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.

CBS News [5/19/2025 8:44 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51860K] reports the Supreme Court on Monday said it will let the Trump administration end the Temporary Protected Status program protecting roughly 350,000 Venezuelan migrants from the threat of deportation while legal proceedings over the move continue. The high court granted the administration’s request to lift for now a lower court’s injunction that blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s revocation of the Temporary Protected Status program, or TPS, for Venezuelans. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she would deny the administration’s bid for emergency relief. Noem terminated the designation — which had been extended by the Biden administration — in February, a move that would have cleared the way for Venezuelans to lose their government-issued work permits and deportations protections on April 7. But a federal judge in California blocked the action in late March and said her decision to terminate the TPS program for the Venezuelan migrants appeared to be "predicated on negative stereotypes" and may have been motivated by unconstitutional animus. A federal appeals court declined to provide emergency relief to the Trump administration and pause the district court’s order, leading the Trump administration to seek the Supreme Court’s intervention. "So long as the order is in effect, the secretary must permit hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals to remain in the country, notwithstanding her reasoned determination that doing so is ‘contrary to the national interest,’" Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the administration’s emergency appeal with the high court. During the Biden administration, then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas designated Venezuela for the Temporary Protected Status program, citing "extraordinary and temporary" conditions that prevented Venezuelans in the U.S. from returning to their home country. Mayorkas extended the designation, set to last 18 months, in October 2023. In addition to designating Venezuela for TPS, the Biden administration also created or expanded programs for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti and Ukraine. The Venezuelan program is the largest and covers roughly 600,000 people through two separate designations, though only the designation from 2023 is at issue in the case before the Supreme Court. After Mr. Trump took office for his second term, Noem vacated the extension for more than 350,000 Venezuelans, finding that it was "contrary to the national interest" to continue the program. The termination was set to take effect April 7. The Trump administration is also revoking TPS protections for tens of thousands of Haitians, with that move set to take effect in August. Roll Call [5/19/2025 2:34 PM, Michael Macagnone, 692K] report the Biden administration made two designations for TPS, one in 2021 that extended to September 2025, and one in 2023 that extended until April 2025, according to the Justice Department application asking the justices to intervene. In January, the Biden administration announced an extension of both until October 2026, the DOJ application said. Noem in February decided to cancel the extension of the 2023 designation, arguing that it was contrary to the national interest and that the timing of the Biden-era extension meant it had not yet gone into effect, the DOJ application said. The Washington Post [5/19/2025 12:36 PM, Justin Jouvenal, 32099K] reports that while protections for some Venezuelans will remain in place until September, the status expired for tens of thousands of others on April 7. As is typical when they act on emergency requests, the justices did not explain their decision, which will remain in effect while a legal fight over rescinding protected status plays out in the lower courts. The court said individual migrants may mount their own legal challenges if the government tries to deport them. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to say she would not have overturned a lower court decision that had kept the protected status in place while litigation continued. The Biden administration created protected status for Venezuelans because officials felt the political and economic turmoil under the regime of President Nicolás Maduro made it too risky to deport migrants back to their home country. But the administration of President Donald Trump moved to cancel the protections, saying they were not in National Interest and arguing that the migrants presented a public security risk and were a drain on resources. Trump is also seeking to roll back other Biden-era protections that have allowed millions of immigrants to remain in the United States while their immigration cases play out, including temporary protected status for migrants from Afghanistan, Haiti and Cameroon. Ahilan Arulanantham, one of the lawyers challenging the cancellation of TPS for Venezuelans and co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, said the fallout from Monday’s emergency order would be swift. “This is the largest single action stripping any group of noncitizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history,” Arulanantham said. “That the Supreme Court authorized this action in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is truly shocking. The humanitarian and economic impact of the Court’s decision will be felt immediately.” Bloomberg [5/19/2025 1:42 PM, Greg Stohr, 88K] reports that the TPS program is designed to protect immigrants whose home countries are in crisis. As is often the case with emergency matters, the court didn’t explain its reasoning in its one-page order. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The decision is "a win for the American people and the safety of our communities," said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in an emailed statement. "The Trump administration is reinstituting integrity into our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe." The focus of the legal fight now shifts back to Chen’s court. After the Supreme Court ruled, he ordered the two sides to file a status report by May 26 and scheduled a hearing for May 29.

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Miami Herald [5/19/2025 5:09 PM, Verónica Egui Brito, 3805K] reports in a stunning and unprecedented move, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief two-paragraph order Monday allowing the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans to proceed, without offering any explanation. The decision sparked nationwide fear, confusion and outrage, placing as many as 350,000 legal residents at immediate risk of losing their legal status and work authorization. The order overturned a California federal court’s injunction that had blocked the Trump administration from ending TPS for Venezuelans. Now, those protections are effectively gone, even as no official timeline or guidance has been provided, leaving TPS holders, their families and employers in legal limbo. The legal team is now urgently exploring all remaining options to protect the seven Venezuelan plaintiffs, four Haitian co-plaintiffs, and the 150,000 members of the National TPS Alliance, which represents a large portion of the 600,000 Venezuelans covered by TPS. The Supreme Court’s decision provides no direction on implementation, leaving attorneys, advocates and the federal government scrambling for clarity. The federal court in San Francisco, where the original lawsuit was filed in February challenging the government’s termination of TPS for Venezuelans as unlawful, politically motivated, and racially biased, is now moving forward to assess the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision. The court has requested a formal status report by May 26, requiring both the federal government and plaintiffs to evaluate the significance and implications of the ruling. A hearing is scheduled for May 29, where both parties will present their legal interpretations of the Supreme Court’s abrupt order—and outline what comes next for the more than 350,000 Venezuelan TPS holders now facing the loss of their legal protections and work authorization.

Miami Herald [5/19/2025 4:24 PM, Jacqueline Charles and Sonia Osorio, 3805K] reports a U.S. Supreme Court order on Monday allowing the Trump administration to terminate immigration protections and work permits for as many as 350,000 Venezuelans has lawyers and advocates worried about the decision’s potential effect for Haitians, Nicaraguans and others in the United States who have Temporary Protected Status. On Monday, the high court issued an order vacating a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place TPS for Venezuelans that that administration wanted to end last month. Lawyers noted that the justices offered no rationale and left many questions in the air on how their narrow order should be interpreted. They said they plan to continue to fight in court and noted there are other federal lawsuits being waged on behalf of TPS holders. Still, lawyers and immigration advocates said, the decision was "terrible" and exposes potentially as many as one million migrants, hailing from more than a dozen nations in conflict, to deportation. The decision is a bad omen for other TPS holders, including more than a half million Haitians whose 18-month TPS extension was rescinded by Noem.

The Hill [5/19/2025 4:57 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has conducted its first charter flight for migrants who agreed to "self-deport" after starting a program to give those voluntarily leaving the country a $1,000 stipend. The flight took 64 citizens of Colombia and Honduras to their home country. Still, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) cautioned people against taking the assistance, noting that some may not be able to return to the U.S. in the future. DHS on Monday said those in the group "chose to return home the right way," and in contrast with other media distributed by the agency, showed photos of smiling migrants descending from planes, welcomed by host country governments waiting with stuffed animals for children. They noted that in Honduras, returnees were also eligible for $100 in government assistance as well as food vouchers. CNN [5/19/2025 5:30 PM, Michael Rios and Elvin Sandoval] reports that a group of 38 Hondurans arrived at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport on Monday afternoon after applying through a mobile app provided by US Customs and Border Protection, Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio García said. At least four of the children were born in the US and one was born in Mexico. They left the US with their Honduran relatives to avoid family separation, according to Honduran Migration Director Wilson Paz Reyes. The flight carried 64 people, according to a Homeland Security official. It is expected to continue to Colombia to drop off the remaining migrants who opted for self-deportation, García said. "Today, DHS conducted its first Project Homecoming charter flight of 64 individuals who voluntarily chose to self-deport to their home counties of Honduras and Colombia," Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said. "If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home." Axios [5/19/2025 2:22 PM, Marc Caputo and Brittany Gibson, 13599K] reports that the self-deportation program was announced in March. Since then, the administration has paid for tickets for some people to return to their home countries on commercial airliners. For those who are unauthorized and either don’t turn themselves in or don’t agree to self-deport, the alternative is being detained by immigration officials and held — possibly for months — in overcrowded facilities. Monday’s flight left Houston about 9:30 a.m. and took 65 people from Honduras and Colombia to their respective home countries, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. To participate in the program, the immigrants logged into the CBP Home App and requested to be voluntarily flown home in return for the free trip and $1,000 after they land, the Homeland Security official said. The number of deportations of people living in the U.S. is increasing under Trump, but his administration is still lagging behind the Biden administration’s for total removal numbers compared to this time last year, according to an analysis of government data. "In principle, [self-deporting] could be a very good option for people," said Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration’s Family Reunification Task Force. But there’s a big caveat, she said. The Trump administration’s "shock and awe" campaign of immigration enforcement has been effective at scaring people — to the point it may prevent people from using the government-run CBP Home app. "If people are not being coerced, are fully informed and if it actually is a safe option that preserves people’s rights," Brané said, "it could be a successful program." But the administration hasn’t detailed how and when self-deporters could be able to return to the U.S., and critics are skeptical. "It’s a scam because most people won’t be allowed back into the U.S.," said Kerri Talbot, executive director of Immigration Hub, an advocacy group. Monday’s self-deportation flight was far less controversial than the administration’s first effort in March to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans alleged to be Tren de Aragua gang members to a notorious lockup in El Salvador. Trump has said he wanted to create a system for "great" people to leave and legally return to the U.S. That message also has been part of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign by Noem. "If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home," Noem said in a statement to Axios. "If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never allowed to return. ... Self-deport NOW and preserve your opportunity to potentially return the legal, right way."

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FOX News [5/19/2025 11:02 PM, Staff, 46878K] reports DHS conducted its first "Project Homecoming" charter flight from Houston on Monday, self-deporting 64 illegal immigrants back to their home countries. (Department of Homeland Security)

Breitbart [5/19/2025 1:06 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is accusing sanctuary state politicians of "playing Russian roulette with American lives" as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested several violent criminal illegal aliens in such states. "These sanctuary politicians are playing Russian roulette with American lives," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: “While sanctuary politicians in places like Philadelphia, Boston, Newark, and California work to thwart ICE, DHS will continue arresting criminal illegal aliens and getting them out of our country. Radical sanctuary politicians need to put the safety of the American people first—not criminal illegal aliens. No American wants criminal illegal aliens loose on America’s streets and neither should our leaders who represent them.” Last week on May 15 ICE agents arrested 28-year-old illegal alien Jose Reyes Alvarez of El Salvador, a confirmed MS-13 gang member who was previously arrested in the sanctuary state of Massachusetts for driving without a license. Tito Flores-Gonzalez, a 27-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after having been arrested in Delaware for attempted second-degree kidnapping, terroristic threatening, harassment, and offensive touching. Flores-Gonzalez had voluntarily departed the United States to Mexico twice after crossing the southern border, but crossed again for a third time and made his way to Philadelphia.

FOX News [5/19/2025 2:00 PM, Cameron Arcand and Bill Melugin, 46878K] reports that United States Attorney for the District of California Bill Essayli is taking major action to crack down on "sanctuary" policies in the Golden State. He’s launching "Operation Guardian Angel," which is a task force, made up of assets from ICE, HSI, DEA, FBI, ATF, and Border Patrol, to begin scanning a criminal database every single day to identify arrested illegal aliens in local jurisdictions that DOJ can charge with felony illegal-reentry. "They’ve made it almost impossible for ICE to do their job, issue detainers and get criminal illegal immigrants out of jails. So what we’re doing instead is we’re going to start issuing warrants," he told Fox News. "We’re going to flood the system with warrants for criminal illegal immigration that are in county jails, they can ignore a detainer, but they cannot ignore a criminal arrest warrant," Essayli continued. "As soon as an illegal immigrant is booked into a county jail, we’re reviewing their file. And if they meet the elements of illegal reentry, which is a federal crime, we are filing a complaint and getting an arrest warrant issued before they’re released from state custody." Essayli said that the first-of-its-kind program will make the Golden State a "testing ground" for other sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the country, as the administration aims to get illegal aliens with criminal charges and convictions swiftly out of the United States. While border crossings have plummeted, the administration is aiming to boost the number of removals.

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 4:25 PM, Heather Hunter, 1934K] reports House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that his panel would hold a hearing this week to investigate recent protests targeting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey, as well as what he described as growing efforts by Democrats to hinder federal immigration enforcement. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight will hold a "Examining Threats to ICE Operations" hearing on Tuesday, May 20, at 2:00 p.m. EST in the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing comes in response to a recent protest at the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. It will focus on what Republican lawmakers describe as increasing efforts by local governments and advocacy groups to obstruct federal immigration enforcement. The hearing aims to assess the operational challenges ICE agents face and the broader implications for national security and public safety. Subcommittee members are expected to explore how sanctuary policies, local non-cooperation, and political activism may be interfering with the agency’s ability to carry out its mission. Witnesses scheduled to testify include Andrew Arthur, a legal policy expert from the Center for Immigration Studies, and former ICE officials Scott Mechkowski and Charles Marino, both of whom held leadership roles in the agency’s New York Field Office. Their testimony is likely to highlight both the practical and political pressures confronting ICE personnel in the field.

New York Post [5/19/2025 3:31 PM, Jennie Taer, 49956K] reports the Justice Department has found a workaround to bypass sanctuary city laws and force local authorities to help with President Trump’s deportation crackdown — charge illegal migrants with federal crimes for entering the US illegally. The Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been working "around the clock" to slap as many migrants as they can, sources tell The Post. So far, more than 15,000 such cases have been filed since President Trump’s inauguration, according to the DOJ. The criminal charges escalate the cases from a civil immigration issue to a federal criminal one — allowing ICE agents to enter jails of sanctuary jurisdictions like New York City to pick up illegal migrants. A DOJ source told The Post the new administration has been "pushing" US attorneys "to get creative" on the warrants "since day one" and to push them "in sanctuary jurisdictions" that pose "significant risks to public safety."

Daily Caller [5/19/2025 10:34 AM, Jason Hopkins, 1010K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) slammed Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for comparing federal immigration agents to the secret police of Nazi Germany. While speaking during a Saturday commencement address at the University of Minnesota Law School, Walz referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as President Donald Trump’s "modern-day Gestapo," accusing the agency of disappearing people with no due process. DHS, the department that oversees ICE, called the governor’s comments "absolutely sickening" and "wrong". "It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo," DHS said Sunday in a social media post. "Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong.” It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo. Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults. "ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults," the department continued. "Our message is clear: DO NOT come to this country illegally. If you do, we will arrest you, deport you and you will never return.” The Democratic governor, during his address, accused immigration agents of acting as nefarious actors at Trump’s behest and appeared to reference the Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega-prison facility in El Salvador the administration has used to house some alleged criminal deportees. "Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets," he said Saturday. "They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons — no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.” "To be clear, there’s no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not, because they refused to give them a trial," Walz claimed. "We’re supposed to just take their word for it.”

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Daily Caller [5/19/2025 4:43 PM, Harold Hutchinson, 1082K] reports Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin described Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s comments comparing United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to the Gestapo as “sickening” during a Monday Fox News appearance. The governor made the comparison during a Saturday commencement address for the University of Minnesota law school, accusing President Donald Trump of denying those deported “due process.” McLaughlin said that “vilifying” ICE agents increased the risk of them being assaulted when “America Reports” co-host John Roberts asked about Walz’s remarks. “Clearly never watched ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ it’s Gestapo,” Roberts said, correcting the failed vice-presidential nominee’s pronunciation of the Nazi secret police. “Sickening,” McLaughlin responded. “Our ICE enforcement agents are facing [a] 400% increase in assaults and it’s because of rhetoric like this, where he’s vilifying them. They’re just trying to keep our streets safe, John.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [5/19/2025 6:45 PM, Tierney Sneed, 875K] reports a federal judge said that she had concerns about being "hoodwinked" by plans put forward in her courtroom Monday by a Trump appointee to rebuild three offices focused on civil rights oversight within the Department of Homeland Security that were eviscerated with mass layoffs set to take effect this week. US District Judge Ana Reyes said that she found the three-plus hours of testimony from the appointee, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Ronald Sartini, to be "credible.” The judge believed he was working in "good faith" to come up with proposals for restaffing his office and the two others offices in the case before her, and that if those plans came to quick fruition, there would not be irreparable harm that would justify a court’s intervention. The administration’s gutting of those offices comes as President Donald Trump is pushing – and at times overstepping – the law in his efforts to quickly fulfill his campaign promise to deport millions of immigrants. Reyes also said that a "cynical view" of the state of play in the legal challenge was that the administration did not actually intend to restore those offices to their congressionally mandated functions, because their work might slow Trump’s mass deportation agenda. She raised the possibility that Sartini’s testimony was "window dressing for the court" to head off the legal case, brought by advocacy groups that work on civil rights issues on behalf of migrants and are challenging the dismantling of those offices. Sartini, who spent 16 years in various career positions within the federal government before his May appointment as CIS ombudsman, told the judge he believed DHS leadership when it told him that the offices would be up and running again. Legal arguments in the case will continue on Tuesday.

Newsweek [5/19/2025 9:27 AM, Billal Rahman, 3805K] reports the mastermind behind a reality TV show in which immigrants compete for a chance to fast-track their path to U.S. citizenship has rejected comparisons to the Hunger Games. Producer Rob Worsoff told NewsNation that the intention is not to create a situation resembling the "Hunger Games for migrants.” President Donald Trump’s administration has effectively shut down asylum as it looks to remove millions of migrants without legal status as part of a hardline mass deportation policy. If the TV show proceeds, it would be one of the two new methods to obtain a U.S. citizenship under the administration. Trump floated the idea of a "gold card" visa that cost $5 million to replace the EB-5 visa and fast track immigration into the U.S. Trump rose to national prominence through his role as the host of the reality television show The Apprentice, which aired for 14 seasons and helped establish his public image before his entry into politics. A proposed new show, along with Amazon’s reported $40 million licensing agreement for a documentary about first lady Melania Trump, suggests that media companies continue to explore opportunities to engage with figures in the Trump administration. Worsoff said that the series will be a "celebration of America in the most positive possible way." He said contestants would already be part of the immigration system, but the competition would simply determine who receives expedited processing. "All I’m offering is to jump to the front of the line," he said. The show is expected to open with 12 preselected contestants arriving at Ellis Island aboard The Citizen Ship, where they are welcomed by a celebrity host and presented with a personalized baseball glove. From there, the contestants travel the country by train, stopping in different regions to compete in challenges based on classic American experiences, such as log balancing in Wisconsin, rocket building in Cape Canaveral, or working on a car assembly line in Detroit. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials may assist in vote tallying. As the competition progresses, eliminated contestants would receive American-style consolation prizes like a million airline miles, a $10,000 Starbucks card or free gas for life. While no specific brands are officially attached to the project, Worsoff believes the show has broad commercial appeal and strong potential for corporate sponsorship. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek: "The reporting by the Daily Mail is completely false, and an affront to respectable journalism. Secretary Noem has not ‘backed’ or even reviewed the pitch of any scripted or reality show. The Department of Homeland Security receives hundreds of television show pitches a year, ranging from documentaries surrounding ICE and CBP border operation to white-collar investigations by HSI.

AP [5/19/2025 7:45 PM, Nicholas riccardi, 1611K] report that tucked deep in the thousand-plus pages of the multitrillion-dollar budget bill making its way through the Republican-controlled U.S. House is a paragraph curtailing a court’s greatest tool for forcing the government to obey its rulings: the power to enforce contempt findings. It’s unclear whether the bill can pass the House in its current form — it failed in a committee vote Friday — whether the U.S. Senate would preserve the contempt provision or whether courts would uphold it. But the fact that GOP lawmakers are including it shows how much those in power in the nation’s capital are thinking about the consequences of defying judges as the battle between the Trump administration and the courts escalates. Republican President Donald Trump raised the stakes again Friday when he attacked the U.S. Supreme Court for its ruling barring his administration from quickly resuming deportations under an 18th-century wartime law: "THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!" Trump posted on his social media network, Truth Social. The most intense skirmishes have come in the lower courts. One federal judge has found that members of the administration may be liable for contempt after ignoring his order to turn around planes deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Trump’s administration has scoffed at another judge’s ruling that it "facilitate" the return of a man wrongly deported to El Salvador, even though the Supreme Court upheld that decision.

Federalist [5/19/2025 7:26 AM, Margot Cleveland, 1142K] reports the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in three cases concerning challenges to President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. The question before the high court was not, however, the constitutionality of the EO, but rather whether the lower courts had authority to issue injunctions on a nationwide basis to bar implementation of an EO. You would be hard pressed to know that, though, from the justices’ questions — the overwhelming number of which focused instead on how to stop Trump. "So, as far as I see it, this order violates four Supreme Court precedents," Justice Sotomayor declared early in the argument, referring to the Trump Administration’s EO on birthright citizenship. "And you are claiming that not just the Supreme Court — that both the Supreme Court and no lower court can stop an executive from — universally from violating that holding — those holdings by this Court," Justice Sotomayor further charged. "[W]hy should we permit those countless others to be subject to what we think is an unlawful executive action," the justice pushed, when a nationwide injunction could immediately remedy the executive branch’s unlawful action. Justice Kagan likewise framed the question for the Court as how to promptly halt the implementation of a president’s EO which is "dead wrong" on the law. "[E]very court has ruled against you" on the birthright citizenship question, she intoned to Solicitor General D. John Sauer. "If one thinks — and, you know, look, there are all kinds of abuses of nationwide injunctions, but I think that the question that this case presents is that if one thinks that it’s quite clear that the EO is illegal, how does one get to that result in what time frame on your set of rules without the possibility of a nationwide injunction?" Justice Kagan further questioned the Trump Administration.

AOL [5/19/2025 1:28 PM, Bethany Blankley, 32092K] reports that a record number of people are applying for jobs in federal law enforcement and border security positions in the Trump administration. In the first four months of the administration, U.S. Border Patrol received 34,650 applications, representing a 44% increase over the same four-month period in 2024, The Center Square reported. Under U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, Texas’ first border czar, the first quarter of 2025 marks "the most successful four-month recruitment stretch in the agency’s history." The U.S. Coast Guard also saw a massive spike of applications after failing to meet recruiting targets every year under the Biden administration. Since January, the Coast Guard is on track to exceed its recruitment goals by 110%, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says. So far this fiscal year, the Coast Guard has already recruited more than 4,700 new members, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. Under Trump, the Coast Guard has surged resources to secure U.S. borders and is seizing record amounts of illicit drugs, The Center Square reported. The U.S. Department of Defense is also seeing a record number of recruits. After failing to meet recruitment goals every year during the Biden administration, in February 2025, all five military services met their recruiting goals. During an April 30, 2025, cabinet meeting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described what was happening as a "recruiting renaissance." "It’s been decades since we’ve seen this kind of recruiting in the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Air Force," he said. "We can barely absorb the volume and retention [is also up] – men and women in the military don’t want to get out."

Axios [5/19/2025 11:12 AM, Sareen Habeshian, 13599K] reports the Trump administration has instituted all sorts of requirements in its first months to monitor Americans, particularly immigrants. From an undocumented immigrant registry to proof-of-citizenship for voting, President Trump has attempted to create a landscape in which the government can demand to know — and force people to prove — their identity in radical new ways. The data the administration is pushing for can be weaponized against people. As part of its immigration crackdown, the administration instituted a plan to require undocumented immigrants to register with the federal government, which a federal judge gave a stamp of approval. The plan requires undocumented immigrants age 14 or older to provide their fingerprints or face a fine or even imprisonment. The Department of Homeland Security launched an app that officials say will allow immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally to report when they "self-deport." Social Security is now an immigration enforcement tool. The Internal Revenue Service reached an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to share the tax information of undocumented immigrants with immigration authorities. Trump signed an executive order in March to make sweeping changes to federal elections, including a proof of citizenship requirement. A federal judge blocked that requirement last week. The House, meanwhile, passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, requiring voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. SAVE aims to restrict noncitizen voting in federal elections — which is exceptionally rare and illegal. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he’s launching a disease registry to track Americans with autism. The National Institutes of Health is collecting private medical records from both federal and commercial databases.

Reuters [5/19/2025 12:23 PM, Nate Raymond, 51390K] reports lawyers for a Guatemalan man who says he was deported to Mexico despite his fears he would be persecuted there have asked a judge to order the Trump administration to immediately facilitate his return after immigration officials acknowledged making a mistake in his case. The attorneys made the request on Sunday after the Justice Department notified a federal judge in Boston that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico was based on erroneous information. The Justice Department in a filing on Friday said that upon further investigation, officials had been unable to identify any officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who actually asked the man about fears he had for his safety. Lawyers for the man, identified in court papers only as "O.C.G.," told U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that despite admitting to that error, the administration is refusing to commit to allowing the man to immediately return to the U.S. They urged the judge to order the government to do so, given that Murphy in a class action lawsuit O.C.G. and other migrants filed has already blocked the administration from swiftly deporting migrants to countries other than their own without first hearing their concerns about their safety. Lawyers for O.C.G. say that once he was in Mexico, O.C.G. had to choose between waiting months in detention to apply for asylum in Mexico or returning to Guatemala. He ultimately opted to go back to Guatemala, where he is in hiding, his lawyers say. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

The Wall Street Journal [5/19/2025 10:41 PM, Sadie Gurman, 646K] reports the Justice Department is charging a Democratic congresswoman with assault after a confrontation with federal law-enforcement officials who arrested Newark’s mayor outside an immigration detention center in the New Jersey city earlier this month. Rep. LaMonica McIver will be charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding law-enforcement officers after attempting to enter the Delaney Hall detention center with two other members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation on May 9. Alina Habba, the Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, also said Monday that her office was dropping a misdemeanor trespass charge brought against Newark’s mayor, Ras Baraka, who was arrested after attempting to join them. She said she had invited Baraka to tour the facility. “The government has nothing to hide at this facility, and I will personally accompany the mayor so he can see that firsthand,” she said. Habba said she had tried, unsuccessfully, to reach a resolution with McIver. “No one is above the law—politicians or otherwise,” Habba said. “It is the job of this office to uphold justice impartially, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work.” McIver’s attorney, Paul Fishman, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said in a statement that the decision to charge McIver was “spectacularly inappropriate.” She went to Delaney Hall “to do her job” and has the responsibility as a member of Congress to monitor ICE’s oversight of detainees, he said. “The charges against me are purely political—they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight,” McIver said in a statement on X. FOX News [5/19/2025 9:02 PM, Cameron Arcand, Greg Wehner, and Alexis McAdams, 46189K] reports Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba is charging Rep. LaMonica McIver for her alleged misconduct towards law enforcement in front of Delaney Hall in New Jersey earlier this month, but she is dismissing the trespassing charge against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. "Representative LaMonica McIver assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111 (a)(1)," Habba said in a letter shared on X Monday. "That conduct cannot be overlooked by the chief federal law enforcement official in the State of New Jersey, and it is my Constitutional obligation to ensure that our federal law enforcement is protected when executing their duties." Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem weighed in on the charges against McIver, saying, "no one is above the law." "If any person, regardless of political party, influence or status, assaults a law enforcement officer as we witnessed Congresswoman McIver do, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," the secretary wrote. "We thank our brave ICE law enforcement officers for their service to this great nation." Fox News has learned that McIver must turn herself in as soon as possible, though it is up to the magistrate on the specifics of when she must turn herself in and how. Prosecutors also told Fox News that McIver faces several felony charges, so she is looking at possible time behind bars. Habba also announced in her letter that, after extensive consideration, she was dismissing charges against Baraka. “If it was a typical U.S. citizen, and they tried to storm into a detention facility that’s housing dangerous criminals or any person at all, they would be arrested," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told "Fox News Live" host Kevin Corke Saturday. "Just because you are a member of Congress or just because you’re a public official, does not mean you are above the law. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] USA Today [5/20/2025 2:21 AM, Sarah D. Wire, 75552K] reports Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin initially told CNN that multiple members of Congress had assaulted officers and that arrests were possible. "We actually have body camera footage of these members of Congress assaulting these ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer," she claimed. The members of Congress have pushed back on the government’s narrative that they assaulted officers. Body camera footage shows the representatives objecting to Baraka’s request and to officers physically touching the members of Congress as a small, tight packed group moves along a fence. After the incident, the members of Congress took an hour-long tour of the facility. "They didn’t assault anyone, but were themselves aggressively mistreated by illegally masked individuals," House Democratic leaders said in a joint statement. "There is no credible evidence that Rep. McIver engaged in any criminal activity, and she would not have been permitted to tour the facility had she done anything wrong.” In the statement, the leaders called the charges an attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress. "Everyone responsible for this illegitimate abuse of power is going to be held accountable for their actions. An attack on one of us is an attack on the American people. House Democrats will respond vigorously in the days to come at a time, place and manner of our choosing," the statement said.

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CBS News [5/19/2025 8:21 PM, Mark Prussin, 51860K] reports reports te federal trespassing charge against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has been dismissed after his arrest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced. While the case against Baraka was dropped Monday, Habba announced her officed charged Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, who was at the ICE facility when the mayor was taken into custody. U.S. attorney drops charge against Mayor Ras Baraka. Baraka’s arrest happened outside Delaney Hall, an ICE facility housing migrants in Newark, on May 9 during a visit with members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation. "After extensive consideration, we have agreed to dismiss Mayor Baraka’s misdemeanor charge of trespass for the sake of moving forward," Habba said in a statement posted to social media Monday. "I am glad that the U.S. Attorney has agreed that this case should be dismissed. I have had strong relationships with prior U.S. Attorneys, and I plan to speak with the current U.S. Attorney about issues on which we can cooperate. As to Delaney Hall, I will continue to advocate for the humane treatment of detainees, and I will continue to press the facility to ensure that it is compliant with City of Newark codes and regulations," Baraka said in a statement. Baraka, a Democrat currently running for governor of New Jersey, has criticized the ICE facility housing migrants in his city. He and others have argued it is dangerous and illegal, and that the private company that signed a contract with ICE blocked inspections and did not obtain permits. The Department of Homeland Security denies those claims. "I have invited the mayor to tour Delaney Hall. The government has nothing to hide at this facility, and I will personally accompany the mayor so he can see that firsthand," Habba’s statement continued. "The citizens of New Jersey deserve unified leadership so we can get to work to keep our state safe. The dismissal against the mayor is not the end of this matter.” Baraka, appeared in court last week. At the time, prosecutors indicated they would take the case to trial. N.J. congresswoman says ICE protest charges "purely political".

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 11:39 AM, Paul Bedard, 1934K] reports a Washington legal watchdog is demanding a congressional ethics investigation into several House Democrats who stormed a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prison in New Jersey earlier this month. Judicial Watch claimed that the lawmakers — Reps. Rob Menendez (D-NJ), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) — violated at least three House rules and put ICE agents at risk in a political protest meant to embarrass President Donald Trump. The watchdog, predicting that violations will be confirmed, said it wants the House Office of Congressional Conduct to "recommend appropriate disciplinary measures," including fines, censure, and even expulsion. "The conduct of McIver, Menendez, and Watson Coleman, not only disrupted a secure federal facility but also endangered law enforcement personnel and detainees — all as part of a political stunt," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. "The House needs to take action to punish this dangerous misconduct," he added. What the lawmakers said was that a protest on May 9 turned into a melee when ICE opened the gates to the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark to allow a bus of illegal migrants through. The Department of Homeland Security said that as the bus entered, the Democrats "stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.” The mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested after he "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself" from the scene, according to DHS. He was later released. DHS has threatened the House members with arrest. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [5/19/2025 7:17 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 3077K] reports swing-district Democrats have been caught red-handed accepting tens of thousands in donations from fellow lawmakers who allegedly stormed a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and assaulting federal officers earlier this month, Breitbart News has learned. Reps. Rob Menendez Jr. (D-NJ), Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) are all accused of attempting to unlawfully charge into a Newark ICE detention center on May 9, with video shared by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) showing them shoving law enforcement officials in the chaos: "This wasn’t oversight. This was committing felonies," said Secretary Kristi Noem last week. "This was going out and attacking people who stand up for the rule of law. And it was absolutely horrible.” Describing what occurred at Delaney Hall Detention Center before a congressional committee, the DHS secretary called it "a political stunt that put the safety of our law enforcement officers, our agents, our staff, and our detainees at risk.” "As a vehicle approached the 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 explained. In an interview with Fox News, she added, "I hope that the rest of the members of the House of Representatives will hold them accountable.” Instead of holding them accountable, the aforementioned representatives’ colleagues have accepted money into their campaign committees from them, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) revealed Monday. "Swing-district Democrats can’t hide behind moderate masks when they’re bankrolled by MS-13-loving, cop-hating radicals accused of assaulting federal officers," an NRCC representative told Breitbart News.

FOX News [5/19/2025 9:00 AM, Cameron Arcand, 46878K] reports political tensions remain high in New Jersey following the Delaney Hall clash between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials earlier this month, which led to the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on a trespassing charge weeks ahead of a competitive Democratic gubernatorial primary he is in. Protesters outside the federal courtroom in Newark, rallying in support of Baraka, said the issue spans much bigger than just the Delaney Hall incident. "The rest of the country should know that we should stand up against fascism," rapper and activist Mysonne, who is a co-founder of Until Freedom, told Fox News Digital outside the courthouse on Thursday. The incident came under federal investigation by interim United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, and three members of congress are also facing both scrutiny and praise for their role. Baraka said on Thursday, following his status conference, that he was targeted. "I was the only person arrested. That’s right. You know, I was the only person identified. I was the only person, you know, they put in a cell," he said. Delaney Hall is an ICE detention facility privately operated by the GEO Group. The city of Newark has argued that GEO Group does not have a valid certificate of occupancy, whereas the group has said it is valid and that they are following city laws. "Anybody who cares about government accountability or free speech or the rights of Congress members and mayors to know what’s going on in their communities should be outraged by what happened to Mayor Baraka," Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said.

Washington Post [5/19/2025 2:56 PM, Derek Hawkins, 32099K] reports that a federal judge in Washington ruled Monday that the Trump administration exceeded its authority when it dismantled the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit group created by Congress to help resolve violent international conflicts. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell said the institute, while part of the federal government, was separate from the executive branch; therefore, President Donald Trump lacked the power to terminate its board at will. “The President’s efforts here to take over an organization outside of those bounds, contrary to statute established by Congress and by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers, represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better,” Howell wrote in her 102 page opinion. Administration officials and members of billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service — aided by local and federal law enforcement agencies — seized the institute’s privately owned headquarters in March and summarily removed its leaders. Soon after, they began terminating staff and programs, replaced the institute’s president with a DOGE agent, and transferred its headquarters to the General Services Administration. Howell said Trump violated the 1984 law establishing the institute when he terminated the board members, who may only be removed because of felony conviction or malfeasance, recommendation of the board majority, or a majority vote of four separate congressional committees. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly attacked Howell as a “rogue judge” and said her “attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter.”

NewsMax.com [5/19/2025 6:33 PM, Solange Reyner, 4622K] reports the Department of Justice on Monday announced a plan to crack down on California’s "sanctuary law" that prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials. The task force is made up of assets from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Border Patrol. Essayli told Fox News that DOJ is going to "flood the system with warrants for criminal illegal immigration that are in county jails, they can ignore a detainer, but they cannot ignore a criminal arrest warrant.

CBS News [5/19/2025 6:33 AM, Staff, 51860K] reports a Mexican security consultant who recently did contract work for the U.S. State Department has been shot and killed in what appears to have been a cartel ambush at a restaurant in Guadalajara. The brazen killing took place Friday after 9 p.m. as the man, César Guzman, was dining with two fellow instructors with whom he had just completed a security and intelligence training course for police from Jalisco state, according to Arturo Fontes, a retired FBI agent who worked with Guzman. Fontes, in a message posted on LinkedIn, said he and Guzman over the past two years taught counter-drug classes to Mexican police officers for the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in Mexico City and Queretaro state. Carlos Amador, the former undersecretary of security for Hidalgo state, was also killed, Fontes said. A third instructor, Pablo Cajigal, the former secretary of security for Chihuahua state, is in critical condition. "They were true heroes — some of the bravest individuals I have ever known," Fontes wrote, saying that he had just celebrated Guzman’s 50th birthday a week ago.

AP [5/19/2025 8:49 PM, Staff, 4622K] reports a former U.S. Army and CIA officer formally presented his credentials to Mexico’s president Monday as the new United States ambassador to that country at a moment of increased U.S. pressure to fight the drug cartels and delicate trade negotiations. Amb. Ron Johnson, who served as ambassador to El Salvador during the first administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, met with President Claudia Sheinbaum at the National Palace along with his wife Alina Johnson. He left without making comments to the press. A U.S. special forces veteran, Johnson formed a close bond with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, frequently appearing in the president’s social media feed celebrating occasions outside of government functions. Johnson had been a U.S. military adviser in El Salvador during that country’s civil war in the 1980s and pursued war criminals in the Balkans in the 1990s. His arrival in Mexico comes in the first year of Sheinbaum’s presidency. She has shown greater willingness to take a harder stance against the country’s powerful drug cartels than her predecessor and an ability to manage the sometimes erratic diplomacy of the Trump administration. rump designated several Mexican cartels foreign terrorist organizations this year and U.S. prosecutors announced the first terrorism-related charges against people accused of working with the cartels last week. He has also announced and then suspended most tariffs on imports from Mexico. Immigration has been at the top of Trump’s agenda, but the flow of migrants across the U.S. border that had already been falling in the final months of the Biden administration has slowed to a comparative trickle. Sheinbaum also recently announced that Mexico would increase the amount of water it sends to the Rio Grande in an attempt to make up a water debt to Texas farmers. The deadly wreck of a Mexican Navy tall ship with the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday adds one more binational issue to the relationship. Two sailors died and the incident is under investigation.

The Hill [5/19/2025 3:48 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports at least 50 Venezuelan men who were sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison by the Trump administration had immigrated to the U.S. legally, a review by the Libertarian Cato Institute found. The Monday report reviewed data for just a fraction of the men sent to the prison for whom immigration records are available. "The government calls them all ‘illegal aliens.’ But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point," Cato wrote in its report. That figure is in line with broader statistics for Venezuelan migrants, as many came as refugees or through a parole program established by the Biden administration that provided two years of work permits to those who could secure a U.S.-based sponsor. The report takes issue with Trump administration claims that it deported immigrants who had illegally entered in the country, when in fact, 21 were allowed into the country after presenting at a port of entry, and 24 were paroled into the country. Four came as refugees, and one initially came on a tourist visa. Full records for the roughly 200 Venezuelans sent to prison in El Salvador have not been provided by the Trump administration. Cato reviewed the information for 174 of the men for whom some information is publicly available.

ABC News [5/19/2025 8:25 PM, James Hill, 31733K] reports a 20-year-old Venezuelan man seeking a return to the United States after being sent to El Salvador won a legal victory over President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday. A divided panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to leave in place an order directing the Trump administration to facilitate the man’s return after a federal judge in Maryland determined that his deportation breached an existing legal settlement. The man, identified in court records by the pseudonym "Cristian," challenged his removal after he was sent in mid-March on a flight to El Salvador following President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, found in April that Cristian’s removal violated a class action settlement on behalf of individuals who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and later sought asylum. The administration then asked the appellate court to reverse Gallagher’s order, arguing that the directive to return Cristian to the U.S. "would impose serious foreign-policy harms on the Government and threaten the public interest, while doing nothing for Cristian," according to the government’s court filings. Circuit Judges DeAndrea Gist Benjamin and Roger Gregory, writing for the panel’s majority, rejected the administration’s reasoning. "The argument that the Government would be ‘irreparably harmed’ by facilitating Cristian’s return rings hollow," Benjamin wrote. "Cristian’s injury arises from the fact that instead of having his asylum application adjudicated on the merits—as the Settlement Agreement guaranteed—he was summarily removed," added Benjamin, a Biden appointee to the circuit court. The government argued in its motion to stay that removing Cristian under the Alien Enemies Act was not a breach of the settlement agreement, which was finalized in 2024. The government also challenged Gallagher’s order on the grounds that an "Indicative Asylum Decision," issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) weeks after Cristian’s deportation, determined he would be denied asylum because he is an admitted Tren de Aragua gang member, which he denies. The government also notes Cristian has a felony drug possession conviction in Harris County, Texas.

Univision [5/19/2025 6:41 PM, Staff, 4992K] reports a federal appeals court on Monday upheld a court order requiring the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return to the U.S. of Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan refugee who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The 2-1 ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals comes after the government appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, who in April asked the government to "make a good faith request" to El Salvador to release "Christian" (Lozano-Camargo’s pseudonym in court records) so he can be returned to the United States, where he has a pending asylum claim. The Trump administration argued that Lozano-Camargo was excluded from the pact’s protections because he was allegedly a member of a foreign terrorist organization, but it has not presented public evidence or directly linked him to the Aragua Train. Furthermore, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) argued in early May that the young Venezuelan’s asylum application would be denied, making his return, they said, unnecessary. The group’s lawyer believes the Venezuelan’s expulsion "violates the settlement agreement," and Judge Gallagher agrees, ruling that "his asylum request" should be resolved. Representatives of the Department of Homeland Security argue that the court lacks jurisdiction over the case.

NBC News [5/19/2025 8:02 PM, David Noriega, 44540K] reports a federal judge in Texas ordered the Trump administration Monday to facilitate contact between a Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador and his lawyers, giving the federal government until Wednesday afternoon. It’s the first such order in the mounting legal saga surrounding President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of men to a supermax prison in El Salvador notorious for human rights abuses. The Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, generally offers zero contact between inmates and the outside world, including their lawyers and families. The order by Judge Keith P. Ellison of the Southern District of Texas gives the government 24 hours to confirm the location of the plaintiff — a 24-year-old Venezuelan man — and 48 hours to "restore and help maintain attorney-client communication" with him. "This shows that the court is as concerned as we are as to the whereabouts of this individual and the illegal justification for his continued detention," said Javier Rivera, the Houston lawyer representing Widmer Josneyder Agelviz Sanguino, the incarcerated Venezuelan man. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the order to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal government has been ordered before, including by the Supreme Court, to facilitate the return to the United States of people deported to El Salvador, most notably Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and has argued in response that it has no jurisdiction or ability to do so. Until now, it has not been ordered to facilitate contact between inmates and their lawyers. Agelviz initially traveled to the United States in September with his mother and two younger brothers as part of the U.S.’ refugee resettlement program, a process that involves extensive vetting and background checks. When they arrived at the airport in Houston, immigration agents detained Agelviz. Documents reviewed by NBC News show that Agelviz was detained because of a tattoo on his forearm that includes a clock and a rose, images a Customs and Border Protection agent wrote are "associated" with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The documents show that he had no criminal record and that there was no additional evidence linking him to the gang. "My son is not a gang member," said Agelviz’s mother, Lisbeth Carolina Sanguino, who is now living in San Antonio with her two other sons. "He’s a young man who’s never hurt anyone.” In a statement, a White House official said: "DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media. Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport. President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens.” The statement did not offer any additional evidence linking any of the refugees deported to CECOT to Tren de Aragua or to criminal activity of any kind. However, the official added: "We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane.” The Department of Homeland Security document explaining the reasons for Agelviz’s detention indicates that he had no criminal record or incriminating information in his social media. It lists no evidence of gang affiliation beyond his tattoos.

Houston Chronicle [5/19/2025 7:26 PM, Sam González Kelly, 1982K] reports a Houston judge on Monday ordered the U.S. government to track down a Venezuelan man who is believed to have been deported to El Salvador after government attorneys told the court they did not know where he was. Widmer Josneyder Agelviz Sanguino, 24, was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody last fall after arriving in Houston as a refugee, but his family and attorneys stopped hearing from him on March 15 as his asylum case was awaiting a decision. Days later, his name appeared on a flight manifest published by CBS News identifying the 238 Venezuelan men who had been deported to a mega prison in El Salvador. Neither his family nor his team has had contact with him since. Agelviz Sanguino’s family filed suit earlier this month alleging that his right to due process had been violated and demanding his return. On Monday, Judge Keith Ellison of the United States District Court in the Southern District of Texas issued an order giving the government 24 hours to confirm Agelviz Sanguino’s location and health, and explain to the court the "legal basis for his continued detention.” Ellison also ruled that the government must reestablish communication between Agelviz-Sanguino and his attorneys within two days and provide them with contact information for the prison where he is being held. During Monday’s hearing, Ellison seemed to allude to similar cases around the country in which the government has disregarded court orders to return some migrants, such as Maryland’s Kilmar Abrego Garcia, from El Salvador. "It’s not always clear to me that the executive branch and judicial branches have communicated as well as they should have in this series of cases," Ellison said.

AP [5/19/2025 1:52 PM, Staff, 1982K] reports Venezuela on Monday banned the arrival of flights from neighboring Colombia after authorities detained more than 30 people who were allegedly plotting activities to destabilize the country. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the ban was "immediate" and would last beyond Sunday, when voters across the country are expected to elect governors and National Assembly members. Cabello said the anti-government plans involved placing explosives at embassies and other facilities in Venezuela. He said authorities had detained 21 Venezuelans and 17 foreigners, some of whom hold Colombian, Mexican and Ukrainian citizenship. Cabello, without offering any evidence, said the group was working with members of Venezuela’s political opposition.

Washington Post [5/19/2025 5:47 PM, Jason Willick, 32099K] reports President Donald Trump in March invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a war-powers law last used in World War II, to target a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua (TdA). The administration immediately deported about 137 Venezuelan nationals it accused of membership in the gang to a prison in El Salvador. These people had no chance for a hearing and are now detained there indefinitely. A Justice Department memo obtained by USA Today shows that the Trump administration quite deliberately denied the accused migrants a chance to dispute the government’s allegations. Now the justices have explained their reasoning for that unusual intervention. First, they reiterated the settled understanding that the Constitution creates a minimum threshold of due process in immigration cases. The Supreme Court’s Friday opinion definitely does not count as the right thing in Miller’s mind. If the great legal strategist is frustrated by the 7-2 rebuke the White House just suffered for its Alien Enemies Act bait-and-switch, he might give his habeas corpus brainstorm a try. That could help the justices return to unanimity.

The Hill [5/19/2025 7:00 AM, Becket Adams, 18649K] reports members of the press have hit upon a deliberate strategy to influence the debate surrounding immigrant deportations: Lead with emotion, then trickle out facts, perhaps selectively. The coverage follows a pattern. First, the headline presents the deportee as a blameless bystander. Then come the laments — how the individual has been "ripped" from his community, how his family is in turmoil, how his life has been upended, and so on. These individuals are often portrayed using unofficial but undeniably American labels: "Maryland dad," "Georgetown scholar," and "Harvard researcher." Rarely, if ever, are they identified by nationality. Rarer still is any early detailed mention of criminal charges or convictions, where applicable. When details of accused or convicted wrongdoing emerge, they are buried deep within the piece, concealed beneath the advocacy quotes and appeals to sentiment. This editorial sleight of hand has become too consistent to attribute to anything but intent. It is a conscious effort to steer the immigration debate in a direction that unequivocally favors the deportees.

Washington Post [5/19/2025 7:30 AM, Philip Bump, 32099K] reports the Trump administration is aware that Americans broadly support the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes. Rather than using it as the basis for deporting violent immigrants, though, the administration often works backward: Knowing that Americans want to see violent criminals sent out of the country, it sends people out of the country, while arguing that they were violent criminals. There is a dangerous catch-22 at play. The government reserves the right to scoop people up and send them to foreign prisons, but, by ignoring due process, reserves for itself the ability to determine whether that treatment is warranted. Immigration officials can and have detained U.S. citizens. Without due process, claims that they are criminal immigrants pits their word against Uncle Sam’s.

The Hill [5/19/2025 11:00 AM, Frank Figliuzzi and Claire Finkelstein, 18649K] reports Pro-Palestinian activism has returned to college and university campuses, and so has the political turbulence. This month, students took over Butler library at Columbia University in the middle of exam period. The university wasted little time in calling NYPD to regain control of campus and to authorize the arrest of students who refused to leave. By the end, roughly 80 demonstrators had been arrested, and two public safety officers and several protestors had sustained injuries. The same day, demonstrations ended in chaos and arrests at Brooklyn college when protestors gathered in front of the school’s Tanger Hillel House chanting anti-Israel slogans and attempting to erect tents. Once again, the college was quick to call in police, who arrested a number of protesters. Some colleges may be getting serious about addressing environments that threaten Jewish students. We can’t say the same about the Trump administration’s efforts. In addition to the misguided institutional war that President Trump is waging by cutting off funding to institutions of higher learning such as Harvard, there is another war he is fighting — namely, a war against students themselves, particularly foreign students. The administration’s campaign against students involves the revocation of student visas, followed by the arrest and deportation of foreign students under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. In most cases, the method is to revoke students’ visas and then declare them present in the country illegally, followed by arrest and deportation proceedings. Many frustrated with university administrators’ passivity against campus social unrest have cheered on the administration, glad that at least the federal government is taking action. But Trump’s actions, particularly related to seemingly random deportations, are merely performative, netting few tangible benefits and causing much harm to higher education along the way. As national security experts, one of whom ran the FBI’s counterintelligence division and the other who has been written about combatting antisemitism in higher education, we know the president’s actions won’t ferret out root causes like foreign-based and NGO sponsorship of the radicalization of U.S. students. They are fanning the flames of protests and encampments, supporting the circulation of escalatory printed materials and fomenting terrorist affiliations, all of which normalize terrorist organizations and contribute to the creation of a hostile environment for Jewish students. In fact, if left unchecked, a policy of isolated snatch and grab deportation actions is likely to worsen both problems.

Los Angeles Times [5/19/2025 6:00 AM, Karen Musalo, 14672K] reports in May 1939, a ship called the St. Louis departed from Hamburg, Germany, with 937 passengers, most of them Jews fleeing the Holocaust. They had been promised disembarkation rights in Cuba, but when the ship reached Havana, the government refused to let it dock. The passengers made desperate pleas to the U.S., including directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to allow them entry. Roosevelt never responded. The State Department wired back that they should "wait their turn" and enter legally. As if that were a realistic option available to them. After lingering off the coast of Florida hoping for a merciful decision from Washington, the St. Louis and its passengers returned to Europe, where the Nazis were on the march. Ultimately, 254 of the ship’s passengers died in the Holocaust. In response to this shameful failure to provide protection, the nations of the world came together and drafted an international treaty to protect those fleeing persecution. The treaty, the 1951 Refugee Convention, and its 1967 Protocol, has been ratified by more than 75% of nations, including the United States. In both Trump administrations, there have been multiple ways in which the president has attempted to eviscerate and undermine the protections guaranteed by treaty obligation and U.S. law. The most drastic among these measures have been the near-total closure of the border to asylum seekers and the suspension of entry of already approved and vetted refugees. However, none of these measures has appeared so clearly designed to make a mockery of the post-World War II refugee protection framework as the administration’s proposals and attempts to send migrants from the U.S. to Libya and Rwanda.

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 11:01 AM, Beth Bailey, 1934K] reports that, as multiple countries begin deporting hundreds of thousands of Afghans to their homeland, economic difficulties and a lack of institutional support may provide fertile ground for recruitment for any of the two dozen terrorist groups utilizing Afghanistan as a base of operations. On April 3, Pakistan began efforts to deport many of the 3.5 million Afghans who have taken up residence in the country during decades of conflict as part of its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Program. A spokesperson from the United Nations International Organization for Migration told the Washington Examiner that between the outset of the program and May 12, Pakistan has deported 128,638 Afghans. The spokesperson said that an additional 1.5 million Afghans could be deported throughout the year. In the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghans have faced not just mass deportation, but also execution. In 2022, Iran executed 16 Afghans. The number rose to 25 in 2023 and 80 in 2024. Thus far in 2025, 25 Afghans have been executed. The IOM spokesperson said that between January and April, nearly 310,000 Afghans were deported from Iran, 73% of whom were returned forcibly. "Afghanistan’s limited resources and weakened infrastructure make it difficult to absorb the rising number of returnees," the spokesperson explained. "Continued funding shortfalls are further straining local systems, putting both returnees and host communities at risk of losing access to essential services.” Returnees may soon include around 10,000 Afghans whose Temporary Protected Status is set to expire in July following the Department of Homeland Security’s May 13 determination that supposed improvements in security, economy, and tourism render Afghans ineligible for protection. The decision highlights the U.S. government’s short memory. George Glezmann, whom the Trump administration saved from more than two years of Taliban custody in March, was arrested by the Taliban while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist in 2022. The U.S. Department of State Level 4 travel advisory for Afghanistan still notes that "multiple terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan and U.S. citizens are targets of kidnapping and hostage-taking," and adds that "even if you are registered with the appropriate authorities to conduct business, the risk of detention is high.” "The Taliban do not regularly permit the United States to conduct welfare checks on U.S. citizens in detention, including by phone," the advisory continues. "Detention can be lengthy. While in detention, U.S. citizens have limited or no access to medical attention and may be subject to physical abuse.”

Washington Post [5/19/2025 7:00 AM, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Jacob Bogage, 32099K] reports the phones rang again and again with callers asking the same questions this spring: Is it safe to file my taxes? Could I be deported? For years, tax preparers at DAPA Multiservices Advisors in Laurel, Maryland, have told their largely working-class, Latin American clients that filing federal taxes is not only safe, but the right thing to do. Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, pay federal, state and local taxes. But days before this year’s tax filing deadline, the IRS said it would give the Department of Homeland Security access to confidential records to aid in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. Against that backdrop, tax and financial services firms around the country told The Washington Post that they witnessed a sharp drop in tax filings. “Our clients want to pay taxes and want to do good,” Diana Avellaneda, a DAPA co-owner, told The Post. “But what happens if immigration [authorities] came because they filed their taxes and they got deported?” As of April 15, DAPA had filed 488 tax returns or extensions, compared with 968 returns at the same time last year, Avellaneda said. Even some DAPA clients with legal status decided against submitting taxes because they feared drawing attention to undocumented relatives. In the D.C. suburbs, where DAPA is located, a number of actions by the Trump administration have ratcheted up fears. In March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and deported residents, including Kilmar Abrego García, whose mistaken deportation landed him in a Salvadoran megaprison. Then in April, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent agreed to allow DHS to use highly protected personal IRS taxpayer data to confirm the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally.

Breitbart [5/19/2025 11:43 AM, Bob Price, 3077K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a Guatemalan illegal alien for submitting false statements to become a sponsor for two unaccompanied alien children. Among other things, the man submitted an "obviously photoshopped" photo to help establish a familial relationship to one of the boys. ICE agents filed a criminal complaint in the District of New Jersey against Luciano Tinuar Quino for submitting false statements to gain custody of two unaccompanied alien children who illegally entered the U.S. in 2022. According to a statement from ICE officials, Tinuar Quino managed to gain custody of one of the children from the Biden administration’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). "Tinuar Quino, a Guatemalan alien, allegedly submitted an OBVIOUSLY digitally altered photograph to the Office of Refugee Resettlement to claim a parental relationship between himself, the child, and the cut-and-pasted woman," ICE officials wrote in a post on social media. Prosecutors claim that Tinuar Quino used two fake Guatemalan identification cards to claim he was the father of the two teenage boys. In the first application, a 15-year-old Guatemalan boy illegally crossed the border from Mexico into Texas in April 2022. The man submitted applications that included a false name, his alleged date of birth and a photoshopped image of himself with the teenager’s mother to prove the familial relationship. ORR officials approved the application and transported the teen from Texas to New Jersey where Tinuar Quino took custody. In June 2022, officials say Tinuar Quino filed another false application to gain custody of a 17-year-old Guatemalan male who also entered the U.S. illegally. He reportedly submitted a different Guatemalan identification card and date of birth. ORR did not approve the second attempt to gain custody of a teenage boy. ICE says Tinuar Quino, a 57-year-old Guatemalan national, entered the U.S. illegally in 2016. Officials stated that he eventually moved to Orange, New Jersey. "Attempting to exploit the sponsorship system to gain custody of unaccompanied alien children puts those minors at serious risk," said ICE acting Director Todd Lyons. "ICE works alongside our law enforcement partners to prevent trafficking and exploitation by individuals falsely claiming to be family. ICE remains firmly committed to detecting deception, upholding the integrity of the immigration process, and, above all, protecting these at-risk children.” FBI Director Kash Patel added, "This was a clear attempt from an individual unlawfully in the United States seeking to undermine our laws and target children, and the FBI will not tolerate it.”

New York Times [5/19/2025 4:50 PM, Sharon Otterman, 138952K] reports that five weeks after being arrested at an appointment he thought was a step toward becoming a U.S. citizen, Mohsen Mahdawi crossed the stage at Columbia University on Monday to cheers and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. It was a moment of happiness for him that the Trump administration had tried hard to prevent. Mr. Mahdawi, a green card holder from the West Bank who had led pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia, was detained by immigration officers on April 14 as part of a crackdown on student demonstrators. Federal judges in recent weeks have freed on bail several of the students detained by immigration police, including Mr. Mahdawi, in a blow to President Trump’s efforts. But the first to be detained, Mahmoud Khalil, who was supposed to receive his graduate diploma from Columbia this week, remains in a Louisiana detention center and will not be at his commencement. Mr. Mahdawi, 34, received a standing ovation from many of his peers on Monday as he crossed the stage, and held up his hand in a peace sign. He wore a kaffiyeh over his robe, and hugged Lisa Rosen-Metsch, the dean of Columbia’s School of General Studies, as he received his diploma. While there were no overt protests at the ceremony, the tensions of the past year came up in the speech given by Peter Gorman, a neuroscience student who was the School of General Studies’s valedictorian. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement earlier this month called him a “terrorist sympathizer and national security threat who does not belong in this country.”

AP [5/19/2025 5:46 PM, Jake Offenhartz, 24051K] reports less than three weeks after his release from an immigration jail, the Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi strode across the graduation stage at Columbia University on Monday morning, savoring a moment the Trump administration had fought to make impossible. Draped in a keffiyeh, Mahdawi, 34, paused to listen to the swell of cheers from his fellow graduates. Then he joined a vigil just outside Columbia’s gates, raising a photograph of his classmate Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in federal custody. "It’s very mixed emotions," Mahdawi told The Associated Press. "The Trump administration wanted to rob me of this opportunity. They wanted me to be in a prison, in prison clothes, to not have education and to not have joy or celebration.” Mahdawi, a 34-year-old legal resident of the U.S., was detained during an April 14 citizenship interview in Vermont, part of the widening federal crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. He was released two weeks later by a judge, who likened the government’s actions to McCarthyist repression. Federal officials have not accused Mahdawi of committing a crime, but argued that he and other student activists should be deported for beliefs that may undermine U.S. foreign policy. For Mahdawi, who earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Columbia’s School of General Studies, the graduation marked a bittersweet return to a university that he says has betrayed him and other students. "The senior administration is selling the soul of this university to the Trump administration, participating in the destruction and the degradation of our democracy," Mahdawi said. He pointed to Columbia’s decision to acquiesce to the Trump administration’s demands — including placing its Middle Eastern studies department under new leadership — as well as its failure to speak out against his and Khalil’s arrest. He said Columbia’s leadership had denied his pleas for protection prior to his arrest, then ignored his attorney’s request for a letter supporting his release from jail.

NBC News [5/19/2025 10:32 PM, Chloe Atkins, 44540K] reports Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyers on Monday released new video of the minutes leading up to his arrest in March that they say contradicts the government’s argument that he was a flight risk, which officials had said justified detaining him without an arrest warrant. Khalil, a Syrian-born green card holder who helped organize pro-Palestinian rallies on campus a year ago, has been held in a detention center in Louisiana for two months. He has been fighting his detention and deportation since his arrest, which was the first under the White House administration’s promised campaign against students who protested the war in Gaza. Khalil’s legal team obtained the five-minute security video through a subpoena, which Columbia University complied with. The video has no sound, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ faces are blurred. The clip was pulled from five hours of video that Columbia University turned over to Khalil’s legal team. The video begins in the lobby of Khalil’s New York City apartment building with him speaking to his attorney on the phone and interacting with the four ICE officers while his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, walks toward a hallway. Abdalla, according to Khalil’s legal team, went to get Khalil’s green card from their apartment. Khalil can also be seen interacting with the ICE agents and handing them his phone twice to speak with his attorney, his legal team said. Khalil appears calm and cooperative, and at one point he appears to laugh with the agents. At the end of the video, Abdalla returns to the lobby and gives Khalil his green card, which he turns over to the agents. The video ends after Khalil hands his green card to them. The government said in court documents last month that ICE agents allowed Abdalla to get Khalil’s "conditional residence card which was located in their apartment, in lieu of arresting him," while Khalil and the agents "remained in the foyer.” The government said in its court filing that the agents asked Khalil "to cooperate while they attempted to verify his identify, but the respondent stated that he would not cooperate and that he was going to leave the scene.” "The HSI supervisory agent believed there was a flight risk and arrest was necessary," the filing said, referring to Homeland Security Investigations. The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond Monday night to requests for comment about the newly released security video. NBC News previously reported video of the moment Khalil was arrested, which showed him cooperating and telling officers, "Yes, I’m coming with you." That video was recorded by Khalil’s wife. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
CNN [5/19/2025 8:14 AM, Staff, 875K] Video: HERE

New York Times [5/20/2025 3:00 AM, Jonah E. Bromwich, 138952K] reports Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, was released after 58 days. Rumeyza Ozturk, a Tufts doctoral student, was released after 45 days. Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia undergraduate, was released after 16 days. But 72 days after his arrest on March 9, Mahmoud Khalil — the country’s most prominent pro-Palestinian-protester-turned-prisoner — is still detained in Jena, La., waiting for a New Jersey federal judge to decide whether he can go free while his immigration case proceeds. The Trump administration has invoked a rarely cited law to argue that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the country threatens its foreign-policy goal of halting antisemitism. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers have argued that the government is retaliating against their client, a legal permanent resident, for participating in protests that shook Columbia University’s campus and that he should have his liberty while his immigration case is assessed. The New Jersey judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, has been thoroughly engaged. But he has yet to weigh in fully on the issues of free speech and due process that have attracted enormous attention to Mr. Khalil’s case. His meticulous approach has made the case an exemplar of Trump-era justice, in which the White House frequently moves with a speed that courts are not used to matching. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers have repeatedly asked the judge to decide whether to release their client on bail, like the other students, before ruling on the issues at the heart of the case. The judge has responded that he must deal with the procedural basics first. Judge Farbiarz has issued numerous orders and written two lengthy rulings: a 67-page determination that he had the right to preside over the case and a 108-page opinion asserting that his control over the case had not been stripped. In the second ruling, he acknowledged that the law’s response to cases like Mr. Khalil’s “has been the same across the board: no unnecessary delay.” That opinion was issued on April 29. “Mahmoud is understandably frustrated that he was the first to be detained and nine weeks later is still in detention,” said Baher Azmy, one of Mr. Khalil’s lawyers. “But we remain optimistic that the court will see through the patent unconstitutionality of the government’s actions here and order him released soon.”

New York Times [5/20/2025 4:08 AM, Niraj Chokshi, 153395K] reports Avelo Airlines, a carrier that serves small cities mostly on the coasts, quashed a boycott campaign over its polarizing decision to operate federal deportation flights. Now, the creator of the campaign is suing to keep it going. Seth Miller, an independent aviation journalist and state lawmaker in New Hampshire, began the campaign last week with advertisements on two billboards near Avelo’s busiest airport urging travelers to avoid the airline. The ads, near Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut, featured a modified Avelo logo and the message: “Does your vacation support their deportation? Just say AvelNO!” Days later, a lawyer for the airline sent Mr. Miller a letter saying he had violated Avelo’s trademark. Mr. Miller said the airline had also persuaded the billboard operator, Lamar Advertising, to take down the ads. In response, he sued the airline Friday afternoon in Nevada, where the airline is incorporated, asking a court to affirm that he was only exercising his freedom of speech. “I have the right to raise objections to their business actions, just as much as they have the right to advertise their business,” Mr. Miller said in an interview. Avelo declined to comment. Lamar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Breitbart [5/19/2025 11:40 AM, Alana Mastrangelo, 3077K] report that Netflix’s Tiger King star Joe Exotic’s new husband — and fellow prison inmate — was reportedly deported to Mexico. Jorge Marquez Flores — who has been incarcerated for immigration-related offenses, including transporting illegal migrants into the U.S. — was released from prison and immediately deported to Mexico on Friday, according to a report by TMZ. The 33-year-old Mexican national’s deportation comes one month after marrying 62-year-old Tiger King star Joseph Maldonado-Passage — better known as Joe Exotic — in prison. Exotic is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence for violating wildlife laws and trying to hire a hitman to kill animal activist Carole Baskin, with whom he had a feud that was notably featured in Netflix’s 2020 documentary, Tiger King. On Friday, Exotic took to X to reveal that Flores had been "taken him to an ICE detention Center for his hearing to either stay in America or go back to Mexico.” Hours later, Flores was deported back to Mexico, according to multiple reports. Exotic is now calling on President Donald Trump and members of his administration to watch Season 2 of Tiger King, which he believes will be sufficient evidence to get him released from prison.

Detroit Free Press [5/19/2025 6:04 AM, Niraj Warikoo, 4241K] reports the Taylor Police Department has become the first law enforcement agency in metro Detroit to enter into an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that, activists said, will give its officers the ability to essentially act as federal immigration agents. Taylor police signed what’s called a 287(g) Task Force Model agreement with ICE on April 28, becoming the second law enforcement agency in Michigan to enter into agreement with ICE. Jackson County was the first government agency in Michigan to reach an agreement with ICE, signing up on March 19 with the 287 (g) Warrant Service Officer agreement. The Task Force Model agreement that Taylor police signed is more problematic than the Jackson County one because "it gives officers the full power of immigration agents and is riddled with problems," said Christine Sauvé, manager of policy and communication with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. After Jackson County reached the agreement with ICE, some Republican leaders urged other police agencies to sign similar agreements with ICE. Michigan Republican state Senate leader Aric Nesbitt said in a post on X on April 11 that “every county should sign this agreement.”

Houston Chronicle [5/19/2025 7:00 AM, Matt deGrood, 1982K] reports federal immigration authorities earlier this week announced more than 400 arrests and 500 deportations in the Houston district as part of what they said was a seven-day operation, but who was caught up in the crackdown remains largely a mystery. The roundup occurred between May 4 and 10, but authorities provided little in the way of information that would help verify the information. While 400 arrests sounds like a big number, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Houston field office covers 54 counties across a large swath of southeast Texas. And there’s no list of names or specific charges facing those arrested. Officials with the federal immigration office said they’re following longstanding policy that requires them to balance providing public information with the individuals’ rights to privacy in how they release information about the raids. The recent news release is a perfect example of the difficulty in verifying information about the immigration system – longstanding issues that have been exacerbated by a presidential administration eager to tout its toughness on immigration, immigration experts said. In ICE’s news release about the recent Houston region operation, it mentions that one of the people deported was a 46-year-old who had been convicted of homicide in Colombia, a 72-year-old from Mexico convicted of homicide, robbery and other charges. But the operation also prioritized deporting those who’d been ordered removed from the country, officials said. Those could include many who had an administrative warrant signed by an immigration official for removal. Of the 422 people arrested, around 296 were criminals, ICE officials said. Around 528 people were deported during the operation, with U.S. immigration officials expediting removals using a new initiative of the Trump administration that funnels them to hubs on the southern border where they’re deported within 24 to 72 hours after arrest. It’s not clear if the 528 deportations were matched to the arrests, or how many were comprised of people already in ICE custody prior to the operation. Thorn said there’s an aspect of the current administration’s crackdown that relies on sweeping data and claims to act as a fear tactic.

Breitbart.com [5/19/2025 3:53 PM, John Binder, 3077K] reports the defense team for an illegal alien accused of killing 27-year-old Washington State Trooper Christopher Gadd last year failed to get the case thrown out. The defense claimed prosecutors had colluded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in violation of Washington’s sanctuary state law. In March 2024, 34-year-old illegal alien Raul Benitez Santana of Mexico, who had had several run-ins with the law, was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide in connection with Gadd’s death. Prosecutors claim that Santana, while driving high and drunk, crashed into Gadd, who was on the shoulder of an interstate in Snohomish County, killing him. Gadd left behind his wife Cammryn and their young daughter. Santana’s defense team filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming that prosecutors had colluded with ICE agents in revealing Santana’s status as an illegal alien in violation of Washington’s sanctuary state law. On Monday, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Karen D. Moore found no evidence that prosecutors intentionally tried to get information on Santana regarding ICE’s detainer lodged against him. As a result, jury selection in the trial will begin on Tuesday. ICE officials previously confirmed that Santana is an illegal alien who has been living in Washington for at least a decade. In 2013, he was arrested for driving without a license and later sentenced to 90 days in prison for possession of marijuana. That same year, Santana spent 90 days in prison for failing to appear in court for the driving without a license charges against him. In May 2019, he was charged with domestic violence. In none of those instances was Santana turned over to ICE agents for arrest and deportation.

Reuters [5/19/2025 11:29 AM, Simon Lewis, 51390K] reports the U.S. State Department said on Monday that it was imposing visa restrictions on owners and other staff at India-based travel agencies that it says knowingly facilitate illegal migration to the United States. An unspecified number of unnamed people linked to travel agencies in India were being hit with visa bans under the Immigration and Nationality Act based on information gathered by the U.S. mission to India, department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. Washington often issues visa bans without publishing the names of those targeted. "We will continue to take steps to impose visa restrictions against owners, executives, and senior officials of travel agencies to cut off alien smuggling networks," Bruce said, without detailing how the travel agents had facilitated illegal migration. The move comes amid President Donald Trump’s broad crackdown on migration to the United States and efforts to deport undocumented immigrants in the country. The U.S. embassy in New Delhi has repeatedly posted on its social media sites warning for Indian nationals visiting the United States not to overstay their authorized period of stay in the country, warning they will face deportation and a permanent ban from entering the country for doing so.

NPR [5/19/2025 5:00 AM, Ximena Bustillo, 18K] reports on the front side of a horse racing track, one finds bright, decadent hats, pastel suits and $22 mint juleps. And on the backside of the track, one finds hundreds of workers, primarily immigrants, washing and exercising muscular thoroughbreds at 3 a.m. on the soft, thick track. "If we couldn’t have an immigrant workforce on the backside, I don’t know how horse racing exists," said Dale Romans, a racehorse trainer in Kentucky. "We can’t send them home and ask them to come back. There’s nobody to do the work when they’re gone." Horse racing generated some $36 billion in 2023, the latest figure available, and supports nearly half a million jobs, according to the American Horse Council. It’s considered one of the oldest sports in America. Beyond the racetrack itself, getting one horse to race is itself a multimillion-dollar endeavor, from the training and the grooms to the feed and the farms. That effort primarily relies on H-2B visas to get workers. But there are also plenty of workers without visas or other legal status, industry experts say. Immigration enforcement largely left the industry untouched during the first Trump administration. Industry leaders say that’s because President Trump recognized the sizable impact of immigrant labor and catered to his agriculture voting base, which tends to be largely Republican. No specific figures are available for horse racing, but estimates show that some 42% of hired crop farmworkers, for example, don’t have legal status. Estimates are even higher among workforces that deal with animals or livestock. This time, industry observers aren’t sure they’ll again be able to avoid a larger crackdown.

Federalist [5/19/2025 7:28 AM, Adam Johnston, 1142K] reports after four years of unrelenting migration, where millions of unvetted immigrants entered the United States under Joe Biden’s watch, President Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office, immediately pausing the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The order acknowledged that the U.S. cannot now absorb and assimilate large numbers of refugees into American communities, while still allowing for case-by-case exceptions. One such exception became a reality last week when American officials welcomed 59 white South African refugees to the United States. These were the first arrivals of Afrikaners under a second executive order that explicitly called for their resettlement due to the combination of farm attacks, race-based discrimination, and land seizure laws recently promulgated by the South African government. Despite claims from the African National Congress that these assertions are a “completely false narrative,” one only needs to watch this AfriForum documentary to understand the dire situation Afrikaners face. While the scene at Dulles Airport was joyous for the refugee families escaping violence and racial persecution, their mere presence elicited vitriol from Democrats, the corporate media, and even the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who cited “racial justice” in opposing resettling white South Africans. This backlash to such a small number of refugees, who happen to be white, reveals something more profound than disagreement over refugee policy. For many on the left, immigration and refugee resettlement are not just a humanitarian obligation; they are a form of historical redress for past colonial sins. Put more bluntly, the apoplectic reaction to welcoming just 59 white South African refugees suggests that, for Democrats, immigration is not about compassion. It’s about getting revenge via demographic transformation and wealth confiscation.

The Hill [5/19/2025 6:00 AM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18649K] reports a trio of Miami-area Republicans are pushing back against the administration as President Trump works to end programs protecting many of the region’s immigrant communities from deportation. In a hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) asked for "nuance" in plans for a wholesale rescission of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), something the administration has axed for both Venezuela and Haiti. It’s a small but notable pushback from within the GOP to Trump’s mass deportation agenda. "Obviously I understand what the president is doing and the administration is doing," Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told The Hill. "But logic would tell you that you probably have a better chance to have legitimate asylum claims if you’re coming from places like Cuba, Venezuela.” It’s not just TPS that threatens to have major impacts in South Florida. The Trump administration has also revoked a parole program established under President Biden that allowed citizens of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela to apply for work permits so long as they could secure a U.S.-based financial sponsor. Immigrants from all four countries had a longstanding presence in Miami communities well in advance of the Biden administration, but the moves by Trump threaten to jeopardize the status of many who have become established in the area.

Miami Herald [5/16/2025 9:05 PM, Nora Gámez Torres, 3800K] reports in a rare display of bipartisanship, Democratic and Republican members of South Florida’s congressional delegation pushed back against a Supreme Court decision Monday that would allow the Trump administration to revoke temporary protections against deportations for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. In her most open criticism of efforts to deport legal migrants, Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Miami, who is advocating for an immigration reform bill, said she was “deeply disappointed” with the decision. “Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro also leads Tren de Aragua—a transnational criminal enterprise,” Salazar, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs’ Western Hemisphere subcommittee, told the Miami Herald. “We must not send innocent people back into the grip of a narco-terrorist. We should protect those fleeing tyranny — not return them to it.” Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes Weston, a Venezuelan stronghold in South Florida, said the court order was “atrocious” because it would allow President Donald Trump to deport “non-criminal” Venezuelans seeking refuge in America from Maduro’s “oppression and tyranny.” “This fight is not over. We must pass my Venezuela TPS Act to keep our community safe,” the congresswoman said in reference to a bill she and Salazar introduced earlier this month that would grant temporary protections for another 18 months to about 600,000 Venezuelans in the country. The Supreme Court decision complicates the political scenario for the Republican congressional delegation from Miami, which has tried to quietly lobby administration officials to soften some of its immigration policies behind the scenes but have resisted calling them out publicly.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [5/19/2025 5:43 PM, Andrew Stanton, 52220K]

Chicago Tribune [5/19/2025 918 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, 3987K] reports that, when Ana Gil heard the news that the Supreme Court Monday allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections for thousands of recent Venezuelan migrants, she cried. The move means 350,000 Venezuelans in the United States, including some of the estimated 50,000 who arrived in Chicago over the last several years, could be deported. How or where? That is unknown, Gil said. She is co-founder of the Venezuelan Alliance in Chicago. Over the last decade, Gil has worked with other immigration advocates to provide resources and legal advice for migrants who have arrived here from Venezuela. Most, she said, have fled political turmoil and extreme poverty. Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian protection granted to nationals from countries facing extraordinary conditions such as war and disaster, provided room for families and individuals to start anew by providing them a work permit and protection from deportation. For the Venezuelan community in Chicago, the news has turned hope into heartbreak. Maria Belen arrived in Chicago from Venezuela under humanitarian parole in December 2022. Shortly after, she applied for TPS, which was essential for her and her family to establish themselves in the city. It is the sole protection she had from deportation. "Now I have nothing," Belen said Monday. Belen said she and her family have made Chicago their home. She is an assistant teacher at a CPS school, thanks to her education degree from Venezuela. Her husband works for an IT company, and their daughter is finishing her general education before pursuing a career in engineering at Wilbur Wright College. "But right now, we really don’t know anything. We don’t know what’s going to happen, where are we going to go or how," Belen said. "When we came here we had a clear goal: work and do well for society. We paid our taxes, we were doing everything right as dictated by the law and we are still getting kicked out.” At the center of the chaos, Gil said, is fear and uncertainty. Some migrants have requested information on how to migrate to another country while others are choosing to wait for advocates to act on their behalf and find a way to defend their status. "I’m so sad. I still can’t believe we have reached this point," Gil said. "But we will keep fighting against this. We’ve done it before". The court’s order, with only one noted dissent, puts on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month, The Associated Press reported. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals. The complex economic and political crisis in Venezuela has driven more than 7.7 million people to leave the South American nation since 2013. Venezuela’s most recent economic troubles pushed year-over-year inflation in April to 172%. The latest chapter even prompted President Nicolás Maduro to declare an "economic emergency" last month. Maduro, whose reelection last year to a third term has been condemned internationally as illegitimate, also has cracked down on political opponents.

New York Post [5/19/2025 6:37 PM, Elaine Dezenski and Max Meizlish, 49956K] reports South African President Cyril Ramaphosa landed in Washington Monday with blood on his hands — at least that’s how many Americans see it. Ramaphosa’s treatment of white farmers in South Africa has sparked outrage: Allegations of land seizures, killings and state-backed discrimination have drawn President Donald Trump’s ire, resulting in a February executive order ceasing all US assistance to the so-called "rainbow nation.” Last week Trump officially banned all US support for the Group of 20 world leaders’ summit that South Africa will host later this year, while making a show of welcoming a group of 59 Afrikaner refugees. But the farmer issue is just the opening act. The real story, and the real threat to US national security, is what Ramaphosa’s government is doing on the global stage. South Africa wants tariff-free trade, American investment, and expanded commercial ties — yet under the leadership of Ramaphosa’s African National Congress, it is actively aligning itself with the very regimes the United States is working to contain. That game of two-faced diplomacy can no longer stand. South Africa isn’t an innocent, neutral party. It is playing both sides — courting the West while deepening its ties to China, Russia and Iran. Its leaders speak the language of nonalignment, but their actions tell a different story: They’ve welcomed Hamas and Hezbollah officials, hosted sanctioned Russian warships and worked with entities tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. South Africa’s second-largest telecom company, MTN, still owns nearly half of Iran’s second-largest telecom company, Irancell — a joint venture with direct links to the IRGC. Perhaps this is why Trump’s February order specifically called out how South Africa is "reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements.”

FOX News [5/20/2025 4:00 AM, Audrey Conklin, 46189K] reports a retired Border Patrol chief tapped to advise on immigration issues related to unaccompanied minors and refugees for the Trump administration’s first 100 days said about 70% of sponsors’ applications were fraudulent. Chris Clem, who spent almost three decades with Customs and Border Protection, says the Trump team is working to resolve the many problems created by nearly 470,000 unaccompanied children crossing into the United States over the last four years, "overwhelming a system that was really put in place to protect the well-being and welfare of children." "It actually pretty much did the opposite with so many because the system was broken, the policies and practices were broken, where children were being placed [with] sponsors that were unvetted or improperly vetted or may have been illegal aliens themselves or smugglers or criminals," Clem, who was based out of Yuma, Arizona, during the Biden administration, told Fox News Digital. "So, my role was to go in there with my 27-plus years of Border Patrol experience, and having dealt with this firsthand in the field for years, to rebuild and put… commonsense practices and policies in place. And that’s what we did." Clem worked with President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Department to improve the vetting of documentation from sponsors offering to take in unaccompanied minors. They are also working to identify and arrest criminals who provided fake documentation to become sponsors. While trying to track down potentially fraudulent sponsors and criminals housing unaccompanied minors can be disturbing, Clem says various departments within the Trump administration are working every day to combat this kind of illegal activity occurring in the United States as a result of four years of an unsecured border. They are also bolstering border security: U.S. Customs and Border Protection said last week it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April this year landed at 8,383, compared with last year’s 129,000. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 7:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1934K] reports more than 80% of illegal immigrants arrested recently along the Canadian border entered the United States from Mexico and were later nabbed by Border Patrol agents stationed at the northern boundary. Four in five illegal immigrants whom federal law enforcement agents have apprehended near the Canadian border since Feb. 1 did not enter the U.S. from Canada. They came through the southern border and resettled in the north, according to the U.S. Border Patrol’s third in command, Scott Good. U.S. Border Patrol officials who work between land border crossings explained in great detail during a ride-along in upstate New York in mid-May with the Washington Examiner how people also try to sneak into the U.S. and how agents work to stay a step ahead of crime rings that smuggle people over the international boundary. Border Patrol agents told the Washington Examiner that as illegal border crossings have dropped, they have pivoted to focus on arresting those already in the U.S., so long as they are within agents’ jurisdiction, which extends 100 miles south of the Canadian border. The move has helped carry out the Trump administration’s deportation operation. In the first four months of fiscal 2025, which ran from October 2024 through January 2025, Border Patrol was overwhelmingly arresting illegal immigrants who had crossed the northern border. But with President Donald Trump imposing immigration restrictions and declaring a national emergency after his Jan. 20 inauguration, illegal immigration attempts have ticked down at both the northern and southern borders, which led Border Patrol agents up north to focus increasingly on arrests within northern border communities. Illegal immigrants arrested by Border Patrol agents near the northern border include many who came into the country during the Biden-era border crisis, according to Good.

FOX News [5/19/2025 10:27 PM, Peter Pinedo, 46878K] reports two South Texas gang members have been sentenced for human smuggling, following a series of high-speed chases at the border that involved one of the gang members crashing his car into the Rio Grande and swimming to Mexico to escape. A Monday statement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the two human smugglers, Juan Miguel Regalado, 28, and Samuel Grajeda Jr., 21, are members of "Puro Tango Blast," a local Texas gang. The two were sentenced on May 15 after being convicted of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants, following an investigation by ICE, U.S. Border Patrol Laredo Sector and the Texas Department of Public Safety. U.S. District Judge John Kazen imposed a 66-month sentence for Regalado, while Grajeda previously received a 30-month imprisonment as well as a consecutive six months for violating the terms of his supervised release for a previous alien transporting conviction. Both must also serve three years of supervised release. Both men admitted to involvement in the human smuggling conspiracy. According to the ICE statement, the investigation began April 20, 2024, when a group of suspected illegal aliens entered a green Tahoe in a sector of the border just north of Laredo, Texas. The statement said that Regalado was driving and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase, during which "multiple individuals jumped out of the vehicle.”

Telemundo [5/19/2025 1:16 PM, Ronny Rojas and Alejandra Arteaga, 3352K] reports that after a month and a half of waiting in Mexico for an appointment to enter the United States as asylum seekers, Honduran María Cristina Palacios and her family were ready for their new life. Through the CBP One app, they had been summoned to appear at the border on January 20, at 2:00 p.m., for an interview with immigration agents in Brownsville, Texas. But that same day, two hours before their appointment, Donald Trump was sworn in as president. Almost immediately, the app crashed, and Trump canceled all pending interviews. Palacios, and other migrants waiting in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, saw their dreams vanish live on television. "It was very sad because our dream was to cross. We already had the day, the appointment, and everything. They put on the news when the president was taking office and he announced that there was no more entry," Palacios told Noticias Telemundo from a shelter in Matamoros. Since then, Palacios, 43, her husband, 46, and their four children—all originally from La Ceiba, Honduras—have remained at the Casa Migrante San Juan Diego shelter alongside hundreds of other migrants left in a kind of limbo in northern Mexico. They cannot cross into the United States, and most lack permission to remain in the country. They also refuse to travel on Mexican highways for fear of being kidnapped by criminal groups or intercepted by Immigration and deported.

ABC News [5/19/2025 1:25 AM, Bruce Schreiner, 31733K] reports more tornadoes plowed through the central U.S. on Monday and thousands were without power as people from Texas to Kentucky continued to clean up from days of severe weather that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. At least four tornadoes were confirmed in Oklahoma and Nebraska on Monday evening, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service. In McAlester, in southeast Oklahoma, officials reported downed power lines and debris, with multiple roads blocked. About 28 miles (45 kilometers) east, in Wilburton, the city’s Facebook page reported a tornado on the ground and heading its way. "Take cover now!" the post warned residents. Nearly 130,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas, according to PowerOutage.us. In northwest Arkansas, severe weather caused a Halsey concert to be canceled. And in Oklahoma, Tulsa Public Schools canceled all afterschool activities. In northern Texas, softball-sized hail measuring 4 1/2 inches in diameter was confirmed, according to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the service’s Weather Prediction Center. Earlier Monday in St. Louis, where officials estimated a Friday tornado damaged 5,000 buildings and may cost well over $1 billion, the mayor warned that federal assistance could take weeks. Kentucky has been hardest hit by the storms. A devastating tornado late Friday into early Saturday damaged hundreds of homes, tossed vehicles, left many homeless, and killed at least 19 people, most of them in southeastern Laurel County. In London, Kentucky, where the devastation was centered, the small airport became a beehive of cleanup work after it took a direct hit from a tornado. Small aircraft stored there had large dents in them and even wings ripped open. Officials were using it as a base to get water, food, diapers and other supplies out to the community. "We have 1,001 things going on. But we’re managing it. And we’re going to get it all cleaned up," said London Mayor Randall Weddle. Officials in Kansas and Texas also were evaluating damage from late Sunday storms. The risk of severe storms moves into Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee on Tuesday, the weather service said.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/19/2025 1:12 PM, Matthew Brown and Carolyn Kaster, 48304K]
ABC News [5/19/2025 1:45 PM, Bill Hutchinson and Kenton Gewecke, 31733K]
NBC News [5/19/2025 1:04 PM, Marlene Lenthang and Kathryn Prociv, 44540K]
CNN [5/19/2025 10:43 AM, Mary Gilbert, 21433K]

Washington Post [5/19/2025 11:17 AM, Ian Livingston, 32099K] reports a sixth consecutive day of significant severe weather is expected late Monday, this time threatening the southern Plains of Oklahoma and Texas, through the Ozarks in Missouri and to the mid-Mississippi River Valley. Strong to perhaps violent tornadoes and very large hail are primary concerns, especially early in thunderstorm evolution this afternoon and early evening. Over time, there will be additional threats of damaging wind and possible flooding. A moderate (Level 4 out of 5) severe weather risk, as issued by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, includes much of central and eastern Oklahoma, southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas. Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and Joplin and Springfield, Missouri, are within this zone. An enhanced (Level 3 out of 5) then surrounds that area — including Dallas, Wichita, Kansas City and just to the west of Little Rock. The area is also under heightened threat for strong tornadoes. Tuesday will be the seventh day with a moderate risk level so far this year. That’s the highest number year-to-date since 2022, when there was nine. The latest conditions follow a weekend of severe weather. A number of rotating supercell thunderstorms dropped tornadoes from Texas to Kansas and Colorado — including a wild one near Denver, an apparent strong twister in northwest Oklahoma, another that struck Grinnell in western Kansas, and more that tore across the countryside into the night. Severe weather is expected to march eastward Wednesday and even into Thursday as the current storm system makes its way toward the East Coast. Another major severe weather episode is expected to ignite Monday afternoon and continue through the evening. The catalysts will be a dryline, old outflow from Sunday’s thunderstorms, some fronts in the region and high to extreme instability. The various boundaries help set off thunderstorms, while the instability provides a volatile environment with abundant thunderstorm fuel. Given a strong disturbance riding the jet stream, numerous storms are expected. Storm activity could begin as soon as early afternoon over central and eastern Oklahoma on old boundaries draped in the region.

ABC News [5/19/2025 9:16 AM, Staff, 31733K] Video: HERE reports more than two dozen people have been killed across several states after an expansive outbreak of severe weather whipped through the middle of the country over the weekend.

USA Today [5/19/2025 4:52 PM, Saman Shafiq, 75552K] reports a wave of tornadoes and furious storms left at least 28 people dead and dozens more injured as they passed through multiple states over the weekend. More than 80 tornadoes had been confirmed as of Monday morning, according to AccuWeather, with areas of Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Virginia reporting some of the worst damage. An estimated 21 tornadoes were reported on May 18 with tornadoes damaging homes just before 7 p.m. local time in Grinnell, along Interstate 70 in northeast Kansas, and just before midnight in the area of Plevna in south-central Kansas, the weather service said. No injuries were reported. Seven deaths were reported in Missouri, and St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer estimated damages could exceed $1 billion. In Kentucky, which was hit the hardest, at least 19 deaths were reported, with neighborhoods in London and other cities reduced to rubble as the storms collapsed buildings, overturned cars and uprooted trees. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said damages from the storms are still being assessed and encouraged residents to document all the damages. In Virginia, gusts toppled trees and caused two deaths. However, the danger is far from over with another round of threatening storms forecasted to roll across a swath of the nation’s middle on May 19.

Bloomberg [5/19/2025 2:45 PM, Taylor Mills, 88K] reports that the Trump Administration took away public access to government sites with climate and environmental justice resources without proper notice, environmental groups said in a motion looking to force their restoration. The sudden removal of tools mapping climate, pollution, and local data has "hindered and in some cases halted" their work, plaintiffs including the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Sierra Club said in their motion for a preliminary injunction filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

AP [5/19/2025 1:39 PM, Makiya Seminera, 1982K] reports that North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged state lawmakers Monday to allocate hundreds of millions more dollars toward western North Carolina’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene instead of waiting on "uncertain federal assistance." The money requested — $891 million — would go toward critical needs in Helene’s aftermath, such as revitalizing local economies, repairing town infrastructure and providing housing assistance, Stein said during a news conference in still-recovering western North Carolina. Stein released the Helene proposal as the GOP-led North Carolina General Assembly prepares to finalize its state budget this summer. More than 100 people died as Helene tore through western North Carolina in September, destroying homes, businesses and roadways. The storm’s record-breaking devastation totaled $59.6 billion in damages and recovery needs. Recovery has been slow in parts of the region as some hard-hit mountain towns still appear ravaged by the storm nearly eight months later. Navigating Helene recovery is one of the chief issues Stein has been tasked with handling upon his first few months in office. Some of the first actions his administration took focused on rehabilitating the western part of the state, as well as establishing the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina.

New York Times [5/20/2025 3:28 AM, Billy Witz, Tricia Fulks Kelley, Isabelle Taft and Austin Anthony, 330K] reports that, on Sunday morning in a small Kentucky city, the sun shone and birds chirped. They provided an incongruent backdrop to a scene that looked like a war zone. Just two days before, a fierce tornado carved a 16-mile path of destruction through Laurel County, Ky., and in its county seat of London, the damage was clear: roofs ripped from homes, tree limbs sheared off, cars left as twisted hunks of metal. And several residents dead. By the afternoon, the Sunshine Hills neighborhood of London was filled with the cacophonous beeping of backhoes, accompanied by an army of faith-based volunteers. Those volunteers were among the many people in London, a city of 8,000 about 80 miles south of Lexington, who worked together this weekend to help not only those in need but also the whole community as it tried to process the disaster. Amid the grief and devastation, ensuring displaced people got the necessary supplies and assistance was top of mind for many. “It didn’t seem right to be sitting at home with our property being untouched with so many people struggling,” said Hannah Clark, who lives in neighboring Pulaski County but came to London to volunteer. The tornado was part of a storm system that tore through the central United States starting Friday, killing at least 28 people. Of those, 19 died in Kentucky, all but two in Laurel County. Outside of Kentucky, Missouri was also hit hard: Seven people died in that state, with five in St. Louis. Most of the victims in Laurel County were killed in Sunshine Hills, according to Gilbert Acciardo, a public affairs official for the county sheriff’s office, who did not give an exact number. Many of them were older, ranging in age from 50 to 70. Vanessa Mullins is one of the Sunshine Hills residents whose home was destroyed. Late Friday night, the sound of a thundering whistle rumbled through the hilly subdivision, she said, and she huddled in the bathroom with her son and her boyfriend. The house shook, shampoo bottles fell, dust fluttered from the ceiling — and then, quiet. They opened the door, and much of the house was gone. Somebody else’s washing machine cylinders and mattresses were in the kitchen. The bedroom had no walls.

Washington Post [5/19/2025 6:00 AM, Bailey Vandiver, 32099K] reports as a powerful tornado moved toward Laurel County late Friday, Zach Wilson drove through the storms to get to his parents. Inside their home, David and Edwina Wilson were hoping to get to the bathtub before the tornado hit. Instead, they had to stop and huddle in the hallway as the vacuum of wind moved through. When it passed, “they looked up and saw the sky,” Zach Wilson said. By the time he arrived, his parents had fled to the nearby Sunshine Hill Baptist Church. The church’s first story, including its bell and steeple, had blown away — but the concrete walls in the basement served as a shelter for several neighborhood residents. Hours earlier, residents described, it had been like a horror movie: rain, lightning, calls for help that had to go unanswered. But by the next afternoon, blue skies and bright white clouds hovered over a town in tatters. There were piles of debris that may have been from nearby structures or blown from miles away. Tree trunks were cracked, house frames were crushed, and the wind blew power cords caught in fallen tree branches. Residents sorted through the region’s latest scene of destruction after severe storms. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) called it “another tough morning after a night of deadly weather.” In a state where natural disasters have seemed relentless in recent months — and even years — “another” seemed to be a key word. Three deadly storms have hit the state this year.

NewsNation [5/19/2025 10:05 AM, Corey Elam, 5801K] reports recent federal cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) have raised some concerns from the public over whether the organization’s office in Jackson, Kentucky, was able to issue warnings with enough time for residents to act. On April 4, the Associated Press reported that nearly half of NWS forecast offices have vacancy rates of up to 20%—twice the vacancy rate of a decade ago. The Trump administration’s cuts have resulted in overnight staffing shortages in offices nationwide. However, meteorologists that NewsNation affiliate WDKY spoke with said the Jackson office was staffed and issuing alerts ahead of the severe weather in Pulaski and Laurel counties.

CBS News [5/19/2025 9:08 PM, Nicole Valdes, 51860K] reports a string of tornadoes has left nearly 30 people dead in the South and Midwest as severe weather continues. Residents will now turn to the weakened Federal Emergency Management Agency to help them recover. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) 14 News at 11:00AM [5/19/2025 12:01 PM, Staff] reports that the National Weather Service has released their preliminary information on the tornado that hit Kentucky on Friday night. Officials are saying it was possibly an EF-3 with wind speeds up to 155 mph. More damage surveys are yet to be done in the area. At least 19 people are dead after severe weather in and round Laurel County. Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and says he spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, along with FEMA officials. FEMA representatives have announced they are opening a disaster recovery center in McLean County this week.

New York Post [5/19/2025 1:14 PM, Staff, 49956K] report that families hunkered down in their bathrooms and emerged to find their homes gone when a deadly tornado barreled through the community of London, Kentucky, on Friday, leaving behind only foundations where houses once stood. Ida House and three other family members ran into the bathtub on Friday night when they heard the roar of the tornado. "It’s bad. We lost everything except some in the house, not much," House told FOX Weather Correspondent Katie Byrne. The Sunshine Hills subdivision, where many homes were destroyed, looks unrecognizable. House said neighbors were trapped under debris, and her grandson and uncle helped them out. Another neighboring family hunkered down in the shower, which is all that’s left of their home. At least 17 deaths during the severe weather outbreak have been reported in Laurel County, including a local firefighter. Ten others suffered serious injuries. Help began arriving almost immediately from around the state to Laurel County but helping hands were already next door and offering what they could. Neighbors who didn’t suffer major damage opened their doors to those who lost everything. The Rivas said their neighbor brought them into her home and then drove them to the hospital.

AP [5/20/2025 12:02 AM, Sophie Bates, 4120K] reports more than two months after a tornado destroyed his home, Brian Lowery still looks through the rubble, hoping to find a tie clip his mother gave him, made from the center stone of her wedding band. "I still have hope," Lowery said. Lowery considers himself lucky. He, his wife and 13-year-old son made it to safety before the tornado ripped apart their trailer home of 15 years. Despite his positive outlook, Lowery admits he’s frustrated; Mississippi’s request for federal aid is still pending before the Federal Emergency Management Agency, meaning badly needed assistance has not yet made it to his hard-hit community of Tylertown. "I don’t know what you got to do or what you got to have to be able to be declared for a federal disaster area because this is pretty bad," Lowery said. "We can’t help you because, whatever, we’re waiting on a letter; we’re waiting on somebody to sign his name. You know, all that. I’m just over it.” Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves asked the Trump administration for a major disaster declaration on April 1 after 18 tornadoes tore through the state on March 14 and 15, leaving seven people dead and hundreds of homes destroyed or damaged. The declaration would allow the state to access a wide range of FEMA resources, including financial aid for individuals and for government agencies still removing debris and repairing infrastructure. "We don’t have a declaration yet. People are still hurting," said Royce McKee, emergency management director for Walthall County, which includes Tylertown. Mississippi’s request comes at a time of upheaval for FEMA. The agency’s acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, was recently ousted after he publicly disagreed with proposals to dismantle FEMA, an idea President Donald Trump has floated in calling the agency "very bureaucratic" and "very slow.” David Richardson, FEMA’s new acting administrator, committed himself to executing Trump’s vision for the agency. He also previewed potential policy changes, saying there could be "more cost-sharing with states" and that FEMA would coordinate federal assistance "when deemed necessary.” Walthall County was hit especially hard by the massive storm system that wreaked havoc across multiple states. The storm spawned two significant tornadoes in the county, where four people died. McKee said the county has sunk an estimated $700,000 into cleaning up the damage but can’t afford to spend more and has halted operations until it receives federal help. "We need federal help, and we need it desperately, and we need it now," said Bobby McGinnis, a Tylertown resident and firefighter. "I know President Trump said that — America first, we’re going to help our American folks first. But we haven’t seen the federal folks down here.”

AP [5/20/2025 12:06 AM, Sophie Bates, 56000K] Video: HERE reports Mississippi’s request for federal disaster assistance is pending more than two months after 18 tornadoes ripped through the state. Walthall county’s emergency manager says debris removal operations have stopped and people who need help aren’t getting enough.

NewsNation [5/19/2025 4:13 PM, Chris Regnier, 5801K] reports a devastating tornado struck St. Louis, leaving five people dead, dozens injured, and causing more than $1 billion in damage. The tornado, which touched down Friday, has left thousands without power as cleanup efforts continue. Approximately 5,000 buildings were damaged, and a curfew has been put in place in north St. Louis from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. to ensure safety. St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer has estimated the financial toll of the storm at $1.6 billion. There is also a concern about more severe weather potentially moving into the area Monday.

NBC 5 St. Louis [5/19/2025 2:29 PM, Hunter Bassler, 1600K] reports Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Monday formally requested that President Donald Trump issue an Emergency Declaration for the state after a deadly tornado left seven dead and caused over $1 billion in damages in St. Louis. Kehoe said the declaration, if approved, would authorize direct federal assistance and up to $5 million in immediate funding for emergency protective measures and debris removal throughout the state. According to the press release, Kehoe has been in direct contact with President Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FEMA Acting Administrator David Richardson. It’s unclear whether FEMA, under the Trump administration, would approve such a request. The emergency agency has recently denied multiple requests for disaster assistance, including in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Arkansas. Arkansas’ disaster declaration request was later approved after the state’s governor and lawmakers urged the president to reconsider. Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri also said he’d urge the White House to move "as quickly as possible" to get FEMA on the ground in the St. Louis region at a press conference Monday afternoon. He also affirmed that most of the individual assistance would have to come from insurance agencies rather than FEMA. FEMA’s new top official, however, has signaled he would enact President Trump’s wishes to transition disaster recovery responsibilities to states instead of the federal government. “We’re going to find out how to do things better, and we’re going find out how to push things down to the states that should be done at the state level," FEMA Acting Administrator David Richardson recently said during a call with staffers. "Also going to find out how we can do more cost sharing with the states."

CBS News [5/19/2025 6:41 PM, Julia Falcon and S.E. Jenkins, 51860K] reports that Storm surveys are underway following a night of severe weather across North Texas. As of Monday afternoon, at least seven tornadoes have been confirmed. EF-0 tornadoes: One confirmed near Morton Valley in Eastland County. One confirmed in Santo in Palo Pinto County: This tornado tore down several large tree limbs and parts of trees north of the train tracks in Santo and damaged residential roofs. One confirmed south of Santo in Palo Pinto County One confirmed near Gilbert Pit Road and Cougar Road in southwestern Parker County. A barn was also destroyed along Gilbert Pit Road. One EF-Unkown tornado has been confirmed southeast of Santo. EF-1 tornadoes: One confirmed in Mingus in Palo Pinto County. One confirmed in Gordon in Palo Pinto County. The EF-1 tornado near the City of Gordon, located about 66 miles west of Fort Worth, led Gordon ISD to cancel classes for the week due to extensive damage on campus from the storms. The EF-1 tornado had winds that reached up to 105 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The NWS said other storm tracks and locations are still being assessed. The NWS Storm Prediction Center has highlighted an enhanced risk, level 3 out of 5, for severe storms Monday afternoon and evening. It covers all of North Texas. All modes of severe weather are possible; however, due to the environmental factors, there is a significant threat for large hail and tornadoes. This means that storms have the potential of developing hailstones that could get up to 2" in diameter or larger along with strong tornadoes. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [5/19/2025 1:4 AM, Lauren Bostwick, 51860K] Video: HERE reports after an active weather weekend across North Texas, another round of severe weather is on the way Monday. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center has highlighted an enhanced risk, level 3 out of 5, for severe storms Monday afternoon and evening. It covers all of North Texas. Though spotty showers and isolated storms are likely during the morning and early afternoon, the forecast is calling for the strongest storms to spark up around 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. All modes of severe weather are possible; however, due to the environmental factors, there is a significant threat for large hail and tornadoes. This means that storms have the potential of developing hailstones that could get up to 2" in diameter or larger along with strong tornadoes. This does not mean that this is a guarantee or that everyone will see severe storms; it just means that North Texans need to stay weather aware throughout the day.

NewsNation [5/19/2025 10:31 AM, Heather Willard, 5801K] reports severe weather, including multiple tornadoes and egg-sized hail, was experienced in Colorado on Sunday, as hail, high winds and some rain swept the region. Officials confirmed tornadoes touched down near Bennett and Parker, with Adams County officials reporting at least 10 homes or buildings damaged or lost to the storm, and the Elizabeth Fire Protection District reporting 19 homes with minor to severe damage in its area. The weather comes on the heels of deadly severe weather across much of the Midwest, with The Associated Press reporting that at least 27 people were killed during the aggressive storms, including 18 people in Kentucky. No injuries were reported from Sunday’s severe weather in Colorado, but NewsNation affiliate KDVR’s Shaul Turner learned that two dogs were reported missing from near Elizabeth in Elbert County.

Politico [5/19/2025 7:05 PM, Gregory Svirnovskiy, 16523K] reports former FBI Director James Comey on Monday tried to explain why he posted on social media a picture that Republicans said was a threat against President Donald Trump and sparked a federal probe, insisting that he wasn’t aware of the violent meaning behind it. Speaking on MSNBC for the first time since his post incensed Republicans, Comey claimed he wasn’t aware of the violent meaning of the phrase “86 47,” which was spelled out in shells on the beach he was walking on at the time. He eventually took a photo of it and posted it online before later removing it. “I said, well, to me, as a kid, it always meant to leave a place, to ditch a place,” Comey told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. “I said, that’s really clever.” In the hours after Comey posted and then removed the photo, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel said they were investigating the so-called threat. And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News that Comey should be “put behind bars” for “issuing a hit” on the president. “86” is generally known to mean cancel or reject and is commonly used as slang to eject someone from a bar or restaurant. But Republicans claimed that Comey’s social media post had more menacing and threatening overtones. Comey was walking on the beach with his wife last Thursday to prepare for the launch of his new book when the pair came upon the numbers “86 47” spelled out in seashells on the sand. The former FBI director said he posted the picture because he thought it was a clever and artistic way to convey a political view. Comey said he spoke with the Secret Service multiple times, including in person, about the post after agents contacted him. “Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey, whom President Trump fired for gross incompetence and unfitness for the role, suffers from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” White House Spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. “His recent doubling down on incomprehensible and dangerous rhetoric directed at President Trump underscores his derangement and commitment to divisiveness and politics rather than loyalty to the country.”

AP [5/19/2025 10:10 PM, Hillel Italie, 24051K] reports former FBI director James Comey says that he’s still a bit bewildered over how a seemingly innocent Instagram shot of shells arranged in the sand led to allegations by Donald Trump among others that he was calling for the president’s assassination and to an interview with the Secret Service. "It’s been a bit of a distraction, honestly," Comey said with a weary laugh Monday night during an appearance at a Barnes & Noble on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Comey was promoting "FDR Drive," a crime novel coming out this week. One of the book’s themes, ironically, is weighing the potential of speech to incite others to violence. Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017 amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s first presidential campaign, explained Monday that he and his wife, Patrice, had been returning from a walk on the beach last Thursday when they came upon some shells organized in a way that resembled numbers, including "86.” They speculated over whether it was a home address, or a political message. His wife noted that "86" in some restaurants means they had run out of an ingredient. Comey remembered it was slang for saying something was boring and should be "ditched.” "And she said, ‘You should take a picture of it.’ So I took a picture of it, and then we walk home and she said, ‘You should really put that on Instagram. It’s kind of a cool thing.’ I said, ‘You’re right. It’s a cool thing,’" he explained. To many viewers, the numbers seemed to spell out 86 and 47. Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning "to throw out," "to get rid of" or "to refuse service to." It notes: "Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ‘to kill.’".

New York Post [5/20/2025 1:34 AM, Victor Nava, 49956K] reports former FBI Director James Comey doesn’t expect the Trump administration to take any further action against him over an Instagram post some, including the president, viewed as a call to assassinate the commander in chief. In his first public remarks since sharing an image of seashells arranged on a beach to form the numerals "86 47," Comey told MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace he found it "hard to have regret" over the post that he still believes looks "totally innocent" — saying it was "crazy" anyone would see it as a call for violence. "I don’t know how we ended up here," the ex-FBI chief said of the commotion that got him on the Secret Service’s radar. "It never occurred to me it was any kind of controversial thing, but that’s the time we live in.” Comey explained that when he saw the shell formation on the beach, he believed it was "some kind of political message" regarding the 47th president, and his wife encouraged him to photograph it. "We stood over it and I said, ‘I think it’s some kind of political message,’ and she said, ‘‘86’ when I was a server’ — she did a lot of working in restaurants – ‘meant to remove an item from the menu when you ran out of ingredients,’" Comey said. "And I said, ‘Well, to me, as a kid, it always meant to leave a place, to ditch a place.’ I said, ‘That’s really clever.’". "So then she said, ‘You should take a picture of that.’ And I did, and I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it.” "I heard through her that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy," the former FBI head continued. "But I took it down. Even if I think it’s crazy, I don’t want to be associated with violence of any kind.” Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017 after serving as FBI director since September 2013, said he received a call from the Secret Service the night he posted the cryptic shell photo and was interviewed by investigators last Friday at the agency’s Washington field office. "They were pros," Comey said of interactions with Secret Service agents. President Trump, who survived two high-profile assassination attempts, including the July 13, 2024, Butler, Pa., attempt in which a bullet grazed his right ear, viewed Comey’s post as a call to take him out. "He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant," Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier Friday. "If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination,’ and it says it loud and clear.”

FOX News [5/19/2025 12:54 PM, Staff, 46878K] report that Former Secret Service agent Charles Marino shares his reaction to former FBI director James Comey’s social media post about ‘86’ing’ President Donald Trump on ‘The Faulkner Focus.’ [Editorial note: consult source link for video]

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 9:28 PM, Mike Brest, 2296K] reports the Coast Guard is facing a “readiness crisis” that has been “decades in the making,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, the acting commandant of the service, acknowledged Monday. Lunday and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have made remarks in recent weeks about the service’s readiness shortcomings, as Congress considers the military’s fiscal 2026 budget. On Monday, the commandant identified a shortage in enlisted personnel and an inability to maintain its systems as two examples of service shortfalls. “The Coast Guard today is at the lowest point of readiness than at any other time since the end of World War II, 80 years ago. Now that didn’t just happen. That readiness crisis has been decades in the making,” Lunday said during an event with the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s been caused by chronic underfunding in the face of increased mission demand across our range of missions and services we provide to the American people.”

HSToday [5/19/2025 10:46 AM, Staff, 38K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, other senior administration, and government leaders recently addressed Coast Guard senior leaders, praising the service’s specialized expertise in controlling, securing and defending America’s borders and maritime approaches, including U.S. ports and waterways. “You are the finest fighting force,” Secretary Noem said, adding that “funding the Coast Guard is one of my top priorities.” She struck a similar note in recent congressional testimony, emphasizing that “the Coast Guard has been neglected for many, many years.” “The change I’m asking of you — Force Design 2028, our roadmap for change — is the biggest change since 1915,” she said during the annual Strategic Studies and Development Program (SSDP) for Coast Guard flag officers and SES leaders. Secretary Noem outlined Force Design 2028’s potential impact and discussed plans to purchase new aircraft, grow the workforce by 15,000 people, and fix aging facilities and maintenance shortfalls. “You can respond to any kind of situation; it’s incredible. You are not just in the Great Lakes and shorelines; you are all over the world,” said Secretary Noem. “I will make sure you are right-sized to meet the requirements of your missions.”

HSToday [5/20/2025 3:05 AM, Staff, 38K] reports improved satellite connectivity has made vessels more efficient at sea, but it has also left their operations and network systems more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. That is one of the main takeaways from a newly released report, which lays out threats to the Marine Transportation System (MTS) that Coast Guard Cyber identified in 2024, as well as ways operators can strengthen their cyber defenses against them. The fourth annual Cyber Trends and Insights in the Marine Environment (CTIME) report is once again a must-read for any operator, industry partner, or Coast Guard member who works in or travels through the MTS. The 2024 edition describes how the blurring separation between the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) that powers ships, machinery, and port facilities has increased the risk of a physical attack in the MTS. It is easier to hack into an onshore enterprise network and disrupt the operations of ship, for example, if that ship is constantly connected. There was also good news: While common cybersecurity vulnerabilities were still observed, baseline cybersecurity posture has improved across the MTS in 2024. This was aided by widespread adoption of multi-factor authentication (MFA), technical improvements against phishing, better password policy enforcement, and a decrease in successful CPT phishing and brute force password cracking attempts.

Yahoo News [5/19/2025 9:23 PM, Sarah Bawden, 59943K] reports mariners gathered Monday to express their concerns about a plan by the U.S. Coast Guard to phase out dozens of navigational buoys in Rhode Island waters. The Jamestown Town Council discussed the Coast Guard’s proposal at length and listened to feedback from the mariners regarding how this would negatively impact boating navigation. Specifically, the Coast Guard’s plan calls for the removal of approximately 350 buoys across the Northeast, which is about 6% of the federally maintained aids to navigation (AtoN). Rhode Island is home to about 400 AtoN, including the roughly three dozen coastal buoys that would be eliminated under the Coast Guard’s proposal. The Coast Guard’s proposal reflects a federal shift toward using more modernized navigation systems like GPS, electronic charts and smartphone apps and fewer physical markers. Jim Heagney, executive director of the Jamestown Harbor Commission, urged town councilors to push back against the Coast Guard’s plan. “Anyone who owns a boat, I think, should be concerned,” Heagney said. Heagney told 12 News he was shocked by the Coast Guard’s proposal.

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 9:15 AM, Jenny Goldsberry, 1934K] reports two people are dead after a Mexican naval ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. There were 277 people on board the Cuauhtémoc ship when it made contact with the suspension bridge and snapped all three of its masts. While all on board managed to remain on the ship during the crash, 22 were injured, and two died. Mexican Navy Secretary Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum shared their condolences with the families. The victims have been identified as Cadet América Yamilet Sánchez and Cadet Adal Jair Marcos. While Mexican authorities are investigating what caused the crash, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has also opened an investigation. "The NTSB team is assembling in New York City to conduct a safety investigation into the Mexican Navy training ship, Cuauhtémoc, striking the Brookyln Bridge on Saturday," the board wrote on X. "The multidisciplinary investigative team is comprised of experts in nautical operations, marine and bridge engineering and survival factors.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pointed a finger at the Trump administration. "I’m fighting for answers about whether Trump and DOGE have impacted water traffic control. We know they’ve been meddling with U.S. Coast Guard staffing," Schumer wrote on X. "Trump relieved Admiral Linda Fagan as Commandant of the USCG, and that position is still vacant. And the hiring freeze has limited the ability for the USCG to staff up the Vehicle Traffic Service, that’s their traffic control operation that acts like Air Traffic Control but on water.” The Department of Homeland Security countered Schumer online. "Minority Leader Schumer’s accusations that a hiring freeze led to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Services not being adequately staffed are FALSE. The US Coast Guard has been fully supported and been exempt from hiring freezes," the department said. "Additionally, this incident had nothing to do with Vessel Traffic Services — when a ship loses propulsion in a high current area, the vessel needs to engage all capabilities to stop and ideally tugs are nearby to support. We encourage Minority Leader Schumer to get his facts straight before he misleads the American people.” The crew was on its way to Iceland when the crash happened.

USA Today [5/19/2025 6:06 PM, Ramon Padilla, Carlie Procell, 75552K] reports a Mexican Navy tall ship called the Armada de la República Mexicana (ARM) Cuauhtémoc struck the Brooklyn Bridge at about 8:24 p.m. EST Saturday, May 17 killing two sailors and injuring over a dozen more. Though the precise cause isn’t yet known, the ship was moving backward along the East River in New York after departing from the South Street Seaport as it collided with the Brooklyn Bridge. All three of the ship’s masts, which were decorated with string lights, collided with the bridge and were damaged upon impact. The Brooklyn Bridge sustained no structural damage. A female cadet and a male Marine died from their injuries, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters on Sunday. The two victims have been identified as 20-year-old América Sánchez and 23-year-old Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos. The injured personnel were transported to local hospitals in Manhattan to receive care, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The NTSB is actively investigating the incident and has declined to provide any probable cause of the crash at this time. The agency will preliminary report after 30 days, and that the entire investigation could take 12-24 months, said an NTSB representative at a May 19 press conference. USA Today [5/19/2025 2:24 PM, Melina Khan and Jorge L. Ortiz, 75552K] reports that the Cuauhtémoc, a sail training vessel for the Mexican Navy, lost power before striking the bridge connecting the Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs around 8:20 p.m. ET, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. Social media videos of the crash showed the ship’s 147-foot masts sheared off by the impact. Adams said on X that there were nearly 300 people on board. In addition to the two sailors who died, two people are in critical condition, Adams said. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash. It’s not clear yet. The NTSB said May 18 that it’s assembling a team to conduct a safety investigation into the collision. The "multidisciplinary investigative team" looking into the crash includes "experts in nautical operations, marine and bridge engineering and survival factors," the NTSB said on X. Mexico’s Navy supported local authorities in responding to the crash, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. The ship was traveling the wrong way before its collision, New York Times and the Associated Press reported. A total of 277 people were on board the ship when it crashed, Adams said. The Fire Department of New York said 27 people were removed for treatment. A female cadet and a male Marine died from their injuries, Sheinbaum told reporters May 18. Sheinbaum said the injured cadets were "doing better." In a post on X, Rocío Nahle García, the governor of Veracruz, Mexico, identified one of the cadets killed in the crash as América Yamilet Sánchez. The Mexican Navy said 172 cadets and seven officers from the Cuauhtémoc crew had arrived early Monday morning in Veracruz on a flight from New York, where two cadets remain under medical care with serious injuries. None of the victims fell into the water, the Navy said. The Cuauhtémoc ship was in New York from May 13 to 17 as part of a goodwill tour that encouraged visitors, according to the Consulate General of Mexico in New York, which referred to it as a "naval jewel.’’The Mexican Navy said in a press release the ship was visiting for a training cruise called "Bicentennial of the Consolidation of Independence at Sea." The ship was next headed to Iceland. The ship sustained damage on all three of its masts as a result of the collision, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Cuauhtémoc, named after the last Aztec emperor, is "currently moored at Pier 36 on the East River as damage assessments and future actions for the salvage plans for the vessel are being determined," the Coast Guard said in a release.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [5/19/2025 7:01 AM, Adi Guajardo, 51860K]

AP [5/19/2025 7:26 PM, Susan Haigh, 24051K] reports the Mexican navy tall ship that struck the Brooklyn Bridge was underway for less than 5 minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span, and radio calls indicating it was in distress went out only 45 seconds before the deadly collision, according to a timeline laid out by U.S. investigators Monday. With the help of a tugboat, the Cuauhtemoc training vessel backed away from a Manhattan pier filled with cheering people at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, officials said. Videos showed the ship moving slowly at first, its rigging filled with white lights and naval cadets balanced high on the ship’s yards — the spars that hold the sails. The tugboat nudged the ship along, keeping it from drifting upstream toward the bridge in the current as it backed up into the East River toward Brooklyn. But after a few minutes, the ship separated from the tug and picked up speed, still moving in reverse, heading for the bridge. Four minutes after the ship left the pier, a radio call went out asking for help from any additional tugboats in the area, followed by other requests for assistance, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Young said at a media briefing Monday. Officials did not say whether those radio calls originated from the ship, the tug, or somewhere else. Forty-five seconds after the first call, the ship, struck the bridge, snapping its three masts. Young said it had reached 6 knots, or nearly 7 mph (11 Kilometers per hour), at the time of the crash. The Cuauhtemoc kept going, passing beneath the bridge and bumping against a pier before ultimately coming to a stop at around 8:27 p.m., Young said. Footage of the collision shot by horrified onlookers show the ship moving swiftly backwards and then grinding beneath the 142-year-old bridge as its topmasts snapped off. Multiple cadets in the ship’s crew were aloft, standing on the ship’s yards when the collision happened. Several were left dangling by safety harnesses as the masts partially collapsed. Two cadets died. The tugboat that had helped the ship get out of its berth could be seen on video trying to get ahead of the vessel as it headed toward the bridge but couldn’t overtake it in time.

New York Times [5/19/2025 10:53 AM, James Barron, 138952K] reports for investigators, one of the immediate questions about the Mexican navy training vessel that hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday was why it was going in the wrong direction. The 297-foot ship, the Cuauhtémoc, edged out of Pier 17 in Manhattan around sunset on Saturday, bound for Iceland. Naval cadets stood in formation on the rigging, its lights shimmering brightly — a proud display after four days in New York. It was supposed to make a quick refueling stop in Brooklyn, then head out to sea. Instead, it appeared to go stern first toward the bridge, its masts snapping as they hit the span. Two people were killed and at least 22 others were injured, including 11 who remained in critical condition on Sunday, according to the Mexican Navy. No one on the bridge was hurt, and city officials said the bridge did not sustain serious damage. Another question has to do with a tugboat that was alongside the Cuauhtémoc in images and videos on social media. The Coast Guard said that foreign vessels like the Cuauhtémoc are required to have a tugboat “escort/assist.” McAllister Towing, a venerable New York tug service, said that one of its vessels had assisted the Cuauhtémoc as it left Pier 17. The company, which said it was cooperating with the authorities, said it would not comment on the accident. But Senator Charles Schumer of New York said that the Cuauhtémoc “did not use a tugboat’s assistance” and that the tugboat “pictured in widely posted videos was responding after the fact, not assisting before.”

Blaze [5/19/2025 7:09 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1805K] reports Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York attempted to pin the blame for a Mexican boat crash against the Brooklyn Bridge on the policies of President Donald Trump, but he was quickly refuted. The Cuauhtémoc, a 297-foot sailing vessel leaving New York City on its way to Iceland, lost power and veered into the bridge on Saturday. Two naval cadets were killed and at least 19 others were injured when three of the ship’s masts broke. ‘We encourage Minority Leader Schumer to get his facts straight before he misleads the American people.’. Schumer suggested that Trump’s cuts were responsible for the tragedy during his weekly press briefing on Sunday. "There are indications that this service called the [vessel traffic services] may not have been fully or adequately functional in light of that hiring freeze. We don’t know the answer to that question. We need answers. If this were the case, Brooklyn Bridge accident could be a national harbinger, demanding immediate attention," said Schumer. "Furthermore, the current hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, which the Coast Guard is part of, may have limited the ability of the Coast Guard to fully staff up at the VTS, the vehicle traffic service, the shore-wide system that provides quote air traffic control for the seas, especially in congested areas and restricted waters like New York Harbor," he said. On Sunday the U.S. Coast Guard said the VTS was "fully functional" at the time of the incident. The Department of Homeland Security also said in a statement that Schumer’s accusation was false. "The U.S. Coast Guard has been fully supported and been exempt from hiring freezes. Additionally, this incident had nothing to do with Vessel Traffic Services — when a ship loses propulsion in a high-current area, the vessel needs to engage all capabilities to stop, and ideally tugs are nearby to support," the statement from the department read. "We encourage Minority Leader Schumer to get his facts straight before he misleads the American people," they added.

FOX News [5/19/2025 7:18 AM, Anders Hagstrom, 46878K] reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that the Department of Government Efficiency may be at least partly responsible for a Mexican navy tall ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night. Schumer made the claim in a press release on Sunday, saying he had been briefed on the details of the deadly crash, which left two people dead and over a dozen more injured. Schumer argued that a U.S. Coast Guard system may have been operating at partial capacity due to a DOGE hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, but the Coast Guard itself says the system was "fully functional during the incident." "We know that the Trump administration has been meddling in U.S. Coast Guard operations, from staffing to command and comms, and I have the general sense of a DOGE dysfunction in parts of the Coast Guard, to put it mildly," Schumer wrote in a statement. "After being fully briefed on last night’s Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is very clear. There are many more questions than answers as to how the accident occurred and whether it could have been prevented." Schumer went on to point to the DOGE-implemented hiring freeze at the U.S. Coast Guard, arguing it could have impeded the Coast Guard’s Vehicle Traffic System (VTS), which works in a similar fashion to the air traffic control system. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Breitbart [5/19/2025 2:45 PM, Amy Furr, 3077K] reports [Schumer] also shared his claims in a social media post on Sunday, stating that "Trump relieved Admiral Linda Fagan as Commandant of the USCG, and that position is still vacant. And the hiring freeze has limited the ability for the USCG to staff up the Vehicle Traffic Service, that’s their traffic control operation that acts like Air Traffic Control but on water": However, the Fox article noted there were no additional ships linked to the incident that would have involved the VTS, and the Coast Guard countered Schumer’s claims about the crash, which also injured more than a dozen people.

New York Post [5/19/2025 12:53 PM, Anthony Blair, 49956K] report that Mayor Eric Adams on Monday hit back at claims by a fellow New York Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, that DOGE cuts to the Coast Guard could be at least partly to blame for the deadly Brooklyn Bridge ship tragedy. Adams was asked during an appearance on FOX 5’s "Good Day New York" whether possible federal cutbacks could have had an impact on the US Coast Guard’s response to Saturday’s tragedy, as Schumer suggested Sunday. Hizzoner insisted that the Coast Guard provided a "full response" to the Mexican tall ship Cuauhtémoc’s collision with the iconic East River crossing and that New York City "handles crises well." Adams, referencing a conversation he had with a member of the Coast Guard at the scene, said that in other regions of the country, the Coast Guard is often forced to take on more responsibility during such emergency situations because of the lack of local support from other agencies such as the police or fire department. "He said, ‘When you go to other regions to deal with Coast Guard-related issues, the Coast Guard is filling a lot of manpower. Not in New York City,’ " Adams said. Praising the efforts of "our harbor unit, NYPD unit, FDNY, our police response, EMS," the mayor went on to challenge Schumer’s claims further. "I’m not clear on where the senator got that information from, but I know we had a full response on both sides of the river, and we normally do that, we manage crises extremely well in this city," Adams said.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [5/19/2025 4:26 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4622K]

Yahoo News [5/19/2025 5:42 PM, David Lance, 59943K] reports the Coast Guard Cutter Forward (WMEC 911) returned to their home port in Portsmouth Monday after a 79-day patrol to conduct counter-drug operations. While in patrol, the cutter noticed a vessel engaged in drug-trafficking and a team including members of the Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team – South (TACLET-S) pursued the vessel. Four suspected drug traffickers were apprehended. A second small boat crew went to locate and recover 37 bales of cocaine that were dropped by the suspected traffickers, resulting in the seizure of 2,039 pounds of cocaine worth more than $23 million. “Transnational criminal organizations are smart and sophisticated, and our crews meet that challenge head-on,” said Cmdr. Andrew Grantham, commanding officer of Forward. “Throughout this demanding patrol, our team performed with professionalism and determination.”

NewsRadio WFLA [5/19/2025 12:19 PM, Rob Garguilo, 24K] report that the U.S. Coast Guard offloaded nearly 19,055 pounds of illegal narcotics, worth an estimated $140.9 million, at Port Everglades following a series of high-seas drug interdictions. The haul included both cocaine and marijuana seized during five separate operations conducted between April 12th and May 7th in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The drugs were intercepted by the crew of the USCG Cutter Calhoun in international waters off the coasts of Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and near the Canary Islands. Officials say the seizures are part of ongoing efforts to dismantle international drug networks. According to a Coast Guard news release, the criminal investigations tied to these operations are allegedly connected to several transnational criminal organizations, including Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan-based group recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization. One of the largest busts occurred near the Canary Islands, where officials discovered roughly 10,000 pounds of cocaine on board a suspicious fishing vessel. Additional interdictions yielded thousands more pounds of narcotics, all of which were transferred to Port Everglades for offloading. The drugs are now in federal custody, and investigations remain ongoing.

Yahoo News [5/19/2025 7:22 PM, Rhea Caoile, 59943K] reports a group of 11 men were stopped by a U.S. Coast Guard crew and partner agencies in San Diego Bay over the weekend. They were found on two boats crossing the maritime boundary line around noon on Sunday. All 11 claimed Mexican nationality, the Coast Guard said in a news release. When they saw that the two boats matched a description of vessels suspected of human smuggling, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Haddock and a separate crew from Station San Diego approached to stop them from leaving the bay, the release stated. The first boat dropped off four suspected migrants near the Ammo Pier at Naval Air Station North Island. They were later stopped by Navy security and Border Patrol agents, the Coast Guard said. One other suspected migrant was detained on the vessel by Haddock team members. Meanwhile, the second boat, which was carrying six men, was apprehended by a Station San Diego crew. All 11 men were taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody.

Marine Link [5/19/2025 9:09 PM, Staff, 94K] reports the US Coast Guard Sector San Juan’s Incident Management team is responding to an oil discharge from a legacy pipe structure between piers 2 and 3 in San Juan Habor, Puerto Rico. “The source of the oil discharge is being contained and, while contained, will allow normal port operations to continue at Piers 2 and 3 as our investigation and response efforts continue,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ray Lopez, Coast Guard Sector San Juan Incident Management Division chief. Due to the potential impacts to the waterway, the Coast Guard activated the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and contracted Clean Harbor Environmental Services, Inc. as the Oil Spill Removal Organization for the incident. On April 15, Clean Harbor crews temporarily plugged the affected pipe and deployed absorbent containment booms to capture and contain any material discharged into the water. Currently, Coast Guard Sector San Juan Incident Management Division personnel and Clean Harbor crews are actively monitoring and servicing the containment area by replacing absorbent and repositioning containment boom as required.

CyberScoop [5/19/2025 12:57 PM, Matt Bracken] reports the federal cybersecurity workforce — an ever-shrinking group of tech talent under the Trump administration — would get a government-run training and development boost under a new bill from a bipartisan pair of House lawmakers. The Federal Cyber Workforce Training Act from Reps. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, calls on the National Cyber Director to come up with a plan to create a centralized resource and training center for federal cyber workforce development. Specifics about the institute’s creation and operations would be detailed in a report to Congress, per the bill, which was introduced Thursday. “This legislation modernizes our approach to building a robust cyber workforce by streamlining onboarding with hands-on, role-specific training and sets high standards via” Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense collaboration, Fallon said in a press release. “By fostering sustainable career paths and bolstering recruitment with specialized talent management modules, we are taking necessary steps to fortify our defenses against escalating cyber threats.” Kaptur said in the same press release that the bill aims to raise the bar for DHS and DOD in its onboarding training. “Our objective is to develop a framework to foster the highest levels of excellence in cybersecurity for professionals serving on the frontlines to safeguard our nation,” she said.

BankInfo Security [5/19/2025 9:09 AM, Rahul Neel Mani] reports as state-sponsored threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea become increasingly aggressive, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is accelerating real-time threat mitigation across the United States. Bridget Bean, executive director at CISA, outlined how the agency’s forward-looking strategy is reshaping national resilience. CISA is actively working on strengthening resilience through intelligence sharing, early warning systems and local partnerships. Bean said the agency has issued over 4,000 pre-ransomware alerts, powered by early signals and cross-agency collaboration, in just two years - preventing widespread attacks on hospitals, schools, state agencies and critical infrastructure providers. The result: $8.7 billion in averted damages and saving countless hours of operational downtime. "We formed a Joint Ransomware Task Force, where CISA and FBI chair this task force, and it serves as a central body for coordinating a nationwide campaign against ransomware attacks," she said. "The JRTF coordinates existing interagency ransomware efforts, so that we are a one-government approach, we have all of our efforts aligned and we all know what everybody else is doing." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CyberScoop [5/19/2025 7:59 AM, Eric Swalwell] reports cybersecurity is the frontline of our national security. President Donald Trump and his adviser, Elon Musk, are doing more damage to our cyber defenses than Moscow or Beijing have done in decades. They are taking our defense off the field and hoping our enemies don’t take a shot at the end zone. They are wrong, and we are going to get attacked. When we do, Trump will be responsible. We cannot allow these maniacs to dismantle our protections against cyberattacks. Efficiency cannot come at the cost of security. But DOGE does not care about security. It cares about destruction. Every year, the Director of National Intelligence tells us that China and Russia are using their cyber arsenals to attack America in an attempt to cripple our critical infrastructure. Last year, the Chinese group Salt Typhoon was successful in breaking into government networks and spying on senior government officials. With our cyber defenders on the sidelines thanks to DOGE, hacks like that will be more common and more destructive. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is on the front lines of defending federal networks, state and local governments, and critical infrastructure against these malicious state threats. Unfortunately, DOGE has descended upon CISA, and it’s unclear what will be left when the dust settles.

Bloomberg [5/19/2025 8:27 AM, Staff, 19320K] reports Wendi Whitmore, Chief Intelligence Security Officer, Palo Alto Networks, examines the cybersecurity landscape and how artificial intelligence and geopolitics are impacting global businesses. Wendi also weighs in on the revelation that hackers bribed overseas support agents for Coinbase to steal customer data for use in social engineering attacks. Coinbase’s recent stock rally was briefly dented by news of thee hack, which is expected to cost the company $400 million and prompt a US regulatory investigation. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Roll Call [5/19/2025 11:44 AM, John M. Donnelly, 692K] reports a bipartisan chorus of House Armed Services Committee members expressed profound unease Friday about the Trump administration’s management of the military’s cyber operations. The concerns, expressed at a hearing of the committee’s cyber panel, revolve around several matters, including the firing in April of the general who led U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, as well as cuts to the command’s workforce and what members called inadequate readiness. Some Democrats also said they are unhappy about a halt in March to U.S. cyber operations and planning against Russian threats and what they worry is a retreat from countering certain forms of disinformation online. “It’s time to stop talking about preparing for conflict [in cyberspace] because we are already in one,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., the panel’s chairman, said in an opening statement. “I, for one, believe that it’s now time that we start acting like it. However, recent actions by this administration raise concern for me as to whether they truly believe it.”

FOX News [5/19/2025 8:00 AM, Morgan Phillips, 46878K] reports the widespread blackouts that recently brought parts of Spain and Portugal to a standstill triggered global speculation: was it an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack? Though authorities later ruled out an EMP, the incident reignited urgent questions about America’s vulnerability to similar large-scale disruptions and whether the U.S. is prepared for a modern-day "black sky" event. According to cybersecurity expert and former Army Cyber Institute board member Bryson Bort, the United States remains dangerously exposed to a range of threats: not just EMPs, but increasingly sophisticated cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) attacks. "There are a lot of other problems that are higher probability," Bort told Fox News Digital. "The EMP thing is a little bit of a distraction – but that doesn’t mean it’s not a threat." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [5/19/2025 10:53 AM, Staff, 51860K] Video: HERE reports Jon DiMaggio, a former intelligence community analyst and current cybersecurity strategist, has used fake personas to communicate with ransomware gangs on the dark web, finding out who’s behind them and how they work.

FOX News [5/19/2025 10:29 AM, Charles Creitz, 46878K] report that a Tennessee congressman viewed documents relating to the 2023 Covenant school shooting for the first time, praising the Director Kash Patel-led FBI for upholding the Trump administration’s "radical transparency" promise. Rep. John Rose told Fox News Digital he was offered full access to the documents, including the writings of suspect Audrey Hale, a transgender woman who was a former student and killed three children and three adults on March 27 of that year. The GOP lawmaker said he sent a letter to the FBI the month after the shooting and received a response in November telling him to effectively seek what he was looking for from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. He contrasted that with Patel’s FBI’s quick turnaround in accessing the documents. "They are primarily comprised of the writings and work of the perpetrator of the Covenant School shooting. But they do provide a great deal of insight and I think confirm some of the suspicions that I’ve had all along," Rose said. "We really never received a response [regarding a document inquiry] from the Metro National Police Department (MNPD) one way or the other… We got a letter that was really non-responsive and basically indicated they would not release the information to us. So it’s remarkable that in just a little over 40 days that new FBI Director Kash Patel has made this information available for us to look at."

AP [5/19/2025 6:43 PM, Jim Vertuno, 24051K] reports Texas lawmakers on Monday passed a plan sponsored by Uvalde’s former mayor to fix police failures laid bare by the hesitant law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022, sending the bill to the governor days ahead of the third anniversary of the massacre. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed and 18 people were injured in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Saturday is the anniversary of the attack. The measure given final approval by the state Senate and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott is dubbed the "The Uvalde Strong Act" and is meant to correct the problems in the slow and often chaotic law enforcement response that day with better training and coordination between agencies and basic equipment requirements. Nearly 400 local, state and federal officers waited more than an hour to force their way into a classroom where the gunman was before killing him. Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as parents begged officers — some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway — to go in. The bill’s author, first-year Republican state Rep. Don McLaughlin, was Uvalde mayor at the time and was critical of the law enforcement response that day. "The Uvalde Strong Act is aimed at fixing the breakdowns in communication and coordination that were exposed in the Robb Elementary shooting," McLaughlin said. "This is about keeping our schools safer. ... We owe it to the families to take action that really matters.” The bill requires school districts and law enforcement to meet annually to develop active shooter response plans, and mandates officers be trained on how to respond to an active shooter at primary and secondary schools. The measure also requires enhanced incident command training and mutual aid agreements among agencies.

NPR [5/19/2025 2:21 PM, Joe Hernandez, 37958K] reports that an explosion outside a Palm Springs, Calif., fertility clinic late Saturday morning killed one person, injured four others and sent debris flying for blocks in all directions in the city about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The prime suspect in the bombing is also who authorities believe was the sole fatality in the blast: Guy Edward Bartkus. The 25-year-old California resident held nihilistic views and may have also had antinatalist leanings, the FBI said. Investigators say the clinic was targeted and are treating the bombing as an intentional act of domestic terrorism. First responders arrived at the scene of an explosion on North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs around 11 a.m. local time, finding a debris field 250 yards in size. Palm Springs Police Chief Andrew Mills said police and firefighters encountered a "massive crime scene" with "blocks of debris.” Investigators said the size of the blast eclipsed that of the deadly 2018 bombing at an Aliso Viejo spa. "This was probably the largest bombing scene that we’ve had in Southern California," said Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. The bomb was large and powerful enough to "throw pieces of vehicle hundreds of feet in the air and then several blocks away," Davis added. He declined to comment on the type of materials used in the bomb, citing the ongoing investigation. Those injured by the blast were all released from the hospital and medical care as of late Sunday morning, authorities said. A fertility clinic was damaged, but its lab was not harmed.

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 10:58 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1934K] reports the suspect behind the explosion at a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic, Guy Edward Bartkus, died as a result of the attack. Law enforcement officials said Bartkus made a series of posts on social media, including a 30-minute audio recording, that supported anti-natalist views, the belief that nobody should have children. Law enforcement officials said he was 25 years old and from Twentynine Palms, California, where they executed a search warrant. The suspect had depressive thoughts and relationship problems, law enforcement officials close to the investigation confirmed. Authorities believe Bartkus tried to livestream the attack and are looking into a "manifesto.” His father, Richard Bartkus, told Noticias Telemundo on Monday that his son had a "good heart" and that he believes he was "brainwashed," noting the last time they spoke was a decade ago. "I’ve never even heard him talk about something like that before. I haven’t seen him in 12 years. The last time I saw him, he was a good kid. He liked hiking, he liked to go mine hunting, he liked to go rock hunting, he liked his computer, he liked Xbox, kid things," he said. "It’s hard for me to believe that this was him," Richard Bartkus said, adding, "He had a good heart. Something changed in him.” The suspect might also be linked to a post in an online forum earlier this month in which the person contemplated suicide using an explosive device. The FBI also believes it was an act of terrorism. "Make no mistake: This is an intentional act of terrorism," Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said at a Saturday news conference. "As our investigation will unfold, we will determine if it’s international terrorism or domestic terrorism.” Officials said the explosion damaged multiple buildings and businesses within a 250-yard blast radius. Dr. Maher Abdallah, who leads the clinic, told the Associated Press that the clinic’s in vitro fertilization lab and stored embryos are off-site and were not damaged in the explosion. "Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients," Abdallah said.

FOX News [5/19/2025 4:31 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 46878K] reports authorities have identified the perpetrator behind the weekend bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, as a 26-year-old suspect motivated by a fringe ideology known as "pro-mortalism." According to federal and local law enforcement, the suspect targeted the American Reproductive Centers facility specifically to destroy human embryos stored on-site. Surveillance footage and online postings suggest he parked in the rear of the building to remain unnoticed, ingested drugs, and then detonated an explosive device – killing himself in the process. The FBI has classified the bombing as an act of domestic terrorism, citing the ideological motivation behind the violence that killed the suspect and injured four others. Officials have said that it is the first high-profile case linked to the pro-mortalist ideology and are now monitoring it as a potential emerging threat. Authorities have urged families and communities to remain vigilant for signs of ideological extremism, especially among those who may feel disenfranchised. As the investigation into the bombing continues, law enforcement is probing whether anyone else assisted or encouraged the suspect in constructing the device.

AP [5/19/2025 4:51 PM, Christopher Weber, 56000K] reports investigators on Monday were combing through the writings of a 25-year-old man believed responsible for an explosion that ripped through a Southern California fertility clinic over the weekend. The FBI identified Guy Edward Bartkus as the suspect in the apparent car bomb detonation Saturday that damaged the American Reproductive Centers building in Palm Springs, east of Los Angeles. Bartkus died in the explosion. None of the facility’s embryos were damaged. Authorities called the attack terrorism and said Bartkus left behind nihilistic writings that indicated views against procreation, an idea known as anti-natalism. Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, called it possibly the “largest bombing scene that we’ve had in Southern California.” There were no patients at the facility and all embryos were saved. Authorities were working to learn more about Bartkus’ motives. They haven’t said if he intended to kill himself in the attack or why he chose the specific facility.

New York Post [5/19/2025 12:33 PM, Joe Marino and Zoe Hussain, 49956K] reports the madman who blew himself up outside a Palm Springs, California, IVF clinic posted a fanatical manifesto in which he declared "a war against pro-lifers" and described his devotion to a "pro-mortalist" death cult that believes no one should be having babies. Investigators believe that Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of Twentynine Palms, uploaded the chilling, foul-mouthed, 30-minute rant in which he tried to justify detonating a car bomb outside the American Reproductive Centers on Saturday, law enforcement sources told The Post. He took specific aim at IVF, calling it "extremely wrong.” Bartkus was blown to bits, and four people were injured in the blast. "I’m angry I exist," he said in the recording, before claiming he did not give his parents permission for him to be born. He added: "Basically I’m anti-life. And IVF is like kind of the epitome of pro-life ideology.” In addition to the rambling audio manifest, the site had a Q&A about Bartkus’ ideology, and transcripts from the YouTube channel of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza. The writings and recordings reflected nihilist "anti-natalist" or "anti-life" views, which revolve around the belief that life inevitably involves suffering, and it’s wrong for anyone to bring new life into the world. "The end goal is for the truth to win," Bartkus wrote. "And once it does, we can finally begin the process of sterilizing this planet of the disease of life. "The reason I’m wanting to get the f–k out of this whole life game is basically, I guess it comes down to I’m not interested in being a life addict," he rambled on. "I really never wanted to do this life drug, and I remember like when I was a kid, I mean my whole life really, people have always been trying to push this life drug onto me," the recording said. He said he was targeting a fertility clinic because he had special scorn for people who went to the extra effort of trying to conceive.

ABC News [5/19/2025 7:07 PM, Chris Looft, Josh Margolin, and Jared Kofsky, 31733K] reports Guy Bartkus -- the lone suspect in a fatal car bombing that took place outside of a fertility center in Palm Springs, California, on May 17 -- appears to have operated multiple social media accounts where he posted videos of homemade explosive devices and messages pointing to his plans. Law enforcement officers are reviewing the accounts, which are believed to have been operated by Bartkus, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News. A snapshot of a YouTube channel, titled "Indict Evolution," was saved to an online archive before the channel was taken off the platform. The archive contains videos dating back at least six years and pointing to an interest in experimenting with homemade explosives and chemicals. Several videos show what appear to be tests of homemade explosive devices. Other videos suggested an interest in radioactive materials, with titles like "Uranium ore next to Geiger counter" and "Thorite from thorium mine.” A spokesperson for YouTube, when asked about the account "Indict Evolution," said, "We terminated channels associated with the suspect.” The channel was no longer available as of Sunday. The spokesperson added that the accounts had been removed for violating the platform’s policy on violent extremism. One of the videos from the YouTube account was shared on May 12 to a controversial message board dedicated to suicide. The account that shared the YouTube video there went by the same username that law enforcement believes belonged to Bartkus, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

NBC News [5/19/2025 12:31 PM, Minyvonne Burke, 44540K] reports the father of a 25-year-old man suspected of a car bombing attack outside a California fertility clinic said he feels "terrible" and is "heartbroken" over the incident. Richard Bartkus told NBC affiliate KMIR that he had always known his son, Guy Edward Bartkus, to have a "good heart" and believes he was "brainwashed." The last time he saw or talked to his son was over a decade ago, he said, after Guy moved to Twentynine Palms to live with his mother. "It’s hard for me to believe that this was him," Bartkus said. Authorities said they believe Guy Edward Bartkus detonated the explosive outside 1199 North Indian Canyon Drive around 11 a.m. on Saturday. He was driving a 2010 silver Ford Fusion. The street is home to several medical facilities, including the fertility clinic American Reproductive Centers (ARC). The center said in a Facebook post that its lab, including all eggs and embryos, was not damaged in the explosion. "We are heavily conducting a complete safety inspection and have confirmed that our operations and sensitive medical areas were not impacted by the blast," ARC said. The suspect was killed in the blast, and four others were treated and released from the hospital after suffering injuries. The attack appears to have been linked to anti-natalist ideology, two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the incident previously told NBC News. The ideology refers to the belief that no one should have children. Bartkus told the news station that he had not known his son to believe in anything like that. "I’ve never even heard him talk about something like that before. I haven’t seen him in 12 years. The last time I saw him, he was a good kid. He liked hiking, he liked to go mine hunting, he liked to go rock hunting, he liked his computer, he liked Xbox, kid things," he said. Getting emotional, Bartkus added, "He had a good heart. Something changed in him.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [5/19/2025 6:31 PM, Jonathan Edwards, 32099K] reports the FBI said the 25-year-old man suspected of detonating a bomb outside a Southern California fertility clinic that injured four people over the weekend was “nihilistic” — a term U.S. authorities are increasingly using to describe violence simply for the sake of it, or to hasten the demise of society. Nihilistic violent extremism has been a growing domestic threat in recent years, with a number of incidents defying common ideological markers. The bombing outside of an American Reproductive Centers clinic in Palm Springs, California, shows how difficult the diffuse movement is to combat, say experts USA TODAY Networks of nihilistic violent extremists are "growing in size, and it seems like we don’t have great solutions for prevention yet," said Amy Cooter, co-founder of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism. Officials called Saturday’s bombing an "intentional act of terrorism" and are investigating whether Guy Edward Bartkus, a suspect who authorities said was killed while attempting to live-stream the bombing, was motivated by "anti-natalist" views. Anti-natalism refers to the belief that life inevitably involves suffering and, therefore, it is morally indefensible to bring new life into existence. None of the eggs, embryos and other stored reproductive material in the facility’s lab were harmed in the explosion, the clinic said. Experts say nihilistic extremists are often motivated by a philosophy that seeks to hasten the world’s downfall — distinct from the politically, racially or ideologically motivated violence that law enforcement and policymakers have long focused on.

NBC News [5/19/2025 2:36 PM, Ben Goggin and Andrew Blankstein, 44540K] reports that Reddit has banned a community devoted to a nihilistic, anti-life philosophy after the FBI said a weekend explosion outside a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic was linked to a suspect who held anti-natalist beliefs. On Monday, a Reddit spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that it had banned the r/Efilism subreddit after the explosion, which killed the suspect and injured four others. Other anti-natalist subreddits remain on the platform. Reddit said the community was banned because of the platform’s rules forbidding the promotion of self-harm. It was working to remove posts containing audio clips and images of what is believed to be writings published ahead of the explosion, a spokesperson said in a statement. Portions of the content were widely distributed on various social media platforms, including Reddit. "Violence has no place on Reddit," the spokesperson said. "Our sitewide rules strictly prohibit any content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence. In line with these rules, we are removing any instances of the suspect’s manifesto or recordings and hashing to prevent reupload. We’re also closely monitoring the communities on our platform to ensure compliance with our rules."

AP [5/19/2025 10:48 AM, Lindsay Whitehurst, 48304K] reports an appeals court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees while a lawsuit plays out. The Friday ruling came after the Trump administration asked for an emergency pause on a judge’s order blocking enforcement at roughly three dozen agencies and departments. A split three-judge panel in the nation’s capital sided with government lawyers in a lawsuit filed by unions representing federal employees. The majority ruled on technical grounds, finding that the unions don’t have the legal right to sue because the Trump administration has said it won’t end any collective bargaining agreements while the case is being litigated. Judge Karen Henderson, appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush, and Justin Walker, appointed by Trump, sided with the government, while Judge Michelle Childs, appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, dissented. The government says Trump needs the executive order so his administration can cut the federal workforce to ensure strong national security. The law requiring collective bargaining creates exemptions for work related to national security, as in agencies like the FBI.

Bloomberg [5/19/2025 6:08 PM, Michael Shepard, 19320K] reports key Senate Democrats urged the Trump administration to revisit new artificial intelligence deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying that expanded sales of AI chips to the Middle Eastern countries risk exposing advanced technology to China and Russia, while potentially limiting supplies available for American companies. Agreements unveiled by companies including Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. during President Donald Trump’s trip to the region last week opened the door for the Gulf nations to buy tens of thousands of advanced semiconductors — just as the administration was moving to rescind Biden-era rules capping those countries’ access to chips. The combined moves, warned a group of Senate Democrats led by Elizabeth Warren and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, endanger US national security and economic competitiveness. “Taken together, these announcements amount to a breathtaking rollback of export control restrictions that have helped maintain the US technological edge to ensure the United States wins the AI race and prevent our adversaries from accessing our most sensitive technologies,” the senators wrote in a letter Monday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The US has restricted sales of advanced AI semiconductors to Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 2023, part of a broader effort to prevent China from accessing banned American technology via intermediaries. Trump administration officials have been negotiating with the Saudi and UAE governments on ways to ease some of those restrictions on sophisticated chips, which the Gulf nations need to fuel their ambitions to become regional AI hubs. In their letter, the Democratic senators called for ensuring that AI chips deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE contain adequate guardrails to prevent the leakage of sensitive technology to China and Russia. While the two Gulf nations are important regional partners, the lawmakers wrote, they’ve also had previous commercial ties to Chinese entities including Huawei Technologies Co., a telecom equipment maker that’s been targeted by US policymakers over national security concerns for more than a decade. Spokespeople for the White House, Commerce Department and State Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. On Saturday, Lutnick hailed a new AI data-center partnership with the UAE, emphasizing that security conditions would need to be met. “Renewed, targeted investment is essential to our nation’s success in this critical technology,” Lutnick wrote in a post on X. “Any advanced semiconductor data center in the UAE or abroad will only be authorized if they operate with US government-approved data center operators and cloud service providers.”

Reuters [5/19/2025 3:58 PM, Alexandra Alper and Jarrett Renshaw, 51390K] reports Nippon Steel plans to invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel’s (X.N) operations including up to $4 billion in a new steel mill if the Trump administration green lights its bid for the iconic U.S. company, according to a document and three people familiar with the matter. Under details of the plan included in the document, the company will plow $11 billion into U.S. Steel’s infrastructure through 2028. That includes $1 billion in a green field site, which is expected to grow by $3 billion over the following years and has not been previously reported. The total investment figure was previously reported by CTFN. The super-charged investment pledge, up from an initial $1.4 billion, was pitched as part of a last ditch effort to win approval of the merger, which has drawn fire from both Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The companies face a May 21 deadline for the completion of a fresh national security review of their proposed tie-up, which was blocked by Biden on national security grounds in January following a prior review. Trump would then have 15 days to decide the fate of the transaction, although the timeline could slip. It is unclear if the billions in new investment will be enough to sway Trump, though two other sources said his administration sought the increased investment.

Federalist [5/19/2025 7:29 AM, Helen Raleigh, 1142K] reports a student newspaper at Stanford University dropped a bombshell report earlier this month revealing “there are Chinese spies at Stanford.” The report, titled “Uncovering Chinese Academic Espionage at Stanford,” was published by The Stanford Review, an independent student-run newspaper. This alarming investigation is based on “over a dozen interviews conducted between July 2024 and April 2025, involving Stanford faculty members, current and former students, and independent experts specializing in Chinese intelligence operations and technology transfer.” The report highlights three critical findings. First, it exposes that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Ministry of State Security (MSS) is actively recruiting or coercing Chinese students and scholars at Stanford to serve as “non-traditional” intelligence assets. The MSS demands these individuals gather information that it deems valuable. Rather than targeting classified documents, the MSS is focused on obtaining “the know-how behind American innovation,” which encompasses “conclusions from Stanford research projects, methodologies, software, lab workflows, collaborative structures, and even communication channels.” The agency is particularly interested in information related to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

The Hill [5/19/2025 7:50 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 18649K] reports the White House said Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for about two hours, after speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the day. The president also noted the Vatican has offered to host the negotiations. Trump has been pushing for a 30-day ceasefire in the war, and the White House said before Monday’s calls that he was frustrated with both sides. The president called for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine before entering office, and more than two months of direct diplomacy has failed to get Putin to agree to even basic terms. The announcement of direct negotiations comes after Putin last week skipped appearing at direct talks in Istanbul that he proposed. While Zelensky traveled to Turkey in a bid to entice Putin, the Russian leader sent a low-level delegation to meet with the Ukrainian team. Agreement on a ceasefire was not reached, but the two sides agreed on a swap of 1,000 prisoners and committed to keep talking. On Monday, Trump described the tone and spirit of his conversation with Putin as "excellent.” Trump also said he spoke with the leaders of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and Finland immediately after his call with Putin and said the Vatican "would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!". Putin, in remarks reported by Russian state media, said Russia was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum on a future peace treaty. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov downplayed expectations of quick agreement, saying ending the Ukraine war would require "rather painstaking and, perhaps, prolonged work," Russian state media reported. Zelensky, speaking at a press conference Monday evening, rejected Putin’s demands to withdraw Ukrainian troops from four partially occupied regions. Russian negotiators reportedly raised those conditions during the talks in Istanbul.

Reported similarly:
AP [5/19/2025 3:13 PM, Josh Boak, Zeke Miller and Katie Marie Davies, 48304K]

Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 1:59 PM, Naomi Lim and Christian Datoc, 1934K] reports that President Donald Trump conveyed confidence that Russia and Ukraine would reengage in negotiations for a ceasefire and an end to the war between the two countries after a two-hour-long phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” Trump wrote on social media on Monday. “The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.” Trump described "the tone and spirit of the conversation" as "excellent," adding Russia wants to do "large-scale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over." "There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth," he wrote. "Likewise, Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country." Putin provided the first readout of the phone call as Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. "It was very informative and very frank, and overall, in my opinion, very useful in this regard," Putin told Russian news outlets before downplaying the prospect of a ceasefire without other agreements being made first.

Washington Post [5/19/2025 3:42 AM, Shira Rubin, Abbie Cheeseman, Lior Soroka and Claire Parker, 32099K] reports Israel plans to take control of the Gaza Strip while restarting “minimal” aid deliveries to the enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, describing potential mass starvation there as a “red line” that could cost Israel its support from the United States. In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said that although Israel was deploying “massive force to take control of all of the Gaza Strip … we cannot reach a point of starvation, for practical and diplomatic reasons.” He said Israel’s “closest friends in the world,” including U.S. politicians, told him they were unwavering in their support but could not “handle pictures of mass starvation.” Other Western allies, including Britain, Canada and France, condemned Israel’s decision to expand military operations in Gaza and threatened “concrete actions” if it did not cease its offensive and lift restrictions on aid, which Israel halted on March 2. In a joint statement Monday, officials from the three countries said “the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable” and that Israel’s move to allow only a basic quantity of food in was “wholly inadequate.” “We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” the statement said. “If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.” Netanyahu’s address was the first time an Israeli official has publicly acknowledged the threat of hunger in the territory, despite repeated warnings from global hunger experts, including this month, that the population was at risk of famine. Israel blocked food, fuel and aid from entering Gaza following an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas, imposing the longest siege of a war that started with the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that in talks with Hamas, the United States guaranteed that Israel would allow some relief to enter Gaza if Hamas released American Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, 21.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [5/19/2025 10:03 AM, Ross O’Keefe, 1934K]

Bloomberg [5/19/2025 1:53 PM, Alisa Odenheimer, Ethan Bronner, and Galit Altstein, 19320K] reports Israel will take over the entire Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, as the military announced it would carry out an “unprecedented attack” on Hamas. Netanyahu said that, alongside the increased attacks, Israel would start allowing aid into Gaza again after stopping it in early March in a bid to make Hamas release hostages and surrender. International pressure has mounted on Israel to restart aid. The United Nations says malnutrition is worsening and last week France’s President Emmanuel Macron accused Netanyahu of “shameful” behavior in blocking aid. As of Monday evening, only nine trucks had been allowed into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the territory’s border meets those of Israel and Egypt, said Tom Fletcher, the top UN Humanitarian coordinator. “A drop in the ocean,” he posted on X. “It must reach the civilians who need it so urgently, and we must be allowed to scale up.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
The Hill [5/19/2025 11:11 AM, Laura Kelly, 18649K]

Breitbart [5/19/2025 11:53 AM, Frances Martel, 3077K] reports Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is subordinate to "supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly claimed that a nuclear deal with the administration of President Donald Trump was "in reach" on Sunday – even as his top officials reject Washington’s most important demands. President Trump announced negotiations with Iran to prevent a war in April, stunning international observers given Iran’s active support for various jihadist elements currently at war with Israel. Iran is the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism, funding a network including such terror entities as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and the Yemeni Houthi terrorists. Those negotiations have yielded four rounds of "indirect" talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff hosted by the government of Oman. Reports indicate that Iranian officials have insisted on both sides passing notes between each other through the Omanis, rather than sitting in the same room and having a conversation. This allows Khamenei to tell the Iranian public that no direct conversations, which he called "unintelligent and dishonorable" in February, are taking place. While both sides have called the talks constructive, neither has indicated to the public that they have hashed out any provisions of a new nuclear agreement. The U.S. government has stated that the intended goal of the talks is to get Iran to stop funding terrorism and developing fuel for the construction of a nuclear weapon, while Iran states that the objective is to get America to lift its sanctions on the country. Despite the lack of publicly known progress on substantive issues, Pezeshkian claimed in remarks on Sunday alongside Qatari officials that a deal is "within reach," according to the Iranian state outlet PressTV. The Iranian president asserted that Mideast nations can "bring peace, security, prosperity, and progress to our nations" and, while stating that a deal was possible, added that America should "abandon its bullying tactics," likely a reference to sanctions on Tehran for its terrorist activities. Elsewhere in the same event, Pezeshkian was quoted as saying, "The closer Muslim nations and brotherly countries become—and the more they expand their cooperation—the more those who wish ill upon the Islamic Ummah will despair of sowing division and discord.” His comments stood in jarring contrast to those of Araghchi, the man leading the talks with America, who insisted that Iran would continue its illicit enrichment of uranium, which Washington has complained has no civilian use, regardless of what it negotiates with America. "If the US is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation," Araghchi said in a social media message. But he added, "Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”

Breitbart [5/19/2025 10:44 AM, Joshua Klein, 3077K] reports Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a blistering verbal assault on the United States and President Donald Trump during a nationally televised speech, calling Trump a liar who brings shame on the American people, as the regime’s signature chant "Death to America" rang out repeatedly. The remarks were aired Saturday on Iran’s state-run Channel 1 and featured a crowd erupting multiple times into chants of "Death to America," "Death to England," and "Death to Israel," as Khamenei accused U.S. leaders of using military power to spread war. "Some of the things the U.S. President said in his recent visit to the region are not even worthy of a response," Khamenei declared, according to a MEMRI translation of the broadcast, before adding: "The level of the things he said is so low that it shames the speaker himself as well as the American people.” The audience responded with applause and renewed anti-American chants. Khamenei then directly attacked President Trump, who recently visited the Middle East, accusing him of lying about promoting peace through strength. "Trump said that he wanted to use power for peace. He is lying," Khamenei stated, as the crowd again chanted "Death to America" several times in unison. Despite Iran’s record of fueling terrorism across the Middle East, Khamenei sought to deflect blame by accusing the U.S. of regional bloodshed, claiming, "[Trump] and other senior officials in the American administration have used power to perpetrate a massacre in Gaza, to stir up war wherever they could, and in order to support their mercenaries.” "When have they ever used power for peace?" he asked rhetorically, before pledging that Iran would escalate its own power in defiance of U.S. pressure: "We will increase our power and the power of our country every day — whether the enemies like it or not, inshallah [as Allah wills].” Khamenei then called for the complete expulsion of the United States from the Middle East. "By the efforts of the nations of the region, America should leave the region, and leave it will," he insisted.

FOX News [5/19/2025 6:16 PM, Ashley Carnahan, 46878K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is working to stay ahead in modern warfare amid drone and artificial intelligence advancements on the battlefield. Hegseth, a former "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host, sat down with "The Will Cain Show" Monday at the Pentagon, where he laid out the Trump administration’s posture toward China amid an arms race with the communist country and adversaries like Russia and Iran. "We concede nothing to the communist Chinese. We’re creating dilemmas for them at every level," he said. The Pentagon boss added that the White House is invested in the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine but is shifting its attention to countering China in the Indo-Pacific, a move reflected in Hegseth’s first overseas trip to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and Japan. China has made significant advancements in drone production, with reports that the country is preparing to launch a new drone-carrying mothership capable of releasing up to 100 smaller drones at a time. Chinese technology company DJI touts itself as the world’s leading manufacturer of consumer and commercial drones and has a hefty presence in U.S. and Asian markets. Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow at the non-partisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the Shenzhen-based company dominates the global drone market, controlling more than 70% of the worldwide market share. "That’s alarming, because DJI drones are essentially data collectors for Beijing — giving China potential access to sensitive infrastructure imagery, flight patterns, and more. It’s not just a market-share problem — it’s a national security threat," he said. Hegseth told Fox News host Will Cain that the Pentagon understands the motives and capabilities of the Chinese government and wants to build up a U.S. military that’s capable of deterring any future conflict between the two nations.

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