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

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

The Washington Post [5/5/2025 4:41 AM, Niha Masih, 31735K] reports President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has ordered several agencies to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, an infamous federal penitentiary that closed in the 1960s and has since become a popular tourist destination. In a post on social media, Trump said he directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department and others to work together to open a “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz that would house the country’s “most ruthless and violent” offenders. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said the agency would comply with all presidential orders. The Justice Department and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Speaking to reporters Sunday, Trump called the potential reopening “just an idea I’ve had,” and he repeated his previous criticism of judges he said were seeking trials for “every single person that’s in our country illegally.” Details on the administration’s potential plans for Alcatraz remain unclear. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), the former House speaker, dismissed the proposal Sunday as “not a serious one.” FOX News [5/4/2025 7:58 PM, Greg Wehner, 46189K] reports Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening. "REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" the president said. "For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm," Trump continued, adding that it’s supposed to be this way. "No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets." CBS News [5/4/2025 9:02 PM, Lucia I Suarez Sang, 51661K] reports Mr. Trump’s social media post comes as he has been clashing with the courts as he tries to send accused gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador, without due process. Mr. Trump has also talked about wanting to send American citizens there and to other foreign prisons. Mr. Trump, returning to the White House on Sunday night, told reporters he came up with the idea because of frustrations with "radicalized judges" who have insisted those being deported receive due process. Alcatraz prison, located on Alcatraz Island located just over a mile north of San Francisco, was a maximum-security, minimum-privilege prison opened in 1934 to deal with the "most incorrigible inmates in federal prisons," the Bureau of Prisons says. It was also to "show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious about stopping the rampant crime of the 1920s and 1930s," the Bureau said on its website. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
Politico [5/4/2025 9:25 PM, Megan Messerly and Melanie Mason, 11599K]
New York Post [5/4/2025 10:07 PM, David Propper, 54903K]
NBC News [5/5/2025 3:22 AM, Nnamdi Egwuonwu, 44742K]
San Francisco Chronicle [5/4/2025 5:59 PM, Jessica Flores, 5046K]

Daily Signal [5/4/2025 9:11 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 495K] reports President Donald Trump will nominate federal judges "rapidly," he told The Daily Signal on Sunday night. "We’re putting them in rapidly and trying to get very good ones, but we need judges that are not going to be demanding trials for every single illegal immigrant," Trump said on Air Force One. "We have millions of people that have come here illegally, and we can’t have a trial for every single person, that would be millions of trials.” Trump is off to a slower start in nominating judges than his first term, having only nominated one federal judge, Whitney Hermandorfer, who will serve on the 6th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio. About 100 days into Trump’s first term, the Senate had already confirmed a new Supreme Court justice, Trump had nominated an appeals court judge, and several other prominent judicial nominees were in the queue to be announced within days. But according to the president, his slow start to judicial nominations is about to morph into a sprint. Trump said America needs federal judges who won’t insist on a trial for the deportation of every illegal immigrant. "The people elected me in a landslide… We won every swing state… by big numbers… not only swing state, but the popular vote by millions of votes… they elected me, this was the number one issue," Trump said, "and now we have judges that are radicalized, and they’re crazy because … if you believe this, they want us to have a trial for every person that came illegally into our country.” "So they come into our country illegally, and we’re supposed to take weeks, I guess, and months to have a trial, you want every criminal, and we have murderers that are all over the country," the president continued. "I don’t think the Supreme Court will stand for that, I can’t believe it, because you know what? If they do, we’re not gonna have a country.” The Daily Signal asked the president how he will ensure his nominations are different than the judges blocking his agenda, and he said all he can do is his best. "All you can do is do the best you can," he said. "You try to appoint the best people to being judges or anything else that you appoint, but so far you know we’re very disappointed with the decisions that come out, mostly from people appointed by others than me.” "But it’s so hard to believe that you have a murderer, you know we have 11,888 or whatever the number is, we have thousands of murderers in this country, we’re getting them out and they say ‘we don’t want them out, we want them to stay in our country until we have a trial,’" Trump said. Trials take years, and America doesn’t have that much time to curb illegal immigration, according to the 47th president. "They take years," he said. "It’s so crazy. We won’t have a country left. We can’t have that happen.”

FOX News [5/4/2025 3:04 PM, Staff, 46189K] Video: HERE reports Department of Homeland Security secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses President Donald Trump’s ongoing legal battles over the use of the Alien Enemies Act in his illegal immigration fight.

FOX News [5/4/2025 9:17 AM, Rachel Wolf, 46189K] reports a Trump-appointed judge appears to have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump after blocking the administration’s "unlawful" use of the Alien Enemies Act. U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. stated that he would not prevent the administration from deporting individuals in the U.S. illegally but that the Alien Enemies Act could not be used as a basis to expel alleged gang members from the country. Rodriguez is the first judge to rule against the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged gang members. "The question that this lawsuit presents is whether the President can utilize a specific statute, the AEA, to detain and remove Venezuelan aliens who are members of [Tren de Aragua]. As to that question, the historical record renders clear that the president’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms," Rodriguez — who was appointed by Trump in 2018 — wrote in his order. Trump expressed his anger about the decision in a pointed Truth Social post, questioning how judges could block the deportation of "criminals, including murderers.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in a cabinet meeting on Trump’s 100th day in office that the president had "completely reversed" the situation at the border. She added that DHS had refocused the Coast Guard on "border and drug interdiction," noting that cartels have increasingly used maritime smuggling routes in response to stricter immigration enforcement.

Daily Caller [5/4/2025 1:07 PM, Malanie Wilcox, 1082K] reports the New York Times published a 400-word report last week about the rape of a corpse aboard a New York City subway train — but nowhere in the article did the paper mention that the suspect, Felix Rojas, is an illegal alien. Rojas, 44, was arrested for first-degree rape after police say he violated the body of a dead man on an R train in Manhattan on April 9. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Rojas entering the nearly empty train at the Whitehall Street–South Ferry station, rummaging through the pockets of a deceased man and then sexually assaulting the corpse before fleeing. What The New York Times did not report, however, is that Rojas is an illegal immigrant — a fact confirmed by law enforcement officials. This weekend, the omission sparked criticism on social media, where readers accused the NYT of protecting a political narrative at the expense of telling the truth. The Daily Beast [5/4/2025 12:37 PM, Corbin Bolies] reports Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security lashed out at The New York Times because a days-old story on a corpse attack did not name the suspect’s immigration status. “The New York Times refused to mention anywhere in its 400-word story on the monstrous rape of a corpse on the NYC subway that the depraved perpetrator is an ILLEGAL alien," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X Sunday. “Why not report the facts, @nytimes?" The Times reported on Monday the arrest of Felix Rojas, who was charged with first-degree rape after police said he sexually assaulted the corpse of a man who died aboard an R train in New York City last month. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed on Thursday that Rojas had illegally crossed the border multiple times since 1998. McLaughlin added a screenshot of the story’s headline and lead image, though she omitted its April 28 publication date—three days before the New York Post revealed Rojas’ immigration status. “Our report on the arrest of Felix Rojas was published on Monday, April 28, three days before Immigration and Customs Enforcement publicly revealed he had illegally entered the country multiple times," a Times spokesperson said. “Our story does not include details on immigration status as neither the police nor ICE had disclosed it.” “With impunity, open-border policies have allowed violent criminal aliens to terrorize America’s towns and cities,” McLaughlin told Fox News in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, ICE is working around the clock to remove the worst of the worst from our communities. If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and lock you up.”

Daily Mail [5/4/2025 8:04 PM, James Gordon] reports CNN is being ridiculed online after one of its journalists gently probe a Sinaloa cartel member for his feelings about being branded a terrorist by President Donald Trump. Trump labelled suspected gang members inside the US as ‘enemy combatants’ - essentially terrorists. The term has been used as a way to detain cartel members more easily and limit their ability to challenge their imprisonment. The stunning segment published on Sunday, comes as Trump administration examines whether the ‘enemy combatant’ designation could be applied to suspected narco-terrorists outside the States as a way to potentially give the US justification to conduct lethal strikes against them. The administration has said it is only considering ways to use the label against suspected members of the eight groups Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13. But instead of focusing on the legal ramifications or victims of cartel violence, CNN’s reporter turned to the drug trafficker himself to ask how the gang member felt about the label. ‘Well, the situation is ugly but we have to eat,’ the cartel member replied. ‘What’s your message to Donald Trump if he’s watching this?’ the reporter pushed. ‘My respect. According to him, he’s looking out for his people. But the problem is the consumers are in the United States. If there weren’t any consumers we would stop.’ The online backlash was swift and brutal with those watching the exchange far from impressed with CNN’s line of questioning. The Republican president has touted his immigration crackdown as he marked his 100th day in office this week. In a proclamation, Trump said Tren de Aragua was engaged in ‘hostile actions’ and ‘threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,’ adding that Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro was pulling the strings. In the most publicized case to date, Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to CECOT before the Trump administration admitted he was sent there due to an ‘administrative error.’ The White House has repeated the unproven accusation that Abrego Garcia is part of criminal gang MS-13, which the administration has designated a foreign terrorist group. His lawyers deny any gang affiliation, saying he left El Salvador at age 16 to escape such violence and received a protective order in 2019 to continue living in the US. Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin made the administration’s position known. ‘The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children. He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug.’ On Sunday, Trump said he was unsure whether people in the US are entitled to due process rights guaranteed in the US Constitution as his administration pushes aggressively to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally and other non-citizens.

Los Angeles Times [5/4/2025 4:30 PM, Aamer Madhani, 13342K] reports President Trump is circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution, saying in a new interview that he does not know whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve that guarantee. He also said he does not think military force will be needed to make Canada the "51st state" and played down the possibility he would look to run for a third term in the White House. The comments in a wide-ranging, and at moments combative, interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press" came as the Republican president’s efforts to quickly enact his agenda face sharper headwinds with Americans just as his second administration crossed the 100-day mark, according to a recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Trump, however, made clear that he is not backing away from a to-do list that he insists the American electorate broadly supported when they elected him in November. Critics and many analysts have argued that Trump is chipping away at due process in the United States. Most notably, they cite the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran-born man — and legal U.S. resident — who was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and imprisoned without communication. Trump says Abrego Garcia is part of a violent transnational gang. The president has sought to turn deportation into a test case for his campaign against illegal immigration despite a Supreme Court order saying the administration must work to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Asked in the interview whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens both deserve due process as laid out in the 5th Amendment of the Constitution, Trump was noncommittal. "I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know," Trump said when pressed by Welker. The 5th Amendment provides "due process of law," meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. Also, the 14th Amendment says no state can "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Trump said he has "brilliant lawyers ... and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”

CBS News [5/4/2025 9:02 PM, Kiki Intarasuwan, 51661K] reports President Trump said he doesn’t know if everyone in the U.S., citizens or non-citizens, is entitled to due process — the constitutional command stated in both the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendment. "I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know," Mr. Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press" after she asked him whether he agreed that everyone on U.S. soil is entitled to due process in the court of law. When asked by Welker in the interview aired Sunday if he thinks he has to uphold the Constitution as president, Mr. Trump also said, "I don’t know." "I have to respond by saying again, and I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said," Mr. Trump said. His comments come as he discussed the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran native who is married to a U.S. citizen and was living in Maryland before the Trump administration mistakenly deported him in March. Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted in a court filing that the deportation of the Baltimore father was an "administrative error" and an "oversight." Last month, a federal judge and the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the U.S., but Abrego Garcia remains in a detention facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador, after spending almost a month at the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). When asked about the delay in returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S. and whether he’s defying the Supreme Court, Mr. Trump told NBC that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department had interpreted the court’s 9-0 decision differently. "They’re not viewing the decision the way you said it. They don’t view it that way at all. They think it’s a totally different decision," Mr. Trump said. "I have the power to ask for him to come back if I’m instructed by the attorney general that it’s legal to do so," the president added. "But the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador. He’s a very capable man."

NPR [5/4/2025 5:18 PM, Luke Garrett and Don Gonyea, 29983K] Audio HERE reports during an interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press," President Trump questioned the due process rights of people in the United States. And it’s worth noting here that Trump’s comments are in line with what’s being said by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has repeatedly told NPR that people the administration deems terrorists get a different sort of due process as allowed under the Alien Enemies Act. Ultimately, the Supreme Court is likely to rule on this issue, but the lower courts have already started to weigh in. Last week, a court partially blocked Trump’s use of the act to deport Venezuelans. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Newsweek [5/4/2025 6:06 PM, Jason Lemon, 3973K] reports President Donald Trump’s response to a question about "due process" during an interview appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday sparked alarm from his critics. "Your secretary of state [Marco Rubio] says everyone who’s here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree?" host Kristen Welker asked the president during the interview. "I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know," the president responded. Concerns about due process have been raised amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, with thousands of individuals deported since he took office. Critics have warned that the administration has not followed due process in some of these cases and may be ignoring court orders. The Trump administration defends its efforts as necessary to keep Americans safe and remove individuals, particularly criminals, who entered the country illegally. The high-profile case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported in mid-March, has drawn significant attention. The administration has said the deportation was due to an "administrative error," but has thus far declined to facilitate his return to the U.S., despite a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying the administration must do so. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with Meet the Press, which broadcast Sunday morning. After Welker pressed the president on "due process," she also asked about following the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Amendment states that "no person" shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." There’s is no clarification that an individual must be a U.S. citizen. "Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?" Welker asked. "I don’t know. It seems—it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials," the president responded. "We have thousands of people that are—some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth...I was elected to get them the hell out of here and the courts are holding me from doing it.” Welker asked: "But, even given those numbers that you’re talking about. Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?". Trump responded: "I don’t know. I have to respond by saying again I have brilliant lawyers that work for me.” Dr. Michelle Au, a physician and Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "If someone asks the President of the United States if he needs to uphold the Constitution and the answer he gives is anything other than ‘yes,’ we have a big, big problem.” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on X in early April: "The American people can rest assured that @Sec_Noem [DHS Secretary Kristi Noem], @RealTomHoman and I will direct our assets to scour the country for any remnants of Tren De Aragua and DEPORT THEM." (Tren De Aragua is a Venezuelan gang that has some affiliates operating within the U.S.). The courts will continue to weigh in on immigration cases and deportation orders. Trump has said he plans to comply with court orders, although he routinely attacks judges that rule against his efforts.

Washington Examiner [5/4/2025 10:38 PM, Asher Notheis, 2296K] reports the White House’s X account uploaded a new photo of President Donald Trump that features the president brandishing a red lightsaber to protest "Radical Left Lunatics" seeking to return gang members "back into our Galaxy.” The photo was uploaded on May 4, a day widely recognized as Star Wars Day, and features a buff Trump holding a lightsaber while being flanked by a pair of eagles. The White House’s post also included a dig at Democratic lawmakers advocating against the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants, joking that these lawmakers want "Sith Lords" to return to the country. "Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to to [sic] bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy," the White House’s post said. "You’re not the Rebellion — you’re the Empire. May the 4th be with you.” Several users have pointed out how the photo displays Trump wielding a red lightsaber, a weapon commonly used by Star Wars antagonists. Star Wars actor Mark Hamill posted on BlueSky that the photo proves "this guy is full of SITH.” “Proof this guy is full of SITH.” — Mark Hamill (@markhamillofficial.bsky.social) May 4, 2025 at 3:44 PM. Beyond the White House’s post, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Rapid Response account on X also posted a video showcasing its accomplishments in Trump’s first 100 days. The video is edited in a similar vein to the opening crawls of Star Wars films, and ends with Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wielding lightsabers. Earlier this week, the White House posted a photo that Trump uploaded on his Truth Social account, which portrays the president as the new pope. It comes after Trump joked that he would like to be the next pope following the late Pope Francis’s death last month.

FOX News [5/4/2025 4:50 PM, Emma Colton, 46189K] reports Democrats rallying around illegal immigrant KIlmar Abrego Garcia are facing a narrative reckoning as allegations of violent and criminal behavior mount against the man they made a poster child in the fight against President Trump’s mass deportations. In recent weeks, evidence has emerged that Abrego Garcia beat his wife and was caught trafficking migrants during his time living illegally in Maryland. He has since been deported to El Salvador, where several Democrats, including Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, have rushed to meet with him and decry what they say was a lack of due process extended to him. "The fact that they went to the mat for this guy just shows exactly who they are," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Saturday. "That they are people who don’t put America first. They don’t care about our citizens and protecting our communities. So, I’m glad that the onion’s been peeled back and that their true motivations have been revealed, and this is just one of the cases that we’re getting off the streets.” Van Hollen has led the surge of Democrats traveling to El Salvador since April, after Abrego Garcia was deported to the country in March and sent to its notoriously high-security prison equipped to handle violent gang members, known as CECOT. The Trump administration has repeatedly cited court and police documents showing that the El Salvadoran man was not only in the U.S. illegally, but also connected to the MS-13 gang and that his wife had sounded the alarm to police about his violence. Democrats and the media had characterized Abrego Garcia as a "family man" and a "Maryland man" who was wrongly deported back in March and the following weeks. But Democrats have gone largely silent amid a flood of newly unearthed evidence against Abrego Garcia. Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Thursday that new court records show Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed a protective order against her husband in August of 2020. The order said their shared son and stepchildren needed protection from Abrego Garcia, accusing him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children. The protection form described an incident in November 2019 when Abrego Garcia allegedly grabbed Vasquez Sura "by the hair in the car," "dragged" her "out of car and left [her] in the street." She wrote that he also "broke" her son’s tablet, "broke doors" in the house, pushed her against a wall, broke a phone and a television and damaged the walls that spring. The Trump administration and conservatives have come out in full force condemning Democrats for supporting an illegal immigrant accused of gang ties, human trafficking and domestic violence. Trump designated violent gangs such as MS-13 and Tre de Aragua as terrorist organizations in his second administration.

NewsMax [5/4/2025 11:24 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K] reports no president gets all he wants in his budget, but Donald Trump "will probably come closer than any previous presidents in the last 30 or 40 years," former Rep. Pete King told Newsmax on Sunday. "In the big picture, I support more defense spending," the New York Republican said on "Wake Up America Weekend." "I support more funding for homeland security. We have to cut back on extraneous programs. So I think he’s going to make probably more progress on his budget than any president, even going back to [Ronald] Reagan.” King predicted that there will be a "lot of infighting, a lot of skirmishing," but the combination of Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson means that "Republicans are going to get much of what the president wants when the budget comes out of the House.” Trump’s budget plan calls to reduce discretionary nondefense spending by $163 billion, $1.01 trillion for national security spending, $44 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, and $113 billion for the Department of Defense. Former Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., meanwhile, said he believes an agreement will be reached on Trump’s call for a "big, beautiful bill" on the budget. "Mike Johnson always wins when he’s underestimated," said Kingston. "Somehow in the home stretch, they always get to 218 votes, which they need to pass legislation. I’ve spoken to him twice in the last two weeks, and I can tell you he hasn’t changed a bit about this. He’s privately very optimistic. He says everybody is talking and they’re talking in good faith together.”

NBC News [5/4/2025 9:44 AM, Nnamdi Egwuonwu, 44742K] reports President Donald Trump offered his clearest indication yet that he will leave the White House at the end of his second term without trying to extend his stay, acknowledging the constraints preventing him from seeking a third term in an exclusive interview with NBC News’ "Meet the Press.” Trump also highlighted several other rising stars in the Republican Party he said are capable of carrying the MAGA mantle after he’s finished as the GOP’s elected leader, mentioning not only Vice President JD Vance but also Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has become a central player in his second administration. "I’ll be an eight-year president; I’ll be a two-term president. I always thought that was very important," Trump told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday. Trump told Welker in March that he was "not joking" about his consideration of a third run, and he said again in his latest interview that he’s received strong requests from allies to run again. Despite those entreaties, Trump told Welker, he’s aware of the realities standing in the way. "It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do. I don’t know if that’s constitutional that they’re not allowing you to do it or anything else," Trump said. The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment says, "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice." Amending the Constitution to abolish that limit would be extremely difficult, requiring the support of either two-thirds of both the House and Senate or two-thirds of state legislatures. Both routes would then require ratification from three-quarters of the states. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a House joint resolution in January seeking to amend the Constitution to allow the president to be elected for up to three terms, a legislative effort that so far has seen little movement. Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, who served as lead counsel during Trump’s first impeachment, introduced a resolution in response urging his colleagues to reaffirm the 22nd Amendment’s prohibition on a third term. Trump told Welker he has had no official meetings specifically about establishing a pathway for a third term, but he’s heard "different concepts" about potential options — including a legally dubious strategy in which Vance would seek the presidency and then pass the role on to Trump. "Other people say, ‘You can have a write-in vote,’" Trump added, despite the constitutional limitation. Talk of a potential third Trump term reached a fever pitch last month after the Trump Organization, led in part by the president’s two adult sons, began selling Trump 2028-branded red hats. The hats were listed for $50 with the description: "The future looks bright! Rewrite the rules with the Trump 2028 high crown hat.” Despite that description — and its pointed reference to "rewrite the rules" — Trump said his aim is to ultimately pass the torch ahead of the next presidential election. "There are many people selling the 2028 hat," Trump said. "But this is not something I’m looking to do. I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.”

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [5/4/2025 9:59 AM, Eric Mack, 4998K]

The Hill [5/4/2025 11:32 AM, Jared Gans, 12829K] reports President Trump mentioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a possible successor, along with Vice President Vance, as he considers who would take over as leader of his "Make America Great Again," or MAGA, movement. Trump told NBC News’s Kristen Welker that it is too early to say who would become his successor, but he said Vance is doing a "fantastic job." When asked whether Vance is at the top of his list, Trump said he could be, but he doesn’t want to get involved in that. "I think [Vance is] a fantastic, brilliant guy," he said in an interview on "Meet the Press" that aired Sunday. "Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great. I also see tremendous unity. But certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage.” "But I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions," he added. "But you know, it could be that he’d be challenged by somebody. We have a lot of good people in this party.” Trump’s naming of Rubio comes on the heels of the secretary of State taking on an increasingly high profile. He was named interim national security adviser after Mike Waltz left his position on Thursday. Trump said he believes the MAGA movement can survive without him as the leader, drawing strength from a "tremendous group of people." He pointed specifically to Vance and Rubio but said he could name 10 to 20 people. Trump previously said it was too early to name Vance as his successor but called him "very capable." Early polls have shown Vance as a favorite to possibly be the GOP nominee in 2028. Welker also pressed Trump on the ongoing murmurs of Trump possibly seeking a third term, which he hasn’t outright rejected. He said "so many people want me to do it," but "to the best of my knowledge," he can’t.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [5/4/2025 9:42 AM, Ryan King, 54903K]

AP [5/4/2025 8:46 AM, Staff, 48304K] reports Global Immigration Partners PLLC, a leading immigration law firm, is closely monitoring and analysing the significant changes in U.S. immigration policy enacted during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term. These developments have profound implications for individuals, families, and businesses navigating the U.S. immigration system.

Breitbart [5/4/2025 10:53 AM, Randy Clark, 2923K] reports six inmates at the Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, allegedly stabbed three correctional officers in a violent attack on Friday morning. According to the Virginia Department of Corrections, five of the six inmates involved in the attack are confirmed members of the violent MS-13 gang from El Salvador. The MS-13 gang member inmates are in the United States illegally. The vicious attack occurred at approximately 9:45 a.m. According to the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), the five Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members have each been convicted of violent crimes including aggravated murder, first and second-degree murder, and rape. The sixth inmate is serving a sentence for second-degree murder and is a confirmed member of the Sureno 13 gang and is from the United States. Two officers suffered serious injuries and were admitted to a local hospital. They are reported to be in stable condition. In all, five officers were injured in the attack and required medical attention outside the facility, according to VADOC.

USA Today [5/4/2025 11:45 AM, Michael Collins, 75858K] reports it was a good day for Sovereignty, a bad day for Journalism and a day of celebration for members of the Trump administration. Two of President Donald Trump’s top aides cheered when Sovereignty rallied down the stretch and beat the favorite, Journalism, to win the 151st Kentucky Derby. "In the Trump administration, Sovereignty will ALWAYS win," Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security adviser, wrote on X. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News personality who has feuded with the press amid reports that he shared sensitive military information through an unsecured channel, offered his own commentary on the Derby finish. "Sovereignty > Journalism," he tweeted. "On the track. And in 2025 America.” Neither Miller nor Hegseth mentioned an important detail: Junior Alvarado, the jockey who rode Sovereignty to victory, is from Venezuela. Alvarado’s win comes as the Trump administration has zeroed in on many Venezuelan migrants in the United States. He notched the victory just two days after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene in its bid to strip temporary protected status for more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants, a move that would clear the way for their deportation. The jockey moved to the United States in 2007, before former President Joe Biden designated Venezuelans eligible for temporary protected status. The Justice Department asked the justices to put on hold a federal judge’s order that halted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the temporary legal status previously granted to some Venezuelans.

NewsNation [5/5/2025 1:48 AM, Colleen Guerry, Andy Cordan, 6866K] reports that, on a cold day in 2022, Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled over a van with a number of other people inside. The driver was identified as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father whose deportation to El Salvador has garnered national attention. The Salvadoran native reportedly fled to the U.S. when he was 16 and lived in Maryland for roughly 14 years, but he was deported in March to an El Salvador prison over a 2019 accusation that he was in the MS-13 gang. According to the Associated Press, police in Maryland identified Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 member based on his tattoos, clothing, and the word of a criminal informant, but his lawyers said the informant claimed Abrego Garcia was in an MS-13 chapter in New York, where he’s never lived. The Trump administration initially indicated in court documents that the deportation was due to an "administrative error." Since then, both a federal judge and the Supreme Court have ruled that the administration must "facilitate" his return, with a federal appeals court declining to lift the federal judge’s order. In an Oval Office interview with ABC News earlier this week, President Donald Trump acknowledged that he could call El Salvador’s president and have Abrego Garcia sent back, but then he said, "If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that, but he’s not.” Through a Freedom of Information Act request, NewsNation affiliate WKRN received a copy of the body camera footage dated Nov. 30, 2022, of the traffic stop, which the Department of Homeland Security previously said took place on Dec. 1, 2022, along Interstate 40 near Cookeville. Authorities asked about the number of seats in the SUV, with one trooper saying he’d never seen a Suburban with four rows of seats. Law enforcement also mentioned that Abrego Garcia had $1,400 cash in an envelope in his pocket. Near the end of the stop, troopers talked to other passengers. Not only was there an obvious language barrier, but nobody had IDs. THP told News 2 they contacted both the FBI and Homeland Security during the stop. However, neither federal agency responded to the scene. According to the Homeland Security report, since there were no violations or crimes committed, the vehicle and all its passengers were released. THP sent News 2 the following statement about the incident: "The THP complied fully with applicable law and coordinated with the appropriate federal authorities.”

CNN [5/5/2025 12:01 AM, Patrick Oppmann, 22131K] reports in a dilapidated home on the outskirts of Havana, Heidy Sánchez shows off photos from a past life. She flips though images on her iPhone of visits to Sea World with her husband and 17-month-old daughter and the couple dressing up in Santa attire for Christmas. “I don’t know if it was the American dream,” Sánchez said. “But it was my dream, my family.” That dream and family were ripped away in late April when Sánchez was deported from Florida to her native Cuba, even though both her daughter and husband are US citizens. Sánchez crossed into the US from Mexico in 2019 when the first Trump administration required asylum seekers to wait on the other side of the border for immigration appointments as part of the “Remain in Mexico” program. But Claudia said threats from cartels, which often target Cubans for kidnappings and extortion, prevented her from making her appointment. When she finally did cross the border again she told immigration agents her life was at risk in Mexico and she was allowed to stay. After nine months in immigration custody, she was released and able to join her family in Tampa. Sánchez maintains she hardly fits the stereotype of the dangerous undocumented immigrants that the Trump administration says it is taking off US streets. “I never had so much as a ticket,” she said. Still, with the immigration hearing she had missed in 2019 and the changing political fortunes for Cuban immigrants who previously had residency in the US all but guaranteed, Sánchez’s time in the US was running out. In April, Sánchez was contacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that an appointment she had with officers was being moved up to the next day. Still, her attorneys told her it was likely a routine check-in. Instead, when she showed up for the appointment with her daughter Kailyn and an attorney, ICE agents told her she was being taken into custody and to hand over her daughter to relatives. “I told them, ‘don’t take away my daughter,’” Sánchez told CNN. “They never said if I could take her or not with me.” In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security denied Sánchez and her attorney’s accounts that she was not given the option to take her daughter with her. “We take our responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “The Trump administration is giving parents in this country illegally the opportunity to self deport and take control of their departure process with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream,” the statement continued. Sánchez’s attorney said they tried to stop her deportation by arguing that her removal would hurt her daughter, who she was breast feeding and has suffered seizures. But two days later, as Sánchez’s attorneys were requesting a hearing in the case, she was already in the air on a deportation flight to Havana.

AP [5/5/2025 3:07 AM, Sarah Raza, 48304K] reports Dakota State University hasn’t experienced the student protests taking place at other U.S. colleges. Nestled in rural South Dakota, most of the nearly 4,000 students have been focused on their studies or job hunts, avoiding politics and partisan groups. Until now. The university administration decided to award an honorary doctorate to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and invited her to give a commencement speech May 10, bringing politics to the campus. In response, students have planned a rally on graduation day opposing the former South Dakota governor and the Trump administration and expect protestors from across southeast South Dakota to join them. They want to speak out against the federal government’s immigration policies, which are being implemented with Noem’s oversight, on behalf of peers who fear for their legal status. They also are expected to protest Noem’s anti-LGBT actions during her time as governor. Some students and faculty also said they thought the honorary degree was too high an honor to bestow upon her. Among DSU students, many are unsure if they should join the objections or stay quiet to avoid the kind of punishments suffered by students at more outspoken colleges. “The atmosphere is tense,” humanities instructor Daniel Spencer said. “Students are afraid of making their voices heard.” Students studying in its renowned cybersecurity program have traditionally been hesitant to take political stances because they fear potential blowback when they later seek government and private sector jobs. DSU’s location in Madison, a small town about an hour’s drive northwest of Sioux Falls, also is a factor.

Newsweek [5/4/2025 9:01 PM, Billal Rahman] reports that a Colorado sheriff accused President Donald Trump’s administration of using "intimidation" to force police to work with federal immigration authorities. On April 28, Trump signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions "that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws." "This executive order is an attempt to federalize, by intimidation, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office to do the current administration’s bidding on their political cause of the day," San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters said in a statement on Friday. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in a Sunday statement that "in the Sheriff’s own home state of Colorado, the vicious gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) took over an entire apartment complex and terrorized members of the community." Trump, who has vowed to carry out the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history, has pledged to deploy state and federal law enforcement agencies to assist his plans. Under the 287(g) program, law enforcement agencies are authorized to question and detain individuals suspected of violating immigration laws. Local police officers who are deputized through agreements such as the 287(g) program are granted authority to enforce federal immigration laws. These partnerships facilitate direct collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, often resulting in more coordinated enforcement actions and immigration sweeps within communities. The Department of Justice said on Friday that it had filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado, the city of Denver and specific officials it alleged enforced "sanctuary laws" that hindered federal immigration efforts. Denver’s mayor and Colorado’s governor have denied the existence of such laws. "I strongly support the investigation of and arrest of all persons, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, who commit serious crimes. Over the past 50 years, I have arrested dozens of undocumented persons and at times their human smugglers, sometimes by the van load," Masters said. He added that the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with federal law enforcement partners in accordance with the limits set by Colorado law. The president’s new order calls for pursuing "all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures" against jurisdictions that continue to oppose the administration’s immigration crackdown. The order maintains that federal immigration laws supersede state legislation, arguing that continued resistance from state and local authorities on immigration matters could jeopardize national security and potentially violate federal law. Jurisdictions found to be noncompliant may face the loss of federal funding and contracts. However, legal challenges have curtailed the administration’s efforts to strip funding from sanctuary cities. In recent years, federal courts have consistently ruled against attempts to penalize jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. McLaughlin told Newsweek in a Sunday statement: "TdA and these criminal illegal alien gangs perpetrate human and sex trafficking of innocents, funnel deadly drugs into our communities and kill Americans for sport. Why is Sheriff Bill Master protecting these criminal alien gang members?" "President Trump and Secretary Noem will continue to stand up for those who have been victimized by sanctuary city polices," McLaughlin said.

Breitbart [5/4/2025 8:01 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2923K] reports the Trump administration has sued the state of Colorado and the city of Denver for interfering in federal immigration enforcement. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, notes that "the United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters," and accuses state and city officials of violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by trying to prevent federal agencies from performing their rightful duties, the Associated Press reported. The lawsuit states that "sanctuary" policies pushed by state and local authorities have led to the interference. Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) also blasted Colorado for allowing members of the dangerous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to take hold of an apartment complex in Aurora, a suburb of Denver. Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) is named as one of the defendants in the DOJ lawsuit, along with the state legislature, Denver’s Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston, and the state’s Democrat Attorney General Phil Weiser. Polis’s office said it would follow the law but would not bend just because of the lawsuit. "If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid then we will follow the ruling," a Polis spokesman said. "We are not going to comment on the merits of the lawsuit.” The governor’s office refutes claims that Colorado is a sanctuary state. "Colorado is not a sanctuary state," Eric Maruyama, a spokesperson for Polis, said in a written statement, according to Colorado Public Radio. "The State of Colorado works with local, state and federal law enforcement regularly and we value our partnerships with local, county and federal law enforcement agencies to make Colorado safer. If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid, then we will follow the ruling. We are not going to comment on the merits of the lawsuit," Maruyama added. "Denver will not be bullied or blackmailed, least of all by an administration that has little regard for the law and even less for the truth. We follow all laws local, state, and federal and stand ready to defend our values," said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Johnston, in a statement.

FOX News [5/5/2025 2:28 AM, Landon Mion, 46189K] reports the Department of Justice sued the state of Colorado and the city of Denver for allegedly interfering with federal immigration enforcement. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Colorado District Court, accuses the state and its most populous city of implementing "sanctuary laws" in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. "The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters," the lawsuit reads. Sanctuary cities refer to areas that seek to protect migrants without legal status and that have limited cooperation with federal officials to enforce immigration laws. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement enforces federal immigration laws across the country but solicits support from state and local officials, particularly for large-scale deportations. The agency also asks police departments and sheriff’s offices to flag migrants it wants to deport and hold them until federal agents can take custody. The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits challenging "sanctuary policies" in Rochester, New York, and Chicago. Attorneys for the department argue Colorado’s "sanctuary policies" allowed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) to seize control of an apartment complex in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Local officials have described President Donald Trump’s claims that the gang had taken over large areas of the city as exaggerated, but admitted that the apartment complex was terrorized, including by people with links to TdA. The lawsuit in Colorado lists the defendants as Gov. Jared Polis, the state Legislature, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Polis’ office said Colorado is not a sanctuary state and regularly works with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. "If the courts say that any Colorado law is not valid then we will follow the ruling," spokesperson Conor Cahill told The Associated Press. "We are not going to comment on the merits of the lawsuit.” Republicans in Congress have attempted to pressure officials in Democratic-led cities to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which include promises of mass deportations. The GOP lawmakers summoned the mayors of Denver, Boston, New York City and Chicago to testify last month before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. However, the mayors pushed back and defended their cities as welcoming places and not lawless danger zones. The mayors also called on Congress to pass immigration reform.

The New York Times [5/4/2025 9:34 PM, Maggie Haberman, 145325K] reports President Trump confirmed on Sunday that he had pressed Mexico’s president to let U.S. troops into the country to help fight drug cartels, an idea she summarily rejected. Mr. Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One from Palm Beach, Fla., to Washington that it was “true” he had made the push with President Claudia Sheinbaum. The proposal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week, came at the end of a lengthy phone call between the two leaders on April 16, The Journal said. Ms. Sheinbaum has also confirmed that Mr. Trump made the suggestion, and that she rejected it. Mexico and the United States can “collaborate,” she recalled telling him, but “with you in your territory and us in ours.” Mr. Trump said he proposed the idea because the cartels “are horrible people that have been killing people left and right and have been — they’ve made a fortune on selling drugs and destroying our people." He said, “If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it. I told her that. I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country. They’re evil.” He said, “The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.” Mr. Trump has had a better working relationship with Ms. Sheinbaum than with Canada’s leaders. But the relationships with both neighboring countries have been strained over trade and immigration. Reuters [5/4/2025 11:47 PM, Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward, 41523K] reports Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida, said he had made the offer because the drug cartels were "horrible people" who had caused thousands of deaths. "If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, I would be honored to go in and do it," he said. Asked if he was disappointed that Sheinbaum had turned down the offer, Trump said, "I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight." Sheinbaum on Saturday she had rejected Trump’s offer because "sovereignty is not for sale." Her comments came in response to questions about a Wall Street Journal report published on May 2 that said Trump was pressuring Mexico to allow deeper U.S. military involvement against drug cartels to combat trafficking across the shared border. Sheinbaum said the two countries could collaborate, but Mexico would "never accept the presence of the United States military in our territory." A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) told Reuters on Saturday that Trump had been clear that Mexico needed to do more to combat gangs and cartels engaged in drug trafficking, and the U.S. stood ready to assist. Trump has said publicly the U.S. would take unilateral military action if Mexico failed to dismantle drug cartels. The two leaders have had several calls in recent months to discuss security issues, trade and immigration.

AP [5/4/2025 10:09 PM, Aamer Madhani, 48304K] reports President Donald Trump on Sunday said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help thwart the illegal drug trade because she is fearful of the country’s powerful cartels. The comments by Trump came a day after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressed her in a call last month to accept a bigger role for the U.S. military in combating drug cartels in Mexico. Trump said it was “true” that he proposed sending the troops to Mexico and lashed into Sheinbaum for dismissing the idea. “Well she’s so afraid of the cartels she can’t walk, so you know that’s the reason,” Trump said in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.” The U.S. military presence along the southern border with Mexico has increased steadily in recent months, following Trump’s order in January to increase the army’s role in stemming the flow of migrants. The U.S. Northern Command has surged troops and equipment to the border, increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border and sought expanded authority for U.S. Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces conducting operations against cartels. But Sheinbaum said that U.S. troops operating inside Mexico was going too far. “He said, ‘How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States military come in and help you.’ And you know what I said to him? ‘No, President Trump,’” she said on Saturday. “Sovereignty is not for sale. Sovereignty is loved and defended.” She added that she told Trump their two countries “can work together, but you in your territory and us in ours.” Trump in February designated as “foreign terrorist organizations” many gangs and cartels smuggling drugs into the U.S. , restricting their movements and lending law enforcement more resources to act against them.

NewsMax [5/4/2025 8:52 PM, Aamer Madhani, 4998K] reports President Donald Trump on Sunday said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help thwart the illegal drug trade because she is fearful of the country’s powerful cartels. The comments by Trump came a day after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressed her in a call last month to accept a bigger role for the U.S. military in combating drug cartels in Mexico. Trump said it was "true" that he proposed sending the troops to Mexico and lashed into Sheinbaum for dismissing the idea. "Well she’s so afraid of the cartels she can’t walk, so you know that’s the reason," Trump said in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. "And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.” The U.S. military presence along the southern border with Mexico has increased steadily in recent months, following Trump’s order in January to increase the army’s role in stemming the flow of migrants. The U.S. Northern Command has surged troops and equipment to the border, increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border and sought expanded authority for U.S. Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces conducting operations against cartels. But Sheinbaum said that U.S. troops operating inside Mexico was going too far. "We can work together, but you in your territory and us in ours," Sheinbaum said she told Trump. Trump in February designated as "foreign terrorist organizations" many gangs and cartels smuggling drugs into the U.S. , restricting their movements and lending law enforcement more resources to act against them. But Sheinbaum’s stance — and Trump’s response — suggest that U.S. pressure for unilateral military intervention could create tension between the two leaders after cooperation on immigration and trade in the early going of Trump’s second term. Trump said the U.S. military is needed to stem the scourge of fentanyl in the United States. "They are bad news," Trump said of the cartels. "If Mexico wanted help with the cartels we would be honored to go in and do it. I told her that. I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country.”

The Hill [5/4/2025 10:50 PM, Tara Suter, 12829K] reports President Trump on Sunday confirmed he offered to send troops into Mexico, but said the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is terrified of the cartels. A day earlier, Sheinbaum had said that she rejected an offer from Trump for American troops to be shipped south of the border for the purpose of combating drug trafficking. "And do you know what I told him? No, President Trump," she said. "The territory cannot be violated. Sovereignty cannot be sold. Sovereignty is cherished and defended.” Republicans have long floated the idea of U.S. military intervention in Mexican territory, a suggestion vehemently rejected by multiple Mexican administrations. In February, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise by designating several Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. Members of his administration have also talked about potential drone strikes on the groups. "Mexico is saying that I offered to send U.S. troops into Mexico to take care of the cartel, she wants to know, is that true?" he said back to a reporter Sunday on Air Force One, later adding that "it’s true.” Trump said that Sheinbaum is "so afraid of the cartel she can’t walk," but added that he believes the Mexican president is "a lovely woman.” "She is so afraid of the cartels she can’t even think straight," he added. The Hill has reached out the Mexican government for a response. Sheinbaum on Saturday had said that U.S. military action inside Mexico is both unacceptable and "not necessary.” "We can collaborate. We can work together. But you in your territory and us in ours. We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States Army in our territory," she said. Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Mexico earlier in the year over an argument that is not doing enough to stop fentanyl from coming into the U.S. However, a significant amount of goods covered under a prior trade agreement are exempted from the levies.

Reported similarly:
Univision [5/4/2025 9:11 PM, Staff, 5325K]

CBS News [5/4/2025 2:50 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports a mayor from a western Mexico town was arrested as part of a probe into a suspected drug cartel training camp where human bones and clothing were found, a federal official said. Teuchitlán Mayor José Murguía Santiago was arrested as part of an investigation by government prosecutors into probable omissions or complicity of authorities with the Jalisco New Generation cartel, a federal source told AFP on Saturday. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Murguía was arrested late Saturday afternoon, according to federal arrest records. The cartel, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says has some 19,000 in its ranks, developed rapidly into an extremely violent and capable force after it split from the Sinaloa cartel following the 2010 killing of Sinaloa cartel capo Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villarreal by the military. The "ranch of horror," as some local media called it, in the Izaguirre Ranch in Teuchitlán in the western state of Jalisco was first discovered in September 2024. Six months later, people searching for missing relatives found clothing and human remains, raising questions about the initial investigation, including a failure to search the site thoroughly. Human Rights Watch called it an "apparent mass killing site."

New York Times [5/5/2025 3:25 AM, Paulina Villegas, 330K] reports a restless crowd of people under a blazing morning sun pressed up to an immigration official in a remote corner of Mexico, each person begging to get on a flight out. They were not trying to get to the United States, as many of them had hoped to not long ago. Now they were trying to get back to Venezuela — or simply escape this town — if only they had the passports, paperwork or the means to leave. There are at least 3,000 Venezuelans stranded in Tapachula, a sweltering city near the southernmost point of Mexico that was once a gateway for migrants entering from Guatemala. Not long ago, thousands trudged through its streets, overflowing shelters and sleeping in courtyards, parks and plazas. But the city has grown still. Shelters sit empty. Parks where families had crowded lie deserted. Now, the movement is in reverse. One by one, people board buses, retrace their steps by foot, or float back across the Suchiate River — back to Guatemala, and to their native countries. They are part of a growing wave of reverse migration: People who, in the face of President Trump’s hard-line policies, have made the painful choice to return to the countries they once fled — places scarred by violence, poverty and climate change — abandoning, at least for now, their dreams of a better life. The thousands who remain in Tapachula lack the paperwork or resources to do anything but wait. Mexico’s immigration restrictions, adopted under pressure from the Biden and Trump administrations, bar them from even leaving the city, and they cannot easily get back to Venezuela, either. “We are trapped here,” said Patricia Marval, 23, a Venezuelan who is eight months pregnant and struggling to care for three children in a one-room, cinder-block shack. Every day, her partner tries to scrape together a few pesos in a carpenter’s shop — just enough for rice and tortillas, but never enough for diapers for their 1-year-old, Siena. Some nights, hunger claws at them in their sleep, she said. The despair is so crushing that Ms. Marval said she has even considered asking a neighbor to take one of the children, so they could at least eat three times a day. “If I could leave one of them, I would,” she said, sobbing. “But I just can’t.” There are around 8,000 to 10,000 migrants in similar straits scattered across the southern state of Chiapas, according to Eduardo Castillejos, under secretary of a state government agency handling migrant affairs along the southern border. Most are from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti, and had intended to reach the United States.

Breitbart [5/5/2025 3:49 AM, Neil Munro, 2923K] reports roughly 9,000 migrants are stuck penniless in southern Mexico after being lured north by the Biden-era Democrats, who claimed to be saving poor migrants from poverty. "We are trapped here," in the city of Tapachula, Mexico, said Patricia Marval, 23, a Venezuelan who is heavily pregnant and caring for three children in a one-room shack. New York Times reported: The despair is so crushing that Ms. Marval said she has even considered asking a neighbor to take one of the children, so they could at least eat three times a day. "If I could leave one of them, I would," she said, sobbing. "But I just can’t.” Marval and millions of other migrants left Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, and many other poor but safe countries because President Joe Biden’s pro-migration border chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, dangled the promise of an American life by opening up many loopholes in the nation’s border laws. Democrats insisted their invited migration was caused by crime, poverty, hunger, and famine in the migrants’ countries. But many thousands of migrants died on the Mayorkas migration, and many more were raped and robbed. Highway Chase Ends in Illegal Immigrants Swimming Back to Mexico. An army of roughly nine million poor migrants made it across the Democrats’ border before U.S. citizens elected Donald Trump to enforce the nation’s popular immigration laws. Once Trump restarted enforcement, many of Mayorkas’ migrants were caught on the road, halfway between home-country poverty and a legally closed U.S. border. Mayorkas and his staff have fled their D.C. government jobs and driven back to their homes in Virginia and Maryland. But their discarded migrants have little or no money left to return to their homes. Venezuelans "are the most desperate to leave — and who face the steepest obstacles," said Eduardo Castillejos, under secretary of a Mexican state government that is trying to deal with Mayorkas’ misery in Tapachula. Without money and visas, "these people have simply run out of alternatives … They are facing a very dark situation," said Castillejos. So far, neither Mayorkas nor the many pro-migration lawyers and aid groups have stepped forward to rescue the people whom they pulled onto the road with their pro-migration promises, funding, declarations, and welcoming policies. Democrats and progressives spent many millions of their dollars touting their pro-migration policies — plus at least $10 billion in taxpayer funds to help migrants travel from South America into Americans’ jobs, homes, and communities. Moreover, the mass migration and brain drain further wrecked economic development in Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and many other countries. For example, Mayorkas extracted many of the young people who are needed to attract economic investment and trade in the poor countries, even as he justified the siphoning as fuel for the U.S. economy.

CNN [5/4/2025 5:51 PM, Max Saltman and Gustavo Valdes, 22131K] reports it’s Saturday night at a rooftop bar in downtown Atlanta, and the band Orden Activa is about to launch into a Mexican ballad. What seemed like a shy and reserved audience suddenly transforms as the opening chords of the trotting polka begin. The crowd rises to its feet and sings in Spanish as the dance floor dissolves into a sea of cowboy hats: “I’m the ruler of the roosters. Of the Jalisco cartel. I’ve got fighting cocks. Who duel for my crew.” With their gently bobbing heads, matching leather jackets and knowing smiles, their act hardly screams controversy – or at least not to the casual observer. Yet last month, a group that sang the very same song – “El del Palenque” (“He of the Cockfighting Arena”) – was barred from the United States in an unprecedented move that critics say raises troubling questions about free speech in America. Their transgression, according to the State Department? “Glorifying (a) drug kingpin.” The song is a narcocorrido: a ballad about the drug trafficking underworld. The band that wrote it – Los Alegres del Barranco – landed in hot water with both US and Mexican authorities recently when they performed the tune in the Mexican city of Zapopan. That performance, in which the group sang about the exploits of El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, in front of a cartoon portrait of him, not only ended the band’s plans for a US tour but left them the subject of a criminal investigation on their home turf. As one of six Mexican drug cartels the Trump administration has declared Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the Jalisco cartel is at the center of growing US-Mexico tensions over cross-border crime. Authorities in both countries took exception when video of the concert went viral. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC’s Meet the Press [5/4/2025 12:06 PM, Staff] reports in his first 100 days in office, President Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders and has focused on everything from the border to tariffs to foreign policy. He has pushed the limits of his executive power, clashed with courts and disrupted the global world order. The biggest issue for voters was the economy and today there were new numbers, better than expected job numbers. At the same time, the economy shrank in the first quarter. President Trump has been arguing all week that this is President Biden’s economy. President Trump is asked, "Is this now your economy. "I think certain aspects of it are. Costs are. I was able to get down the costs. But even that, it takes a while to get them down, but we got them down good. We lost 5 to 6 billion dollars a day with Biden. Five to 6 billion. And I’ve got that down to a great number right now in a very – in a record time. You know, we’re talking about 100 days. But just think of what that is. Five billion dollars a day we’re losing on trade. And we were very tough with China, as you know. We put 145% tariff on. Nobody’s ever heard of such a thing. And we’ve essentially cut off trade relationships by putting that much of a tariff on. And that’s okay. We’ve gone cold turkey. That means that we’re not losing. You know, we lost a trillion dollars to China. A trillion dollars. That means we’re not losing a trillion dollars when we go cold turkey because we’re not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We’ll see how that all turns out, but it’s got to be a fair deal." President Trump states. Trump is asked, when does it become Trump economy? "It partially is right now. And I really mean this. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job." Trump comments. The stock market as since gone up due to the recent implementation of tariffs. Trump says he takes responsibility, but when they drop will he claim the same? Trump had this to say, "Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything. But I’ve only just been here for a little more than three months. But the stock market, look at what’s happened in the last short period of time. Didn’t it have nine or ten days in a row, or 11 days, where it’s gone up? And the tariffs have just started kicking in. And we’re doing really well. Psychologically, I mean, the fake news was giving me such press on the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country."

NBC’s Meet the Press [5/4/2025 12:06 PM, Staff] reports China has been making a number of public statements. Most recently, they said before talks could happen, the U.S. would need to remove unilateral tariffs. May 2nd, Chinese Commerce Ministry, "If the U.S. wants to negotiate, it should show sincerity by preparing to take actions in correcting its mistakes and canceling the unilateral tariffs." President Trump said that today China say they wanted to talk. " I don’t like this. I’m not happy about this. China’s getting killed right now. They’re getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I’m not looking to do that to China. Now, at the same time, I’m not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more army tanks and more airplanes," Trump states. Hostess Welker asks for clarification, "So you’re not prepared – just to be very clear, you’re not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table?" President Trump asks "why would I do that?" then proceeds to say, "At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them. And they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing."

NBC’s Meet the Press [5/4/2025 12:06 PM, Staff] reports President Trump vowed during the campaign to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in his first few months in office, President Trump is clashing with the courts as he executes his plans. Border crossings are at their lowest level ever recorded. Is the border now secure? Trump says it is, but is it absolutely secure? "Isn’t that good, though? When you say that, doesn’t that just sound good? After being abused for years by an incompetent president that allowed people to pour through an open border, criminals from all over the world, murderers and insane people from mental institutions and insane asylums, isn’t it – isn’t it a beautiful thing when you say, "It’s the most secure it’s ever been in the history of our country.” Isn’t that a nice statement?" President Trump states. The border crisis was declared an national emergency. With the border now being secure, is there still a need for that order? "The border now is not the emergency. The border is – it’s all part of the same thing though. The big emergency right now is that we have thousands of people that we want to take out, and we have some judges that want everybody to go to court," President Trump comments. Will President Trump lift the emergency order anytime soon now that the border is secure, he shares this: "No, no, no. We have an emergency. We have a massive emergency overall. It’s an overall emergency on immigration. And the – if the courts don’t allow us to take people out, if we had to have a court case every single – think of it. Every single person has millions of people. If you have millions of court cases, figure two weeks a court case, it would be 300 years."

NBC’s Meet the Press [5/4/2025 12:06 PM, Staff] reports last month, President Trump directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to review two people who he perceive to be his political adversaries. And yet, in December he told NBC’s Meet the Press hostess Kristen Welker that he would not direct the Justice Department to investigate his political foes. What changed? "Well, no. I just look at people – and I’m not directing anybody. They looked at these two people. They might have known it or they might have heard it from two years ago. One person said, "He knew me so well," he was I think on CNN or MSDNC, but they’re both failing networks, you’re happy to know. Even though one of them I guess is related to you in one form or another, although, they’re trying to cut them loose as fast as possible. But the – it was well-known that this one person, it was almost like he was my brother. I don’t even know who he is. Maybe he was there. Maybe he was in the Oval Office a few times as a surrogate for somebody in some form of government, along with 25 other people that sat in the back of the room or stood in the back of the room. I have no idea who this guy is. And he’s out there and then he did a book called “Anonymous.” Did a book called “Anonymous.” I think that’s really subversion. I think it’s spying, it’s something. It’s something really bad," President Trump comments. Despite the executive order calling for his attorney general to investigate, Trump says that he think’s that person was being looked at for a long time.

CBS’ Face The Nation [5/4/2025 11:48 AM, Staff, 4201K] reports "Somebody said, oh, the shelves are going to be open. Well, maybe the children will have two dolls, instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally," states President Trump. He’s acknowledging less supply, higher prices. Republican Congressman Mike Turner is asked "Do your constituents back in Ohio really want to hear the message that they need fewer Christmas presents this year?" Congressman Turner comments, "Well, I think there’s going to be a lot that has to be shaken out here. And we certainly are seeing, I think, some reaction now in China also that means that the president’s goal is that these nations, that – of which he’s putting tariffs on the table and tariffs, which are a punishment for having behaved poorly, taking advantage of the United States economically, will come to the table and negotiate better economic deals than the United States has been experiencing. Those deals are beginning to be offered. The White House is beginning to negotiate those. China is beginning to signal that they’re willing to come to the table. So, even though the president is making those statements, at the same time, we’re seeing that the president taking that step of saying we want a better economic deal is beginning to work." In the meantime, China said it may restrict exports of materials used by General Dynamics, which makes tanks, including in Turner’s state of Ohio. Is Turner concerned that the trade war won’t just impact people’s purchasing of toys, but preparedness, tanks, and military readiness? "I think we’re all concerned of the effects on the supply chain. And certainly, we have got to make certain that this works through the entire processes and that we are concerned on the effects of the economy. I think the president’s going to be looking at that. Congress is going to be looking at that. But the real concern here is that we do have to look long term as to how this protects our overall economy," Turner states.

CBS’ Face The Nation [5/4/2025 11:48 AM, Staff, 4201K] reports Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth voted to confirm Secretary Rubio. With Rubios new roles does Senator Duckworth have confidence that he can juggle all four of the jobs that he now has for an indefinite period of time? "No. There’s no way he can do that and do it well, especially since there’s such incompetence over at DOD with Pete Hegseth being secretary of defense, and just the hollowing out of the top leadership. There’s no way he can carry all that entire load on his own. And so I do think that they need to find a new secretary of defense. They need to find a new NSA – head of NSA as quickly as possible, " comments Duckworth. Chief of staff has said she believes all the Cabinet secretaries will serve a full year. Senator Duckworth is asked if she thinks Secretary Hegseth could actually be dismissed? Duckworth says that Hegseth should be dismissed. "Whether or not President Trump’s going to dismiss him is a whole different conversation. He should never have been nominated in the first place. He is the most untrained, inadequate secretary of defense in our nation’s history. And look at what he’s done at the Pentagon. It’s in turmoil. He lost his top staffers within a matter of days. He’s now put classified information an unclassified chain, and he’s put on our nation’s national security at risk." Duckworth states.

FOX News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo [5/4/2025 12:06 PM, Staff] reports Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., discusses all things President Donald Trump’s agenda, including the budget reconciliation, spending cuts and the impact of tariffs.

FOX News Sunday [5/4/2025 12:06 PM, Staff] reports House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., joins ‘Fox News Sunday’ to discuss Mike Waltz’s move from National Security advisor to U.N. ambassador, President Donald Trump working to end the war in Ukraine and border security.

Axios [5/4/2025 9:01 AM, Sareen Habeshian, 13163K] reports the Trump administration is tapping multiple agencies for a whole-of-government campaign to achieve its goal of deporting millions. Controversial tactics — ensnaring even legal U.S. residents and citizens — have raised alarm and triggered court battles over executive power. The administration’s playbook pulls several levers within the government beyond the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Truthout [5/4/2025 9:07 AM, Mike Lugwig, 457K] reports the Trump administration has created a human rights crisis with its draconian, made-for-TV campaign of mass deportation. As arrests ramp up across the country, three people died inside immigration jails and detention centers in April alone, bringing the total number of people to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since Trump returned to office to at least seven, according to the Detention Watch Network and media reports. Multiple studies by physicians and human rights groups have shown that dozens of people have died preventable deaths in jails and prisons run by ICE and its contractors in the past, and advocates say conditions are rapidly deteriorating as the Trump administration packs facilities as part of his war on immigrants. Facing an outpouring of complaints, the Trump administration shut down three civil rights and oversight offices at the DHS that are charged with investigating such claims. “Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

FOX News [5/4/2025 8:23 AM, Stephen Sorace, 46189K] reports a college admissions worker in Boston was arrested Friday after he was accused of offering $400 to a 17-year-old prospective student in exchange for sex, federal officials said. Jacob Henriques, 29, used his position as an assistant admissions director at Emmanuel College to gain access to the personal information of at least four potential students before contacting them, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts alleged. Henriques met with at least three such students on April 25. He is accused of contacting them afterward with offers to "pay them for some fun," along with offering them and sending them pornography, officials said. Henriques contacted a fourth victim after she formally committed to attending the school on April 25, the attorney’s office said. He allegedly offered to pay her for "some fun" before sending her pornographic videos. Henriques contacted one prospective student, a 17-year-old high school girl, within hours of finishing a tour of the college on or about April 25, federal officials said. Henriques allegedly used the phone number the girl provided on her admissions form to text her with offers to pay her $400 for "some fun" and said he could send her pornography. The 29-year-old continued to text the girl that night, refusing to identify himself or tell her how he obtained her phone number, according to officials.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [5/4/2025 3:05 PM, Viola Flowers and Insiya Gandhi, 44742K]

ABC News [5/4/2025 1:37 PM, Staff, 34586K] reports Combs, 55, is scheduled to stand trial on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and prostitution [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [5/4/2025 9:55 PM, Doha Madani and Dennis Romero, 44742K] reports a Guatemalan woman who gave birth to an American baby less than a week ago is being held along with her newborn as she faces deportation, U.S. officials said. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Sunday that the woman was apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol agents and hospitalized after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally while she was eight months pregnant. She gave birth in the hospital "under supervision," the spokesperson said. She was discharged by the medical staff and transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as she awaits a court date, the spokesperson added. A CBP spokesperson said in a separate statement Saturday that the woman "illegally crossed into the United States from Mexico between ports of entry near Tres Bellotas Ranch" in Arizona last week. The location is on federal land just north of the U.S.-Mexico border along a desolate stretch of the Sonoran Desert about 72 miles south-southwest of Tucson. Following hospitalization, the CBP spokesperson said, "processing" was completed and the unnamed mother was given a notice to appear before an immigration judge. Upon completion of the processing, the spokesperson said, she was given the opportunity to contact a lawyer. "This morning, custody of the woman was transferred to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations with a court date to appear before an immigration judge," the CBP spokesperson said Saturday. "The child remains with the mother." A lawyer for the woman, Luis Campos, told NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson on Friday that his client gave birth Wednesday and that he had been denied access to her during her time under hospital care at Tucson Medical Center. A spokesperson for the medical center did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. Reuters reported Saturday that the mother “avoided fast-track deportation after intervention by" Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who the publication said had intervened. “While Gov. Hobbs supports securing the border, she has been clear in her opposition to inhumane immigration enforcement practices," Hobbs’ spokesperson, Liliana Soto, said Friday on X. "The governor will continue fighting to protect the constitutional rights of every Arizonan and keep our communities safe.”

FOX News [5/4/2025 8:13 PM, Staff, 46189K] reports Acting ICE director Todd Lyons calls out a ‘false narrative’ about his agency after cities cancel their Cinco de Mayo celebrations and discusses ‘troubling’ security breaches on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’[Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Vanguard [5/4/2025 7:47 AM, David Greenwald, 7K] reports the Trump administration has filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from more than 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants currently shielded under a federal court order. The government’s application for a stay, filed late Wednesday, asks the Court to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from terminating the program. The case, National TPS Alliance v. Noem, challenges Secretary Noem’s January decision to end TPS for Venezuelans, a move advocates say was driven by racial animus and an unlawful interpretation of immigration statutes. The district court agreed, ruling that the termination likely violated federal law and constitutional protections, and temporarily barred the administration from implementing it. In its request for Supreme Court intervention, the government argues the lower court’s order “usurps executive authority” and risks setting a “dangerous precedent” by allowing courts to second-guess national immigration policy. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to issue a stay last month, clearing the way for the case to proceed while preserving TPS protections. The stakes are enormous. If the Supreme Court grants the stay, it would lift the lower court’s injunction and immediately expose thousands of Venezuelan TPS holders—many of whom arrived in 2023—to detention and deportation.

Washington Post [5/4/2025 1:00 AM, Karishma Mehrotra, 31735K] reports that in 2023, a recent college graduate from India was pulled over by police for driving without a license. It could now cost him his future in America. He had just earned his master’s degree from Lindsey Wilson College, in Kentucky, and was enrolled in the federal Optional Practical Training program (OPT), which allows international graduates to work in the United States. After paying a $1,200 fine for the infraction, he thought the matter was behind him. Two years later, the former student, now 28 and working as an engineer in Atlanta, was informed that his visa had been revoked and he could no longer stay in the country. “I came here legally and made one small mistake, but I am not a criminal,” said the engineer, who is from Hyderabad, a technology hub in southern India. Like others in this report, he spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing legal retaliation from U.S. authorities. “This government has really scared us,” he said. “We have no idea what they will do next.” As President Donald Trump has moved quickly to overhaul America’s immigration system, his administration terminated the legal status of thousands of international students — known as SEVIS records — and in some cases revoked their visas. In certain instances, the government has cited students’ past legal violations, some as minor as parking tickets, while in other cases no reason has been provided. After a wave of legal challenges, the Department of Homeland Security reversed course last month, saying it would restore SEVIS records. But the engineer, and others who have already lost their visas, say they remain in limbo. “Whenever an individual’s visa is revoked, he or she may reapply at one of our consulates or embassies overseas at any time,” the State Department press office said in a statement to The Washington Post. The United States hosts more than 300,000 students from India, more than from any other country; nearly 100,000 Indians are employed through the OPT program. Half of the 327 visa revocation cases tracked by the American Immigration Lawyers Association involved Indian nationals. The Post spoke to 10 Indian students who are studying in the United States or applying to American universities about how the crackdown has upended their lives and changed their plans. International students also have been targeted for their political views. About a dozen so far have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, an activity the administration says is tantamount to supporting terrorism. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live & study in the United States of America,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “When you break our laws and advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”

Telemundo51 [5/4/2025 4:42 PM, Alexis Boentes, 171K] reports a Cuban migrant who prefers to hide her identity, says that since she received a permit to work in the United States, she got a job and reported her income, paid taxes and maintains her family. "I hope the government understands that we are not all criminals and that we actually come to contribute to this country," he says. Both entered the US through the CBP One app, with a parole and a court date. By early April they received an email from the government demanding to leave the country immediately for which they should use the same application they entered - now called CBP Home - to process their self-deportation or voluntary departure. Imagine I came with a little boy and I can’t imagine my child’s future in Cuba. The beneficiaries of this program - including thousands of Cubans - have just received a further blow, the revocation of their work permits. There were previously laws that benefited Cubans, but now we are all even, even though there is a dictatorship in Cuba, we are in the same situation and with the same fear. Liudmila A. Marcelo, an immigration lawyer, explains that they were cancelled this type of parole and, since it does not remain in force, the work permit associated with him also loses its validity. Although there are options for applying for a new work permit, all take time. For example, through an application for political asylum it takes between 150 and 180 days to implement. One way or another these people will be left without permission, except those who have already completed their waiting time after an asylum application, or who arrived a year and one day and can ask for it next to their application to the permanent residence, by the Cuban adjustment law, explains the immigration lawyer.

Breitbart [5/4/2025 10:53 AM, Amy Furr, 2923K] reports four illegal aliens from Mexico are accused of being involved in an international human smuggling conspiracy linked to the Canadian border. The group of men have been living illegally in the United States and the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Public Affairs said on Friday that they brought other illegals over the Canadian Border to America after they were paid thousands of dollars. “Edgar Sanchez-Solis, 23, unlawfully residing in Kansas City, Kansas; Ignacio Diaz-Perez, 35, unlawfully residing in Oakwood, Georgia; Samuel Diaz-Perez, 26, unlawfully residing in Dublin, Ohio; and Salvador Diaz-Diaz, 32, unlawfully residing in Columbus, Ohio, were charged by indictment with conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States and 25 counts of bringing aliens illegally to the United States for profit,” federal authorities said, noting that officials had previously booted Ignacio Diaz-Perez and Salvador Diaz-Diaz from the U.S. Court papers said the group was involved in an alien smuggling organization that has been operating in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, smuggling hundreds of aliens every week from Mexico, Central America, and South America through Canada. Those being smuggled paid thousands of dollars for the journey.

NewsMax [5/4/2025 2:36 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K] reports President Donald Trump’s success rate on deportations does not come as a surprise, even with his actions coming with just 100 days in office, Art Del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Newsmax on Sunday. "I have had that question asked before and I can tell you sometimes the answer shocks people when I tell them I’m not surprised at all," Del Cueto, appearing on Newsmax’s "Sunday Agenda" with Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation, commented. "I worked with [Trump] and I saw what he was doing back in 2016 when he first got elected," Del Cueto added. "The first time the numbers dropped, just on his rhetoric. I knew what he was, you know, going to be doing, pushing forward. I knew he was going to have the right leadership in place.” Large mug shot images of criminal alients have been placed at the White House, and while Del Cueto said he’s happy with where the push against illegal immigration is going, he’s concerned that the "radical left" will use the publicity garnered by the photos to get some of those who have been deported returned. "The radical left is so desperate to import some of these guys back, maybe they’re going to be taking notes, trying to find them so they can bring them back again," he said. "That’s the only thing I was thinking, though. We know that some people aren’t happy.” Ries, meanwhile, pushed back against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who has compared the deportations to immigrants being sent, without due process, to "concentration camps.” "She needs to read the Immigration and Nationality Act, which Congress passed," said Ries. "The left is deliberately using words like due process because they are trying to confuse the public regarding criminal proceedings and civil proceedings. Immigration proceedings are not criminal. They are civil proceedings. If a judge issues your order of removal, that is not a criminal conviction, nor is it a criminal sentence to be deported. That is what the law states, and that is what the executive branch is carrying out, the laws that Congress passed.” Del Cueto also discussed a video that has been released, revealing the alleged background of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including claims that he abused his wife and was involved in human trafficking. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [5/4/2025 9:00 AM, Addy Bink, 12829K] reports after several delays, the REAL ID enforcement deadline is here. Starting Wednesday, you’ll need a compliant identification card to board a domestic flight and enter certain federal facilities. Enforcement of the ID requirement, which stems back to legislation passed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, officially begins on Wednesday, May 7. Before you schedule a trip to your DMV, check your wallet: you may already have a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or state identification card. Many states have been issuing compliant cards for years. If there is a star on your driver’s license or state ID card, you have a REAL ID-compliant card. The star may be black or gold, completely filled in or just the outline. Either way, you’re compliant. Some states — Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Vermont — issue REAL ID-compliant IDs and enhanced driver’s licenses (Washington only issues the latter). State-enhanced driver’s licenses are marked with a flag rather than a star and include a chip that can make it easier to enter the U.S. by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. REAL IDs cannot be used for crossing the borders.

NPR [5/5/2025 4:14 AM, A Martínez, 29983K] reports Starting Wednesday, the rules for flying within the U.S. will change as REAL ID rolls out. NPR’s A Martinez speaks with travel editor Clint Henderson of The Points Guy to bring us up to speed on it. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

The Mirror [5/4/2025 9:53 PM, Shannon Brown, 14500K] reports the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) system has been struggling to read some REAL ID-compliant identification. From May 7, the TSA has said it will be implementing REAL ID enforcement measures at all airport checkpoints, but some have reported delays stemming from issues with the system. According to reports, new driving licenses from New Hampshire, while valid, are not always able to be automatically verified by the TSA’s system, sparking delays at airports. Another traveler, who received their new Tennessee REAL ID said the airport security system has not recognized it as valid. This leads to delays while the IDs are manually checked.

FOX News [5/4/2025 11:00 AM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46189K] reports with the final REAL ID deadline looming this week, one House Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital he believes it’s an "unnecessary" burden on Americans. "I personally don’t support the REAL ID. I think that it’s unnecessary in keeping us safe," Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in an interview. The Missouri Republican said his state made it "very easy" for residents to comply with the coming May 7 deadline, though he suggested he didn’t agree with it. "I think that when you look at, you know, this was implemented from recommendations from the 9/11 Commission. But yet every one of the terrorists that were here had a passport. I mean, they had more than just a state ID. I don’t think any of them were operating on a state ID," Burlison said. "It’s once again government seeing an opportunity in making the lives of U.S. citizens more difficult.” REAL ID was created by law in 2005, but the federal government has delayed its implementation multiple times, most recently in 2022. But the Trump administration has made clear the current May 7 deadline is final. From then, a REAL ID will be needed for domestic airline travel — rather than a normal state-issued license — as well as in areas where federal identification is required. Having a REAL ID itself is not required, particularly if one has a U.S. passport. The Trump administration has argued that finally acting on REAL ID helps the White House’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, millions of whom have entered the country since President Donald Trump was last in office. When previously reached about the deadline by Fox News Digital, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said, "Beginning on May 7, passengers will need a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification to fly, like a passport or military ID. TSA is committed to enforcing the law, as directed by Congress.

USA Today [5/5/2025 3:00 AM, Zach Wichter, 75858K] reports one of the key provisions to the REAL ID law is that a compliant document establishes a person’s status as a lawful resident in the United States. In order to get a REAL ID-compliant identification document, applicants will have to provide their state ID issuer with proof of residence and proof of their lawful status in the U.S. That means undocumented immigrants will not be able to lawfully obtain a REAL ID-compliant document, but it doesn’t mean they will be completely ineligible to receive IDs from the state in which they live. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the REAL ID Act made a provision for this exact circumstance. "REAL ID allows compliant states to issue driver’s licenses and identification cards where the identity of the applicant cannot be assured or for whom lawful presence is not determined," the DHS website states. "In fact, some states currently issue noncompliant cards to undocumented individuals.” A REAL ID-compliant document will still be required for travel and accessing other facilities, but DHS guidance specifies that law enforcement officers and other officials should not assume a person is undocumented or in the U.S. illegitimately, even if they are unable to present a REAL ID-compliant document. "DHS cautions against assuming that possession of a noncompliant card indicates the holder is an undocumented individual, given that individuals may obtain noncompliant cards for many reasons unrelated to lawful presence," the DHS website states. "Possession of a noncompliant card does not indicate that the holder is an undocumented individual, given that individuals may obtain noncompliant cards for many reasons unrelated to lawful presence.” Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

CBS News [5/5/2025 4:42 AM, Lauren Linder, 52225K] reports changes to the TSA checkpoints at Pittsburgh International Airport are taking effect today. The changes come just days before the enforcement period for REAL ID begins and ahead of the summer travel season taking off. If you’re planning on flying out of Pittsburgh International, you’ll see the checkpoints will look a little different -- all part of an effort to speed up the process of getting through security, especially during the peak early-morning travel period. TSA says travel volume has increased tremendously in the past year and workers have tried to change configurations to improve efficiency and streamline the flow through security. Starting today, if you have TSA PreCheck, you’ll need to use the main checkpoint. If you don’t you’ll be required to go through screening at both the main and alternate checkpoints. Travelers without TSA PreCheck will be able to use both security checkpoints. People traveling at the airport will also see canine teams as part of the screening process. TSA says the use of the canine teams "are an important layer of security focused on identifying any passengers who may be carrying an explosive device."

NewsNation [5/4/2025 4:10 PM, Kenzie Hagood, Addy Bink, 6866K] reports the remains of a man reported missing after Hurricane Helene in September have been found in Tennessee, authorities confirmed. Human remains were found along the Nolichucky River in rural Washington County, about 90 miles east of Knoxville, on Thursday. On Saturday, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the remains are those of Steven Cloyd. “Crews clearing debris located the remains, and our Investigators worked with the medical examiner to identify Steve,” said Sheriff Keith Sexton. “WCSO continues to pray for the Cloyd family, and we know this brings them some closure.” Cloyd was one of two individuals reported missing in Washington County following the flooding brought on by Hurricane Helene. While the storm made landfall as a Category 4 storm in Florida, it had weakened to a tropical storm and then a post-tropical cyclone as it moved through the Southeastern U.S. The storm was still strong enough to bring widespread flooding to the region, including in Tennessee. Authorities said Cloyd, as well as Nancy Tucker, had not been seen since the catastrophic flooding in late September. They both lived in the Jackson Island area near the Jackson Bridge, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said. Cloyd’s body was found just a few miles from Jackson Island. He had texted his brother, Gary Cloyd, that “water was coming in the house” as Helene swept through the area. Gary told Nexstar’s WJHL that he tried to drive to his brother, but was blocked off by rising water. Steven Cloyd’s car was later found less than half a mile away from where he was last seen. Tucker, meanwhile, remains missing. Her husband, Jimmy Tucker, was found dead a few days after the storm moved through. Their home had been swept away by the floodwaters while they were both inside, WJHL previously learned. Two of their three dogs were found alive and turned over to Nancy’s son. “Nancy had packed dog food and stuff like that for the animals in the car,” her nephew, Johnny Horton, told WJHL in November. “I guess they were doing that as the water was rising.” Last month, another body was recovered from the Nolichucky River; authorities said it was not believed to be related to Helene.

Washington Examiner [5/5/2025 5:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports the Trump administration is seizing record-setting amounts of illegal drugs heading for the United States in the months after President Donald Trump declared a new war on drugs upon taking office in January. The U.S. Coast Guard, a branch of the military housed under the Department of Homeland Security, has surged more crew and ships to international waters where drug smugglers move narcotics, typically from South America to the U.S. In 100 days, the Coast Guard has tripled its forces operating near the southern border. In that time, Coast Guard cutters returning to U.S. ports following their deployments are offloading more cocaine than ever. Historical records of $50 million to a few hundred million dollars’ worth of cocaine have been smashed in just the past month, which a Coast Guard spokesperson told the Washington Examiner was no coincidence. “Cocaine seized has increased due to the Coast Guard surging assets to increase operational presence in key areas and protect America’s maritime borders, territorial integrity, and sovereignty,” the Coast Guard official wrote in an email.

Vineyard Gazette [5/4/2025 10:05 PM, Ehtan Genter, 56K] reports a U.S. Coast Guard plan to remove hundreds of navigation buoys in the northeast, including about 20 around the Vineyard, Woods Hole and Gosnold, has raised concerns with some Island mariners. Of the 4,700 buoys that line the waterways from New York to Quoddy Head at the Canadian border, the federal agency is proposing to pull 350 navigation buoys. The effort has been in the works for the last two years, officials say, and is being done in an attempt to “rightsize” the number of navigation aids at a time when nearly every boat has a GPS, electronic navigation charts and other technically advanced aids. Matthew Stuck, the Coast Guard’s first district chief of waterways management, said that some of the first wooden navigation markers off the coast of New England were put in place in the late 1600s, and the number of buoys has grown over the centuries. With the new navigational tools, he said it is time to rethink how many buoys are necessary in the water. “Those things have all changed,” Mr. Stuck said in an interview with the Gazette. “With that, the Coast Guard looks at all the ways to rightsize the system to the ways mariners navigate.”

USA Today [5/4/2025 4:34 PM, James Powel, 75858K] reports authorities said 32 people were rescued from a sinking boat off the Miami coast on May 3. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a vessel taking on water near Monument Island around 5 p.m. ET, the Guard said in an X post. The 32 people rescued from the scene of the sinking 63-foot boat were recovered without injuries, the Guard said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to request for comment from USA TODAY on May 4. Witnesses told CBS Miami that the boat went vertical as it took on water. "Yeah, it was straight up in the water. It definitely didn’t look ordinary, and it’s just very concerning," Rachael Miller told the station. The Guard said May 3 that commercial salvage was working to recover the boat and that it was not hazardous to navigation. Dispatch audio obtained by CBS Miami described the boat as a "Lamborghini vessel." The boat was identified by Yachts Worldwide, a yacht-dedicated social media account, as a Lamborghini Tecnomar in a video of the rescue scene it posted.

Reported similarly:
CBS 4 Miami [5/4/2025 12:57 PM, Hunter Geisil and Nikiya Carrero, 51700K] Video HERE
FOX News [5/4/2025 7:15 PM, Sophia Compton, 46189K]
USA Today [5/4/2025 4:34 PM, James Powel, 75858K]
Miami Herald [5/4/2025 9:53 AM, Michelle Marchante, 4000K]

Caribbean National Weekly [5/4/2025 4:45 PM, Sheri-kae McLeod, 161K] reports the United States Coast Guard says its crew aboard Cutter Venturous offloaded approximately 5,300 pounds of cocaine and marijuana in Miami Beach on Friday, following a series of drug interdictions in the Caribbean Sea with an estimated street value of US $14.1 million. According to the Coast Guard, the contraband was seized during four separate operations carried out in the Caribbean by the crews of USCGC Diligence and Dutch naval vessel HNLMS Groningen, which had a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment aboard. “Stopping harmful and illicit narcotics from reaching our shores and entering our communities is a team effort,” said Cmdr. Karen Kutkiewicz, commanding officer of Cutter Venturous. “It takes the combined efforts of our joint force — DoD, DHS, and international partners — to combat transnational criminal organizations.” The interdictions were a coordinated effort involving the USCGC Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) Pacific, the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-S), and watchstanders from the Seventh Coast Guard District, which is headquartered in Miami.

West Orlando News [5/4/2025 1:41 PM, Staff, 2600K] reports cocaine worth millions of dollars and a 52-foot sailing yacht were recently seized during an operation targeting smuggling off South Florida. A U.S. Coast Guard Station Miami Beach law enforcement crew assisted Homeland Security Investigations Miami and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations in the interdiction of approximately 245 pounds of cocaine. The illegal drugs were valued at approximately $3.4 million. The 107 kilos of cocaine were seized off South Florida during an operation targeting cross-border maritime smuggling. ?The sailing yacht arrived in the U.S. from Colombia.

New York Post [5/4/2025 5:56 PM, orge Fitz-Gibbon and David Propper, 54903K] reports this cruise was a total washout for these wannabe celebs. Around 30, budding, bikini-clad influencers took a luxurious Lamborghini Tecnomar out for a spin in the waters off Miami Beach on Saturday – only to have their hopes for a picture-perfect jaunt sink when the posh yacht started taking on water. The glamorous but clueless bunch cracked jokes and appeared mostly unbothered by the harrowing ordeal. The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan boat swooped in to get everyone off safely – with many of the influencers able to save their most prized possessions, including a Macbook and a $350 bottle of Clase Azul Gold tequila. The pricey booze was cradled by former Miss America competitor Regan Hartley on a rescue boat while someone else shouted, "The baby is safe," according to one video. Social-media footage showed the rescued young women taking photos or videos of their sinking yacht from afar. "No f–ks given," an Instagram user noted of the blasé attitude of the group. "Everyone on the sinking yacht taking selfies.” The high-end boat began sinking near Florida’s millionaire haven of Star Island around 5 p.m., and was nearly vertical as its 32 passengers and crew members rushed to the deck, the Coast Guard said. Some of the attention-seeking wannabe trendsetters provided a behind-the-scenes look at their brush with disaster. A series of videos from a model and stylist showed the women, now all in life vests, standing on the top of the sinking, 63-foot, black and white boat as each is led onto a Coast Guard vessel.

CBS News [5/5/2025 12:08 AM, Dan Ruetenik and Kati Weis, 52225K] reports after more than a week of oil shooting vertically out of an unused well off the coast of Louisiana, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Sunday evening that the offshore well blowout — first reported on April 26 — has been controlled. The well had been leaking oil and natural gas in a 30 to 40-foot-high "geyser of oil," as one witness described, contaminating nearby marshland and protected Gulf Coast habitats, and prompting a large-scale emergency response. "Gaining control of the discharge is a vital milestone, but it marks only the beginning of our work. The Unified Command is fully committed to an exhaustive cleanup effort and will remain on site for as long as necessary to ensure the removal of oil and the safety of both the community and the ecosystem," said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Greg Callaghan,, a federal on-scene coordinator who was monitoring the leak. The federal government assumed control of the response effort on Thursday, with the Coast Guard taking over coordination from Spectrum Opco, the company operating the well, along with the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office. Cleanup and mitigation efforts are ongoing, involving National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Coast Guard and multiple state and local agencies, as well as private contractors hired by the owner of the well. The Coast Guard said one "oiled bird" had been spotted near the spill site, but had not been captured. The agency said no other wildlife impacts have yet been reported. However, federal maps online indicate pollutants have drifted into a protected area for endangered sea turtles.

NBC 8 Salinas [5/5/2025 12:28 AM, Casey Robertson, 808K] reports a search and rescue operation was underway Sunday in the waters off Santa Cruz’s west side. The U.S. Coast Guard says one of their helicopters is assisting the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office in the search in the ocean off West Cliff Drive. State lifeguards and local firefighters are also on scene. Right now, it’s unclear how many victims there are or how they ended up in the water.

New York Times [5/5/2025 1:21 AM, Brooks Barnes, 145325K] reports President Trump said he would impose a 100 percent tariff on movies “produced” outside the United States, proclaiming in a social media post on Sunday that the issue posed a national security threat. Mr. Trump said he had authorized Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, to begin the process of taxing “any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Mr. Trump added, “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.” The Motion Picture Association, which represents the biggest Hollywood studios in Washington, declined to comment. The association’s latest economic impact report, based primarily on government data and released in 2023, showed that the film industry generated a positive U.S. balance of trade for every major market in the world. As is often the case with Mr. Trump’s declarations on social media, it was not entirely clear what he was talking about. Did he mean any movie, including independent foreign-language films destined for art house cinemas and movies that play exclusively on streaming services? Would such a tariff apply only to movies receiving tax incentives from foreign countries — or to any movie with scenes shot overseas? What about postproduction visual effects work? A single superhero movie can often involve a half-dozen or more specialized firms scattered around the world. Technically speaking, the vast majority of movies shown in American cinemas are produced in the United States — scripts written, preproduction planning handled, principal actors cast, footage edited and sound added. But Hollywood has increasingly turned to foreign locales for the cameras-rolling part of the moviemaking process because, as with so much traditional manufacturing, it is much cheaper. Britain, Hungary, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other countries offer tax incentives that Disney, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures and other major movie companies, including Netflix and Amazon, have used. International locales also often come with lower labor costs. As a result, thousands of middle-class film workers in the United States — camera operators, set decorators, lighting technicians, makeup artists, caterers, electricians — have seen work evaporate. According to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, roughly 18,000 full-time jobs have been eliminated in the past three years, primarily in California. “We’re allowing California to become to the entertainment industry what Detroit has become to the auto industry,” Michael F. Miller Jr., a vice president at the union, told The Times last month.

NewsMax.com [5/4/2025 9:39 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K] reports the minerals deal reached between the U.S. and Ukraine ensures a long-term interest between the two countries, but Russia is painting it as taking away from Ukraine’s sovereignty, former Pentagon official Brent Sadler told Newsmax on Sunday. "[Vladimir] Putin knows that it’s going to be the best foundational security guarantee," Sadler, appearing with former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America Weekend," commented. "As far as the Russians’ rationale and trying to characterize this as some type of takeaway from Ukrainian sovereignty, it’s actually a partnership.” It also means that President Donald Trump is "over the right target" with the agreement, said Sadler. "Of course, there’s a lot more we can talk about that needs to be done to really get to that lasting peace," Sadler said. Meanwhile, the deal can ease America’s reliance on China for rare earth minerals, said Fleitz. "China has a monopoly on these rare earth minerals that are crucial for our defense and for our electronics," he said. "I would like to see the U.S. sign dozens of these agreements to break the Chinese monopoly.” The payoff with the deal with Ukraine remains many years into the future, Fleitz added, and it may well be that no minerals will be found.

NewsMax [5/4/2025 1:08 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K] reports the rare earth minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine will serve as a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he won’t be able to defeat a "sovereign, independent European Ukraine," former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker told Newsmax on Sunday. "It gets the United States and Ukraine fully aligned," Volker said on "Sunday Report." "We had earlier the U.S. and Ukraine call for a full, permanent ceasefire, recognizing that Russia is still going to occupy a lot of Ukraine, not legitimately, but at least end the fighting.” With the deal, the two countries are aligned on wanting to develop resources, create a fund, and invest in Ukraine’s redevelopment and reconstruction, he said. "Now the United States has a stake in Ukraine’s success, so these are all very good steps," he said. "They do signal to Putin he’s not going to win.” Putin, however, is not ready to commit to a ceasefire and still wants to fight, "so he has to face more pressure before he gets to actually having a ceasefire, I think," said Volker. Volker also discussed on Sunday President Donald Trump’s decision to move Mike Waltz from national security adviser to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "President Trump, of course, you know, gets to choose who his team is and where they’re serving," said Volker. "Mike, whom I know, has done a good job. He is very solid on national security. He knows his stuff.”

CBS News [5/4/2025 1:10 PM, Staff, 51661K] reports retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, a CBS News contributor who served as national security adviser in President Trump’s first term, tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that this week’s removal of Mike Waltz as national security adviser will be "significant" for U.S. national security interests. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [5/4/2025 9:53 PM, Zach LaChance, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump floated his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, as an option to be his next national security adviser after he ousted Mike Waltz from the role last week. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump revealed that Miller, a stalwart of his administration who has made frequent, sometimes fiery appearances before the media defending Trump’s deportation operations, is "at the top of the totem pole" for the high-profile post. "I think he sort of indirectly already has that job. Because he has a lot to say about a lot of things. He’s a very valued person in the administration, Stephen," the president said. Trump also said he will fill the national security adviser role, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio is temporarily serving in, within six months. That timeline means Rubio will likely be serving in four roles — specifically secretary of state, acting administrator of USAID, acting archivist of the United States, and now national security adviser — for a significant amount of time. Democrats, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), targeted the administration on Sunday over the amount of work Rubio will now have, suggesting it’s not sustainable. "Especially since there’s such incompetence over at DOD, with Pete Hegseth being Secretary of Defense, and just the hollowing out of the top leadership, there’s no way he [Rubio] can carry all that entire load on his own," Duckworth said. Trump’s most recent comments on possible selections for the national security adviser role follow his move to nominate Waltz to U.N. ambassador late last week. This marked the end of a tumultuous few months for Waltz in the national security role that was dominated by Signalgate.

NewsMax [5/4/2025 4:15 PM, Mark Swanson, 4998K] reports Retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said he believes Mike Waltz was ousted as national security adviser because he was on the wrong side of a fight within the Trump administration over "worldview.” McMaster, himself a former national security adviser in the first Trump administration, made the comments in an interview with CBS’ "Face the Nation" that aired Sunday. Regardless of the reason, McMaster asserted that Waltz’s departure is "significant" to U.S. security. Officially, President Donald Trump believes Waltz will make a better ambassador to the United Nations than national security adviser, Vice President J.D. Vance asserted. It was reported Thursday that Waltz was removed because there existed a "general unhappiness" within the national security establishment over how the National Security Council was being run. Still others believe Waltz’s time was done after the Signal chat issue. McMaster said he isn’t buying any of it. "I think what it reveals is, is a fight that’s going on within the administration associated with our role in the world and how certain people in the administration perceive America’s role in the world. And I think Mike Waltz was an America First guy, but he was an internationalist and prioritized, I think, our alliances," McMaster said.

The Hill [5/4/2025 11:06 AM, Lauren Irwin, 12829K] reports Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) predicts that former national security adviser Mike Waltz will face a "brutal" confirmation hearing as he was removed from his post and nominated to be the Trump administration’s United Nations ambassador. Warner joined CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday, where host Jake Tapper asked about the recent shuffle in the administration, which came about after it was revealed Waltz was ousted as national security adviser following the Signal group chat scandal, among other reported tensions. "Do you have faith in him to be U.N. ambassador?" Tapper asked. "I think it would be a brutal confirmation hearing," Warner replied. Warner’s prediction is in line with other Democrats, who say Waltz will face an uphill battle trying to prove he is fit for the new position after it was reported he used Signal to message about administration activity. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) agreed with Warner, speaking on CBS News’s "Face the Nation.” "It will be a brutal hearing," Duckworth, a military veteran, said. "He is not qualified for the job just by nature of the fact he participated in the Signal chain. In fact, I believe everybody on that Signal chain needs to be fired, because not a single one of them spoke up and said, ‘Hey, this is inappropriate and we need to be in a secure channel.’". Duckworth describe Waltz’s situation as "failing up" and said she would not vote for him because he is "incapable" of "handling classified information.” Warner noted that Waltz has "at least acknowledged" there was wrongdoing in using the Signal group chat to discuss with other administration officials plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

CBS News [5/4/2025 2:01 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video HERE reports Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Sunday that she expects Mike Waltz to have a "brutal hearing" for U.N. ambassador after his surprise departure last week from his post as President Trump’s national security adviser. "He’s not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain," Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." Duckworth argued that everyone in the group chat where the timing and targets of an attack on Houthis in Yemen was shared and was revealed in March to have inadvertently included a journalist, should be fired, because "not a single one of them spoke up." "Now, Mike Waltz is doing what we call — he is failing up," Duckworth said. "He is failing in his job and getting promoted to be ambassador. That’s not what our nation needs at the United Nations." Before he was tapped as national security adviser, Waltz had represented Florida in the House since 2019, and he is a Green Beret veteran who served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. After the reports that Waltz was out as national security adviser were published, President Trump said he planned to nominate him as U.N. ambassador. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Washington Examiner [5/4/2025 4:14 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K] reports Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) confirmed Sunday she would not support Mike Waltz in a Senate vote determining whether he will be President Donald Trump’s next ambassador to the United Nations. Waltz served as Trump’s national security adviser until Thursday, when the president announced he was moving Waltz to be the next ambassador to the U.N., a role that requires Senate confirmation. Waltz took the brunt of the blame for an incident where a journalist was mistakenly added to a group chat on Signal of Cabinet members discussing war plans. Criticism rolled in from both sides of the aisle over the security breach. Duckworth vowed Waltz would face a difficult path to confirmation during an interview on CBS News’s Face the Nation. Although her opposition to Waltz is not surprising, it showcases Democrats’ deep distrust of Trump’s nominee, which could derail his hopes of securing the position as he undergoes a Senate confirmation process that includes a congressional hearing. "It will be a brutal hearing," she said. "He is not qualified for the job just by nature of the fact he participated in the Signal chain. In fact, I believe everybody on that Signal chain needs to be fired, because not a single one of them spoke up and said, ‘Hey, this is inappropriate and we need to be in a secure channel.’". The Illinois Democrat and combat veteran summarized Waltz’s situation as "failing up" and said she could not vote for him because he is "incapable" of handling classified information.

The Hill [5/4/2025 10:05 AM, Lauren Irwin, 12829K] reports Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he believes the United States will be paying the price for the massive cuts to federal programs and the workforce "literally for years.” Warner joined CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday, where host Jake Tapper asked him about the reported cuts to the CIA, which is headquartered in his state. "We are undermining what I think would be a potential next generation of workers in the intelligence domain," Warner said. "In fact, for that matter, across the federal government, we’re going to be paying the price for this first 100 days-plus of rapid cuts, I think, literally for years.” Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he has raised concerns about cuts to the CIA and the impact it will have on the country’s intelligence. Such cuts undermine younger generations who want to go into intelligence work, as they could potentially find work in technology sectors and "make much more money," he argued. The administration has plans to cut more than 1,000 employees at the CIA and other intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, in the latest push to downsize the federal government. Warner highlighted security, defense and intelligence concerns stemming from the Trump administration. His comments come just days after national security adviser Mike Waltz stepped down and was nominated to be the administration’s United Nations ambassador.

Axios [5/4/2025 11:10 AM, Avery Lotz, 13163K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s growing portfolio of administration roles — which now includes acting national security adviser — is "too much," Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Sunday. There’s been several instances of dual-hatting in Trump’s second administration — but Rubio serving as national security adviser while overseeing the State Department, what’s left of USAID and the National Archives brings the multitasking to a new level. Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said on CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday that he doesn’t "know how anybody could do these two big jobs." The roles of secretary of State and national security adviser, he said, are "frankly very different." And on top of those roles, he noted, Rubio is still in charge of "the remnants of what used to be American soft power for 70 years, USAID." He added, "Even for a Marco Rubio ... I think it’s too much." Warner said he "worked very well with" Rubio for years in the Senate — but he noted he’s "disappointed by some of the actions he’s taken as secretary in this kind of kowtowing to Trump."

Breitbart [5/4/2025 9:45 AM, Pam Key, 2923K] reports Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “kowtowing” to President Donald Trump had been disappointing. Host Jake Tapper said, “Is Secretary Rubio able to do the two main jobs there?” Warner said, “I don’t know how anybody could do these two big jobs, and they’re frankly very different. One is actually trying to diplomatically work with friends and adversaries around the world. And unfortunately, the number of adversaries has gone up dramatically as Trump’s approach has been so awful to our allies. The other are our national security adviser has really grown into a major job, maybe slimming down some of that portfolio could make sense, but I don’t see how any individual could do both of those. And then you add the other fact, Jake, that he’s still overseeing the remnants of what used to be American soft power for 70 years, USAID, and even for Marco Rubio, I think it’s too much.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [5/4/2025 10:23 AM, Eric Mack, 4998K] reports President Donald Trump said he has the utmost confidence in Secretary of State Marco Rubio, hailing him as his most trusted White House problem solver and adding national security adviser to his resume. "Marco’s doing an outstanding job," Trump told NBC News’ "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker in an interview airing Sunday, noting Rubio is not intended to be a "long term" NSA, but he’s in no rush to unwind his trusted adviser from the dual role. "Now, Marco won’t keep — Marco’s very busy doing other things, so he’s not going to keep it long term. We’re going to put somebody else in.” Trump pointed to the historic dual roles held by Henry Kissinger as secretary of state and national security adviser. "Henry Kissinger did both," Trump said. "There’s a theory that you don’t need two people, but I think I have some really great people that could do a good job.” Yet the double duty could last awhile for Rubio as Trump seeks to end two Biden-era wars in Ukraine and Gaza, along with reworking the global trade order by leveraging reciprocal tariffs to bring those countries hindering American products in their markets. "He could" remain NSA "indefinitely," Trump told Welker, "but I think he even would like to probably see" another candidate take the NSA duties. "Because it is a little bit different, but in the meantime, he’ll handle it," according to Trump.

FOX Business [5/4/2025 2:07 PM, Bailee Hill, 10702K] Video: HERE reports Chevron CEO Mike Wirth issued a stark warning about the firm’s possible departure from Venezuela as a Biden-era license allowing the company to operate in the country is set to expire. Chevron, which is only allowed to export Venezuelan oil to the United States, has been under pressure from the Trump administration to halt drilling in the politically turbulent nation. But Wirth, who is currently negotiating with the administration, argued against the move over concerns about energy security and growing Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere. "We’ve seen this playbook before in Africa, in Latin America, in Central Asia," Wirth told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. "And China has created a stronger presence, stronger influence, and control over economies and governments around the world through using their economic assets and position to do so.” "I think that’s an important issue that is something that the administration is thinking about, and I think it’s very appropriate for them to bear that in mind.” President Donald Trump initially announced in February he was ending the license, calling Biden’s agreement "ineffective and unmet." He ordered U.S. oil firms to begin winding down their presence in the country starting March 1. "We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022," Trump announced on Truth Social. "Additionally, the regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country (the Good Ole’ U.S.A.) back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to.” The president reportedly reversed course in March, extending the license until May 27, according to CNBC.

NPR [5/5/2025 4:15 AM, Steve Inskeep, 29983K] reports NPR speaks with Ilya Somin, a lawyer who has teamed up with the Liberty Justice Center, to challenge Trump’s tariffs in court. He claims Trump’s trade decisions overstep his constitutional authority. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

CBS News [5/4/2025 3:43 PM, Kaia Hubbard, 51661K] Video HERE reports President Trump said he would talk to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about making Canada the 51st state. But the president said he didn’t expect it to get to the point of using military force — though he wouldn’t commit to the same for Greenland. "Something could happen with Greenland, I’ll be honest," Trump said in an interview with NBC News’ "Meet the Press" that aired on Sunday. He said that "we need that for national and international security," but he added "I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it." Mr. Trump has repeatedly vowed to secure U.S. control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, while also threatening to make Canada the 51st state. And last week, the president’s territorial threats against Canada, coupled with his tariffs, appeared to play a part in a major political turnaround for Canada’s Liberal Party in the federal elections. The president spoke with Carney following his victory, but the men said they didn’t talk about making Canada the 51st state. Still, when asked whether he would do so when the leaders next speak, Mr. Trump said "I’ll always talk about that." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [5/4/2025 11:16 PM, Francesca Chambers, 75858K] reports that, in an interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press", President Donald Trump said he still wants to make Canada the 51st U.S. state and does not envision the United States using military force to seize the neighboring country. During the interview, which aired on May 4, Trump said he’s still interested in annexing Canada but does not label it in the same category as Greenland, a Danish territory Trump has repeatedly suggested the U.S. could one day be compelled to acquire. Asked if he would rule out military force to take Canada, Trump told "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker: "Well, I think we’re not going to ever get to that point. It could happen, something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest, we need that for national and international security.” "But I think it’s highly unlikely," Trump added, as Welker chimed in to buttonhole him on Canada. "I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you," he said with a laugh. The relationship between Canada and the United States has been tense since Trump threatened the country with blistering tariffs. At a late November dinner in Florida with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he upped the ante by suggesting that Canada give up its sovereignty and become part of the United States. Trump proceeded to needle Trudeau, calling him "Governor" of the "Great State of Canada" on social media. Trudeau, under pressure from his party to resign amid falling polling, said in early January that he would leave his office. Trump followed through with tariffs anyway, which he said were about fentanyl distribution and drug trafficking, and hit Canada and Mexico with a 25% fee on imports. The tariffs would later spark boycotts in Canada of American goods and helped propel Trudeau’s replacement, liberal Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, to victory in an April 28 election. In a fiery speech, Carney declared that the U.S. would never own the nation and told Canadians that Canada must look out for itself. "As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country," Carney said. "But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never ever happen.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [5/4/2025 3:30 PM, Emily Hallas, 2296K] reports President Donald Trump again raised the possibility of using military force to bring Greenland under U.S. control, saying such an action could be necessary for global security. A territory of Denmark that is prized for its strategic geopolitical value, Greenland lies in the Arctic Circle. In recent years, fears have grown about China and Russia’s increased activity in the region, as the two countries prowl the Arctic waters with weapons that experts warn are superior to NATO capabilities. Trump has repeatedly said of Greenland that it is "not possible to properly defend a large section of this Earth, not just the United States, without it." During a Meet the Press interview with NBC host Kristen Welker that aired Sunday, he reiterated his concerns when the anchor pressed him on whether he would ever use military force to acquire the world’s largest island. "I don’t rule it out," Trump said. "I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.” His words come in the wake of reports this year from the U.S. intelligence community and the Danish Defense Intelligence Service that Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic waters was growing, posing a danger to the international community. "China’s long-term goal is to expand access to Greenland’s natural resources, as well as to use the same access as a key strategic foothold for advancing China’s broader and economic aims in the Arctic," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s report read. "Within two years, Russia could pose a credible threat to one or several NATO countries if NATO does not build up its own military power at the same rate as Russia. This calls for swift political action," Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen warned in response to a report from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service.

Breitbart [5/4/2025 11:52 AM, Pam Key, 2923K] reports President Donald Trump, during Sunday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” dismissed the possibility of using the U.S. military to take Greenland but acknowledged it was needed for national security. Host Kristen Welker said, “You said on Greenland, you don’t rule out anything. Would you rule out military force to take Canada?” Trump said, “I don’t think we will ever get to that point. It could happen. Something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest. We need that for national and international security.” Welker said, “Not Canada?” Trump said, “I think it is highly unlikely. I just don’t see it. I have to be honest with you.” Welker said, “You don’t rule it out for Greenland.” Trump said, “By the way, Canada pays less than any nation. They think we are going to protect them, and really, we are, but the truth is they don’t carry their full share, and it’s unfair to the United States and our taxpayers.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [5/4/2025 11:33 AM, Christopher Scicluna, 41523K] reports an international NGO that intends to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea said on Sunday it was in talks with Malta’s government about allowing the vessel to enter Maltese waters to repair damage caused by a drone attack. The ship "Conscience" run by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition suffered damage to its front section including a loss of power when hit by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters in the central Mediterranean early on Friday, the NGO said. The coalition, an international non-governmental group, said Israel, which has blockaded and bombarded Gaza in its war against Palestinian Hamas militants, was to blame for the incident. Israel has not responded to requests for comment. The Conscience had been waiting to take on board some 30 peace activists from around the world before trying to sail to Gaza in the eastern Mediterranean to deliver food and medicines. Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday that Malta was prepared to assist the ship with necessary repairs so that it could continue on its journey, once it was satisfied that the vessel held only humanitarian aid. Coalition officials said on Sunday the ship was in no danger of sinking but they wanted to be sure it would be safe from further attacks while undergoing repairs, and able to sail out again. Earlier on Sunday the coalition had accused Malta of impeding access to its ship. Malta denied the claim, saying the crew had refused assistance and even refused to allow a surveyor on board to assess the damage. "The FFC would like to clarify our commitment to engagement with (Maltese) authorities to expedite the temporary docking of our ship for repairs and surveyors, so we can continue on the urgent humanitarian mission to Gaza," the coalition said in a statement later in the day. A Malta government spokesman said its offer was to assist in repairs out at sea once the boat’s cargo was verified to be aid.

NewsMax [5/4/2025 1:41 PM, Eric Mack, 4998K] reports the signing of the landmark minerals deal between Ukraine and the Trump administration is greasing the wheels on the Biden-era initiative of sending more air defense system support to Ukraine to help fight off Russia. A Patriot air-defense system in Israel is getting refurbished and repurposed to Ukraine, and the Western allies are working logistics for Germany or Greece to send more Patriots, four sources told The New York Times. "President Trump has been clear: He wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop," National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told the Times, declining to comment on the specifics of the report. Notably, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking on the added role as President Donald Trump’s acting national security adviser, and Rubio has been bullish on defending Ukraine against Russia’s Vladimir Putin-ordered invasion going back to his days as the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the Biden administration. An official from the Biden White House years noted to the Times the repurposing of the Patriot air-defense system from Israel to Ukraine was planned since September before the November election of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly talked about cutting back on massive financial support for Ukraine as he hoped to secure peace with Putin and Russia. The Defense Department told the Times that "it continues to provide equipment to Ukraine from previously authorized.” After weeks of a contentious back-and-forth with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump has hardened on his rhetoric against Putin and Russia and softened his rebukes on Ukraine, the Times reported. Trump met with Zelenskyy at Pope Francis’ funeral, and this past week the delayed minerals deal was signed, a pact that Trump backers note provides de facto security guarantees for Ukraine against future Russia aggression while U.S. officials, contractors, and American interests work to extract rare earth minerals. The minerals deal has moved up plans to provide bolstered air defenses for Ukraine, Zelenskyy told reporters Saturday in Kyiv.

Reuters [5/4/2025 3:57 PM, Staff, 41523K] reports Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his Pakistani counterpart on Sunday and offered Russia’s help in resolving tensions between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, the Foreign Ministry said. "Particular attention was paid to the significant rise in tension between New Delhi and Islamabad," the ministry said in a statement, referring to Lavrov’s conversation with Ishaq Dar, who is also Pakistan’s deputy prime minister. "It was stressed that Russia is ready to act for a political settlement of the situation resulting from the act of terrorism of April 22 in the Pahalgam area of the Kashmir valley, in the event of a mutual desire on the part of Islamabad and New Delhi," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram. Lavrov’s conversation with Dar took place two days after he spoke with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and also called for a settlement of differences between the two neighbouring countries. Suspected militants killed at least 26 people in last week’s attack on a mountain tourist destination in the Pahalgam area of the Kashmir valley.

Wall Street Journal [5/5/2025 1:53 AM, Carrie Keller-Lynn and
Dov Lieber, 646K] reports Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile that struck near Israel’s main airport on Sunday, marking a rare hit of a significant target by the group, which has fired dozens of missiles since Israel’s war on Hamas began, hours ahead of a vote by Israel’s cabinet that approved plans to expand ground operations in Gaza. A spokeswoman for Israel’s Airports Authority said the missile landed in a parking lot close to Terminal 3, Ben Gurion Airport’s main thoroughfare. Earth exploded by the impact could be seen coating roads near the airport in photos released by emergency services. CCTV footage from the airport verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, showed a big plume of black smoke and dust rising from the area struck by the missile. Israel’s military said the missile slipped through several attempts to shoot it down, landing near the airport in the middle of a busy Sunday morning, the beginning of Israel’s workweek. Arrow 3, Israel’s most sophisticated air-defense system, and the U.S.’s advanced Thaad system were both unsuccessfully deployed, according to Israel’s state-owned Army Radio. Eight people were taken to the hospital with injuries, including to limbs and from the shock wave caused by the strike, according to emergency responders. There were no immediately reported fatalities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to operate against the Houthis in a video posted to his X account on Sunday. “It won’t be bang and that’s it. But there will be bangs.”

CNN [5/5/2025 4:37 AM, Dana Karni, Lucas Lilieholm and Oren Liebermann, 22131K] reports Israel’s security cabinet voted Sunday to expand military operations in Gaza and establish a new framework for the delivery of aid, according to two Israeli officials. The vote came hours after the military said it would mobilize tens of thousands of reservists, strengthening its capacity to operate in the besieged Palestinian territory. One Israeli official said the new plan for Israel’s war in Gaza involves “the conquest of territory and remaining there.” The Israeli military will displace the Palestinian population to southern Gaza while carrying out “powerful strikes” against Hamas, the official said. Over 2,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since mid-March when Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes, shattering a ceasefire which had been in place for nearly two months. More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The expansion of the fighting will be gradual to give a chance for a renewed ceasefire and hostage release deal before US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region in mid-May, the officials said. Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar next week, but there is currently no stop planned in Israel. The cabinet also discussed allowing the resumption of aid deliveries into Gaza under a new framework which was approved, but has not yet been implemented, according to the source. An Israeli blockade of all humanitarian aid into the strip is now in its ninth week. Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan 11, reported that a confrontation had broken out during Sunday’s meeting over the resumption of aid deliveries with two far-right members of the cabinet, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and settlements minister Orit Strook opposed to any resumption of aid and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir arguing Israel was obligated to facilitate them under international law. According to the source, the Israeli media reports about the arguments over the aid “are not wrong.” Israel says it cut off the entry of humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages. But international organizations say its actions violate international law and risks creating a man-made famine, with some accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war – a war crime. United States and Israeli officials are discussing a mechanism to deliver aid to Gaza that bypasses Hamas, an Israeli source familiar with the matter and a State Department official told CNN. The official said an announcement could be made “in the coming days.” The delivery mechanism in the works is intended to allow aid to reach the Palestinian population with safeguards to ensure it is not diverted by Hamas or Islamic Jihad, according to a State Department spokesperson. An unnamed private foundation would manage the aid mechanism and the delivery of the humanitarian supplies into Gaza, the spokesperson said. The US expects the United Nations and international aid organizations to work with the framework of the foundation’s mechanism to ensure that supplies do not reach Hamas, the spokesperson said.

New York Times [5/5/2025 3:26 AM, Erika Solomon and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, 330K] reports it has been more than 60 days since Israel ordered a halt to all humanitarian aid entering Gaza — no food, fuel or even medicine. As the phone calls pour in, Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, is running out of answers. The longer Israel’s total siege of the enclave grinds on, the more doctors call to ask where they can find medicine to keep patients alive. Some patients call him up themselves — people with treatable heart problems or kidney failure — to ask: If there is no medicine, what else can they try? “There’s no advice I can give them,” he said. “In most cases, those patients die.” Israel says it will not relent until Hamas releases the hostages it still holds after a two-month cease-fire collapsed in March. It has argued that its blockade is lawful, and that Gaza still has enough available provisions. But humanitarian groups and European officials accuse Israel of using aid as a “political tool” — and warn that the total blockade violates international law. The severity of the siege means it now affects nearly every part of the lives of the roughly two million people trapped inside Gaza, compounding the struggles of a population that has lived for nearly two decades under the partial blockade imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt after Hamas seized control of the enclave in 2007. As supplies of clean water, food and medicine dwindle, preventable diseases and illnesses are surging — and so is the likelihood of dying from them, doctors say. Aid groups are raising the alarm in increasingly drastic messages, warning that the humanitarian support for Gazans is “on the verge of total collapse.” “To the Israeli authorities, and those who can still reason with them, we say again: Lift this brutal blockade,” said Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief. He added: “To the civilians left unprotected, no apology can suffice. But I am truly sorry that we are unable to move the international community to prevent this injustice.”

Reuters [5/4/2025 11:41 PM, Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward, 41523K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. was meeting with many countries, including China, on trade deals, and his main priority with China was to secure a fair trade deal. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had no plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, but U.S. officials were speaking with Chinese officials about a variety of different things. Asked if any trade agreements would be announced this week, Trump said that could "very well be" but gave no details. Trump’s top officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the president on April 2 imposed a 10% tariff on most countries, along with higher tariff rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. He has also imposed 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on China. He suggested that he did not expect to reach an agreement with some countries, but could instead be "setting a certain tariff" for those trading partners in the next two to three weeks. It was not immediately clear if he was referring to the reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2, which are due to kick in on July 8 after a 90-day pause. Trump repeated his claim that China had been "ripping us for many years" on global trade, adding that former President Richard Nixon’s move to reach out and establish relations with China was "the worst thing" he ever did. Trump sounded more upbeat about China and the prospects for reaching an agreement in an interview with NBC News that was taped on Friday and broadcast on Sunday. In the interview, he acknowledged that he had been "very tough with China," essentially cutting off trade between the world’s top two economies, but said Beijing now wanted to reach an agreement. "We’ve gone cold turkey," he said. "That means we’re not losing a trillion dollars ... because we’re not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We’ll see how that all turns out, but it’s got to be a fair deal.”

CNN [5/5/2025 1:36 AM, John Liu, 22131K] reports President Donald Trump says tariffs on Chinese imports to the United States will eventually be lowered, after both Beijing and Washington appeared to soften their positions about potential trade talks. "At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise you could never do business with them," he said in an interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker," which taped on Friday. "They want to do business very much … their economy is collapsing.” Weeks of tit-for-tat escalation between the world’s two largest economies have driven US tariffs on Chinese products to a staggering 145% and Chinese levies on American goods to 125%. Over the past two weeks, both sides have appeared to moderate their rhetoric. In the interview, which aired Sunday, Trump acknowledged the toll the tariffs have taken on China, pointing to factory closures and unemployment "through the roof," but insisted that he would not make the first move. "You’re not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table?" Welker asked. "Why would I do that?" Trump responded. On Friday, a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said the country was "currently assessing" proposals by the US to begin trade talks, but that Trump must "cancel" his "unilateral tariff hikes" first. The US tariffs have already started to affect China’s export-reliant economy. In April, factory activity there showed its steepest contraction in 16 months, while new export orders dipped to their lowest level since 2022, during the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to official data. On Sunday, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that he has no plans to speak to Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. "But China and our people are talking about different things," he added. Trump said he seeks a "fair" trade deal with China, while repeating his claim that the country has taken advantage of the US, in terms of trade, for years. Besides China, Trump said his administration was meeting with "almost" every country, and some trade deals "could very well be" announced this week. "We’re negotiating with many countries but at the end of this I’ll set my own deals because I set the deal, they don’t set the deal," he said. Depending on the status of negotiations, he said: "At a certain point I’ll be just setting a certain tariff number.” During the NBC interview, Trump also said he was willing to extend the deadline for Chinese company ByteDance to sell the US operation of TikTok, a wildly popular short video platform that has amassed 170 million American users. Congress, under then-President Joe Biden, passed a law last year requiring the Beijing-based company to divest TikTok in the US or face a ban over national security concerns. Trump has twice extended the deadline because a deal has yet to materialize, despite repeatedly emphasizing the massive interest that American investors have in the app. "I’d like to see it done," he said, adding that he had a "sweet spot" for the platform, as it helped him win over young voters during the 2024 presidential election. "TikTok is very interesting, but it will be protected," he added.

Axios [5/4/2025 11:56 AM, Avery Lotz, 13163K] reports President Trump said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press" with Kristen Welker that he’d give TikTok relief if a deal isn’t struck during the already extended timeframe. Trump, who attempted to ban TikTok during his first term due to national security concerns, has pushed to keep the app alive in the U.S. despite bipartisan concerns about national security risks due to the app’s ties to China. "Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok," Trump said. Trump said he’d like to see a deal, but he’d be willing to give the Chinese-owned app a reprieve despite not having made a deal with the social media platform’s owner, ByteDance. Trump said he has a "little sweet spot" for the app, claiming he won young people by 36 points. He’s made that statement in the past, though, as CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump 54% to 43% among voters ages 18-24, per exit polls published by CNN. Trump’s TikTok flip-flop ahead of last year’s election was a sign that he recognized the appeal the app has for young people.

Newsweek [5/5/2025 4:45 AM, Ryan Chan, 52220K] reports China and Japan have traded accusations of airspace violations near a group of islets in the contested East China Sea, currently administered by the United States treaty ally. Tokyo severely protested China against infringement of its sovereignty, while Beijing urged Japan to cease "illegal activities" around the islands, which it claims as its own territory. The Senkaku Islands, also known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, have been the subject of controversy since Japan nationalized the previously privately owned, uninhabited islets in 2012, which Beijing responded to by conducting assertive patrols with its coast guard ships. The Japanese Defense Ministry reported that a Chinese helicopter took off from one of four Chinese coast guard ships that had entered the 12-nautical-mile Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands and intruded into Japan’s sovereign airspace on Saturday. The Japanese air force scrambled two fighter jets, with Japanese patrol ships warning the Chinese vessels to leave the territorial waters. The Chinese coast guard ships were later spotted retreating to the islands’ contiguous zone that extends 24 nautical miles from the coastline. Meanwhile, the China Coast Guard said a Japanese civilian aircraft had illegally entered Chinese airspace over the islands, prompting the Chinese ships, which were conducting "a routine patrol," to deploy a helicopter to issue a warning and drive the aircraft away. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the aircraft in question was piloted by what it called "Japanese right-wing extremists." Japan’s Kyodo News reported that the country’s defense ministry was investigating a possible connection between the incident and a small civilian aircraft that was flying in the area at the time. The China Coast Guard claimed that the patrol around the Senkaku Islands was carried out in accordance with the law, referring to the Coast Guard Law that was introduced in 2021, which gives permission to fire on foreign vessels within territorial waters claimed by Beijing. On Sunday, the Chinese Defense Ministry reiterated that it was "legitimate and legal" for its coast guard to safeguard the country’s territorial sovereignty, demanding Japan restrain its citizens from conducting "provocative acts."

Reported similarly:
AP [5/4/2025 9:14 AM, Mari Yamaguchi, 48304K]

AP [5/5/2025 3:51 AM, Jim Gomez, 48304K] reports a World War II-era Philippine navy ship to be used as a target in a combat exercise by American and the Philippine forces accidentally sank Monday hours before the mock assault, prompting the drill to be cancelled, U.S. and Philippine military officials said. The BRP Miguel Malvar, which was decommissioned by the Philippine navy in 2021, took on water while being towed in rough waters facing the disputed South China Sea and sank about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) off the western Philippine province of Zambales. Nobody was onboard when the ship listed then sank, the Philippine military said. American and Philippine forces would proceed with other live-fire maneuvers off Zambales on Monday despite the premature sinking of the Malvar. The ship was built as a patrol vessel for the U.S. Navy in the 1940s and was transferred to Vietnam’s navy before the Philippine military acquired it, Philippine navy Capt. John Percie Alcos said. The ship-sinking exercise was planned in an offshore area facing the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal, which has been closely guarded by the Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships. The cancelled ship-sinking drill would have been the third to be staged by the treaty allies in recent years. It was supposed to be one of the highlights of largescale annual military exercises by the United States and the Philippines from April 21 to May 9 with about 14,000 U.S. and Filipino forces participants.

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