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 New York Times [5/17/2025 10:02 PM, Jenna Fisher, Emily Cochrane, Amy Graff, and Corinne Boyer, 153395K] Video: HERE reports the call came late Friday to the Rev. Derrick Perkins: Three people were trapped in the Centennial Christian Church in St. Louis after a tornado had toppled part of its steeple, leaving it in dusty piles of bricks and stones. A signal from one person’s cellphone helped Pastor Perkins and emergency workers find those trapped inside. But one of the people, a beloved longtime ministry leader, was killed, Pastor Perkins said. “I was in disbelief — heartbroken,” he said, holding back tears. “Not only for the church, but for the entire community.” The grief and damage there is just a fraction of the devastation from several tornadoes that have ripped across the nation since late Friday, killing at least 27 people in Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia, and injuring dozens more. Mayor Cara Spencer of St. Louis said at a Saturday news conference that she would characterize the storm as “one of the worst” in the city’s history. “The devastation is truly heartbreaking,” she said. In Kentucky, the storm killed at least 18, a number that officials on Saturday warned could still rise. Gov. Andy Beshear said that he worried “there might be a whole block out there where everybody is dead.” By Saturday morning, government forecasters said they had confirmed 26 tornadoes in a preliminary count, with most of those occurring in Indiana and Kentucky. While that number so far is not the most recorded in a single day this year — there were 107 during a tornado outbreak on April 2 — states like Kentucky and Missouri were still recuperating from the damage from other storms this year. CBS News [5/17/2025 1:01 PM, Staff, 51860K] reports at least 26 people have been killed by storms systems that swept across part of the U.S. Midwest and South, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announcing Saturday that 18 of the deaths came in his state. The storms were part of a weather system Friday that killed seven people in Missouri, and at least one person in Virginia. It also caused tornadoes in Wisconsin, brought punishing heat to Texas and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois — including Chicago — in a pall of dust on an otherwise sunny day. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement Saturday evening that she spoke to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker "to offer federal resources and action for the deadly tornadoes and storms impacting Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois.” Noem noted they "discussed how while emergency management is best led by local authorities, we reinforced that DHS stands ready to take immediate action to offer resources and support.” Kentucky slammed by devastating tornado, mass casualty event. In Kentucky, Beshear said some 18 people were killed by severe weather — including a devastating tornado. The death toll is likely to rise, according to Beshear. Seventeen people were killed in Laurel County and one person in Pulaski County, Beshear confirmed. Another 10 people were hospitalized in critical condition, the governor said. The Laurel County Fire Department identified one of those killed as Maj. Leslie Roger Leatherman, a firefighter who was "fatally injured" while responding to the tornado, the agency said. "Major Leatherman was a dedicated public servant for 39 years, answering the call to protect and help others in their most critical time of need," the agency wrote on its Facebook page. "His courage, commitment, and sacrifice will never be forgotten.” Parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen, Beshear said. He also said most of the victims were in their 60s and 70s and the death toll could still rise. Kentucky authorities said the twister tore across Laurel County, causing structures to crumble and even flipping over a car on I-75. The tornado, which ripped across the largely rural area and extended to the London Corbin Airport, hit shortly before midnight. "Lives have been changed forever here tonight. This is a time we come together, and we pray for this community," London Mayor Randall Weddle told WKYT-TV. "I have never personally witnessed what I’ve witnessed here tonight. There’s a lot of devastation.” State Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said hundreds of homes were damaged. ABC News [5/17/2025 10:43 AM, Kyle Reiman and Jon Haworth, 31733K] reports softball-sized hail was reported in Barlow, Kentucky, and near Sullivan, Indiana, with greater than tennis-ball-size hail reported locally from Texas to Ohio. In total, 15 states have reported storm damage from hail, winds and tornadoes from Missouri up to Michigan and out to New Jersey as severe storms continue tracking through the East-Central United States from Arkansas to Virginia. Strong thunderstorms continued across portions of South early Saturday morning, stretching from Arkansas to the Carolinas.

Reported similarly:
NPR [5/17/2025 9:48 AM, Alana Wise and Sandhya Dirks, 37958K]
AP [5/17/2025 10:57 PM PM, Dylan Lovan, 48304K]
Reuters [5/17/2025 5:18 PM, Staff, 51390K]
NBC News [5/17/2025 7:59 PM, Dennis Romero, 44540K]
USA Today [5/17/2025 1:35 PM, Mike Snider, 75552K]
Daily Caller [5/17/2025 7:34 PM, John Oyewale, 1010K]

FOX News [5/17/2025 7:39 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports
DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses ICE operations and former FBI Director James Comey’s alleged threat against President Donald Trump on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [5/17/2025 12:35 PM, Victor Blackwell, 22131K] reports during a heated exchange with CNN’s Victor Blackwell, Tricia McLaughlin, Asst. Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, defended the Trump administration moving to grant and expedite refugee status for White South Africans while broadly suspending most other refugee programs. A flight carrying a group of 59 Afrikaners who were granted refugee status by the Trump administration arrived in the US Monday, a State Department official told CNN that day. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette [5/17/2025 4:55 AM, Staff, 208K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has asked for 20,000 National Guard troops to assist with immigration roundups across the country, and the Pentagon is reviewing the unusual request, a U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press. DHS asked for the troops to help carry out President Donald Trump’s "mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens," department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. She said DHS will "use every tool and resource available" to do so because the "safety of American citizens comes first." Unlike the troops deployed at the southern border, the National Guard units would come from the states and be used to assist in deportation operations inside the U.S. How the troops would be used may depend on whether they would remain under state governors’ control. Under the Posse Comitatus Act, troops under federal orders cannot be used for domestic law enforcement, but units under state control can. The addition of 20,000 National Guard troops would provide a huge boost to immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a total staff of about 20,000 people across three divisions. It was unclear why the request was made to the Defense Department and not the states.

USA Today [5/17/2025 8:16 PM, Zac Anderson, 75552K] reports with President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda in trouble, the White House pivoted over the weekend to selling the bill as a key part of his immigration enforcement efforts. Trump was dealt a rare setback in Congress on May 16 when five Republicans joined with Democrats on the House Budget Committee in voting against the president’s legislation, which includes tax cuts, immigration enforcement measures and other GOP priorities. Trump has dubbed it the “one big, beautiful bill.” The GOP lawmakers who oppose the legislation wanted deeper spending cuts. As written, the bill would have added trillions of dollars to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade. Struggling to get the votes to advance the bill, the White House shifted the focus to immigration enforcement measures within the legislation, which are popular within the GOP. The bill would provide funding to boost Trump’s deportation efforts, the White House noted in a May 17 press release. “Put simply, The Big Beautiful Bill will empower Big Beautiful Deportations,” the release states.

New York Times [5/17/2025 6:33 PM, Alan Feuer and Abbie VanSickle, 153395K] reports if there has been a common theme in the federal courts’ response to the fallout from President Trump’s aggressive deportation policies, it is that the White House cannot rush headlong into expelling people by sidestepping the fundamental principle of due process. In case after case, a legal bottom line is emerging: Immigrants should at least be given the opportunity to challenge their deportations, especially as Trump officials have claimed novel and extraordinary powers to remove them. The latest and clearest expression of that view came on Friday evening, when the Supreme Court chided the Trump administration for seeking to provide only a day’s warning to a group of Venezuelan immigrants in Texas it had been trying to deport under the expansive powers of an 18th-century wartime law. “Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal,” the justices wrote, “surely does not pass muster.” While many questions remain to be answered about Mr. Trump’s deportation plans, many legal scholars have hailed courts’ support of due process. At the same time, they have also expressed concern that such support was needed in the first place.

CNN [5/17/2025 9:00 AM, Elise Hammond, 21433K] reports President Donald Trump wasted no time enacting his immigration crackdown after being inaugurated for a second term. On the campaign trail, he promised mass deportations and more arrests — and to do it, he’s resurrecting old policies. Members of the Trump administration are "very, very familiar with our immigration laws throughout the country’s history and (are) looking back to see what provision they might use to achieve their current policies on immigration," said Julia Gelatt, the associate director of the US Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. But, according to a recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS, about 52% of Americans say Trump has gone too far in deporting undocumented immigrants and 57% say they do not believe the federal government is being careful in following the law while carrying out deportations. In fact, while weighing the issue before the election, some young voters told CNN current laws don’t keep up with the times and they wanted to see bipartisan reform. The problem: accomplishing a comprehensive overhaul of the system is no easy task in an increasingly divided political climate.

Washington Examiner [5/17/2025 2:14 PM, Staff, 1934K] reports the modern cartels in Mexico supply the illicit drug market in America, but they’ve also shifted to new criminal schemes, diversifying into kidnapping, extortion, illegal mining, petroleum theft and illegal fishing. President Donald Trump moved to classify the six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations early in his term. Experts often call them transnational criminal organizations because their reach has expanded into other illegal markets. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Treasury Department also are targeting cartels for moving black-market oil and gas across the Texas-Mexico border, The Center Square reported. Cartels use other violent criminal activities to protect their drug operations and grow revenue, according to the DEA report. They also engage in money laundering, extortion, petroleum theft, theft of other natural resources, weapons trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, and illegal wildlife trade. The illicit profits from these peripheral activities make the cartels more resilient and increase their ability to expand, according to the DEA report.

The Hill [5/17/2025 9:40 AM, Elizabeth Vargas, 18649K] reports a reality show producer says he’s pitched a show to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) based on immigrants competing for expedited legal status. He emphasized that it is not meant to be "‘Hunger Games’ for migrants." Worsoff said contestants will already be in the immigration system but would only compete for earlier processing.

HSToday [5/17/2025 2:15 PM, Staff, 38K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that since President Trump took office, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard have experienced significant increases in recruitment and applications. According to DHS, these figures mark a shift from previous years in which the agencies did not consistently meet their recruiting targets. Officials now report that these agencies are exceeding those goals. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, our men and women in uniform are respected again and empowered to do their jobs,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Since President Trump took office, more Americans have applied to join the Border Patrol than any time in its history; Secret Service applications have surged 200%; and the US Coast Guard is now on pace to exceed recruitment by 110%. America can be proud of its brave men and women who are making America safe again.”

Breitbart [5/17/2025 4:45 PM, Randy Clark, 3077K] reports White House Border Czar Tom Homan told the Republican National Lawyers Association that a 14-year-old unaccompanied alien child was discovered being sex trafficked by two adult males in Texas. During a speech on Friday, Homan says the rescue, conducted two days before, is just one example of what agents are finding in the search for unaccompanied alien children released by the Biden administration. Homan made his remarks during the 2025 National Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., an annual event hosted by the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA). During his remarks, Trump’s Border Czar described the difficult search for more than 500,000 unaccompanied children who were released into the United States during the Biden administration. According to Homan, 300,000 remain missing. Homan told the attendees he firmly believes many of the unaccompanied alien children who were released into the United States are being used for forced labor. Of the several thousand Homan says the administration has located, Homan provided information regarding the 14-year-old child found living with two adult males in Texas, saying she is now receiving physical and mental health care from the Department of Homeland Security. Homan did not identify the two adult male suspects implicated in the alleged sex trafficking of the 14-year-old unaccompanied alien child, nor did he provide other specifics of the criminal case facing the adult suspects. Homan told the crowd that the victimization of children takes its toll on agents, referring to personal experiences he endured during his career.

Houston Chronicle [5/17/2025 7:00 AM, Tanya Babbar, 1982K] reports only one of 37 children who appeared in court Wednesday, May 14, at the Gessner Immigration Court in Houston had representation, an attorney said. The youngest child appearing was 6 years old. Dozens of children are being forced to appear in immigration court on a single day in Houston, and some don’t have representation as the Trump administration continues attempts to halt federal funding for providers. Alexa Sendukas, managing attorney at the Galveston Houston Immigration Representation Project, said at least 60 children in detention that her organization previously represented will appear in court soon without an attorney. The halt in funding for over a month caused significant layoffs at the Galveston immigration group and other organizations providing legal aid, Sendukas said. Providers were told in a March email from DHS to providers through the Office of Refugee Resettlement to expect the federal agency to begin "imminently" serving Notices to Appear (NTA) in court to any unaccompanied children who had missed a court hearing.

New York Times [5/17/2025 3:43 PM, Claire FahySimon J. LevienLaurel Rosenhall and Maggie Miles, 138952K] reports one person is dead and at least four are injured in the desert oasis of Palm Springs, Calif., after a bomb exploded on Saturday morning outside a fertility clinic, damaging buildings and leaving windows shattered across several blocks in what authorities called a terrorist attack. “This explosion was significant,” said Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism.” He added that officials believed the clinic was specifically targeted. Mr. Davis said that the bureau had begun one of the largest bombing investigations ever in Southern California and that it was not yet clear whether the event had been an act of domestic or international terrorism. Authorities have identified a person of interest but did not name the person on Saturday afternoon. They also did not say whether the person who died was connected to the blast. Mr. Davis said that “we are not actively out searching for a suspect.” The explosion was in or near a vehicle parked by the clinic, according to the mayor, Ron deHarte. But many other details were unclear, including the vehicle’s make and model. All that was left of it at the scene was an axle, authorities said. The bombing was an isolated incident and the community was no longer at risk, Andy Mills, the Palm Springs police chief said. Reports of a loud boom and images of broken glass and billowing smoke began to be shared on social media around 11 a.m. local time. The blast area extended for blocks, and some buildings were severely damaged, with shattered windows visible in many restaurants, shops and apartment buildings throughout the city’s downtown. A phone number for the clinic, American Reproductive Centers, did not appear to be in service on Saturday. A website for the office listed fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization and egg freezing, among its services and describes its work helping L.G.B.T.Q. couples have children. In a Facebook post, the clinic reported that none of its staff were harmed in the explosion and that the eggs, embryos and other materials in its lab were “fully secure and undamaged.” “We are heavily conducting a complete safety inspection and have confirmed that our operations and sensitive medical areas were not impacted by the blast,” the clinic wrote on its Facebook page, adding that it expected to be open for normal operations on Monday.

AP [5/17/2025 11:49 PM, Eric Tucker, Gene Johnson and Alanna Durkin Richer, 3077K] reports the person believed responsible for an attack targeting a Southern California fertility clinic Saturday posted rambling online writings before an explosion that investigators are treating as an act of terrorism, according to a law enforcement official. The suspect, who died in the explosion that tore through the clinic and rattled the upscale California city of Palm Springs, also attempted to record video or stream the attack, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. “Make no mistake: This is an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, told an evening news conference. Authorities were still working to piece together a motive and build a chronology of events leading up to the attack. Though the FBI did not say how it had determined the explosion was terrorism, the writings left behind, in which the suspect communicated a belief that the world should not be populated, appear to shed light on the person’s state of mind and help explain investigators’ thesis that the attack was targeted and intentional. Authorities have not released the identity of the person thought to be responsible but believe the individual died in a car explosion. Davis said investigators weren’t looking for anyone else. Four others were injured but details of the severity of their injuries weren’t shared. A burned-out vehicle was seen in the parking lot behind the clinic after the blast, which caved in the building’s roof, sprayed debris across a five-lane road and shattered windows in businesses blocks away. The clinic was closed for the weekend, and the doctor who leads it told the AP its staffers were safe. The blast gutted the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic, housed in a single-story building along a five-lane street lined with palm trees. Dr. Maher Abdallah, who leads the clinic, told the AP in a phone interview that the explosion damaged the practice’s office space, where it conducts consultations with patients. The clinic’s IVF lab and stored embryos are offsite and were not damaged. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients,” Abdallah said. Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Naomi Soto called the clinic “a place of hope.” “This is a building that people go to to start or expand their families,” she said. “We acknowledge their pain and concern across the community for the patients and staff.” Rhino Williams, 47, said he was chatting with customers at a hotel restaurant he helps manage just over a block away when he heard a huge boom. Everything rattled, Williams said, and he sprinted to the scene to see if anyone needed help. Williams covered his nose with his shirt as he smelled burning plastic and rubber. He said he saw a building had “blown out” into the street, with bricks and debris scattered everywhere, and he spotted a car’s front axle on fire in the parking lot. It was the only car in the lot, said Williams, who ran into the building, calling out and peering behind the counter to see if anyone was inside. He did not hear a response and did not see anyone behind the counter.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [5/17/2025 4:04 PM, Chris Harris and Dana Kennedy, 54903K]
CBS News [5/17/2025 9:34 PM, Matthew Rodriguez, 51860K]
CBS New York [5/18/2025 12:17 AM, Cristian Benavides, 51860K] Video: HERE
CNN [5/17/2025 5:01 PM, Zoe Sottile and Hanna Park, 875K]
FOX News [5/17/2025 9:46 PM, Alexandra Koch, 46189K] Video HERE
USA Today [5/17/2025 9:37 PM, Jonathan Limehouse, Ema Sasic, Sam Morgen, Niki Kottmann, Kate Franco, James Ward, 75552K]

FOX News [5/17/2025 10:20 PM, Staff, 46189K] reports Federal Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall III describes what needs to be done to reopen Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on ‘My View with Lara Trump.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [5/17/2025 5:58 PM, Brendan O’Boyle and Jose Gonzalez, 51390K] reports Mexican security forces detained nine alleged members of a criminal group and killed 12 others in an operation in a rural part of southwestern Mexico on Saturday, Mexico’s Security Ministry said. In a post on social media, Security Minister Omar Harfuch confirmed three members of the Navy were injured in the Navy-led operation in Huitzontla, Michoacan. The detained individuals are linked to crimes such as homicide, extortion, and kidnapping, Harfuch said.

Washington Post [5/18/2025 5:00 AM, Samantha Schmidt, 32099K] reports their news site had just exposed details of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s alleged deals with the country’s gangs. Now the three journalists were faced with a choice they had long dreaded. El Faro — Spanish for lighthouse — is the premier independent investigative news outlet in El Salvador. The staff had received word that Bukele’s increasingly authoritarian government might be preparing warrants to arrest seven of its journalists. Four of the seven had already left El Salvador. Carlos Barrera, Efren Lemus and Victor Peña remained. To stay longer would mean risking arrest. To flee would mean risking detention at the border. One morning this month, they tried the latter. The trio drove to the border with Guatemala, showed their documents to immigration authorities and were allowed to cross. "We don’t know where we stand yet," Lemus, 45, told Washington Post hours later. They weren’t sure when or even whether they’d be able to return safely to report from their country. Charges against the journalists could include apology for crimes and illicit association, El Faro reported. Warrants, if issued, would be the first here in decades to target journalists for their work, according to El Faro, "the most frontal state assault on press freedom in El Salvador since Bukele came to office in 2019.” "Interviewing a gang member doesn’t make me a criminal," Peña said. "Just like interviewing a pope doesn’t make me a saint, and interviewing a corrupt politician doesn’t make me corrupt. But our job is to do those interviews.” The Association of Journalists of El Salvador and other organizations appeared at the attorney general’s office on May 6 to file requests for information on any warrants against El Faro’s staff. They have yet to receive a response. Andrés Guzmán, Bukele’s presidential commissioner for human rights and freedom of expression, told The Post he had "no idea" whether there were arrest warrants against the journalists. He said journalists in El Salvador "can say whatever they want, including lies.” "Here no one is in danger, except people who commit crimes," Guzmán said. "If any person, journalist or otherwise, commits a crime in El Salvador … they need to pay the consequences.” Bukele made himself Latin America’s most popular leader by incarcerating 85,000 mostly young men, making this gang-plagued country safer but trampling due process and other rights. Now, emboldened by his close alliance with President Donald Trump, Bukele appears to be escalating his crackdown on dissent, analysts and human rights defenders say. Bukele has changed the constitution to control the presidency beyond the single term it allowed, consolidated power in the executive branch, and dismantled democratic institutions to create a de facto one-party state. Independent media outlets, El Faro founder Carlos Dada said, "are among the only ones left to counter the narrative of the dictatorship.”

CNN [5/17/2025 6:05 PM, Max Saltman and Marlon Sorto Staff, 22131K] reports a Venezuelan mother who was initially deported from the US without her 2-year-old daughter says being reunited with her child this week felt like a “miracle.” “Many times, I doubted that my daughter was going to come,” said a tearful Yorely Bernal in an interview with Venezuelan news outlet La Iguana TV on Thursday. “But that miracle they gave me yesterday was something that there are no words to explain.” Bernal was deported from the United States in March without her daughter Maikelys, who remained in foster care in the US. When Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores personally handed Maikelys Espinoza to Bernal at the presidential palace in Caracas on Wednesday, it put an end to nearly a year of separation between the two. According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Maikelys spent most of her time in the US in foster care under the custody of the US Office of Refugee Resettlement before being returned to her mother under court order. DHS claims that the separation was for the child’s safety, alleging that Bernal and her partner, whom the US deported to the high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador earlier this year, are members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua – something both parents deny. “The child’s mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte, oversees recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution for Tren de Aragua,” DHS alleged in a statement on May 14. The US government has not provided specific evidence for this allegation, and both Bernal and Espinoza say they have no affiliation with Tren de Aragua. Bernal told La Iguana that US authorities cited Bernal’s upcoming immigration hearings at the time when they took first her daughter into custody last year.

CNN [5/17/2025 12:12 PM, Staff, 21433K] reports residents in Worcester, Massachusetts, can be seen in local police bodycam footage trying to stop the arrest of a woman by ICE in early May, some residents even using their bodies to physically block the agent’s vehicle. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [5/17/2025 1:43 PM, Bob Price, 3077K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out a targeted enforcement operation last week that landed more than 400 illegal aliens in jail. During the same period, the Houston Field Office deported more than five hundred aliens who exhausted their due process and had been ordered removed from the United States. “In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members, and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to enter the U.S. illegally,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said in a written statement. “After illegally entering the country, these violent criminal aliens have infiltrated our local communities and reigned terror on law-abiding residents, leaving countless innocent victims in their wake.” From May 4 through May 10, Houston ERO officers and other federal and state of Texas law enforcement agencies rounded up 411 illegal aliens. Officials said these included 2296 criminal aliens — many with convictions for violent offenses.

Telemundo Amarillo [5/17/2025 9:31 AM, Staff, 4K] reports at least 31 undocumented immigrants were arrested in an operation in Laredo. Immigration agents, in coordination with federal, state, and local agencies, participated in the operation that took place on Wednesday, May 14, images of which were recently released. According to a statement, the raid targeted workplaces: specifically, it was carried out at a business and two construction sites. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), several of those detained have criminal records. The arrested migrants are originally from Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador. They are in ICE custody and face deportation proceedings, according to the agency.

USA Today [5/18/2025 6:02 AM, Trevor Hughes, 75552K] reports some suspects in violent assaults and sex crimes are escaping American justice because they’re being deported before they can stand trial, according to a number of prosecutors and legal experts across the country. In one suburban Denver county, the district attorney has tallied at least six criminal cases he’s had to shelve or drop because Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained or deported suspects before he could prosecute them. In another case in the city of Denver, a man suspected of attempted murder was released because ICE had deported the witnesses against him, forcing prosecutors to drop the charges. That suspect then tackled an ICE agent trying to detain him outside the jail. And in Boston, a judge was forced to drop charges against a man accused of using a fake name on a driver’s license after ICE took him into custody mid-trial and refused to return him. Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called ICE’s actions "troubling and extraordinarily reckless," because the agents prevented him from prosecuting the detainee. Across the country, prosecutors, defense attorneys and legal observers say they’ve seen an uptick in ICE agents choosing to deport criminal suspects, instead of keeping them in custody and producing them for local court proceedings. "It’s not only undermining to the justice system but also impacting community safety," said Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason, who serves a suburban area northeast of Denver. These rapid deportations mean some innocent people are being denied the chance to clear their name in a U.S. courtroom. For crime victims, it means they never see the satisfaction of their assailant behind bars. And it could be making all Americans less safe, legal experts say, when people with criminal backgrounds and no respect for the law cross back into the United States and commit more crimes. "My fear that is that people will get deported, will essentially avoid criminal prosecution, will sneak back into the country ... and live under the radar and never be held accountable and suffer no consequences whatsoever for their actions, and potentially perpetrate more crimes against other victims," Mason said. Legal experts say the increase appears to being driven in part by the new federal Laken Riley Act, which requires ICE to detain people living illegally in the United States once they have been accused or charged with certain crimes, including theft or shoplifting. Although the Riley Act, named for a Georgia nursing student killed in 2024 by an immigrant, doesn’t require deportations, at least some of the people detained under the law have subsequently been removed from the United States, experts told USA TODAY. Sometimes that means those people are escaping prosecution for assaults, domestic violence or thefts. In other instances, prosecutors have dropped cases because ICE deported the witnesses. The people ICE targeted are accused of living illegally within the United States. In another Massachusetts case, ICE detained a man facing state driving charges and refused to produce him for his trial, prompting the ACLU to ask a federal judge to intervene. The judge ordered ICE to produce the man, and he was found not guilty of the state charges. He was then returned to ICE custody, which had been the prior procedure.

USA Today [5/17/2025 11:12 AM, Ramon Padilla, Sara Chernikoff, 75552K] reports for 157 years, birthright citizenship has made anyone born in the United States a citizen – whether they are the child of citizens, foreign nationals living legally in the U.S. or unauthorized immigrants. Earlier this year President Trump signed an executive order which seeks to restrict this right, which was established by the 14th Amendment in 1868. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday (May 15) about the order, which would require at least one parent to be U.S. citizen or have permanent residency. Changes to birthright laws would impact a large portion of the U.S. population. According to 2023 data from the U.S. Census, 22.8 million foreign-born, non-U.S. citizens live in the country. According to estimates from the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State’s Population Research Institute, ending birthright citizenship would result in an average of 255,000 children being born in the U.S. without citizenship each year, and would increase the amount of unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. by 2.7 million by 2045, and 5.4 million by 2075. The justices are expected to rule by the end of June.

NBC News [5/17/2025 7:00 am, Aarne Heikkila, 3352K] reports a human smuggler tells a potential customer in an audio message in Mandarin that there are now two potential sea routes for illegally entering the U.S. One is to depart by boat near the U.S.-Mexico border and then come ashore near Los Angeles. The second departs Nassau in the Bahamas by boat for the Miami area. The smuggler says in the audio, obtained by NBC News from a potential smuggling customer, that enforcement off the coast of Florida has increased, but quickly reassures the potential customer, “You won’t get caught.” Not so, authorities say. Out on a labyrinth of canals in Coral Gables, Florida, police are on the lookout for fishermen who might be spotters or boats carrying more weight than normal. Officials have been on heightened alert because the city’s mangrove-shrouded waterways have become a landing destination for groups of Chinese migrants seeking illegal entry into the United States.

NBC News [5/17/2025 7:00 AM, Aarne Heikkila, 44540K] reports a human smuggler tells a potential customer in an audio message in Mandarin that there are now two potential sea routes for illegally entering the U.S. One is to depart by boat near the U.S.-Mexico border and then come ashore near Los Angeles. The second departs Nassau in the Bahamas by boat for the Miami area. Out on a labyrinth of canals in Coral Gables, Florida, police are on the lookout for fishermen who might be spotters or boats carrying more weight than normal. Officials have been on heightened alert because the city’s mangrove-shrouded waterways have become a landing destination for groups of Chinese migrants seeking illegal entry into the United States. With the southern border a less viable option, these migrants have found Florida via the Bahamas to be a workaround. But authorities have been cracking down and are seeing a decrease in smuggling attempts over the last few months. The number of Chinese nationals apprehended by Florida-based Customs and Border Patrol officers has climbed and dipped in recent years — 406 in 2020, 616 the year after, then 483 in 2024. But there have been no known smuggling attempts in the Coral Gables area since late January of this year. Local law enforcement officials admit they aren’t sure if that’s due to increased enforcement, Trump’s policies that have had a similar impact on border crossings — or if smugglers have simply gotten more sophisticated.

CBS News [5/18/2025 6:00 AM, Jack Fink and Nathalie Marie Palacios, 51860K] reports Texas representatives continue to push for the state of Texas to be reimbursed by the federal government for its efforts to secure the border. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn along with Congressional Republicans from Texas want the $11 billion dollars requested by Governor Greg Abbott to be included in the bill that House and Senate Republicans are working on to pass President Trump’s agenda without the help from Democrats. Earlier this month, Texas GOP Congressman Tony Gonzales of San Antonio asked the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for her opinion about the state getting paid back. "Yeah, it’s been an incredible, the partnership Texas has put together with the federal government and how they stepped up so many times when the Biden administration did not secure our border," responded Noem. "Texas filled the gap. There have not been any decisions on reimbursing states, but I know the Governors have asked for it. We’ve appreciated their help.” Gonzales said, "It’s not fair for the last four years a lot of our states have been on their own and had to pay out of pocket. I think it’s a great opportunity for the federal government to reimburse some of these states. I’m certainly committed to making sure Texas gets reimbursed for some of the funding we’ve done along the border.” The number of people entering the southern border illegally continues to show steep declines since last year. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol statistics show that during the first four months of 2025, there were more than 96,000 people apprehended at the southern border. That’s a fraction of the number from the first four months of 2024, when more than 735,000 people were apprehended at the southern border. While these numbers are sharply lower, the immigration courts are seeing historically high volumes of cases. There are 3.6 million immigration cases pending in the U.S., according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC. The organization keeps data on the federal government’s enforcement activities. Two million of those pending cases are asylum-seekers, including 225,000 in Dallas. Paul Hunker, former chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, said in an interview that the backlog is "quite extensive.” "Increased apprehensions created it, so a lot of people apprehended at the border and then released and put into removal proceedings," Hunker said. "It got worse during the Biden administration.”

NewsNation [5/17/2025 2:03 PM, Ashley N. Soriano, 5801K] reports United States Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector “destroyed” a scouting site in southern Arizona believed to belong to cartel members, the agency posted to X Thursday. Video shows a Border Patrol helicopter hovering over the mountainous area, which served as a surveillance base for smuggling operations west of Ajo, Arizona, about 120 miles from Phoenix, officials said. On Thursday, agents dismantled the base and arrested two men previously deported from Mexico. The social media video also shows trash, used socks, blankets and other debris sprawled on the ground. Both men face smuggling, conspiracy and immigration charges. Border Patrol Tucson Sector and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are investigating. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [5/17/2025 5:30 PM, Staff, 44540K] reports at least 18 people have died in Kentucky following severe weather that swept through Missouri and Kentucky. Gov. Andy Beshear said the fatalities were caused by a single tornado, initially estimated to be an EF3. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [5/17/2025 3:35 PM, Scott Dance, 32099K] reports if not for the storms, the understaffed National Weather Service office responsible for monitoring weather hazards across eastern Kentucky would have gone dark by midnight. It’s one of a growing number of the agency’s local offices that have been unable to cover overnight shifts after the Trump administration significantly reduced staffing levels through buyouts and firings this year. But Friday brought the kind of harrowing conditions meteorologists train for. Storms that killed at least 21 people across the heart of the nation unleashed what was likely a violent and long-lived tornado across Kentucky, a state that accounted for at least 14 of those deaths. It posed the latest test for a beleaguered Weather Service corps that has endured a season of dangerous storms and floods while facing major upheaval in their offices. The forecasting office in Jackson, Kentucky, is four meteorologists short of what agency officials have deemed ideal staffing — a 31 percent vacancy rate that makes 24/7 operations impossible, according to the union that represents Weather Service staff. Making up for cuts would require moving shifts around. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation in the Jackson office on Friday night. “We saw the risk many days ago. We were already planning how we would staff days in advance,” said Christian Cassell, one of the office’s lead meteorologists. By Thursday, the staff had set up a schedule to stagger shifts Friday “knowing we were looking at a nearly full day of a threat of severe weather,” he said. “I’m glad to say we were very well staffed for the entirety of the event,” Cassell said. Weather Service officials confirmed that account and said in a statement that the Jackson office “is prepared with additional staffing and neighboring office support through the weekend to meet its core mission of providing lifesaving forecasts, warnings, and decision support services to the public, our partners and stakeholders.”

AP [5/17/2025 1:45 PM, Staff, 56000K] reports St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured and more than 5,000 homes were affected in her city after severe storms that hit parts of the U.S. Midwest and South. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [5/17/2025 5:38 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the issuance of two emergency orders to address the energy crisis in Puerto Rico, a measure aimed at guaranteeing access to electricity and strengthening the island’s fragile power grid. The orders, authorized under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, seek to stabilize the power system and prevent widespread outages, especially in the run-up to summer and hurricane season. The first order requires the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to dispatch generating units to increase baseload capacity, addressing the generation deficit that has caused recent blackouts across the island. The second measure orders PREPA to clear brush, trees and vines that pose risks of fires and power outages. These actions, managed by the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response, seek to improve the reliability and resilience of the electric grid. "Access to energy is essential to modern life, but the current energy emergency jeopardizes the basic needs of Puerto Ricans," Wright said in a statement. The secretary called the current system "unsustainable" and stressed that citizens should not suffer the consequences of an unstable grid. Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González welcomed the orders, noting that they provide the flexibility needed to stabilize the electricity infrastructure. "Energy is key to the well-being of our citizens and economic development, especially to attract investment and support ‘reshoring’ initiatives," González said. Puerto Rico’s power grid is facing a crisis marked by insufficient reserve capacity and recurring blackouts, which is evidence of its vulnerability. With hurricane season approaching, balancing energy supply and demand becomes critical. The emergency orders are an effort to avoid major outages and ensure disaster preparedness. In addition to the orders, the federal Office of Energy Grid Deployment will review the $365 million Puerto Rico Energy Resiliency Fund to ensure that it is used for practical solutions. This fund, equivalent to about 327 million euros, seeks to finance long-term improvements to the electricity system. The energy crisis has affected the island’s quality of life and economic development, making these measures a priority. Authorities hope that the orders will not only solve immediate problems, but also lay the groundwork for a more resilient grid. With these actions, Puerto Rico takes a step towards energy stability, a key factor for its recovery and growth in the coming years.

The Hill [5/17/2025 12:06 PM, Elizabeth Crisp, 18649K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed online Friday evening that Secret Service agents met with former FBI director James Comey earlier in the day about his "8647" social media post that some have interpreted as a threat against President Trump, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief offered no additional insight into what’s next in the ongoing review of Comey’s now-deleted seashell photo. "I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of (Trump)," Noem wrote on the social platform X. "This is an ongoing investigation." "The Secret Service vigorously investigates anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees," the Secret Service said Friday. "We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI director and we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters." Noem said Thursday that the USSS and DHS had launched an investigation and were treating the matter as a "threat" as Republicans on Capitol Hill pushed for a thorough review. The New York Times [5/17/2025 9:20 AM, Eileen Sullivan and Michael S. Schmidt] reports the Secret Service sought the interview after Mr. Comey posted a photo on Thursday of seashells on a beach forming the numbers “86 47,” a phrase used by Mr. Trump’s critics at protests, and on signs and clothing. “Eighty-six,” according to Merriam-Webster, is an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove. Shortly after Mr. Comey made the post, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said the Secret Service, which falls under her department, was investigating it. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said on Fox News that Mr. Comey should be jailed. The interview is said to have taken place at a Secret Service office in Washington. Mr. Comey is said to have voluntarily consented to the interview, the official said, and was driven to the interview by Secret Service agents.

Breitbart [5/18/2025 2:29 AM, Jeff Poor, 3077K] reports that, during Friday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s "Finnerty," White House senior director for counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka reacted to former FBI Director James Comey’s recent social media post apparently arranging seashells resembling "86 47.” According to Gorka, the former FBI director committed a crime. "Well, you can read it, Rob, on my Twitter feed — @SebGorka," Gorka said. "I informed Comey, who strangely has me blocked on X. I don’t know why the former FBI director, disgraced FBI director, has me blocked. Maybe he’s afraid of me on X. I told him we are doing counterterrorism in the National Security Council of President Trump’s White House. I am the senior director for counterterrorism for the U.S. government. And, Title 18, Section 897 of the U.S. criminal code means that you committed a crime — threatening the life of an incumbent president is a crime. And nobody on this planet believes you, James Comey, that you didn’t know that to ‘86’ someone is to kill them.” He added, "You’re a liar, and you incited violence against a man who they have tried to assassinate on multiple occasions. Who is the ‘they’? Democrats, donors to the Democrat Party, people who think that political violence is justified. And I’m very glad that my friend Kash Patel and the Secret Service under Sean Curran are looking into this crime that was committed by the disgraced former director of the FBI.”

CNN [5/17/2025 9:13 AM, Jeremy Herb] reports James Comey’s controversial, now-deleted Instagram photo of seashells spelling out the numbers "86 47" only adds to a long list of social media posts from the former FBI director that have sparked a mix of both anger and — more often — a heavy dose of eye rolls. Now Comey is under investigation by the Trump administration for the post of seashells on a beach that spelled out the numbers "86 47." The number 86 can often refer to getting rid of or tossing something out, while 47 corresponds to Trump’s current term in office as the 47th president. The post was met with swift outrage from Trump’s allies and members of his Cabinet. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard suggested Thursday that Comey could be jailed, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a social media post that DHS and the Secret Service were investigating an alleged threat made against Trump by Comey. Legal and security experts say prosecuting Comey for such a post would likely be fruitless. Comey was interviewed by the Secret Service in Washington Friday evening, according to law enforcement sources. Trump accused Comey of insinuating a threat against him.

Washington Examiner [5/17/2025 10:53 AM, Jack Birle, 1934K] reports President Donald Trump is not buying former FBI Director James Comey’s claim that he did not intend to call for violence against the president with his recent controversial social media post. Comey posted on his Instagram account a formation of seashells which spelled out "86 47," believed to mean "86," or get rid of, the 47th president, Trump. The former FBI director, who was fired by Trump in 2017, later removed the post and said he "didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence." When asked about the post, the president insisted that Comey knew what he meant, in an interview on Fox News’s Special Report on Friday. Comey was visited by the Secret Service on Friday over the post, with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying there is an "ongoing investigation" into the Instagram post. When Trump was asked if Comey should face consequences for the controversial post, he deferred to law enforcement.

USA Today [5/17/2025 8:41 AM, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, 75552K] reports President Donald Trump, who survived two assassination attempts last year, said former FBI Director James Comey knew "exactly" what he was doing when he shared a social media post. Comey’s post has been interpreted as a call to assassinate Trump by supporters and some government officials, including Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence. Comey, who is currently being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, shared a picture on Instagram on May 15 with the number "8647" fashioned out of seashells on a beach, with a caption: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." "We vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees," U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a post on X.

FOX News [5/17/2025 9:47 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 46878K] reports FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino issued a sharp and public condemnation of the bureau’s former director, James Comey, Saturday, accusing Comey of disgracing the agency as authorities investigate Comey’s controversial "86 47" Instagram post. In a statement posted to X, Bongino said Comey’s actions are another example of failed leadership that continues to haunt the agency. "Former FBI Director James Comey brought shame to the FBI badge, yet again, this past week," Bongino wrote. "The Director and I spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning up messes left behind by former Director Comey. And his latest actions are no exception.” Comey, dismissed by President Donald Trump in 2017, sparked outrage after posting a photo to social media Thursday showing seashells arranged to say "86 47," a phrase widely understood to mean to "get rid of" the 47th president. Though Comey later deleted the post and claimed it was misunderstood, many, including Trump, say the meaning was clear. "He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant," Trump said Friday on Fox News. "If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination,’ and it says it loud and clear.” Comey offered a follow-up statement online, saying he "didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence" and that it "never occurred to me.” Bongino strongly rejected that explanation, describing it as part of a larger pattern of misconduct. In his post, Bongino wrote: "As the Deputy Director of the FBI, I am charged, standing with Director Patel, with managing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the world. The Director and I are also responsible for looking at grave mistakes made by people within the FBI in the past, and ensuring they never happen again.” He stressed the FBI’s continuing commitment to supporting federal law enforcement partners investigating any threats involving public officials, past or present. "While the FBI does not have primary investigative responsibility for investigating threats against the POTUS, and we do not make prosecutorial decisions, we do have the ability and authority to support other federal agencies for violations of federal law," Bongino said. "And we certainly have a responsibility to comment on matters involving former FBI officials, and allegations of law-breaking.” The U.S. Secret Service has already interviewed Comey about the incident. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a separate statement that the bureau is "in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran.” Bongino noted that this latest controversy is part of a general legacy of dysfunction inherited from Comey’s leadership, which he and Patel are working to fix from the inside out. "As I’ve stated in the past, I cannot post openly about all the things the Director and I are doing to reform the enterprise, but I assure you, they are happening," Bongino wrote. "Sadly, many of those agenda items are the result of former Director Comey’s poor decision-making and atrocious leadership. "And to those who doubt me, I assure you, when you see what the Director and I see from the inside, it’s even worse.”

Washington Post [5/17/2025 11:00 AM, Mark Berman, Patrick Marley and Perry Stein, 32099K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, who oversees the Secret Service, described the post on Thursday as a "threat" and a call to assassinate Trump. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said on Fox News that Comey should be put behind bars. By Friday, the Secret Service had launched an investigation and interviewed Comey in D.C. FBI Director Kash Patel said his agency would "provide all necessary support" as part of the investigation. Legal experts said in interviews that they doubted Comey’s post would qualify as a genuine threat. Instead, they said, the incident appeared to mark the latest attempt by an administration with a maximalist view of executive power to criminalize or otherwise punish people for speech, protests and other actions traditionally viewed as legally protected in the United States. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said in a statement about Comey’s post that the agency, tasked with protecting presidents, takes "rhetoric like this very seriously."

The Wall Street Journal [5/18/2025 1:18 AM, Costas Paris and Santiago Pérez, 646K] reports a Mexican navy tall ship plowed into New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Saturday evening, snapping its masts and killing two crew members. New York Mayor Eric Adams said that of the 19 crew members hospitalized, two were in critical condition and two had died. The bridge sustained no structural damage, the Coast Guard and New York Police Department said. The ARM Cuauhtémoc, a training vessel for Mexican navy cadets, had 277 crew on board and was on its way to Iceland after a stop at New York’s South Street Seaport. Flying a giant Mexican flag and decked in strings of lights, the ship slammed into bridge, shearing off the top of its masts as crew members hung in the rigging. New York officials said there appeared to have been a mechanical problem aboard the vessel. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, they said. Bloomberg [5/18/2025 1:21 AM, Myles Miller and Brandon Sapienza, 19320K] reports nineteen people are in serious or critical condition after the tall ship Cuauhtémoc “lost power and crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a post on X early Sunday. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the deaths, and expressed condolences in another post on X. The 270-foot Cuauhtémoc — an academy training vessel — was in New York as part of a global annual tour, Hector Vasconcelos, Mexico’s representative to the United Nations, said before the incident. The ship was scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 countries including Jamaica, Cuba, Iceland and France, the Associated Press said. Videos posted on X showed three lit masts of the ship carrying a giant Mexican flag crashing into the base of the bridge as vehicles moved above. It continued to sail on with all three wrecked masts before coming to a stop. “The status of personnel and equipment is being reviewed by naval and local authorities, who are providing support,” the Mexican navy said in a post on X. “The Navy reaffirms its commitment to personnel safety, transparency in its operations, and excellent training for future officers of the Mexican Navy.” Traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge in both directions was temporarily halted before it was reopened. The Department of Transportation did not find major damage to the bridge, Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said at a briefing earlier. The New York Post [5/17/2025 11:05 PM, Anna Young, Larry Celona, Joe Marino, and Marie Pohl, 54903K] reports that the majestic Cuauhtémoc — which has a crew of 277, mostly cadets — apparently lost power as it was sailing out of New York on its way to Iceland and the current carried it into the road deck of the bridge around 8:30 p.m., according to Mayor Eric Adams and footage of the crash. The collision sheared off the ship’s 147-foot masts – with alarming footage capturing numerous crew members dangling for their lives from the sails and booms after the boat hit the bridge, which has a max clearance of 135 feet. The mutilated ship is currently idle in the water while emergency responders work at Pier 16 to care for the wounded. It’s expected to be moved to Pier 36, sources said. Those in critical condition were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment. The bridge, which suffered minor damage, has since reopened to the public.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/18/2025 1:41 PM, Ruth Brown and Kyle Marian Vitterbo, 48304K]
CBS News York [5/18/2025 1:16 AM, Mark Prussin] Video HERE

FOX News [5/18/2025 12:28 AM, Staff, 46878K] reports police say a Mexican Navy tall ship carrying around 250 people hit the bottom of the bridge around 8:30 p.m. local time. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [5/17/2025 2:02 PM, Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby, 3077K] reports federal prosecutors announced that they had filed a terrorism related charge against a woman who is accused of getting grenades and being a key operator for Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG). The case is the first ever terror charge related to CJNG. This week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they had charged 39-year-old Maria Del Rosario “Chayo” Navarro Sanchez with providing material support to a terrorist organization. The charge follows the February 20 designation of CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State. Mexican authorities arrested Navarro earlier this month in the state of Jalisco. At the time of her arrest, Mexico’s top law enforcement official announced that U.S. authorities wanted her on several charges that included arms trafficking, human smuggling, drug trafficking, and others. The woman had a gold-plated rifle with her at the time of her arrest. It remains unclear if Navarro will face charges in Mexico or be extradited to the United States soon.

ABC News [5/17/2025 3:10 PM, Meredith Deliso, 31733K] reports President Donald Trump wrapped up a four-day Middle East trip on Friday, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. His first major foreign trip of his second term saw the U.S. secure more than $2 trillion in investment agreements in the Gulf region, according to the White House, as well as Trump announcing that he will move to lift U.S. sanctions in Syria. .Trump also said during the trip that he believed that the U.S. and Tehran are "getting close to maybe doing a deal" on Iran’s nuclear program and called on Qatar to use its influence to persuade Iran’s leadership to reach an agreement with the U.S. to dial back its rapidly advancing nuclear program. The trip "creates some pretty interesting openings and opportunities," Michael Hanna, the U.S. program director for the International Crisis Group, told ABC News. "It looks like maybe the region, led by the Gulf, can have some really substantive, important input in shaping U.S. policy in a better direction," he said, such as moving away from military conflict with Iran and the Houthis and engaging with Syria to stabilize the transition after the Assad family was removed from power. But, he said, "one of the things that has been a huge problem for Trump, traditionally, is implementation and follow-through."

AP [5/17/2025 3:00 PM, Yehor Konovalov and Joanna Kozlowska, 56000K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending the war in Ukraine. Trump said the call with Putin will be about stopping the “bloodbath” in Ukraine. “Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” Trump wrote Saturday in a post on his social networking site Truth Social. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in comments to Russian media that preparations were underway for Monday’s call.

AP [5/18/2025 4:26 AM, Staff, 56000K] reports Russia overnight launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia fired a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Of those, 88 were intercepted and a further 128 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. The attacks targeted the country’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. Yuriy Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force, told The Associated Press that the barrage was the biggest drone attack since the start of the full-scale invasion. Russia’s previous largest known single drone attack was on the eve of the war’s third anniversary, when Russia pounded Ukraine with 267 drones. Kyiv regional Gov. Mykola Kalashnyk said a a 28-year-old woman was killed in a drone attack on the region and three other people, including a 4-year-old child, were wounded. Russia overnight launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia fired a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Of those, 88 were intercepted and a further 128 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. The attacks targeted the country’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. Yuriy Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force, told The Associated Press that the barrage was the biggest drone attack since the start of the full-scale invasion. Russia’s previous largest known single drone attack was on the eve of the war’s third anniversary, when Russia pounded Ukraine with 267 drones. Kyiv regional Gov. Mykola Kalashnyk said a a 28-year-old woman was killed in a drone attack on the region and three other people, including a 4-year-old child, were wounded. Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to meet face-to-face in Turkey after he himself proposed direct negotiations — although not at the presidential level — as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including the U.S. U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone Monday with Putin, and will then speak to Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending the war in Ukraine.

Reuters [5/18/2025 4:51 AM, Staff, 24051K] reports Russian air defence forces destroyed 25 Ukrainian drones over two of its border regions overnight and on Sunday morning, the Russian Defence Ministry said, and the governor of another region said one woman had been killed in a drone attack. Twenty two drones had been downed over the Belgorod region and another three destroyed over the Bryansk region, the ministry said in statements. Both regions border Ukraine. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk, said the attempted attack did not inflict any damage or cause any casualties. Alexander Khinshtein, governor of Kursk, another region bordering Ukraine, said a 69-year-old woman had been killed by an explosive dropped from a drone overnight. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Both sides deny targeting civilians, but thousands have been killed in the conflict, the majority of them Ukrainians. Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday that the largest known Russian drone attack since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 had killed a woman in the Kyiv region and injured at least three people.

Wall Street Journal [5/18/2025 4:38 AM, Marcus Walker and Summer Said, 646K] reports top leaders of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel aiming to torpedo peace negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to minutes of a high-level meeting in Gaza that Israel’s military said it discovered in a tunnel beneath the enclave. Days before the assault that left nearly 1,200 dead, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s Gaza chief, told fellow militants that an “extraordinary act” was required to derail the normalization talks that he said risked marginalizing the Palestinian cause, the document, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, said. The plan worked—at a terrible price. Iran-backed Hamas’s onslaught of killing and kidnapping sparked an Israeli military campaign to destroy the militants that has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and left the territory in ruins. That has fueled anger across the Arab world and beyond, halting progress toward normalization, at least for now. President Trump, visiting Riyadh on Tuesday, acknowledged as much, calling on Saudi Arabia to establish relations with Israel but saying, “You’ll do it in your own time.” The meeting minutes—from an Oct. 2, 2023, gathering of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza—cite Sinwar as saying, “There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly.” He warned a deal would “open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path.” For Sinwar and Hamas, who have called for total destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, this was unacceptable. Sinwar said it was time to unleash an attack that had been in the planning stages for two years. The goal, he said, is “to bring about a major move or a strategic shift in the paths and balances of the region with regard to the Palestinian cause.” He expected to get help from the other Iranian-backed forces of the so-called axis of resistance to Israel. Hamas didn’t respond to a request for comment on the authenticity of the document or its contents. Arab intelligence officials familiar with Hamas and its records said the document appears to be genuine, as do others the Israeli military says it found in Gaza.

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