on our soil are created equal, regardless of their parentage," attorneys for the immigrant advocates wrote in legal briefs. An estimated 150,000 children are born each year in the U.S. to parents who are not legal permanent residents, according to government data. "Instead of the right to full participation and belonging in their home country -- the United States -- these children will be forced to live in the shadow," the states warned in court filings, "under the constant risk of deportation while the appeals run their course.”

Reported similarly:
Roll Call [5/14/2025 12:32 PM, Michael Macagnone, 503K]
Bloomberg [5/14/2025 2:57 PM, Staff, 16228K]

New York Times [5/14/2025 2:53 PM, Abbie VanSickle, 145325K] reports shortly after the Supreme Court announced in April that it would consider the nationwide freeze on President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, he gleefully spoke to reporters in the Oval Office. Mr. Trump said that he was “so happy” the justices would take up the citizenship issue because it had been “so misunderstood.” The 14th Amendment, he said — long held to grant citizenship to anyone born in the United States — is actually “about slavery.” “That’s not about tourists coming in and touching a piece of sand and then all of the sudden there’s citizenship,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “That is all about slavery.” For more than a century, most scholars and the courts have agreed that though the 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution after the Civil War, it was not, in fact, all about slavery. Instead, courts have held that the amendment extended citizenship not just to the children of former slaves but also to babies born within the borders of the United States. The notion that the amendment might not do so was once considered an unorthodox theory, promoted by an obscure California law professor named John Eastman and his colleagues at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank — the same professor who would later provide Mr. Trump with legal arguments he used to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The story of how the theory moved from the far edges of academia to the Oval Office and, on Thursday, to the Supreme Court, offers insight into how Mr. Trump has popularized legal theories once considered unthinkable to justify his immigration policies. “They have been pushing it for decades,” said John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and a top lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. “It was thought to be a wacky idea that only political philosophers would buy. They’ve finally got a president who agrees.” The White House did not respond to requests for comment. In a brief to the Supreme Court, an immigrant advocacy group argued that “birthright citizenship is at the core of our nation’s foundational precept that all people born on our soil are created equal, regardless of their parentage.” State attorneys general who are challenging the policy weighed in with a brief that argued that the Supreme Court had already settled the question in the landmark 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, when the court found that a man born in San Francisco to Chinese parents was a citizen. So far, courts have agreed. Judges in Washington State, Massachusetts and Maryland quickly instituted nationwide pauses on Mr. Trump’s policy. In oral arguments this week, the justices will primarily consider whether federal judges have the power to order these temporary pauses, known as nationwide injunctions. But the question of birthright citizenship will form the backdrop.

Bloomberg [5/14/2025 8:00 AM, Greg Stohr, 16228K] reports President Donald Trump is pressing the US Supreme Court to use a dispute over one of his most audacious immigration initiatives as a way to constrain the judges who keep thwarting his agenda. The court on Thursday will consider the administration’s bid to strip judges of the power to block government policies nationwide. The unusual May session – the court’s first oral argument tied to Trump’s government overhaul – stems from his attempt to unilaterally topple the longstanding consensus that the Constitution confers so-called birthright citizenship on virtually everyone born on US soil. The court will weigh a question that cuts across the 320-plus lawsuits challenging Trump’s initiatives. Trump says three federal judges exceeded their authority by halting his birthright citizenship restrictions across the country, rather than issuing narrower decisions confined to the people and groups that sued. The orders are among more than 30 so-called nationwide or universal injunctions judges have issued against the administration, including orders restoring foreign-aid payments and halting cuts in reimbursement rates for universities. The issue carries major importance, said Jeffrey Wall, a Washington lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell and former deputy solicitor general during Trump’s first administration. Nationwide injunctions “allow a single litigant or judge to put on hold what the president wants to do, sometimes for years,” he said. Administrations from both parties have decried universal injunctions, but Trump’s team has ratcheted up the criticism. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices in court papers that nationwide injunctions have reached “epidemic” levels and now “gravely encroach on the president’s executive power.”

Daily Wire [5/15/2025 12:40 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 4672K] reports the Justice Department heads to the Supreme Court on Thursday to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship in a case that could have far-reaching implications on activist judges’ ability to hamper Trump’s agenda. While the case, Trump v. Casa, revolves around Trump’s day one actions on birthright citizenship, the primary arguments are expected to focus on the power of lone judges to issue universal injunctions that apply to the whole country. The Trump administration has asked the court to rule three nationwide injunctions issued against the birthright citizenship order are only applied to the parties involved and not the whole country. “For the first 170 years of American jurisprudence, nationwide injunctions were virtually unknown,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in an April 7 filing. “Their use remained sparing until this century, when they saw a dramatic upsurge in 2017, followed by an explosion in the last three months.” “These injunctions exceed the district courts’ authority under Article III and gravely encroach on the President’s executive power under Article II. This Court’s intervention is urgently needed to restore the constitutional balance of separated powers,” he added. A win for the Trump administration would be significant blow to the Left, which has utilized judges to block much of Trump’s policies from immigration to efforts to dismantle the sprawling federal bureaucracy.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 7:00 AM, Kaelan Deese, 2296K] reports the Supreme Court on Thursday will hear arguments in a rare yet also high-stakes dispute over President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and temporary visa holders. But the justices will not decide that constitutional question directly — at least, not yet. Instead, the legal focus will be whether a single federal judge can issue a universal or nationwide injunction that bars the federal government from enforcing an executive order throughout the United States. "This case is not about the underlying merits," said GianCarlo Canaparo, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "The acting solicitor general made a very strategic effort to get the Supreme Court to take up the nationwide injunctions issue cleanly. The administration is perfectly willing to accept its loss in the lower courts for now, provided it can void these sweeping injunctions.” Still, this case could not be more high-stakes as the Trump administration has been stymied by at least 17 nationwide injunctions between January and the end of March. The Trump administration sees the special argument session outside the normal Supreme Court oral argument calendar as an opportunity to overcome district judges stalling the Republican’s executive agenda throughout the entire country. Yet questions remain as to whether the justices will decide to rein in federal judges’ abilities to implement these universal injunctions or whether they will stop short of hindering lower courts from blocking presidential policies nationwide. Case centers on judicial authority, not the 14th Amendment.

Bloomberg Law News [5/14/2025 11:06 AM, Lydia Wheeler Senior, 120K] reports the Trump administration is citing a short student piece to defend the legality of the president’s executive order restricting automatic birthright citizenship. Among other scholarship referenced in the administration’s emergency request to the US Supreme Court is an article from a conservative advocate at the Heritage Foundation. In it, Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow with group, cites arguments made by John Eastman, Donald Trump’s former lawyer who’s facing disbarment for trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

USA Today [5/14/2025 5:41 PM, Maureen Groppe, 75858K] reports in what could be its biggest blockbuster case of the year, the Supreme Court on May 15 will take up one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial executive orders: ending the guarantee of citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States. Judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents have put that change on hold, ruling it’s likely unconstitutional. The Trump administration argues judges shouldn’t be able to completely pause the president’s policy while it’s being challenged in court. They’ve asked the Supreme Court to narrow legal rulings so Trump’s new citizenship policy can apply as widely as possible until there’s a final determination from judges about whether it is constitutional. And the Justice Department says the Supreme Court can do that without deciding whether they will eventually uphold or strike down Trump’s policy. How the high court responds will affect not only whether birthright citizenship will be scaled back at least temporarily, but also if it will be harder for judges to pause other Trump policies.

New York Post [5/14/2025 6:01 AM, Ryan King, 54903K] reports when the Supreme Court hears arguments Thursday over President Trump’s challenge to automatic birthright citizenship, the immigration spat could take a backseat to a more contested legal question about the power of lower-court judges to rein in the executive branch. Earlier this year, lower courts in Washington, Massachusetts and Maryland slapped broad universal injunctions — nationwide pauses — that stopped Trump’s executive action to end birthright citizenship from taking effect. Back in March, the Trump administration pleaded with the high court and is hoping to use the birthright citizenship case to end “toxic and unprecedented” universal injunctions that have hampered a myriad of the president’s executive actions. “This is a funny test case, because the underlying law is so clear and because it’s sort of the same exact issue all across the country,” Gabriel Chin, a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, and Director of Clinical Legal Education at the UC Davis School of Law, told The Post.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 6:00 AM, Rep. Brandon Gill, 2296K] reports when President Donald Trump returned to office, he faced the monumental task of reversing the greatest illegal immigration crisis in American history. He and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem knew we needed to take an all-of-the-above approach to fix it. To that end, DHS has announced that, in addition to paying for and arranging flights out of America for any and all illegal immigrants who want to self-deport voluntarily, it will offer illegal immigrants a $1,000 stipend once they are confirmed to be back in their home countries. This innovative approach to reverse the Biden border crisis will save money and help save this country, just as Trump promised to do. That "reward" is offered through the CBP Home app. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it originally was the tool former President Joe Biden used to fast-track the destruction of the United States. The Biden administration created the CBP One app for foreign nationals so they could enter our country as quickly as possible. The Trump administration took that same app, changed its name, and changed its purpose. Now the CBP Home app is being used to get as many illegal immigrants as possible to self-deport. While conservatives are generally on board with promoting self-deportation, some take issue with the $1,000 stipend. This is certainly understandable. But ultimately this plan will create significant savings for taxpayers while incentivizing illegal immigrants to leave.

FOX News [5/14/2025 12:35 PM, Diana Stancy, 46189K] reports that American leaders bear responsibility for vilifying police officers, following the death of a sheriff’s deputy who was "mowed down by a bloodthirsty criminal" in Cincinnati, according to Vice President JD Vance. Vance said that supporting law enforcement requires both policy and moral leadership, while he remembered Hamilton County, Ohio, Special Deputy Larry Henderson during a law enforcement breakfast Wednesday at the vice president’s residence. "Larry Henderson lost his life because he was doing his job and keeping people safe," Vance said Wednesday. "And when I think about why that senseless crime happened, obviously you’ve got to place blame on the guy who committed the crime. "But I also think a lot of the blame falls on American leadership, who for too long, have made our police officers out to be enemies, instead of the great public servants that all of us know that they are," he said. Rodney Hinton faces charges of aggravated murder, and authorities claim he deliberately drove into Henderson after police officers shot and killed Hinton’s 18-year-old son May 1. Hinton’s son was allegedly armed and in the middle of fleeing the scene of a stolen vehicle investigation when he was shot.

NBC News [5/14/2025 5:30 PM, Jean Lee, 44742K] reports Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born Harvard scientist, has been charged with smuggling biological material into the United States — an escalation in a case that has already raised legal and civil rights questions over her detention. Federal prosecutors allege that Petrova, 30, violated U.S. customs law by failing to declare preserved frog embryos in her luggage when she arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Feb. 16 from Paris. She now faces a charge of smuggling goods into the United States. According to a criminal complaint filed under seal this week and made public on Wednesday, a CBP canine alerted officers to Petrova’s duffle bag, which was later searched. Officers found clawed frog embryos, paraffin slides and other samples. During a habeas hearing Tuesday in Vermont federal court, U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss questioned the legality of the government’s actions. "Where does a Customs and Border Patrol officer have the authority on his or her own to revoke a visa?" she asked. "I don’t see anything about a customs violation." Reiss scheduled a tentative bail hearing for May 28 and asked for further briefing on whether the court has jurisdiction to release Petrova. The New York Times [5/14/2025 6:16 PM, Ellen Barry, 145325K] reports that in a hearing in federal district court earlier in the day, a government lawyer told a federal judge that the Trump administration intends to deport Ms. Petrova back to Russia, a country she fled in 2022, despite her fear that she will be arrested there over her history of political protest. Ms. Petrova has admitted that she failed to declare the samples, but her lawyer has argued that this would ordinarily be treated as a minor infraction, punishable with a fine. Instead, the customs official canceled Ms. Petrova’s J-1 visa on the spot and initiated deportation proceedings. Christina Reiss, chief judge of the United States District Court in Vermont, repeatedly quizzed the government lawyers about their grounds for canceling Ms. Petrova’s visa and detaining her. The criminal charges will further complicate Ms. Petrova’s desire to remain in the United States and return to her laboratory at Harvard Medical School. He said the Vermont hearing had established that Ms. Petrova was detained unlawfully. In the event Ms. Petrova is convicted, the smuggling charge could lead to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, or a fine of up to $250,000. USA Today [5/14/2025 6:09 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, Lauren Villagran, 75858K] reports that a hearing on the criminal smuggling charge is scheduled for May 15. The government contends that Petrova failed to declare biologic material when arriving at Boston’s Logan International Airport in February. In the lawsuit, the government asked U.S. Judge Christina Reiss to dismiss Petrova’s case and deport her to her native Russia. Petrova sued the Trump administration after customs officers canceled her J-1 work-study visa and turned her over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for failing to declare biological samples. She has been detained in Louisiana since mid-February. U.S. prosecutors allege Petrova "fraudulently and knowingly" imported biological specimens.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/14/2025 7:26 PM, Michael Casey, 5046K]

ABC News [5/14/2025 5:26 PM, Laura Romero, 34586K] reports attorneys for the Justice Department said Wednesday that they plan to deport a Harvard Medical School researcher back to Russia, despite her fear of being returned to her home country where she said she faced past persecution for her political activities. During a habeas hearing on Wednesday, a federal judge in Vermont pressed the DOJ on the government’s decision to revoke Kseniia Petrova’s visa after the Harvard researcher was detained at a Boston airport in February when a Customs and Border Protection officer found undeclared "noninfectious and non-toxic frog embryos" in her luggage. Petrova, according to a complaint filed in February, told the CBP officer that she feared being returned to Russia, where she faced past persecution for her political activities, and instead requested to be returned to France -- at which point she was detained. During the hearing, Judge Reiss asked Hartman on what authority did the CBP seek to revoke Petrova’s visa. In response, Hartman said that Petrova lied about the embryos when she was questioned by CBP. Judge Reiss said she didn’t see the argument made by DOJ as grounds for removal. The judge scheduled a bail hearing for May 28.

NewsMax [5/14/2025 11:53 AM, Theodore Bunker, 4998K] reports two New York City councilwomen told Newsmax on Wednesday that the Justice Department should bring lawsuits against the city over its sanctuary laws, which they are trying "to peel back" through legislation. A group of New York City councilors known as the Common Sense Caucus this week sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi urging the Justice Department to crack down on the city. Joann Ariola, a Republican who co-chairs the Common Sense Caucus and represents the 32nd district and Kristy Marmorato, a Republican who represents the 13th district, appeared on Newsmax on Wednesday for a joint interview to discuss the letter and their ongoing efforts to fight New York’s sanctuary laws. Ariola told "National Report" that "this is just what we have been doing and we’re continuing to do so, and we now have an administration that is listening.” She added that the Trump administration "is open to bringing these types of lawsuits that would stop transnational gangs from terrorizing our cities and would … make sure that other law enforcement agencies are communicating with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], with the Department of Homeland Security, and so that we can identify who these bad actors are and deport them from our country and from our city." Ariola added that they have not yet received a response from Bondi, "but we’re looking to plow ahead and try to continue to send it to her office.”

AP [5/14/2025 4:41 PM, Rebecca Santana] reports the head of the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement agency on Wednesday recognized the right of members of Congress to visit detention facilities, even unannounced, while the department’s secretary said members of Congress should have requested a tour of an immigration detention facility in New Jersey where a skirmish broke out last week. The slightly divergent comments by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, came in separate congressional committee hearings Wednesday. Three members of Congress have said that they went to the facility to inspect it as a matter of congressional oversight and that federal agents escalated the situation by arresting the mayor of Newark, who was also trying to enter. DHS has blamed the lawmakers, accusing them of trying to break into the detention center. "What happened on May 9 was not oversight. It was a political stunt," she said. DHS later followed up on Noem’s remarks with a news release once again accusing the representatives of storming the facility and "reminding" members of Congress of the visitation rules. Lyons addressed the issue as well after being questioned by Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Democrat from Illinois. "We do acknowledge that any member of Congress has the right to show up for an inspection at one of our facilities in their oversight capability," Lyons said. He also said that while those visits are "unannounced," members need to show identification and go through screening and can’t bring contraband.

The Hill [5/14/2025 8:34 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday accused three Democratic lawmakers from New Jersey of committing “felonies” while visiting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in New Jersey. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Robert Menendez and LaMonica McIver were present at the Delaney Hall detention center Friday, where a scuffle with law enforcement ensued and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was arrested for trespassing. “This wasn’t oversight, this was committing felonies. This was going out and attacking people who stand up for the rule of law. And it was absolutely horrible,” Noem said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News. Noem was not present for the Friday incident. Democrats have accused the administration of lying about what happened. Watson Coleman posted a video of the group of lawmakers entering the building with escorts while a crowd of people waited outside the gates. “We will be your eyes and your ears and we will report back to you, mayor,” Watson Coleman told Baraka, who waited outside the gates. The New Jersey lawmaker said upon leaving that ICE agents had “shoved” her and others. “Since DHS has been lying about this, allow me to correct the record. This scuffle, during which an ICE agent physically shoved me, occurred AFTER we had entered the Delaney Hall premises,” she wrote in a Friday post on the social platform X. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin suggested more Democratic lawmakers could face arrests as a result of the incident while GOP Rep. Buddy Carter (Ga.) introduced a Tuesday resolution to strip House members of their committee assignments. “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 during a Friday CNN appearance. Officials have not released a video revealing the physical altercation described. Breitbart [5/14/2025 4:26 PM, Alana Mastrangelo, 2923K] reports Noem reacted to the Democrat lawmakers — who defended their actions as a mere "oversight visit" — by telling Fox News, "This wasn’t oversight. This was committing felonies. This was going out and attacking people who stand up for the rule of law. And it was absolutely horrible." On Wednesday, Noem testified before a congressional committee, describing what transpired at Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark on Friday as "a political stunt that put the safety of our law enforcement officers, our agents, our staff, and our detainees at risk." Axios [5/14/2025 10:21 AM, April Rubin, 13163K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday said New Jersey Democrats should be censured for an altercation with immigration enforcement officers. The lawmakers could be penalized for what they said was exercising their oversight authority. "They don’t deserve to be in the House," Noem said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime. "They should be censured by it." House Democrats clashed with a group of protesters outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday. The mayor of Newark was arrested, and the Department of Homeland Security alleged that the lawmakers "stormed" the facility, which the lawmakers’ offices disputed.

FOX Business [5/14/2025 5:16 PM, Staff, 10702K] Video: HERE reports Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on the fallout from Democratic lawmakers’ protests at a New Jersey ICE facility on ‘Kudlow.’

Axios [5/14/25 10:49 m, April Rubin, 13163K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday said New Jersey Democrats should be censured for an altercation with immigration enforcement officers. The lawmakers could be penalized for what they said was exercising their oversight authority. "They don’t deserve to be in the House," Noem said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime. "They should be censured by it." House Democrats clashed with a group of protesters outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday. The mayor of Newark was arrested, and the Department of Homeland Security alleged that the lawmakers "stormed" the facility, which the lawmakers’ offices disputed. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said the DHS is creating "an environment of intimidation." Noem in the interview accused the House members of committing felonies. "What’s happening in this country and what agendas the Democrats are embracing is absurd, and it’s not American," she said. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin previously said the lawmakers could be arrested.

Washington Times [5/14/2025 7:30 PM, Lindsey McPherson and Stephen Dinan, 261K] reports House Republicans are likely to try to pass a resolution to formally discipline three New Jersey Democratic members of Congress who are accused of storming an ICE detention center in Newark on Friday. Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez went to Delaney Hall for what they said was to conduct congressional oversight. The visit, however, was unannounced and ICE agents sought to block their entry, which led to a physical altercation with the lawmakers and others trying to enter the facility. The Homeland Security Department accused Ms. McIver of assaulting a federal officer, sharing a video of her jostling uniformed agents. The video showed her throwing an elbow into one officer’s back and appearing to strike a different officer with her fist. The disciplinary options House Republicans are mulling are censure, expulsion or kicking the members off committees, said Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, on Wednesday. “We’re looking at what is appropriate,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear that the law was violated.” Homeland Security sent out a reminder Wednesday to members of Congress with ICE guidelines that acknowledge the law does not require them to provide notice of their intent to enter a facility but suggests they do so when wanting to meet with detainees because of paperwork, like privacy releases, involved. “All members and staff need to comply with facility rules, procedures and instructions from ICE personnel on site for their own safety, the safety of the detainees and the safety of ICE employees,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “If these three members had simply asked for a tour, these three congressional members would have been easily allowed into Delaney Hall and would not have had to resort to assaulting law enforcement to enter the facility.”

FOX News [5/14/2025 1:11 PM, Madison Colombo, 46189K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing back against warnings from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it is considering arrests of Democratic lawmakers who allegedly clashed with federal officers outside a ICE detention center in Newark, N.J. Jeffries strongly criticized the potential arrests, calling them a "red line" the department should not cross. "They’ll find out," Jeffries said, warning DHS against targeting elected officials for what they’ve described as oversight. But Noem dismissed his comments, saying political threats would not interfere with law enforcement duties. "This wasn’t oversight. This was committing felonies," the secretary said during an appearance on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Tuesday night. "I can’t believe they act like this, and then defend it." The controversy stems from an incident last week in which several House Democrats from the Garden State attempted to enter an ICE facility without prior clearance. According to DHS, when access was denied, tensions escalated, resulting in a physical altercation between lawmakers and ICE officers. "We had members of Congress assaulting law enforcement officers," Noem said. "They were cooperating with criminals to create criminal acts, and then they’re saying that they were providing oversight." A DHS press release described the lawmakers as having "stormed the gate" of the detention facility, calling the event not just a political stunt but a serious threat to officer and detainee safety. "Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. She added that the department would have facilitated a formal tour had the lawmakers followed proper protocol. DHS also released information about some of the migrants currently being held in the facility, with many facing charges in the United States or abroad for homicide, drug trafficking and possession of a weapon. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 4:12 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 2296K] reports Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said his agency was operating its Delaney Hall Detention Center properly under "the law Congress enacted." Lyons appeared on Fox News’s America Reports following Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest outside the detention center. The Department of Homeland Security has also accused Reps. Rob Menendez (D-NJ), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) of storming the facility as part of a protest over Trump administration policies regarding immigration. No charges have been filed by the Department of Justice, but McIver was recorded on video pushing officers just outside the center’s gate. McIver is also possibly facing consequences in the House of Representatives.

Breitbart [5/14/2025 1:23 PM, John Binder, 2900K] reports Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) attended a House Homeland Security Committee hearing featuring Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem just days after she was caught on bodycam footage storming an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility. Over the weekend, McIver was captured on bodycam footage storming ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey — seemingly getting physical with agents and shouting. DHS officials released the bodycam footage and Noem, at the hearing that McIver attended on Wednesday, called her actions “beneath” the institution of Congress. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) were also among the Congress members at the Newark facility. “As a vehicle approached a security gate at Delaney Hall Detention Center, a mob of protestors, including three members of Congress, stormed the gate and they trespassed into the detention facility,” Noem said at the hearing, describing what occurred. “We have footage of those members slamming their bodies into our law enforcement officers, shoving them, screaming profanities in their faces, striking them with their fists, and otherwise assaulting law enforcement,” Noem said. “What happened was lawlessness and it was beneath this body.” Noem also stated that DHS regularly gives members of Congress tours of their facilities and that such requests from McIver and the other Democrats would have been honored. “I believe what you saw last Friday at Delaney Hall was not oversight, I believe that it was breaking into a federal facility and assaulting law enforcement officers,” Noem said. “This congresswoman was surrounded by people who were criminals and taking criminal actions. And so we need to be honest about what happened here.”

The Hill [5/14/2025 6:22 PM, Julia Mueller and Rebecca Beitsch, 12829K] reports temperatures are rising over an altercation between three Democratic lawmakers and immigration agents at a detention center in New Jersey, as Democrats say the administration is using the incident to improperly target political opposition. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week accused Garden State Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver of "committing felonies" during the Friday scuffle with law enforcement at the Delaney Hall detention center and called for the House Democrats to be removed from their committees or censured — drawing sharp backlash from the left, as members of Congress are permitted to make unannounced visits to facilities. Democrats have accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of lying about what happened; and after a DHS spokesperson suggested they could face charges, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) warned Trump administration officials that "we are going to have a problem" if arrests transpire. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) cautioned arrests would constitute "a red line.” Meanwhile, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has floated stripping the three Democrats of their committee assignments, arguing their "behavior constitutes an assault" on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. On Tuesday, Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) introduced a resolution to censure McIver over what he called a "reckless stunt.” While Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) didn’t endorse any proposal, he called the Friday incident "a new low for congressional Democrats" and said House Republicans are weighing next steps to address the "wildly inappropriate behavior.” "They can clearly see that we didn’t do anything wrong. We were there to do a tour. And we got the tour after [the] arresting of the mayor," Watson Coleman told reporters Wednesday. "So, no, they know we did nothing wrong," she added of the administration. DHS has claimed that "a group of protestors," including Menendez and Watson Coleman, "stormed the gate" at Delaney Hall and "broke into the detention facility." Noem later appeared to call out McIver, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, telling Fox News that "one of them is supposed to be conducting oversight over ICE, and instead she’s assaulting them.” Noem, appearing before the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, accused the lawmakers of trespassing. "I served as a member of Congress in this body for eight years, and I understand the importance of congressional oversight. What happened on May 9 was not oversight. It was a political stunt that put the safety of our law enforcement officers, our agents, our staff and our detainees at risk," she said. New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou (D) also hammered Noem for "blatantly ignoring our laws.” "The law is very, very clear. Members of Congress can show up unannounced to facilities, and ICE must accommodate a tour of their detention centers. The fact that your spokesperson suggested arresting members of Congress who were given a tour of the facility is disturbing, and certainly dangerous," she told Noem. "We will not accept threats or intimidation by anyone at your department or across the administration for exercising our constitutional oversight authority.”

Blaze [5/14/2025 4:00 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1668K] reports President Donald Trump’s border czar told Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas that the Democrat who allegedly assaulted a federal agent at a New Jersey detention center should be arrested. Homan went on to say that he supports the right of Americans to protest but that anyone, including members of Congress, who step over the line into criminal activity should be arrested.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 4:59 PM, Asher Notheis, 2296K] reports Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) rebuffed recent comments by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) supporting his Democratic colleagues, who attended a protest opposing the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants. Jeffries recently stated that officials would "find out" if Reps. Rob Menendez (D-NY), LaMonica McIver (D-NY), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NY) were arrested or sanctioned, as these three lawmakers were among the protesters the Department of Homeland Security said stormed a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In response, Britt reminded Jeffries that "no one is above the law," a phrase commonly used by Democratic lawmakers against President Donald Trump. Following the ICE protest, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) has introduced a resolution to revoke the committee assignments of the three Democratic lawmakers at the ICE facility. Carter told the Washington Examiner that this resolution is needed since "it preserves the rule of law and shows our brave law enforcement agents that we stand with them." Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was among the protesters at the ICE facility, who was arrested by police. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has hinted that more arrests connected to this protest could follow.

FOX News [5/14/2025 3:29 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46189K] reports House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is opening an investigation into threats facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, Fox News Digital was told. It comes as fallout continues over three House Democrats accused of "storming" a detention center in New Jersey. Fox News Digital was told that Jordan is expected to schedule a hearing for next Tuesday, with former ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials expected among the witness panel. The hearing will cover threats against ICE operations, likely including Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey. It’s also expected to cover the Trump administration’s advancements in cracking down on illegal immigration and threats to national security, Fox News Digital was told. Both sides have also accused the other of assault.

The Hill [5/14/2025 12:37 PM, Emily Brooks, 12829K] reports Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said House Republicans are weighing what kind of actions to take against three House Democrats who got in a scuffle with law enforcement at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. Johnson called the Friday incident “a new low for congressional Democrats.” “We’re having conversations — we had them this morning in the House Republican conference meeting this morning — about appropriate action that we need to take here to address that inappropriate behavior, the wildly inappropriate behavior,” Johnson said. New Jersey Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Robert Menendez and LaMonica McIver visited the Delaney Hall detention center Friday. A scuffle with law enforcement ensued, resulting in Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka (D) being arrested for trespassing. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Fox News on Tuesday called for the three lawmakers to be removed from committees or to be censured, amounting to a formal reprimand that typically carries no tangible consequences. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution on Tuesday to strip the members of their committee assignments. It takes a two-thirds majority of the House to expel members, which would require support from Democrats. “We’re looking at what is appropriate,” Johnson said. “I think it’s pretty clear that the law was violated.” Federal law allows members of congress special access to visit ICE facilities. But DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has said the lawmakers “stormed the gate” and suggested they could face arrests as a result of the incident.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [5/14/2025 2:59 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46189K]

NewsNation [5/14/2025 10:50 AM, Steph Whiteside, 6866K] reports the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, says he was not trespassing at a detention facility and that his issue is with the private contractor running the group, not the Department of Homeland Security. Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested and charged with trespassing after his visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Baraka was arrested along with several New Jersey representatives who were attempting to tour Delaney Hall, which is run by GEO Group, which has contracted with ICE to manage the detention center. “We don’t have an issue with the Department of Homeland Security; our issue is with the GEO Group, who is a private prison operator who, in fact, occupies that property,” Baraka told NewsNation. He says the group hasn’t applied for a certificate of occupancy or allowed federal inspectors inside. Baraka also denies trespassing at the facility, as he has been accused of doing. “The guard of GEO allowed me on the property. He asked me to come in, as a matter of fact,” Baraka said. “I stayed in there for over an hour, waiting right there at the gate until Homeland Security arrived and began to target and harass me. They instructed me to leave. I did. Eventually, when I left, they came on the other side of the gate anyway, after a phone call they received and arrested me.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Post Millennial [5/14/2025 12:00 AM, Hannah Nightingale, 703K] reports House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Wednesday that the three Democrat House representatives who breached an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in New Jersey last week may face disciplinary action from the chamber. "Well, look, there’s three possible disciplinary actions that Congress, the House, can take. Okay? You can censure a member, and that probably does seem appropriate here. You can kick them off committees, that’s a new tradition begotten by the Democrats in recent years. And you can expel someone from Congress. He explained that expulsion requires a two-thirds majority vote, which is "not likely" in the current House given the margins, "but we’re looking at what is appropriate." "Look, I think its pretty clear that the law was violated. You might have noticed the Wisconsin judge that was trying to conceal the illegal alien that was gonna be apprehended by ICE, a federal grand jury indicted judge." He said that the judge is facing up to six years in jail and up to $350,000 in fines "because she obstructed the proceedings. She obstructed justice." "What these House Democrats did is in that same vein of what the judge is being indicted for, so I think there’s some legal ramifications to play out here and we’ll see." This comes as DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has said "there will likely be more arrests coming" after Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) breeched the facility. McIver was seen on video pushing against security agents. Arrested at the scene was Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka. "We actually have body camera footage of these members of Congress assaulting these ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer," McLaughlin added. She said that there is an "ongoing investigation" into the matter and that arresting the members of Congress is "definitely on the table."

FOX News [5/14/2025 2:49 PM, Charles Creitz and Elizabeth Elkind, 46189K] reports Trump administration "border czar" Tom Homan fired back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., after she responded to questions Tuesday about the potential of being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for holding a webinar meant to help migrants deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. When asked by Fox News Digital about Ocasio-Cortez saying she had yet to hear from DOJ or even know if she truly is under investigation, Homan said to check with the department itself. The DOJ did not respond to an earlier related inquiry on the matter. "I wish she’d do her job. She’s a legislator, right? Why doesn’t she pass some legislation… and actually improve this country like President Donald Trump is already doing?" Homan later added. "I’m doing my job: the border is secure. We arrested three times more criminals than [former President Joe] Biden did. We’re doing our job. She should try doing her job.” Earlier, he answered in the affirmative when pressed on whether Democratic lawmakers who were accused of storming an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, should face consequences. "Yes," he added when asked if they should face censure or removal of their committee assignments. Another reporter followed up by asking about a specific warning from Ocasio-Cortez on the matter. "You lay a finger on [New Jersey Congresswoman] 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 on Instagram.

Bloomberg [5/14/2025 3:02 PM, Ellen M Gilmer, 27782K] reports US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will allow members of Congress to inspect detention facilities with or without appointments, the head of the agency pledged to a House panel. Acting Director Todd Lyons on Wednesday said he and his team are committed to allowing lawmakers to conduct oversight at immigrant jails, as laid out in federal law. Lyons testified after a May 9 incident at an ICE facility in Newark, N.J., involving several House Democrats during which the city’s mayor was arrested. “We do acknowledge that any member of Congress does have the right to show up,” Lyons testified before the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security panel. Lawmaker visits to ICE sites sparked a whirlwind of controversy May 9 when New Jersey Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and LaMonica McIver entered the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark. The Department of Homeland Security accused them of “storming” the facility; the lawmakers alleged that ICE officers manhandled them and initially refused to let them conduct oversight. Rep. Lauren Underwood (Ill.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations panel, pressed Lyons on provisions of federal law that allow lawmakers to visit sites without advance notice. Yet Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a separate hearing blamed the Democrats for not first requesting a visit and passing through the facility gate while a vehicle entered. “Had these members requested a tour, we certainly would have facilitated a tour,” Noem said in testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee.

FOX News [5/14/2025 3:29 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46189K] reports House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is opening an investigation into threats facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, Fox News Digital was told. It comes as fallout continues over three House Democrats accused of "storming" a detention center in New Jersey. Fox News Digital was told that Jordan is expected to schedule a hearing for next Tuesday, with former ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials expected among the witness panel. The hearing will cover threats against ICE operations, likely including Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey. It’s also expected to cover the Trump administration’s advancements in cracking down on illegal immigration and threats to national security, Fox News Digital was told. The hearing will likely be led not by Jordan’s full committee, but by the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on oversight – a panel that’s led by Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, where the Delaney Hall incident took place. The planned move is a significant development in the situation led by one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in the House of Representatives. Republicans have been discussing what, if any, consequences could be in store for the three Democratic lawmakers who protested Trump’s immigration policies at the Newark ICE facility late last week. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [5/14/2025 6:56 PM, Lisa Mascaro, Matt Brown, and Leah Askarinam, 48304K] reports a Democratic lawmaker is launching a renegade effort to impeach President Donald Trump, pushing past party leaders on Wednesday with an attempt to force a procedural vote in the U.S. House that is expected to fail. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan announced his intention to charge ahead, saying that as an immigrant he wants to do all he can to protect America’s Constitution and its institutions. His resolution contains seven articles of impeachment against the Republican president. "Donald J. Trump has been committing crimes since day one — bribery, corruption, taking power from Congress, creating an unlawful office in DOGE, violating First Amendment rights, ignoring due process," the congressman said earlier from the House floor. It would be the historic third time Trump has faced impeachment efforts after being twice impeached during his first term as president — first in 2019 on charges related to withholding military aid to Ukraine as it confronted Russia and later on a charge of inciting insurrection over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Trump was acquitted both times by the Senate.

AP [5/15/2025 12:01 AM, Todd Richmond, 2923K] reports a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a man evade U.S. immigration authorities was set to appear in federal court Thursday and enter a preliminary plea. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. Prosecutors say she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back jury door on April 18 after learning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking his arrest for being in the country illegally. She could face up to six years in prison if convicted on both counts Dugan was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday morning for an arraignment, an early step in the criminal justice process. Defendants routinely plead not guilty at this point to give their attorneys time to investigate and to preserve their right to a trial. A Wisconsin judge accused of helping a man evade U.S. immigration authorities was set to appear in federal court Thursday and enter a preliminary plea. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. Prosecutors say she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back jury door on April 18 after learning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking his arrest for being in the country illegally. She could face up to six years in prison if convicted on both counts Dugan was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday morning for an arraignment, an early step in the criminal justice process. Defendants routinely plead not guilty at this point to give their attorneys time to investigate and to preserve their right to a trial. Dugan’s attorneys filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the case, saying she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. They also maintain the federal government violated Wisconsin’s state sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge. According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz illegally reentered the U.S. after being deported in 2013. Online state court records show he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic abuse in Milwaukee County in March. He was in Dugan’s courtroom on April 18 for a hearing.

FOX News [5/14/2025 1:20 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 46189K] reports a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge arrested in April for allegedly helping a man evade immigration officers in her court could face up to six years in prison if convicted, according to an indictment handed down Tuesday by a federal grand jury. Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by FBI officials last month for allegedly "knowingly" helping an undocumented immigrant in her court evade ICE authorities and telling the officers in her court that they needed a warrant. She was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday federal charges of concealing a person from arrest and on obstruction of justice charges, under 18 U.S.C. Section 1505 and 18 U.S.C. Section 1071, respectively. On Wednesday, Dugan’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the federal case against her. They argued that the government "cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts," and that "the government has no basis in law to prosecute her.” The indictment handed down by the grand jury one day prior accused Dugan of "falsely" telling federal officials in April that they needed a warrant to come into her court during a scheduled appearance by Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented Mexican national who was in court on three misdemeanor battery charges. If found guilty of both charges, Dugan could face up to six years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines. She will appear in court on Thursday and is expected to enter a plea of not guilty, as indicated by a statement from her legal team on Tuesday. Dugan’s actions have also sparked fierce backlash from Trump administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who have vowed to hold her accountable for her actions. "She will be held accountable for that," Noem told Fox News in an interview Tuesday night. "That was a great decision, coming forward, to recognize that nobody can facilitate breaking the law. "We shouldn’t be able to allow that in this country, and we need to make sure that even judges are held accountable for their actions," she added.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [5/14/2025 8:31 AM, Filip Timotija, 12829K]
AP [5/14/2025 10:42 AM, Todd Richmond, 48304K]

Blaze [5/14/2025 10:15 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1668K] reports Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ Democratic administration issued guidance on April 18 directing state employees not to immediately cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agents. That same day, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan allegedly helped a previously deported illegal alien facing three misdemeanor counts of battery get away from ICE. In what proved to be a shock to some Americans now accustomed to seeing judicial activism go unchecked, the FBI arrested Dugan on April 25. The arrest sent Democratic lawmakers, former judges, and liberal activists into a frenzy. The indictment alleges that Dugan committed multiple ‘affirmative acts’ to assist Eduardo Flores-Ruiz evade arrest. Following weeks of Democratic accusations of judicial intimidation and claims about an improper arrest, a federal grand jury determined Tuesday that there was, after all, sufficient evidence to indict Dugan on charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of the law. White House spokesman Kush Desai told Blaze News, "The days of actively aiding and abetting illegal aliens invading our country are over. The Trump administration will never waver on putting Americans and America First with a no-nonsense approach to immigration enforcement. In this administration, anyone who commits crimes exposes themselves to criminal liability.” The Department of Homeland Security told Blaze News, "Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected ICE agents away from this criminal illegal alien to obstruct the arrest and try to help him evade arrest. Thankfully, our FBI partners chased down this illegal alien, arrested him and removed him from American communities.” Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, stated, "Since President Trump was inaugurated, activist judges have tried to obstruct President Trump and the American people’s mandate to make America safe and secure our homeland — but this judge’s actions to shield an accused violent criminal illegal alien from justice is shocking and shameful.” "We are thankful for our partners at the FBI for helping remove this accused criminal from America’s streets," continued McLaughlin. "If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you and lock you up. That’s a promise.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News’ Jesse Watters Tuesday, "I’m grateful that the judicial system recognized that Judge Duggan let down the court, the country, and the authority that her position held and that she will be held accountable. That [the indictment] was a great decision to recognize that nobody can facilitate breaking the law. We should not be able to allow that in this country. We need to make sure that even judges are held accountable for their actions.”

ABC News [5/14/2025 7:09 PM, James Hill, 34586K] reports attorneys for Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan are seeking to dismiss her federal indictment on charges alleging she helped an undocumented immigrant evade arrest, claiming in a new court filing that she is immune from federal prosecution for official acts. In the filing, Dugan’s attorneys cite the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in President Donald Trump’s immunity case as support. A federal grand jury indicted Dugan on Tuesday on charges she concealed a person from arrest and obstructed a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States. Dugan is due in court Thursday morning for an arraignment on the charges. "This is no ordinary criminal case, and Dugan is no ordinary criminal defendant," her attorneys, Rick Resch and Steven Biskupic, wrote in the motion filed Wednesday. "The government’s prosecution of Judge Dugan is virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional.” Dugan was arrested on April 25 at the Milwaukee County Circuit Courthouse after being charged in a criminal complaint. Prosecutors allege she was attempting to help a defendant appearing in her courtroom evade federal agents who were in a public hallway outside her courtroom waiting to arrest him for immigration violations. "The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts. Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset," her attorneys wrote in the motion. "The prosecution against her is barred. The Court should dismiss the indictment.” In three instances in the motion, Dugan’s attorneys cite the Supreme Court decision in the Trump immunity case as support for their position that Dugan is immune from prosecution for official acts.

Daily Wire [5/14/2025 6:57 PM, Tim Pearce, 4672K] reports Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is claiming "judicial immunity" after officials accused her of helping an illegal alien evade immigration enforcement. A federal grand jury indicted Dugan earlier this week on charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings. Dugan allegedly attempted to aid Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz escape Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who waited outside Dugan’s courtroom last month. "The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts. Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset," a Wednesday filing from Dugan’s attorneys says, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dugan’s attorneys said the charges, brought by the Department of Justice, violate the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment about powers reserved to the states. "[T]he immunity and federalism issues must be resolved swiftly because the government has no basis in law to prosecute her. The prosecution against her is barred. The Court should dismiss the indictment," the filing states. "Since at least the early 17th century in England, and carried on through common law in the United States, judges of record have been entitled to absolute immunity for official acts with a few exceptions not applicable here." Administration officials have said that the case against Dugan shows that all are equal under the law.

Reported similarly:

AP [5/14/2025 5:33 PM, Todd Richmond, 12335K]

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 10:49 AM, Asher Notheis, 2296K] reports Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), on Tuesday, celebrated the indictment against Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan and said he was "glad" that a judge who failed to follow the law was facing the consequences. Dugan was indicted following her arrest last month by the FBI. She was charged with obstructing a federal agency and "concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest." Hawley expressed frustration at judges working against the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants and said they are acting like "tin pot dictators." He argued that Dugan was neither following the law nor upholding it. "I’m glad she got indicted, I hope they prosecute this thing all the way through," Hawley said on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. "It is outrageous for a sitting judge to be trying to obstruct justice in the United States of America. That’s what this individual was doing. This is a clear message to these judges: start doing your jobs and quit obstructing the fair implementation of justice in this country.” Hawley also lamented how "Trump derangement syndrome" has grown "so extreme" that judges are now violating the law. He said judges and Democratic lawmakers are "groveling" to illegal immigrants who are gang members. Dugan faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine. She is expected to challenge the indictment at a May 15 hearing. Her attorney told the press that Dugan "wholeheartedly rejects and protests her arrest.” Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, the illegal immigrant Dugan was accused of aiding in avoiding the authorities, was chased down by federal agents after leaving a courthouse with Dugan’s help last month. The Department of Homeland Security said Flores-Ruiz entered the United States illegally twice and has a list of criminal charges ranging from strangulation and suffocation to battery to domestic abuse.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 11:47 AM, David Sivak, 2296K] reports that the Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to rename a wildlife refuge after Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl allegedly killed by two Venezuelan migrants last year. The measure, offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in a unanimous consent request from the Senate floor, would codify an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March. It must still be considered by the GOP-controlled House, but faced no resistance from Senate Democrats and was approved by voice vote. The Washington Examiner was the first to report on Cornyn’s motion. Trump debuted the executive order at his March joint address to Congress, inviting the mother of Nungaray and other crime victims. Trump has made an immigration crackdown the centerpiece of his second term, drawing scrutiny for the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a super prison in El Salvador despite complaints over due process. The two suspects in Nungaray’s death, who will be on trial in Texas, are accused of being Tren de Aragua members. In a brief floor speech, Cornyn described the bill as a way to "ensure that future generations will remember Jocelyn for years to come." The refuge is located outside of Nungaray’s hometown of Houston. Two of Cornyn’s Texas colleagues, Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Brian Babin, both Republicans, co-sponsored the bill.

CBS News [5/14/2025 9:00 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed a pause to the enrollment of more low-income immigrants without legal status for state-funded health care benefits in 2026 as the state faces economic uncertainty. Newsom outlined his nearly $332 billion state spending plan on Wednesday, revealing that California is facing a $12 billion budget deficit. "California is under assault," Newsom said. "We have a president that’s been reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines.” The Democratic governor noted that the freeze does not mean California is backing away from its support for immigrants. "No state has done more than the state of California, no state will continue to do more than the state of California by a long shot. And that’s a point of pride," Newsom said. The decision, the details for which were revealed before Wednesday’s budget revision presentation, is driven by a higher-than-expected price tag on the program and economic uncertainty from federal tariff policies, Newsom said. It also comes as Newsom faces his final years in the governor’s office, with speculation continuing to mount about his future political prospects. California’s push to offer free health care benefits to all low-income adults, regardless of their immigration status, was announced in late 2023. Newsom touted the planned expansion as "a transformative step towards strengthening the health care system for all Californians.” However, the cost has exceeded the state’s initial $6.4 billion estimate by more than $2 billion. Under Newsom’s plan, low-income adults without legal status will no longer be eligible to apply for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, starting in 2026. Those who are already enrolled won’t be kicked off their plans because of the enrollment freeze, and the changes won’t impact children. Newsom’s office didn’t say how long the freeze would last. Starting in 2027, adults with "unsatisfactory immigration status" on Medi-Cal, including those without legal status and those who have legal status but aren’t eligible for federally funded Medicaid, will also have to pay a $100 monthly premium. The governor’s office said that is in line with the average cost paid by those who are on subsidized heath plans through California’s own marketplace. There’s no premium for most people currently on Medi-Cal. "We believe that people should have some skin in the game as it relates to contributions," Newsom said.

Daily Wire [5/14/2025 10:52 AM, Zach Jewell, 4672K] reports California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing to freeze enrollment for illegal immigrants in the state’s free health care program. Newsom’s 2025-2026 revised budget proposal, which is set to be released later on Wednesday, plans to block new adult applications from illegal immigrants to the Medi-Cal program as soon as January 1, the Los Angeles Times reported. The governor, who previously expanded Medi-Cal from going to children of low-income illegal immigrants to making it available to all income-eligible illegal immigrants, is now concerned about cutting back on California’s spending as the state faces a budget deficit. The expanded free health program has cost billions more than the state expected. In addition to freezing enrollment at the beginning of next year, Newsom also wants to begin charging illegal immigrants who remain in the program $100 a month, starting in 2027, The New York Times reported. Newsom’s office says the change will save California $5.4 billion through 2028-2029. Newsom’s revised budget proposal also comes as the Trump administration targets state-funded programs for illegal immigrants. Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security announced an investigation into California’s program that hands out cash assistance to elderly illegal immigrants who are ineligible for Social Security because of their immigration status. The Trump administration is pushing to "make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally." "Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits," said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "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. 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."

Reported similarly:
New York Times [5/14/2025 5:35 PM, Laurel Rosenhall, 153395K]
The Hill [5/14/2025 2:12 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K]

AP [5/14/2025 6:11 PM, Tran Nguyen, 34K] reports that California is facing a $12 billion deficit that Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to help close by freezing enrollment in a state-funded health care program for immigrants living in California without legal status. Newsom announced the deficit and his plans to cover it Wednesday as he outlined his nearly $322 billion state spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Beyond higher-than-expected Medicaid spending, Newsom blamed broad economic uncertainty, including federal tariff policies and a volatile stock market. California relies heavily on revenue from a tax on capital gains. Newsom, a Democrat, highlighted California’s contributions to the U.S. and world economy and said President Donald Trump’s economic policies could reduce state revenues by $16 billion in the coming years. “California is under assault,” he said. “We have a president that’s been reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines.” He now opens budget negotiations with lawmakers. A final budget must be signed by the end of June. Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher criticized Newsom for blaming much of the state’s budget woes on Trump. “Newsom’s finger-pointing on the budget shortfall is the biggest load of crap I’ve ever seen from a politician, and he shovels out a lot of it,” Gallagher said. “We’re in this mess because of his reckless spending, false promises, and failed leadership.”

CBS News [5/14/2025 6:52 AM, Staff, 51661K] Video HERE reports Mexico’s security chief confirmed Tuesday that 17 family members of cartel leaders crossed into the U.S. last week as part of a deal between a son of the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Trump administration. Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed a report by independent journalist Luis Chaparro that family members of Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, who was extradited to the United States in 2023, had entered the U.S. Guzmán Lopez is one of the brothers left running a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel after notorious capo Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was imprisoned in the U.S. Video showed the family members walking across the border from Tijuana with their suitcases to waiting U.S. agents. Rumors had circulated last week that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty to avoid trial for several drug trafficking charges in the U.S. after being extradited in 2023. Mexican security forces captured Guzmán López, alias "the Mouse," in January 2023 in Culiacán, capital of Sinaloa state. García Harfuch confirmed the family members’ crossing in a radio interview and said it was clear to Mexican authorities that they were doing so after negotiations between Guzmán López and the U.S. government. USA Today [5/14/2025 1:33 PM, Jeanine Santucci, 75858K] reports Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, was considered one of the leaders of the cartel and was extradited to the United States in 2023 to face federal charges that he and his brothers – known as "Los Chapitos" – made hundreds of millions of dollars by flooding the country with fentanyl. "It’s evident that his family is going to the United States because of the negotiation or opportunity the Justice Department has given him," Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s secretary of security and civilian safety, told Mexican radio network Radio Fórmula, when asked about reports that 17 family members had left Mexico. He said the family members who entered the United States were not wanted by Mexican authorities. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo told reporters she was caught off guard by the news, and has asked the prosecutor’s office to ask the U.S. Department of Justice for more information. Breitbart [5/14/2025 4:53 PM, Staff, 2923K] reports that although U.S. officials have not confirmed reports of Griselda López, El Chapo’s ex-wife, arriving in the United States with her family, posts on X and various web sources mentioned rumors earlier this week that Griselda López and at least 16 members of her immediate family had turned themselves over to Customs and Border Protection authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Griselda Lopez is the mother of Ovidio Guzman, who is in U.S. custody and is set to plead guilty to federal charges. He will presumably cooperate with U.S. authorities. Some speculate that Ovidio may have already given valuable information and struck a deal to import his close family members under the witness protection program as part of a deal. Many believe that Griselda’s seeking refuge in the U.S. indicates that the Chapitos are losing the war against Los Mayitos.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [5/14/2025 5:24 PM, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 54903K]
NewsMax [5/14/2025 5:12 PM, Theodore Bunker, 4998K]

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 3:26 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports the State Department designated Cuba a "not fully cooperating country" over its harboring of 11 fugitives. In a Tuesday statement, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the designation came over a violation of section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act, committed in 2024. The designation forbids Cuba from receiving defense articles and services.

The Hill [5/14/2025 12:30 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12829K] reports that the attorneys for the family of a 2-year-old deported to Honduras with her mother said Tuesday they would drop their lawsuit against the Trump administration. A federal judge previously sounded the alarm over the child’s removal citing a lack of "meaningful process." "Given the traumatizing experiences the families have been through, they are taking a step back to have full discussions about all their options, the safety and well-being of their children, and the best ways to proceed so the harms they have suffered can be fully addressed," Gracie Willis, one of the family’s lawyers, told The Associated Press. The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other groups were representing the family members, who said they want "space and time to consider all the options that are available to them.” The family’s lawyers previously argued that the child’s father wanted the young girl to remain in the United States where she held citizenship. The Trump administration’s attorneys said the mother wanted the child removed with her alongside her other siblings. The government said her request was documented in a note written in Spanish, as reported by Politico, but a federal judge said it would have to be verified.

CNN [5/14/2025 4:48 PM, Michael Rios, Osmary Hernández and Ana Melgar, 908K] reports a Venezuelan toddler who had been kept in US government custody after her parents were deported has been returned to Venezuela. Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal arrived at the Simón Bolívar International Airport on Wednesday on a repatriation flight from the US. Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores carried the 2-year-old in her arms as officials announced the girl’s return to reporters gathered at the airport. “Today we have a great victory,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said. Venezuela had been demanding that the United States return the girl for weeks, accusing US officials of kidnapping her. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) previously denied the allegation, arguing the family was separated in an attempt to protect Maikelys from her parents, whom they accused without evidence of being part of criminal group Tren de Aragua (TDA). Maikelys’ mother has rejected that claim. In March, the US deported the father Maiker Espinoza-Escalona to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to the Venezuelan government. The mother Yorelys Bernal was later deported on a flight to Venezuela without her daughter. On Wednesday, the girl was reunited with her mother and grandmother at the presidential palace in Caracas. State TV showed Bernal crying tears of joy as she held her daughter tightly in her arms. President Nicolás Maduro said Venezuelan officials had coordinated with lawyers and rights groups in the US to secure the girl’s return. “I have to thank in fairness Ambassador Richard Grenell, special envoy of (US) President Donald Trump, for his efforts. And with Ambassador Richard Grenell, thank President Donald Trump, as well,” he said. “There have been and there will be differences, but it’s possible with God’s blessing to move forward.” CNN has reached out to DHS and the US State Department’s Venezuela Affairs Unit for more information. The toddler and her parents entered the US in May 2024 to seek asylum, according to a court document filed by legal advocacy groups. After their arrival, the couple were put in immigration detention while their daughter was placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the father had said in a sworn declaration. The girl was kept in ORR custody, with DHS saying, “We will not allow this child to be abused and continue to be exposed to criminal activity that endangers her safety.” Reuters [5/14/2025 1:45 PM, Staff, 41523K] reports "We must be thankful for all the efforts, for (Trump special envoy) Rich Grenell for his efforts...and thank Donald Trump too," Maduro said, calling the child’s return "an act of justice." The baby’s father, Maiker Espinoza, 25, was sent to CECOT, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has sent at least 137 Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, in March. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in late April that Espinoza is a "lieutenant" in Tren De Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang. They said he oversees "homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house," though they provided no evidence. Espinoza’s family roundly denied the claim to Reuters. DHS said the child’s mother Bernal recruited young women for drug smuggling and sex work, though it also provided no evidence. The family has also denied the claim. Breitbart [5/14/2025 2:42 PM, Staff, 2923K] reports that the little girl is one of several children caught up in Trump’s crackdown on illegal migration. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the girl was placed in foster care to protect her from her parents, who it claimed were members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua criminal gang.

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Washington Post [5/14/2025 6:10 PM, Silvia Foster-Frau, 31735K]
ABC News [5/14/2025 1:04 PM, Laura Romero, 34586K]

CNN [5/14/2025 10:22 PM, Ana Melgar, 908K] reports that, sitting on a couch in her home in Maracay, Venezuela, Mirelis Cacique López watches her son Francisco Javier García Cacique on her cell phone in the first video released of a group of Venezuelans sent by the United States to El Salvador’s maximum-security prison Cecot. "Among the boys, I recognized my son," Cacique López said to CNN. "We thank God for allowing us to see our relatives, even in those conditions," she added, insisting that she will continue to pray for their release. The video aired Tuesday on the One America News Network, on a show hosted by former US Republican congressman Matt Gaetz. He visited Cecot and had access to the prison wing housing the group of more than 200 Venezuelans deported by President Donald Trump’s administration, many under the controversial use of the Alien Enemies Act, accused largely without evidence of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The report shows a roughly one-minute clip of the Venezuelans behind bars, dressed in white T-shirts and shorts, the Cecot prisoners’ uniform. From the moment the TV cameras enter the prison, the detainees react with shouts of "Freedom, freedom!" and "Venezuela!" while another group makes a fist with four fingers over their thumbs, a universal gesture asking of help. Yenni Luz Rincón Ramírez identified her brother Jonathan Miguel Ramírez in the video. "I felt joy because I was finally able to see him after 60 days," she told CNN from Venezuela. She insisted that her brother’s detention is unjust and asserted that he is not a member of Tren de Aragua. Rincón Ramírez isn’t the only one who’s been able to see a loved one for the first time since the deportations were announced in March. Following the release of the video, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro again condemned what he considers to be a kidnapping of Venezuelan citizens to El Salvador. "I swear that we will rescue the 253 Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador, in concentration camps, as seen today," he said on Tuesday. "Let us demand that these young people who are kidnapped without trial, without the right to appear before a judge, without the right to a defense, without having committed any crime, be released immediately. And we are ready to pick them up on a Venezuelan plane and bring them back to their families," he added. CNN has reached out to the Salvadoran presidency for comment on Maduro’s statements. In April, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele proposed to Maduro an exchange of people deported to and detained in his country and for what he considers "political prisoners" of the Venezuelan government. Maduro responded by demanding access to the prisoners for lawyers and family members. In March, El Salvador agreed to detain in Cecot up to 300 immigrants sent by the Trump administration. El Salvador would receive approximately $6 million from the US to hold them there, according to an agreement between the two governments.

AP [5/15/2025 12:37 AM, Staff, 22131K] reports Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei issued a decree on Wednesday curbing immigration to the South American nation, a move coinciding with the immigration restrictions put in place by the Trump administration. Milei’s abrupt measures and declaration that newcomers were bringing “chaos and abuse” to Argentina — a country built by millions of immigrants that has long prided itself on its openness — drew criticism from his political opponents and prompted comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump. Milei’s government welcomed those comparisons to its close American ally, with presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni saying it was “time to honor our history and make Argentina great again.” Wednesday’s executive order tightens restrictions on citizenship, requiring immigrants to spend two uninterrupted years in Argentina or make a significant financial investment in the country to secure an Argentine passport. Immigrants seeking permanent residency must show proof of income or “sufficient means” and have clean criminal records in their home countries. The decree makes it much easier for the government to deport migrants who enter the country illegally, falsify their immigration documents or commit minor crimes in Argentina. Previously, authorities could only expel or deny entry to a foreigner with a conviction of more than three years. It also asks the judiciary to fast-track otherwise lengthy immigration court proceedings. “For some time now, we’ve had regulations that invite chaos and abuse by many opportunists who are far from coming to this country in an honest way,” Adorni told reporters. The presidential spokesperson is also the top candidate for Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party in the key Buenos Aires legislative elections on Sunday. Their hard-right bloc is trying to win over conservative voters from Argentina’s center-right in the high-stakes midterm-election year. That timing fueled criticism, especially as the country has seen no recent surge of migration. Argentina’s most recent national census, from 2022, showed that the nation of 46 million had just 1.93 million foreign residents — the lowest share of immigrants since record-keeping began in 1869. “Once again, politicizing migration for electoral purposes and distorting reality,” Pablo Ceriani Cernadas, vice president of a U.N. committee that protects the rights of migrants, wrote on social media.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [5/14/2025 12:44 PM, Manuela Tobias, 16228K]

AP [5/14/2025 8:00 PM, Gerald Imray and Darlene Superville, 12335K] reports President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are scheduled to meet at the White House next week following allegations by Trump — and denied by South Africa — that "genocide" is being committed against white farmers in the majority Black country. The meeting, announced Wednesday by the South African government and set for May 21, also comes after the U.S. welcomed 59 white South Africans as refugees this Monday, the start of what the Trump administration said is a larger relocation plan for minority Afrikaner farmers who Trump has claimed are being persecuted in their homeland because of their race. South Africa denies the allegations and says whites in the majority Black country are not being singled out for persecution. Ramaphosa’s office said he will be in the U.S. from Monday to Thursday of next week, and will meet with Trump on Wednesday at the White House. Ramaphosa’s trip would aim to "reset the strategic relationship between the two countries," his office said. The White House had no immediate comment on the meeting, which would be Trump’s first with the leader of a nation in Africa since he returned to office in January. Trump has criticized South Africa’s Black-led government on multiple fronts and issued an executive order Feb. 7 cutting all U.S. funding to the country as punishment for what he said were its anti-white policies at home and anti-American foreign policy. The Republican president has singled out South Africa over what the U.S. calls racist laws against whites and has accused the government of "fueling" violence against white farmers. The South African government says the relatively small number of killings of white farmers should be condemned but are part of the country’s problems with violent crime and are not racially motivated. Trump said Monday — the same day that the first batch of Afrikaner refugees arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia — that there was "a genocide taking place" against white farmers that was being ignored by international media. The U.S. criticism of what it calls South Africa’s racist, anti-white laws appears to refer to South Africa’s affirmative action laws that advance opportunities for Black people, and a new land expropriation law that gives the government power to take private land without compensation. Although the government says the land law is not a confiscation tool and refers to unused land that can be redistributed for the public good, some Afrikaner groups say it could allow their land to be seized and redistributed to some of the country’s Black majority.

Wall Street Journal [5/14/2025 5:46 PM, Staff, 646K] reports two huge debates collide at the Supreme Court on Thursday, and which direction the arguments will ricochet is hard to predict. First question: Can President Trump deny citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens? Second: Can a solitary federal judge in any outpost of this vast nation halt government action from sea to shining sea? On the first day of his second term, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to reinterpret the 14th Amendment. He wants to exclude from “birthright citizenship” babies born in the U.S. to parents here illegally or temporarily, including on student or tourist visas. Three judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington issued “universal” injunctions to block that policy nationwide. The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal to the High Court, seeking what it framed as “modest” relief. Complaining about the universal injunctions, it asked the Justices to whittle down the lower court rulings so they protect only the specific parties in the lawsuits. The Justices took the unusual step of setting emergency oral argument and could soon rule on citizenship, injunctions, or both.

Bloomberg [5/14/2025 10:50 AM, Patricia Lopez, 16228K] reports as one of the first acts of his second term, President Donald Trump suspended the US refugee program, not to be restarted "until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States." Almost four months later, it is now clear which refugees align with those interests, and which do not: Prosperous, White South African farmers are allowed in, while Afghans fleeing the Taliban are not. After taking a government-chartered flight to Washington, some 60 South Africans were greeted by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and other top Trump officials. They will immediately be eligible for many resettlement benefits, including housing, food assistance and other transition aid. Trump has also promised them an expedited path to citizenship, a process that typically takes years. In February, Trump claimed that the South Africans, or Afrikaners, were fleeing “government-sponsored, race-based discrimination” in their native country. This week, when asked at a news conference why the Afrikaners merited an exception to a program that’s been closed since Jan. 20, Trump said: “Because they’re being killed. … It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about.” It’s ironic that Trump finds it so easy to acknowledge systemic racism in South Africa while denying its effects in the US. Even worse is the administration’s admission of White Afrikaners to the US, while it works to deport refugees and asylum-seekers — many of whom are not White — already in the country. As for genocide, little evidence has surfaced; according to news reports, an estimated 50 farmers, mostly Afrikaners, were killed in South Africa between January and September of 2024. Ordinarily a concern for the life, safety and property of a minority group, accompanied by a determination to cut through red tape to get them out of danger, would be cause for praise. For more than seven decades, the US been offering people from other countries refuge from storms of chaos and violence. The problem is that Trump has “paused” the entire US refugee admissions program — while an estimated 130,000 conditionally approved refugees, mostly Black and brown-skinned, remain in limbo. This inequality in treatment is too obvious to ignore. So it’s not surprising that the US Episcopalian Church, which has provided resettlement services for decades, said it would end its partnership with the federal government to help refugees. The church had been expected to help resettle the South Africans refugees as part of its federal grant, but the government’s latest US move crossed a moral line. “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,” said the church’s presiding bishop in an open letter. Perhaps no group feels the cruelty of this waiver more sharply than Afghans, many of whom worked side-by-side with US troops in America’s 20-year war against the Taliban. On the day the Afrikaners were being received by a deputy secretary of state, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for thousands of Afghan refugees already in the US, and dashed the hopes of thousands more waiting to come.

New York Times [5/14/2025 5:00 AM, Jamelle Bouie, 153395K] reports of the endless torrent of illegal, unconstitutional — and anticonstitutional — actions flowing from the Trump administration, there are three that stand out for their contempt for the rule of law. There is the president’s ongoing assault on the right to due process, seen in his administration’s refusal to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was arrested in Baltimore in March and removed to a prison in El Salvador. Not only is the White House ignoring an order from the Supreme Court that sought to bring Garcia back to the United States, but its spokesmen also insist on tarring Garcia as a “terrorist” and “human smuggler” in an escalating series of attacks on his character. Other Republicans, it should be said, have backed the administration on this point, insisting that due process does not apply to undocumented or unauthorized immigrants. “When it comes to due process, that is a privilege reserved for American citizens,” Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, a vocal ally of the president, said on NBC. Donalds should probably consult the Constitution, which makes no mention of citizenship or immigration status in either of the two amendments, the Fifth and the 14th, that guarantee the right of due process to all “persons.” If the framers and ratifiers of these amendments had intended to differentiate between citizens and noncitizens, they would have done so. That is especially true for the authors of the 14th Amendment, who were preoccupied with questions of rights and citizenship and who dealt with nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment within their political coalitions. They could have written a due process clause whose protection went only as far as native and naturalized citizens. They chose not to. The second incident is the suggestion, by the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, that the president might suspend habeas corpus to keep federal courts from releasing the administration’s detainees — thus blocking its efforts to remove, among others, some lawful residents from the country. “Well, the Constitution is clear,” Miller said in a briefing with journalists last week outside the White House, “that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion.” It’s an option, he continued, that the administration is “actively looking at” and that “depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”

Staten Island Live [5/14/2025 3:45 PM, Tom Moran, 1800K]reports until now, I never would have suspected that a member of Congress I’ve known for decades, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, would be capable of such a crime. But according to the Trump administration, she and two of her Congressional colleagues “stormed” a detention center for undocumented immigrants in Newark, N.J., and “body slammed” a guard who dared to stand in their way. “We will not tolerate assault against our ICE law enforcement agents. By members of Congress or anyone else,” ICE Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X. Criminal charges against the Congresswoman and her militant companions are “definitely on the table,” she later told CNN. So, let’s dive in. This all happened on Friday, when Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was put in handcuffs and arrested on trespassing charges. We’ll get to that, but let’s start with a look at those rowdy members of Congress.

Telemundo [5/14/2025 5:32 PM, Staff, 2454K] reports the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, confirmed Wednesday that nine people have died in the agency’s custody and pledged to post information about it on the agency’s website. Lyons appeared before Congress to discuss issues related to ICE funding and stated in response to the deaths that "we conduct a thorough investigation in every case." Congress has required ICE to release information on the deaths of people in its custody since 2018. However, during the hearing, Representatives Veronica Escobar, Democrat of Texas, and Lauren Underwood, Democrat of Illinois, questioned the deaths and emphasized that updates have been delayed for 90 days since the Trump administration took office. Underwood, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee, also used the hearing to accuse ICE of spending funds it doesn’t have and of failing to meet its deportation goals, which she called unrealistic. Lyons responded that “ICE will not run out of money” and explained that the agency can use funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. USA Today [5/14/2025 12:10 PM, Bart Jansen, 75858K] reports Democratic lawmakers clashed with the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over funding, deaths while in federal custody and information the agency shares with the public while in pursuit of one of President Donald Trump’s most high-profile second-term priorities. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, accused the agency May 14 of spending funds it doesn’t have while still falling short of unrealistic deportation goals. Congress has approved funding for 41,500 detention beds but ICE is detaining 52,000 people, which could lead the agency to running out of money within two months. Underwood called the goal of removing 1 million people per year an “incredibly risky strategy that sets you up for failure.” “This administration is cashing checks it does not have to reach questionable goals it cannot meet,” Underwood said. Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, denied the agency would run out of funding. Money could potentially be shifted from other agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Lyons said the agency’s goal is to have 60,000 detention beds after the anticipated shift in funding. “ICE will not run out of money,” Lyons said.

Reported similarly:
Univision [5/14/2025 5:43 PM, Staff, 5325K]

UPI [5/14/2025 6:38 PM, Allen Cone, 1546K] reports the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday told a House subcommittee that his agency won’t run out of money before the fiscal 2026 budget is approved. Todd Lyons clashed with Democratic members of the Homeland Security subcommittee of appropriations over funding for the apprehension and housing of arrested unregistered immigrants, including some who have died. Congress has approved funding for 41,500 detention beds but ICE is detaining 52,000 people, which could lead the agency to be out of money within two months. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, said the goal to deport 1 million people per year is an "incredibly risky strategy that sets you up for failure. "This administration is cashing checks it does not have to reach questionable goals it cannot meet." Lyons responded: "ICE will not run out of money." He said money could be shifted from other agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. ICE’s goal is to have 60,000 detention beds after funding shifts. "We’re still prioritizing the worst of the worst," said Lyons, who was selected by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to serve as the interim chief in March after the previous director resigned. Lyons testified his agency prefers to work with public institutions versus private facilities.

Bloomberg [5/14/2025 1:43 PM, Alicia A. Caldwell and Jason Leopold, 16228K] reports the IRS can share taxpayer data with federal immigration officials only in cases involving immigrants with final deportation orders or ongoing criminal investigations, according to a newly unsealed agreement between the Treasury and Homeland Security departments. The 13-page memo, signed in April by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, was released Tuesday by order of a federal court in Washington. It permits Immigration and Customs Enforcement to request tax records under a section of the tax code that allows limited disclosures for non-tax criminal matters. While the memo doesn’t specify what criminal cases may qualify, it does specify other rules. To obtain IRS data, ICE must provide a name, address, and deportation order date, and it’s required to safeguard any information received. By agreeing to share taxpayer data at all, the IRS is taking an unprecedented step that breaks with longstanding assurances that such information wouldn’t be used to aid in immigration enforcement. Melanie Krause resigned as the acting IRS commissioner last month as the data-sharing arrangement was finalized. A federal judge on Monday ordered the mostly redacted IRS-ICE agreement to be “almost entirely unsealed” in response to a request from the watchdog group American Oversight. In the same ruling, the judge denied a request from two Chicago-based immigrant advocacy groups to block the data-sharing arrangement, saying they lacked standing to challenge it. Immigrants have for decades been encouraged to pay income taxes regardless of their status. In 1996, the IRS created an individual taxpayer identification number for foreigners who don’t qualify for a Social Security number, allowing them to file returns.

Breitbart [5/14/2025 3:36 PM, Staff, 2923K] reports a US judge ordered the release from custody on Wednesday of an Indian researcher at a top American university who is facing possible deportation for alleged Hamas ties. Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, was arrested by federal agents two months ago at his home in Virginia and has been held in Texas. District Judge Patricia Giles ordered Suri’s immediate release on Wednesday and that he be allowed to return from Texas to his wife and three children in Virginia on his personal recognizance. "Hearing the judge’s words brought tears to my eyes," Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, said in a statement released by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which is among the groups representing her husband in court. "Speaking out about what’s happening in Palestine is not a crime," Saleh said. "Let’s show the world that this country is still a place where people can and do express their beliefs without fear.” Giles, in ordering Suri’s release, said his detention violated his First Amendment rights to free speech. "The court’s order today should send a clear message to the Trump administration that it cannot arrest someone, rip them away from their family, and incarcerate them just for standing in solidarity with Palestinians and against the genocide in Gaza," said Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney at the CCR. Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said on X at the time of Suri’s arrest that he was "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.” McLaughlin also accused him of having "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”

Axios [5/14/2025 3:59 PM, Sareen Habeshian, 13163K] reports some foreign nationals who were arrested in recent weeks under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown have since been ordered released by judges. The freedom of a handful of these detainees throws a wrench in the administration’s efforts to detain and deport people who are legally in the U.S.. Still, several others remained detained, including Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident who has been in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more than two months. Immigrants who have been ordered released include: A judge on May 14 ordered the release of Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University graduate student from India, on bond eight weeks after his arrest. Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk was released from jail on May 9 following a six-week detention in a Louisiana facility. Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student who was detained during what he believed to be a U.S. naturalization interview, was released in April while his case proceeds. Fabian Schmidt, a permanent U.S. resident originally from Germany, was detained after returning from a trip to Luxembourg on March 7. Juan Francisco Méndez, an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant, was ordered to be released earlier this month but remains in custody, his lawyer told local outlets.

Reuters [5/14/2025 8:52 PM, Rajesh Kumar Singh, 41523K] reports that, Avelo Airlines, a Texas-based budget carrier, is facing backlash from both customers and employees over its decision to operate deportation flights under a new contract with the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has launched a hardline crackdown on illegal immigration, including the deportation of Venezuelan migrants he accuses of being gang members to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, and has also detained and moved to deport some legal permanent U.S. residents. Trump’s policies have triggered a rash of lawsuits and protests. Avelo, which has been struggling financially, signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last month to transport migrants to detention centers inside and outside the U.S., according to an internal company memo reviewed by Reuters. On Monday, the airline flew its first flight under the deal, from Arizona to Louisiana, data from flight-tracking services FlightAware and Flightradar24 showed. Avelo plans to dedicate three aircraft to deportation operations and has established a charter-only base in Mesa, Arizona, specifically for these flights, according to the company memo. The union representing Avelo’s flight attendants called the contract "bad for the airline," and one customer has organized a petition urging travelers to boycott the airline. Avelo is defending its decision. The airline on Wednesday confirmed its long-term agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and said it was vital to Avelo’s financial stability. It also shared a statement from CEO Andrew Levy acknowledging that it is a "sensitive and complicated topic," but saying that the decision on the contract came "after significant deliberations.” The statement added that the deal would keep the airline’s "more than 1,100 crewmembers employed for years to come." Avelo said it will use three Boeing (BA.N) 737-800 planes in Mesa, Arizona. "Flights will be both domestic and international," the company said, declining to share more details of the agreement. Avelo, which launched in 2021, was forced to suspend its most recent fundraising round after reporting its worst quarterly performance in two years. In a message to employees last month, Levy said the airline was spending more than it earned from its customers, forcing it to seek repeated infusions of capital from investors. "I realize some may view the decision to fly for DHS as controversial," Levy wrote in the staff memo, which was reviewed by Reuters, but said the opportunity was "too valuable not to pursue.”

Boston Herald [5/14/2025 5:46 PM, Lance Reynolds, 1200K] reports Massachusetts US Attorney Leah Foley has warned that her office will investigate anyone who tries to interfere with ICE operations across the Bay State, and that includes elected officials. The notice comes a week after a chaotic altercation in Worcester that featured activists, including a city councilor, attempting to block federal agents from detaining a criminal illegal alien accused of assaulting her pregnant 16-year-old daughter Foley did not directly refer to the Worcester incident but highlighted how the “interference with ICE operations around Massachusetts has been disturbing, to say the least.” “This conduct poses significant public and officer safety risks,” Foley said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is conduct that should be vilified rather than glorified. I will not stand idly by if any public official, public safety officer, organization or private citizen acts in a manner that criminally obstructs or impedes ICE operations.” “The United States Attorney’s Office, along with our federal partners,” she added, “will investigate any violations of federal law and pursue charges that are warranted by such activity.” Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj has been called out for shielding Rosane Ferreira De Oliveira, the target of last Thursday’s ICE operation, from law enforcement at the scene in a residential neighborhood she represents. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a statement identifying Ferreira De Oliveira as a “violent criminal illegal alien,” slammed Haxhiaj for pulling a “political stunt” and inciting “chaos.”

CBS Baltimore [5/14/2025 6:58 PM, Janay Reece, 51661K] Video: HERE reports two women who were living in Maryland and were detained by ICE will remain in the United States following a judge’s ruling in federal court to suspend their deportation. U.S District Court Judge Julie Rubin said at the court hearing that her ruling was not a national injunction and only applies to the two women listed in the lawsuit. The federal class action lawsuit was filed by The Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and the National Immigration Project earlier this month, on behalf of two women, whose attorneys say were living in Maryland lawfully. Their attorneys explained that they are not able to identify the women but shared that one was Guatemalan and the other from El Salvador– both lived in Maryland for many years. "They were abruptly detained after checking in for years with lawful status, and taken to the Baltimore hold rooms," said Ian Rose, the managing attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. "Miss D.N.N. was held for more than 60 hours at the Baltimore hold room, and Miss B.R.G. was, I believe, held for approximately 48 hours in Baltimore hold rooms, which is far in excess of ICE’s own policy.” Rose added, "These are the two plaintiffs who have bravely decided to represent the class and litigate this case.” "We are seeing a policy of detain first, think later, when it comes to immigration enforcement, and it’s leading to systematic violations of people’s rights in the interest of meeting quotas," said Sirine Shebaya, the executive director at the National Immigration Project. "The overcrowding, unlawful detention, and inhumane conditions in the holding cells are just another outcome of that dragnet approach. The courageous women in this case should never have been detained in the first place, and the cruelty and harm they are experiencing must be stopped.” According to their attorneys, the women were allegedly being held illegally by ICE in ‘inhumane" holding rooms at the George Fallon Federal Building downtown and were recently moved after being held to other facilities in New Jersey and Denver, Colorado. In March, dozens of community members rallied outside the federal building downtown where the detainees were being held. Staffers for U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks (both D-Md.) also visited the ICE holding facility in downtown Baltimore in March. Following their visit, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks wrote to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons regarding the reports of the conditions detainees have faced while in custody in the holding rooms at the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore Field Office. The letter laid out that detainees have been held for durations longer than allowed by ICE standards in a facility that is unequipped to meet their basic needs, including reports of overcrowding in holding cells with no bed space, lack of adequate food service, and the absence of medical staff on-site.

Washington Post [5/14/2025 2:46 PM, Tim Carman, Warren Rojas, and Jenny Gathright, 31735K] reports that in the days since May 6, when agents with the Department of Homeland Security began demanding paperwork from restaurants across Washington to prove their employees were eligible to work in the country, cooks and servers at multiple establishments have quit, no-showed or requested time off. The sudden talent void has prompted fears that restaurants could face a worker shortage, potentially leading to more closures in an industry already expected to contract this year. Owners or operators of four restaurants confirmed to The Washington Post that they had lost employees, whether permanently or temporarily, since DHS agents visited last week. Three of the proprietors spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to become a bigger target for federal immigration officials or did not want other staff to walk off the job, too. At Millie’s, where at least eight DHS agents entered the Spring Valley restaurant via multiple access points, the chief executive of the parent company, Georgetown Events, confirmed that three front-of-the-house workers had left the establishment. These staff losses were likely to be just the tip of the iceberg, numerous people told The Post, and they began last week at a particularly critical moment for the D.C. hospitality industry: just days before Mother’s Day. In a letter to Maria Stavropoulos, a supervisory special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations, the president and chief executive of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington spelled out the damage that the DHS visits had on local restaurants.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 4:48 PM, Amy DeLaura, 2296K] reports the Arlington County board is ending the Arlington County Police Department’s ability to cooperate with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, or ICE in local arrests. Police in Arlington already are prohibited from arresting a person who simply has a federal warrant due to immigration status. The draft released from the county board meeting vote on Tuesday, May 13, shows Section 7 crossed out. It previously allowed police to contact ICE under three circumstances: if the person is here illegally and has been identified as a gang member who has committed a criminal gang offense; if an illegal immigrant has committed a violent felony and is considered a threat to the community; or if an illegal immigrant is arrested for human trafficking or a terrorist attack. Arlington County Police collaborations with ICE are up 600% compared to 2024, according to the board.

Tennessee Conservative [5/14/2025 8:00 AM, Olivia Lupia] reports Nashville continues to be a hub for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities as the federal agency partners with Tennessee law enforcement to facilitate the arrest of illegal aliens throughout Davidson, Rutherford, and Robertson counties. Thanks to the ongoing operation, the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) has conducted nearly 600 traffic stops, with ICE officers detaining 196 aliens with criminal histories, including convicted sex offenders, murderers, and several members of foreign terrorist gangs like Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the 18th Street Gang. According to Fox17 reporting, ninety-five of those arrested had prior criminal convictions and pending criminal charges while thirty-one detained had re-entered the U.S. illegally after being previously removed. ICE’s acting field office director for the New Orleans Field Office, Brian Acuna, spoke to the news outlet and reiterated the purpose and legality of ICE to conduct their operations and detentions. “The American people, through Congress, said that this agency — ICE — is going to enforce federal immigration law in the United States, and that is what we are doing here,” he said. Acuna confirmed that detainees are being transported to an ICE detention center in Louisiana and refuted claims that the traffic stops are a product of racial profiling only being conducted in Latino-heavy neighborhoods. While many citizens and conservative lawmakers continue to applaud the success of this joint operation, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell has continually stated his opposition and in retaliation, signed an executive order to track and report interactions with federal immigration authorities. O’Connell also made national news with the creation of a “Belonging Fund” to help illegal aliens live in the city without fear of deportation. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin critiqued O’Connell saying, “You would think all public officials would unite around DHS bringing violent criminal illegal aliens to justice and removing them from American communities. However, pro-open borders politicians—like Mayor O’Connell—would rather protect illegal aliens than American citizens. This operation resulted in getting gang members, sex offenders, and other violent criminals off Nashville’s streets. President Trump and Secretary Noem will continue to stand with victims and the brave ICE agents who are on the frontlines making America safe again.”

The Tennessean [5/14/2025 5:49 PM, Austin Hornbostel, 95K] reports U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles called on two congressional committees to investigate Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and other city officials over what he called “their repeated efforts to obstruct lawful ICE operations.” Ogles, who represents Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, made that ask following an exchange with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as part of a May 14 Department of Homeland Security briefing on Capitol Hill. In an accompanying newsletter following the briefing, Ogles claimed that O’Connell was “blatantly obstructing” U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials, who recently completed a weeklong operation in Nashville that resulted in the arrest of nearly 200 immigrants. Ogles requested that both the House Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee open investigations into O’Connell and other city officials. O’Connell has been outspoken about the arrests since they began on May 3 and has repeatedly called for the Department of Homeland Security to release the names and charges of those who have been detained in Nashville. “You would think all public officials would unite around DHS bringing violent criminal illegal aliens to justice and removing them from American communities,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the release. “However, pro-open borders politicians — like Mayor O’Connell — would rather protect illegal aliens than American citizens.” That release was the first from any agency to name individuals detained during the Nashville ICE operation. It listed six of the 196 people arrested.

USA Today [5/14/2025 2:56 PM, Trevor Hughes, 75858K] reports that in a case that’s drawing significant social media attention, a Georgia college student and her father are being held in the same immigration detention center and facing deportation after they were separately stopped by police for driving without valid licenses. Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, was arrested May 5 after a police officer thought she ran a stop sign. Officers then turned her over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for a deportation hearing, although police later dropped the traffic charges against her, according to local media reports. Also being held in the same facility, the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, is her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, 43, ICE officials said. Arias-Tovar was stopped for speeding in April and, like his daughter, was unable to provide a valid driver’s license, ICE said. Arias-Tovar is also not accused of any violent crime. The pending deportation of Arias-Cristobal is drawing fresh attention to the Trump administration’s muscular new approach to immigration enforcement. Although President Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign said his administration would focus primarily on violent criminals living illegally in the United States, ICE agents have also been targeting foreign college students and other people who lack any history of violent crime. ICE officials said both Arias-Cristobal and Arias-Tovar admitted they were living in the United States without permission. Arias-Cristobal said her parents brought her across the Mexican border when she was an infant, and that she was too young to apply for protection under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, her attorney told local media.

(B) CBS Mornings [5/14/2025 8:26 AM, Staff] reports that in Colquitt County, the sheriff’s office and the Department of Homeland Security teamed up to arrest twelve people with active warrants for crimes against children on Monday. Charges among those detained include child molestation, possession of methamphetamine, and simple battery. Law enforcement also recovered one rifle and one pistol. Georgia State Patrol also helped with the operation.

FOX News [5/14/2025 1:24 PM, Alex Koch, 46189K] reports that immigration authorities announced on Tuesday they had arrested more than two dozen illegal aliens at construction sites in Florida. The raids took place in Wildwood, Florida, during worksite enforcement encounters, according to an X post from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa. Wildwood, a city in Sumter County, is about an hour northwest of Orlando. Illegal immigrants arrested during the operation were from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, according to the post. A video shared by HSI Tampa showed authorities walking through a neighborhood with newly constructed homes. Though the video did not show any arrests, a photo posted by HSI Tampa appeared to show an arrest at a construction site in Wildwood. Officials said some of the illegal immigrants had previously been deported, though it is unclear if any of the aliens had previous arrests or convictions. The total number of arrests has not yet been released. In a separate post, HSI Tampa said the agency was "diligently working to determine if construction companies in the fastest-growing region in the U.S. [are] employing illegal aliens [and] violating federal immigration law." [Editorial note: consult video at source link for video]

(B) NBC News Daily [5/14/2025 1:54 PM, Staff] reports that the Department of Homeland Security says ICE agents arrested more than two dozen undocumented migrants from construction sites in Wildwood yesterday. Officials say some had already been deported before. The people arrested are from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Chicago Tribune [5/14/2025 1:30 PM, Jason Meisner, 5269K] reports that the Trump administration’s refocusing of federal resources on immigration has landed at the Chicago office of the IRS’s criminal investigation bureau, where agents accustomed to working complex financial cases are now being prepared for unprecedented special assignments to help track down undocumented immigrants, a memo obtained by the Tribune shows. The communication sent to staff this week by Ramsey Covington, special agent in charge of the IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Chicago field office, said he was still "working to get legal advice/clarification" on the situation, but that as many as a dozen Chicago-based agents were expected to be detailed to the Department of Homeland Security’s local immigration efforts for up to six months. The plan to "deputize" IRS agents, which was first revealed in February in a leaked letter from Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, is uncharted territory and comes with several snags, including that IRS agents are not trained on federal immigration and border security laws, collectively known as "Title 8," and could potentially face civil lawsuits if they overstep their authority. On Feb. 7, Noem sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to request agents to help dig into human trafficking networks, find businesses hiring workers in the U.S. illegally, and assist with other immigration-related tasks, according to reports from multiple news agencies, including Reuters. "It is DHS’s understanding that the Department of the Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Service’s work force and budget," Noem said in the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters.

New York Post [5/14/2025 10:43 AM, Jennie Taer, 54903K] reports nearly two dozen Tren de Aragua gangbangers in an ICE detention center in Texas have barricaded themselves and threatened to take hostages in a major uprising — days after migrants spelled out "SOS" in the prison yard. Members of the Venezuelan gang threatened to hold ICE officers captive and injure them on April 26 as they barricaded the doors of their unit with their cots, covered surveillance cameras, blocked windows, and flooded the unit by clogging the toilets, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The takeover attempt lasted "several hours," with the detainees ignoring the orders of ICE agents. Alleged Tren de Aragua gangbangers were seen begging to be sent home by flashing a banner reading "Help, we want to be deported. We are not terrorists. SOS" to a drone overhead this week at the same facility. And just weeks before, another group of migrants were seen by a Reuters drone forming the letters "SOS" at the Texas detention center. In response to the uprising, DHS is asking the Supreme Court to allow deportations to resume under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, which was blocked after the Trump administration deported dozens of alleged gangbangers to El Salvador without giving them a hearing. "Keeping these foreign terrorists in ICE facilities poses a serious threat to ICE officers, staff, and other detainees," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. "The media repeated these TdA gang members’ false sob stories, but the truth is these are members of a foreign terrorist organization that rape, maim, and murder for sport," she added.

(B) Good Morning America [5/14/2025 9:57 AM, Staff] reports yesterday, lawmakers head public testimony about a bill that would require local sheriff’s offices to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The legislation would require law enforcement to ask everyone who is arrested for a felony if they are in the country legally. It would also require sheriffs to comply with detainers and warrants from the Department of Homeland Security and it would require the State Department of Justice to compile and report data on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

NewsNation [5/14/2025 6:19 PM, Spencer Humphrey, 6866K] reports weeks after federal immigration agents raided an Oklahoma City home and removed a U.S. citizen and her daughters at gunpoint, NewsNation KFOR has uncovered documents disproving a claim shared by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—which suggested the property was still owned by a woman indicted for human smuggling at the time of the raid. Now, despite the fact that records show the suspected human smuggler sold the home well before a federal judge issued the search warrant for it, the U.S. government is trying to seize the home from its new owner. As News 4 first reported on April 25, agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security burst into the home with guns drawn, forced a woman, who News 4 is calling Marissa, and her three daughters outside, and taking their phones and money—despite their names not appearing anywhere on the search warrant. ‘Marissa’ and her daughters had just moved into the home from Maryland and had only been living there for a couple of weeks. Marissa told News 4 she saw agents from ICE, the FBI and U.S. Marshals present during the raid. The FBI and U.S. Marshals later denied involvement. As News 4 previously reported, the warrant authorized federal agents to enter the home and seize certain items regardless of who was inside, however, it listed 8 specific people as its "targets.” But none of the eight people were Marissa, or her daughters, or her husband, or anyone else they knew. In a second press release posted to X, formerly Twitter, the day after the agency admitted Marissa and her family were not the intended targets, DHS defended the raid. In the release, DHS stated it had surveillance on the home and presented a judge with evidence it was being used as a "stash house" by a human smuggling group. DHS also said one of the eight suspects named in the warrant had paid the home’s utility bill, though the agency would not say when that payment occurred. DHS said it had "not ruled out current occupants" from its investigation. DHS has not answered questions about whether its agents knew the house had been sold, listed for rent and occupied by an unrelated family for several weeks before the raid. As News 4 previously reported, members of Congress have asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the case, seeking a timeline for the return of Marissa’s property. At last week’s congressional hearing, Noem said she could not share a timeline because the investigation is still ongoing. Noem again defended the actions of agents and reiterated the search warrant was for the home, not people.

Breitbart.com [5/14/2025 5:24 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2923K] reports new data shows that homicides in Denver and Aurora, Colorado, have experienced a significant drop in the wake of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) efforts to take down the Tren de Aragua gang members that had been causing so much chaos in the area. Homicides in Denver declined 58 percent during the first three months over the same time last year, and nearby Aurora saw a 36 percent decline during the same period. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlin added that all crime is down in his city.

CBS Los Angeles [5/15/2025 1:18 AM, Matthew Rodriguez, 51661K] reports a Santa Monica College student was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to the school. The arrest happened near the student’s West Los Angeles home on May 5, according to SMC. School officials said he was deported but is physically safe and seeking legal aid. The community college said federal agents have not been on their campuses. "We recognize the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty many in the college community may be feeling, especially—at this time—undocumented/immigrant students, and those from mixed-status families," the community college wrote. "Santa Monica College remains committed to upholding an inclusive teaching-learning environment where all students may pursue their educational goals, irrespective of immigration status." The school also released the administration’s process if federal immigration agents enter the campus. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [5/14/2025 9:16 PM, Nathan Solis, 13342K] reports a South Los Angeles couple are facing criminal charges for allegedly using their car to try to impede and pursue federal immigration agents who were serving search warrants earlier this year. Gustavo Torres, 28, and Kiara Jaime-Flores, 34, are charged with conspiracy to impede or injure officers, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. Advocacy groups that call attention to immigration raids and inform people about their legal rights called the arrests an intimidation tactic by the Trump administration meant to deter activism. The couple could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear if they had legal representation. The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 28 when agents with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were serving search warrants in South Los Angeles. A small crowd gathered outside a home in the Florence neighborhood, according to a federal affidavit that accompanied the charging documents. At 9:32 a.m. three federal law enforcement vehicles left the scene with "evidence," court documents said. There was no indication if anyone in the home was taken by the federal agents. An agent recorded Jaime-Flores outside the home standing next to a Honda Fit as they departed. That same car blocked the agents’ vehicles at 61st Street and Broadway. The agents were able to drive around the Honda, according to the affidavit. While driving away, Torres drove in front of one of the government vehicles and used his brakes aggressively, according to the affidavit. Agents said that Torres then pulled into a gas station and followed the agents for approximately two miles. Federal agents identified the license plate of the Honda Fit through surveillance footage from a local business. On May 5, a federal agent interviewed Jaime-Flores during a traffic stop. She acknowledged that she was driving the Honda Fit with an expired driver’s license. She asked if she was being questioned in relation to an incident related to immigration, according to the affidavit. She told the agent that she and her boyfriend, later identified as Torres, went to the residence in the Florence neighborhood after seeing the activity on social media. According to the affidavit, she said the couple were opposed to the immigration agent’s activities. According to the agent, Jaime-Flores consented to a search of her mobile phone. The agent found deleted social media pictures of the home where immigration agents served the Feb. 28 search warrant. One dated photo had writing on it that said, "We Try to Stop But I Can’t Do It Alone! We Need to Stick Together To Stop Them For as Long As We Can! Please Let’s Fight Together In A Good Way! Somos Mas Gente Que Officiales migra! [We outnumber the immigration officials]".

CBS Los Angeles [5/15/2025 12:19 AM, Lesley Marin, 51661K] reports a South LA couple faces federal charges for allegedly trying to block immigration agents during an operation on Feb. 28. Aerial footage from the day shows groups of people protesting as federal immigration agents served search warrants across Los Angeles. The Department of Justice claims Gustavo Torres, 28, and Kiara Jaime-Flores, 34, used their car to chase and block immigration agents during the operation. Immigrant rights advocates called their arrests intimidation. "We know that throughout the history of this country anyone that has stood up for racial justice, social justice has been a target," advocate Ron Gochez said. Gochez, a high school teacher, is part of the Union del Barrio. The group shows up to immigration raids, alerts community members and informs people of their rights. "We do not impede. We do not obstruct," Gochez said. "We do everything legally but its not above the Trump administration to lie.” Court documents outlined Torres’ reasoning for blocking the federal agents during an interview for the investigation. "We thought that it’d be a good idea," Torres said, according to the DOJ. "If it was immigration, they were taking someone’s family member unjustified. Well, me and my girlfriend, the first instinct was, well, to block the cars.” The couple is being charged with conspiracy to impede or injure officers. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of six years in federal prison. The arrests come as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents arrested 239 undocumented immigrants last week. ICE released photos of four suspects who allegedly committed dangerous crimes including manslaughter, aggravated rape and vehicle theft.

Univision [5/14/2025 5:11 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports in small migrant towns like Cajolá, it’s not unusual for the entire economy to be built on remittances—the funds migrant workers send back to their countries of origin. House Republicans have included a 5% excise tax on remittance transfers in President Donald Trump’s priority bill, which would cover more than 40 million people, including permanent resident permit holders and nonimmigrant visa holders, such as H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B visas. U.S. citizens and nationals would be exempt. Trump also recently announced he is finalizing a presidential memorandum to "end remittances" sent by people in the United States illegally.

Reuters [5/14/2025 11:21 AM, Kristina Cooke, 41523K] reports every time Barbara, a 35-year-old asylum seeker from Cuba, goes to her prenatal appointments in Louisville, Kentucky, one topic looms large among the other pregnant immigrants she talks to there: will their babies be born U.S. citizens? Barbara, who asked to be identified by her first name only for fear of retaliation, crossed the U.S.-Mexican border with her family in 2022 and filed for asylum. A lawyer in Cuba, she said she fled political and religious persecution in her home country. She, her husband and 4-year-old daughter have pending U.S. asylum applications and lack permanent immigration status. The baby is due in July. An executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January that would limit automatic U.S. birthright citizenship - part of his wide-ranging immigration crackdown - would deny citizenship to their expected child, if it goes into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday is set to hear arguments in the Trump administration’s request that the justices allow broad enforcement of the directive by narrowing the scope of the injunctions. Trump signed the order on his first day back in the White House, directing federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of U.S.-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident. That night, Barbara barely slept, she said. "Hearing that news provoked a horrible stress in me, that still follows me to this day," she said. If allowed to stand, Trump’s order would deny citizenship to more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States, the state attorneys general said in February. About 3.6 million babies were born in the United States in 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/14/2025 5:04 PM, Staff, 48304K] Video: HERE

NPR [5/14/2025 4:31 PM, Elena Burnett, Ailsa Chang and Patrick Jarenwattananon, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports the Trump administration said it will end the Temporary Protected Status program for Afghanistan this summer. That means more than 9,000 refugees may be forced back to the Taliban-ruled country.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 1:40 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports that the Taliban-controlled government of Afghanistan opened a “dialogue” with the United States as Congress voiced concern about the safety of Afghan refugees returning to their home country. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the revocation of temporary protected status for roughly 11,700 Afghan migrants in the U.S., putting them at risk of deportation. In a statement announcing the move, Noem argued that Afghanistan’s security and economic situations have improved to the point where TPS is no longer appropriate. "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. Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country." Noem also accused many recipients of the program of fraud and jeopardizing public safety or national security. In a statement posted on X, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry, welcomed the development. "EA-MoFA considers recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a positive step & acknowledgement of existing realities, affirming progress in Afghanistan’s security & economic environment," he said.

AP [5/14/2025 6:11 PM, Morgan Lee, 48304K] reports several hundred immigrants have been charged with unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone along the southern U.S. border in New Mexico and western Texas since the Department of Justice introduced the new approach in late April. President Donald Trump’s administration has transferred oversight of a strip of land along the U.S.-Mexico border to the military while authorizing U.S. troops to temporarily detain immigrants in the country illegally — though there’s no record of troops exercising that authority as U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducts arrests. The designated national defense areas are overseen by U.S. Army commands out of Fort Bliss in the El Paso area in Texas and Fort Huachuca in Arizona. The novel national security charges against immigrants who enter through those militarized zones carry a potential sentence of 18 months in prison on top of a possible six month sentence for illegal entry. The full implications are unclear for migrants who pursue legal status through separate proceedings in federal immigration court.

Reuters [5/14/2025 4:56 PM, Andrew Hay, 41523K] reports cases of migrants caught in new military zones on the U.S.-Mexico border have been stalled over legal confusion, and lawyers and a U.S. senator on Wednesday raised concerns over whether people actually know when they are entering the zones. The U.S. Army starting last month set up the zones in New Mexico and Texas as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Troops are allowed to detain trespassers. Defense lawyers say migrants are unaware they are entering the zones and locals fear being charged for trespassing in desert areas popular with hikers, mountain bikers and hunters. At issue is whether migrants, or U.S. citizens, know they are trespassing in a military zone, which in New Mexico spans a 180-mile-long strip of border. In a letter to Hegseth on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, a Democrat of New Mexico, said the military zones raised public access issues for people who use the area for outdoor recreation and ranching. He asked whether the Army would install signs to mark the New Mexico zone’s boundaries, if the entire 110,000-acre (44,515 hectare) area was not open to the public. Over 300 people have been reported detained in the New Mexico military area, according to Heinrich.

Federal News Network [5/14/2025 5:33 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1089K] reports the Trump administration is backing a plan to increase homeland security spending by $67 billion over the next decade, including $6.2 billion to ramp up hiring at Customs and Border Protection. But the Congressional Budget Office projects "considerable uncertainty" around CBP’s ability to meet the hiring targets funded under the House Homeland Security Committee’s proposal for the 2025 budget reconciliation package. The committee’s recommendations includes $4.1 billion for CBP to hire and train border patrol agents, field operations officers, air and marine agents, and support staff. Another $2.1 billion would go towards signing and retention bonuses. CBP projects the funding would allow the agency to hire approximately 8,500 employees, including 5,000 officers and 3,000 Border Patrol agents. If the funding is approved, CBP expects most of the hiring would occur over the next five years. But in analysis released last week, the CBO states the pace of the project hiring is uncertain, particularly for Border Patrol agents and officers. During a May 6 hearing before the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said applications at CBP have increased by 54% in recent months. The report showed that only 2.5% of applicants for CPB officer positions successfully completed the hiring process and entered a law enforcement role during that time. For Border Patrol agents, the applicant yield rate was just 1.8% over the same period. While attrition rates at CBP generally remained below the governmentwide average of 6% during that time period, attrition rates for Border Patrol agents and air interdiction agents has outpaced hiring in recent years, according to GAO.

USA Today [5/14/2025 5:02 PM, Kathleen Wong, 75858K] reports political commentator and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker said he was stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday, marking another incident in heightened scrutiny at U.S. borders. Piker had flown in from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to attend a speaking event at the University of Chicago. Passing through the Global Entry line at border control, an agent pulled him aside and led him to the back. Piker, who is an American citizen born in New Jersey, told USA TODAY he was "expecting" to get flagged, having heard stories of other American citizens recently being stopped by border agents. For about two hours in what he was told was a routine inspection, Piker was questioned about his political beliefs and potential connections to the militant group Hamas, his opinions on President Donald Trump and when he was banned from Twitch. He was released shortly after asking if he was being detained. A CBP official told USA TODAY in a statement that Piker’s inspection was not politically motivated.

NBC News [5/14/2025 5:47 PM, Daniella Silva, 44742K] reports that the drummer of Texas rock band Lord Buffalo was removed from a flight headed to Europe and detained by immigration authorities on Monday, the band said in social media posts on Wednesday. Yamal Said was "forcibly removed from our flight to Europe" by Customs and Border Protection at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on Monday, the Austin, Texas, band said in the posts. Said is a Mexican citizen and, as a green card holder, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, according to the band. CBP told NBC News on Wednesday that Said "was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday while attempting to depart the United States due to having an active arrest warrant" and was turned over to local law enforcement. The agency confirmed that he is a Mexican citizen and a lawful permanent resident. The Los Angeles Times [5/14/2025 5:29 PM, Carlos De Loera, 13342K] reports "We are heartbroken to announce we have to cancel our upcoming European tour. Our drummer, who is a Mexican citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States (green card holder) was forcibly removed from our flight to Europe by Customs and Border Patrol at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Monday May 12," the band said in a Wednesday social media post. According to the group, Said has not been released from custody. According to a CBP spokesperson, Said was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while aboard a May 12 flight heading outside of the U.S. due to allegedly having an active arrest warrant. He was subsequently turned over to local law enforcement.

(B) CBS Mornings [5/14/2025 9:55 AM, Staff] reports Uvalde County District Attorney wants to hear from three Border Patrol agents who helped put a stop to the gunman in the Robb Elementary shooting. She is accusing Customs and Border Protection of blocking their testimony. She claims all three agents would provide pivotal testimony in the trial of former UCSD Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former district officer Adrian Gonzalez. They both face charges connected to the delayed response.

San Diego Union Tribune [5/14/2025 8:00 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1682K] reports as concern mounts over dangerous maritime smuggling crossings, U.S. Rep. Mike Levin said this week that he plans to ask Congress for $60 million in federal funding to install surveillance towers along the San Diego coast. The move comes a week after three people died when a panga with 18 people aboard capsized off the coast of Del Mar. A 10-year-old girl also went missing and is presumed dead. "Last week’s accident shows us that there’s a lot more we still have to do," Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, said at a news conference Monday in Del Mar. "As our land border tightens up … bad actors will continue to explore new ways to enter the U.S.” Levin said he requested funding for autonomous surveillance towers to be deployed along maritime borders. These would include additional cameras, radar and infrared technology to help intercept maritime threats, he said. Such technology is currently used at the U.S.-Mexico land border, according to a Border Patrol spokesperson. The solar-powered towers reach up to 33 feet tall and have a 3-mile diameter range, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. The cameras use artificial intelligence, the agency said, to sort out real concerns from false positives. As a group or something of interest moves about, the monitoring is handed off from tower to tower, "keeping the electronic eyes on the situation at all times," the agency said. When the towers catch something of note, agents in the field get an alert on their phones or tablets.

FOX News [5/14/2025 7:58 PM, Kyle Schmidbauer, 46189K] reports Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Southern California have reportedly seized a massive haul of illegally imported cigarettes intercepted from two cruise ship passengers last month. Officers assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport discovered roughly 150,000 cigarettes, stored in 749 cartons across 10 pieces of luggage, from a couple arriving from Ensenada, Mexico, on April 17, according to a CBP press release. CBP estimated the seizure — which included, but was not limited to, 326 cartons of Newport 100s and 210 cartons of Marlboro Golds — to be worth some $59,920, assuming a low-end selling price of $80 per unit. "This is definitely a big bust," Jaime Ruiz, the CBP’s Strategic Media Engagement Branch Chief for most of the Western U.S., told Fox News Digital. Ruiz called it "one of the largest we’ve seen at the LA:Long Beach seaport complex.” The women presented themselves for inspection after disembarking at the Long Beach Cruise Ship Terminal, at which point the cigarette stash was found. Despite providing purchase receipts, they were unable to produce permits for transportation of such a quantity of tobacco products. "Selling illegally imported cigarettes could yield high profits for underground vendors due to the low cost of cigarettes when purchased overseas and the evasion of taxes owed upon import," said Africa R. Bell, CBP Port Director of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, according to the release. "This type of scheme not only evades revenue owed to the United States but may be harmful to the American consumer," Bell continued, noting that "CBP officers at our nation’s largest seaport complex remain committed to enforcing our laws and to protect the American public.” Investigation into the incident may continue, notes FOX 11 Los Angeles, and the women may be subject to penalties for violating import laws. But the "immediate consequence," Ruiz noted, "is that now there is a negative record and, by default, they have incurred a significant loss of nearly $60K.” That loss, Ruiz continued, is realized in the seizure and destruction of the cigarettes. "Travelers who intentionally disregard U.S. importation laws and regulations often pay a high price," Cheryl M. Davies, CBP Director of Field Operations in Los Angeles, said in the release. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
Telemundo52 [5/14/2025 4:13 PM, Jonathan Lloyd, 101K]

CNN [5/14/2025 6:35 AM, Connor Greene, 22131K] reports the US Department of Agriculture has suspended the transport of live cattle, horses and bison through ports of entry along the border with Mexico for at least two weeks. It’s part of an effort to curb the spread of New World screwworm, a flesh-burrowing larva that can be fatal to animals and devastate cattle herds. The parasite was detected in Mexican farms as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, roughly 700 miles from the US border. “The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins said in a statement Sunday. “This is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.” Mexican Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said on X that he had spoken with Rollins, who informed him of the decision. “We don’t agree with this measure, but we’re confident we’ll reach an agreement sooner rather than later,” Berdegué said. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also expressed discontent over the US’s decision, describing it as “unfair” amid tariffs imposed on other goods. “We do not agree with this measure,” Sheinbaum said Monday. “The Mexican government has been working on all fronts from the very first moment we were alerted to the screwworm.”

(B) Today [5/14/2025 10:56 AM, Staff] reports that the import of Mexican cattle into the United States has been halted due to an infectious disease being detected in livestock. The infection is caused by the new world screwworm fly. This decision reported by the Department of Agriculture is expected to significantly impact Arizona and New Mexico. It could also severely affect the economy on both sides of the border. US Customs and Border Protection says the halt is only affecting cattle at this time.

NewsMax [5/14/2025 1:22 PM, Solange Reyner, 4998K] reports that there is no "formalized final plan" for restructuring the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday during a House hearing about her department’s budget request, reports the New York Times. Noem in recent weeks has promised to limit FEMA and President Donald Trump last week fired the agency’s acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, after he told lawmakers he did not think it was in the public’s interest to eliminate the agency. Trump also appointed several new members to the FEMA Review Council, a bipartisan body responsible for overhauling and streamlining the nation’s emergency management and disaster response systems. Noem, who co-chairs the council, told House members Wednesday there is the potential for new members to be added and anticipates the priorities of the council will be "to evaluate FEMA as it stands today and how it can better be reformed and replaced to respond to people’s needs in a time of crisis. "Many times you’ve seen over the years where the federal government has not shown up when they were expected to and then even after a crisis was over it had committed to being there to help people restructure and to rebuild and never followed through on it, we still have claims outstanding in FEMA from Hurricane Katrina, wildfire claims from out West that are 10 years old … we saw political targeting that happened in North Carolina where individuals within FEMA decided who could get help and who didn’t get help, so that needs to end and this needs some integrity to it and making sure the federal government is there for support, but the states are empowered to do the emergency responses very important to President Trump," she added.

ABC 15 Phoenix [5/14/2025 12:55 PM, Maya Rodriguez] reports Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testified Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security regarding the budget increase for the Department of Homeland Security proposed in President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget. The requested funding, approximately $175 billion, represents a $44 billion increase over last year’s budget for the agency. Members of Congress posed a range of questions addressing various responsibilities of the DHS, from immigration enforcement to disaster response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This marks Noem’s first appearance before the committee since her appointment. The hearing, titled “A New Era of Homeland Security: A Review of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request,” highlighted Noem’s assertion that the additional funding is essential for national security. In response to a question from Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, about the reconciliation bill and its role in enhancing safety, she stated, "The reconciliation bill is imperative to our future in securing our nation. For years, previous administration efforts have neglected the Department of Homeland Security." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [5/14/2025 6:00 AM, Hayley Smith, 13342K] reports the recent firing of the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is just the latest in a string of blows for the nation’s top disaster-response agency, which has been repeatedly undercut by the Trump administration’s efforts to rein in spending and restructure the federal government. The dismissal of acting director Cameron Hamilton on May 8 adds to ongoing layoffs, budget cuts, grant cancellations and leadership changes at FEMA, and officials now say the agency could run out of money as soon as July. That’s just in time for “danger season” — the time of year when extreme weather events typically peak and converge. Experts say the turmoil at FEMA will leave millions of American vulnerable as climate-change-fueled disasters get worse in the months and years ahead — particularly as Trump seeks to shift more of the burden of disaster response away from the federal government and onto the states. In the wake of January’s destructive firestorm in Los Angeles, FEMA notably opted to break from its decades-long tradition of testing soil for contaminants, as The Times first reported. “I’m very worried about what the next few months look like for communities that are going to be impacted by a wildfire, or a tornado, or a hurricane, or a flood,” said Rob Moore, a senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. “The assistance that we have come to rely upon is no longer there. It’s just not there.” In recent months, the President has called for shrinking or even eliminating FEMA, which he accused in a Jan. 24 executive order of overspending and political bias. At a press conference in L.A. following the fires, Trump described FEMA as a “very expensive and mostly failed situation.” “You don’t need FEMA — you need a good state government,” Trump said.

Washington Post [5/14/2025 10:09 AM, Matthew Cappucci and Ian Livingston, 31735K] reports an extensive, long-duration sequence of severe weather is set to unleash storms across parts of the central and eastern United States over the next week. Storms begin Wednesday over Nebraska and the Dakotas and will shift to the Midwest and Ohio Valley on Thursday. By the weekend, it’s the Great Plains that will be most at risk for severe weather. From Sunday onward, there could be repeated rounds of possible tornado weather in what is known as “tornado alley” in the Plains. Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and perhaps Kansas will deal with three consecutive days of dangerous storms, and it’s possible the threat will last longer. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center notes that the overlap of severe weather parameters, including instability (akin to storm fuel) and shear (spin), “should promote an organized, and potentially more widespread, severe threat.”

CBS Baltimore [5/14/2025 7:17 PM, Mike Hellgren, 51661K] Video: HERE reports severe flooding devastated some Western Maryland communities in Allegany and Garrett counties, where children had to be rescued from their schools this week. "It’s heartbreaking, the kind of impact we’re seeing, particularly in the western part of the state," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told WJZ on Wednesday. "We have been in constant communication with our local elected officials there.” The state has mobilized multiple agencies to assist in the recovery efforts: Maryland State Troopers are stationed across the region. Natural Resources Police are checking door to door in areas under mandatory evacuation orders. Department of Emergency Management leaders held a conference call with local officials to coordinate the response. The State Highway Administration is focused on cleaning up closed roads. The Maryland Department of the Environment said the Savage River Dam remains stable. Howard, Frederick, and Montgomery Counties have assisted with their swift water rescue teams. In Westernport, in Allegany County, crews rescued at least 150 children and 50 adults from several schools. Twelve students were trapped overnight at Mountain Ridge High School in Frostburg. They were all picked up by 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. "Administrators, teachers, a school nurse, a school security officer, a counselor, food services staff, and others were on hand to take care of the students," Allegany County Public Schools wrote in a statement. The school system continued, "Staff organized phone calls for students to ensure that they were able to speak with their parents and guardians. Regular updates were provided to parents and guardians throughout the day and evening.” At Westernport Elementary, water covered the ground floor, and first responders took 10-year-old William Wade, his 8-year-old brother Quinton, and their classmates by boat to safety.

New York Post [5/14/2025 12:20 PM, Staff, 54903K] reports that the body of a 12-year-old boy was found Wednesday morning after he was swept away by floodwaters Tuesday evening, according officials in Albermarle County, Virginia. That comes after Flash Flood Emergencies were issued in Virginia and Maryland on Tuesday when a slow-moving but potent storm system that slammed the Southeast with torrential rain and severe weather moved over the mid-Atlantic and Appalachians. The agency warned of life-threatening flash flooding of low-water crossings, small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. Albemarle County Fire Rescue said multiple agencies responded around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after a 911 caller reported the incident. "This is a heartbreaking outcome," said ACFR Chief Dan Eggleston on Wednesday. Flash Flood Emergencies were issued for nearby Greene and Madison counties in Virginia on Tuesday evening. People were rescued from two cars that got stuck in rapidly rising water in Greene County, according to the local sheriff’s office. Officials had to close roads due to flooding and fallen trees. Allegany County, Maryland, was the first flash flood emergency of the day when waters rose quickly near Westernport. Persistent storms dropped 2.5 to 5 inches of rain in just hours around Westernport, Luke and Barton in Allegany County, Maryland, which triggered dozens of water rescues.

CBS News [5/14/2025 6:59 PM, Aki Nace, David Schuman and Adam Duxter, 51661K] reports nearly 37,000 acres have burned since Sunday as three wildfires continue to rage in northern Minnesota, none of which have been contained. The Jenkins Creek Fire northwest of Duluth grew from 6,800 acres on Tuesday to roughly 20,600 acres Wednesday morning, according to the Minnesota Incident Command System. The fire is centered near Hoyt Lakes, and is burning in mixed boreal forest and grassy ground cover. The Camp House Fire — the first fire to be reported on Sunday afternoon — grew to nearly 15,000 acres. The fire has since destroyed dozens of structures. Forest service officials say firefighters are engaged in full sppression tactics and are providing protection to threatened structures. "Lake turbulance" winds have been challenging operations, officials say, but the fire hasn’t seen as much growth as the Jenkins Creek Fire. The Three Lakes/Munger Shaw Fire, the smallest of the trio, had spread to 1,700 acres, according to officials. As the fires continue, the stress on the first responders is ratcheting up. Some DNR stations are accepting donations for firefighting crews. According to KBJR, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is investigating suspects accused of starting the Camp House Fire. A group of campers had left a fire unattended, and when they returned the fire had spread beyond their control, the DNR learned. Officials say investigations for all three fires are ongoing. Weather conditions in the Arrowhead region have improved slightly, as a wave of humidity moves in and storms are expected to develop on Thursday. NEXT Weather meteorologists say the area could see about an inch of rain, which would ease the dry conditions firefighters are facing. Gov. Tim Walz on Monday activated the Minnesota National Guard and its helicopters to aid the fire fight. Officials are reminding people, including drone pilots, to keep away from all the areas impacted by the wildfires so firefighters can effectively do their jobs. Walz pleaded for those asked to evacuate to do so.

USA Today [5/14/2025 1:02 PM, Jeanine Santucci, 75858K] reports firefighters battling three wildfires in northern Minnesota are expecting another day of "near critical" fire weather on May 14 as thousands of acres continue to burn, prompting evacuations and destroying buildings. The Jenkins Creek fire exploded overnight to become the largest of the three burning in the St. Louis County area. The Jenkins Creek fire burned over 20,000 acres as of May 14, up from 6,800 acres the night before. The Camp House fire, Jenkins Creek fire and Munger-Shaw fires have burned a combined total of over 30,000 acres, fueled by a recent wave of dry heat that brought near record-breaking temperatures to the Northern Plains. At least 144 structures were destroyed and parts of Highway 44 were shut down, said St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay. All three fires were still active, Ramsay said. "A lot of destroyed property and our hearts, prayers go out to those that are impacted by this. It’s real tragic to drive around and see the destruction that’s occurred," Ramsay said in a video posted to social media. Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and former Democratic vice presidential candidate, said he authorized the National Guard to help fight the Camp House wildfire. "As fires continue, we’re working around the clock to ensure impacted areas have the personnel, assistance, and resources to get it under control," Walz said.

ABC News [5/14/2025 7:07 PM, Leah Sarnoff, 34586K] reports crews in eastern Arizona continue to battle a wind-driven wildfire that has burned over 7,000 acres as of Wednesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The Greer Fire, named after the small community in Arizona’s White Mountains where the blaze sparked Tuesday morning, remains at 0% containment amid high wind conditions. The fire continues to move to the north-northeast, moving through Hobson Canyon and pushing onto State Trust lands, officials said. The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management said fire activity moderated slightly overnight, but red flag weather warnings and winds up to 35mph fanned the wildfire. Winds increased to 45 mph on Wednesday as critical fire weather lingers over the area, officials said. Wildland firefighters, hand crews, water tenders and dozers are supporting wildfire containment efforts. Air tankers were grounded due to the wind conditions, officials said. Greer, Arizona, is a small mountain town near the state’s border with New Mexico with a population of less than 60 residents, as of 2020 census data.

Univision [5/14/2025 7:12 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports the municipalities of Cabo Rojo, Las Piedras, and Vega Baja have joined the regions declared under emergency conditions due to the damage caused by the intense rains and flooding that have affected the island in recent weeks. With this decision, the total number of towns under this measure rises to 13 . The executive action was taken following the recommendation of Department of Public Safety (DSP) Secretary Arturo Garffer, who has been leading the damage assessment efforts alongside local authorities. The municipalities already included on the emergency list are Aguas Buenas, Corozal, Naranjito, Orocovis, Ciales, Cidra, Utuado, Caguas, Lares, and Vega Alta , in addition to the three recently added. As part of the emergency plan, Garffer announced that each municipality declared in this condition will be eligible to receive an advance of $100,000 for immediate mitigation and assistance efforts . "Our priority is to ensure that the funds urgently reach where they are most needed," the official stated. "We continue to work swiftly and with commitment with the mayors to ensure that each affected community receives the necessary support," Governor González Colón said in a statement released Monday by La Fortaleza. She emphasized the importance of a rapid response to the devastation caused by the extreme weather. The DPS indicated that it continues to evaluate other requests from mayors and maintains constant communication with municipal administrations. It is not ruled out that more localities will be included in the emergency declaration in the coming days, as damage surveys are completed and critical needs are identified. Recent rains have caused landslides, flooding in urban and rural areas , and damage to homes and basic infrastructure in several parts of the island, so the government’s response is seeking to alleviate the situation as quickly as possible. The governor called on citizens to stay informed through official channels and follow the instructions of local emergency authorities.

FOX News [5/14/2025 11:29 AM, Staff, 46189K] reports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a roughly 214% increase in applications to join the U.S. Secret Service compared to the first few months of last year. The number of submitted applications from Jan. 20 to May 1 of last year was approximately 7,000 compared to 22,000 applicants in 2025 under the Trump administration. "For four long years, the previous administration demoralized and denied resources to our brave men and women in law enforcement, including in the Secret Service," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Our country suffered the consequences of that disastrous approach. President Trump himself nearly lost his life because of it. Now, after reforming the Secret Service and providing it with the resources it needs to do its job, we are seeing an historic surge in applications. Americans naturally want to protect and serve. We simply have to let them." The Secret Service has a total of 8,210 employees and law enforcement officers, including 3,904 special agents, 1,560 in the uniformed division, 265 technical law enforcement personnel, and 2,481 administrative, professional, and technical staff.

NPR [5/14/2025 1:28 PM, Greg Allen, 29983K] reports that the man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump when he was running for president last year has asked a judge to dismiss some of the charges against him. Prosecutors say Ryan Routh was planning an assassination attempt before he was detected by a Secret Service agent at Trump’s West Palm Beach club in September. Routh has pleaded not guilty. At a hearing in federal court here on Wednesday, Routh’s defense lawyers argued that two of the charges against him should be dismissed because they violate his Second Amendment rights. Routh is accused of illegally owning a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Federal public defender Sonia Fahrezi told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that recent court decisions show, "The Second Amendment doesn’t just apply to law-abiding citizens." Routh has two prior felony convictions, including one for illegally possessing dynamite. Fahrezi says those convictions should not preclude him from exercising his constitutional right to own a firearm. And she said, "The absence of a serial number doesn’t remove a firearm from the Second Amendment text.” Justice Department prosecutor John Shipley said the statute that prohibits felons from possessing firearms is still law. And he said, "A firearm with an obliterated serial number has no lawful purpose."

Reported similarly:
AP [5/14/2025 6:11 PM, Stephany Matat, 48304K]

Washington Post [5/14/2025 5:43 PM, Marianne LeVine, 31735K] reports President Donald Trump is not the only one in his administration seeking a new plane. The Department of Homeland Security is planning on a new Gulfstream V, an agency official confirmed Wednesday, after the anticipated acquisition spilled into public view during a congressional oversight hearing. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Illinois) questioned the spending plan during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the U.S. Coast Guard and in a social media post, contending that the aircraft would be primarily used by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem. Underwood said the funding, which she placed at $50 million, would be taken from the budget of the Coast Guard, which is overseen by the DHS. At the hearing, Underwood asked Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, whether he’d received any communication from his DHS superiors at about a new plane for Noem. He did not directly answer the question, saying that the Coast Guard currently has two long-range military command and control aircraft. Lunday described the Coast Guard’s aircraft fleet as aging and said Noem’s plane is "approaching obsolescence." Such aircraft are necessary for top DHS and Coast Guard officials, he said, to ensure reliable communications and travel plans. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant DHS secretary, defended the planned Gulfstream acquisition, saying the agency’s aircraft are "well beyond their service life and safe operational usage." In a statement, she said the current Gulfstream is more than 20 years old, making it "well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft."

Stars and Stripes [5/14/2025 5:45 AM, Caitlyn Burchett] reports the Coast Guard needs more money and long-term investments in new ships and aircraft to keep up with the Trump administration’s crack down on illegal crossings and drug trafficking along the southern border, the acting commandant of the Coast Guard told House lawmakers on Wednesday. “We are continually hampered by pressure for sustaining and operating our assets — our boats and our ships. We are not able to maintain them at the rate we need to,” Adm. Kevin Lunday said as he testified before the homeland security subpanel of the House Appropriations Committee. Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, homeland security and military forces have been surged to the southern border to fend off what Trump has described as an “invasion.” This has included deploying two Navy destroyers and about 9,600 service members to the federal border security mission. Lunday, who previously served as the vice commandant, took command of the Coast Guard on Jan. 21 after Trump fired Adm. Linda Fagan from the position reportedly for failing to address border security. After Fagan was replaced by Lunday, Coast Guard ships were immediately surged to southern Florida and other areas of the country to deter maritime migration. Since then, Lunday said the Coast Guard has stopped more than 860 migrants between the U.S. and Mexico in the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of America. The service has also conducted 157 deportation flights to date. “Despite the mission success and great work of our people, the Coast Guard is in a severe readiness crisis that has been decades in the making. Today, our Coast Guard is less ready than at any other time since the end of World War II — 80 years ago. This is not sustainable,” Lunday said.

NewsMax [5/14/2025 10:18 PM, Michael Katz, 4998K] reports the acting head of the Coast Guard told lawmakers Wednesday that resources were shifted from the Indo-Pacific region to help bolster President Donald Trump’s efforts at securing the southern border. Adm. Kevin Lunday testified during a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security that the Coast Guard has so far conducted 157 expulsion flights to deport illegal immigrants, U.S. Naval Institute News reported. He said the Coast Guard also prevented more than 860 migrants from illegally entering the U.S. by sea and surpassed last year’s totals in seizures of cocaine and other drugs. Lunday was the Coast Guard’s vice commandant until Jan. 21, when Trump fired Adm. Linda Fagan as commandant for failing to address border security and her focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Under questioning from the subcommittee’s ranking member, Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., Lunday said the Coast Guard had to cancel two missions, an operational deployment to the Indo-Pacific and a support mission to the Arctic Coast Guard Forum in Iceland, to shift resources to securing the border. He said he talked with Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, before making the operational change and that the support mission "wasn’t an operational [mission] ... I want to be specific and clear.” "We make those tough tradeoffs all the time because there is an increasing demand for Coast Guard resources and always a limited number of cutters, boats, aircraft crews to provide them," he said. Lunday said the Coast Guard has seen changes in illegal activity at the border. "When you squeeze or tighten down on one part of the land border ... we see elements of that flow or that vector try to make their way across other areas of the border," he said. "And so we’re seeing an increase in activity off Southern California. And we see it in increased smuggling attempts, moving illegal migration and also drugs, trying to get those into not only San Diego but further up the coast, up toward Los Angeles as well.” He said that has resulted in an increased presence of the Coast Guard in those areas and brought the human cost of illegal activity closer to U.S. population centers. He cited the May 5 death of three people, including a minor, when the smuggling vessel they were in flipped in the surf off San Diego. "And so these efforts are critical to not only protect our border but save lives as well," Lunday said. "So we do need increased and sustained top-line funding to be able to generate and sustain the assets, ships, cutters, boats, and aircraft and sensors necessary to enable us to protect that maritime approach to the U.S. border, off of California, off of Texas and the Gulf of America, and then off of Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USNI News [5/14/2025 6:07 PM, Hope Hodge Seck] reports the U.S. Coast Guard responded to President Trump’s U.S. border mission by tripling the number of aircraft, boats and teams deployed to the region and took resources from international missions, the acting head of the service. Acting Coast Guard commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday told a House panel on Wednesday. But the moves came with trade-offs, both for Coast Guard resources and for the flow and location of migrant activity. Testifying to the House Appropriation Committee’s subcommittee on oversight Wednesday, Lunday said the service had conducted 157 alien expulsion flights to deport illegal immigrants at the administration’s behest to date. The service, he said, had also prevented more than 860 migrants from illegally entering the U.S. by sea and had already surpassed last year’s totals in interdictions of cocaine and other drugs. Asked by Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) about the tradeoffs needed to conduct the border missions, Lunday said the Coast Guard had had to cancel two missions, including an operational deployment, to be able to plus-up its border presence. One planned National Security Cutter patrol to the Indo-Pacific was canceled, Lunday said, adding he had consulted with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo before making the change. The other change was a visit support mission for USCGC Calhoun (WMSL-759) to support the Arctic Coast Guard Forum in Iceland. “It wasn’t an operational [mission] … I want to be specific and clear,” Lunday said.

NewsNation [5/14/2025 9:15 AM, Sierra Rains, 6866K] reports a search is underway for a boater who went missing while on his way to the Florida Keys. Dave Coleman, 47, was aboard the Colenett, a 40-foot sailing vessel, when he left from Charlotte Harbor on Friday, May 9, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. He was supposed to be heading toward the Florida Keys but still hadn’t reached his destination by the time he was expected. Authorities said Coleman’s uncle reported him missing Tuesday morning.The U.S. Coast Guard had multiple air crews out searching for Coleman Tuesday.

San Francisco Chronicle [5/14/2025 7:24 PM, Molly Burke, 5046K] reports a UC Santa Cruz student who was found dead last week after jumping from a cliff into the ocean days earlier was identified Wednesday as a 21-year-old man from Los Angeles, authorities said. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said the man’s name was Noah Lee Kim. His body was found Friday afternoon on Its Beach, a sandy area under the cliffs at Santa Cruz’s Lighthouse Field State Beach. Kim attended UC Santa Cruz beginning in June 2022, the school confirmed, and was an undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science. On May 4, five days before Kim’s body was found, witnesses reported seeing two people jump from a cliff near 701 West Cliff Drive into the ocean and struggle to swim back to shore, according to police and university officials. Only one of the swimmers made it out of the water, firefighters said, prompting an extensive search for Kim by the Santa Cruz Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard, police and other agencies. The fire department urged people to always be aware of ocean conditions and to "be extremely careful around West Cliff edges.”

Reuters [5/14/2025 9:08 AM, Staff, 41523K] reports Steelmaker Nucor (said on Wednesday it had halted certain production at various locations after identifying a cyber security incident that involved unauthorized third-party access to certain information technology systems it used. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it is in the process of restarting the affected operations as it investigates the incident along with external cyber security experts. Nucor has notified federal law enforcement authorities and is taking the potentially affected systems offline, while also implementing other containment, remediation or recovery measures, it said in an SEC filing. The company did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for further details on the incident.

Reported similarly:
FOX Business [5/14/2025 10:39 AM, Aislinn Murphy, 10702K]

NBC News [5/14/2025 6:09 PM, Kevin Collier, 44742K] reports hackers behind a series of destructive, financially motivated cyberattacks against some of the U.K.’s largest retailers are now going after big American brands, Google said Wednesday. "Major American retailers have already been targeted," John Hultquist, the chief analyst for Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, told NBC News. At least three top British retailers have experienced cyberattacks in recent weeks. Marks & Spencer was forced to pause online orders for weeks. Hackers who contacted the BBC provided evidence of "huge amounts of customer and employee data" stolen from the Co-op Group. The third, Harrods, restricted some internet access at store locations, though a spokesperson told NBC News that it has not seen evidence that customer data was stolen. Hultquist declined to name which American retailers the hackers may be going after. The National Retail Federation, which represents thousands of companies including Walmart and Target, acknowledged the threat. "U.S.-based retailers are aware of the threats posted by cybercriminal groups that have recently attacked several major retailers in the United Kingdom, and many companies have taken steps to harden themselves against these criminal groups’ tactics over the past two years," Christian Beckner, the NRF’s vice president of retail technology and cybersecurity, told NBC News in a statement. As one of the world’s largest tech companies, Google sells services like cloud storage, networking and security protections to some of the biggest retailers in the world, providing it significant insight into how hackers operate. It’s not yet clear if there is a technical reason for the hackers to target retail companies, such as a vulnerability in a shared industry software program. The U.K. hacking campaign strongly echoes the one that shut down parts of some Las Vegas casinos in 2023. That led to MGM Resorts, the owner of the Bellagio and Mandalay Bay, shutting down some casino floors, leaving guests unable to access their rooms with keycards. The same hackers also broke into Caesars Entertainment, but Caesars, unlike MGM, promptly paid the hackers, and it did not experience widespread service outages.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [5/14/2025 5:28 PM, Raphael Satter, 41523K]

Federal News Network [5/14/2025 7:14 AM, Justin Doubleday, 1100K] reports agencies are being encouraged to consider post-quantum cryptographic standards in the acquisition process, as part of a multiyear push to secure sensitive data from exploitation. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Office of the National Cyber Director, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Security Agency are leading post-quantum cryptographic efforts. Garfield Jones, associate chief of strategic technology at CISA, said those lead agencies hosted a call recently with more than 600 federal IT officials to discuss the adoption of post-quantum cryptography. “The awareness part, we’re really pushing it,” Jones said during a May 13 event in Washington hosted by AFCEA Bethesda. “As those vendors start to adopt it, we’re starting to talk to the agencies about putting this into your acquisition documentation.” While a quantum-relevant computer is not projected to become a reality for at least another decade, U.S. officials are concerned adversaries could steal data now and decrypt it in the future.

CyberScoop [5/14/2025 2:13 PM, Tim Starks] reports the Department of Homeland Security won’t tell Congress how many employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency it has fired or pushed to leave, a top congressional Democrat said Wednesday. “You’ve overseen mass reductions in the workforce at CISA and” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, told DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a hearing of the panel. “Despite repeated requests from this committee on how many people have been fired or have been bullied into quitting … DHS has refused to share that information. “It should worry every American that we do not know how many people are left at FEMA to respond to disasters and how many cyber defenders still work at CISA as China and other adversaries attack our systems every day,” he continued. Thompson made his remarks at the close of the hearing, meaning Noem didn’t have a chance to reply. In response to a request for comment about Thompson’s assertion, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin didn’t comment specifically on the Mississippi Democrat’s claim, but said CISA under Noem is refocusing its mission, “starting with election security” and staffers who worked on those issues. “The agency is undertaking an evaluation of how it has executed its election security mission with a particular focus on any work related to mis-, dis-, and malinformation,” McLaughlin said. “While the agency conducts the assessment, personnel who worked on mis-, dis-, and malinformation, as well as foreign influence operations and disinformation, have been placed on administrative leave.” Thompson also said there’s no plan for CISA, and he criticized Noem for “falsely” accusing CISA of censorship as the Trump administration uses the latter contention as a major justification for a proposed $491 million cut to the agency for fiscal 2026. “Now we are all paying a price for you buying into a baseless conspiracy theory,” he said.

Daily Caller [5/14/2025 11:27 AM, Audrey Streb, 1082K] reports officials are reportedly reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices found in solar panels that are capable of damaging the energy infrastructure, destabilizing the power grid and triggering widespread blackouts. Over the past nine months, "rogue communication devices" not listed in product documents were found in solar power inverters and batteries from several Chinese suppliers, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke with Reuters. The undocumented devices were found after U.S. experts disassembled the renewable energy equipment to check for security issues, prompting officials to review the potential dangers of the Chinese-made devices, according to the publication. "We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption," Mike Rogers, a former director of the U.S. National Security Agency, told Reuters. "I think that the Chinese are, in part, hoping that the widespread use of inverters limits the options that the West has to deal with the security issue.” The communication devices were reportedly found in power inverters, which are used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to the power grid and are often produced in China. They are also found in electric vehicle chargers, batteries and heat pumps. Undocumented cellular radios were also found in Chinese-manufactured batteries, according to the publication. If the rogue communication devices found in the inverters are used to circumnavigate firewalls and change the settings or turn off inverters remotely, this could destabilize power grids, damage energy technology and prompt blackouts, according to experts who spoke with Reuters. "That effectively means there is a built-in way to physically destroy the grid," one of the sources told the publication. DOE, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, the White House and the Chinese embassy did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for confirmation or comment.

CBS News [5/14/2025 8:27 AM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports Most schools — 86% — said a lack of funding was their top concern in defending against cyberattacks.

NPR [5/14/2025 5:00 AM, Tom Dreisbach, 29983K] reports President Trump campaigned on a pledge to fight antisemitism. "Antisemitic bigotry has no place in a civilized society," Trump said at an event in 2024. However, the president’s critics question whether antisemitism may have found a place within his administration. NPR has identified three Trump officials with close ties to antisemitic extremists, including a man described by federal prosecutors as a "Nazi sympathizer," and a prominent Holocaust denier. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Trump administration has used the fight against antisemitism as justification for the deportation of pro-Palestinian student protesters and funding cuts to universities. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, argues that the administration is using antisemitism as a pretext. "If the administration were serious about countering antisemitism, first and foremost they wouldn’t be appointing people with antisemitic and other extremist ties to senior roles within the administration," Spitalnick said. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

The New York Times [5/14/2025 4:00 PM, Neil Vigdor, 145325K] reports a former member of the Michigan Army National Guard was charged on Tuesday with plotting to carry out a terrorist attack on a U.S. military base outside Detroit for the Islamic State using a drone, Molotov cocktails and armor-piercing ammunition, the F.B.I. said. The man, Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was arrested outside the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command in Warren, Mich., by federal agents, with whom he had been unknowingly discussing his plans since last June, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators said that Mr. Said, of Melvindale, Mich., had shared details about a planned mass shooting with two people he thought were fellow ISIS supporters, but were instead undercover F.B.I. agents recording their conversations. Mr. Said told them that he was “fed up with this country" and had long desired to engage in a violent jihad, either by traveling to an ISIS-held territory abroad or carrying out an attack in the United States, the authorities said. Mr. Said was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device or explosive. The charges could bring up to 40 years in prison if he is convicted. The Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 5:45 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports Said faces 20 years in prison for each count if convicted. He detailed his plans to two undercover law enforcement officers, whom he thought he had enlisted to help carry out his plan on behalf of ISIS, according to the Department of Justice. The former National Guardsman allegedly compiled a detailed attack plan targeting the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command facility at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, according to the department’s release. He is said to have provided armor-piercing ammunition and magazines, trained the undercover agents on firearms and the construction of Molotov cocktails, and detailed an attack route. Said first planned to conduct reconnaissance with his personal drone, the DOJ said, and he was arrested while carrying out this first step on Tuesday. He made his first appearance in a U.S. district court Wednesday afternoon. The Hill [5/14/2025 1:40 PM, Elizabeth Crisp, 12829K] reports "This defendant is charged with planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here at home for ISIS," Sue J. Bai, head of the DOJ’s National Security Division, said in a statement. "Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, we foiled the attack before lives were lost." Authorities discovered videos in which Said allegedly pledged loyalty to ISIS. The former guardsman is accused of giving two undercover officers armor-piercing ammunition, as well as details about how to enter the Detroit-area facility and which building to target, according to the DOJ. He also is accused of using a drone to survey the location and instructing the covert officers how to make Molotov cocktails for the attack. CNN [5/14/2025 4:16 PM, Sean Lyngaas, 908K] reports Said has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and with distributing information related to a destructive device. Court documents did not list an attorney for Said. Said spent two years in the Michigan Army National Guard until he was discharged in December, according to court documents. Said "was involuntarily discharged for failing to complete initial entry requirements," a Michigan National Guard spokesperson told CNN in an email.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [5/14/2025 1:03 PM, Sadie Gurman, 646K]
ABC News [5/14/2025 12:21 PM, Alexander Mallin and Meredith Deliso, 34586K]
CBS News [5/14/2025 11:17 AM, Joseph Buczek, 51661K]
FOX News [5/14/2025 12:43 PM, Greg Norman, 46189K]
Detroit Free Press [5/14/2025 12:33 PM, Christina Hall, 4124K]

ABC News [5/14/2025 3:11 PM, Megan Forrester, 34586K] reports a Texas mother has been arrested and charged for allegedly buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son’s planned "mass targeted violence" at his middle school, officials said. Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested on Monday and charged with aiding in commission of terrorism after she allegedly provided ammunition and tactical gear to her son, whose behavior demonstrated plans for a "mass targeted violence" aimed at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News. Back in January, Pardo’s son was first contacted in reference to "drawings of the local school he currently attended," the affidavit said. These drawings included a map of the school -- labeled "suicide route" -- and the name of the school written beside a rifle, the affidavit said. The son, who was not named in the affidavit, was contacted by officials at the time and described a "fascination with past mass shooters," according to the affidavit. Pardo had been aware of the threats made by her son, expressed to the school her support of his "violent expressions and drawings" and said she did not feel concerned for his behavior, according to the affidavit. The affidavit noted that Pardo was purchasing the gear and ammunition for her son in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings. In a letter sent to parents on Monday, Rhodes Middle School Principal Felismina Martinez said Pardo’s son was "detained off-campus and is being charged with terrorism." Pardo was released on a bond of $75,000 on Tuesday, according to jail records. She will return to court for a pre-indictment hearing on July 17, according to court records.

Reported similarly:
CNN [5/14/2025 8:58 PM, Dalia Faheid, 22131K]
NewsMax [5/14/2025 5:55 PM, Jim Mishler, 4998K]

CBS News [5/14/2025 7:20 PM, Doug Myers, 51661K] reports Tracy Denard Haynes Jr., the 17-year-old accused of opening fire and injuring four students and a teacher at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas last month, has been indicted on five felony charges, according to court records. A Dallas County grand jury returned the indictment Tuesday, charging Haynes with five counts of aggravated assault mass shooting. The shooting occurred just after 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, at the southeast Dallas school. Four students and a teacher were wounded, but all survived. Investigators said Haynes was allowed into the school by an unidentified student before allegedly carrying out the attack, which lasted less than two minutes. According to an arrest affidavit, Haynes walked down a hallway, drew a firearm, and began firing indiscriminately at students, striking several. He then allegedly shot one student at point-blank range.

FOX News [5/14/2025 7:29 AM, Preston Mizell, 46189K] reports as the Trump administration speeds past the 100-day mark, various conflicts around the globe are in a much different place than when the president took office. It has been nearly 600 days since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Not only did the act of terrorism launch a full-scale war in the Middle East, but it also facilitated a chaotic wave of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli clashes at home. "We’re guided by two principles that are guiding our approach to this conflict. The first is that we stand with Israel and Israel’s right to defend itself. And the second is that Hamas must release the hostages," U.S. Department of State Deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital. "Those are the two guiding principles. And then we’re looking at the long-term here in terms of what this is going to look like as a long-term solution to this conflict. Hamas cannot continue to exist." "When it comes to some of these protests, and I use that word even somewhat lightly in terms of I don’t even know if that’s the best way to describe them, the secretary has been clear, the president has been clear, there’s going to be zero tolerance for people that are here on visas that break our laws, that support or promote terrorism in the United States," Pigott added. "When you’re looking at that visa process, again, speaking from the State Department’s perspective, there’s a vetting process to enter the United States for a visa," Pigott explained. "We’re constantly monitoring the fact of, are you actually abiding by that visa? Are you [a student] doing things that are breaking our laws? And if you do, your visa may be revoked."

CNN [5/14/2025 3:37 PM, Alex Marquardt, Alayna Treene, Kristen Holmes, and Kylie Atwood, 908K] reports that a significant overhaul of the National Security Council at the White House is expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels, three senior Trump administration officials told CNN. Staffed by dozens of foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda. But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the pending overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House. "NSC as we know it is done," an administration official said. Multiple sources said they anticipate the shake-up of the White House’s national security apparatus to take place once Trump’s Middle East tour this week is done. From the onset of the Trump administration, building out the NSC was an arduous process because of strict background checks that prioritized loyalty to Trump over everything else. And even after people were hired many were swiftly fired in a series of purges since Trump took office.

Daily Caller [5/14/2025 1:52 PM, Eireann Van Natta, 1082K] reports that the intelligence community is quietly undergoing structural changes as agencies tackle government bloat, reorganize departments and dismantle the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. One of Trump’s first directives targeted weaponization in the federal government, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) — which oversees the IC — is focused on uprooting the politicization of the agency. DNI Tulsi Gabbard launched the Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) in April to end government weaponization and increase transparency, and she recently announced that the agency is now 25% leaner. "The 25% reduction in the staff includes both permanent ODNI cadre officers and detailees from other IC elements, who will be returned to their home agencies as ODNI streamlines its mission space," a source familiar told the Daily Caller. "Director Ratcliffe has made it clear that the CIA will pursue President Trump’s national security priorities with laser-like focus," CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons told the Daily Caller. "The Agency is determined to provide the President with an unparalleled intelligence advantage and, under Director Ratcliffe, we are aggressively doing just that." Ratcliffe vowed to restructure the CIA to "eliminate" politicization during a recent cabinet meeting with the president.

CNN [5/14/2025 4:44 PM, Annie Grayer and Paula Reid, 908K] reports that a key federal prosecutor in the classified documents case against President Donald Trump declined to answer questions during a House Judiciary Committee deposition Wednesday, invoking his Fifth Amendment right as a spokesperson suggested the government had been weaponized against him. Jay Bratt is a former Justice Department national security prosecutor who spearheaded the case in which Trump was charged with taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. He entered the committee room Wednesday morning, and two sources familiar with the matter confirmed he invoked his Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. He left after a little less than two hours. "This administration and its proxies have made no effort to hide their willingness to weaponize the machinery of government against those they perceive as political enemies" Bratt spokesperson Peter Carr said in a statement to CNN. "That should alarm every American who believes in the rule of law. In light of these undeniable and deeply troubling circumstances, Mr. Bratt had no choice but to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights." Bratt retired from the Justice Department in January 2025. Carr worked as a Justice Department and Special Counsel spokesman before he was fired by the Trump administration last month.

NBC News [5/14/2025 3:05 PM, Olympia Sonnier, Julie Tsirkin, Courtney Kube, and Carol E. Lee, 44742K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his new add-on role of national security adviser, is expected to significantly scale down the size of the National Security Council and make a drastic change to how it works, four people with direct knowledge of the plans told NBC News. Shrinking the staff at the NSC would be in part designed to more closely align how it operates with the way President Donald Trump makes decisions, these people said. Rather than a large staff generating policy recommendations for the president, the idea is to create a version along the lines Trump prefers — more top-down, with the president directing the national security adviser who then leads the staff to carry out those orders, two of the people said. When Trump took office the NSC had 300 staffers, which was cut in January to about 150. The expected cuts could whittle the staff down to between 50 and 60, but a final decision has not been made, said three of the people with direct knowledge of plans. Rubio does not plan to fire any staff but is expected to reassign them to other agencies, a senior administration official with direct knowledge of Rubio’s decision-making said. "Secretary Rubio is doing an incredible job serving as both Secretary of State and White House National Security Advisor," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to NBC News. "Under his leadership at the White House, the NSC team will be streamlined to ensure maximum efficiency and coordination with outside agencies.”

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [5/14/2025 12:40 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K]

AP [5/14/2025 1:25 PM, Michael Kunzelman, 5046K] reports that a federal judge agreed Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from stripping Foreign Service employees of their collective bargaining rights. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman granted a federal labor union’s request for a preliminary injunction that, while its lawsuit against the government is pending, stops the Republican administration from implementing a key portion of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The American Foreign Service Association, which represents more than 18,000 members of the Foreign Service, sued to stop the administration over the March 27 executive order. The union said Trump’s order "upended decades of stable labor-management relations in the Foreign Service," removing all members at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development from coverage of a law that gives them the right to organize and bargain collectively. In his opinion, Friedman said "Congress could not have been clearer in passing the Statute that it intended for the protections of the Statute to extend broadly to the covered departments and agencies in the foreign service." Government lawyers said Trump determined that "agencies with a primary national security focus are being hamstrung by restrictive terms of collective bargaining agreements that frustrate his ability to safeguard the interests of the American people." "The democratically-elected President’s determination regarding the public interest in that sphere is entitled to deference," they wrote. Plaintiffs’ attorneys claim Trump issued the executive order to retaliate against labor unions and not to achieve any national security goals.

Breitbart [5/14/2025 8:16 AM, Simon Kent, 2923K] reports NATO foreign ministers began meeting in Antalya, Turkey, on Wednesday as they rush to boost defence spending and satisfy U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand of a five percent GDP outlay. AFP reports the two-day gathering looks to forge a compromise deal that keeps Trump happy and committed to the group just over six weeks before leaders come face-to-face with the president in The Hague. Trump has piled on pressure ahead of the summit by insisting he wants NATO to agree to devote five percent of GDP to defence with promises already made, as Breitbart News reported. The AFP report set out what lies ahead for NATO: NATO boss Mark Rutte has floated a proposal for allies to commit to 3.5 percent of direct military spending by 2032, as well as another 1.5 percent of broader security-related expenditure. That would hand Trump the headline figure he’s demanding while giving enough wiggle room to European allies who are struggling just to reach NATO’s current spending threshold of two percent. “Trump will be able claim victory and say that he got NATO to spend five percent,” one senior NATO diplomat, talking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “In reality it will be more complicated than that — but that will be the essential political message from the summit.” Countries most likely to struggle with that target include Canada, Spain and Italy, who are still only just limping towards two percent, the AFP report notes.

FOX News [5/14/2025 11:58 AM, Morgan Phillips, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump said he may travel to Turkey for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as he doesn’t believe President Vladimir Putin would show if he isn’t there. "I don’t know if he’s showing up," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I know he would like me to be there. And that’s a possibility.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Ankara for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, but it’s not yet clear if the Kremlin leader will show up. Russia had proposed restarting direct peace talks, and Zelenskyy challenged Putin himself to show up. Russia has refused to confirm who’s attending the talks, while Zelenskyy has said he will only meet with Putin. The president noted that he has a "full day" scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Thursday, and he’d planned on sending Secretary of State and interim national security advisor Marco Rubio. But, he added, "I don’t know that [Putin] would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out. Marco’s going and Marco’s been very effective.” "If we could end the war, I’d be thinking about that. Now, tomorrow, we’re all booked out, and you understand that, we’re all set, UAE tomorrow, and so we have a very full situation. Now, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [5/14/2025 12:39 PM, Ellen Francis an John Hudson, 31735K] reports that the promise of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul has derailed European efforts to get the United States on board with imposing new sanctions on Russia if there is not an immediate 30-day ceasefire. Just as European officials were seeing a greater degree of skepticism from President Donald Trump’s team toward Russia’s intentions and conferring with U.S. officials on sanctions, President Vladimir Putin’s offer of talks changed the conversation. The surprise meeting expected Thursday in Istanbul has thrown the sanctions plans into question, according to nine European, Ukrainian and U.S. diplomats and officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. While the talks are being seized on as a possible breakthrough in efforts to end the war, Russia only revealed late Wednesday it was sending a low-level delegation of deputy ministers. And after top U.S. envoys bolstered the talks by saying they were coming, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no plans to meet them. When the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Poland traveled to Kyiv last weekend to press for a ceasefire, they held a phone call with President Donald Trump, and he expressed willingness to wield pressure — including possible sanctions — on Russia, two of the diplomats said. Putin’s call for talks, however, which Trump then backed, upended the threat as all sides scrambled to organize meetings in Istanbul, even while details about agendas and delegations remained unclear.

Axios [5/14/2025 9:00 AM, Barak Ravid, 13163K] reports President Trump met Wednesday with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and urged him to sign a peace deal with Israel, the White House said in a statement. The extraordinary meeting in Riyadh between Trump and al-Sharaa — who remains on the U.S. terrorist list due to his past ties with al-Qaeda — marks the first meeting between a U.S. and Syrian president in 25 years. On Tuesday in a speech at an economic conference in Riyadh, Trump shocked the world when he announced he’d lift U.S. sanctions imposed on the Assad regime — which al-Sharaa and his fighters toppled last December — in order to "give a chance" to the new Syrian government. Trump’s announcement was a dramatic shift in U.S. policy towards the new Syrian government. The sanctions crippled the Syrian economy and brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy, and would have made a serious rebuilding effort very difficult. The Biden administration eased some restrictions on Syria to ease the delivery of humanitarian aid after Assad’s fall, but declined to lift sanctions. The meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa lasted 33 minutes, with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also attending. Turkish President Erdogan joined the meeting remotely over the phone. The White House said Trump told al-Sharaa "he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country" after U.S. sanctions are lifted. Trump urged al-Sharaa to deport "foreign terrorists and Palestinian terrorists" from Syria, help the U.S. to prevent the resurgence of ISIS in the region and assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in Northeast Syria, the White House said. "President al-Sharaa thanked President Trump... and recognized the significant opportunity presented by the Iranians leaving Syria, as well as shared U.S.-Syrian interests in countering terrorism and eliminating chemical weapons," the White House said.

Daily Wire [5/14/2025 9:02 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 4672K] reports President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday, marking the first time that top leaders from the two countries have met in more than two decades. During the meeting, Trump pressed al-Sharaa to help the United States combat ISIS, remove all foreign terrorists from Syria, and normalize relations with Israel, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Trump and al-Sharaa, who overthrew former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December, reportedly spoke for about 33 minutes. "He’s got a real shot at holding it together," Trump said of al-Sharaa. "I spoke with [Turkish] President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country." Trump also called al-Sharaa a "young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter." The meeting came after Trump announced on Tuesday that he was dropping sanctions on Syria "in order to give them a chance at greatness." "In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see," Trump said during a speech in Saudi Arabia. Leavitt said that Trump was invited to meet with al-Sharaa by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the meeting by phone. It was the first meeting between an American and Syrian president in 25 years. "President Erdogan praised President Trump for lifting sanctions on Syria and committed to working alongside Saudi Arabia to encourage peace and prosperity in Syria," Leavitt posted on X. "The Crown Prince also commended President Trump for his decision to lift the sanctions, calling it courageous. President Trump thanked President Erdogan and the Crown Prince for their friendship, and told President Al-Sharaa that he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country. President Trump encouraged President Al-Sharaa to do a great job for the Syrian people." Leavitt said Trump "urged" al-Sharaa to "sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel" and "assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in Northeast Syria."

Reuters [5/14/2025 2:36 PM, Gram Slattery, Pesha Magid, and Andrew Mills, 41523K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump met with Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and urged him to normalise ties with longtime foe Israel after a surprise U.S. announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government. Trump then flew to Qatar, where he oversaw the signing of a deal for the Gulf Arab country to buy jets from U.S. manufacturer Boeing. He did not mention a controversial separate offer by Qatar to donate a Boeing jet to serve as the U.S. president’s official airplane. That would be one of the most valuable gifts ever given to the United States and it has triggered alarm in Washington over its security and ethics implications. After Trump’s declaration that he would lift sanctions on Syria, which is seeking to rebuild after more than a decade of civil war, he met with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who swept to power at the head of a group that Washington has called a terrorist organisation and once pledged allegiance to al Qaeda. Trump told reporters that Sharaa said he would be willing to eventually join the Abraham Accords, a U.S.-brokered 2020 agreement that saw the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalize relations with Israel. Syrian officials have signaled an openness to normalize under the right circumstances.

AP [5/14/2025 11:21 AM, Kareem Chehayeb and Bassem Mroue, 48304K] reports President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will ease sanctions on Syria could eventually facilitate the country’s recovery from years of civil war and transform the lives of everyday Syrians. But experts say it will take time, and the process for lifting the sanctions — some of which were first introduced 47 years ago — is unclear. "I think people view sanctions as a switch that you turn on and off," said Karam Shaar, a Syrian economist who runs the consultancy firm Karam Shaar Advisory Limited. "Far from it.” Still, the move could bring much-needed investment to the country, which is emerging from decades of autocratic rule by the Assad family as well as the war. It needs tens of billions of dollars to restore its battered infrastructure and pull an estimated 90% of population out of poverty. And Trump’s pledge has already had an effect: Syrians celebrated in streets across the country, and Arab leaders in neighboring nations that host millions of refugees who fled Syria’s war praised the announcement. Washington has imposed three sanctions programs on Syria. In 1979, the country was designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" because its military was involved in neighboring Lebanon’s civil war and had backed armed groups there, and eventually developed strong ties with the powerful militant Hezbollah group. In 2003, then-President George W. Bush signed the Syria Accountability Act into law, as his administration faced off with Iran and Tehran-backed governments and groups in the Mideast. The legislation focused heavily on Syria’s support of designated terror groups, its military presence in Lebanon, its alleged development of weapons of mass destruction, as well as oil smuggling and the backing of armed groups in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, he signed the Caesar Act, sanctioning Syrian troops and others responsible for atrocities committed during the civil war. Caesar is the code name for a Syrian photographer who took thousands of photographs of victims of torture and other abuses and smuggled them out of the country. The images, taken between 2011 and 2013, were turned over to human rights advocates, exposing the scale of the Syrian government’s brutal crackdown on political opponents and dissidents during countrywide protests. The sanctions — along with similar measures by other countries — have touched every part of the Syrian economy and everyday life in the country.

Washington Post [5/14/2025 5:38 PM, Louisa Loveluck, Zakaria Zakaria, and Mohamad El Chamaa, 31735K] reports President Donald Trump’s announcement from Saudi Arabia that his administration intends to lift wide-ranging sanctions on Syria sparked jubilation in the capital, Damascus, as a population long impoverished by the restrictions was finally able to hope for relief. For years, the U.S. government insisted that its sanctions targeted the regime of then-President Bashar al-Assad, a dictator who presided over a devastating civil war. But ultimately the measures, which cut off Syria from the global financial system, strangled the country’s economy, triggered hyperinflation, weakened the health system and left the poorest living hand-to-mouth. Within an hour of Trump’s surprise announcement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the exchange rate of the Syrian pound against the dollar had tumbled. “It was 10,000, now it’s 9,000,” a street seller in the capital’s Bab Touma district called out at passing cars; many honked back in delight. By midnight, it was even lower. There were fireworks over Damascus, and people danced in the street. Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations has delivered a significant boost to Syria’s new leader, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. He came to power in December after his rebel forces seized the capital and Assad’s dictatorship crumbled overnight. A former member of Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, Sharaa has promised to rule for all Syrians, but he struggled to rein in attacks on minorities and remains formally designated a terrorist by the United States. A meeting between Trump and Sharaa on Wednesday was historic by any measure, not just because of the Syrian leader’s background — it marked the first time a U.S. president had met with any of his Syrian counterparts in 25 years.

Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 7:18 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 2296K] reports TRUMP: ‘I DON’T LIKE PERMANENT ENEMIES’: President Donald Trump, basking in the glow of an effusively warm welcome in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, laid out a vision of a new age of cooperation in the Middle East — praising countries in the region for a “great transformation” that he said has resulted in the “birth of a modern Middle East,” while criticizing Western “interventionists” who “had no idea how to do it themselves.” “Before our eyes, a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos, where it exports technology, not terrorism, and where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence,” Trump said, delivering a major policy address at an investment forum on the first day of his trip. "It’s crucial for the wider world to note this great transformation has not come from Western intervention or flying people in beautiful planes, giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs," he said. "In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they’ve built, and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves … Peace, prosperity, and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly." "My greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don’t like war," Trump said. "I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think. I don’t like permanent enemies … In fact, some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past, and now they’re our friends and our allies."

Newsweek [5/14/2025 1:58 PM, Hugh Cameron, 52220K] reports that President Donald Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia earlier culminated in a $600-billion investment deal with the Kingdom that the administration is touting as a historic milestone for both countries. While certain details of what is included in the investment package remain elusive, the White House has said that the deals secured during Trump’s trip to Riyadh "represent a new golden era of partnership," and will foster "economic ties that will endure for generations to come." In a summary of the deal released on Tuesday, the White House said that Saudi Arabia had made a "$600 billion commitment to invest in the United States.” It listed a number of private investments promised by Saudi firms, including a $20 billion commitment from DataVolt to establish "AI data centers and energy infrastructure" in the U.S. The list included several partnerships between Saudi and U.S. companies including Google, Uber and Boeing, the latter securing a $4.8 billion order for 737s from a Riyadh-based aircraft lessor. Multiple American firms have also reportedly agreed to assist in Saudi infrastructure projects, such as the King Salman International Airport and Qiddiya City. The White House said that these projects will total "$2 billion in U.S. service exports."

UPI [5/14/2025 1:48 PM, Ian Stark, 1546K] reports that the White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has signed an agreement with the nation of Qatar to create "an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion," which includes a "historic sale" of Boeing aircraft and GE Aerospace engines to Qatar Airways. In a press release, the deal is said to have secured a "landmark order" for Boeing and GE Aerospace from Qatar Airways in a $96 billion agreement to provide as many as 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft, which are powered by GE Aerospace engines. The White House reports this to be Boeing’s largest-ever widebody order and the largest-ever order of 787s. The deal is also slated to support 154,000 American jobs annually and will total more than a million jobs in the United States as part of the production and delivery process of the aircraft involved. The White House also said that the energy infrastructure company McDermott International has seven active projects with Qatar Energy worth $8.5 billion, and the digital solutions provider Parsons Corporation has won 30 projects of its own worth close to $97 billion. The deal also pumps up the United States-Qatar security partnership, in which Qatar will receive state-of-the-art military hardware from the American defense company Raytheon, which secured a $1 billion contract to provide counter-drone capabilities, and is also to create engineering and manufacturing jobs in the United States. Breitbart [5/14/2025 6:50 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 2923K] reports that according to the White House, the countries also "signed a statement of intent to further strengthen our security partnership, outlining over $38 billion in potential investments including support for burden-sharing at Al Udeid Air Base and future defense capabilities related to air defense and maritime security.” The news comes a day after the U.S. inked a massive $142 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [5/14/2025 11:53 AM, Staff, 41523K]
NewsNation [5/14/2025 12:15 PM, Kellie Meyer, Brooke Shafer, and Anna Kutz, 6866K]

The Hill [5/14/2025 10:39 AM, Alex Gangitano, 12829K] reports that Qatar Airways signed an agreement on Wednesday to purchase 160 jets from Boeing, while President Trump and Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani watched the deal become official. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, sitting at a table next to Trump, and Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer, sitting next to the Emir, signed the deal. Ortberg shook Trump’s hand before sitting down, and the two men briefly spoke at the table. Trump exchanged brief words with the Emir during the signing and then patted Ortberg on the shoulder. After the deal with signed, the two CEOs shook hands in front of Trump and the Emir. Trump said the deal was for 160 jets, adding "get those planes out there. Get them out there." NewsNation and The Hill first reported on the deal Tuesday. The deal on Wednesday aligns with the Trump administration’s push for nations like Qatar to invest in U.S. manufacturing while on his Middle East swing. Trump on Tuesday secured $600 billion in investments from Saudi Arabia, which involve Saudi Arabian company DataVolt moving forward with plans to invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure in the U.S. The $600 billion deal included a $142 billion defense and security agreement that equips Saudi Arabia with state-of-the-art war equipment provided by dozens of U.S. firms.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [5/14/2025 12:38 PM, Luke Broadwater and Jonathan Swan, 145325K]

The Hill [5/14/2025 1:07 PM, Elizabeth Crisp, 12829K] reports that It’s Wednesday, and we’re halfway through the week! Unfortunately, the rain is expected to continue through the weekend. President Trump is in Qatar amid scrutiny over plans to receive a jumbo jet from the Gulf nation as a gift to replace the aging Air Force One while he’s in office. It’s the second stop on Trump’s multiday trek through the Middle East, following a visit to Saudi Arabia, with Trump pushing for hundreds of billions of dollars in investment pledges from Gulf countries. Trump on Wednesday touted a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase 160 Boeing jets. It’s the largest deal in the U.S. planemaker’s history, Bloomberg reported. Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s CEO, and Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer signed the deal while flanked by Trump and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. “It’s the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing,” Trump said after the agreement was signed. “I think after signing these documents, we are going to another level of relationship between Qatar and the United States,” Qatar’s emir said. Wednesday’s deal comes as Trump tours the Middle East looking to get countries like Qatar to invest in U.S. manufacturing. It also comes on the heels of a $600 billion investment deal with Saudi Arabia, which includes $20 billion for artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure in the U.S, as well as $142 billion to equip Saudi Arabia with state-of-the-art war equipment.

Daily Wire [5/14/2025 8:58 AM, Kassy Akiva, 4672K] reports that President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a defense agreement with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Unlike the defense sales deal signed with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, which aims to counterbalance Iranian influence in the region, the deal with Qatar risks empowering a nation with a history of supporting terrorism and strong ties to Iran. Qatar signed a letter of intent to purchase $2 billion worth of MQ-9B Reaper drones and $1 billion in counter-drone technology, becoming the first international customer for Raytheon’s Fixed Site–Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aerial System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), designed to neutralize small unmanned aircraft. Letters of intent were also signed between Qatar and the United States to "further strengthen our security partnership," the White House said in a statement, outlining up to $38 billion in potential defense and security-related investments. "The United States is in a very strong position militarily," Trump said, sitting next to Al-Thani. "We have the best equipment anywhere in the world and you’re buying a lot of that equipment actually." Trump added that some of the equipment will be on display on Thursday during an event. Qatar also signed an agreement with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, alongside President Trump, to purchase 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft powered by GE Aerospace engines, according to the White House. The purchase is the largest 787 order in the American company’s history.

NPR [5/14/2025 3:41 PM, A Martínez and Nia Dumas, 29983K] Audio: HERE reports the Trump administration has shared plans to possibly accept a used Boeing 747 plane as a gift from the royal family of Qatar to use as Air Force One — raising ethics and security concerns as well as bipartisan criticism from lawmakers. Trump took to Truth Social to address the criticism over his plans to accept the plane. "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," he wrote. Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst, told Morning Edition that Trump’s plan for the plane is a "fantasy.” Aboulafia says that the significance of having the president travel in Air Force One, as compared to a standard 747, is based on cost, capability and security. And in order to guarantee the integrity of the jet, it must be reconstructed with the proper tools and systems needed in order for President Trump to use it for travel. Air Force One is equipped with specialized systems and technologies that allow the president "to do everything from communicate with U.S. officials and military forces all over the globe," Aboulafia detailed. He added that the plane is also designed for "basically surviving a worst case scenario like a nuclear war, or to avoid an aggressive pursuer," making Air Force One "more survivable and far more capable than a traditional passenger jet.” A Boeing-led program focused on delivering two new Force One planes has been in motion for several years now. The operation has faced several delays, with the predicted completion of the program’s first updated plane being pushed to 2029, or possibly even later. Accepting a plane from a foreign government risks the security of the president, Aboulafia says. These concerns include the possibility of listening devices being inserted on the plane, which can compromise the president’s safety along with the American public’s. Aboulafia says the only way to guarantee the gifted plane’s trustworthiness is to completely strip the plane. But he believes that stripping the aircraft and reconfiguring it is a waste of time. "The whole thing is basically incomprehensible. It doesn’t save any time relative to getting the current planned Air Force One up and running. It also offers exactly nothing over the Air Force One that’s in service," said Aboulafia.

CNN [5/14/2025 6:37 PM, Kit Maher, 908K] Video: HERE reports the Qatari prime minister and minister of foreign affairs dismissed controversy surrounding President Donald Trump’s plan to accept from his country a Boeing 747-8 to be used initially as Air Force One, telling CNN it’s simply a "government-to-government transaction," not a personal gift to Trump. "This is a very simple government-to-government dealing," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, adding that the matter was "still under legal review.” Al-Thani would not confirm if a Qatari official approached Trump with an offer to help, as Trump suggested in an interview with Fox News. "It is a government-to-government transaction," Al-Thani said. "It has nothing to do with personnel, whether it’s on the US side or the Qatari side. It’s Ministry of Defense and Department of Defense.” The potential transfer of the jet – which Trump has said would be donated to his library after he leaves office – has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike, with some of Trump’s own supporters pointing to the appearance that Qatar is influence peddling. Republican Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he has security concerns about the potential acceptance of the Qatari jet, likening it to a modern-day version of the Trojan horse. Another Republican member of that panel, Sen. John Cornyn, said he would also have concerns with Trump accepting the plane. Al-Thani said ultimately, if the United States needs something and it’s legal, the Qataris will help, but not because they seek anything in return. "Why would we buy an influence in the United States? If you look just in the last 10 years in the US-Qatar relationship. Qatar has been always there for the US, when it’s needed, whether it’s on the war against terror, whether it’s in the evacuation of Afghanistan, whether it’s on releasing hostages from different, different countries around the world," Al-Thani said. However, Al-Thani said "yeah, of course" the offer would be withdrawn if it were deemed illegal. "We will not do anything illegal. If there something illegal here, there would be many ways to hide these kind of transactions when will not be visible for the public. This is a very clear exchange that’s happening between two governments," he said. "I don’t see any controversy.” Trump, too, has repeatedly defended his plan to accept the jet. On Sunday, Trump characterized the move as a "GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE" to the US Defense Department and he suggested in another post on Tuesday that anyone who wouldn’t accept the 747 would be a "FOOL." He’s repeatedly returned to that point, saying he would be a "stupid person" to turn down a free gift. Experts say it will cost potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to convert the aircraft into Air Force One, including work to ensure high-level security, communications and defense capabilities.

Breitbart [5/14/2025 9:59 AM, Frances Martel, 2923K] reports the U.S. Treasury Department announced sweeping sanctions on Tuesday against a network of corporations accused of helping Iran avoid sanctions on its oil industry by obscuring the true origin of the product. The move followed a separate round of sanctions on Iranian citizens accused of helping Iran expand its illicit nuclear weapons program on Monday — and, notably, a fourth round of negotiations between representatives of the Iranian regime and the administration of President Donald Trump that took place on Sunday. Iranian officials have repeatedly stated the objective of the talks is to convince Washington to drop sanctions on the country so the regime, the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism, can continue to enrich itself, while the Trump administration insists the goal is to contain Iran’s nefarious nuclear development. In a press release on Tuesday, the Treasury explained that the sanctions are affecting "nearly two dozen firms operating in multiple jurisdictions in virtually every aspect of Iran’s illicit international oil trade." The primary target is a firm called Sepehr Energy, which the Treasury accused of using various "front companies" to move oil and money around in a way intended to make it difficult to track Iranian oil sales and avoid the effects of American and international sanctions. "Many of the entities involved in Sepehr Energy’s oil shipments are part of an elaborate system of oil smuggling and money laundering, directly controlled by or acting on behalf of Sepehr Energy," the Treasury explained. Much of the oil is reportedly being sold to China, and some of the front companies, Treasury noted, are based in Hong Hong and used to "broker and receive shipments of Iranian oil delivered to independent so-called teapot refineries in China.” In a statement on Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce accused the sanctioned corporations of helping fund "the development of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), nuclear proliferation, and Iran’s terrorist proxies, including the Houthis’ attacks on Red Sea Shipping, the U.S. Navy, and Israel.” "As long as Iran devotes its illicit revenues to funding attacks on the United States and our allies, supporting terrorism around the world, and pursuing other destabilizing actions," Bruce concluded, "we will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable.”

Breitbart [5/14/2025 8:38 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 2923K] reports President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran “must stop sponsoring terror” and its “bloody proxy wars” as part of any nuclear deal with the U.S. — key provisions that were absent from the deal reached by President Barack Obama in 2015. Trump spoke to a gathering of Arab leaders at the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia before leaving for Qatar on his visit to the Middle East — one focused on both commercial ties and diplomatic outreach. Trump said: We’ll stand with our friends and partners, and we’ll confront the aggression that threatens us all. I want to make a deal with Iran, I want to do something if it’s possible, but for that to happen it must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Trump reacted by raising the stakes in nuclear negotiations with Iran, demanding an end to the regime’s sponsorship of terrorist proxies abroad, such as the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said that a bad deal with Iran is worse than no deal at all, warned Congress in a speech 2015 that any deal with Iran would have to “stop its aggression against its neighbors in the Middle East,” “stop supporting terrorism around the world,” and “stop threatening to annihilate my country, Israel, the one and only Jewish state.” Obama’s deal had none of those elements.

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Washington Examiner [5/14/2025 6:31 AM, Staff, 2296K]

AP [5/14/2025 6:50 AM, Zeke Miller, Jon Gambrell, and Aamer Madhani, 48304K] reports President Donald Trump urged Qatar on Wednesday to use its influence over Iran to persuade the country’s leadership to reach an agreement with the U.S. to dial back its rapidly advancing nuclear program. Trump, who is visiting the Gulf nation as part of a three-country Mideast swing, made the appeal during a state dinner held in his honor by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Qatar over the years has played the role of intermediary between the U.S. and Iran and its proxies, including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as its 19-month war with Israel grinds on. “I hope you can help me with the Iran situation,” Trump said during remarks at the formal dinner. “It’s a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing.”

NBC News [5/14/2025 6:35 PM, Richard Engel, 44742K] reports Iran is ready to sign a nuclear deal with certain conditions with President Donald Trump in exchange for lifting economic sanctions, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader told NBC News on Wednesday. Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is one of the most senior Iranian officials to speak publicly about the ongoing discussions. He said Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to only enrich uranium to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran. Asked if Iran would agree to sign an agreement today if those conditions were met, Shamkhani said, "Yes.” His comments appear to be the clearest public statement yet on Iran’s expectations and willingness to reach a deal from the supreme leader’s inner circle. Iran’s supreme leader has the final say on all matters of national security. "It’s still possible. If the Americans act as they say, for sure we can have better relations," Shamkhani said, adding, "it can lead to a better situation in the near future.” Shamkhani sat down with NBC News just hours after Trump offered Iran "an olive branch" that was combined with threats crippling economic sanctions should Iran not accept an agreement to limit the country’s nuclear program. Shamkhani expressed frustration at Trump’s tone and continued threats. "He talks about the olive branch, which we have not seen. It’s all barbed wire," he said. Trump has repeatedly said Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

Reuters [5/14/2025 6:27 PM, Staff, 41523K] reports U.S. bookings for container transport from China to the United States spiked almost 300% in the wake of the United States and China pausing punishing tit-for-tat tariffs, container-tracking software provider Vizion said on Wednesday. The average bookings for the seven days ended Wednesday soared 277% to 21,530 20-foot equivalent units from 5,709 TEUs for the average for the seven days that ended on May 5, said Ben Tracy, the company’s vice president of strategic business development said. U.S. importers slammed the brakes on shipments after April 2, when Trump announced plans to slap 145% tariffs on goods made in China. That trade restarted after the United States and China on Monday announced a 90-day thaw in their bruising trade war. The United States said it would reduce tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports in April to 30% from 145%, while China reduced duties on U.S. imports to 10% from 125%. "We are definitely starting to see the bookings return now that this temporary pause is in effect," Tracy said.

FOX Business [5/15/2025 1:01 AM, Christina Shaw, 10702K] reports Chinese imports entering the U.S. have dropped to the lowest levels since the pandemic, according to recent census trade data. A report from the Commerce Department showed a record number of goods from 10 countries, including Mexico and Vietnam, although the imports from China were the lowest in five years and possibly will drop further as Trump has hiked duties on Chinese goods to a staggering 145%, according to data collected by Reuters. Chinese products have accounted for a smaller share of U.S. trade than in past decades. Trade experts are saying the cause of the shift is due to the on-and-off tariffs set by the Trump administration. The Trump administration has leveled tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods as the president looks to bring parity to the nation’s chronic trade deficit with foreign countries. Trump paused his April 2 reciprocal tariff plan on dozens of nations as countries called on the administration to make trade deals, but he upped the ante on China after Beijing rebuked Trump’s trade policies with tariffs of its own, including 125% duty taxes on U.S. goods. U.S. imports for consumption exceeded $340 billion in March, surpassing the previous record set in January by more than $20 billion. The total marks a 37% increase over March 2024 and the highest monthly import figure since recording started in 2002, according to a report by USA Today. "Everybody trying to beat the tariffs skews everything," said Jennifer Hillman, professor of practice at the Georgetown University Law Center and an international trade researcher with the Council on Foreign Relations. The update on China comes after the Trump administration inked a separate trade deal with the UK last week – the first trade deal signed since Trump’s "Liberation Day" announcement on April 2 that leveled tariffs on nations worldwide as the administration looked to end trade barriers on U.S. goods and even the playing field for U.S. exports. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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